Battle of Kursk

Battle context

The Battle of Kursk was a major Eastern Front engagement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, ending in a Soviet victory. By scale it stands as the single largest battle in the history of warfare, and it ranks behind only the Battle of Stalingrad as the most frequently cited turning point in the European theatre. Germany committed 780,900 troops against a Soviet force of over 1.9 million. The battle produced catastrophic losses on both sides — Germany suffered roughly 54,000 casualties and the Soviet Union approximately 177,000 — making it one of the costliest engagements of the entire war. It is recorded as the single deadliest armored battle and the largest tank battle in history, and the opening day produced more aircraft shot down than any single day in the history of aerial warfare. The Soviet victory at Kursk, coming in the wake of Stalingrad, further eroded Germany's capacity for large-scale offensive operations on the Eastern Front.