Zitadelle : the German offensive against the Kursk Salient 4-17 July 1943

A detailed examination of the factors that led to this titanic struggle on the Eastern Front Few battles attract interest so much as the Battle of Kursk. Operation Zitadelle, the code name given by Hitler to the Wehrmacht's last offensive on the Eastern Front in July 1943, has acquired an almost mythic status as one of the greatest clashes of armor in the history of warfare. It has been long depicted as the "the swan song of the German tank arm" by virtue of the huge tank losses experienced by the Germans, however the emergence of new information proves it to be anything but. For all the resources devoted to this operation by the Germans, Zitadelle was an abysmal failure; and while they were not outfought by the Red Army at Kursk, they were out-thought by commanders of outstanding quality. Zitadelle describes the German and Soviet tactics and explores the realities of the battles on sodden ground that culminated in the defeat of the panzers and the Soviet advance on the Reich. "Few battles attract such interest as does the Battle of Kursk. Operation Zitadelle - the code name given by Hitler to the Wehrmacht's last offensive on the Eastern Front in July 1943 - has acquired an almost mythic status as one of the greatest clashes of armour in the history of warfare. For so long depicted as the battle which saw 'the swan song of the German tank arm' due to the huge tank losses experienced by the Germans in the face of massive Soviet defences, the emergence of new information has shown the reality to have been anything but. Indeed, total German 'write-offs' during the offensive were surprisingly low, with those of the Red Army being very high. And yet, for all the resources devoted to this operation by the Germans, Zitadelle was an abysmal failure. The Germans were not outfought by the Red Army at Kursk, yet they lost. In Zitadelle, Mark Healy shows how the Germans were out-witted by commanders of outstanding quality who were able to deploy the Soviet Union's superiority in manpower and armour effectively and in such a way as to negate the continuing battlefield proficiency of the German Army - and especially of their tank arm - the Wehrmacht's best sword in its war on the Eastern front. Zitadelle, although focusing essentially on the German operation, will nonetheless demonstrate how the Red Army had emerged by the summer of 1943 as a 'new' force, and one very different from that ravaged by the Wehrmacht in the terrible summer of two years before..."--Publisher description