The Battle of Kursk: The History and Legacy of the Biggest Tank Battle of World War II by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2016-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

Paul Hausser

The other half of 4th Panzer Army, deployed on the left, comprised the XLVIII Panzer Corps, led by General Otto von Knobelsdorff. One of the regular Wehrmacht's finest divisions, the Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division, formed the core of this formidable unit, and included 45 Tigers, 200 Panthers, and 120 Panzer IVs and Panzer IIIs in its roster, while commanded by a man with the resounding name of Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz. The 3rd and 11th Panzer Divisions and the 167th Infantry Division rounded out the XLVIII Panzer Corps, which mustered 450 tanks and 45 assault guns overall (Nipe, 2012, 47-49).

Army Group South's strategic reserve consisted of three seasoned divisions, the SS-Panzergrenadier Wiking Division together with the 17th and 23rd Panzer Divisions.

The advancing German forces met ferocious, almost fanatical, resistance from the Soviets, a far cry from the panicked levies of the first years. The XLVIII Panzer Corps slogged forward in an endless series of hard-fought battles for the next section of trenches and bunkers, pushing 3 miles into Soviet lines on the first day.

The 3rd Panzer Division seized the fortified town of Korovino on the extreme left. Meanwhile, Grossdeutschland and the 11th Panzer Division cooperated to attack Cherkassoye. Brave anti-tank squads of Soviets attempted to scramble up on the panzers and destroy them by attacking antitank mines to their turrets; some succeeded. The Wehrmacht finally dislodged Cherkassoye's valiant defenders through use of flamethrower tanks, whose ghastly effectiveness seared itself into the minds of the Germans also:

A flamethrower crewman from Das Reich wrote of the “strange feeling to serve this destructive weapon and it was terrifying to see the flames eat their way forward and envelop the Russian defenders.” A more matter-of-fact veteran of the day mentioned [...] in passing that ever since then he had been unable to tolerate the smell of roast pork (Showalter, 2013, 80).

The Soviets managed only localized counterattacks on July 5th, which the Wehrmacht also rolled up as they continued to press slowly forward. However, on July 6th, the Soviets moved up additional rifle battalions and tank brigades in larger counterstrikes against the still-advancing Wehrmacht. The Panzers continued to roll forward towards their next objective of Oboyan, fighting against the usual complex of defenses.

The Germans encountered General Mikhail Katukov's 1st Tank Army, having pushed clean through the 6th Guards Army. Many of Katukov's tanks occupied dug-in positions, despite the protests of his political officer, Nikita Khrushchev. However, a number of Katukov's vehicles also remained mobile, and at around noon, he threw these forward in a spoiling attack against the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.