Osprey's Kursk 1943

Touted in the past as the 'greatest tank battle of WWII', Kursk was not as many had thought. Sure, it was an important campaign, but it was not a mass tank battle, but the usual smaller skirmishes that occurred throughout the war. This perception is due as much to Soviet propaganda that was repeated and repeated until many were sure it was truth.

Kursk was an attempt by the German Army to use a pincer attack to cut off the Soviets in the Kursk Salient. However, there were some major situations that caused the German attack to fail. First off, the Soviets were given intelligence from the British that the attack was coming. This was because the British had broken the Enigma code, so no encrypted German message was safe. This allowed the Soviets to build up their defenses to such a level that they were, in total, nearly impossible to break through.

 Much of this defense consisted of mine fields of such depth that getting through them was very time consuming. Indeed, much German armor fell afoul of these mine fields, further depleting the forces thta the Germans had to put into the campaign. Not only that, but when the Germans performed a tactical retreat, the first thing that happened were that the openings in these fields were resown. So skilled were the Soviet teams, that they were able to produce mine fields mere hours before German troops and armor reached a specific point. Add to that a rather great superiority in numbers of tanks, troops and field guns, combined with defense in depth, and it was pretty certain that the Germans would fail from the beginning.

However, the Germans were not a push-over by any means. Soviet commanders were rather inept and the Luftwaffe was able to not only keep control of the air, but decimated the Soviet Air Armies used against it. Kursk was also the introduction of the Ferdinand and along with the Tiger tank, which was impervious to Soviet T-34s and most of their anti-tank guns, these vehicles helped to make mincemeat out of those Soviet AFVs that came into their range. However, they were not impervious to mines and thanks to poor planning regarding spares (as in none), many of these German AFVs were abandon on the battlefield.

Thanks to the careful planning of German troops under the command of Model, though unable to attain the objective of Operation Citadel, the German army was able to hold the line and with a smaller percentage of losses than has been previously believed.

This was important for soon after Citadel, the Soviets launched Operation Kutusov in their push to take the salient around Orel to the north. In this case, they succeeded, though not without great loss, and mostly due to the depleted condition of the German forces which they faced. Again, Model was able to pull out of the salient with minimal losses and to form a defense that the Soviets could not break.

This all makes for an excellent read that will change a lot of minds about this particular campaign. Robert Forczyk is one of Osprey's best authors and makes the story of the Kursk battles both interesting and one that is well researched. A book I can highly recommend to the enthusiast and historian alike.

October 2014

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