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in
the summer of 1943, despite the stalingrad debacle, the nazi
leadership still had under its control almost the whole of western
europe, most of the ukraine, the whole of belorussia, the baltic
region, and some of the russian western regions. |
in this situation
hitler, still hoping to revive germany抯 military fortunes, took the
decision to mount a major assault on the soviet salient around the
city of kursk in western russia. the salient was a bulge in the
soviet lines that stretched 150 miles from north to south and
protruded 100 miles westward into the german lines. the german high
command planned a surprise attack on the salient from both north and
south, hoping to surround and destroy the soviet forces within the
bulge.
the
germans had amassed over 900,000 men for the battle of kursk (5
july?3 august 1943). however, the chief role in the assault was
accorded to the panzer (tank) divisions: armed with 2,700 tanks and
mobile assault guns, they were to break through the soviet defense
lines and make deep incursions into the soviet rear. but the soviet
military command had surmised the german plan beforehand and had
withdrawn their main forces from the vulnerable positions within the
salient. the german assault started on 5 july but was soon slowed to
a halt by deep antitank defenses and minefields, which the soviets
had prepared in anticipation of the attack. at the height of the
battle on 12 july the red army began to counterattack, having built
up by then a marked predominance of both troops and tanks. the
soviets soon developed a broad offensive that recovered the nearby
city of orel on 5 august and that of kharkov (now kharkiv, ukraine)
on 23 august. the battle entered military annals as the biggest tank
battle in history, involving some 6,000 tanks: 3,306 soviet tanks
against 2,700 german tanks.
the
battle of kursk marked the decisive end of the german offensive
capability on the russian front and cleared the way for the great
soviet offensives of 1944?5. the kursk victory put the strategic
initiative firmly in the hands of the red army. following only six
months after the stalingrad triumph, it demonstrated to the whole
world that the defeat of nazi germany was now just a matter of time.
to compensate the heavy losses suffered under kursk, the german
command was obliged to relocate ever more fresh divisions to the
russian front. for instance, it felt compelled to transfer to russia
many of its panzer divisions stationed in italy, replacing them with
the heavily depleted infantry units routed by the soviets. all this
created favorable conditions for the ussr抯 western allies, which
were able to invade southern italy and launch the british-american
advance into italy抯 central regions. the kursk victory, the landing
of british and u.s. troops in italy, and the expulsion of the
italian and german armies from north africa were all potent signs of
the radical turn in the war.
