This is 7 times more than in the counteroffensive near Moscow, and almost 5 times more than near Stalingrad. The fronts included five tank armies, 14 separate tank and mechanized corps, as well as a significant number of separate tank brigades and regiments, numbering about 5 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery installations. On our side, especially large tank forces participated in the counteroffensive. More than 6 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns took part in it from both sides. “The history of wars… did not know another such tank battle as unfolded near Kursk. Losik, speaking of the combat experience of using tank armies, he cites the following figures: Belgorod, Kursk and Orel became the first Russian cities to be awarded the honorary title of “City of Military Glory”. The Wehrmacht during the retreat from the territory of the USSR carried out the tactics of “scorched earth”.Īugust 23, the day the Soviet troops defeated the German troops in the Battle of Kursk, is one of the days of Russia’s military glory. Roosevelt, the plan he had personally drawn up “ 2 months ago to divide Germany into five states” was already discussed.Īfter the end of the battle, the strategic initiative finally passed to the side of the Red Army, which continued to liberate the country from the German invaders and carried out mainly offensive operations until the end of the war. The radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War, begun near Stalingrad, was completed in the Battle of Kursk and the battle for the Dnieper, and in the ensuing Tehran Conference, on the initiative of F. As a result of Operation Rumyantsev, the Belgorod-Kharkov group of Germans was defeated, and the corresponding bridgehead was also liquidated. The German side called the offensive part of the battle Operation Citadel.Īs a result of the offensive according to the Kutuzov plan, the Oryol grouping of German troops was defeated, and the Oryol strategic bridgehead occupied by it was liquidated.

The battle is the most important part of the strategic plan for the summer-autumn campaign of 1943, according to Soviet and Russian historiography, it includes: the Kursk strategic defensive operation (July 5-23), Oryol (July 12-August 18) and Belgorod-Kharkov (3-23 August) strategic offensive operations. Kursk Battle Tiger Tank with Panzergrenadiers

Greatest tank battles of wwii