The Battle of Kursk Operation Citadel 1943. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.The Battle of Kursk Operation Citadel 1943

Citadel was the code name for the German attack on Kursk in 1943 and marked the last major German offensive to be launched in the East. However, the advantage had swung towards the Soviet forces and they never let it go. Following the Battle of Kursk they not only seized the strategic initiative but also established an inexorably growing momentum which culminated in the fall of Berlin nearly two years later. The German thrusts were contained within tantalizing grasp of success, after which the Red Army delivered a series of crushing counterblows which drove the Wehrmacht back over the Dneiper. Hitler had gambled on a single throw and lost. Kursk was the greatest clash of armoured forces in history and the decisive land battle of WW2.

Robin Cross is a distinguished military historian and is the author of VE Day: Victory in Europe and The Bombers: Strategy and Tactics. He was the Consultant Editor of The Guinness Encyclopedia of Warfare.