Battle of Kursk 1943 - World War II DOCUMENTARY

previously we covered the vert marks two feet in Stalingrad it was very costly in terms of soldiers material and morale and also threatened the positions of the German army along the Eastern Front of World War two the liberation of Kursk Rostov and Kharkiv by the Red Army in February of 1943 put further pressure on the German army it was time to counter-attack to regain the initiative the biggest tank battle in history was right around the corner in February 1943 the German Field Marshal man Stein got the approval of Hitler to launch a counter-offensive on the southern front On February 21st the 4th Panzer Army started the offensive and reoccupied Kharkov and Belgorod the Red Army fell back to Kursk and soon after that military action stopped due to the spring mud season known as Raz petite Sur preventing the movement of armor and infantry on the 15th of April Hitler organized operations at atella Citadel which sought the encirclement of five Soviet armies in the Kursk area from the north and the south general modles 9th army would attack from the north to connect with the 4th Panzer army of path and army detachment Kempf under Verner Kampf which would attack from the south these groups were supposed to meet in the east of Kursk with an aim to encircle the Red Army defending it there was a significant disagreement among the German military leadership and Hitler about the potential of operation Citadel some were proposing to abandon the operation and prepare for strategic defense and wait for a chance to pierce through weaker parts of the Soviet front with counter-attacks which suited the Germans strengths in mobile tank warfare much more others indicated that if operation Citadel was to proceed it had to start as soon as possible since there was information that the Soviets were actively building defensive constructions around Kursk despite the initial plan to start the offensive in May Hitler decided to postpone it until the arrival of new tanks to the front as a result the offensive started two months later than the initially planned date the Soviets possessed intelligence indicating that the German army was preparing for a major offensive Zhukov persuaded Stalin to wait for the German offensive instead of striking first he aimed to where the Germans out knock out as many tanks as possible and then used the first chance for a decisive counter-offensive so the Soviets proceeded to build defensive structures fortifications minefields and anti-tank obstacles the vranitch front under Nikolai Vatutin was to defend the south of the Kursk salient while the north was to be defended by the central front under Konstantin Rokossovsky there was also the steppe front waiting in reserve commanded by even kornev in preparation for the German offensive the Soviets employed partisan tactics behind German lines to disrupt supplies and communications for the German armies this proves to be successful since partisans were able to destroy 298 locomotives 1222 railway wagons and 44 bridges which delays the German offensive in total the Germans had up to 780 thousand men and around 3000 tanks available for the Kursk offensive while the Red Army possessed up to two million men and over 5,000 tanks the manpower and armor advantage for the Soviets was overwhelming the preliminary engagements started on the fourth of July 1943 when the German infantry started the offensive in the south and proceeded to penetrate the first line of the Soviet defenses this was followed by a Panzer attack by the Panzer Grenadier division grosse Deutschland which succeeded in capturing Biturbo village and gatosk a' despite heavy losses due to fierce Soviet resistance and minefields 36 Panzers were immobilized due to mines in just one episode on the left flank of the attack crossed Iceland reached Mikulov car on the left and th Noah on the right this created a wedge in the first line of the Soviets defense to the east the ii ss-panzer corps managed to break through the first line of defense but the Red Army's resistance and the inability of the 3rd SS division to advance together with the rest of the ii ss-panzer corps stopped the advance short of breaching the second defensive line and exposed the right flank of the offensive to the soviet troops parts of army detachment Kempf succeeded in forcing the river Donets and advancing up to ten kilometers on parts of the front but again Soviet resistance defensive constructions and disadvantageous terrain halted the overall progress of the Vermont and they fell short of reaching the second line of Soviets defense up north the 47th Panzer Corps started their advance on July 5th the Red Army's 15th Rifle Division minefields and strong fortifications slowed the German advance information from an interrogator to Pio W heard the Germans that there was a weak part in the Soviet defenses and the German Tiger tanks were sent there 90 t-34 tanks were sent by the Soviets to confront the Tigers but after a three-hour battle the Soviets had lost 40 tanks while four Germans lost only seven however the lost time allowed the Soviets to seal the weak part of their defenses the fierce resistance by the Soviets and defensive fortifications allowed the Germans only a minor advance of 10 kilometers the 6th of July saw back-and-forth action initially the soviet 16th tank corps went on a counter-offensive facing the 550 tank battalion of the ver mart the Soviets had to retreat after losing 69 tanks later that day the Germans tried to break Soviet defenses in off lavaca and for Neary but the Red Army stood firm over the next three days the German army continued its attack on strategically important or la vodka and for nearing the Soviets reinforced the defense in those areas too by July 10th after heavy house-to-house fighting the Germans were able to capture most of the Neri but were not able to penetrate the Soviets defenses in Ocklawaha still the Soviets were suffering heavy losses in their attempts to halt the German advance as a consequence forces of the reserve of the steppe front were sent to reinforce the defense against xlviii panzer corps which was one defensive belt away from breaking through to the soviets unfortified rear the 5th guards 2nd guards and 2nd and 10th tank corps of the soviet army were ordered to move towards Kurata 40 kilometers southeast of prokhorovka to confront the ii ss-panzer corps on the 8th of July the Soviet counter-offensive ended in failure due to poor coordination 50 Soviets tanks were destroyed by the Luftwaffe which marks the first time in history when a whole tank formation was destroyed by airstrikes alone this counter-offensive slowed down the German advance but by July 11th army detachment Kempf managed to break through while the ii ss-panzer corps was ordered to move towards prokhorovka german success here would potentially mean the encirclement of the Soviet forces protecting Kursk for the battle of prokhorovka the Germans has 294 tanks while 616 were at the disposal of the on the 12th of July about 500 tanks and self-propelled guns of the Soviet 5th guards tank army started their attack on the ii ss-panzer corps four hundred and thirty of them were in the first epsilon and 70 in the second they attacked the positions of the Leibstandarte division the 1st ss-panzer regiment was sent to confront them here they faced soviet tanks of the 31st and 32nd tank brigades of the 29th tank corps and a tank battle started the tactic of the soviets tank commander rotmistrov to close in and fire at high speed negatively affected the coordination and accuracy of the soviet tanks after a 3-hour battle the 1st ss-panzer regiment reported the disruption of as many as 62 soviets tanks and repulsed their attack nevertheless later in the afternoon of that day tanks from the 31st tank brigade and the 53rd motorized brigade defeated elements of the 1st ss-panzer Reconnaissance Battalion and reached consumer alert state farm which put the Leap stand out as communication lines and overall operations in grave danger for tiger tanks engaged in battle with the Soviets 180 1st tank brigade in an attempt to protect the left flank of Leibstandarte they successfully repelled the soviet attack inflicted heavy losses and managed to stay unharmed in this skirmish after that elements of the soviet 170 ahthe tank attacks the 1st ss-panzer regiment which was already engaged with the 31st and 32nd tank brigades despite losing its commander and about 30 tanks in the fight the 170th tank brigade pushed the 1st ss-panzer regiment bank and reached the position of the 1st ss-panzer Reconnaissance Battalion soon the 170th and 180 1st tank brigades breached the German line connecting Totten cough and Leibstandarte but were eventually pushed back to the village of and Rivka towards the end of the day Leibstandarte fell back from the oxj Brisky state farm due to heavy soviet attack the soviets suffered heavy tank losses in the battle of prokhorovka the estimates of permanently or temporarily damaged tanks are between 330 and 650 while the Germans lost 60 to 80 tanks the biggest tank battle in military history had ended with a staggering difference in losses for the two sides and it might look like the vormax gained from it but despite heavy losses the Soviets were able to stall the German advance significantly drain its resources and create ground for a successful counter-offensive the battle of prokhorovka along with the Allied invasion of Sicily led to the abandoning of operation Citadel and offensive operations the Germans now became defensive to the north of Kursk the Soviets launched operation Kutuzov on the 12th of July as a result German Army Group center was pushed back by the Bryansk front and by the Western Front it was followed by Operation rumyantseva conducted by the varnish front and steppe front in an attempt to destroy the 4th Panzer army and army detachment Kempf and cut off the extended southern portion of Army Group south from the rest of the German army the Soviets liberated Belgorod on the 5th of August and Kharkov on the 23rd of August the Battle of Kursk was the first instance of the vert MACT being unable to make a significant breakthrough in its offensive on the Eastern Front despite a relatively successful start by the Germans the vast manpower resources and increasing military industrial potential of the Soviets proves to be too much for the German army despite heavy losses the Red Army was able to push back and liberate some of its territories emerging problems in Italy forced Hitler to further weaken his troops on the Eastern Front and transfer some of them to the Western Front the noose was getting tighter thanks for watching our documentary on the battle of prokhorovka and the Kursk operation we are going to continue our series on modern conflicts subscribe and press the alarm bell to get notified these videos are made possible by our brilliant patrons over 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Channel: Kings and Generals

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Keywords: eastern front, battle of kursk, world war ii, WW2, ww, germany, soviets, ussr, stalingrad, documentary, Wehrmacht, Red Army, prokhorovka tank battle, tank battle, operation citadel, barbarossa, rumyantsev, kutuzov, zhukov, manstein, rokossovsky, panzer, t-34, kings and generals, full documentary, documentary film, animated documentary, history lesson, world history, war - topic, world war 2, the battle of kursk, extra credits history, ancient battle, historia civilis, epic history tv

Id: IKtD2kht1ZI

Length: 13min 36sec (816 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 24 2018