The Cancellation of Operation Zitadelle

Ernst August Krag as SS-Obersturmführer

Soviet prisoner of war at the Kursk salient

On the morning of July 15 1943, the SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich linked up with the elite 7.Panzer-Division to close the ring around several thousand Soviet Red Army soldiers of 48th Rifle Corps and 2nd Guards Tank Corps. As the Das Reich battled forward, the Leibstandarte SS and the Totenkopf prepared themselves for another push northwards to finish off the 5th Guards Tank Army for good. They were not to get the opportunity. The final nails in the coffin of Operation Citadel were new Soviet offensives near Orel and far to the south along the Mius Front on July 17 1943. II.SS-Panzerkorps were pulled out of the battle for the Kursk salient and sent southwards to neutralize this new threat. Unternehmen Zitadelle was officially over. The German Reich could not recover from the losses incurred during the previous two years of campaigning, and Soviet resources seemed limitless. Soviet industrial output was several times that of the German war industry, and the Germans were at a significant manpower disadvantage even after the horrendous Soviet losses from the previous years of fighting. The Soviet advantage in tanks, aircraft, artillery, and men would only get worse for the Germans in the remaining years of the war, especially after the Western Allies landed in Normandy on June 6 1944. Credit: Valor Dodd. Left image: SS-Obersturmführer Ernst August Krag of SS-Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 2 of the Das Reich during the Kursk battle in July 1943. Krag survived the most epic tank battle in history and in June 1944, almost a year after Operation Citadel, he took command of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 2 Das Reich, which he led on the invasion front in France. By war's end Krag had earned the prestigious Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross. He ended the war with the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer and died aged 79 on May 24 1994 in Niedernhausen. Bottom image: the photo shows Waffen-SS men and a captured Soviet soldier standing in a shallow trench and is said to have been taken at the Kursk salient in July 1943. Credit: Karl Mensburg. Commons: Bundesarchiv.