A people who forget their past have no future. So once said the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. In the middle of the last century, "fifteen sister republics", united by "Great Russia", inflicted a crushing defeat on the plague of mankind - fascism. The fierce battle was marked by a number of victories of the Red Army, which can be called key. The topic of this article is one of the decisive battles of the Second World War - the Kursk Bulge, one of the fateful battles that marked the final mastery of the strategic initiative by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. From that time on, the German occupiers began to be smashed at all frontiers. A purposeful movement of fronts to the West began. Since that time, the Nazis have forgotten what it means "forward to the East."
Historical Parallels
The Kursk confrontation took place on 1943-05-07 - 1943-23-08 on the primordially Russian Land, over which the great noble prince Alexander Nevsky once held his shield. His prophetic warning to Western conquerors (who came to us with a sword) about imminent death from the onslaught of the Russian sword that met them once again gained strength. It is characteristic thatThe Kursk Bulge was somewhat similar to the battle given by Prince Alexander by the Teutonic Knights on Lake Peipsi on 1242-05-04. Of course, the weapons of the armies, the scale and time of these two battles are incommensurable. But the scenario of both battles is somewhat similar: the Germans with their main forces tried to break through the Russian battle formation in the center, but were crushed by the offensive actions of the flanks.
If you pragmatically try to say what is unique about the Kursk Bulge, the summary will be as follows: unprecedented in history (before and after) operational-tactical density per 1 km of the front.
Battle disposition
The offensive of the Red Army after the Battle of Stalingrad from November 1942 to March 1943 was marked by the defeat of about 100 enemy divisions, driven back from the North Caucasus, the Don, the Volga. But due to the losses suffered by our side, by the beginning of the spring of 1943, the front had stabilized. On the map of hostilities in the center of the front line with the Germans, in the direction of the Nazi army, a ledge stood out, to which the military gave the name Kursk Bulge. The spring of 1943 brought a lull to the front: no one attacked, both sides forcedly accumulated forces in order to seize the strategic initiative again.
Preparing Nazi Germany
After the Stalingrad defeat, Hitler announced mobilization, as a result of which the Wehrmacht grew, more than covering the losses incurred. "Under arms" were 9.5 million people (including 2.3 million reservists). 75% of the most combat-ready active troops (5.3 million people) were on the Soviet-German front.
The Fuhrer yearned to seize the strategic initiative in the war. The turning point, in his opinion, was to occur precisely on that sector of the front, where the Kursk Bulge was located. To implement the plan, the Wehrmacht headquarters developed the strategic operation "Citadel". The plan assumed the application of strikes converging to Kursk (from the north - from the district of the city of Orel; from the south - from the district of the city of Belgorod). In this way, the troops of the Voronezh and Central Fronts fell into the "cauldron".
Under this operation, 50 divisions were concentrated on this sector of the front, incl. 16 armored and motorized, totaling 0.9 million selected, fully equipped troops; 2.7 thousand tanks; 2.5 thousand aircraft; 10,000 mortars and guns.
In this grouping, the transition to new weapons was mainly carried out: Panther and Tiger tanks, Ferdinand assault guns.
The position of the Soviet command
When preparing the Soviet troops for the battle, one should pay tribute to the military talent of the Deputy Supreme Commander G. K. Zhukov. He, together with the Chief of the General Staff A. M. Vasilevsky, reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I. V. Stalin the assumption that the Kursk Bulge would become the main future battlefield, and also predicted the approximate strength of the advancing enemy grouping.
On the front line, the Nazis were opposed by the Voronezh (commander - General Vatutin N. F.) and the Central Fronts (commander - General Rokossovsky K. K.) with a total number of 1, 34 millionHuman. They were armed with 19 thousand mortars and guns; 3.4 thousand tanks; 2.5 thousand aircraft. (As you can see, the advantage was on their side). Secretly from the enemy, behind the listed fronts, the reserve Steppe Front (commander I. S. Konev) was located. It consisted of a tank, aviation and five combined arms armies, supplemented by separate corps.
Control and coordination of the actions of this group were carried out personally by G. K. Zhukov and A. M. Vasilevsky.
Tactical battle plan
The plan of Marshal Zhukov suggested that the battle on the Kursk Bulge would have two phases. The first is defensive, the second is offensive.
A bridgehead in depth (300 km deep) was equipped. The total length of its trenches was approximately equal to the distance "Moscow - Vladivostok". It had 8 powerful lines of defense. The purpose of such a defense was to weaken the enemy as much as possible, to deprive him of the initiative, making the task of the attackers as easy as possible. In the second, offensive phase of the battle, two offensive operations were planned. First: the operation "Kutuzov" with the aim of eliminating the fascist group and liberating the city of "Eagle". Second: "Commander Rumyantsev" to destroy the Belgorod-Kharkov group of invaders.
Thus, with the actual advantage of the Red Army, the battle on the Kursk Bulge took place from the Soviet side "on defense". For offensive operations, as tactics teach, two or three times the number of troops was required.
Shelling
It turned out that the time of the offensive of the fascist troopsbecame known in advance. On the eve of the German sappers began to make passages in the minefields. Soviet front-line intelligence started a fight with them and took prisoners. From the "tongues" it became known the time of the offensive: 3-00 1943-05-07
The reaction was prompt and adequate: On 02-20 1943-05-07, Marshal Rokossovsky K. K. (Commander of the Central Front), with the approval of the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief G. K. It was an innovation in combat tactics. Hundreds of Katyushas, 600 guns, 460 mortars were fired at the invaders. For the Nazis, this was a complete surprise, they suffered losses.
Only at 4-30, having regrouped, they were able to carry out their artillery preparation, and at 5-30 go on the offensive. The Battle of Kursk has begun.
Start of battle
Of course, not everyone could predict our generals. In particular, both the General Staff and the Headquarters expected the main blow from the Nazis in the southern direction, to the city of Orel (which was defended by the Central Front, the commander was General Vatutin N. F.). In reality, the battle on the Kursk Bulge from the German troops was focused on the Voronezh front, from the north. Two battalions of heavy tanks, eight tank divisions, an assault gun division, and one motorized division moved against the troops of General Vatutin Nikolai Fedorovich. In the first phase of the battle, the first hot spot was the village of Cherkasskoye (virtually wiped off the face of the earth), where two Soviet rifle divisions held backthe offensive of five enemy divisions.
German offensive tactics
This Great War is famous for martial art. The Kursk Bulge fully demonstrated the confrontation between the two strategies. What did the German offensive look like? Heavy equipment was moving ahead along the attack front: 15-20 Tiger tanks and Ferdinand self-propelled guns. They were followed by from fifty to a hundred Panther medium tanks, accompanied by infantry. Driven back, they regrouped and repeated the attack. The attacks were like the ebb and flow of the sea, following each other.
Let's follow the advice of the famous military historian, Marshal of the Soviet Union, Professor Zakharov Matvey Vasilyevich, we will not idealize our defense of the 1943 model, we will state it objectively.
We have to talk about German tank tactics. The Kursk Bulge (this must be admitted) demonstrated the art of Colonel-General Herman Goth, he "jewellery", so to speak about tanks, brought his 4th Army into battle. At the same time, our 40th Army with 237 tanks, the most equipped with artillery (35.4 units per 1 km), under the command of General Kirill Semenovich Moskalenko, turned out to be much to the left, i.e. out of business. Opposing General Goth, the 6th Guards Army (commander I. M. Chistyakov) had a density of guns per 1 km - 24.4 with 135 tanks. Mainly on the 6th Army, far from the most powerful, came the blow of the Army Group "South", commanded by the most gifted strategist of the Wehrmacht, Erich von Manstein. (By the way, this person was fromfew who constantly argued on issues of strategy and tactics with Adolf Hitler, for which in 1944, in fact, he was dismissed).
Tank battle near Prokhorovka
In the current difficult situation, in order to eliminate the breakthrough, the Red Army brought into battle strategic reserves: the 5th Guards Tank Army (Commander Rotmistrov P. A.) and the 5th Guards Army (Commander Zhadov A. S.)
The possibility of a flank attack by the Soviet tank army in the area of the village of Prokhorovka was previously considered by the German General Staff. Therefore, the divisions "Dead Head" and "Leibstandarte" the direction of the strike was changed to 900 - for a head-on collision with the army of General Pavel Alekseevich Rotmistrov.
Tanks on the Kursk Bulge: 700 combat vehicles went into battle from the German side, 850 from ours. An impressive and terrible picture. As eyewitnesses recall, the roar was such that blood flowed from the ears. They had to shoot point-blank, from which the towers turned off. Coming to the enemy from the rear, they tried to fire on the tanks, from which the tanks flared with torches. The tankers were, as it were, in prostration - while he was alive, he had to fight. It was impossible to retreat, to hide.
The Red Army in the battle of Prokhorovka, having shown heroism, nevertheless suffered greater losses than the German one. Equipment of the 18th and 29th tank corps was destroyed by seventy percent.
If we talk about the losses of the fronts in the Battle of Kursk, then the Voronezh, Steppe and Central fronts lost 177.8 thousand people, of which more70 thousand - killed. The Voronezh front turned out to be “hacked” to the full depth. According to the data received by historians, the losses of the Germans amounted to a little more than 20% of ours.
Second stage of operation
Deepening to 35 km and having suffered significant losses, the Germans realized that they would not be able to hold the conquered bridgehead, and on 1943-16-07 they began to pull back the troops. The Voronezh and Steppe fronts launched a positional offensive and restored the front line. The General Staff and the Headquarters (we must pay tribute) subtly caught the "moment of truth" and brought reserves into battle.
Unexpectedly for the Germans, the "fresh" Bryansk Front on 1943-03-08 went on the offensive, reinforced from the flanks by the forces of the Steppe and Central Fronts. On August 5, 1943, after stubborn battles, the city of Orel was liberated by the Bryansk Front, and the city of Belgorod was liberated by the Steppe. The liberation of the city of Kharkov on 1943-23-08 completed the Kursk Duga operation. The map of this battle includes a defensive phase (07/05-23/1943); Oryol operation ("Kutuzov") 12.07-18.08.1943; Belgorod-Kharkov operation ("Commander Rumyantsev") 08/03-23/1943
Conclusion
After the victory of the Red Army over the Wehrmacht in the Battle of Kursk, the strategic initiative finally passed to the Red Army. Therefore, this battle is called a turning point in the Great Patriotic War.
Certainly, it was unreasonable to attack the enemy in the first phase of the operation (if we suffered one to five losses during the defense, what would they be like during the offensive?!). At the same time, real heroism was shown by Soviet soldiers on this battlefield. 100000 people were awarded orders and medals, and 180 of them were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In our time, the day of its end - August 23 - is annually celebrated by the inhabitants of the country as the Day of Military Glory of Russia.
