What is the Battle of Kursk?

Question

I know when it started and who was involved and stuff, but why did the Germans attack the Soviet Union at Kursk?

ok, wikipedia is NOT a reliable source. if u look in the upper right -hand corner, it says "edit this page." u can click on it, and edit any info u want on it!

Answer 1

The Germans had been quite successful with the tactic of encirclement and development, and here was a big salient jutting out and looking ripe to be nipped off. Delays (waiting for the new Mark V panzers, for instance) and intelligence failures (the Soviets heavily reinforced the salient, and moved armies into position for counterattack, and the Germans simply didn't notice) made the idea less tenable from inception to execution.

Answer 2

The Germans were attempting to take advantage of a bulge in the Soviet battle line around the Kursk area. The German plan was to simultaneously attack this bulge from the north and south to rapidly encircle/trap the Soviet armies in between thereby capturing or destroying them. The Soviets were watching the German build up and were able to prepare themselves against the coming onslaught. The battle commenced with the Germans attacking prepared and heavily fortified Soviet defenses.
Although the objective of the operation was not achieved the Germans technically won the battle by destroying hundreds of Soviet tanks, aircraft, and artillery pieces along with several thousand Soviet infantry either killed or captured. The Germans also suffered heavy losses of men and equipment and were never able to fully recover the resources lost during the battle and it was their last "major" offensive on the Eastern Front.
It was a battle of opportunity and a gamble for the Germans, if they had pulled it off they would have dealt a crushing defeat to the Soviets and possibly gained back the ground lost the previous winter.

To DSTYTRAIL a couple of answers down; are you sure that you aren't confusing Kursk (July 43) for Stalingrad (Aug 42-Feb 43)? The battle of Kursk (operation Zitadelle) was fought in July 1943 and was far from a protracted winter battle.
Also, Vasily Zaytsev (approx 400 confirmed kills) is hardly "the greatest sniper in history", the honor for that title goes to Simo Hayha a Finnish sniper fighting the Soviets in WW2. He is credited with 505 confirmed kills in a 100 day period!

Answer 3

It was called Operation Zitadelle by the Germans. This battle later went on into Prokhoroka, which turned into the largest armored battle during the war in Russia. The entire area between these two places were littered with mines, wires, and other elaborate defence works. The Germans had a great battle-plan, good intelligence, and were prepared to wipe out the Soviets here, and then at Stalingrad....but it didnt work. The Soviets had excellent defence preparedness, and subsequently wiped out whole regiments of Germans. Also, within this theater, was one of the largest aerial battles- and loses in the entire war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk

Answer 4

TO SUM IT UP SHORTLY

the battle of Kursk was a long protracted winter battle on Russian soil between the soviet and nazi forces.

The battle was won by the Soviets, but barely.
To say It killed many on both sides would be a gross miscarriage of Justice.

It made alot of Soviet Heroes of the state. Nikita Kruschev is perhaps the most famous.

The greatest sniper in history was a soviet rifelman from the Ural Mountains Vasili Zaitsev He was detrimental to the moral of the soviet army and killed quite a few germans.

Answer 5

I don't think anyone knows for sure why the Germans attacked Russia, other than there was this big Communist country to the east that would no doubt attack and gobble up Germany if it faltered.
Lots of historians have said that was Hitler's downfall.

Answer 6

Kursk and Minsk.They were in the path of a strategic point.

Answer 7

it was the largest tank battle in history, essentially proving to be a risky operation through which the wehrmacht couldve broken through and possibly turned bak the soviets

Answer 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_kursk