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[[File: Kursk 1.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|German troops fighting at Kursk in 1943]]
==Why Kursk?==
[[File: Kursk 2.jpg|thumbnail|275px|left|German infantry at Kursk]]
A successful German offensive would have greatly improved Germany’s strategic position on the Easter Front. The Germans believed that the Soviet leadership had become increasingly disenchanted with their western Allies<ref> George, p. 167</ref>. Despite constant demands, the British and the Americans had failed to open a ‘second front’ in western Europe. If the Nazi forces inflict a devastating defeat on Stalin’s armies, then the Soviets would be more likely to enter into peace negotiations with the Germans and end their alliance with Britain and the United States. This could have allowed the Germans to keep many of their gains in the east and to concentrate on their war with the western allies. Then the Germany was becoming increasingly confident, despite the recent setbacks on the Eastern Front and in North Africa. This was because, by the spring of 1943, the German armed forces were better armed than ever before. Hitler had appointed Albert Speer as head of the armaments industry and he had massively increased production.
==German failures before the Battle==
[[File:Kursk Soviet machineguns.jpg|thumbnail|275px|left|Soviet Soldiers at Kursk]]Hitler decreed that “there must be no failure” during Operation Citadel. After from intelligence failures of Stalingrad, the German High Command collected all the intelligence that they could get. Reconnaissance planes photographed all the defensive systems that the Soviets had established in the Kursk and Oriel bulge. Despite the vast efforts spent on this intelligence gathering information the Germans failed to establish the size of the Russian forces in the area. Even though the Germans had acquired a great deal of information, they interpreted it incorrectly.<ref> Barbier, p. 113</ref> This misled the Germans into overestimating their chances of success in the coming offensive. However, Russia’s military leaders had suspected that there would be an attack on the bulge between Kursk and Oriel. They believed that the Germans desperately needed to remove the bulge at Kursk. Soviet intelligence was excellent- they had first-hand accounts of German armor sent to the Oriel-Kharkov region.<ref> Zhukov, Georgiĭ Konstantinovich & Harrison E., Salisbury, ''Marshal Zhukov's Greatest Battles''New York: Harper & Row, 1969), p. 116</ref> The Soviets had even captured some German officers who during interrogation divulged that the offensive would be in the Kursk area. They even gave the date of the coming German attack. The better Soviet intelligence meant that they had a decided advantage even before the battle had started.<ref> Zhukov, p 234</ref>
==German and Russian Strategies==
==Results of the Battle of Kursk==
Both sides at the Battle for Kursk suffered terrible casualties. The Germans are estimated to have lost some 200,000 men killed or missing in action. They lost some 2000 tanks and thousands of pieces of artillery. They also lost some 700 planes. The Soviet lost some 250,000 men, killed or missing in action. Some 6000 tanks <ref> Dunn, p. 217</ref>, 3000 guns and one thousand planes are lost during the battle. The Soviet’s had the capacity to replace the men and equipment, but the Germans could not replace the losses. This weakened their position on the Eastern Front. The Battle of Kursk was the last major offensive they launched in Russia. The material damage done to the German Army was massive. The campaign was a strategic Soviet success, despite the fact that the suffered more casualties. For the first time, a major German offensive had been stopped before achieving a breakthrough<ref>Zhukov, p. 117</ref>. The defeat at Kursk was to prove in many ways more decisive than Stalingrad. Winston Churchill, argued that the defeat at Kursk ‘heralded the downfall of the German army on the Eastern Front’<ref> The Times of London, 4 August, 1943, p 4</ref>
==Conclusion==
The Battle of Kursk was a turning point in the war on the Eastern Front. The Germans had failed to reach their objectives and they had suffered huge losses. The German air force after the battle, began to lose the control of the skies. After Kursk the Germans in the East were on the defensive. They had lost the battle for several reasons, overoptimistic planning, a failure to appreciate that the Soviet air force had improved and they underestimated the Soviet defenses around Kursk. Significantly, they also believed that their new weapons would earn them a victory and this over reliance on new and untested military technologies, such as the Tiger Tanks, played a critical role in their defeat in the most famous tank battle in history.
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==References==
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