The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient.pdf

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THe ForgoTTen BaTTle
oF THe KursK salienT
7th guards army’s stand against
army Detachment Kempf
Valeriy Zamulin
Translated & edited by stuart Britton
Helion & Company
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Published by Helion & Company 2018
Designed and typeset by Mach 3 Solutions Ltd (www.mach3solutions.co.uk)
Cover designed by Paul Hewitt, Battlefield Design (www.battlefield-design.co.uk)
Printed by Gutenberg Press Limited, Tarxien, Malta
Text © Valeriy Zamulin 2017. English edition translated and edited by
Stuart Britton, © Helion & Company Limited 2017.
Images © as individually credited
Maps drawn by George Anderson © Helion & Company Limited 2017
Parts of this book have been published in Russian with the title
Krax nastupleniia Generala Kempfa
(Veche, 2016).
Front cover: An artillery battalion of the 7th Guards Army’s 265th Cannon Artillery Regiment
shells the enemy’s bridges across the Northern Donets River; July 1943. (Author’s personal archive).
Rear cover: The commander of the 6th Panzer Division Major General W. von Hünersdorff (in a
Sd.Kfz.250/3 halftrack) listens to a report from the commander of II/Panzergrenadier Regiment 114
Captain Necknauer in the vicinity of Belinskaia in the valley of the Razumniaia River; 7 July 1943.
(Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-022-2923-29A, photo: Kipper).
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission
for the use of copyright material. The author and publisher apologize for any errors or omissions in
this work, and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future
reprints or editions of this book.
ISBN 978-1-911512-57-8
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the express written consent of Helion & Company Limited.
For details of other military history titles published by Helion & Company Limited contact the
above address, or visit our website: http://www.helion.co.uk.
We always welcome receiving book proposals from prospective authors.
Contents
List of Photographs
List of Maps
List of Tables
Introduction
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
“We didn’t anticipate even a quarter of what the Russians had prepared here”
In the shadow of the main attack – Army Detachment Kempf’s role in Operation
Citadel
5 July 1943 – The beginning of the end of a tragicomedy
The 7th Guards Army’s main defensive belt crumbles
Breith’s III Panzer Corps reaches the line of the 69th Army, 7-8 July 1943
The fall of the Belgorod bastion, 9-10 July 1943
“The beast is badly wounded, but still very dangerous.” Breith’s III Panzer Corps’
dashing foray into the 69th Army’s rear
The pinning counterattack: 7th Guards Army and the events of 12 July
“The operation’s failure turned into a tragedy”
iv
ix
x
xi
21
107
135
241
301
404
487
529
564
592
Index
iii
list of Photographs
in Plate sections
The commander of the 64th Army (subsequently the 7th Guards Army) Lieutenant General
M.S. Shumilov in Stalingrad, before departing to the Belgorod area; end of February
1943. (RGAFKD)
The spring of 1943 came early: This is how the roads in the region of the Kursk bulge
looked. (RGAKFD)
The city of Belgorod after the March 1943 fighting came to an end. (Captured files of the
RGAKFD)
The commander of the 7th Guards Army Lieutenant General M.S. Shumilov washes up in
the village of Protopopovka, Kursk Oblast, on a sunny April 1943 morning. (A photo
from an issue of the
Krasnaia znamia
newspaper in the files of the “Stalingradskaia bitva
(“Battle of Stalingrad”) State Historical Park Museum)
In moments of calm, even army commanders had no objection to a little mischief.
Lieutenant General M.S. Shumilov (on the right) has a little fun at the expense of a major
on his 7th Guards Army headquarters staff, who is showing his “booty” to correspondents
of the
Krasnaia znamia
army newspaper; village of Protopopovka, Kursk Oblast, April
1943. (A photo from an issue of the
Krasnaia znamia
newspaper in the files of the
“Stalingradskaia bitva” State Historical-Memorial Park Museum)
The Commander-in-Chief of the Voronezh Front General of the Army N.F. Vatutin (in the
center) receiving a report from one of his subordinate commanders during one of his trips
to the front; spring of 1943. (RGAKFD)
A major, a battalion commander in one of the 81st Guards Rifle Division’s regiments,
addresses his subordinate commanders; Voronezh Front, 7th Guards Army, May 1943.
(Files of the “Stalingradskaia bitva” State Historical-Memorial Park Museum)
Commanders of the 27th Guards Tank Brigade study a mock-up of the terrain in its sector,
June 1943. (RGAKFD)
T-34 radio operators of the 7th Guards Army’s 27th Guards Tank Brigade in training:
Sergeant Major Babushkin maintains contact with a tank battalion commander, May
1943. (Shebekino Historical-Art Museum)
The training of driver-mechanics in the 201st Separate Tank Brigade to overcome artificial
obstacles. The tanks are Lend-Lease British Matilda tanks.
A training brochure issued on the eve of the Battle of Kursk to anti-tank gun, tank and
artillery crews entitled “The most vulnerable and damage-prone places on the German
Pz-VI tank and the means to counter them”. The page on the right states, “Fire at the fuel
tanks and forward wheels”.
Tank company commander Senior Lieutenant F. Martekhov (first from the right) of the 7th
Guards Army’s 27th Guards Tank Brigade, who for his exploits in the Belgorod area on
12 July 1943 was deemed worthy of the title “Hero of the Soviet Union”, in conversation
with a group of the brigade’s officers and soldiers at his dugout during a moment of rest;
village of Voznesenovka, May 1943.
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