The Battle of Kursk

The battle of Kursk was one of the largest tank battles in history with hundreds of tanks participating on either side. The battle had begun when the Soviets had captured a group of Nazi engineers who were sweeping for mines and received confirmation of the German advance. The engagement was scheduled for the following day, so the Soviets used the element of surprise to their favor by unleashing an artillery bombardment on the suspected German positions. However, the Soviets simply disrupted artillery an observations with the initial barrage because of their lack of intelligence on the enemies actual positions. This surprise attack then forced the Germans to begin their advance prematurely and engage the Soviets.

Over the following days the German attempted to push through the Soviet defensive line, but only gained a few miles by the second day. During this time the Soviets fought with an extreme passion, attempting to use any means possible to prevent the German advance. In one case the Soviets are said to have "even brought their 45mm guns (which were ineffective against the Tiger's armor) into action to fire at the tracks of the Tigers, in an effort to immobilize them." Many may see this as pure stupidity on the part of the Soviets but I view it as an act of extreme dedication to Russia because they used any means available to attempt to weaken the Germans.

After a few days of the German advance the battle reached its most intense moments. On July 12 the Germans were pushing forward with a force of about 600 tanks, 100 of which were Tigers. This was all that remained of the Germans initial force. The Soviets were standing ready with 850 tanks and self propelled guns waiting to receive the German forces. Before these forces met the Soviets began a brief artillery bombardment to weaken the advancing forces, but the Germans responded with their own artillery, heavy tanks, and airstrikes. In the moments that followed the Soviet front-lines of tanks were advancing so fast that they went straight through the German forces. This forced the tanks to fire at point blank ranges, which was one of the weaknesses of the Tiger tank because it was easier to punch through their front and side armor at close ranges. As hundreds of tanks poured onto the field the battle raged on and as Major Enrique Ramos pointed out in his thesis "the battlefield was a heap of broken and burning steel, machines, and human bodies." Shortly after the battle Hitler withdrew all forces to reposition troops for the Allied invasion of Sicily. Regardless of the reason for the German retreat, the Soviets inflicted massive casualties and won the battle.

The battle of Kursk was a major victory for the Soviets because even-though the Germans had better tanks, the Soviets still succeeded. Also, the Russians had brilliantly executed a strategy of close quarter attacks to destroy the enemies heavy tanks. This can also be attributed to the Soviets having significantly more tanks in the battle, but it was still a great achievement for the Soviet morale. The might of the Soviets tanks had been proven. By defeating an advance that included some of the most powerful tanks in the war, the Soviets knew that they had the superior force and would achieve victory.

(The main pages of interest with the link to the PDF are pages 75-83)

ANALYSIS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BATTLE OF KURSK IN JULY 1943 

Bibliography

 

Ramos, Enrique, MAJ. “Analysis and Significance of the Battle of Kursk in July 1943.” Master’s thesis, 1995. Defense Technical Information Center. Accessed April 13, 2012. http://www.dtic.mil/‌cgi-bin/‌GetTRDoc?AD=ADA299270.