Qualla: Battle of Kursk https://qualla.com/battle-of-kursk en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/c/1/w/battle-of-kursk-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Kursk https://qualla.com/battle-of-kursk Battle of Kursk: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-kursk/ Photo credit Public domain. By the summer of 1943, the map told the story. A vast bulge, the Kursk salient, jutted 250 kilometers into the German lines, and both sides knew it was where the year would be decided. The Germans meant to pinch it off; the Soviets, warned months in advance by their intelligence, chose to let the blow fall and break it. What followed near this quiet city in southwestern Russia became the single largest battle in the history of warfare and the largest tank battle ever fought. Its opening day, 5 July, saw more aircraft shot from the sky than any day of aerial combat before or since. When it ended, the last great German offensive in the East had failed, and the initiative would never return.

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]]> Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/c/1/w/battle-of-kursk-wp/uc1w-battle-of-kursk-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Kursk: The Trap Prepared https://qualla.com/battle-of-kursk/ Photo credit Wolff/Altvater, CC BY-SA 3.0 de. The German plan was called Operation Citadel: two pincers, one from the north and one from the south, closing behind the Soviet armies inside the salient. Hitler hoped a victory here would restore German prestige and reassure wavering allies. But the Soviets knew it was coming, f...

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]]> Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/c/1/w/battle-of-kursk-wp/uc1w-battle-of-kursk-the-trap-prepared.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Kursk: Five of July https://qualla.com/battle-of-kursk/ Photo credit Nolabob, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Germans committed the finest of their army, some 777,000 men and more than 2,400 tanks and assault guns, the bulk of their entire armored strength in the East, and pinned their hopes on new weapons: the heavy Tiger, the untried Panther, the massive Ferdinand tank destroyer. W...

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]]> Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/c/1/w/battle-of-kursk-wp/uc1w-battle-of-kursk-five-of-july.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Kursk: The Fields of Prokhorovka https://qualla.com/battle-of-kursk/ Photo credit unkrown, Public domain. The southern pincer, under Manstein, cut deeper. His panzers clawed through belt after belt toward the rail town of Prokhorovka, and on 12 July the fighting there swelled into one of the largest armored clashes ever seen, as the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army hurled itself against t...

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]]> Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/c/1/w/battle-of-kursk-wp/uc1w-battle-of-kursk-the-fields-of-prokhorovka.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Kursk: The Last Gasp https://qualla.com/battle-of-kursk/ Photo credit Ввласенко, CC BY-SA 3.0. On the evening of 12 July, with the Western Allies now landing in Sicily, Hitler summoned his commanders and moved to shut the offensive down, needing forces for Italy. Citadel was over, and it had failed to break through Soviet defenses for the first time in the war. The Red Arm...

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]]> Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/c/1/w/battle-of-kursk-wp/uc1w-battle-of-kursk-the-last-gasp.mp3 0:06 5 full