During the evening of July 11 1943, SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser readied his divisions for an assault on Prokhorovka. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf, commanded by SS-Oberführer Hermann Prieß, anchored the left flank of the II.SS-Panzerkorps, while SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte, commanded by SS-Brigadeführer Theodore Wisch, was in the center. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich, commanded by SS-Gruppenführer Walter Krüger, moved into its attack zone on the corps' right flank. Feldmarschall Erich von Manstein had prepared orders for his southern forces, with the SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Wiking in lead, to start moving towards Belgorod. While Hausser's SS divisions prepared for battle, there was feverish activity on the Soviet side as well, the Red Army consisted of the 18th and 24th Tank Corps and the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army who were reinforced by the 2nd Tank Corps, increasing its strength to about 850 tanks.
The Battle of Prokhorovka would become known as the greatest clash of armoured forces ever fought in history. Top image: screenshot from Die Deutsche Wochenschau showing SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper decorating a young soldier of the Leibstandarte SS with the Iron Cross Second Class on July 11 1943, the day before the Battle of Prokhorovka. Peiper is wearing a SS M40 Palmenmuster camouflage smock. The Waffen-SS was the first military organization in the world to use mottled camouflage clothing and made wide use of a perplexing variety of season patterns and colors. Fair use. Bottom clips: behind the frontline footage of the Waffen-SS at Kursk in the summer of 1943. The soldiers endured the stress of battle around the clock during the offensive, attacking again and again in the face of overwhelming odds. Fair use.
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