| |
KF5JRV > TODAY 13.07.20 13:12l 28 Lines 1123 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 53853_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 13
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DB0RES<ON0AR<GB7CIP<N7HPX<KF5JRV
Sent: 200713/1104Z 53853@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.20
The Battle of Kursk, involving some 6,000 tanks,
two million men, and 5,000 aircraft, ends with
the German offensive repulsed by the Soviets at
heavy cost.
In early July, Germany and the USSR concentrated
their forces near the city of Kursk in western
Russia, site of a 150-mile-wide Soviet pocket
that jutted 100 miles into the German lines.
The German attack began on July 5, and 38 divisions,
nearly half of which were armored, began moving
from the south and the north. However, the Soviets
had better tanks and air support than in previous
battles, and in bitter fighting Soviet antitank
artillery destroyed as much as 40 percent of the
German armor, which included their new Mark VI
Tiger tanks. After six days of warfare concentrated
near Prokhorovka, south of Kursk, the German Field
Marshal Gunther von Kluge called off the offensive,
and by July 23 the Soviets had forced the Germans
back to their original positions.
In the beginning of August, the Soviets began a
major offensive around the Kursk salient, and within
a few weeks the Germans were in retreat all along
the eastern front.
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
