The Kursk Clash

"The Battle of Kursk, from July, 5 to August, 23, 1943 is usually considered a key event and a turning point in the World War II between Germany and USSR, a ridgeline between two different phases of the war – in the first one, the Wehrmacht reigns the strategic initiative and conducts offensive combat; the situation is vice versa in the second phase. The Battle of Kursk marked off in the Reich’s sources as the Operation “Citadel”, has been carried out with incredible intensity, inhuman fury and torment on both sides, unknown until then on the Soviet-German (Eastern) Front, and in World War II. It bears the mark of a general battle.

Taking into account the battlefield reserves, over 4 million people, 13,000 tanks, 12,000 airplanes – more than the Stalingrad battle – have been involved in this tremendous collision.

The losses suffered by both sides are also huge – a total of 1.37 million people, of which about 400,000 are irrevocable (killed, captured, missing).

After Kursk, Germany takes the path to complete defeat – retreats, defeats, unconditional surrender.

In such intense battles, as at Kursk, the skills and professionalism of the two-party command teams involved in them play a major role in the organizing and maneuvering with the appropriate forces and structures as well as in the taking of adequate decisions in conditions of uncertainty and risk. Based on a non-complicated method, numerical examples of the Kursk clashes are given to quantify the risks and probabilities of adverse events.

In the 20 chapters being proposed, which do not pretend for completeness and ultimate veracity, not only the immediate battles are reviewed but also a number of previous events related to the state of the war economies, armaments and the rears of the two warring states. This is necessary for the purpose of broadening the understanding of the logic of this awesome collision. The texts contain a large number of credible data on human staff and the losses of the individual military unions as well as copies of the texts of important archival documents. Brief biographical data are also attached about 20 warlords who took the most active part in the Kursk Battle - 10 on each side.

Two more chapters are added in the second edition, namely Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, concerning the establishment of the Axis and the Allies, as well some small corrections of technical inaccuracies in the first edition.

I hope this text will allow the open-minded reader make his own conclusions about the events under consideration. If his interest in World War II is enhanced, the author will consider his task fulfilled."

- Vassil Sgurev