Kursk 1943: The tide turns in the East (Campaign)

Osprey's examination of the Kursk campaign of World War II (1939-1945). In the summer of 1943 the German army stood poised for a major offensive. The attack was aimed at the Kursk salient, which the Germans intended to isolate, trapping large numbers of Russian troops and paving the way for the decisive campaign to knock the Soviet Union out of the war. By the time of the attack, the Russians had turned the salient into a mass of defensive positions. In the following decisive clash, the Soviets bled Germany's vital Panzer forces white and finally took the initiative. The counter-offensive which followed began an advance that would end in the ruins of Berlin. "Kursk was the greatest tank battle of World War Two and the decisive last major German offensive in the East. After Kursk, the initiative lay wholly with the USSR, beginning a series of Soviet offensives that would end in the ruins of Berlin. Mark Healy describes the strategic build-up to the battle before presenting a detailed account of the German armoured thrusts into the immensely deep Soviet defences that turned the area into a gigantic killing-ground"--Page 4 of cover In the largest tank battle of World War II, the Soviet army successfully resisted the German Panzer offensive in the Kursk Salient on the Eastern Front, and in the counter-offensive that followed, began an advance that finally ended in Berlin. This book is a history of the battle. It was with the onset of the 'rasputitsa' - the great thaw that presages the return of spring to Russia - in mid-March of 1943 that the die for the great battle of Kursk was cast. Description based on print version record.