Famous people about the Battle of Kursk. Little-known facts about the Battle of Kursk. Commander Colonel General I.S. Konev

On August 23 of this year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk. This is a very important battle in the Great Patriotic War, another step towards the Great Victory.

Together with the Battle of Stalingrad, it became a radical turning point in the Second World War. The Battle of Kursk, which took place from July 5 to August 23, 1943, in terms of its scale, the forces and means involved, as well as the results and military-political consequences, is one of the key battles of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. The battle on the Kursk Bulge lasted 50 days. As a result of this operation, the strategic initiative finally passed to the side of the Red Army and until the end of the war it was carried out mainly in the form of offensive actions on its part.

1. Initially, the battle was not planned as an offensive one.

When planning the spring-summer military campaign of 1943, the Soviet command was faced with a difficult choice: which method of action to prefer - to attack or defend. In their reports on the situation in the Kursk Bulge area, Zhukov and Vasilevsky proposed to bleed the enemy in a defensive battle and then launch a counteroffensive.

A number of military leaders opposed it - Vatutin, Malinovsky, Timoshenko, Voroshilov - but Stalin supported the decision to defend, fearing that as a result of our offensive the Nazis would be able to break through the front line. The final decision was made in late May - early June, when the Citadel plan became known.

“The actual course of events showed that the decision on deliberate defense was the most rational type of strategic action,” emphasizes military historian, candidate of historical sciences Yuri Popov.

2. In terms of the number of troops, the battle exceeded the scale of the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Battle of Kursk is still considered one of the largest battles of World War II. More than four million people were involved in it on both sides (for comparison: during the Battle of Stalingrad, just over 2.1 million people participated at various stages of the fighting).

According to the General Staff of the Red Army, during the offensive alone from July 12 to August 23, 35 German divisions were defeated, including 22 infantry, 11 tank and two motorized. The remaining 42 divisions suffered heavy losses and largely lost their combat effectiveness. In the Battle of Kursk, the German command used 20 tank and motorized divisions out of a total of 26 divisions available at that time on the Soviet-German front. After Kursk, 13 of them were completely destroyed.

3. Information about the enemy’s plans was promptly received from intelligence officers from abroad.

Soviet military intelligence managed to timely reveal the preparations of the German army for a major offensive on the Kursk Bulge. Foreign residencies obtained information in advance about Germany’s preparations for the spring-summer campaign of 1943.

Thus, on March 22, GRU resident in Switzerland Sandor Rado reported that for “...a strike on Kursk, the SS tank corps (an organization banned in the Russian Federation - editor’s note), which is currently receiving reinforcements, will probably be used.” And intelligence officers in England (GRU resident Major General I. A. Sklyarov) obtained an analytical report prepared for Churchill, “Assessment of possible German intentions and actions in the Russian campaign of 1943.”

Thus, the information obtained by the scouts in early April revealed in advance the plan of the enemy’s summer campaign and made it possible to forestall the enemy’s attack.

4. The Kursk Bulge became a large-scale baptism of fire for Smersh.

The counterintelligence agencies "Smersh" were formed in April 1943 - three months before the start of the historic battle. "Death to Spies!" - Stalin so succinctly and at the same time succinctly defined the main task of this special service. But the “Smershevites” not only reliably protected units and formations of the Red Army from enemy agents and saboteurs, but also obtained valuable information that was used by the Soviet command, conducted radio games with the enemy, and carried out combinations to bring German agents to our side.

The book “Fire Arc”: The Battle of Kursk through the eyes of Lubyanka,” published based on materials from the Central Archives of the FSB of Russia, talks about a whole series of operations by security officers during that period. Thus, in order to misinform the German command, the Smersh department of the Central Front and the Smersh department of the Oryol Military District conducted a successful radio game “Experience”.

It lasted from May 1943 to August 1944. The work of the radio station was legendary on behalf of the reconnaissance group of Abwehr agents and misled the German command about the plans of the Red Army, including in the Kursk region. In total, 92 radiograms were transmitted to the enemy, 51 were received. Several German agents were called to our side and neutralized, and cargo dropped from the plane was received (weapons, money, fictitious documents, uniforms). This and much more contributed to the overall success of the strategic operation near Kursk.

5. On the Prokhorovsky field, the number of tanks fought against their quality.

What is considered to be the largest battle of armored vehicles of the entire Second World War began near this settlement. On both sides, up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns took part in it. The Wehrmacht had superiority over the Red Army due to the greater efficiency of its equipment.

Thus, the T-34 had only a 76-mm cannon, and the T-70 had a 45-mm gun. The Churchill III tanks, received by the USSR from England, had a 57-millimeter gun, but this vehicle was characterized by low speed and poor maneuverability. In turn, the German heavy tank T-VIH "Tiger" had an 88-mm cannon, with a shot from which it penetrated the armor of the "thirty-four" at a distance of up to two kilometers.

Our tank could penetrate armor 61 millimeters thick at a distance of a kilometer. By the way, the frontal armor of the same T-IVH reached a thickness of 80 millimeters. It was possible to fight with hope of success in such conditions only in close combat, which was used, however, at the cost of heavy losses. However, at Prokhorovka, the Wehrmacht lost 75% of its tank resources. For Germany, such losses were a disaster and proved difficult to recover almost until the very end of the war.
6. General Katukov’s cognac did not reach the Reichstag.

During the Battle of Kursk, for the first time during the war, the Soviet command used large tank formations in echelon to hold a defensive line on a wide front. One of the armies was commanded by Lieutenant General Mikhail Katukov, the future twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal of the Armored Forces. Subsequently, in his book “At the Edge of the Main Strike,” he, in addition to the difficult moments of his front-line epic, also recalled one funny incident related to the events of the Battle of Kursk.

“In June 1941, after leaving the hospital, on the way to the front I dropped into a store and bought a bottle of cognac, deciding that I would drink it with my comrades as soon as I achieved my first victory over the Nazis. Since then, this treasured bottle has traveled with me on all fronts. And finally the long-awaited day has arrived. We arrived at the checkpoint. The waitress quickly fried the eggs, and I took a bottle out of my suitcase. We sat down with our comrades at a simple wooden table. They poured cognac, which brought back pleasant memories of peaceful pre-war life. And the main toast is “To victory! To Berlin!” wrote the front-line soldier.

Katukov M. E.

7. In the sky above Kursk, the enemy was crushed by Kozhedub and Maresyev.

During the Battle of Kursk, many Soviet soldiers showed heroism.

“Every day of fighting gave many examples of courage, bravery, and perseverance of our soldiers, sergeants and officers. They consciously sacrificed themselves, trying to prevent the enemy from passing through their defense sector,” notes retired Colonel General Alexei Kirillovich Mironov, a participant in the Great Patriotic War.

Over 100 thousand participants in those battles were awarded orders and medals, 231 became Hero of the Soviet Union. 132 formations and units received the guards rank, and 26 were awarded the honorary titles of Oryol, Belgorod, Kharkov and Karachev. The future three-time Hero of the Soviet Union, Ivan Kozhedub, shot down 15 enemy aircraft with his fighter during the battle of Kursk.

Alexey Maresyev also took part in the battles. On July 20, 1943, during an air battle with superior enemy forces, he saved the lives of two Soviet pilots by destroying two enemy FW-190 fighters at once. On August 24, 1943, the deputy squadron commander of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant A.P. Maresyev, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 8. The defeat in the Battle of Kursk came as a shock to Hitler.

After the failure at the Kursk Bulge, the Fuhrer was furious: he lost his best formations, not yet knowing that in the fall he would have to leave the entire Left Bank Ukraine. Without betraying his character, Hitler immediately laid the blame for the Kursk failure on the field marshals and generals who exercised direct command of the troops.

“This was the last attempt to maintain our initiative in the East. With its failure, the initiative finally passed to the Soviet side. Therefore, Operation Citadel is a decisive, turning point in the war on the Eastern Front,” wrote Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, who developed and carried out Operation Citadel.

“The irony of history is that Soviet generals began to assimilate and develop the art of operational leadership of troops, which was highly appreciated by the German side, and the Germans themselves, under pressure from Hitler, switched to Soviet positions of tough defense - according to the principle “at all costs,” he wrote German historian from the military-historical department of the Bundeswehr Manfred Pay.

By the way, the fate of the elite SS tank divisions that took part in the battles on the Kursk Bulge - “Leibstandarte”, “Totenkopf” and “Reich” - later turned out even more sad. All three formations took part in battles with the Red Army in Hungary, were defeated, and the remnants made their way into the American zone of occupation. However, the SS tank crews were handed over to the Soviet side, and they were punished as war criminals.

The collapse of hopes. German soldier on the Prokhorovsky field

9. The victory at Kursk brought the opening of the Second Front closer.

As a result of the defeat of significant Wehrmacht forces on the Soviet-German front, more favorable conditions were created for the deployment of American-British troops in Italy, the disintegration of the fascist bloc began - the Mussolini regime collapsed, Italy came out of the war on the side of Germany.

Under the influence of the victories of the Red Army, the scale of the resistance movement in the countries occupied by German troops increased, and the authority of the USSR as the leading force in the anti-Hitler coalition strengthened. In August 1943, the US Committee of Chiefs of Staff prepared an analytical document in which it assessed the role of the USSR in the war.

“Russia occupies a dominant position and is the decisive factor in the impending defeat of the Axis countries in Europe,” the report noted.

It is interesting that a month after the end of the Battle of Kursk, Roosevelt already had his own plan for the dismemberment of Germany. He presented it just at the conference in Tehran.
10. For the fireworks in honor of the liberation of Orel and Belgorod, the entire supply of blank shells in Moscow was used up.

During the Battle of Kursk, two key cities of the country were liberated - Orel and Belgorod. Joseph Stalin ordered an artillery salute to be held on this occasion in Moscow - the first in the entire war. It was estimated that in order for the fireworks to be heard throughout the city, about 100 anti-aircraft guns would need to be deployed.

There were such fire weapons, but the organizers of the ceremonial event had only 1.2 thousand blank shells at their disposal. Therefore, out of 100 guns, only 12 salvos could be fired. True, the Kremlin mountain cannon division was also involved in the salute, for which blank shells were available. However, the effect of the action may not have been as expected.

The solution was to increase the interval between salvos: at midnight on August 5, all 124 guns were fired every 30 seconds. And so that the fireworks could be heard everywhere in Moscow, groups of guns were placed in stadiums and vacant lots in different areas of the capital.

Soviet soldier with a banner in liberated Orel

In early July 1943, the famous Battle of Kursk began. As Russian historians write about this, the battle on the Kursk Bulge and the Battle of Stalingrad provided a very significant turning point in the course of the military operations of the Second World War. A lot of literary works have been created about the Battle of Kursk, but few people still know about some points...

Mysterious "Werther"

By mid-1943, the USSR had caught up and even surpassed the state of the Third Reich both in the production of weapons and in other areas of military affairs.

Intelligence among the very top of Hitler's command was unusually effective. Since January 1943, the agents reported to Stalin all the details of the Nazi offensive scheme, which was scheduled for the summer. This scheme was called "Citadel".

Already in mid-April 1943, a directive already translated into Russian was delivered to Joseph Stalin, where the scheme of Operation Citadel was recorded. This important document bore the visas of all Wehrmacht services. Only Adolf Hitler has not yet signed it. He endorsed the scheme only three days after Stalin studied it. Hitler, of course, did not know about this.

The “mole” in the Third Reich, who obtained this very valuable document for Stalin, was highly classified. The only nickname they knew about him was “Werther.” At present, historians can only assume that he was a photographer who personally served Hitler.

Rokossovsky's plan

Soviet senior military officials had different opinions about how Soviet troops should behave during the Nazi offensive in the summer of 1943. Konstantin Rokossovsky, who headed the Central Front, proposed to first carry out a long defense so that the enemy army would run out of strength, and then launch a counterattack and utterly defeat the battle-worn and weakened enemy. And the head of the Voronezh Front, Nikolai Vatutin, expressed the opposite opinion - he called for going on the offensive first, skipping the period of long defense.

Commander of the Central Front Konstantin Rokossovsky

Joseph Stalin, although he preferred Vatutin’s proposal, however, supported the majority’s point of view, which, by the way, was also shared by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, and chose the strategy option that Rokossovsky proposed.

However, contrary to expectations, the Nazis still did not go on the attack, although it was already July, and Stali even doubted that he had chosen the right strategy.

But soon the Nazis suddenly actively went on the offensive, and everything went according to Rokossovsky’s plan - the Soviet Union won the battle on the Kursk Bulge.

An incomprehensible fight near Prokhorovka

Historians recognize the tank battle near the village of Prokhorovka as the most decisive period of the battle on the Kursk Bulge.

It is striking that there is no consensus among academic historians regarding the exact circumstances of this battle, and there is still heated debate on this topic.

In Soviet times, scientists wrote that the Red Army had eight hundred tanks, and the Nazis had seven hundred. Scientists of our period often overestimate the number of Russian military vehicles and underestimate the number of Hitler's.

Cambridge professor Richard Evans even went so far as to point out in his works that the Nazis had only 117 tanks during the battle near Prokhorovka, and only three of them were destroyed.

Evans also claims that there was no victory for the Russian troops there, and it was Hitler himself who gave the order to stop the battle. And he declares, as some modern scientists also believe, that during this battle the USSR troops lost ten thousand tanks.

However, if you believe Richard Evans, why then exactly after this battle did the Nazis begin to rapidly retreat to Berlin?

Yes, of course, the losses of Soviet troops exceeded the damage suffered by the Nazis during the battle near Prokhorovka. The main strength of tank units and all armies at that time were the T-34s, which were much weaker than Hitler’s Tigers and Panthers, which is why there was such an advantage in combat losses.

However, despite all the advantages, the German tracked vehicles did not advance further than the village of Prokhorovka, which broke the entire scheme of Hitler’s offensive called “Citadel”.

Offensive operations "Kutuzov" and "Rumyantsev"

When talking about the battle on the Kursk Bulge, everyone usually talks first about Hitler’s Operation Citadel, that is, about the scheme of the fascist offensive. But when the Nazi attack fizzled out, the Red Army carried out two unusually successful offensive operations. But much fewer people know about them than about the Citadel.

In mid-July 1943, troops of the Western and Bryansk fronts moved to attack towards the city of Orel. After 3 days, the Central Front also launched an attack. This operation was called "Kutuzov".

In continuation of this offensive, Soviet troops greatly “upset” the fascist Army Group Center, which then retreated for a long time. During Kutuzov, many large cities were liberated, and in early August the Red Army entered the city of Orel.

At the beginning of August 1943, troops of the Voronezh and Steppe fronts carried out Operation Rumyantsev, carrying out a massive attack on Nazi fortifications. On August 5, the Red Army occupied Belgorod and continued to recapture Ukrainian lands. Twenty days later, Soviet troops were already near Kharkov. On the night of August 24, 1943, troops of the Steppe Front stormed this city, and in the morning Kharkov was ours.

It was these successful operations - “Kutuzov” and “Rumyantsev” that were awarded the first salute during the war years, held in Moscow in honor of the conquest of Orel and Belgorod.

Battle in the air

In the Kursk-Oryol direction, the Germans tasked their aviation with the closest cooperation with tank units. In fact, German aviation acted as a kind of air artillery, which was supposed to strengthen the artillery impact on the battlefield and pave the way for its tanks.

In solving this problem, the Germans used slightly different tactics than in the neighboring Belgorod direction. The offensive began with strong artillery preparation, after which tanks went on the attack, and only then, when the tanks were stopped by our anti-tank defenses, German aircraft appeared in the air. Enemy bombers were flying in groups of 100 - 150 aircraft. They were accompanied at all times by large patrols of fighters, mainly Focke-Wulf 190s; the aircraft were located in three tiers: at an altitude of 1500, 3000 and 5000 meters.

Fierce air battles raged throughout the day, during which the Germans suffered heavy losses. However, the next day their aviation had not yet slowed down the pace of its work over the battlefield. The number of sorties has not decreased. To replace the damaged Focke-Wulf 190s, a large number of Messerschmitts appeared in the air.

... Senior Lieutenant Mezhunov, on a Yakovlev-1 plane, fought with four Focke-Wulf-190s, defending his bombers. He did not allow the Germans to approach the bombers, tying up the enemy fighters in battle. Having used up his entire combat reserve, Mezhunov went to ram and shot down an enemy fighter.

Today, the air battle of Captain Solyanikov is widely known at the front. He had to fight four Focke-Wulf 190s. The captain shot down one German fighter. At this time, two others tried to take him in a pincer fire. Solyanikov successfully maneuvered out of the attack and put the Germans in such a position that they collided in the air and, catching fire, fell down. The fourth plane, put down by Solyanikov in the subsequent attack, blazing, went to its territory.

A group of fighters, led by the Hero of the Soviet Union Guard Captain Makarov, entered into battle with a group of German bombers, numbering up to 70 aircraft. Having attacked the Germans from several sides at once, the fighters disrupted their battle formation, shot down the leader and forced the bombers to turn back. Pursuing the enemy, this group destroyed several more German vehicles. Captain Makarov himself shot down two enemy aircraft in this battle and knocked out a third..."

Lieutenant Colonel N. Denisov

July 1943

“I had to visit the units that took the main blow from the enemy: a rifle regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Shevernozhuk, a regiment that met the blow of the German armada near a railway station between Orel and Kursk, a station well known in peacetime for its apples - Ponyri, and in the Belgorod direction - in a fighter artillery regiment, part of the brigade of Lieutenant Colonel Chevol.

These two lieutenant colonels, hardly aware of each other’s existence, on the same day and at the same hour met German tanks and self-propelled artillery, rapidly rushing from the north and south with the task of meeting in Kursk. That’s what the German soldiers were told before the start of the offensive: “Now you are receiving food for 5 days, the next distribution will be in Kursk.”

Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Shevernozhuk is a heavyset man of enormous height, with slow, calm movements, a slow, calm voice. He moves slowly, smiles slowly, frowns slowly. But sometimes his huge body turns easily and quickly, and his voice sounds abrupt, imperious, stern. The division, which includes Shevernozhuk's regiment, withstood 32 fierce tank attacks in five days. About 800 German tanks took part in these attacks, and together with the tanks, German infantry went on the attack - the assault division, the "Fire and Sword" division. The Germans lost 10,700 people and 221 tanks during these attacks.

...The composition of the regiment seems to reflect the multinational composition of our state. Most of the Red Army soldiers are Russian workers and peasants - residents of the Kursk, Oryol and Moscow regions, some of the fighters are Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tatars... Nearby are the names of Purgin, Abdukhairov, Andryushchenko, Stukachev, the famous Kazakh Sati Baldeev in the regiment, who fought with his light machine gun against hundred fascists and the winner in this unequal battle. This friendship grew and strengthened in the regiment.

And so, watching the actions, movements of the Red Army soldiers, the expressions on their faces, I suddenly understood what the secret of our success was and why the armored fist raised by Hitler in the Kursk direction fell powerlessly without breaking through our defenses. This handful of people, who were probably going to get dinner, suddenly caught by a swift and angry German raid, with magnificent calm, with the slowness of craftsmen and craftsmen, with the precise calculation of smart and experienced military workers, took up positions within two or three seconds and opened fire from rifles, machine guns, light machine guns..."

Fire bag near the village of Goreloye

On the morning of July 8, when repelling another German attack, 24 tanks were destroyed, including 7 Tigers. And on July 9, the Germans put together an operational strike group from the most powerful equipment, followed by medium tanks and motorized infantry in armored personnel carriers.

Two hours after the start of the battle, the group broke through the May 1 state farm to the village of Goreloye. In these battles, German troops used a new tactical formation, when in the first ranks of the strike group a line of Ferdinand assault guns moved in two echelons, followed by Tigers covering the assault guns and medium tanks. But near the village of Goreloye, our artillerymen and infantrymen allowed German tanks and self-propelled guns into a pre-prepared fire bag, supported by long-range artillery fire and rocket mortars. Finding themselves under cross artillery fire, having also found themselves in a powerful minefield and being attacked by Petlyakov dive bombers, the German tanks stopped.

On the night of July 11, the bloodless enemy made a last attempt to push back our troops, but this time it was not possible to break through to the Ponyri station. A major role in repelling the offensive was played by the PZO supplied by the special purpose artillery division. By midday the Germans had withdrawn, leaving seven tanks and two assault guns on the battlefield. This was the last day when German troops came close to the outskirts of Ponyri station. In just 5 days of fighting, the enemy was able to advance only 12 kilometers.

On July 12, when there was a fierce battle near Prokhorovka on the Southern Front, where the enemy advanced 35 kilometers, on the Northern Front the front line returned to its original positions, and already on July 15, Rokossovsky’s army launched an offensive on Oryol. One of the German generals later said that the key to their victory remained forever buried under Ponyri.

Hospital incident

During the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, a grandiose battle was planned in Ponyri. Residents, saving them from imminent death, were evacuated by Red Army soldiers to the village of Lipinovo, Zolotukhinsky district. Livestock was driven by teenagers under the supervision of adult women. Some people thought that the cows understood what was happening. The dives were covered in black smoke and from the outside looked like an alien planet.

Lipinovo temporarily housed not only evacuated citizens, but also a hospital. The wounded were housed in houses, barns, and tents. Hospital officials called on the public to help care for the wounded. Nobody sat idle. Women, elderly people, teenagers and children voluntarily performed their civic duty. Gorbacheva Efrosinya Yakovlevna was appointed as a nurse in the ward for the care of seriously wounded officers.

Most of the wounds were in the stomach. She washed them, bathed them, and fed them. They couldn't do much on their own, and she helped them turn around and get up carefully so as not to cause pain. The officers were fed well, they were given semolina porridge with butter, but they ate little and the porridge remained. Efrosinya Yakovlevna began to take the porridge to the wounded soldiers. The doctor saw this - a young woman. She demanded in an orderly tone that they throw the porridge into the garbage pit. But the nurse continued to bring porridge to the soldiers. Then the doctor took up the matter herself. After each lunch, she began to watch Efrosinya Yakovlevna, then she led her to the pit, and the food was thrown out. Why did the doctor do this? 75 years have passed and there is still no answer.

Recorded by Ekaterina Yakovlevna Gorbacheva from the words of Efrosinya Yakovlevna Gorbacheva in the 1980s.