Few battles attract interest so much as the Battle of Kursk. Operation Zitadelle, the code name given by Hitler to the Wehrmacht's last offensive on the Eastern Front in July 1943, has acquired an almost mythic status as one of the greatest clashes of armour in the history of warfare. Long been depicted as the ‘the swan song of the German tank arm’ by virtue of the huge tank losses experienced by the Germans; the reality, in light of the emergence of new information proved it to be anything but, with historians previously accepting without question exaggerated Soviet accounts of the battle.For all the resources devoted to this operation by the Germans, Zitadelle was an abysmal failure; and whilst they were not outfought by the Red Army at Kursk, they were out-thought by commanders of outstanding quality. Zitadelle describes the German and Soviet tactics and explores the realities of the battles on sodden ground that culminated in the defeat of the panzers and the Soviet advance on the Reich.

A concise, accessible account of the greatest tank battle in history In July 1943, Hitler launched Operation Zitadelle, the last German offensive on the Eastern Front. It was an attempt to shorten the German lines by eliminating the Kursk salient - created after their defeat at Stalingrad - and was designed to result in the encirclement of the Red Army. In reality, the German tanks came up against impenetrable Russian defenses: minefields, artillery and anti-tank emplacements, spread through lines 250km deep and manned by Russian troops whose actions often verged on the suicidal. The greatest tank battle in history, Kursk assured the Nazis' defeat and was 'the swan song of the German tank arm'. Involving over 9,000 tanks, 5,000 aircraft, 35,000 guns and mortars, 2.7 million troops and 230,000 casualties, the Battle of Kursk was a conflict whose scale and barbarity eclipsed all other clashes in Europe. This book gives a clear, concise account of those dramatic days in 1943, supported by a timeline of events and orders of battle, and illustrated with over fifty photographs.

2. Verdenskrig. Slaget ved Kursk juli 1943. Beskrivelse af et af de mest afgørende panserslag på Østfronten under 2. VK. både den russiske og tyske planlægning samt selve slaget belyses detaljeret.

In July 1943, Hitler launched Operation Zitadelle, the last German offensive on the Eastern Front. This title gives a clear, concise account of those dramatic days in 1943, supported by a timeline of events and orders of battle, and illustrated with over 50 photographs.

Cross (VE Day) sets the scene for the mother of tank battles (6,000 machines)--the German vs. Soviet epic on Hitler's Eastern Front in July 1943--with a discussion of operations to that time, the leadership of the two hands-on dictators, politics, production, personnel, tactics, strategy. Detailed description of one of the pivotal actions of WWII. Maps and photos. Published by Sarpedon Publishers, 166 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

“Comprehensive scholarship and convincing reasoning, enhanced by an excellent translation, place this work on a level with the best of David Glantz” (Dennis Showalter, award-winning author of Patton and Rommel). This groundbreaking book examines the battle of Kursk between the Red Army and Wehrmacht, with a particular emphasis on its beginning on July 12, as the author works to clarify the relative size of the contending forces, the actual area of this battle, and the costs suffered by both sides. Valeriy Zamulin’s study of the crucible of combat during the titanic clash at Kursk—the fighting at Prokhorovka—is now available in English. A former staff member of the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum, Zamulin has dedicated years of his life to the study of the battle of Kursk, and especially the fighting on its southern flank involving the famous attack of the II SS Panzer Corps into the teeth of deeply echeloned Red Army defenses. A product of five years of intense research into the once-secret Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, this book lays out in enormous detail the plans and tactics of both sides, culminating in the famous and controversial clash at Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943. Zamulin skillfully weaves reminiscences of Red Army and Wehrmacht soldiers and officers into the narrative of the fighting, using in part files belonging to the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum. Zamulin has the advantage of living in Prokhorovka, so he has walked the ground of the battlefield many times and has an intimate knowledge of the terrain. Examining the battle primarily from the Soviet side, Zamulin reveals the real costs and real achievements of the Red Army at Kursk, and especially Prokhorovka. He examines mistaken deployments and faulty decisions that hampered the Voronezh Front’s efforts to contain the Fourth Panzer Army’s assault, and the valiant, self-sacrificial fighting of the Red Army’s soldiers and junior officers as they sought to slow the German advance and crush the II SS Panzer Corps with a heavy counterattack at Prokhorovka. Illustrated with numerous maps and photographs (including present-day views of the battlefield), and supplemented with extensive tables of data, Zamulin’s book is an outstanding contribution to the growing literature on the battle of Kursk, and further demolishes many of the myths and legends that grew up around it.

Seventy years after the battle of Kursk, which was probably the greatest tank battle of the Second World War and perhaps of all military history, comes this new publication. Characterized by hundreds of period photos, allowing the reader to relive those tragic and terrible events. The photos of men, weapons, and vehicles taken on the battlefield before, during, and after the engagements during the rare moments of rest are a true testament to military history. An exceptional photographic documentation, which will be useful to historians, military history students and modeling enthusiasts. Some photos are already known, but we have made every effort to include wherever possible new material as well, previously unpublished, coming from the principal public and private archives, to try to offer our readers a new editorial product. The course of operations was analyzed mainly from the point of view of the Das Reich division, taking the information directly from German war diaries and from Otto Weidinger's previous historical researches on the same division. In the text, however, there is no lack of references to other formations of the SS-Panzer-Korps, whose units always acted in collaboration during the course of the offensive

In his classic work, On War, Carl von Clausewitz wrote, “As we shall show, defense is a stronger form of fighting than attack.” A generation of nineteenth century officers, nurtured on the study of the experiences of Napoleon and conditioned by the wars of German unification, had little reason to accept that view. The offensive spirit swept through European armies and manifested itself in the regulations, plans, and mentality of those armiehe events of 1939, 1940, and 1941 in Poland, France, and Russia respectively again challenged Clausewitz’ claim of the superiority of the defense and prompted armies worldwide to frantically field large armored forces and develop doctrines for their use. While blitzkrieg concepts ruled supreme, it fell to that nation victimized most by those concepts to develop techniques to counter the German juggernaut. The Soviets had to temper a generation of offensive tradition in order to marshal forces and develop techniques to counter blitzkrieg. In essence, the Soviet struggle for survival against blitzkrieg proved also to be a partial test of Clausewitz’ dictum. In July 1943, after arduous months of developing defensive techniques, often at a high cost in terms of men and material, the Soviets met blitzkrieg head-on and proved that defense against it was feasible. The titanic, grinding Kursk operation validated, in part, Clausewitz’ views. But it also demonstrated that careful study of force organization and employment and application of the fruits of that study can produce either offensive or defensive victory. While on the surface the events of Kursk seemed to validate Clausewitz’ view, it is often forgotten that, at Kursk, the Soviets integrated the concept of counteroffensive into their grand defensive designs. Thus the defense itself was meaningless unless viewed against the backdrop of the renewed offensive efforts and vice versa. What Kursk did prove was that strategic, operational, and tactical defenses could counter blitzkrieg.

Compiled by one of the world's leading experts on the subject of the air war over the Eastern Front, Christer BergstrOm, Kursk: The Air Battle, is the third in a series of books covering the major phases of the air war in this theatre of operations. It will be required reading for all historians of the Luftwaffe during World War 2 and those with a specific interest in the Eastern Front in particular.The German 'Kursk' offensive, 'Operation Zitadelle,' was launched on 4 July 1943. Strong Soviet defence ensured that the Germans failed to make their planned breakthrough and, after three weeks, defence was turned to attack by the Soviets, as two counter-attacks saw the Red Army seize the initiative and ultimately force the Germans to retreat. During the month of August, Soviet forces recaptured strategic cities such as Oryol, Belgorod and Kharkov. This book provides a detailed history of the air battles which were a part of this operation.To date, no single study has been written in English on the air aspects of the battle in which, literally, thousands of aircraft were pitted against each other. The strength of the author's writing lies in its detail, his ability to tell the story from the viewpoints of both sides and from both strategic and tactical contexts. There is also much unique eye-witness material and the text will be accompanied by a large number of rare and previously unpublished photographs, 'biography boxes', plus data tables, technical assessments and appendices.