July 5 - August 23, 1943

Operation «Rumyantsev»

From August 3 to August 23

Operation «Kutuzov»From July 12 to August 18

Kursk defensive operationFrom July 5 to July 12

Battle of Kursk is divided into 3 parts:

Plans and forces of the parties:

Nazi Germany USSR

The German command decided to hold major strategic operations in the Kursk salient in the summer of 1943. It was planned to make converging strokes from the areas of the city of Orel (from the north) and Belgorod (from the south). Strike groups were to unite in the Kursk area and surround the troops of the Central and Voronezh Fronts of the Soviet Army. The operation was code-named "Citadel".

For the operation, the Germans concentrated the group consisting of up to 50 divisions (including 18 armored and motorized), two armored brigades, three separate tank battalions and eight battalions of assault weapons, numbering, according to Soviet sources, about 900 thousand people.

The Soviet command decided to hold a defensive battle, to wear down the enemy troops, defeat them and make the counterattacks at the critical moment. In this end, the defense was created. Totally, eight defensive positions were established. The average density of mining in the direction of the expected impact of the enemy was 1500 and 1700 anti-tank mines per kilometer.

Troops of the Central and Voronezh Fronts numbered:more than 1 million 300 thousand people20 thousand guns and mortars3,600 tanks and self-propelled gunsabout 2950 aircrafts.

Source Personnel (thousand) Tanks and (sometimes) ACS

Guns and (sometimes) mortars Aircrafts

USSR Germany USSR Germany USSR Germany USSR Germany

Ministry of Defense of Russia

1336 over 900 3444 2733 19100 about 10000

2172 or2900 (includingU-2 and long-range)

2050

Grigoriy Krivosheev(Russian military historian)

1272

David Glantz and Jonathan House(American military historians)

1910 780 5040 2696 or 2928

Mueller-Gillebrand(The general of Wermacht)

2540 or 2758

Nicholas Zetterling and Anders Frankson(British historians)

1910 777

5128+2688totally, more then 8000

2451 31415 7417 3549 1830

Estimates of the forces before the battle of Kursk in various sources

The role of intelligenceSince the beginning of 1943, operation “Citadel“ was increasingly mentioned in the interception of secret messages of the High Command of Hitler's army and secret directives of Hitler . According to the memoirs of A. Mikoyan, on March 27 he was informed by Joseph Stalin about the German plans in the general details . On April 12, translated from German the text of Directive № 6 "On the plan of operation "Citadel " of the German command went to the table of Stalin, endorsed by all the services of the Wehrmacht, but not yet signed by A. Hitler, who signed it only three days later . These data were obtained by the agent who operated under the name of "Werther." The real name of the man is still unknown, but it is assumed that he was a member of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, and the information got to Moscow through the agent “Lucy”(R. Roessler), operating in the territory of Switzerland. There is an alternative hypothesis that Werther is the personal photographer of Hitler.However, it should be noted that on April 8, Zhukov, basing on the data of intelligence agencies of the Kursk’s direction, very accurately predicted the strength and direction of the German attacks on the Kursk Bulge. Though, the exact text of the "Citadel" had been on the table of Stalin three days before it was signed by A. Hitler, and four days before the German plan was obvious to the top Soviet military leaders, and general details about the availability of such plan had been known for at least twelve days before.

Before operation "Citadel". From right to left: Mr. Kluge, V. Model, E. Manstein. 1943

Colonel-General Hermann Hoth and Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, on discussion. June 21, 1943

Kursk Deffensive Operation

The German offensive began in the morning on July 5, 1943. As the Soviet command knew exactly when the operation began - 3 am (the German army fought according the Berlin time - in terms of the Moscow time - 5:00 am), at 10:30 pm and at 2:20 am according the Moscow time, the forces of the two fronts carried the preliminary bombardment (0.25 of the ammunition). The German report noted significant damage of the links and slight casualties. An unsuccessful air raid was also made by the 2nd and the 17th Air Army (more than 400 attack aircraft and fighters) to the Kharkov and Belgorod TMA of the opponent.Before the beginning of the ground operation, at 6 am, the Germans also attacked the Soviet defensive lines with bombing and artillery strikes. On beginning of the offensive, the tanks immediately encountered serious resistance. The main attack on the northern facet was struck in the direction of Olkhovatka. Unable to reach success, the Germans moved the blow in the direction of Ponyri, but they couldn’t break the Soviet defense. The Wehrmacht moved only on 10-12 km, after loosing two-thirds of tanks since July 10, the 9th German Army passed to the defense. In the southern facet main attacks of the Germans were sent to the areas of Korochi and Obayan.

The Battle of ProkhorovkaJuly 12, in the area of Prokhorovka the largest ever cross-tank battle took place.According to the data from Soviet sources, on the German side about 700 tanks and assault guns, according to Mr. Zamulina - 2nd SS Panzer Corps, which had 294 tanks (including 15 "Tigers") and ACS were involved in the battle.On the Soviet side the 5th Guard Tank Army of P. Rotmistrov, numbering about 850 tanks took part in the battle. After massive air strikes from both sides, the battle turned into an active phase, and it lasted until the end of the day.During the fight a lot of commanders of tanks (platoon and company) dropped out of the battle. The level of losses of commanders was high: 41 tank commanders (36% of total), the commanders of tank platoons (61%), the commanders of tank companies (100%) and the commanders of tank battalions (50%). By the end of July 12, the battle finished with unclear results, just to be resumed in the afternoon on 13 and 14 July. After the battle, the German forces could not move into the fortifications despite the fact that the loss of the Soviet tank armies were greater. After advancing at 35 miles for July 5-12 , the troops of Manstein were forced to begin the withdrawing of the troops from the captured beachhead. It has become the turning point in the battle. Having begun the advance on July 23, the Soviet army pushed the German armies in the south of the Kursk salient to their positions.

The belfry in commerotion of those, who died on Prokhorovka field

The cathedral in commemoration of those, who fell on Prokhorovka field

Operation «Kutuzov»July 12, the Western (commanded by Colonel General Vasily Sokolovsky) and the Bryansk’s (commanded by Colonel Popov Marcian) Fronts launched the offensive against the 2nd Armored and 9th Armies of the Germans in the city of Orel. By the end of the July 13, the Soviet troops broke through the enemy defenses. July 26, Germans left the Orel’s foothold and began to withdraw to the defensive line "Hagen" (in the east of Bryansk). August 5, 05:45, the Soviet troops liberated Orel . According to Soviet data, 90,000 Nazis have been destroyed in Orel’s operation.

Operation «Rumyantsev»

The counteroffensive of the Voronezh’s and Steppe Fronts on the southern facet began on August 3. August 5, at about 6 pm Belgorod was released, August 7, Bogodukhov was released. During the offensive, the Soviet troops cut the railroad “Kharkov-Poltava” August 11 , August 23 they captured Kharkov. German counterattacks have failed.August 5, the first salute of the whole war was given in Moscow in honor of the liberation of Orel and Belgorod.

The results of battle of KurskVictory at Kursk heralded the transition of a strategic initiative to the Red Army. By the moment of the front stabilization, the Soviet troops reached the beginning positions.After the end of the battle of Kursk the German Command had lost an opportunity to carry out strategic offensive operations. The local massive offensives, such as "Watch on the Rhine" (1944), or the operation at Lake Balaton (1945), also were failed. The losses in the battle of the parties are not clear. Thus, Soviet historians, including the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, say that there are more than 500 thousand killed, wounded and prisoners, 1,500 tanks and 3,700 aircraft had been destroyed.