Battle Of Kurk Essay

The Battle of Kursk was a major battle that shifted the tide on the eastern front for the Soviets. The german attack on Kursk came shortly after the defeat at Stalingrad in the spring and winter of 1943. The Battle of Kursk took place on the soviet front line which extended into axis territory. The position of the soviet line allowed the german forces to attack from all sides. The german attack on the soviet line was called Operation Citadel.

Hitler attacked at Kursk because he wanted to weaken the soviet offensive forces in Kursk and push the front line back into Russia. Hitler also thought that winning here would reassure some of his allies who thought about quitting. He also heard about a mass of slaves that he could capture and use for increased slave labor. Hitler devised the tactic to make a pincer type attack by converging on the northern and southern flanks. The Soviets knew about Hitler’s plans to attack and prepared for an all out assault. Hitler had the plan figured out but he didn’t have the necessary equipment or man-power available at the time.

The loss at Kursk was where Hitler realised that he pretty much lost on

In total there were, on the german side, 780,900 men, 2,928 tanks, and 9,966 guns and mortars. On the russian side there were 1,910,361 men, 5,128 tanks, and 25,013 guns and mortars. Those are the numbers for Operation Citadel alone the losses and casualties of the german side at Operation Citadel were 54,182 men, 323 tanks, around 600 tanks were damaged but not destroyed, and around 500 guns. Soviet losses counted up to being 177,847 men, and 1,614-1,956 tanks and assault guns. The soviet push was a massive massacre on both sides. The germans lost around 198,000 men, and 760 tanks and assault guns. Soviets lost 254,470 men and 608,883 were wounded or sick, 6,064 tanks were lost or broken, and 5,244 guns were also