Battle Of Kursk Essay

The Battle of Kursk was a German offensive against the Soviet Union. The Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle in WW2 and caused a crisis in germany’s war machine in the Soviet Union. After the battle of Stalingrad, the soviet counter-attack had created a bulge in the Soviet’s frontline. In the center was the city of Kursk. The Nazi’s Created a plan called “Operation Cittadel” which would cut off the bulge from the rest of the Soviet army. Although the Nazi’s army was weak from the Battle of Stalingrad and the city of Kursk was not a significant city. Hitler wanted to show that his force was still formidable and hopefully reinitiate the Nazi offensive. Hitler put a third of his army into this attack which included 900,000 Soldiers, 10,000 …show more content…
The Soviets turned the bulge into a fortress they placed massive amounts of forces in the bulge that amassed to 1.3 million soldiers, 20,000 artillery 3,600 tanks and 2,400 aircraft as well as lots of defensive armaments. The soviets also had a home field advantage the land surrounding kursk would considerably slow the german offensive when it rained because the ground would be too muddy to move fast. On July the fifth the attack commenced the Luftwaffe took to the air and the Soviets responded but the Germans ended up with a tighter grasp on the air. Then the norther part of the German army started their advance but were slowed by the vast minefields. The Germans tiger tanks located in the middle of the northern advance was a lot stronger than the soviets t-34 and they began to push but it wasn’t enough to make a major breakthrough. The Germans soon realised that it would not be a easy victory. The Germans were slowly carving their way through the enemy lines but it didn’t matter if they made it through the minefield and bombed the pillbox there was always another minefield another pillbox and even more after that. Casualties began to mount and German reserves were at an all time