The Wehrmacht no longer had the forces for a large scale offensive. The "Kursk arc" was very well positioned for this sort of strategy. This strange positioning gave the German high command the idea of a summer offensive which would encircle Soviet forces in the Kursk region. The front line, if only slightly, bent towards the east, to the settlements of Efremov and Berezovka. After advancing a mere eight miles, the German attack ground to a halt.The winter offensive by the RKKA and counterattack of the German operational group Kempf led to a spearhead pointed towards the West, in the region of Belgorod, Kursk, and Orel. To make matters worse, the Germans were now coming under fire from ground-attack aircraft. He had survived arrest, torture and imprisonment during Stalin’s purge of army officers in 1937. Soviet Commander of the northern sector of the Kursk salient. He was mortally wounded in an attack by Ukrainian nationalists in February 1944. Soviet Commander of the southern sector of the Kursk salient. He committed suicide at the end of the war. Nicknamed the Führer’s Fireman, Hitler considered Model one of his best generals. He had been key in the defeat of France in 1940 and, earlier in 1943, had stabilised the front after German failure at Stalingrad.Ĭommander of the northern German pincer. Between them, these four men commanded around 2.8 million men, 8,000 tanks and 4,200 aircraft…Ĭommander of the southern German pincer.
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