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It Had To Happend
It seems now that the battle of Kursk was really inevitable. It had to come to this. The two opposing sides had been hammering at one another for two years. The pendulum swung one way and then the other. Sooner or later, there would be a decisive battle that would decide the final course of the war. It would take place in southern Russia in an uneven circle of some 75 miles with the town of Kursk at its center. Though the fighting never reached it, Kursk would be the infamous name attached to this mighty series of battles.
Kursk was in essence a show of strength. The German army would stand toe to toe with the Russian bear in a slugfest to the bitter end. It was not a contest of courage or will. If it had been it would have ended in a draw. Both forces demonstrated clearly that they had the will and the desire to win. Ultimately it was a conflict in which skilled warriors with high-tech equipment would fight a larger swarming horde of lesser-trained, but equally motivated soldiers, tankers and airmen in a fight o the finish.
Oh the war would go on, of course, but this would be the last great offensive action of the German army in the East. From Kursk on to the end, the Wehrmacht began a bloody trek back to whence they had come two years earlier.
A New Effort
The path that had led both forces to this point was marked with danger signs for Germany from the start. The first winter in Russia was for the Wehrmacht a nightmare. The second winter, a calamity of major proportions. In a battle that lasted for six months, one tenth of the entire Germany army was lost.
That meant one soldier in ten had disappeared from the German ranks. The vaunted German 6th army and entire divisions of allies were simply sucked off the face of the Motherland as with a giant brown vacuum cleaner. They were gone. The only remains were the blackened hulks and torn bodies that littered both the city and the surrounding countryside. Divinity mercifully covered the entire grim spectacle with a blanket of white as if to give the combatants a moment of peace.
Now it was 1943. General von Manstein, in a masterstroke compensated somewhat for the horrendous losses suffered in the fighting for Stalingrad with the recapture of Kharkov in March. The spring thaw then slowed movement to a crawl and halted any advantages to the Germans to capitalize on the opportunity. Army Group South with its victory had given new impetus to Hitler and the OKW.
The new plan that was generated was Manstein’s "backhand stroke." He would allow the Russians to enter the Donetz basin and then begin a sweeping movement north from Kharkov that would place the Soviets in he same peril that his fellow soldiers had fallen into at Stalingrad. When OKW got wind of the idea, it was changed. (Describe the Salient, size, location, etc, geographical area)
Since there now existed a salient or bulge of Russian forces that had protruded itself into the German front lines, why not cut it off? Instead of a sweep from the south by one Army Group, two would participate and form giant pincers at both extremes of that bulge.
Well equipped and with the newer weapons and tanks, the German army would deal the Bolsheviks such a blow that the whole Russian offensive would stall. Then either Hitler could negotiate a peace of sorts with Stalin or time would be bought to bring more devastating weapons to the table of war.
Hitler for once hesitated. He was not sure. The loss at Stalingrad seemed to have taken the blind assurance for which he had been known away from him. He wanted to win this one. He knew his armies had to, or it would be all over. In addition the losses suffered in and around Stalingrad had so weakened the offensive punch of the Wehrmacht that it would be some months into 1943 before anything like the earlier German offensives could be executed.
So in order to be sure of a victory, he would need time to prepare his attacking forces. This period of preparation was to end in May, and then June. The newest tank in the German inventory, the Mark V Panther was in production, but would enough of them be ready in time.
The introduction of the Tiger had startled the Russians, much as the T-34 had the German tankers in 1941. Hitler believed in this new tank, designed specifically to kill that evil beast. It would be the best medium tank of its day. But it had problems. The rush to get it off the assembly lines and into action would be the source of much grief to German armored commanders as the battle got under way.
The Germans had amassed a powerful force. To the north, under Kluge (the 9th Army) were poised six armored and five infantry divisions with all their support units. In the south, the brilliant General von Manstein would provide two armies, the Fourth Armored and Detachment Kempf. Together they mustered eleven armored and five infantry divisions.
Two new pieces of armor would have their baptism of battle at Kursk. They would be the Ferdinand or "Elephant," a monster turretless self-propelled piece with some of the thickest armor plating imaginable, and the "Panther," specifically designed to counter the Russian T-34. Tragically, neither weapon would do well in this fight, though the Panther was destined to become perhaps the best all round tank of the Second World War.
Some of the most intricate and deadly defenses ever imagined were prepared and in great depth. The Russians wanted the Germans to attack. They wanted to bleed and kill the German army. This was a showdown that would please the Soviets.
There was intense debate over the outcome of such a titanic battle among the high command in the German army. Even Hitler stated that his stomach churned at the thought of such a gamble. Even he apparently recognized that the fate of the war in Russia would hinge on this momentous conflict.
Still, there seemed to be no other choice. The Fuhrer despised retreat and desperately wanted to go back to the offensive. This was the ideal place. April had been the ideal time. But it was July, and it was too late. Like a giant machine set in motion, the plans and preparations had come to far to stop now. The battle for Kursk would take place.
By the end of June, the Germans were finally ready. But so were the Russians. Through an intricate and reliable spy network known as "the Lucy Ring" the Russian high command was well informed about the German plan and began stuffing the Kursk bulge with every weapon and man it could spare.
The forces grew until elements of three Russian "Fronts" were packed into a tiny area. It included Rokossovsky’s Central Front (the northern sector), Vatutin’s Voronesh Front (Southern sector) and Konev's Steppe or Reserve Front. Remember, the term "Front," when referring to the Soviet army, was the equivalent of an army group, not a battle line as the word suggests.
It would be Marshall Georgi Zhukov who would coordinate the defenses and counteroffensives at Kursk. With information supplied by the infamous spy ring within the higher echelons of German command, Zhukov was fully aware of the enemy’s intentions. As early as April 12th, he conferred with Stalin in Moscow.
Quietly listening, Stalin puffed his pipe and nodded his head. Though the Premier considered Zhukov a threat to his authority, there was no refuting his talents as a military leader. They were agreed. The area in the salient would be strongly reinforced with three concentric belts of mines, antitank guns, artillery and fortified infantry positions. In reserve would be a huge force of tank-heavy units for a swift and brutal counterattack.
Thus the German high command was unaware that an attack in great force into Kursk was precisely what the Russian military desired. As time passed, and the ground dried from the spring thaw, the Germans still did not come. Excellent! Now Zhukov began to work in earnest. Organizational tables and communications between units were much improved. Better radios, automatic weapons, antitank guns and an enormous amount of mines (2,500 anti-personnel and 2,200 antitank mines per mile of defensive front) were brought into the salient.
Whole antiaircraft and artillery divisions were formed and moved to the front to give the Supreme Command more mobility with better control and higher density of fire. Tank production was increased, with units in the Kursk area having top priority.
By the summer of 1943, the Russians had five full tank armies ready for action. Each army included two tank corps and one mechanized corps. Over one million soldiers were prepared to fight. In the air, the aircraft wings were flying improved Yaks and Sturmoviks. Each of the four Fronts now had its own air arm of 700 to 800 aircraft.
In actuality, the defenders outnumbered the attackers in every area. While no sets of figures found in historical documents match exactly, it is estimated that the German forces at Kursk numbered 900,000 men, 2,500 aircraft, 10,000 artillery pieces and 2,400 tanks. On the Soviet side of the ledger, there were 1,350,000 men, 2,650 aircraft, 20,000 artillery pieces and nearly 4,000 tanks and self-propelled guns. Numerically then, considering the standard table of odds (an attacker should have a 3 to 1 advantage against the enemy and a 5 to1 advantage against well-prepared defenses), the Germans were defeated before they began.
On July 5th, the moment came.
The mighty German armored spearheads swept forward into a sea of mines. Minefields were everywhere. The columns continued. Flying low overhead were specially equipped tank-killing Stukas, armed with 37mm cannon that could easily penetrate the lightly armored tops of Russian tanks. From the other side came the Yaks and Sturmoviks, wreaking the same havoc on German armor.
The dreaded T-34s were present, in such numbers that German tank crews described their mad charges as suicidal, yet effective. Knowing that range was their enemy against the 88mm guns of the Tigers, the T-34s and other Soviet armor rushed ahead and closed with the enemy. They came so fast and so many that even the most proficient German tank crews could not stop them. They were almost like human-wave assaults dressed in thick steel. Once at close range, even the vaunted Tiger found itself vulnerable to an armor-piercing 76mm shell.
Explosions from dying tanks came as rapidly as the rat-a-tat of machine gun fire. Both in the north and south, tanks were going up in flames every few seconds. Frightened peasants living in the area ran for their lives, screaming and covering their ears to shut out the mighty crescendo of death.
There were times when the smoke from burning vehicles blotted out the sun. Never before or since had an action of this magnitude been fought in such a reduced space. Aircraft constantly fell from the sky, like stricken birds, the flames and smoke of their fiery destruction lacing the sky.German gunner claimed over 400 Russian planes shot down in one day.
At first, the inexorable weight of the German attack in both directions seemed to be succeeding. The tragedy was as they advanced their numbers were greatly diminished. Thus after covering a few miles an attacking group would have its strength cut by one-third or more, greatly diminishing its effectiveness. German tank commanders had standing orders that if their tanks were disabled, they were not to abandon them, but continue to fight. Such orders were suicide. One of the essential qualities of a tank is its mobility. Take it away and it becomes a large inviting target. The hundreds of antitank guns and Soviet assault crews made quick work of such steel invalids.
In the north, von Kluge’s forces penetrated nine miles of the deadly enemy defenses. It had taken five days to do it. By this time, however, the German juggernaut had come to a standstill. Manstein’s armies in the south did even better. Though getting off to a slow start, they gradually picked up momentum. Their high point came at the great tank battle of Prokhorovka.
Here over 1,500 tanks entered into one of the most intense confrontations of armor ever seen. The Germans broke through, even though they had suffered horrendous casualties. They had, however, smashed or badly crippled no less than ten Soviet tank or mechanized Corps, or upward of 20 enemy divisions.
As the success of the fight hung in the balance, Hitler made a startling announcement. Allied landings had taken place in Sicily. Fearing the weakness of his Italian allies, the Fuhrer made immediate plans to withdraw the very units needed to complete the task and send them to the west. Von Kluge put up little protest. He already felt beaten and unable to continue in the north. In the south, however, General von Manstein cried "foul," and earnestly pleaded to keep his units. Hitler finally agreed that the fighting could continue to finish off the Soviet forces already engaged. His removal of the very units needed to accomplish that brought the battle of Kursk to a close.
Germany had given its best. Its casualties included 120,000 men and over 1,500 tanks, many of which could not be recovered for repair. These would prove to later be irreplaceable. Not that the Soviets had not suffered either. Their losses included over 200,000 casualties and over 1,500 tanks. Many of those, however, were recovered and repaired, thus minimizing the armor losses.
So the battle of Kursk became a doorway, a doorway of retreat, through which the German Army, once the almighty conqueror of the Russian Steppes, would begin a painful, shameful retreat for over 1,000 miles back to their shattered homeland. Like angry baying hounds, the Russian now had the taste of blood, and would pursue them relentlessly.
