The Battle of Kursk Complexities of War, Essay Example

The Battle of Kursk is a well-known war between Germany and Soviet Union on the Eastern Front in 1943. The codename for the German army was Operation Citadel. The German strategic war attack was to terminate the enormous Soviet army at the city of Kursk. The German army was meet with a vicious counterattack by the Soviets. The Soviets defeated the Germans military offensive strike convincingly. This battle represented the final offense strike that gave the Soviets Red Army the strategic advantage for the remainder of the war.

Leadership

The Soviets has the better leadership that understand that the investment to win this war finding allies that provide them with a strategic advantage with information, location and the best terrain to fight the war. There was a stalemate between both the German and Soviets armies however, the Soviet leaders decided that the psychological battle must be won. Germany’s army could not appear to be passive therefore they must move forward with a strong offensive strike against the Soviets. All the leaders did not agree to move forward. The final vote was General Kurt Zeitzler who overruled the other officers to move forward with the office attack called Operation Citadel. Germany lost this battle because of pride of the leadership instead of relying on military advice not to move forward.

Planning

The Germany army’s plans were to weaken the Soviets offensive attach by trapping the German army forces to create a counterattack offensive attack catching the Soviets off guard. Germany planned to eliminate the salient while taxing the Soviets frontline. The planned attack would cause pressure on Germans forces to be vulnerable to the north and south. The German believe planning a double pincher attack breaking the fight lines of Germany. The plan was to capture a larger number of Soviet prisoners to be used as force laborers.2

Intelligence

The Soviet military leadership and wartime strategic planners of war should be given credit. The Soviets has better intelligence during the entire war with Germany. Germany relied on its own internal intelligence instead of relying on an outside source. This arrogance cost them the war including the opportunity to gain the advantage of war positioning over the Soviets. The Soviets developed intelligence allegiances with the British in anticipation of the intelligence winning the war. The British intelligence informed the Soviets of the Germans strategic war plans months in advance. The Soviets believe this intelligence to be true. As a result, the Red Army created a massive defensive plan that was designed to make the Germans exhaust their armored spearheads. This defensive plan work very well working around the salient while outnumbering the Germans on the flank.¹

Hitler Delays

Hitler tried to delay the enviable of defeat by delaying the offensive attack to bring in more military forces. This detrimental move turn the tide to the Soviets armies. The plan was to make the Soviets believe that the Germans were about to strike at any moment. Hitler had his armies to maneuver formations to trick the Germans into a counterattack or make the Soviets to reconsider make any offensives against Hitler. This move by Hitler was an indication he knew the war was lost unless he could get his full forces to overrun the Soviets. Hitler’s strategies of war was show power by numbers. Hitler wanted the Soviets to lose confidence when they learned that Hitler’s army was at full-strength. The Soviet Army succeeded in the winter offenses because Hitler believed from his previous win in the winter would automatically happen again. The Soviets began an unrelenting attack that change the strategic advantage that caused the Germany armies to become depleted which proved to end the war.

Why the Russians won

There were several reason why the Soviets won the war such as intelligence, better planning, better prepared leadership, and Hitler’s poor strategic moves. Hitler sent the Panzer VI Tiger tank into battle with poor armor to protect from damage. He sent them into battle without slope armor which means the sloped armor has more protection with less steel. This gave the Soviets a major advantage because it was easier to destroy the Panzer VI Tiger tanks.³ Secondly, Hitler should have never been making military decisions which never allows his military generals to win. Hitler had false beliefs in his own military prowess because all the wars he won with mass numbers against inferior military ready countries. Hitler made another move that cost the Germans the war was the refusal to withdraw the 6^th Army from Stalingrad. Hitler depleted his on army with the insistence of fighting a losing battle in Stalingrad.  In addition, Hitler’s own construction of the tanks was a reason for defeat. The Germans built the tanks with little comfort in mind for the tank crews because it was not designed with an emergency door. The German tanks were death traps on wheels not to mention the massive heat inside the tanks. The engineers and Hitter tried to use cheaper materials which guaranteed the war was lot before it started. Here is a list of why the Soviet won the war but it also addresses how Hitler helped:

• Hitler was not a military war colonel that had experience fighting in the field battlers
• Hitler refused to withdraw from Stalingrad which causes the Germany army to deplete
• Hitler helped war general override the decision to move forward on the offensive
• Hitler underestimated the Red Army power, intelligence, and military fire power
• Hitler’s unwillingness to listen to his advisors acting childish
• Hitler pick a country that had over 100 million people. His army a depleted 3 million

Notes
Citino, Robert M. “Armor and Blood.” MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History Winter 2014: 26(2), 86

Muller, R. R. (2014, January-February). Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk. World War II, 28(5), 72-73

Mansoor, P. R. (2013, November). Turning the tide in the East. Military History, 30(4), 72-73