Battle of the kursk

is anyone familare with the battle of the kursk?

 

Yes!
I wondered how long it would take somebody to bring this up!

 

What exactly would you like to know?

Christian

 

how the battle goes and how the soviets win

 

There are 99 reasons why the soviets "won", but here are the key ones:

1. Thanks to Blachley park code breakers, the allies informed Stalin the exact date and time of Hitler's attack
2. Russian constructed the largest and most deadly tank killing zone ever, saturated the areas with anti-tank mines, small, medium and heavy anti-tank guns, and tank-killing units.
3. Russians out-numbered the Germans in troops and tank, also the Germans had to initiate the attack
4. Effective mobilization of Russian reserves to plug gaps and also to counter attack
5. Mechanical failures of the new Panthers and Ferdinands

 

The Allied landings in Sicily helped a great deal. When the Allies landed, Hitler pulled away all the forces from Kursk, even though he was asked by several commanders to keep on the attack.

Christian

 

Another thing is that the Germans used everything they had in the attack in order to achieve maximum initial punch and therefore momentum. The Russians however held back a significant part of their forces as reserve and were able to stop any gap and counterattack the moment the offensive stalled.

 

What were the losses for both sides ????

 

Large enough to be the end of an effective amoured force for the Germans. The Russians replaced all of their lost armour, the Germans never caught up.

 

Any numbers........ i would really appriciate it........

Best regards, KBO

 

I believe both sides lost just about 1500 tanks and armoured vehicles.

 

The way i heard it was that the russians lost alot more than the germans.......... :kill:

But the losses could easely be diplaced by the russians but not by the germans.........

 

Heeresgruppe Süd lost a total of 233 tanks, of which 58 were Panthers. A further 343 were not operational, of which 101 were Panthers, but were repairable.

These are some of the more detailed losses, some of which are included in the above:
Panzer Abteilung lost a total of 18 tanks
Each SS Tiger company lost a Tiger
Großdeutschland lost no Tigers
s.H.Pz.Abt. 503 lost four Tigers
s.H-Pz.Abt. 505 lost six Tigers

thus a total of 13 Tigers were lost during Kursk.

 

What about russian losses ??

Regards, KBO

 

Russian losses were heavy in all respects for the simple fact that they were dug in like Alabama ticks and had no intention of leaving the area. They gave as good as they got in the long run.

The losses became almost irrelevant though because they won the most important of objectives in a battle like Kursk. They won the field of battle and repaired most of their "losses". The Germans did not, they had to leave a lot of fixable stuff behind.

 

Exact figures are hard to come by, anyway. The Soviets tended to exaggerate both the size of the German forces engaged in the attack as well as the losses they inflicted on them.

The battle lasted as long as it did in part because the German panzer troops were better trained than their Russian counterparts. Beyond a certain point, of course, numbers will tell. This happened at Kursk.

 

Don't forget also that the actual battle of 'Kursk', (Operation Zitadelle) is what only the German offensive is referred to, and lasted from the evening of 4/5th July to 12th July 1943. This then immediately led into a counter attack by the Soviets which put the Germans on the defensive. It wasn't a retreat. There was no panic. There was no breathing space between offence and defence for the Germans. It was mainly one huge battle. The fighting in July and August after the actual 'Kursk' battles was just as fierce, just as bitter still with huge numbers involved. Belgorod wasn't won by the Soviets until 6th August and Kharkov was won on 23rd August almost 6 weeks after the Soviet counter offensive began.

The Germans were by no means spent after their offensive and were still a tough opposition but obviously Soviet numbers and reserves told.

 

look at this site:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/vy75/

 

Amazing site Jens! Welcome to the forum. Another Scandinavian...

I believe this link has been provided once, but I can't remember. It was probably mentioned in the list of links on www.wwiivehicles.com .

 

Still, given the heavy German tank losses at Kursk and all along the Eastern Front, I think it's amazing that Hitler was able to muster as many tanks and assault guns as he did for his Ardennes offensive in December of 1944.