Battle of Kursk order of battle

The Battle of Kursk, a campaign on the Russian Front of World War II, was fought in July and August 1943 by the armies of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It is generally considered to be the largest combat involving armored forces in history.

Northern Sector opposing commanders
Gunther von Kluge
Walther Model
Konstanty Rokossowski post-war
Nikolai Pukhov post-war
Southern Sector opposing commanders
Erich von Manstein
Hermann Hoth
Werner Kempf

The battle began with the German offensive Operation Citadel, an attack on a bulge of Soviet forces protruding from the front lines to the west. Along the northern face of the bulge, forces of German Army Group Center under Feldmarschal Gunther von Kluge attacked the Soviet Western Front, commanded by Army General Konstanty Rokossowski. Along the southern face of the bulge, forces of German Army Group South under Feldmarschal Erich von Manstein attacked the Soviet Voronezh Front, commanded by Army General Nikolai Vatutin.

The two German forces intended to meet near the Russian city of Kursk, thereby pinching off and surrounding a huge concentration of Soviet troops. The Soviets, however, were alert to the buildup of German forces, and had made very extensive preparations to meet an assault. Citadel bogged down and the Soviets counterattacked.

Northern Sector (Orel Salient)

Army Group Center
Main article: Army Group Center

Feldmarschal Gunther von Kluge

Armies deployed north to south:

Western Front
Main article: Western Front (Soviet Union)

Colonel General Vasily Sokolovsky[6]

Bryansk Front
Main article: Bryansk Front

Colonel General Markian Popov[7]

Central Front
Main article: Central Front (Soviet Union)

Army General Konstantin Rokossovsky[8]

Armies deployed west to east:

Southern Sector (Belgorod Salient)

Army Group South
Main article: Army Group South

Feldmarschal Erich von Manstein

Armies deployed west to east:

Voronezh Front
Main article: Voronezh Front

Army General Nikolai Vatutin[13]

Armies deployed north to south:

Steppe Front
Main article: Steppe Front

Colonel General Ivan Konev

The front was formed from the Steppe Military District on 9 July,[14] to serve as a reserve if the German attack broke through and to provide fresh troops for a counterattack to begin as soon as the German attack was halted. This order of battle does not show the complete composition of the Steppe Front. In addition to the units listed below, there were also the 4th Guards, 27th, 47th and 53rd Armies.[15] The 4th Guards,[16] 27th, 47th, and the 53rd Armies were held in reserve during the battle and thus did not participate.[17] The 5th Guards Army and the 5th Guards Army were both committed to the counterattack in the Battle of Prokhorovka, where they fought as part of the Voronezh Front.[18]

Citations
  1. Glantz & House 2004, p. 283.
  2. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 283–285.
  3. Glantz & House 2004, p. 285.
  4. Holm, Michael. "Luftflotte 6". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  5. Clark 2012, p. 200.
  6. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 290–295.
  7. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 295–299.
  8. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 299–306.
  9. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 285–287.
  10. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 287–289.
  11. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 289.
  12. Holm, Michael. "Luftflotte 4". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  13. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 306–315.
  14. Glantz & House 2004, p. 322.
  15. Clark 2012, p. 204.
  16. Glantz & House 2004, p. 244.
  17. Dunn 2008, pp. 75–78.
  18. Glantz & House 2004, p. 113.
  19. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 323–324.
  20. Glantz & House 2004, p. 323.
  21. Glantz & House 2004, pp. 326–327.
  22. Zetterling & Frankson 2000, p. 75.
  23. Glantz & House 2004, p. 328.

Notes
  1. Committed suicide 21 April 1945 after dissolving his army group rather than accede to a US demand for surrender.
  2. Killed in action during Operation Kutuzov 2 August 1943.
  3. Committed 9 July
  4. Served as commander-in-chief; Friedrich Kless served as chief of staff
  5. Killed 13 July; Major General Ivan Fedyunkin from 22 July
  6. Replaced by Lieutenant General Semyon Bogdanov 2 August.
  7. Served as both commander-in-chief and chief of staff
  8. Transferred to Voronezh Front on 8 July.
  9. Directly subordinated to the front on 7 July; became part of the 1st Tank Army on 8 July
  10. Transferred to Voronezh Front on 11 July.
  11. Joined the army from the Reserve of the High Command on 7 July.
  12. Entered combat in mid-July.

References
  • Clark, Lloyd (2012). Kursk: The Greatest Battle: Eastern Front 1943. London: Headline Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7553-3639-5.
  • Dunn, Walter S. (2008) [1997]. Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1943. Mechanicsburg, PA, USA: Stackpole. ISBN 9781461751229.
  • Frankson, Anders; Niklas Zetterling (2002). "Styrkorna inför den tyska offensiven". Slaget om Kursk. Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag. ISBN 91-1-301078-6.
  • Forczyk, Robert (2014). Kursk 1943: The Northern Front. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-78200-819-4.
  • Forczyk, Robert (2017). Kursk 1943: The Southern Front. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-47281-690-0.
  • Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan M. (2004) [1999]. The Battle of Kursk. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1335-9.
  • Zetterling, Niklas; Frankson, Anders (2000). Kursk 1943: A Statistical Analysis. Cass Series on the Soviet (Russian) Study of War. London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5052-8.
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