Great battles lecture 26 PDF

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Citadel: The battle of Kursk • Operation Citadel began on July5th 1943 and the germans drove from 2 direction in an effort to pinch the Kursk bulge • The northern thrust met heavy resistance and it was stopped July 12th but the southern offensives made a dangerous headway and it culminated with the famous tank battle of Prokhorovka which led to the red army being able to launch their own counteroffensives • Due to size of opposing force Kursk was the largest set piece battle in history, German panzer forces were on norther and souther shoulders of the great bulge planning to meet as the city of Kursk • Red army arrayed in multiple defensive lines and soviet reserves waiting in north south and east • July 5th 1943 battle began and soviet commander predicted time German were going to attack and 30 mins before they launched artillery barrage and air strikes against the Germans before they could launch their own attacks • On northern side of saline the German 9th army attacked on 80km front with German General Model attacking with powerful artillery bombardments and airstrikes nut they ran into difficulties of soviet general Rokossovsky who was one of the most talented new army general • German tanks and infantry began bogged down due to soviet minefields and then subjected to intense fire os soviet and anti tank gunners who attacked their tanks at short ranges immobilizing German tanks • In 7 days of fierce fighting Models army could only advance 8-12 km into the soviet defences • Beginning July 6th Rokossovsky committed reserves into counterattacks on germans but mood committed 4 panzer division to take two small cities that were extremely bloody • By July 12 the Germans were effectively halted unable to stick to their original plans and the soviets went to the offensive • German offensive was more dangerous on the southern side of the battle and German general Manstein made dangerous progress with stinger paper forces with 2nd core he had 102 tiger and all 102 panthers and they deployed formation called panzer kie which was a wedge with heavy tiger tanks and tips and edges with more vulnerable media tank an infantry tanks in the middle • They were able to destroy 700 soviet tanks and assail guns with only los of 116 of their won tanks despite not being able to rely heavily on aircraft • German assault made progress and only 11th Manstien reached city Prokhorovka which was close to Kursk and had the 2nd panzer core on a surprise assault but Zukhov brought up the 5th guards tank army which was an elite force to launch a counter attack and he planned to use them against the SS panzers and destroy them • July 12th 1943 (largest tank battle in history) the 5th gourds tank army struck against the 2d SS panzer corps and they launched 700 t34 tanks in an all out attack at high speed to minimize vulnerability against the better German tanks • But the germans fought back and it lead to the tactical defeat of the red army as they lossed and elite tank formation at 300 tanks while the Germans only losses 80 tanks as they held their ground but despite this the SS panzer divisions were unable to launch a breakthrough attacking • 2 developments need operation Citadel when the US and British invaded Sicily and this forced hitler to transfer forces including 2nd SS panzer corps from eastern front to west stooping Manstein from completing his offences, the second was on July 12th when the soviets operation Kutuzov launching their counter offensive committing 1 million troops and 2400 tanks causing the Kursk German forces being moved to Orel to defend the soviet offences • July 13th Hitler cancelled operation Citadel causing Manstein to pull back into the defence • August 12th 1943 the soviets launched 2nd major counter offensive called operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev at Kursk salient and they made quick progress

• In fight at the Kursk bulge and during the offensives the soviets lost 863,303 casualties along with 6,064 tanks, and 1626 aircrafts destroyed while the germans lost 203,000 men 760 tanks and 681 aircrafts • Despite the heavy losses the soviets stopped a blitzkrieg and soviet commanders prove themselves • Both soviet operations were only beginning of soviet attacks on eastern front and eventually liberated Moscow from German threat • Hitler forced man stein to retreat to river where they could better defend and when the red army reached the banks and when they crossed they concentrated 2 armies to deserted bridgehead and caught the germans by surprise • After Kursk the red army went on the offensive and the German army could never place a decisive defeat on the enemy and it was the beginning of the downfall of the German army The March to Berlin • After Kursk the red army went on the offensive and in the summer of 1944 it launched operation Bagration to destroy the army group centre which was the last substantial German force on soviet soil • Bagration was the greatest soviet victory of the war and in the spring of 1945 the red army leached its final attack on Berlin • By spring of 1944 the final acts on the eastern front began and only 1 significant German force remained on the soviet territory and in march Stalin and the rest of soviet high command placed objective on the army group centre • Red army at peak strength it had 6.4 million soldiers, 5,800 tanks and their airforce had 13,000 aircrafts • The German forces had been weakened due to defeats pf 1943 and land and air assets had to be diverted tp western Europe and they could only spare 3.1 million troops, 2,300 tanks, and 3000 aircrafts • Red army had other advantages as they had closed tank gap and improved the t34 which included a 85mm weapon with improved armour and turret while retaining speed and agility, they also receive new heavy tank IS2 which had thick armour and 122mm gun and combined it allowed soviet tankers o fight on equal terms to their German opponents, ratio was 1-1 losses of tank in fight • Second advantage was the ability to use the deep battle doctrine and they had the generals and officers to carry out the plan with 6 tank armies and hundreds of brigades and regiments, they also had capability to support huge and long distance offensive • Operation to destroy the army group centre was called Bagration and it consisted of 5 offensives that would be launched in a sequence • The first was an attack on Finland to draw germans reinforcements to the baltic sector, followed by 2 main offences to destroy army grow centre, 4/5 operations the army would drive into Poland and Romania • Key elements of the operation was deception and misdirection and the germans were to be convinced that the red army wasn’t going to Bellarussia balcony and army group centre and for dummy forces to go to north and south sector of eastern front, society airforce superiority restricted the German forces to go only go to the places that the red army strategically set up to deceive them • In late sprig German military intelligence they thought main attack would be in Ukraine and operation bagration became in June 22nd 1944 and germans were caught by surprise by the massive red army attack and they broke through enemy front lines and after a week 3 German armies were destroyed and army group centre almost ceased to exist

• Red army continued west and drove the germans out and by July 27th they reached the river in Poland where the bagration offensive to a halt • Bagration was greatest victory of the war and was comparable to the Normandy campaign and the soviets killed 400,000 germans destroyed 2000 tanks and captured 158,000 prisoners they even prodded German POW through the streets of Moscow • The battle showed how far the red army came from being fully destroyed during operation Barbarossa, being rebuilt during Stalingrad, being reformed during Kursk and the operation shows how it surpassed German army is modern warfare • January 1945 the red army began final push into German and they destroyed villages and towns and the vendetta carried by the Soviets resulted in savage looting, raping and killing civilians • Stalin even downplayed the rape as having fun and he convinced US and Britain that Berlin should be soviet pride and Zukhov took over the plan in the battle of Berlin which stained his legacy • April 30th the soviets closed in on Hitler and Nazi Germany before they surrendered ending the war...