The Battle of Prokhorovka has been hailed by Soviet as a great victory. Soviet propaganda claimed more Tigers destroyed during the battle than the actual number engaged in the whole Operation Citadel. Soviet Chief Marshal Rotmistrov's alleged comment "The Tigers are burning!" is definitely a wild exaggeration. According to microfilm at the U.S. National Archives in Washington 15 Tigers were damaged on July 12 1943; 7 Tigers at Prokhorovka and 8 elsewhere on the Southern Front. All were returned to service by July 18 1943. While it is true that the engagement severely weakened the involved units on both sides, the German units were able to maintain their tank strength at a nearly constant level after the first three days of fighting. The number of available German tanks after the battle at Prokhorovka remained at a relatively steady state. According to Russian military historian Grigoriy Krivosheyev Soviet casualties at Kursk during Citadel were 177,874 including 70,330 killed. According to German historian Karl-Heinz Frieser, Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units suffered 54,182 casualties, including 10,996 killed and missing. Despite the remarkable efforts of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions during July and August 1943, the Third Reich found itself in a strategic retreat for the remainder of the campaign in the east. Total casualties and looses in the whole Battle of Kursk, which includes the subsequent Soviet counterstrikes that followed the German offensive Citadel, can be studied
at the post Faces of War. Top image: Das Reich Tigers manoeuvre on the Russian steppe west of Yakhontov in the Belgorod Oblast during the Kursk Offensive. Tiger Commander SS-Oscharf. Johann T. Doroschuk can be seen to the left of the picture in the cupola of Tiger S14. Photo by SS-Ostuf. and KB Friedrich Zschäckel. c. Bundesarchiv. Middle image: an SS-Hstuf. and his tank crew during Citadel in July 1943. They are all wearing the SS tanker's
Eichenlaub camouflage coverall. Credit: Karl Mensburg. U.S. National Archives.
Soviet armored losses were staggering during their suicidal assaults upon the SS panzers at or around Prokhorovka. Despite the ultimate strategic outcome for the Germans, the Battle of Prochorovka was tremendous, one-sided tactical victory for the Waffen-SS panzers.
ReplyDeleteBefore Kursk, there were unofficial talks in Sweden about ending the war. Russian wanted the pre 1941 borders, Germany the Dnieper River. If that had happened, forget about Normandy. An extra year of German tank and aircraft production without Russian losses would probably have been more than they could have handled.
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