The Allies can Tank the Battle of Kursk for Turning the Tide of the War

The Kursk Front.

In his essay Battle of Kursk, James von Geldern states that this engagement “involved the largest tank battle of the Second World War,” and “was fought on the steppe of Kursk oblast between July 5 and August 23, 1943.” Furthermore, from taking a class on World War Two last Autumn, I know that this was and still is the largest tank battle in history, giving us an interesting anecdote on the mechanization of the Soviet Union and Germany during World War Two.

Geldern goes on to note that the battle “was initiated by the Germans who, in retreat after their spectacular defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad, concentrated 50 divisions, two tank brigades, three tank battalions, and eight artillery assault divisions comprising 2,700 Tiger and Panther tanks, some two thousand aircraft, and 900,000 men in all.”On the other side, the “Soviet forces, consisting of General K.K. Rokossovskii’s Army of the Center, General N.F. Vatutin’s Voronezh Army, and the reserve army of the Steppe Front under General I.S. Konev, number 1.3 million troops, 3,600 tanks, and 2,800 aircraft.”

In his work Russia: A History, Gregory Freeze notes that “German intelligence services also undercounted the Soviet tank park (by at last 50 per cent and grossly underestimated the scale, and productivity of the Soviet war economy” (383). Continued, Freeze says that the “Soviet Union was clearly winning the industrial war against Nazi Germany even as early as 1942. Although in that year Russia’s supply of steel and coal was only one-third that of Germany, it nevertheless manufactured twice the number of weapons. Simply put, the Soviets outproduced the Germans” (386-387). When supplied with these armaments, the Soviet Union found the wherewithal to fight and thus became the formidable opponent that Hitler and his General Staff had not anticipated. Further, it is fascinating to note the Soviet Union’s industrial superiority over Germany beginning in 1942 because that is before American lend-lease capital entered their economy, meaning the Soviet Union might have been every bit as much the sleeping-giant that the United States was.

Upon achieving this resounding victory, “the Soviet Red Army went on to liberate most of Ukraine in the autumn of 1943, marching into Kiev on November 6. Although Western historiography traditionally marks the beginning of the German downfall to the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the crushing defeat of Kursk makes a more likely turning point for the war” (Geldern). This video provides a captivating account of the battle, not because of what is said, but rather because it shows the sheer scope and size of the conflict with all of the activated mechanized units advancing against one another and the destruction that can be wrought using man-made weapons of war. To conclude, it is interesting to note two points of American pride during World War Two, lend-lease and the D-Day invasion, and how an argument can be made that both were after-the-fact compliments to results the Soviet Union had already reached.

This post earned a spot in “Comrade’s Corner” from the editorial team.