In the South the new Panther tanks proved unreliable and failed to perform to expectations. On the second day, the Central Front under Rokossovsky started a counterattack against the German 9th Army, but this operational counterattack was launched too early. This forced them to spread out their defences evenly. The attack fared better because the tanks were used in concentrated spearheads Also in the south the Red Army had not been able to pinpoint the German attack sectors. much more successful than their northern counterparts. German troops in the south were better equipped than those in the north. Red Army units covered the minefields with small arms and artillery fire, delaying German engineers clearing manually German losses were high. Attacking on a 45-kilometer wide front, the Germans found themselves trapped in the huge defensive minefields and needed engineering units to come up and clear them under artillery fire. The 9th Army's attack sector in the north had been correctly anticipated by the Red Army's Central Front.Advised months in advance that the attack would fall on the neck of the Kursk salient, the Soviets designed a plan to slow, redirect, exhaust, and progressively wear down the powerful German panzer spearheads by forcing them to attack through a vast interconnected web of minefields, pre-sighted artillery fire zones, and concealed anti-tank strong points.It was both the largest armored clash and the costliest single day of aerial warfare in history. The Battle of Kursk took place in July and August 1943 near the city of Kursk in the Eastern Front.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |