Demolishing the myth. the tank battle at prokhorovka,kursk, july 1943: an operational narrative pdf9/21/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() What followed was the largest tank battle the world has ever seen, with heavy casualties on both sides in this titanic clash of arms. The tanks advanced with as many as 50 packed together per kilometer of line. Attacking with a force of 3000 tanks and assault guns, the Germans faced a well-dug in force of more than 3900 Soviet tanks, with another 1500 tanks in reserve. On the 5th July 1943, the German army launched Operation Citadel. Despite the reservations of his leading generals, Hitler was determined this offensive take place. Large numbers of the newly-designed Panther and Tiger tanks were rolling off the production lines, and Hitler was convinced that, with appropriate numbers, German armor could turn the tide against the advancing Soviets on the Eastern Front. In the early summer of 1942, following the German defeat at Stalingrad and the inconclusive battle at Kharkov, Hitler sought a decisive battle that would turn the struggle on the Eastern Front in the German's favor. The translated staff reports are supplemented by Newton's commentary and original research, which challenges a number of widely accepted ideas about this pivotal battle. ![]() As a result, a new and unprecedented picture of German strategy and operations is made available. ![]() Newton has collected, translated, and edited these accounts, including reports made by the Chiefs of Staff of Army Group South and the Fourth Panzer Army, and by the Army Group Center Operations Officer. Due, in part, to poor translations done after the war, these important documents have been overlooked by World War II historians. Army Intelligence officers gathered German commanders' post-war reports of the battle. Yet, the German view of the battle has been largely ignored.After the war, U.S. Students of military history have long recognized the importance of Kursk, also known as "Operation Citadel," and there have been several serious studies of the battle. The battle of Kursk, fought in the summer of 1943, involved six thousand German and Soviet armored vehicles, making it the biggest tank battle of all time and possibly the largest battle of any kind. ![]()
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