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Operation Citadel

Battle of Kursk
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Zschaeckel-206-35, Schlacht um Kursk, Panzer VI (Tiger I).jpg
2nd SS Panzer Division soldiers, Tiger I tank, during the battle
Date 5 July 1943 (1943-07-05) – 16 July 1943 (1943-07-16) (German offensive:1 week and 4 days)
12 July 1943 (1943-07-12) – 23 August 1943 (1943-08-23) (Soviet offensive: 1 month, 1 week and 4 days)
Location Kursk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Result

Strategic Soviet victory

Territorial
changes
  • Soviets regain territory along a 2,000 km (1,200 mi) wide front after the battle
Belligerents
 Germany  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Strength
  • Operation Citadel:
    • 780,900 men
    • 2,928 tanks
    • 9,966 guns and mortars
  • Soviet counteroffensive phase:
    • 940,900 men
    • 3,253 tanks
    • 9,467 guns and mortars
  • 2,110 aircraft
  • Operation Citadel:
    • 1,910,361 men
    • 5,128 tanks
    • 25,013 guns and mortars
  • Soviet counteroffensive phase:
    • 2,500,000 men
    • 7,360 tanks
    • 47,416 guns and mortars
  • 2,792 to 3,549 aircraft
Casualties and losses
  • Operation Citadel:
    • 54,182 men
    • 323 tanks and assault guns destroyed, and c. 600 tanks and assault guns damaged
    • 159 aircraft
    • c. 500 guns
  • Battle of Kursk:
    • Approximately 198,000 MIA, KIA, & WIA (per German military medical data)
    • Estimate 760 tanks and assault guns destroyed
    • 681 aircraft (for 5–31 July)
  • Operation Citadel:
    • 177,847 men
    • 1,614 – 1,956 tanks and assault guns destroyed
    • 459 aircraft
  • Battle of Kursk:
    • 254,470 killed, missing or captured
      608,833 wounded or sick
    • Total 863,000 men
    • 6,064 tanks and assault guns destroyed or damaged
    • 1,626 – 1,961 aircraft
    • 5,244 guns
Battle of Kursk is located in European USSR
Battle of Kursk
Location in the Soviet Union

Strategic Soviet victory

The Battle of Kursk was a Second World War engagement between German and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front near Kursk (450 kilometres or 280 miles south-west of Moscow) in the Soviet Union during July and August 1943. The German offensive was code-named Operation Citadel (German: Unternehmen Zitadelle) and led to one of the largest armoured clashes in history, the Battle of Prokhorovka. The German offensive was countered by two Soviet counter-offensives, Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev (Russian: Полководец Румянцев) and Operation Kutuzov (Russian: Кутузов). For the Germans, the battle was the final strategic offensive that they were able to launch on the Eastern Front. Their extensive loss of men and tanks ensured that the victorious Soviet Red Army enjoyed the strategic initiative for the remainder of the war.

The Germans hoped to weaken the Soviet offensive potential for the summer of 1943 by cutting off a large number of forces that they anticipated would be in the Kursk salient. The Kursk salient or bulge was 250 kilometres (160 mi) long from north to south and 160 kilometres (99 mi) from east to west. The plan envisioned an envelopment by a pair of pincers breaking through the northern and southern flanks of the salient.Adolf Hitler believed that a victory here would reassert German strength and improve his prestige with his allies, who were considering withdrawing from the war. It was also hoped that large numbers of Soviet prisoners would be captured to be used as slave labour in the German armaments industry.


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