Swift Strike: how the Red Army won the Battle of Kursk
August 23 is the day of the defeat of the Nazi German troops by Soviet troops in the Battle of Kursk. A heroic milestone in the history of our country, in the history of the Great Patriotic War. Izvestia recalled how it was.
Defense or offensive?
In the spring of 1943, a deep ledge formed on the front line in the Kursk area, which jutted into the German positions. Both Moscow and Berlin understood how much depended on the struggle for the Kursk Bulge. The Germans saw their task as encircling and destroying the Soviet forces on this "balcony" (as Hitler's strategists called the ledge). Before the decisive battles, a precarious balance was maintained on the fronts. The Germans could not take revenge for Stalingrad, and the Red Army was not yet able to maintain the pace of destruction of the enemy, taken on the banks of the Volga.
In Germany, the Italians, Hungarians, and Romanians were declared the culprits of the Stalingrad defeat. It was believed that they were the ones who faltered, unable to withstand the decisive blows of the Red Army. Therefore, only "truly Aryan" troops were to participate in the offensive near Kursk. Only one Hungarian division was active in the immediate rear. However, soldiers mobilized in France and Poland fought in the Wehrmacht units, but these units were considered German.
The commander of Army Group South was a truly gifted commander, Field Marshal Erich von Manstein. The offensive in the north was led by a general who was considered Hitler's favorite, Walter Model. The Nazis made a bet on technical re-equipment. They have prepared several novelties for the offensive on the Kursk Bulge. The Panthers and Tigers, tanks that entered service with German divisions shortly before the Battle of Kursk, offset the former superiority of Soviet armored forces. The Ferdinand self-propelled gun was a technical miracle. Fortunately, the German industry was not able to produce such self-propelled guns in industrial quantities. But about a hundred Ferdinands went to the front.
German self-propelled gun "Ferdinand" in the area of the Kursk bulge before the start of the fighting. Early July 1943
The General Staff of the Red Army thought over the nuances of the operation. The commander of the Voronezh Front, Army General Nikolai Vatutin, proposed to organize an offensive against the German Army Group South from the Kursk positions. The German command also believed that it was the struggle for the Kursk bulge that would be decisive for the entire war. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the Great Patriotic War, both sides showed caution in developing a strategic operation. Both sides took their time and considered different offensive and defensive options. The reason is clear: Heavy losses affected the decisions of the command of both the Red Army and the occupiers. Moreover, both Berlin and Moscow realized that the confrontation at Kursk could be decisive not only for the 1943 campaign, but for the entire war. Konstantin Rokossovsky was not in favor of an offensive, believing that the Red Army did not have enough forces to encircle and destroy the German group. His arguments became decisive. It was decided to keep an active defense on the Kursk bulge, lure out the enemy, and then organize a large-scale offensive. For this, the General Staff was accumulating forces. Intelligence helped. Moscow knew in advance about the Wehrmacht offensive.
The Soviet reserves are going to the front. Early July 1943
Information was received from both Soviet intelligence officers and a British agent who provided information about the Wehrmacht's offensive plans. "On the night of July 5, German sappers were captured in the area of the 13th and 48th armies, clearing minefields. They showed that the offensive was scheduled for three o'clock in the morning, the German troops had already taken their starting position," recalled Konstantin Rokossovsky, commander of the Central Front.
Heavy artillery of the Voronezh and Central Fronts on the main defensive line
In the first hours of the German offensive, the Red Army responded with a powerful artillery strike along the entire front and bomber raids. For the Germans, this meant disrupting an operation that was meticulously conceived, down to the nuances. But such a beginning did not guarantee success for the heroes, who were ready to "take away our spans and crumbs."
"There is armor stronger than metal"
On the southern face of the Kursk Bulge, Alexei Zhadov's 5th Guards Army and Pavel Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army held off a Nazi tank offensive in the battle of Prokhorovka, which culminated on July 12.
Pavel Rotmistrov (right), Commander of the 5th Guards Tank Army, and Major General Vladimir Baskakov, Chief of the Army Staff, clarify the combat situation on the map
The summer of 1943 was a time of German technical superiority. Our tankers had to approach the Germans under fire in order to shoot them head-on at close range. They had the ability to conduct long-range tank fire.
Soviet tanks and infantry attack German positions
The symbol of the tank battle near Prokhorovka was the ram of the mechanic driver, senior Sergeant Alexander Nikolaev. The German Tigers were more powerful than the Soviet T-34. Many fighters considered the Tigers' armor impenetrable. It was necessary to break this prejudice. The tanker decided to ram, went to the enemy, not afraid of fire. The Tiger stopped, backed away, fired, but missed, and finally began to turn around to get away from the oncoming burning steel car. But the flaming tank, led by Nikolayev, crashed into the tiger at full speed. When they collided, the ground shook from the explosion. Nikolayev's example was followed by many. In that battle, Soviet soldiers carried out twenty tank ramming attacks. They stopped the German offensive at the cost of their lives.
Tank commander, Lieutenant B. V. Smelov shows a hole in the turret of the German Tiger tank
"There was such a roar that the eardrums were crushed, blood was flowing from the ears — a continuous roar of engines, the clang of metal, the roar, the explosions of shells, the wild screech of tearing iron. Turrets collapsed from point—blank shots, guns twisted, armor burst, tanks exploded," Grigory Panezhko, a participant in the battle, Hero of the Soviet Union, recalled about that battle.
Soviet pilots on IL-2 attack aircraft attack an enemy tank column. The Voronezh Front.
No less important was the battle in the sky. The Panzerwaffe was threatened by Soviet bombers who gained air supremacy. The victory was not easy. When the Red Army switched from active defensive actions to an attack, the Germans, who had not forgotten the lessons of the battle for Moscow and Stalingrad, organized air raids of unprecedented force on transport communications and troops. It took fortitude and indomitable will to withstand this blow and continue the offensive. Among the units of the Voronezh Front, we note the 1st Tank Army of Lieutenant General Mikhail Katukov. The Kursk Bulge became a funnel that sucked in armies and divisions. The incredible tension of the confrontation is explained by the complexity of the task: the victorious army managed to reorganize from a defensive configuration to an offensive without pauses, maintaining a rhythm (but, alas, at the cost of significant losses).
A damaged German Panther tank on the battlefield. July 1943
The Nazis advanced for 11 days. But from the second decade of July, the initiative passed to the Red Army. The pressure increased by the beginning of August. Soviet troops conducted offensive operations along the entire arc. On the 17th, the battle for Kharkov began. The troops of Nikolai Vatutin's Southwestern Front and Philip Golikov's Voronezh conducted an operation codenamed Zvezda, knocking the Germans out of the industrial areas of the Kharkiv agglomeration. The end of the Battle of Kursk was the day when the red banner of Victory flew over Kharkov — on June 23. The SS Panzer Corps stationed in Kharkov retreated from the city in fear. Moscow saluted the winners with 224 volleys.
The road to Donbass and Berlin
The battle, which has no analogues in world history in terms of the number of military equipment involved, ended with the indisputable victory of the Red Army on all frontiers. The loss of seven elite tank divisions was particularly painful for the Germans. They have lost faith in the perfection and omnipotence of their military machine. The Nazis were pushed back 140-150 kilometers to the west. And most importantly, they liberated Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov, opening the gates for the liberation of the Dnieper and Donbass — industrial areas with many transport centers. The most intense was the final battle for Kharkov, a city that had been a hub of long and bloody battles since 1941.
Residents of the liberated Eagle meet Soviet soldiers. August 5, 1943
After the victory in this grandiose confrontation, the Wehrmacht lost the initiative in the war forever. After that, the Nazis did not undertake major and successful offensive operations. And they couldn't do it. Germany had switched to a defensive strategy, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to maintain dominance over significant Soviet territory. Bloody battles were to be fought on the Dnieper. The Nazis still resisted stubbornly. It happened that we won victories. But there were no more opportunities for expansion. This is called a decisive turning point, which was felt by all front—line soldiers, from marshal to soldier. From Kursk, Belgorod and Kharkov, the liberating soldiers paved a direct route to Berlin.
A German soldier at a broken 150mm infantry cannon
According to Marshal Georgy Zhukov's objective assessment, on the Kursk Bulge "not only the choicest and most powerful groups of Germans were defeated, but also the faith in Hitler's fascist leadership and in Germany's ability to resist the ever-increasing might of the Soviet Union was irrevocably undermined in the German army and people."
"We swear at the monument..."
In August 1944, when hard-fought battles from the Baltic to the Balkans were still ahead of Victory, a monument in honor of the heroes who stood in the way of the enemy began to be erected in a wooded area a few km from the village of Ponyri. The Nazis lost 110 tanks in this patch. More than 30 of them were blown up by mines. The sappers, who had prepared mine traps for the Germans, went into battle against the tanks... Red Army soldier Ivan Jim, in front of his comrades, rushed under the tracks of an enemy vehicle with an anti-tank mine, Guard Sergeant Nikolai Zygin and two soldiers, closing the passage in the minefield, blew up five tanks.
Fireworks in honor of the liberation of the cities of Orel and Belgorod in Moscow. August 5, 1943
The eternal flame at the foot of the monument was lit by the Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General Mikhail Yenshin, commander of the 307th Infantry Division, which selflessly fought on the Kursk Bulge. The inscription on the granite slab reads: "The sappers heroically defended themselves, stood to the death and did not miss the enemy." How important it is that even during the war years the country did not forget about the feat. "The battles on the sacred land had not had time to die down, as the people erected monuments in honor of the heroes, the real sons of the Russian land! We swear at the monument that we will work tirelessly to help the front," such words were heard on the day of the monument's opening. Even today, they determine our attitude towards those who fought in Ponyri, near Prokhorovka, who defended Kursk and liberated Kharkov. The first fireworks of the Great Patriotic War were performed in their honor on August 5, after the liberation of Orel and Belgorod.
A fragment of the memorial complex "Kursk Bulge". The year 1975
It is significant that the allies of the Anti-Hitler Coalition reacted less enthusiastically to the victory of the Red Army in the Battle of Kursk than to the surrender of Paulus in Stalingrad. The international significance of the battle was too great. It was in August 1943 that Japan and Turkey finally abandoned plans to join the war on the side of Berlin, and Sweden stopped trading with Germany... London and Washington were already afraid of the successes of the Soviet Union. Western journalists tried to imagine that the successes of the Red Army near Kursk were largely due to the Allied amphibious operation in Sicily. Ridiculously, even today this interpretation is popular in American and English historiography. Well, that just goes to show how significant that victory was.
The author is the deputy editor—in-chief of the magazine "Historian"
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
