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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (26516)	4/22/2002 2:43:08 PM
From: FaultLine	Respond to of 281500

Battle of Kursk: Strategic Turning Point of the Eastern Front 1. A limited German offensive After Stalingrad, Hitler opted for a limited offensive whose main purpose would be to demonstrate that his legions still had the power to inflict punishment and inspire fear. As German planners pored over their maps in search of a place that might best fit their needs, one area stood out: a salient stretching some 70 miles from north to south at its base and thrusting about 90 miles westward between the fronts of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group South and Field Marshal Hans Gunther von Kluge's Army Group Center. Within that bulge lay a city of small renown and slight significance that would give its name to one of the decisive conflicts of world history-the Battle of Kursk. 2. Zitadelle Code - named Zitadelle (Citadel) and planned as a short, sharp surgical operation to snip off the bulge at its base, the Battle of Kursk took on a life of its own and became a colossal clash of steel and explosive power. Around the salient's 250 - mile front the Germans assembled immense and massive forces-570,000 men, nearly 2,5000 tanks and self - propelled guns and about 10,000 field guns and mortars, supported by almost 2,000 aircraft. Opposing the Wehrmacht were 977,000 Russians with more than 3,300 tanks and assault guns, 20,000 guns and mortars and nearly 3,000 aircraft. The Soviets were, moreover, protected by six concentric defensive belts, totaling more than 6,000 miles of trenchworks and sown with an average of 2,400 antitank and 2,700 antipersonnel mines for each mile of front. 3. The greatest tank battle in history At its roaring crescendo, Kursk would see nearly 3,000 armored behemoths locked in the mortal struggle of the greatest tank battle ever fought. Within the salient there was little room for maneuver, and the tanks stood hull - down amid charred fields of wheat and rye and sunflowers, blasting away at point - blank range in a brutal slugging match. And when the last wisps of smoke finally cleared from the battlefield, the course of World War II was irrevocably changed and the Nazi cause had been lost beyond redemption. Courtesy of: Based on Time-Life Books Inc. motlc.wiesenthal.org