The Battle of the Tanks
The Battle of the Tanks

Author: Lloyd Clark

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2011-11-04

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 0802195105

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“A comprehensive analysis of WWII’s greatest land battle and one of history’s greatest armor engagements.” —Publishers Weekly On July 5, 1943, the greatest land battle in history began when Nazi and Red Army forces clashed near the town of Kursk, on the western border of the Soviet Union. Code named “Operation Citadel,” the German offensive would cut through the bulge in the eastern front that had been created following Germany’s retreat at the Battle of Stalingrad. But the Soviets, well-informed about Germany’s plans through their network of spies, had months to prepare. Two million men supported by six thousand tanks, thirty-five thousand guns, and five thousand aircrafts convened in Kursk for an epic confrontation that was one of the most important military engagements in history, the epitome of “total war.” It was also one of the most bloody, and despite suffering seven times more casualties, the Soviets won a decisive victory that became a turning point in the war. With unprecedented access to the journals and testimonials of the officers, soldiers, political leaders, and citizens who lived through it, The Battle of the Tanks is the definitive account of an epic showdown that changed the course of history. “A stellar account of the Battle of Kursk in 1943.” —Booklist

Kursk 1943
Kursk 1943

Author: Anders Frankson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 113526810X

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The battle at Kursk in 1943 is often referred to as the greatest tank battle in the history of warfare. This volume makes extensive use of German archival documents as well as various Russian books and articles. As well as an account of the battle, it addresses methodological issues.

Kursk 1943
Kursk 1943

Author: Roman Toeppel

Publisher: Helion

Published: 2021-11-15

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9781914059629

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The Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 was one of the greatest battles in military history involving more than 3 million soldiers, 10,000 tanks and 8,000 aircraft. While many books have been written on this allegedly most decisive battle of the Second World War, many legends live on, above all because of misleading information that recur in most publications - even in the most recent ones. Based on almost 20 years of research reassessing the primary sources, Roman Toeppel sheds light on the phase of decision-making, the preparations and the development of the battle in an engaging style that grips the reader's attention from the first page on. The author concentrates on little-known developments and events leading the reader to astonishing results. He also gives entirely new insights into the historiographic appraisal of this battle, putting thoroughly researched facts against erroneous popular beliefs, myths and legends that have been passed down among historians for generations.

The Battle for Kursk, 1943
The Battle for Kursk, 1943

Author: David M. Glantz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-04-14

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1135233179

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This volume offers detailed information about the Red Army's preparation for and conduct of the Battle of Kursk, the nature of the war on the German Eastern Front, and on the range of horrors that have characterized warfare in the 20th century.

The Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk

Author: Valeriy Zamulin

Publisher: Helion and Company

Published: 2017-07-27

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 191311807X

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In this book, noted historian of the Battle of Kursk Valeriy Zamulin, the author of multiple Russian-language books on the Battle of Kursk and Destroying the Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, Kursk, July 1943: An Operational Narrative takes a fresh look at several controversial and neglected topics regarding the battle and its run-up. He starts with a detailed look at the Soviet and Russian historiography on the battle, showing how initially promising research was swamped by Party dogma and censorship during the Brezhnev area, before being resumed with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Zamulin then transitions to discussions of how the southern shoulder of the Kursk bulge was formed, preparations for the battle on both sides, and the size and composition of Model’s Ninth Army. He then examines such controversial topics as whether or not the II SS Panzer Corps was aware of the pending Soviet counterattack at Prokhorovka, and the effectiveness of the Soviet preemptive barrage that struck the German troops that were poised to attack. Zamulin also discusses whether or not General Vatutin, the Commander-in-Chief of Voronezh Front, erred when arranging his defenses. Zamulin also takes a look at how the myth of 1,500 tanks colliding on a narrow strip of farm fields became perpetuated in Soviet and foreign history books, when in fact it was impossible for the 5th Guards Tank Army’s tanks to attack in massive wave after wave due to the constrictions of the terrain. Zamulin also reveals incidents of the battle that were long kept “behind the curtain” by Soviet censorship. For example, the 183rd Rifle Division defending the Prokhorovka axis was repeatedly struck by friendly aircraft, and a Soviet tank counterattack overran the positions of one of its battalions. Zamulin discusses other cases of fratricide in the Voronezh Front, including the death of one of the 1st Tank Army’s foremost tank commanders in a friendly fire incident. In the process, he reveals that a wave of suicides swept through the junior command staff of the 5th Guards Tank Army immediately prior to the famous counteroffensive on 12 July 1943. All in all, Valeriy Zamulin with this collection of essays and articles, two of which have been reprinted from the Journal of Slavic Military History, makes a new contribution to our knowledge and understanding of this pivotal, epochal battle of the Second World War.

Operation Zitadelle 1943
Operation Zitadelle 1943

Author: Mark Healy

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2012-01-31

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 0752481282

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In July 1943, Hitler launched Operation Zitadelle, the last German offensive on the Eastern Front. It was an attempt to shorten the German lines by eliminating the Kursk salient and was designed to result in the encirclement of the Red Army. In reality, the German tanks came up against impenetrable Russian defences: minefields, artillery and anti-tank emplacements, spread through lines 250km deep and manned by Russian troops whose actions often verged on the suicidal. The greatest tank battle in history, Operation Zitadelle assured the Nazis' defeat and was 'the swan song of the German tank arm'. Involving over 9,000 tanks, 5,000 aircraft, 35,000 guns and mortars, 2.7 million troops and 230,000 casualties, the Battle of Kursk's scale and barbarity eclipsed all other clashes in Europe. In this book, historian Mark Healy gives a clear, concise account of those dramatic days in 1943.

The Battle of Prokhorovka
The Battle of Prokhorovka

Author: Christopher A. Lawrence

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-06-01

Total Pages: 657

ISBN-13: 0811768120

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The Battle of Kursk was one of the defining moments of World War II. In July 1943, German forces under Erich von Manstein--one of Germany’s best generals--launched a massive attack in an offensive code-named Citadel. A week later, the Soviets counterattacked, sparking a huge clash of tanks at Prokhorovka, the largest armor battle in history, pitting more than 600 Soviet tanks against some 300 German panzers. Though the Germans gained a tactical victory, destroying huge numbers of Soviet tanks, they failed to achieve their objectives, and in the end the battle marked a turning point on the Eastern Front. The Red Army gained the strategic initiative and would not lose it.

Kursk 1943
Kursk 1943

Author: Ian Baxter

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2019-12-27

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1612007082

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An illustrated history of World War II’s largest tank battle that went down near the Russian city. In the summer of 1943, Nazi Germany launched Operation Zitadelle (Citadel), aimed at cutting off Soviet forces in the Kursk salient. This offensive resulted in the Battle of Kursk. Kursk quickly became a fierce contest of attrition, as Wehrmacht and elite Waffen-SS Panzer-Divisions with their powerful Tiger and Panther tanks unsuccessfully tried to hammer their way through the intricate lines of strong Soviet defensive positions. What followed was unabated fighting for two weeks as German units were slowly and systematically ground down in a series of brutal armored battles. During this ferocious fighting the Red Army savagely contested every foot of ground, finally ending German invincibility forever. For the first time in its short history, the blitzkrieg concept had failed. The reverberations caused by the defeat at Kursk were immense, and never again did the German war machine go on the offensive in the East. Stiff defensive action was now the stratagem placed upon the dwindling Panzerwaffe right to the gates of Berlin. With comprehensive captions and text, Kursk 1943 tells the story of this dramatic battle using rare and unpublished photographs, maps, and highly detailed artist profiles. The book reveals the events leading up to the battle in the first half of 1943 and the buildup of forces by both sides before their climatic showdown at Kursk.

Demolishing the Myth
Demolishing the Myth

Author: Valeriy Zamulin

Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

Published: 2011-06-27

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 1912174367

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“Comprehensive scholarship and convincing reasoning, enhanced by an excellent translation, place this work on a level with the best of David Glantz” (Dennis Showalter, award-winning author of Patton and Rommel). This groundbreaking book examines the battle of Kursk between the Red Army and Wehrmacht, with a particular emphasis on its beginning on July 12, as the author works to clarify the relative size of the contending forces, the actual area of this battle, and the costs suffered by both sides. Valeriy Zamulin’s study of the crucible of combat during the titanic clash at Kursk—the fighting at Prokhorovka—is now available in English. A former staff member of the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum, Zamulin has dedicated years of his life to the study of the battle of Kursk, and especially the fighting on its southern flank involving the famous attack of the II SS Panzer Corps into the teeth of deeply echeloned Red Army defenses. A product of five years of intense research into the once-secret Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, this book lays out in enormous detail the plans and tactics of both sides, culminating in the famous and controversial clash at Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943. Zamulin skillfully weaves reminiscences of Red Army and Wehrmacht soldiers and officers into the narrative of the fighting, using in part files belonging to the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum. Zamulin has the advantage of living in Prokhorovka, so he has walked the ground of the battlefield many times and has an intimate knowledge of the terrain. Examining the battle primarily from the Soviet side, Zamulin reveals the real costs and real achievements of the Red Army at Kursk, and especially Prokhorovka. He examines mistaken deployments and faulty decisions that hampered the Voronezh Front’s efforts to contain the Fourth Panzer Army’s assault, and the valiant, self-sacrificial fighting of the Red Army’s soldiers and junior officers as they sought to slow the German advance and crush the II SS Panzer Corps with a heavy counterattack at Prokhorovka. Illustrated with numerous maps and photographs (including present-day views of the battlefield), and supplemented with extensive tables of data, Zamulin’s book is an outstanding contribution to the growing literature on the battle of Kursk, and further demolishes many of the myths and legends that grew up around it.

Kursk
Kursk

Author: Lloyd Clark

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780755336395

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On July 5, 1943, the greatest land battle in history began when Nazi and Red Army forces clashed near the town of Kursk, on the western border of the Soviet Union. Code named "Operation Citadel," the German offensive would cut through the bulge in the eastern front that had been created following Germany's retreat at the battle of Stalingrad. But the Soviets, well-informed about Germany's plans through their network of spies, had months to prepare. Two million men supported by 6,000 tanks, 35,000 guns, and 5,000 aircraft convened in Kursk for an epic confrontation that was one of the most important military engagements in history, the epitome of "total war." It was also one of the most bloody, and despite suffering seven times more casualties, the Soviets won a decisive victory that became a turning point in the war. With unprecedented access to the journals and testimonials of the officers, soldiers, political leaders, and citizens who lived through it, The Battle of the Tanks is the definitive account of an epic showdown that changed the course of history. Show More Show Less.