The Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 was one of the greatest battles in military history involving more than 3 million soldiers, 10,000 tanks and 8,000 aircraft. While many books have been written on this allegedly most decisive battle of the Second World War, many legends live on, above all because of misleading information that recur in most publications – even in the most recent ones. Based on almost 20 years of research reassessing the primary sources, Roman Toeppel sheds light on the phase of decision-making, the preparations and the development of the battle in an engaging style that grips the reader’s attention from the first page on. The author concentrates on little-known developments and events leading the reader to astonishing results. He also gives entirely new insights into the historiographic appraisal of this battle, putting thoroughly researched facts against erroneous popular beliefs, myths and legends that have been passed down among historians for generations.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Maps
• Preface
• Introduction: ‘Battle of Kursk’ or ‘Battle between Orel and Belgorod’?
• 1 The Strategic Context: The Preparations for the Summer Battle, 1943
  • The Strategic Situation of the German Reich in Spring 1943
  • German Strategic Considerations on the Eastern Front, 1943
  • German Operational Planning, Spring 1943
  • The Postponement of the Attack
  • The Struggle for Qualitative Superiority on the Battlefield
  • German Operational Planning for Citadel
  • Soviet Preparations for the Battle of Kursk
  • Intelligence and Espionage Prior to Operation Citadel
  • The Correlation of Forces on the Eve of the Battle
• 2 The Bulge of Fire: The Battles of Kursk, Orël and Khar’kov in Summer 1943
  • The Probing Attack by XXXXVIII Panzer Corps, 4 July 1943
  • The Soviet Counter-Preparations during the Night of 4-5 July 1943
  • The Air Battle over the Kursk Salient, 5 July 1943
  • The Attack of the Ninth Army on Kursk
  • The Assault of Army Detachment Kempf East of Belgorod
  • The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, 12 July 1943
  • The Abandonment of the German Offensive against Kursk
  • Operation Kutuzov: The Soviet Offensive at Orël
  • Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev: The Soviet Offensive at Khar’kov
• 3 A Battle of Attrition: Consequences of the Summer Battles in 1943
  • The Outcome of the Battle of Kursk and the Tally of Losses
  • The Significance of the Battle of Kursk for German Reich and USSR
• 4 Lost Memories: The Battle of Kursk in Post-War historiography
  • The Battle of Kursk in the Memoirs of German Military leaders
  • The Battle of Kursk in soviet/russian historiography
• Epilogue: The Place of the Battle of Kursk in history
• Bibliography