ABSTRACT
World War II was the most destructive armed conflict the world had ever seen. That part of it waged on the eastern front between Germany and the Soviet Union was by far the largest theater of the war. The Soviet Union had been wounded but not as badly as Hitler imagined. Hitler had sacked those generals he held responsible for failure, replacing them with men he assumed would perform more capably. As a result, divisions from the satellite nations had been sent to the eastern front to maintain numerical strength, but they were poor substitutes for the crack units that had crossed the Soviet border in June 1941. He replaced the army chief of staff with a younger, more compliant man and personally began directing operations on the eastern front. The Battle of Kursk was impressive even by the standards of the eastern front.
