It created a bulge in the Eastern Front, stretching 150 miles between the north and the south. The region of Kursk was a Soviet salient. In the summer of 1943, two-thirds of German troops were positioned somewhere on the Eastern Front. At this point, much to Stalin’s frustration, the Allies had not yet engaged the Germans in a Western Front, so the Germans only had one Front on which they needed to focus their attentions. Rearmament and reproduction had accelerated for Germans in 19, so the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe well equipped for the battle. The battle marked the first strategic summer offensive for the Red Army, breaking the pattern of the war: “as summer 1943 approached, the reality seemed to be that the Germans owned the summer and the Red Army the winter” (Glantz and Orenstein, 1999: xiii). These two factors allowed the Soviets to adequately prepare for battle, and create defensive lines throughout Kursk “the delay may have strengthened the German attack force, but it helped the Russian defenders even more” (Lanning, 2005: 160). The Germans were also delayed in starting the offensive, waiting for prime weather conditions, and for the latest tank models to be completed (Lanning 2005: 160). The Red Army received intelligence regarding the offensive from the British, altering them to the planned attack. After the devastating blow at Stalingrad, the Germans also felt the need to reassert their strength on the European stage. The Germans planned the offensive to alleviate the pressure on the Eastern front by retaking the Kursk salient and using captured citizens for labour in order to progress the German war effort. It began as a German offensive under the codename Operation Citadel, which was met by two Soviet counter-offensives.
It is remembered as being an intensive tank battle, earning the reputation of being the ‘greatest tank battle’ in military history. The Battle of Kursk was a decisive Soviet victory against the Germans in the Second World War, lasting between July 5 th and August 23 rd 1943. WW2 Planes: A History of World War 2 Aircraft.Which countries were involved in World War Two.
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