The Battle of the Tanks: Kursk, 1943

Royal Military Academy historian Clark offers a comprehensive analysis of WWII’s greatest land battle and one of history’s greatest armor engagements. He blends archival research, participant interviews, and professional insight in presenting the genesis, conduct, and consequences of the Battle of Kursk (German code name Operation Citadel). Particularly effective is his integration of foxhole and tank-crew perspectives with broader discussion of the course of a head-down slugging match that decisively tipped the Eastern Front’s balance in favor of a resurgent Red Army. The matrix of German defeat was “Hitler’s “confused strategic thinking,” which from the beginning set the Wehrmacht too many conflicting missions. But from its inception Operation Citadel was a tactical victory for the U.S.S.R. The Wehrmacht failed to break through the sophisticated Russian defense system and failed to wear down the Red Army’s offensive power. Kursk was the German tankers’ nadir. The losses of men and armor sustained there rendered it impossible to do more than check locally the measured sequence of attacks that earned the Red Army a decisive strategic triumph on the Eastern Front in less than two years. With this account, Clark (Operation Epsom) confirms his reputation as one of Britain’s outstanding scholars of operational military history. Maps. (Nov.)