Home > Battle of Kursk
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| Battle of Kursk
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| Conflict | World War II, Eastern Front
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| Date | July 4, 1943 - July 22, 1943
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| Place | Kursk, USSR
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| Result | Indecisive
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| Combatants
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| USSR
| Germany
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| Commanders
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Georgy Zhukov, Nikolai Vatutin (Voronezh Front), Konstantin Rokossovsky (Central Front), Ivan Koniev (Steppe Front)
| Kurt Zeitzler ( OKH), Erich von Manstein ( Army Group SouthArmy Group South (Heeresgruppe Sud in German) was a German military force during World War II on the German Eastern Front 1941- 1945. Its principal objective was to capture Kiev in the Ukraine and the Ukraine (the center of Soviet industry and mining) its), Walther ModelWalther Model ( January 24, 1891 April 21, 1945) was a German general, and later a Field Marshal, during World War II. He was noted for his defensive skills, and was nicknamed Hitler's fireman . Model served as an infantry officer in World War I. During t ( 9th Army)
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| Strength
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| 1,300,0007,000 tanks
| 800,0002,350 tanks
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| Casualties
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177, 847 killed600,000 wounded
1,600 tanks destroyed
1000 planes lost
| 56,000 killed300 tanks destroyed200 planes lost
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The Battle of Kursk was a significant battle on the Eastern Front of World War II. It remains the largest armored engagement of all time, and included the most costly single day of aerial warfare in history. Though the Germans planned and initiated an offensive strike, the Soviet defense managed to stop their ambitions and launch a successful counteroffensive.
1 Background
The German Army relied on armored forces to push through enemy lines at high-speed (the famous Blitzkrieg tactic). This meant they could only assume the offensive during the summer when the Russian continental climate had dried out the ground enough to give tanks a high degree of mobility. The Eastern Front war in 1941 and 1942 had thus developed into a series of German advances in the summer, followed by Soviet counterattacks in the winter.
In the winter of 1942/ 1943 the Soviets conclusively won the Battle of Stalingrad. One complete German army had been lost, along with about 300,000 men, seriously depleting German strength in the east. With an Allied invasion of Europe clearly looming, Hitler realized that an outright defeat of the Soviets before the western Allies arrived had become unlikely, and he decided to force the Soviets to a draw.
In 1917 the Germans had built the famous Hindenburg line on the Western Front, shortening their lines and thereby increasing their defensive strength. They planned on repeating this strategy in Russia and started construction of a massive series of defensive works known as the Panther-Wotan line . They intended to retreat to the line late in 1943 and proceed to bleed the Soviets white against it while their own forces recuperated.
In February and March 1943 Erich von Manstein had completed an offensive during the Second Battle of Kharkov, leaving the front line running roughly from Leningrad in the north to Rostov in the south. In the middle lay a large 200 km wide and 150 km deep Soviet-held salient (bulge) in the lines between German forward positions near Orel in the north, and Manstein's recently captured Kharkov in the south.
