PROKHOROVKA
July 12th, 1943

Following the German defeat at Stalingrad, huge tracts of territory in southern Russia were reclaimed by the victorious Soviet armies. The Caucasus, except for a small lodgement on the Taman Peninsula, was cleared of Axis forces thus removing the threat to Soviet oil supplies. The Soviet advance took them as far as Kharkov, the scene of the Soviet disaster a year earlier, before the Germans rallied, counter-attacked and stabilised the front.
Kharkov was recaptured yet again so that when the summer campaigning months came around the German front line had a large bulge in it. This was the Kursk salient. Assuming, correctly, that the Germans would make this salient the prime target of their summer offensive, the Russians fortified... and then fortified some more. By the beginning of July, the Soviet position had been made virtually impregnable. Masses of armour were grouped in reserve to deliver a resounding counter-attack at the right moment.
True to form, Hitler's rigid military judgement committed the rebuilt German armies to a frontal assault on the Soviet
fort-wall. The plan was code-named Zitadelle. Some progress was made in the northern corner of the salient, slightly
more in the southern corner. Hausser's IISS Pz Korps was thrown into the southern corner
and after a week of heavy fighting, finally broke through the fixed defences. Three SS Panzer divisions raced for the township of Prokhorovka. Waiting for them were four tank corps and a mechanised corps.
A mighty tank clash ensued. The battlefield was linearly divided into three sections by the Psel River to the west and a railway embankment to the east. In effect, three separate battles were fought. Tactically, the Germans had slightly the better of the engagement though losses were frightful on both sides. However, it was all to no avail. The Allied landings in Sicily compelled the Germans to withdraw troops, including Hausser's SS force, to bolster the failing Italians and the Zitadelle offensive was brought to a halt.
On July 17th, the Soviets went over to the offensive and in two months drove the Germans back to the Dnepr.