Both sides realised that the fighting to come this summer would be decisive in determining the outcome of the war in the east. It gave the Soviets a useful springboard to attack the Germans, but also offered the Germans an opportunity to close it with a pincer movement, trapping large Soviet forces.
This three sided position was around 160 miles from north to south and extended up to 100 miles west into the German lines. After fighting in the winter of 1942-43 the front line around the city of Kursk had stabilised into a large Soviet salient.
Roads turned to mud and rivers became impassable torrents as the snow and ice melted. Fought between the 5 th July and 23 rd August 1943, it began with a strong German attack, but ended with the Soviet Union having taken the initiative on the Eastern Front, something they kept for the rest of the war.Īs the frozen Russian landscape began to thaw in the spring of 1943 the Eastern Front was brought to a temporary standstill.
The Battle of Kursk was one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War.
0 kommentar(er)
