The Battle of Kursk: The Largest Tank Battle in History

The Battle of Kursk in July 1943 was the largest tank battle in history and the decisive turning point of the war on the Eastern Front. After the disaster at Stalingrad, the German High Command planned a massive pincer attack against the Kursk salient—a bulge in the Soviet lines—hoping to regain the strategic initiative.

The Soviets, forewarned by intelligence (including Ultra decrypts shared by Britain), built the deepest defensive system ever constructed—eight lines of trenches, anti-tank ditches, minefields, and fortified positions stretching back 190 miles. When the German attack began on 5 July, it ground into these defences like a fist into concrete.

The climactic moment came at Prokhorovka on 12 July, when over 1,000 tanks clashed in a single engagement. After Kursk, the Wehrmacht never regained the offensive on the Eastern Front. The Red Army began its unstoppable advance westward that would eventually reach Berlin. Many veterans commemorated through My Regiment UK fought at Kursk or had relatives who did.