Kursk: The German ViewThe battle of Kursk, fought in the summer of 1943, involved six thousand German and Soviet armored vehicles, making it the biggest tank battle of all time and possibly the largest battle of any kind. Students of military history have long recognized the importance of Kursk, also known as "Operation Citadel," and there have been several serious studies of the battle. Yet, the German view of the battle has been largely ignored.After the war, U.S. Army Intelligence officers gathered German commanders' post-war reports of the battle. Due, in part, to poor translations done after the war, these important documents have been overlooked by World War II historians. Steven H. Newton has collected, translated, and edited these accounts, including reports made by the Chiefs of Staff of Army Group South and the Fourth Panzer Army, and by the Army Group Center Operations Officer. As a result, a new and unprecedented picture of German strategy and operations is made available. The translated staff reports are supplemented by Newton's commentary and original research, which challenges a number of widely accepted ideas about this pivotal battle. |
Contents
APPENDIX 1A German Military Intelligence and Soviet Strength | 27 |
to Operation Citadel | 134 |
APPENDIX 4F Replacements Available Ninth Army 5 July 1943 | 144 |
PART 2 | 215 |
XXXV Corps 12 July 1943 | 224 |
XX Corps 89 August 1943 | 251 |
Corps Raus Special Employment | 255 |
Eighth Army 24 August 1943 | 291 |
Analysis and Critique | 381 |
27 | 385 |
29 | 399 |
Was Kursk a Decisive Battle? | 407 |
March 1943 | 421 |
Armeeabteilung Kempf | 430 |
Notes | 439 |
Bibliography | 457 |
XI Corps | 300 |
July14 August 1943 | 304 |
PART 3 | 355 |
A Fatal Delay? | 371 |
3 | 377 |
463 | |
467 | |
473 | |
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Common terms and phrases
3rd Panzer Division 6th Panzer 6th Panzer Division aircraft antitank guns Armeeabteilung Kempf armored Army Group Center Army Group South Army's Artillery Regiment August batteries battle Belgorod breakthrough bridge bridgehead Brigade Bryansk Colonel combat strength commander committed concentrated Corps's counterattack Divi Donets enemy Engineer Battalion fantry Field Artillery Field Marshal fighter fighting fire flak battalions flank forces Fourth Panzer Army German Glantz and House Grenadier Regiment Grossdeutschland ground attack Gruppe headquarters heavy Hill Hollidt Hoth Hoth's III Panzer Corps July Kharkov kilometers Kursk losses Luftflotte Six Luftwaffe Manstein mortars Ninth Army offensive Operation Citadel Orel salient Panzergrenadier Panzergrenadier Division Panzergrenadier Regiment Panzerjaeger Battalion penetration positions Prokhorovka Pzkw Raus Reconnaissance Battalion Red Army Reel reinforced reserves rifle divisions Russian tanks Second Panzer Army sector sion Sixth Army SS Panzer Corps staff tactical troops units VIII Flieger Corps wing XI Corps XLVIII Panzer Corps XX XX XXXX