🌟 #OnThisDay in 1943, the Battle of Prokhorovka took place, the largest tank engagement in human history fought as part of the wider Battle of Kursk. In the fiercest moments of the fighting, up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled artillery units were engaged simultaneously.

By July 1943, a significant part of Soviet territory was still under Nazi control, but the potential of the Third Reich war machine was already running out. Trying to regain the initiative, the Wehrmacht command developed a summer offensive plan, codenamed Operation Citadel. The Nazis intended to destroy the Voronezh and Central fronts and crush the Red Army tank reserves near Prokhorovka, a village in the Belgorod Region.

🔻 By the night of July 9, German troops succeeded in cutting into the Voronezh Front defences, but their further advance was curbed. The German command then decided to try and break the Soviet defence line by striking at Prokhorovka, to reach Kursk from the south-east. To disrupt the offensive, the Voronezh Front command launched a counterattack on July 12, which went down in history as the Battle of Prokhorovka.

On July 12, Germany’s 2nd SS Panzer Corps faced off against two Soviet forces, Alexey Zhadov’s 5th Guards Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army commanded by Pavel Rotmistrov in the vicinity of Prokhorovka. The battle was fought with varying success; both sides were forced to draw on reserves.

✍️ Soviet ace tanker Vasily Bryukhov recalled in his memoirs: “Strong explosions often made a tank just collapse, turn into a pile of metal in a matter of seconds. <...> The opponents were perfect matches for each other. They fought desperately, ferociously, with fierce abandon.”

In every instance of the battle, the Red Army soldiers demonstrated unparalleled courage and extraordinary fighting skill. Thanks to their decisive actions, the enemy exhausted offensive opportunities and on July 16, began to withdraw its troops to the initial positions held at the beginning of the Battle of Kursk. The Red Army seized the strategic initiative and held it for the rest of the war.

#Victory79 #WeRemember