The Battle of Kursk (Battle of the Kursk Bulge), which lasted from July 5 to August 23, 1943, is one of the key battles of the Great Patriotic War. In Soviet and Russian historiography, it is customary to divide the battle into three parts: the Kursk defensive operation (July 5-23); Oryol (July 12 - August 18) and Belgorod-Kharkov (August 3-23) offensive.

During the winter offensive of the Red Army and the ensuing counter-offensive of the Wehrmacht in Eastern Ukraine, a ledge up to 150 kilometers deep and up to 200 kilometers wide was formed in the center of the Soviet-German front, facing the west (the so-called "Kursk Bulge"). The German command decided to conduct a strategic operation on the Kursk salient. For this, a military operation codenamed "Citadel" was developed and approved in April 1943. Having information about the preparation of the German-fascist troops for the offensive, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided to temporarily go over to the defensive on the Kursk Bulge and, during a defensive battle, bleed the enemy's shock groups and thereby create favorable conditions for the transition of Soviet troops to a counteroffensive, and then to a general strategic offensive. ...

To carry out Operation Citadel, the German command concentrated 50 divisions in the sector, including 18 tank and motorized divisions. The enemy grouping numbered, according to Soviet sources, about 900 thousand people, up to 10 thousand guns and mortars, about 2.7 thousand tanks and more than 2 thousand aircraft. Air support for the German forces was provided by the forces of the 4th and 6th air fleets.

By the beginning of the Battle of Kursk, the headquarters of the Supreme Command created a grouping (Central and Voronezh fronts), which had more than 1.3 million people, up to 20 thousand guns and mortars, more than 3300 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2650 aircraft. The troops of the Central Front (commanded by General of the Army Konstantin Rokossovsky) defended the northern face of the Kursk salient, and the troops of the Voronezh Front (commanded by General of the Army Nikolai Vatutin) defended the southern face. The troops that occupied the ledge relied on the Steppe Front as part of a rifle, 3 tank, 3 motorized and 3 cavalry corps (commanded by Colonel General Ivan Konev). The coordination of the actions of the fronts was carried out by representatives of the Headquarters Marshals of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilevsky.

On July 5, 1943, according to the plan of Operation Citadel, German strike groups launched an offensive against Kursk from the regions of Orel and Belgorod. From the direction of Orel, a grouping under the command of Field Marshal Gunter Hans von Kluge (Army Group Center) was advancing, from the side of Belgorod - a grouping under the command of General Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (Task Force Kempf of Army Group South).

The task of repelling the offensive from the direction of Orel was assigned to the troops of the Central Front, from the side of Belgorod - the Voronezh Front.

On July 12, in the vicinity of the Prokhorovka railway station, 56 kilometers north of Belgorod, the largest oncoming tank battle of the Second World War took place - a battle between the advancing enemy tank group (Operational Group Kempf) and the Soviet forces counterstriking. Up to 1200 tanks and self-propelled guns took part in the battle on both sides. The fierce battle lasted all day, by evening the tank crews, along with the infantry, fought hand-to-hand. In one day, the enemy lost about 10 thousand people and 400 tanks and was forced to go over to the defensive.

On the same day, the troops of the Bryansk, Central and Left Wing of the Western Fronts launched Operation Kutuzov, which had the goal of crushing the enemy's Oryol grouping. On July 13, the troops of the Western and Bryansk fronts broke through the enemy's defenses on the Bolkhov, Khotynets and Oryol axes and advanced to a depth of 8 to 25 km. On July 16, the troops of the Bryansk Front reached the line of the Oleshnya River, after which the German command began to withdraw its main forces to their original positions. By July 18, the troops of the right wing of the Central Front had completely eliminated the enemy wedge in the Kursk direction. On the same day, the troops of the Steppe Front were brought into battle, which began to pursue the retreating enemy.

Developing the offensive, the Soviet ground forces, supported from the air by strikes from the forces of the 2nd and 17th air armies, as well as by long-range aviation, by August 23, 1943, threw the enemy back to the west by 140-150 km, liberated Oryol, Belgorod and Kharkov. According to Soviet sources, the Wehrmacht lost 30 elite divisions in the Battle of Kursk, including 7 tank divisions, over 500 thousand soldiers and officers, 1.5 thousand tanks, more than 3.7 thousand aircraft, 3 thousand guns. The losses of the Soviet troops surpassed the German ones; they amounted to 863 thousand people. At Kursk, the Red Army lost about 6 thousand tanks.

Kursk Bulge in brief about the battle

• The offensive of the German army
• The offensive of the Red Army
• General summary
• The battle of Kursk is even shorter
• Video about the Kursk battle

How did the Battle of Kursk begin?

• Hitler decided that it was at the location of the Kursk Bulge that a turning point in the seizure of territory should take place. The operation was called "Citadel" and was supposed to involve the fronts of Voronezh and Central.
• But, in one thing, Hitler was right, Zhukov and Vasilevsky agreed with him, the Kursk Bulge was to become one of the main battles and, undoubtedly, most importantly, of the future.
• This is exactly how Zhukov and Vasilevsky reported to Stalin. Zhukov was able to roughly estimate the possible forces of the invaders.

• German armament has been updated and increased in volume. Thus, a tremendous mobilization was carried out. The Soviet army, namely those fronts on which the Germans were counting, were approximately on a par in terms of their equipment.
• In some respects, the Russians were winning.
• In addition to the Central and Voronezh fronts (under the command of Rokossovsky and Vatutin, respectively), there was also a secret front - Stepnoy, under the command of Konev, about which the enemy knew nothing.
• The Steppe Front became insurance for two main directions.
• The Germans have been preparing for this offensive since spring. But when they launched an attack in the summer, this did not come as an unexpected blow for the Red Army.
• The Soviet army also did not sit idle. Eight defensive lines were erected at the proposed site of the battle.

Combat tactics on the Kursk Bulge

• It was thanks to the developed qualities of a military leader, and the work of intelligence, that the command of the Soviet army was able to understand the plans of the enemy and the defense-offensive plan came up perfectly.
• The defensive lines were built with the help of the population living near the battlefield.
  The German side built the plan in such a way that the Kursk Bulge should help to make the front line more even.
• If this succeeded, then the next stage would be to develop an offensive into the center of the state.

The offensive of the German army

The offensive of the Red Army

General summary

Reconnaissance as an important part of the Battle of Kursk

The battle of Kursk is even shorter
Kursk Bulge became one of the largest battlefields during the Great Patriotic War. Briefly about the battle is outlined below.

All the hostilities that took place during the Battle of Kursk took place from July 5 to August 23, 1943. During this battle, the German command hoped to destroy all Soviet troops representing the Central and Voronezh fronts. At that time, they were actively defending Kursk. If the Germans succeeded in this battle, the initiative in the war would return to the Germans. In order to implement their plans, the German command allocated more than 900 thousand soldiers, 10 thousand guns of various calibers, and 2.7 thousand tanks and 2,050 aircraft were allocated in support. New Tiger and Panther class tanks, as well as new Focke-Wulf 190 A fighters and Heinkel 129 assault aircraft, took part in this battle.

The command of the Soviet Union hoped to bleed the enemy during his offensive, and then conduct a large-scale counterattack. Thus, the Germans did exactly what the Soviet army expected. The scale of the battle was truly grandiose, the Germans sent almost the entire army and all available tanks into the attack. However, the Soviet troops stood to their death, and the defensive lines were not surrendered. On the Central Front, the enemy advanced 10-12 kilometers, on Voronezh, the enemy's penetration depth was 35 kilometers, but the Germans could not go further.

The outcome of the battle on the Kursk Bulge was determined by the battle of tanks near the village of Prokhorovka, which took place on July 12. This was the largest battle of tank forces in history; more than 1.2 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts were thrown into the battle. On this day, German troops lost more than 400 tanks, and the invaders were driven back. After that, the Soviet troops launched an active offensive, and on August 23, the Battle of the Kursk Bulge was over with the liberation of Kharkov, and with this event the further defeat of Germany became inevitable.

In July 1943, the German army launched Operation Citadel, a massive offensive on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge on the Eastern Front. But the Red Army was well prepared to crush the advancing German tanks at some point with thousands of Soviet T-34 tanks.

CHRONICLE OF THE BATTLE OF KURSK, July 5-12

July 5 - 04:30 the Germans inflict an artillery strike - this marked the beginning of the battle on the Kursk Bulge.

July 6 - over 2000 tanks from both sides took part in the battle near the villages of Soborovka and Ponyri. German tanks were unable to break through the defenses of the Soviet troops.

July 10 - Model's 9th Army was unable to break through the defenses of the Soviet troops on the northern face of the arc and went over to the defensive.

July 12 - Soviet tanks hold back a blow from German tanks in the epic battle of Prokhorovka.

Background. Decisive bet

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In the summer of 1943, Hitler sent all of Germany's military power to the Eastern Front in order to achieve a decisive victory at the Kursk Bulge.

After the surrender of German troops in Stalingrad in February 1943, it seemed that the entire southern flank of the Wehrmacht was about to collapse. However, the Germans miraculously managed to resist. They won the battle of Kharkov and stabilized the front line. With the beginning of the spring thaw, the Eastern Front froze, stretching from the suburbs of Leningrad in the north to the west of Rostov on the Black Sea.

In the spring, both sides summed up the results. The Soviet leadership wanted to resume the offensive. In the German command, in connection with the realization of the impossibility of making up for the terrible losses of the last two years, an opinion arose about the transition to strategic defense. In the spring, only 600 vehicles remained in the German tank forces. The shortage of the German army as a whole was 700,000 people.

The revival of tank units Hitler instructed Heinz Guderian, appointing him chief inspector of the armored forces. Guderian, one of the creators of the lightning victories of the outbreak of the war in 1939-1941, tried his best to increase the number and quality of tanks, and also helped to adopt new types of vehicles, such as the Pz.V "Panther".

Supply problems

The German command was in a difficult position. During 1943, Soviet power could only increase. The quality of Soviet troops and equipment also improved rapidly. Even for the transition of the German army to the defense, the reserves were clearly not enough. Field Marshal Erich von Manstein believed that, given the superiority of the Germans in the ability to wage a mobile war, the problem would be solved by "elastic defense" with "inflicting powerful local attacks on the enemy of a limited nature, gradually undermining its power to a decisive level."

Hitler tried to solve two problems. At first, he sought to achieve success in the East in order to induce Turkey to enter the war on the side of the Axis countries. Second, the defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa meant that the Allies would invade southern Europe in the summer. This will further weaken the Wehrmacht in the east due to the need to regroup troops to deal with the new threat. The result of all this was the decision of the German command to launch an offensive on the Kursk Bulge - this was the name of the protrusion in the front line, which had 100 km in diameter at its base. In the operation, which received the code designation "Citadel", the German armada was to attack from the north and south. Victory would have thwarted the plans for the Red Army's summer offensive and cut the front line.

German Command Plans Revealed

German plans for an offensive on the Kursk Bulge became known to the Headquarters of the Supreme Command from the Soviet resident "Luci" in Switzerland and from British codebreakers. At a meeting on April 12, 1943, Marshal Zhukov convincingly objected that instead of starting a preemptive offensive of the Soviet troops, “it would be better if we exhaust the enemy on our defenses, knock out his tanks, and then, introducing fresh reserves, by going over to a general offensive, we would finally finish off the main enemy grouping. ". Stalin agreed. The Red Army began to create a powerful defense system on the ledge.

The Germans were going to strike at the end of spring or at the beginning of summer, but they failed to concentrate the strike forces. It was only on July 1 that Hitler informed his commanders that Operation Citadel would have to start on July 5. A day later, Stalin learned from "Luci" that the blow would be delivered between 3 and 6 July.

The Germans planned to cut off the ledge under its base with powerful simultaneous strikes from the north and south. In the north, the 9th Army (Colonel General Walter Model) from Army Group Center was to push straight to Kursk and east to Maloarkhangelsk. This grouping included 15 infantry divisions and seven tank and motorized divisions. In the south, the 4th Panzer Army of General Hermann Goth from Army Group South was to break through the Soviet defenses between Belgorod and Gertsovka, occupy the city of Oboyan, and then advance on Kursk to join the 9th Army. Army group "Kempf" was supposed to cover the flank of the 4th Panzer Army. The strike force of Army Group South consisted of nine armored and motorized divisions and eight infantry divisions.

The northern face of the arc was defended by the Central Front of General of the Army Konstantin Rokossovsky. In the south, the German offensive was supposed to be repelled by the Voronezh Front of Army General Nikolai Vatutin. In the depths of the ledge, powerful reserves were concentrated as part of the Steppe Front of Colonel-General Ivan Konev. A reliable anti-tank defense was created. In the most tank-hazardous areas, up to 2,000 anti-tank mines were installed for each kilometer of the front.

Opposing sides. Great confrontation

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In the Battle of Kursk, the Panzer divisions of the Wehrmacht faced a reorganized and well-equipped Red Army. On July 5, Operation Citadel began - an experienced and battle-hardened German army went on the offensive. Its main striking force was tank divisions. Their staff during that period of the war was 15 600 people and 150-200 tanks each. In reality, these divisions included an average of 73 tanks. However, three SS Panzer divisions (as well as the "Great Germany" division) each had 130 (or more) combat-ready tanks. In total, the Germans had 2,700 tanks and assault guns.

Basically, tanks of the Pz.III and Pz.IV types participated in the Battle of the Kursk Bulge. The command of the German troops had high hopes for the striking power of the new Tiger I and Panther tanks and the Ferdinand self-propelled guns. The Tigers fared well, but the Panthers showed some flaws, in particular those associated with an unreliable transmission and chassis, as Heinz Guderian had warned.

The battle was attended by 1,800 Luftwaffe aircraft, which were especially active at the beginning of the offensive. Bomber squadrons Ju 87 last time in this war, they carried out classic massive dive bombing strikes.

During the Battle of Kursk, the Germans faced reliable Soviet defensive lines of great depth. They could neither break through nor bypass them. Therefore, the German troops had to create a new tactical grouping for a breakthrough. Tank wedge - "Panzerkeil" - was supposed to become a "can opener" for opening Soviet anti-tank defense units. At the head of the strike group were heavy tanks "Tiger I" and tank destroyers "Ferdinand" with powerful anti-artillery-row armor that could withstand shells from Soviet anti-tank defenses. They were followed by the lighter Panthers, Pz.IV and Pz.HI, dispersed along the front at intervals of up to 100 m between the tanks. To ensure interaction in the offensive, each tank wedge constantly maintained radio communication with strike aviation and field artillery.

Red Army

In 1943, the combat power of the Wehrmacht was on the decline. But the Red Army was rapidly turning into a new, more effective formation. The form with shoulder straps and unit signs was reintroduced. Many famous units have earned the title of "guards", as in the tsarist army. The main tank of the Red Army was the T-34. But already in 1942, the modified German Pz.IV tanks were able to match this tank in their own data. With the appearance of the Tiger I tanks in the German army, it became clear that the armor and armament of the T-34 needed to be strengthened. The most powerful combat vehicle in the Battle of Kursk was the SU-152 tank destroyer, which entered the troops in limited numbers. This self-propelled artillery unit was armed with a 152-mm howitzer, which was very effective against enemy armored vehicles.

The Soviet army had powerful artillery at its disposal, which largely determined its success. Fighter anti-tank artillery batteries included 152-mm and 203-mm howitzers. Also actively used combat vehicles of rocket artillery - "Katyusha".

The Red Army Air Force has also been strengthened. Fighters Yak-9D and La-5FN nullified the technical superiority of the Germans. The Il-2 M-3 attack aircraft was also effective.

Victory tactics

Although at the beginning of the war the German army had superiority in the skill of using tanks, by 1943 this difference had become almost invisible. The bravery of the Soviet tankmen and the courage of the infantry in defense also negated the experience and tactical advantages of the Germans. The Red Army men became masters of defense. Marshal Zhukov realized that in the Battle of Kursk it was worth applying this skill in all its splendor. His tactics were simple: to form a deep and developed defensive system and make the Germans bogged down in a labyrinth of trenches in futile attempts to break through. Soviet troops, with the help of the local population, dug thousands of kilometers of trenches, trenches, anti-tank ditches, densely laid minefields, erected barbed wire, prepared firing positions for artillery and mortars, etc.

Villages were fortified and up to 300,000 civilians, mainly women and children, were involved in the construction of defense lines. During the Battle of Kursk, the Wehrmacht was hopelessly stuck in the defense of the Red Army.

First stage. Blow from the North

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Tanks and infantry of Model's 9th Army launched an offensive on Ponyri, but ran into powerful Soviet defensive lines. On the evening of July 4, on the northern face of the arc, Rokossovsky's troops captured a team of German sappers. During interrogation, they indicated that the attack would begin in the morning at 03:30.

Taking into account these data, Rokossovsky ordered to start counter-training at 02:20 in the areas of concentration of German troops. This delayed the start of the German offensive, but still, at 05:00, an intensive shelling of the advanced units of the Red Army began.

The German infantry, with great difficulty, moved through densely fired terrain, suffering serious losses from the antipersonnel mines installed with a high density. By the end of the first day, for example, two divisions, which were the main striking force of the grouping on the right flank of the German troops - the 258th Infantry Division, which had the task of breaking through the Orel Kursk Highway, and the 7th Infantry Division, were forced to lie down and dig in.

The advancing German tanks achieved more significant successes. On the first day of the offensive, the 20th Panzer Division, at the cost of heavy losses, in some places wedged in 6-8 km deep into the defense zone, occupying the village of Bobrik. On the night of July 5-6, Rokossovsky, assessing the situation, calculated where the Germans would advance the next day, and quickly regrouped the units. Soviet sappers were laying mines. The main defense center was the town of Maloarkhangelsk.

On July 6, the Germans tried to capture the village of Ponyri, as well as Hill 274 near the village of Olkhovatka. But the Soviet command assessed the significance of this position at the end of June. Therefore, Model's 9th Army stumbled upon the most fortified area of ​​the defense.

On July 6, German troops launched an offensive with Tiger I tanks in the vanguard, but they had not only to break through the defensive lines of the Red Army, but also to repulse the counterattacks of Soviet tanks. On July 6, 1000 German tanks launched an attack on a 10 km front between the villages of Ponyri and Soborovka and suffered serious losses on the prepared defensive lines. The infantry let the tanks through and then set them on fire by throwing Molotov cocktails at the engine blinds. The dug-in T-34 tanks fired from small distances. The German infantry advanced with significant losses - the entire area was intensively fired upon by machine guns and artillery. Although the Soviet tanks suffered damage from the fire of the powerful 88-mm guns of the Tiger tanks, the losses of the Germans were very heavy.

German troops were stopped not only in the center, but also on the left flank, where reinforcements that had arrived in time in Maloarkhangelsk strengthened the defense.

The Wehrmacht was never able to overcome the resistance of the Red Army and crush the troops of Rokossovsky. The Germans only wedged in to a shallow depth, but every time Model thought that he had managed to break through, the Soviet troops withdrew, and the enemy ran into a new line of defense. Already on July 9, Zhukov gave the northern grouping of troops a secret order to prepare to launch a counteroffensive.

Particularly strong battles were fought for the village of Ponyri. As in Stalingrad, although not on such a scale, desperate battles broke out for the most important positions - the school, the water tower and the machine-tractor station. In the course of fierce battles, they repeatedly passed from hand to hand. On July 9, the Germans threw the Ferdinand assault guns into battle, but they could not break the resistance of the Soviet troops.

Although the Germans nevertheless captured most of the village of Ponyri, they suffered serious losses: more than 400 tanks and up to 20,000 soldiers. The model managed to drive a wedge 15 km deep into the defensive lines of the Red Army. On July 10, Model threw his last reserves to the decisive assault on the heights at Olkhovatka, but failed.

The next strike was scheduled for 11 July, but by then the Germans had new reasons for concern. Soviet troops undertook reconnaissance in force in the northern sector, which was the beginning of Zhukov's counterattack on Orel in the rear of the 9th Army. The model had to withdraw tank units to eliminate this new threat. By noon, Rokossovsky could report to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command that the 9th Army was reliably withdrawing its tanks from battle. The battle on the northern face of the arc was won.

Map of the battle for the village of Ponyri

July 5-12, 1943. View from the southeast

Events

1.5 July German 292nd Infantry Division attacks northern part villages and embankments.
2. This division is supported by the 86th and 78th Infantry Divisions, which attacked Soviet positions in and around the village.
3. On July 7, reinforced units of the 9th and 18th Panzer Divisions attack the Ponyri, but run into Soviet minefields, artillery fire and dug-in tanks. Il-2 M-3 attack aircraft strike at the advancing tanks from the air.
4. In the village itself, fierce hand-to-hand fighting is raging. Particularly hot battles took place near water tower, schools, machine-tractor and railway stations... German and Soviet troops struggled to capture these key defenses. Because of these battles, the Ponyrs began to be called "Kursk Stalingrad".
5. On July 9, the 508th German Grenadier Regiment, supported by several Ferdinand self-propelled guns, finally reaches height 253.3.
6. Although by the evening of July 9, German troops advanced, but at the cost of very heavy losses.
7. To complete the breakthrough in this sector, Model, on the night of July 10-11, throws her last reserve, the 10th Panzer Division, into an assault. By this time, the 292nd Infantry Division had been bled out. Although on July 12 the Germans occupied most the village of Ponyri, they did not manage to completely break through the Soviet defenses.

Second phase. Blow from the south

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Army Group South was the most powerful formation of the German troops during the Battle of Kursk. Its offensive became a serious test for the Red Army. It was relatively easy to stop the offensive of Model's 9th Army from the north for a number of reasons. The Soviet command expected that the Germans would deliver the decisive blow in this direction. Therefore, a more powerful group was created on the Rokossovsky front. However, the Germans concentrated their best troops on the southern face of the arc. Vatutin's Voronezh front had fewer tanks. Due to the greater length of the front, it was not possible here to create a defense with a sufficiently high density of troops. Already at the initial stage, the German advanced units were able to quickly break through the Soviet defenses in the south.

Vatutin became aware of the exact date of the start of the German offensive, as in the north, on the evening of July 4, and he was able to organize counter-training for the German strike forces. The Germans began shelling at 03:30. In the reports, they indicated that more shells were used up in this artillery barrage than in the whole during the entire war with Poland and France in 1939 and 1940.

The main force on the left flank of the German strike group was the 48th Panzer Corps. His first task was to break through the Soviet defense line and reach the Pena River. This corps had 535 tanks and 66 assault guns. The 48th corps was able to occupy the village of Cherkasskoye only after fierce battles, which greatly undermined the power of this formation.

2nd SS Panzer Corps

In the center of the German grouping was advancing the 2nd SS Panzer Corps under the command of Paul Hausser (390 tanks and 104 assault guns, including 42 Tiger tanks out of 102 vehicles of this type in Army Group South). This corps was also able to advance into the first day thanks to good interaction with aviation. But on the right flank of the German forces, Army Task Force Kempf was hopelessly stuck near the Donets River crossings.

These first offensive actions of the German army disturbed the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. The Voronezh front was reinforced with infantry and tanks.

Despite this, the next day, the German SS Panzer divisions followed up on the success. The powerful 100-mm frontal armor and 88-mm guns of the advancing Tiger 1 tanks made them almost invulnerable to the fire of Soviet guns and tanks. By the evening of July 6, the Germans broke through another Soviet line of defense.

The Fortitude of the Red Army

However, the failure of Task Force Kempf on the right flank meant that 2nd SS Panzer Corps would have to cover its right flank with its own regular units, which prevented the advance. On July 7, the actions of German tanks were greatly impeded by massive raids by the Soviet Air Force. Still, on July 8, it seemed that 48th Panzer Corps would be able to break through to Oboyan and attack the flanks of the Soviet defense. On that day, the Germans occupied Syrtsovo, despite stubborn counterattacks by Soviet tank units. The T-34s were met with heavy fire from the Tiger tanks of the elite Great Germany armored division (104 tanks and 35 assault guns). Both sides suffered heavy casualties.

During July 10, the 48th Panzer Corps continued to attack Oboyan, but by this time the German command had decided only to imitate a strike in this direction. The 2nd SS Panzer Corps was ordered to attack Soviet tank units in the Prokhorovka area. Having won this battle, the Germans would have been able to break through the defenses and reach the Soviet rear to the operational space. Prokhorovka was supposed to become the site of a tank battle that decided the fate of the entire Kursk battle.

Cherkassky defense map

Strike of the 48th Panzer Corps on July 5, 1943 - view from the south

Events:

1. On the night of July 4-5, German sappers are clearing passages in Soviet minefields.
2. At 04:00, the Germans begin artillery preparation along the entire front of the 4th Panzer Army.
3. New tanks "Panther" of the 10th tank brigade begin their offensive with the support of the fusilier regiment of the division "Great Germany". But almost immediately they stumble upon Soviet minefields. The infantry suffered heavy losses, the battle formations were mixed, and the tanks stopped under the concentrated hurricane fire of the Soviet anti-tank and field artillery. Sappers came forward to remove mines. Thus, the entire left flank of the offensive of the 48th Panzer Corps stood up. Then the Panthers were deployed to support the main forces of the Great Germany division.
4. The offensive of the main forces of the "Great Germany" division began at 05:00. At the head of the strike force, a company of Tiger tanks of this division, supported by Pz.IV and Panther tanks and assault guns, broke through the Soviet defensive zone in front of the village of Cherkasskoye. In fierce battles, this area is occupied by battalions of the grenadier regiment; by 09:15 the Germans had reached the village.
5. To the right of the "Great Germany" division, the 11th Panzer Division breaks through the Soviet line of defense.
6. Soviet troops show stubborn resistance - the area in front of the village is filled with wrecked German tanks and anti-tank guns; a group of armored vehicles was withdrawn from the 11th Panzer Division to strike on the eastern flank of the Soviet defense.
7. Lieutenant General Chistyakov, commander of the 6th Guards Army, reinforces the 67th Guards Rifle Division with two regiments of anti-tank guns to repel the German offensive. It did not help. By noon, the Germans broke into the village. Soviet troops were forced to retreat.
8. The powerful defense and resistance of the Soviet troops stopped the 11th Panzer Division in front of the bridge on the Psel River, which was planned to be captured on the first day of the offensive.

Stage three. Battle of Prokhovka

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On July 12, German and Soviet tanks collided in the battle near Prokhorovka, which decided the fate of the entire Battle of Kursk. On July 11, the German offensive on the southern face of the Kursk Bulge reached its climax. Three significant events took place that day. First, in the west, 48th Panzer Corps reached the Pena River and prepared for a further advance west. In this direction, defensive lines remained, through which the Germans still had to break through. Soviet troops constantly launched counterattacks, hindering the freedom of action of the Germans. Since the German troops now had to advance further east, towards Prokhorovka, the advance of the 48th Panzer Corps was suspended.

Also on 11 July, Army Task Force Kempf, on the far right flank of the German offensive, finally began to advance north. She broke through the defense of the Red Army between Melekhovo and Sazhnoye station. Three tank divisions of the Kempf group could advance towards Prokhorovka. 300 units of German armored vehicles went to support an even larger group of 600 tanks and assault guns of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, which were approaching this city from the west. The Soviet command was preparing to meet their rapid advance to the east with an organized counterattack. This German maneuver was dangerous for the entire defense system of the Soviet army, and forces were drawn to this area to prepare for a decisive battle with a powerful German armored group.

July 12 - the decisive day

Throughout the short summer night, Soviet and German tankers prepared their vehicles for the battle that lay ahead of the next day. Long before dawn, the roar of warming up tank engines was heard in the night. Soon their bass rumble filled the whole area.

The SS Panzer Corps was opposed by Lieutenant General Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army (Steppe Front) with attached and supporting units. From his command post to the south-west of Prokhorovka, Rotmistrov watched the positions of the Soviet troops, which at that moment were bombarded by German aviation. Then three SS Panzer Divisions went on the offensive: Totenkopf, Leibstandart and Das Reich, with Tiger tanks in the vanguard. At 08:30, Soviet artillery opened fire on German troops. Following this, Soviet tanks entered the battle. Of the 900 tanks of the Red Army, only 500 were T-34s. They attacked the German tanks "Tiger" and "Panther" at maximum speeds to prevent the enemy from using the superiority of the guns and armor of his tanks at long range. Having approached, Soviet tanks were able to hit German vehicles, firing at the weaker side armor.

The Soviet tankman recalled that first battle: “The sun helped us. It well illuminated the contours of German tanks and dazzled the eyes of the enemy. The first echelon of the attacking tanks of the 5th Guards Tank Army at full speed crashed into the battle formations of the Nazi troops. The through tank attack was so swift that the front ranks of our tanks penetrated the entire formation, the entire battle formation of the enemy. The battle formations were mixed. The appearance of such a large number of our tanks on the battlefield came as a complete surprise to the enemy. Management in its forward units and subunits was soon disrupted. The German-fascist Tiger tanks, deprived of the advantages of their weapons in close combat, were successfully shot by our T-34 tanks from short distances, and especially when they hit the side. In essence, it was tank hand-to-hand combat. Russian tank crews rammed. Tanks flashed like candles, falling under direct shots, scattered to pieces from the explosion of ammunition, the towers flew off. "

Thick, black, oily smoke billowed across the battlefield. Soviet troops failed to break through the German battle formations, but the Germans were unable to achieve success in the offensive. This situation persisted throughout the first half of the day. The attack of the Leibstandart and Das Reich divisions began successfully, but Rotmistrov brought in his last reserves and stopped them, albeit at the cost of sensitive losses. The Leibstandarte division, for example, reported that it destroyed 192 Soviet tanks and 19 anti-tank guns, losing only 30 of its tanks. By the evening, the 5th Guards Tank Army had lost up to 50 percent of its combat vehicles, but the Germans also suffered damage in the amount of about 300 of the 600 tanks and assault guns that launched the attack in the morning.

Defeat of the German army

This colossal tank battle could have been won by the Germans if the 3rd Panzer Corps (300 tanks and 25 assault guns) had come to the rescue from the south, but it did not succeed. The units of the Red Army that opposed him skillfully and staunchly defended themselves, so that the army group "Kempf" did not manage to break through to the positions of Rotmistrov until the evening.

From 13 to 15 July, German units continued to conduct offensive operations, but by that time they had already lost the battle. On July 13, the Fuehrer informed the commanders of Army Group South (Field Marshal von Manstein) and Army Group Center (Field Marshal von Kluge) that he had decided to abandon the continuation of Operation Citadel.

Map of the tank battle at Prokhorovka

The attack of the Hausser tanks on the morning of July 12, 1943, view from the southeast.

Events:

1. Even before 08:30, Luftwaffe aircraft begin intensive bombardment of Soviet positions near Prokhorovka. 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" and 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" advance in a tight wedge with Tiger tanks at the head and lighter Pz.III and IV tanks on the flanks.
2. At the same time, the first groups of Soviet tanks emerge from camouflaged cover and rush to the advancing enemy. Soviet tanks crash into the center of the German armored armada at high speed, thereby reducing the advantage of the Tigers' long-range cannons.
3. The clash of armored "kulaks" turns into a fierce and chaotic battle, which disintegrated into a multitude of local actions and individual tank battles at a very close distance (the fire was conducted almost at close range). Soviet tanks are trying to cover the flanks of the heavier German vehicles, while the Tigers are firing from the spot. All day and even in the coming twilight, a fierce battle continues.
4. Shortly before noon, two Soviet corps attacked the Totenkopf division. The Germans are forced to go on the defensive. In a fierce battle that lasted all day on July 12, this division suffers heavy losses in men and military equipment.
5. All day the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" is engaged in very heavy battles with the 2nd Guards Tank Corps. Soviet tanks are staunchly holding back the advance of the German division. By the end of the day, the battle continues even after dark. The Soviet command supposedly estimates the losses of both sides during the battle at Prokhorovka at 700 vehicles.

Results of the Battle of Kursk

up

The result of the victory in the Battle of Kursk was the transfer of the strategic initiative to the Red Army. The outcome of the Battle of Kursk was influenced, among other things, by the fact that the Allies landed in Sicily (Operation Husky) a thousand kilometers to the west. For the German command, this meant the need to withdraw troops from the Eastern Front. The results of the German general offensive near Kursk were deplorable. The courage and resilience of the Soviet troops, as well as the selfless labor in the construction of the most powerful field fortifications ever created, were stopped by the Wehrmacht's elite tank divisions.

As soon as the German offensive collapsed, the Red Army prepared its offensive. It started in the north. Having stopped the Model's 9th Army, the Soviet troops immediately went on the offensive on the Oryol salient, which went deep into the Soviet front. It began on July 12 and became the main reason for Model's refusal on the northern face to continue advancing, which could affect the course of the battle at Prokhorovka. The model himself had to fight desperate defensive battles. The Soviet offensive on the Oryol ledge (Operation Kutuzov) could not divert significant Wehrmacht forces, but German troops suffered heavy losses. By mid-August, they withdrew to the prepared line of defense (the Hagen line). In the battles since July 5, Army Group Center has lost up to 14 divisions, which have never been replenished.

On the southern face, the Red Army suffered serious losses, especially in the battle at Prokhorovka, but was able to pin down the German units that had wedged into the Kursk salient. On 23 July, the Germans had to withdraw to the positions they had occupied before the start of Operation Citadel. Now the Red Army was ready to liberate Kharkov and Belgorod. Operation Rumyantsev began on August 3, and by August 22 the Germans had been driven out of Kharkov. By September 15, Army Group South von Manstein had withdrawn to west coast Dnieper.

Losses in the Battle of Kursk are assessed differently. There are several reasons for this. For example, defensive battles near Kursk from 5 to 14 July smoothly flowed into the phase of the Soviet counteroffensive. While Army Group South was still trying to continue its advance off Prokhorovka on 13 and 14 July, the Soviet offensive against Army Group Center had already begun in Operation Kutuzov, often viewed as separate from the Battle of Kursk. German reports, hastily drawn up in the course of intense fighting and then rewritten after the fact, are extremely inaccurate and incomplete, while the advancing Red Army had no time to count its losses after the battle. The enormous significance that these data had from the point of view of the propaganda of both sides also had an effect.

According to some studies, for example, by Colonel David Glantz, from 5 to 20 July, the 9th Army of Army Group Center lost 20,720 people, and the formations of Army Group South - 29,102 people. In total - 49 822 people. The losses of the Red Army, according to rather controversial data used by Western analysts, for some reason turned out to be more than three times higher: 177 847 people. Of these, 33,897 people lost the Central Front and 73,892 people - the Voronezh Front. Another 70,058 people were the losses of the Steppe Front, which acted as the main reserve.

The losses of armored vehicles are also difficult to assess. Often, destroyed tanks were repaired or restored on the same or the next day, even under enemy fire. Taking into account the empirical law, which says that up to 20 percent of damaged tanks are usually completely written off, in the Battle of Kursk, German tank formations lost 1b12 vehicles damaged, of which 323 were irrecoverable. The losses of Soviet tanks are estimated at 1,600 vehicles. This is due to the fact that the Germans had more powerful tank guns.

During Operation Citadel, the Germans lost up to 150 aircraft, and up to 400 were lost in the ensuing offensive. The Red Army Air Force lost over 1,100 aircraft.

The Battle of Kursk was a turning point in the war on the Eastern Front. The Wehrmacht was no longer able to conduct general offensives. The defeat of Germany was only a matter of time. This is why, since July 1943, many strategically minded German military leaders realized that the war was lost.

Situation and strengths of the parties

In the early spring of 1943, after the end of the winter-spring battles, a huge ledge was formed on the line of the Soviet-German front between the cities of Orel and Belgorod, directed to the west. This bend was informally called the Kursk Bulge. Troops of the Soviet Central and Voronezh fronts and the German Army Groups Center and South were located at the bend of the arc.

Certain representatives of the highest command circles of Germany suggested that the Wehrmacht switch to defensive actions, exhausting the Soviet troops, rebuilding their own strength and strengthening the occupied territories. However, Hitler was adamantly opposed: he believed that the German army was still strong enough to inflict a major defeat on the Soviet Union and again intercept the elusive strategic initiative. An objective analysis of the situation showed that the German army was no longer capable of advancing on all fronts at once. Therefore, it was decided to limit offensive actions to only one segment of the front. Quite logically, the German command chose the Kursk Bulge to strike. According to the plan, German troops were to strike in converging directions from Orel and Belgorod in the direction of Kursk. With a successful outcome, this ensured the encirclement and defeat of the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts of the Red Army. The final plans for the operation, code-named Citadel, were approved on May 10-11, 1943.

It was not difficult to unravel the plans of the German command regarding exactly where the Wehrmacht would advance in the summer of 1943. The Kursk salient, stretching many kilometers into the depths of the territory controlled by the Nazis, was a tempting and obvious target. Already on April 12, 1943, at a meeting at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command of the USSR, it was decided to switch to a deliberate, planned and powerful defense in the Kursk region. The troops of the Red Army were supposed to hold back the onslaught of Hitler's troops, wear down the enemy, and then launch a counteroffensive and defeat the enemy. After that, it was supposed to start a general offensive in the western and southwestern directions.

In case the Germans decided not to advance in the Kursk Bulge area, a plan of offensive actions was also created by forces concentrated in this sector of the front. However, the defensive plan remained a priority, and it was to its implementation that the Red Army began in April 1943.

The defense on the Kursk Bulge was being built thoroughly. In total, 8 defensive lines were created with a total depth of about 300 kilometers. Great attention was paid to mining the approaches to the defense line: according to various sources, the density of minefields was up to 1500-1700 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines per kilometer of the front. Anti-tank artillery was not evenly distributed along the front, but was assembled in the so-called "anti-tank areas" - localized accumulations of anti-tank guns, covering several directions at once and partially overlapping each other's shelling sectors. Thus, the maximum concentration of fire was achieved and the shelling of one advancing enemy unit from several sides at once was ensured.

Before the start of the operation, the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts numbered a total of about 1.2 million people, about 3.5 thousand tanks, 20,000 guns and mortars, as well as 2,800 aircraft. The Steppe Front, numbering about 580,000 people, 1,500 tanks, 7,400 guns and mortars, and about 700 aircraft acted as a reserve.

On the German side, 50 divisions took part in the battle, numbering, according to various sources, from 780 to 900 thousand people, about 2,700 tanks and self-propelled guns, about 10,000 guns and about 2,5 thousand aircraft.

Thus, by the beginning of the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army had a numerical advantage. However, one should not forget that these troops were located on the defensive, and therefore, the German command had the opportunity to effectively concentrate forces and achieve the necessary concentration of troops in the areas of the breakthrough. In addition, in 1943, the German army received sufficient a large number new heavy tanks "Tiger" and medium "Panther", as well as heavy self-propelled guns "Ferdinand", of which there were only 89 (out of 90 built) in the right place.

The first stage of the battle. Defense

Both commands - the Voronezh and Central fronts - predicted the date of the transition of the German troops to the offensive quite accurately: according to their data, the attack should have been expected in the period from 3 to 6 July. The day before the start of the battle, Soviet intelligence officers managed to capture the "tongue", which announced that on July 5 the Germans would begin an assault.

The northern face of the Kursk Bulge was held by the Central Front of General of the Army K. Rokossovsky. Knowing the time of the start of the German offensive, at 2:30 am the front commander gave the order to conduct a half-hour artillery counter-preparation. Then, at 4:30 am, the artillery strike was repeated. The effectiveness of this measure has been quite controversial. According to the reports of the Soviet artillerymen, the Germans suffered significant losses. However, to all appearances, this still did not correspond to reality. It is precisely known about small losses in manpower and equipment, as well as about the violation of the enemy's wire communication lines. In addition, now the Germans knew for sure that a surprise offensive would not work - the Red Army was ready for defense.

At 5:00 in the morning, German artillery preparation began. It was not yet over when the first echelons of Hitler's troops went on the offensive following the barrage of fire. German infantry, supported by tanks, led an offensive along the entire defensive zone of the 13th Soviet army... The main blow fell on the village of Olkhovatka. The most powerful attack was experienced by the right flank of the army near the village of Maloarkhangelskoye.

The battle lasted approximately two and a half hours, the attack was repulsed. After that, the Germans shifted their pressure to the left flank of the army. How strong their onslaught was, is evidenced by the fact that by the end of July 5, the troops of the 15th and 81st Soviet divisions were in partial encirclement. However, the Nazis have not yet succeeded in breaking through the front. In just the first day of the battle, German troops advanced 6-8 kilometers.

On July 6, Soviet troops attempted a counterattack with the forces of two tank, three rifle divisions and a rifle corps, supported by two regiments of guards mortars and two regiments of self-propelled guns. The front of the strike was 34 kilometers. At first, the Red Army managed to push the Germans back by 1-2 kilometers, but then Soviet tanks came under heavy fire from German tanks and self-propelled guns and, after 40 vehicles were lost, were forced to stop. By the end of the day, the corps went on the defensive. An attempt at a counterattack, undertaken on July 6, had no serious success. It was possible to "push back" the front by only 1-2 kilometers.

After the failure of the strike on Olkhovatka, the Germans shifted their efforts in the direction of the Ponyri station. This station was of serious strategic importance, covering railroad Oryol - Kursk. The divers were well protected by minefields, artillery and buried tanks.

On July 6, the Ponyri attacked about 170 German tanks and self-propelled guns, including 40 Tigers from the 505th Heavy Tank Battalion. The Germans managed to break through the first line of defense and advance to the second. Three attacks that followed until the end of the day were repulsed by the second line. The next day, after stubborn attacks, German troops managed to get even closer to the station. By 15 o'clock on July 7, the enemy captured the state farm "May 1" and came close to the station. July 7, 1943 became a crisis day for the defense of Ponyri, although the Nazis still could not capture the station.

At the Ponyri station, German troops used the Ferdinand self-propelled guns, which turned out to be a serious problem for the Soviet troops. Soviet guns were practically unable to penetrate the 200-mm frontal armor of these vehicles. Therefore, the greatest losses "Ferdinand" suffered from mines and air raids. The last day when the Germans stormed the Ponyri station was 12 July.

From 5 to 12 July, heavy fighting took place in the zone of action of the 70th Army. Here the Nazis carried out an attack with tanks and infantry, while German aviation was dominating the air. On July 8, German troops managed to break through the defense, occupying several settlements. It was possible to localize the breakthrough only by introducing reserves. By July 11, Soviet troops received reinforcements, as well as air support. The attacks of dive bombers inflicted quite significant damage on the German units. On July 15, after the Germans had already been finally driven back, war correspondents were filming destroyed German equipment on the field between the villages of Samodurovka, Kutyrki and Teploe. After the war, this chronicle was mistakenly called "personnel from under Prokhorovka," although there was not a single "Ferdinand" near Prokhorovka, and from Teply the Germans were unable to evacuate two damaged SPGs of this type.

In the zone of operations of the Voronezh Front (commander - General of the Army Vatutin), hostilities began in the afternoon of July 4 with attacks by German units on the front's combat outposts and lasted until late at night.

On July 5, the main phase of the battle began. On the southern face of the Kursk Bulge, the battles were significantly more intense and were accompanied by more serious losses of Soviet troops than on the northern one. The reason for this was the terrain more suitable for the use of tanks, and a number of organizational miscalculations at the level of the Soviet front command.

The main blow of the German troops was delivered along the Belgorod-Oboyan highway. This sector of the front was held by the 6th Guards Army. The first attack took place at 6 am on July 5 in the direction of the village of Cherkasskoye. Two attacks followed, supported by tanks and aircraft. Both were repulsed, after which the Germans shifted the direction of the attack towards the village of Butovo. In the battles near Cherkassky, the enemy practically managed to make a breakthrough, but at the cost of heavy losses, the Soviet troops prevented it, often losing up to 50-70% of the personnel of the units.

During July 7-8, the Germans managed, suffering losses, to advance another 6-8 kilometers, but then the offensive on Oboyan stopped. The enemy was looking for a weak spot in the Soviet defense and, it seemed, found it. This place was the direction to the still unknown station Prokhorovka.

The Battle of Prokhorovka, considered one of the largest tank battles in history, began on July 11, 1943. On the German side, the 2nd SS Panzer Corps and the 3rd Wehrmacht Tank Corps took part in it - a total of about 450 tanks and self-propelled guns. The 5th Guards Tank Army of Lieutenant General P. Rotmistrov and the 5th Guards Army of Lieutenant General A. Zhadov fought against them. There were about 800 Soviet tanks in the Prokhorov battle.

The battle at Prokhorovka can be called the most discussed and controversial episode of the Battle of Kursk. The scope of this article does not make it possible to analyze it in detail, so we will limit ourselves only to reporting the approximate figures of losses. The Germans irrevocably lost about 80 tanks and self-propelled guns, the Soviet troops lost about 270 vehicles.

Second phase. Offensive

On July 12, 1943, on the northern face of the Kursk Bulge, with the participation of the troops of the Western and Bryansk fronts, Operation Kutuzov, also known as the Oryol offensive operation, began. On July 15, the troops of the Central Front joined it.

On the part of the Germans, a group of troops, numbering 37 divisions, was involved in the battles. According to modern estimates, the number of German tanks and self-propelled guns that took part in the battles at Orel was about 560 vehicles. The Soviet troops had a serious numerical advantage over the enemy: on the main axes, the Red Army outnumbered the German troops six times in the number of infantry, five times in the number of artillery and 2.5-3 times in tanks.

German infantry divisions defended themselves in well-fortified terrain, equipped with barbed wire, minefields, machine-gun nests, and armored cannons. Anti-tank obstacles were built along the river banks by enemy sappers. It should be noted, however, that work on the German defensive lines had not yet been completed by the time the counter-offensive began.

On July 12, at 5:10 am, Soviet troops began artillery preparation and launched an air strike on the enemy. Half an hour later, the assault began. By the evening of the first day, the Red Army, fighting heavy battles, advanced from 7.5 to 15 kilometers, breaking through the main defensive zone of German formations in three places. Offensive battles continued until July 14. During this time, the advance of the Soviet troops was up to 25 kilometers. However, by July 14, the Germans managed to regroup the troops, as a result of which the offensive of the Red Army was stopped for some time. The offensive of the Central Front, which began on July 15, developed slowly from the very beginning.

Despite the stubborn resistance of the enemy, by July 25, the Red Army managed to force the Germans to begin the withdrawal of troops from the Oryol bridgehead. In early August, battles began for the city of Oryol. By August 6, the city was completely liberated from the Nazis. After that, the Oryol operation entered its final phase. On August 12, battles began for the city of Karachev, which lasted until August 15 and ended with the defeat of the group of German troops defending this settlement. By August 17-18, Soviet troops reached the Hagen defensive line, built by the Germans east of Bryansk.

The official date for the start of the offensive on the southern face of the Kursk Bulge is August 3. However, the Germans began a gradual withdrawal of troops from their positions as early as July 16, and from July 17, Red Army units began to pursue the enemy, by July 22, went over to a general offensive, which stopped approximately at the same positions that the Soviet troops occupied at the time of the beginning of the Battle of Kursk. ... The command demanded the immediate continuation of hostilities, however, due to exhaustion and fatigue of the units, the date was postponed by 8 days.

By August 3, the troops of the Voronezh and Steppe fronts had 50 rifle divisions, about 2,400 tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 12,000 guns. At 8 o'clock in the morning, after artillery preparation, the Soviet troops launched an offensive. On the first day of the operation, the advance of units of the Voronezh Front ranged from 12 to 26 km. The troops of the Steppe Front advanced only 7-8 kilometers in a day.

On August 4-5, battles were fought to eliminate the Belgorod enemy grouping and liberate the city from German troops. By evening, Belgorod was taken by units of the 69th Army and the 1st Mechanized Corps.

By August 10, Soviet troops cut the Kharkov-Poltava railway. About 10 kilometers remained to the outskirts of Kharkov. On August 11, the Germans struck in the Bogodukhov area, which significantly weakened the pace of the offensive of both fronts of the Red Army. Fierce fighting continued until 14 August.

The steppe front reached the near approaches to Kharkov on August 11. On the first day, the advancing units were unsuccessful. The fighting on the outskirts of the city went on until July 17. Both sides suffered heavy losses. In both Soviet and German units, it was not uncommon for companies to number 40-50 people, or even less.

The last counterattack was struck by the Germans at Akhtyrka. Here they even managed to make a local breakthrough, but this did not change the situation globally. On August 23, a massive assault on Kharkov began; this day is considered the date of the liberation of the city and the end of the Battle of Kursk. In fact, the fighting in the city completely stopped only by August 30, when the remnants of the German resistance were suppressed.

The beginning of the combat path of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps

The defeat of the German fascist army at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-1943 shook the fascist bloc to its foundations. For the first time since the beginning of World War II, Hitlerite Germany, in all its inevitability, faced a formidable specter of inevitable defeat. Its military power, the morale of the army and the population were severely undermined, and its prestige in the eyes of the allies was seriously shaken. In order to improve the internal political situation in Germany and prevent the collapse of the fascist coalition, the Hitlerite command decided in the summer of 1943 to conduct a major offensive operation in the central sector of the Soviet-German front. With this offensive, it hoped to defeat the group of Soviet troops located on the Kursk salient, again seize the strategic initiative and turn the course of the war in its favor. By the summer of 1943, the situation on the Soviet-German front had already changed in favor of the Soviet Union. By the beginning of the Battle of Kursk, the overall superiority in manpower and equipment was on the side of the Red Army: in men by 1.1 times, in artillery - by 1.7 times, in tanks - by 1.4 times, and in combat aircraft - by 2 times.

The Battle of Kursk takes place in the Great Patriotic War special place. It lasted 50 days and nights, from July 5 to August 23, 1943. In its ferocity and tenacity of the struggle, this battle is unmatched.

The goal of the Wehrmacht: The general plan of the German command was to encircle and destroy the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts defending in the Kursk region. If successful, it was planned to expand the front of the offensive and return the strategic initiative. To implement their plans, the enemy concentrated powerful strike groups, which numbered over 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, up to 2,700 tanks and assault guns, about 2,050 aircraft. Great hopes were pinned on the latest Tiger and Panther tanks, Ferdinand assault guns, Focke-Wulf-190-A fighter planes and Heinkel-129 attack aircraft.

The goal of the Red Army: the Soviet command decided to first bleed the enemy's strike forces in defensive battles, and then go over to the counteroffensive.

The battle that began immediately took on a grand scale and was extremely tense. Our troops did not flinch. They met the avalanches of enemy tanks and infantry with unprecedented fortitude and courage. The offensive of the enemy strike groups was suspended. Only at the cost of huge losses did he manage to break into our defenses in some areas. On the Central Front - by 10-12 kilometers, on the Voronezh - up to 35 kilometers. Finally, Hitler's operation "Citadel" was buried, the largest in the entire World War II counter tank battle near Prokhorovka. It happened on July 12th. 1200 tanks and self-propelled guns participated in it from both sides at the same time. This battle was won by the Soviet soldiers. The Nazis, having lost up to 400 tanks in a day of battle, were forced to abandon the offensive.

On July 12, the second stage of the Battle of Kursk began - the Soviet counteroffensive. On August 5, Soviet troops liberated the cities of Orel and Belgorod. On the evening of August 5, in honor of this major success, a victorious salute was given in Moscow for the first time in two years of war. Since that time, artillery salutes have constantly announced the glorious victories of Soviet weapons. On August 23, Kharkov was liberated.

So the battle on the Kursk fire arc ended. During it, 30 elite enemy divisions were defeated. The Nazi troops lost about 500 thousand people, 1500 tanks, 3 thousand guns and 3700 aircraft. For courage and heroism, over 100 thousand Soviet soldiers, participants in the Battle of the Arc of Fire, were awarded orders and medals. The Battle of Kursk ended with a radical change in the Great Patriotic War in favor of the Red Army.

Losses in the Battle of the Kursk Bulge.

UDTK at the Kursk Bulge. Oryol offensive operation

The 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps, which is part of the 4th Tank Army, received the baptism of fire in the battle on the Kursk Bulge.

T-34 tanks - 202 units, T-70 - 7, BA-64 armored vehicles - 68,

self-propelled 122 mm guns - 16, 85 mm guns - 12,

M-13 installations - 8, 76-mm guns - 24, 45-mm guns - 32,

guns 37 mm - 16, mortars 120 mm - 42, mortars 82 mm - 52.

The army, commanded by Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Vasily Mikhailovich Badanov, arrived at the Bryansk Front on the eve of the battles that began on July 5, 1943, and was brought into battle in the Oryol direction during the Soviet counteroffensive. The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Georgy Semyonovich Rodina had the task of advancing from the Seredichi region to the south, cut off enemy communications on the Bolkhov-Khotynets line, reach the area of ​​the Zlyn village, and then saddle the Orel-Bryansk railway and highway and cut off the escape routes of the Oryol grouping of the Nazis to the west. And the Uralians complied with the order.

On July 29, Lieutenant General Rodin set the task of the 197th Sverdlovsk and 243rd Molotov tank brigades: to force the Nugr River in cooperation with the 30th motorized rifle brigade (MSBR), capture the village of Borilovo and then advance in the direction settlement Vishnevsky. The village of Borilovo was located on a high bank and dominated the surrounding area, and from the bell tower of the church it could be seen for several kilometers in a circle. All this made it easier for the enemy to conduct defense and made it difficult for the attacking corps subunits to act. At 20:00 on July 29, after a 30-minute artillery barrage and a salvo of guards mortars, two tank motorized rifle brigades began to cross the Nugr River. Under the cover of tank fire, the first, as on the Ors River, crossed the Nugr River by a company of Senior Lieutenant A.P. Nikolaev, capturing the southern outskirts of the village of Borilovo. By the morning of July 30, a battalion of the 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, with the support of tanks, despite stubborn enemy resistance, captured the village of Borilovo. All units of the Sverdlovsk brigade of the 30th UDTK were concentrated here. By order of the corps commander at 10:30, the brigade launched an offensive in the direction of Hill 212.2. The assault was difficult. It was completed by the 244th Chelyabinsk Tank Brigade, which was previously in the reserve of the 4th Army, which was brought into battle.

Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Petrovich Nikolaev, company commander of the motorized rifle battalion of the 197th Guards Sverdlovsk Tank Brigade. From personal archiveON THE.Kirillova.

On July 31, in the liberated Borilov, heroically killed tankers and machine gunners were buried, including the commanders of tank battalions: Major Chazov and Captain Ivanov. The massive heroism of the corps soldiers, shown in battles from July 27 to 29, was highly appreciated. In the Sverdlovsk brigade alone, 55 soldiers, sergeants and officers were awarded government awards for these battles. In the battle for Borilovo, the Sverdlovsk resident medical instructor Anna Alekseevna Kvanskova performed a feat. She rescued the wounded and, replacing the artillerymen who were out of action, brought shells to the firing positions. AA Kvanskova was awarded the Order of the Red Star, and later for her heroism she was awarded the Orders of Glory III and II degrees.

Guard sergeant Anna Alekseevna Kvanskova assists the lieutenantA. A.Bald, 1944.

Photo of M. Insarov, 1944. TsDOOSO. Form 221. OP.3.D.1672

The exceptional bravery of the Ural warriors, their readiness to carry out a combat mission without sparing their lives, aroused admiration. But mingled with it was the pain of the loss. It seemed that they were too great compared to the results achieved.

Column of German prisoners of war captured in battles in the Oryol direction, USSR, 1943.

Destroyed German equipment during the battles on the Kursk Bulge, USSR, 1943.