![]() ![]() Ivan bullets zipped around us I could hear them flying past my ears. The 20-year-old lieutenant struggled toward his platoon’s objective on the morning of July 5, 1943, against a weight of fire he had never before experienced. Hitler and his Wehrmacht soon became reactive instead of proactive as they found themselves fighting battles on multiple fronts.German infantryman Raimund Rüffer would never forget the first day of Hitler’s offensive toward the Russian city of Kursk. Germany never regained momentum on the Eastern Front or recovered their loss of manpower and armor. Definitive casualty data is hard to come by, but it’s estimated there were up to 800,000 Soviet casualties compared to some 200,000 German casualties some historians believe those numbers are much lower than the actual casualties. Despite outnumbering and outgunning the Germans, they suffered many more casualties and loss of armament. Arguably, Germany won the tactical battle but were unable to break through the Red Army’s fortifications and so lost the advantage.īut the Soviets won at great cost. The Soviets won the Battle of Kursk and ended Hitler’s dream of conquering Russia. They broke through German lines at the Orel salient and by July 24th had the Germans on the run and had pushed them back beyond Operation Citadel’s original launching point. In the meantime, the Soviets launched a counteroffensive, Operation Kutuzov, north of Kursk on July 12. But the Soviets knew something big was in the works and their war machine went into overdrive producing top-of-the-line tanks, artillery and aircraft. Over the next few months, Germany amassed over 500,000 men, 10,000 guns and mortars, 2,700 tanks and assault guns and 2,500 aircraft to mount an attack on the Kursk Bulge and take Kursk. But the Wehrmacht – Germany’s unified military forces – chose to prepare for a later campaign along the Kursk Bulge instead so they lost their potential edge. In March 1943, after squashing Russian resistance in Belgorod and Kharkov near the south of the Kursk Bulge, German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein wanted to take advantage of the momentum and the battle-weary Russian army and attempt to seize Kursk. Desperate to fill the void, he recruited World War I veterans up to age 50 and young men from the Hitler Youth program previously exempt from serving on the front lines. Both Sides Prepare for a Larger-Than-Life Battleīy 1943, Operation Barbarossa (Germany’s invasion of Russia), the Battle of Stalingrad and other engagements had weakened Hitler’s army by almost two million men. He also wanted the tactical advantage of controlling Kursk’s railways and roads. Hitler needed to prove to his allies, the Axis Powers, and to the world that Germany was still a formidable enemy and in control of the Eastern Front. ![]() The salient became known as the Kursk Bulge and was a strategic location for Germany. It also showed the world they weren’t invincible and deeply humiliated Hitler, who in response planned a massive offensive attack to permanently solve his Soviet problem. It pushed the Germans back to southern Russia and left them weak and on the defensive. Germany’s defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad was a pivotal point in the war. Left with little choice, German General Friedrich Paulus went against Hitler’s orders and surrendered his weakened troops to Russia on February 2, 1943, an act which Hitler later called treason. The Germans were unprepared for Russia’s brutal winter and suffered freezing temperatures, starvation and disease. They saw the writing on the wall and had a chance to escape but Hitler commanded they “hold their positions to the last man and the last round…” He also promised additional provisions – provisions that never arrived. Ultimately, Germany’s plan to wipe out the Red Army once and for all failed, but not before both sides experienced heavy casualties.īy mid-November, the Germans found themselves outnumbered, outgunned, extremely low on food and medical supplies and surrounded by Russians. The battle was Germany’s last chance to regain dominance on the Eastern Front during World War II and would be their final blitzkrieg offensive.ĭespite a massive planned assault on Soviet troops using heavy tanks, artillery and air power, postponements by German dictator Adolf Hitler gave the Soviets ample time to prepare for the onslaught. The Battle of Kursk occurred in July 1943 around the Soviet city of Kursk in western Russia, as Germany launched Operation Citadel, Hitler’s response to his devastating defeat by the Soviet Red Army at the Battle of Stalingrad. The German Offensive Ends and Russia’s Begins.Both Sides Prepare for a Larger-Than-Life Battle.Germany’s Epic Defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad.
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