Kursk

For three summers, starting with Hitler's surprise offensive of 1941, German armies launched massive blitzkrieg attacks on the vast Russian interior, falling just short of total conquest at Leningrad and Moscow in 1941 and Stalingrad in 1942 before falling back under the devastating crush of the Russian winter. The third summer, 1943, was Germany's last chance, a bold pinching movement directed at both sides of a broad Soviet salient around the city of Kursk. On the north shoulder of the salient, the summer attacks slowed at Ponyri; in the south, they were crushed at Prokhorovka in what was the largest tank battle in the history of warfare. On the plains of Prokhorovka, the Soviets had, at last, worn the Germans to the bone. Thereafter, it would be only a matter of time before the Red Army could roll the Nazis back to the gates of Berlin. Chris Lawrence writes an account of the portions of the Battle of Kursk fought on the massive tank killing grounds at Prokhorovka. Lawrence has compiled a large database on Prokhorovka, delving into Russian archives to pull the story together.