Operation Zitadelle and the Battle of Kursk

Kursk salient July 1943

Kursk salient July 1943

The Combat medics were armed and did not wear the Red Cross armbands on the Eastern Front because of the fear of snipers. Both the Soviets and the Germans often intentionally aimed for medics working on the front lines. Many combatants in the 20th Century have not honored the immunity that should be accorded medical personnel in combat, and as a result many countries that previously did not arm combat medics now do so. Images: an SS-Panzergrenadier armed with a Maschinenpistole 40 gives a wounded Soviet tanker water from his field flask in early July 1943, while the remains of a T-34 Model 1943 blazes in the background. The final tally of the battle was gruesome. Tens of thousands lay wounded from both sides, scattered across the Kursk salient - abandoned and left for dead. There was none to give them medical aid when they were struggling between life and death. Both photos were taken by war correspondent SS-Unterscharführer Max Büschel who served with the SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS at Kursk and Zhitomir. Max Büschel survived World War II and managed to evade captivity when the 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS surrendered to American forces in Austria in May 1945. He made his way back to his family in Berlin, but was apparently shot by Soviet Occupation Forces when they found out he had been a member of the much feared Waffen-SS units. U.S. National Archives. Fair use.