ABSTRACT
The battle of Kursk in July and August 1943 is still regarded as the largest land battle in military history. The great Battle of Kursk, which began just over sixty years ago, is often thought of, simplistically, as the greatest ever 'tank battle'. The Soviet superiority was much greater than previously assumed, especially if the entire area of Kursk-Orel is taken into consideration. At any rate, the losses of the Red Army at Kursk were several times higher than those of the Wehrmacht, although the Germans had to attack a deeply echeloned web of defensive positions. The German Reich had lost the production battle long before the first shot was fired at Kursk in July 1943. In this respect, the titanic struggle at the Kursk salient was not the turning point of the Second World War, nor even the decisive battle of the Russo-German war.
