The largest tank battle of World War 2. Five of the largest tank battles in history

The viewer experiences a complete picture of tank war: A bird's eye view from the soldiers' point of view of face-to-face confrontation and careful technical analysis by military historians. From the mighty 88mm gun of the German Tigers of World War II, to the thermal guidance system of the Gulf War M-1 Abrams, each episode explores the significant technical details that defined an era of battle.

Self-PR of the American Army, some descriptions of battles are full of errors and absurdities, it all comes down to the great and all-powerful American technology.

Great Tank Battles brings the full intensity of mechanized warfare to the screens for the first time, analyzing weapons, defenses, tactics and using ultra-realistic CGI animations.
Most of documentaries The cycle dates back to the Second World War. Overall, excellent material that needs to be double-checked before being believed.

1. Battle of Easting 73: The harsh, godforsaken desert of southern Iraq is home to the most merciless sandstorms, but today we will see another storm. During the 1991 Gulf War, the US 2nd Armored Regiment was caught in a sandstorm. This was the last one major battle 20th century.

2. Yom Kippur War: Battle of the Golan Heights/ The October War: Battle For The Golan Heights: In 1973, Syria unexpectedly carried out an attack on Israel. How did several tanks manage to hold off superior enemy forces?

3. Battle of El Alamein/ The Battles Of El Alamein: Northern Africa, 1944: about 600 tanks of the united Italian-German army broke through the Sahara desert into Egypt. The British deployed almost 1,200 tanks to stop them. Two legendary commander: Montgomery and Rommel fought for control of North Africa and Middle East oil.

4. Ardennes operation: battle of PT-1 tanks - rush to Bastogne/ The Ardennes: On September 16, 1944, German tanks invaded the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. The Germans attacked American units in an attempt to change the course of the war. The Americans responded with one of the most massive counterattacks in the history of their military operations.

5. Ardennes operation: battle of PT-2 tanks - attack of the German Joachim Pipers/ The Ardennes: 12/16/1944 In December 1944, the most loyal and ruthless killers of the Third Reich, the Waffen-SS, carried out Hitler's last offensive in the west. This is the story of the incredible breakthrough of the Nazi Sixth Armored Army of the American line and its subsequent encirclement and defeat.

6. Operation Blockbuster - Battle of Hochwald(02/08/1945) On February 8, 1945, the Canadian Armed Forces launched an attack in the Hochwald Gorge area with the goal of giving Allied troops access to the very heart of Germany.

7. Battle of Normandy/ The Battle Of Normandy June 6, 1944 Canadian tanks and infantry land on the Normandy coast and come under deadly fire, coming face to face with the most powerful German machines: the armored SS tanks.

8. Battle of Kursk. Part 1: Northern Front/ The Battle Of Kursk: Northern Front In 1943, numerous Soviet and German armies collided in the greatest and deadliest tank battle in history.

9. Battle of Kursk. Part 2: Southern Front/ The Battle Of Kursk: Southern Front The battle near Kursk reaches its climax in the Russian village of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943. This is the story of the largest tank battle in military history, as elite SS troops face off against Soviet defenders determined to stop them at any cost.

10. Battle of Arrakurt/ The Battle Of Arrcourt September 1944. When Patton's Third Army threatened to cross the German border, Hitler, in desperation, sent hundreds of tanks into a head-on collision.

July, 12 -a memorable date in the military history of the Fatherland. On this day in 1943, the largest tank battle in World War II between the Soviet and German armies took place near Prokhorovka.

Direct command of the tank formations during the battle was exercised by Lieutenant General Pavel Rotmistrov on the Soviet side and SS Gruppenführer Paul Hausser on the German side. Neither side managed to achieve the goals set for July 12: the Germans failed to capture Prokhorovka, break through the defenses of Soviet troops and gain operational space, and Soviet troops failed to encircle the enemy group.

“Of course, we won at Prokhorovka, not allowing the enemy to break into operational space, forced him to abandon his far-reaching plans and forced him to retreat to his original position. Our troops survived a four-day fierce battle, and the enemy lost its offensive capabilities. But the Voronezh Front had exhausted its strength, which did not allow it to immediately launch a counteroffensive. A stalemate situation has developed, figuratively speaking, when the command of both sides still wants to, but the troops can’t!”

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

If in the zone of the Soviet Central Front, after the start of their offensive on July 5, 1943, the Germans were unable to penetrate deeply into the defense of our troops, then a critical situation developed on the southern front of the Kursk Bulge. Here, on the first day, the enemy brought into the battle up to 700 tanks and assault guns, supported by aviation. Having met resistance in the Oboyan direction, the enemy shifted his main efforts to the Prokhorovsk direction, trying to capture Kursk with a blow from the southeast. The Soviet command decided to launch a counterattack against the wedged enemy group. The Voronezh front was reinforced by the reserves of the Headquarters (5th Guards Tank and 45th Guards armies and two tank corps). On July 12, in the Prokhorovka area, the largest tank battle of World War 2 took place, in which up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns took part on both sides. Soviet tank units sought to conduct close combat (“armor to armor”), since the range of destruction of the 76 mm T-34 gun was no more than 800 m, and the rest of the tanks were even less, while the 88 mm guns of the Tigers and Ferdinands hit our armored vehicles from a distance of 2000 m. When approaching, our tankers suffered heavy losses.

Both sides suffered huge losses at Prokhorovka. In this battle, Soviet troops lost 500 tanks out of 800 (60%). The Germans lost 300 tanks out of 400 (75%). For them it was a disaster. Now the most powerful German strike group was drained of blood. General G. Guderian, at that time the inspector general of the Wehrmacht tank forces, wrote: “The armored forces, replenished with such great difficulty, due to large losses in people and equipment, were out of action for a long time ... and already more so in the Eastern there were no quiet days at the front.” On this day, a turning point occurred in the development of the defensive battle on the southern front of the Kursk ledge. The main enemy forces went on the defensive. On July 13-15, German troops continued attacks only against units of the 5th Guards Tank and 69th armies south of Prokhorovka. The maximum advance of German troops on the southern front reached 35 km. On July 16, they began to retreat to their original positions.

ROTMISTROV: AMAZING COURAGE

I would like to emphasize that in all sectors of the grandiose battle that unfolded on July 12, the soldiers of the 5th Guards Tank Army showed amazing courage, unshakable fortitude, high combat skill and mass heroism, even to the point of self-sacrifice.

A large group of fascist “tigers” attacked the 2nd battalion of the 181st brigade of the 18th tank corps. The battalion commander, Captain P. A. Skripkin, bravely accepted the enemy’s blow. He personally knocked out two enemy vehicles one after another. Having caught the third tank in the crosshairs, the officer pulled the trigger... But at the same instant his combat vehicle shook violently, the turret filled with smoke, and the tank caught fire. Driver-mechanic foreman A. Nikolaev and radio operator A. Zyryanov, saving a seriously wounded battalion commander, pulled him out of the tank and then saw that a “tiger” was moving right at them. Zyryanov hid the captain in a shell crater, and Nikolaev and loader Chernov jumped into their flaming tank and went to ram, immediately crashing into the steel fascist hulk. They died having fulfilled their duty to the end.

The tankmen of the 29th Tank Corps fought bravely. The battalion of the 25th brigade, led by the communist Major G.A. Myasnikov, destroyed 3 "tigers", 8 medium tanks, 6 self-propelled guns, 15 anti-tank guns and more than 300 fascist machine gunners.

The decisive actions of the battalion commander and company commanders, senior lieutenants A. E. Palchikov and N. A. Mishchenko, served as an example for the soldiers. In a heavy battle for the village of Storozhevoye, the car in which A.E. Palchikov was located was hit - a caterpillar was torn off by a shell explosion. The crew members jumped out of the car, trying to repair the damage, but were immediately fired upon by enemy machine gunners from the bushes. The soldiers took up defensive positions and repelled several attacks by the Nazis. In this unequal battle, Alexei Yegorovich Palchikov died the death of a hero, and his comrades were seriously injured. Only the mechanic-driver, candidate member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, foreman I.E. Safronov, although he was also wounded, could still fire. Hiding under a tank, overcoming the pain, he fought off the advancing fascists until help arrived.

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE Supreme High Command Headquarters MARSHAL A. VASILEVSKY TO THE SUPREME COMMANDER IN CHIEF ON COMBAT OPERATIONS IN THE PROKHOROVKA AREA, July 14, 1943.

According to your personal instructions, since the evening of July 9, 1943, I have been continuously in the troops of Rotmistrov and Zhadov in the Prokhorovsky and southern directions. Until today, inclusively, the enemy continues on the Zhadov and Rotmistrov front massive tank attacks and counterattacks against our advancing tank units... From observations of the progress of the ongoing battles and from the testimony of prisoners, I conclude that the enemy, despite the huge losses, both in manpower , and especially in tanks and aircraft, still does not give up the idea of ​​​​breaking through to Oboyan and further to Kursk, achieving this at any cost. Yesterday I personally observed a tank battle of our 18th and 29th corps with more than two hundred enemy tanks in a counterattack southwest of Prokhorovka. At the same time, hundreds of guns and all the PCs we had took part in the battle. As a result, the entire battlefield was littered with burning German and our tanks within an hour.

Over the course of two days of fighting, Rotmistrov's 29th Tank Corps lost 60% of its tanks irretrievably and temporarily out of action, and the 18th Corps lost up to 30% of its tanks. Losses in the 5th Guards. mechanized corps are insignificant. The next day, the threat of enemy tanks breaking through from the south into the Shakhovo, Avdeevka, Aleksandrovka areas continues to remain real. During the night I am taking all measures to bring the entire 5th Guards here. mechanized corps, the 32nd motorized brigade and four iptap regiments... The possibility of an oncoming tank battle here and tomorrow cannot be ruled out. In total, at least eleven tank divisions continue to operate against the Voronezh Front, systematically replenished with tanks. The prisoners interviewed today showed that the 19th Panzer Division currently has about 70 tanks in service, the Reich Division has up to 100 tanks, although the latter has already been replenished twice since July 5, 1943. The report was delayed due to late arrival from the front.

The Great Patriotic War. Military historical essays. Book 2. Fracture. M., 1998.

THE COLLAPSE OF THE CITADEL

July 12, 1943 came new stage Battle of Kursk. On this day, part of the Soviet forces went on the offensive Western Front and Bryansk fronts, and on July 15, the troops of the right wing of the Central Front struck the enemy. On August 5, troops of the Bryansk Front liberated Oryol. On the same day, troops of the Steppe Front liberated Belgorod. On the evening of August 5, an artillery salute was fired for the first time in Moscow in honor of the troops who liberated these cities. During fierce battles, troops of the Steppe Front, with the assistance of the Voronezh and Southwestern Fronts, liberated Kharkov on August 23.

The Battle of Kursk was cruel and merciless. Victory in it went to the Soviet troops at great cost. In this battle they lost 863,303 people, including 254,470 permanently. Losses in equipment amounted to: 6064 tanks and self-propelled guns, 5244 guns and mortars, 1626 combat aircraft. As for Wehrmacht losses, information about them is fragmentary and incomplete. Soviet works presented calculated data according to which during the Battle of Kursk, German troops lost 500 thousand people, 1.5 thousand tanks, 3 thousand guns and mortars. Regarding losses in aircraft, there is information that during the defensive stage of the Battle of Kursk alone, the German side irretrievably lost about 400 combat vehicles, while the Soviet side lost about 1000. However, in fierce battles in the air, many experienced German aces, who had been fighting for many years in the East, were killed. front, among them 9 holders of the Knight's Cross.

It is undeniable that the collapse of the German Operation Citadel had far-reaching consequences and had a decisive influence on the entire further course of the war. After Kursk, the German armed forces were forced to switch to strategic defense not only on the Soviet-German front, but also in all theaters of military operations of the Second World War. Their attempt to regain what was lost during Battle of Stalingrad the strategic initiative was a disastrous failure.

EAGLE AFTER LIBERATION FROM THE GERMAN OCCUPATION

(from the book “Russia at War” by A. Werth), August 1943

(...) The liberation of the ancient Russian city of Oryol and the complete liquidation of the Oryol wedge, which threatened Moscow for two years, was a direct result of the defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk.

In the second week of August I was able to travel by car from Moscow to Tula, and then to Orel...

In these thickets, through which the dusty road from Tula now ran, death awaits a person at every step. “Minen” (in German), “mines” (in Russian) - I read on old and new tablets stuck in the ground. In the distance, on a hill, under the blue summer sky, the ruins of churches, the remains of houses and lonely chimneys. These miles of weeds were no man's land for almost two years. The ruins on the hill were the ruins of Mtsensk. Two old women and four cats were all the living creatures that Soviet soldiers found there when the Germans withdrew on July 20. Before leaving, the Nazis blew up or burned everything - churches and buildings, peasant huts And all the rest. In the middle of the last century, Leskov and Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth” lived in this city... The “desert zone” created by the Germans now stretches from Rzhev and Vyazma to Orel.

How did Orel live during the almost two-year German occupation?

Of the 114 thousand population in the city, only 30 thousand now remain. The occupiers killed many residents. Many were hanged in the city square - the same one where the crew of the Soviet tank that was the first to break into Oryol is now buried, as well as General Gurtiev, the famous participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, killed on the morning when Soviet troops took the city in battle. They said that the Germans killed 12 thousand people and sent twice as many to Germany. Many thousands of Oryol residents went to the partisans in the Oryol and Bryansk forests, because here (especially in the Bryansk region) there was an area of ​​active partisan operations (...)

Wert A. Russia in the war of 1941-1945. M., 1967.

*Rotmistrov P.A. (1901-1982), Ch. Marshal of Armored Forces (1962). During the war, from February 1943 - commander of the 5th Guards. tank army. Since Aug. 1944 - Commander of the armored and mechanized forces of the Red Army.

**Zhadov A.S. (1901-1977). Army General (1955). From October 1942 to May 1945, commander of the 66th Army (from April 1943 - 5th Guards) Army.

Since its introduction, the tank has been and remains the main threat on the battlefield. Tanks became a tool of blitzkrieg and a weapon of victory in World War II, a decisive trump card in the Iran-Iraq war; Even equipped with the most modern means of destroying enemy personnel, the American army cannot do without the support of tanks. the site has selected the seven largest tank battles from the moment these armored vehicles first appeared on the battlefield until today.

Battle of Cambrai

This was the first successful episode of the massive use of tanks: more than 476 tanks, united in 4 tank brigades, took part in the Battle of Cambrai. Great hopes were placed on armored vehicles: with their help, the British intended to break through the heavily fortified Siegfried Line. The tanks, mostly the latest at that time Mk IV with side armor reinforced to 12 mm, were equipped with the latest know-how of that time - fascines (75 bundles of brushwood, fastened with chains), thanks to which the tank could overcome wide trenches and ditches.
On the very first day of fighting, a resounding success was achieved: the British managed to wedge 13 km into the enemy’s defenses, capture 8,000 German soldiers and 160 officers, as well as a hundred guns. However, it was not possible to develop the success, and the subsequent counter-offensive of the German troops virtually nullified the efforts of the Allies.

The irretrievable losses in Allied tanks amounted to 179 vehicles, and even more tanks failed due to technical reasons.

Battle of Annu

Some historians consider the Battle of Annu to be the first tank battle of World War II. It began on May 13, 1940, when Hoepner's 16th Panzer Corps (623 tanks, of which 125 were the newest 73 Pz-III and 52 Pz-IV, capable of fighting French armored vehicles on equal terms), advancing in the first echelon of the 6th German army, started battles with the advanced French tank units of the corps of General R. Priou (415 tanks - 239 Hotchkiss and 176 SOMUA).

During the two-day battle, the 3rd French Light Mechanized Division lost 105 tanks, while German losses amounted to 164 vehicles. At the same time, German aviation had complete air supremacy.

Raseiniai tank battle

According to data from open sources, about 749 Soviet tanks and 245 German vehicles took part in the Battle of Raseiniai. The Germans had air superiority, good communications and organization on their side. The Soviet command threw its units into battle in parts, without artillery and air cover. The result turned out to be predictable - an operational and tactical victory for the Germans, despite the courage and heroism of the Soviet soldiers.

One of the episodes of this battle became legendary - the Soviet KV tank was able to hold off the advance of an entire tank group for 48 hours. For a long time, the Germans could not control a single tank; they tried to shoot it with an anti-aircraft gun, which was soon destroyed, and to blow up the tank, but all in vain. As a result, we had to use a tactical trick: the KV was surrounded by 50 German tanks and began firing from three directions to divert his attention. At this time, an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was secretly installed in the rear of the KV. She hit the tank 12 times, and three shells pierced the armor, destroying it.

Battle of Brody

The largest tank battle in initial stage World War II, in which 800 German tanks were opposed by 2,500 Soviet vehicles (figures vary greatly from source to source). Soviet troops advanced in the most difficult conditions: tankers entered the battle after a long march (300-400 km), and in scattered units, without waiting for the arrival of combined arms support formations. The equipment broke down on the march, and there was no normal communication, and the Luftwaffe dominated the skies, the supply of fuel and ammunition was disgusting.

Therefore, in the battle for Dubno - Lutsk - Brody, Soviet troops were defeated, losing more than 800 tanks. The Germans were missing about 200 tanks.

Battle of the Valley of Tears

The Battle of the Valley of Tears, which took place during the Yom Kippur War, clearly showed that victory is achieved not by numbers, but by skill. In this battle, numerical and qualitative superiority was on the side of the Syrians, who prepared more than 1,260 tanks for the assault on the Golan Heights, including the newest at that time T-55 and T-62.

All that Israel had was a couple of hundred tanks and excellent training, as well as courage and high stamina in battle, the latter the Arabs never had. Illiterate soldiers could leave the tank even after a shell hit it without penetrating the armor, and it was very difficult for the Arabs to cope even with simple Soviet sights.

The most epic was the battle in the Valley of Tears, when, according to open sources, more than 500 Syrian tanks attacked 90 Israeli vehicles. In this battle, the Israelis were desperately short of ammunition, to the point that the reconnaissance unit's jeeps moved from tank to tank with 105-mm ammunition recovered from the downed Centurions. As a result, 500 Syrian tanks were destroyed and big number other equipment, the Israeli losses amounted to about 70-80 vehicles.

Battle of the Kharhi Valley

One of the largest battles of the Iran-Iraq War took place in the Kharkhi Valley, near the city of Susengerd in January 1981. Then the 16th Tank Division of Iran, armed with the latest British Chieftain tanks and American M60s, faced an Iraqi tank division - 300 Soviet T-62s - in a head-on battle.

The battle lasted about two days, from January 6 to 8, during which time the battlefield turned into a real quagmire, and the opponents became so close that it became risky to use aviation. The result of the battle was the victory of Iraq, whose troops destroyed or captured 214 Iranian tanks.

Also during the battle, the myth about the invulnerability of the Chieftain tanks, which had powerful frontal armor, was buried. It turned out that the 115-mm armor-piercing sub-caliber projectile of the T-62 cannon penetrates the powerful armor of the Chieftain's turret. Since then, Iranian tank crews were afraid to launch a frontal attack on Soviet tanks.

Battle of Prokhorovka

The most famous tank battle in a story in which about 800 Soviet tanks collided with 400 German tanks in a head-on battle. Most Soviet tanks were T-34s, armed with a 76mm cannon, which did not penetrate the newest German Tigers and Panthers head-on. Soviet tank crews had to use suicidal tactics: get closer to German vehicles on maximum speed and hit them on board.
In this battle, the Red Army's losses amounted to about 500 tanks, or 60%, while German losses amounted to 300 vehicles, or 75% of the original number. The most powerful strike force was drained of blood. The Inspector General of the Wehrmacht tank forces, General G. Guderian, stated the defeat: “The armored forces, replenished with such great difficulty, were out of action for a long time due to large losses in people and equipment... and there were no more calm forces on the Eastern Front days."

This project has been on the Internet, especially domestically, not that long ago! I would like to note that the project belongs to the Discovery Channel, which has already aired good paintings, but this one, it seems to me, has not been fully worked out properly. For all twenty-three episodes you will not see anything new or interesting! For some reason, the authors considered the great battles to be what they showed on the screen, although as everyone knows, these are completely abstract events that do not carry an important outcome. Extremely interesting, especially because in the frame we see the tank heroes themselves (I would like to note the delicate position of the authors of the series: they did not emphasize “the politics” of those times, they were primarily interested in the War itself, and how specific human soldiers fought in it , be it an American, Soviet, German, Israeli veteran... They are all in the frame, moreover, entire stories are often built on their stories! But we didn’t even know how accidentally the American Sherman tank collided through the “green fence” barrel to barrel, with a deadly “tiger”, one shot of which means inevitable death for the “Sherman”... And, with great bitterness, we have to accept and understand that both the “Shermans” in France and our “T-34-76” in Kursk Bulge They defeated the Nazis only by numbers (!!!) and the ability to impose close combat on the enemy! But here’s what’s completely infuriating: the project is being carried out on behalf of real SS men, who are simply annoying, because they constantly remember about Reich equipment and so on and so forth! These same bastards should have been hanged or shot a long time ago! - This is the SS!!! And they are right there on the screen, sharing their memories, interspersed with Soviet and American veterans... Nightmare!!! Another thing is infuriating, quietly, mournfully... Veterans of the Second World War “from the Allies” and “from the Germans!” they look on the screen and talk about the war... fresh, reasonable, sensible. Soviet veterans with their stories look like clichéd old senile... Probably because they are already accustomed to Soviet times“officially” speaking in front of pioneers and young people, telling them “what is needed,” and not what one would truly like to say (fortunately, such moments are present in the series!). I would especially like to note that the United States, England and France, and Germany deeply respect and support their veterans in every possible way, and they do not need anything. That’s why they look 60 years old, and not the real 90, like our surviving front-line soldiers! The last thing. I don’t recommend watching “Great Tank Battles” all at once. Take a break! Otherwise, you will get tired of staring at the monotonous skirmishes of Shermans (T-34-76) with Panthers or Tigers. Let me remind you: the computer graphics here (and without the “presence” of soldiers, people...) are inferior in quality to the currently popular game “Word of Tanks”.

The large-scale tank battle near Prokhorovka was the defensive phase of the Battle of Kursk. This confrontation with the use of armored vehicles of the two strongest armies at that time - Soviet and German - is still considered one of the largest in military history. The command of the Soviet tank formations was carried out by Lieutenant General Pavel Alekseevich Rotmistrov, and the German ones by Paul Hausser.

On the eve of the battle

At the beginning of July 1943, the Soviet leadership learned that the main German attack would be on Oboyan, and a secondary one would be directed at Korocha. In the first case, the offensive was carried out by the Second Panzer Corps, which included the SS divisions “Adolf Hitler”, “Totenkopf” and “Reich”. They managed to literally break through two lines of Soviet defense in just a few days and approach the third, located ten kilometers southwest of railway station Prokhorovka. At that time it was located on the territory of the Oktyabrsky state farm in the Belgorod region.

German tanks appeared near Prokhorovka on July 11, overcoming the resistance of one of the Soviet rifle divisions and the second tank corps. Seeing this situation, the Soviet command sent additional forces to this area, which were finally able to stop the enemy.

It was decided that it was necessary to launch a powerful counterattack aimed at completely destroying the SS armored corps wedged into the defense. It was assumed that three guards and two tank armies would take part in this operation. But the rapidly changing situation has made adjustments to these plans. It turned out that only the 5th Guards Army under the command of A.S. Zhadov, as well as the 5th Tank Army led by P.A. Rotmistrov, would participate in the counterattack from the Soviet side.

Full-scale offensive

In order to at least slightly delay the Red Army forces concentrated in the Prokhorovsky direction, the Germans prepared a strike in the area where the 69th Army was located, moving out from Rzhavets and heading north. Here one of the fascist tank corps began to advance, trying to break through from the southern side to the desired station.

Thus began the full-scale battle of Prokhorovka. Its start date was the morning of July 12, 1943, when the headquarters of the 5th Tank Army of P. A. Rotmistrov received a message about the breakthrough of a significant group of German armored vehicles. It turned out that about 70 units of enemy equipment, having entered from the southwest, immediately captured the villages of Vypolzovka and Rzhavets and were rapidly moving on.

Start

In order to stop the enemy, a pair of combined detachments were hastily formed, which were assigned to the command of General N.I. Trufanov. The Soviet side was able to field up to hundreds of tanks. The newly created units had to rush into battle almost immediately. The bloody battle continued all day in the area of ​​Ryndinka and Rzhavets.

Then almost everyone understood that the battle of Prokhorovka decided not only the outcome of this battle, but also the fate of all units of the 69th Army, whose troops found themselves in a semi-ring of enemy encirclement. Therefore, it was not surprising that Soviet soldiers showed truly massive heroism. Take, for example, the feat of the anti-tank platoon of Art. Lieutenant K. T. Pozdeev.

During the next attack, a group of fascist tanks with machine gunners on board, numbering 23 vehicles, rushed towards his position. An unequal and bloody battle ensued. The guardsmen managed to destroy 11 tanks, thereby preventing the rest from penetrating into the depths of their own battle formation. Needless to say, almost all the soldiers of this platoon died.

Unfortunately, it is impossible in one article to list the names of all the heroes who were killed in that tank battle near Prokhorovka. I would like to briefly mention at least a few of them: Private Petrov, Sergeant Cheremyanin, Lieutenants Panarin and Novak, Military Paramedic Kostrikova, Captain Pavlov, Major Falyuta, Lieutenant Colonel Goldberg.

By the end of the next day, the combined detachment managed to knock out the Nazis and take control of the settlements of Ryndinka and Rzhavets. As a result of the advance of part of the Soviet troops, it was possible to completely localize the success that one of the German tank corps had achieved a little earlier. Thus, by its actions, Trufanov’s detachment thwarted a major Nazi offensive and prevented the threat of the enemy entering the rear of Rotmistrov’s 5th Tank Army.

Fire support

It cannot be said that the battles on the field near Prokhorovka took place exclusively with the participation of tanks and self-propelled guns. Artillery and aviation also played an important role here. When the enemy strike force launched an offensive early in the morning of July 12, Soviet attack aircraft attacked tanks that were part of the SS Adolf Hitler division. In addition, before Rotmistrov's 5th Tank Army began to launch a counterattack to the enemy forces, artillery preparation was carried out, which lasted about 15 minutes.

During heavy fighting in the bend of the river. The Psel 95th Soviet Rifle Division confronted the SS Totenkopf tank group. Here our military was supported by its strikes by the 2nd Air Army under the command of Marshal S.A. Krasovsky. In addition, long-range aviation also operated in this area.

Soviet attack aircraft and bombers managed to drop several thousand anti-tank bombs on the heads of the enemies. Soviet pilots We did everything to support the ground units as much as possible. To do this, they delivered crushing blows to large concentrations of enemy tanks and other armored vehicles in the area of ​​villages such as Pokrovka, Gryaznoye, Yakovlevo, Malye Mayachki, etc. At the time when the battle of Prokhorovka took place, dozens of attack aircraft, fighters and bombers were in the sky . This time, Soviet aviation had undoubted superiority in the air.

Advantages and disadvantages of combat vehicles

The Kursk Bulge near Prokhorovka began to gradually transform from a general battle into individual tank duels. Here the opponents could show each other not only their skills, but also their knowledge of tactics, as well as demonstrate the capabilities of their tanks. German units were mainly equipped with T-IV medium tanks of two modifications - H and G, which had an armored hull thickness of 80 mm and a turret thickness of 50 mm. In addition, there were heavy T-VI Tiger tanks. They were equipped with 100mm armored hulls and their turrets were 110mm thick. Both tanks were equipped with fairly powerful long-barreled guns of 75 and 88 mm caliber, respectively. They could penetrate a Soviet tank almost anywhere. The only exceptions were heavy IS-2 armored vehicles, and then at a distance of more than five hundred meters.

The tank battle near Prokhorovka showed that Soviet tanks were in many ways inferior to German ones. This concerned not only the thickness of the armor, but also the power of the guns. But the T-34 tanks, which were in service with the Red Army at that time, surpassed the enemy ones both in speed and maneuverability, and in maneuverability. They tried to wedge themselves into enemy battle formations and shoot the enemy’s side armor at close range.

Soon the battle formations of the warring parties were mixed. Too dense a concentration of vehicles and too short distances deprived the German tanks of all the advantages of their powerful guns. The cramped conditions caused by the large concentration of equipment prevented both of them from performing the necessary maneuvers. As a result, armored vehicles collided with each other, and often their ammunition began to explode. At the same time, their torn towers soared several meters in height. Smoke and soot from burning and exploding tanks obscured the sky, making visibility on the battlefield very poor.

But the equipment burned not only on the ground, but also in the air. The damaged planes dived and exploded right in the thick of the battle. Tank crews of both warring sides left their burning vehicles and boldly entered into hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, wielding machine guns, knives and even grenades. It was a real terrible mess of human bodies, fire and metal. According to the recollections of one of the eyewitnesses, everything around was burning, there was an unimaginable noise that made the ears hurt, apparently, this is exactly what hell should look like.

Further course of the battle

By the middle of the day on July 12, intense and bloody battles were taking place in the area of ​​​​height 226.6, as well as near the railway. The soldiers of the 95th Infantry Division fought there, who tried with all their might to prevent all attempts by the “Dead Head” to break through in a northern direction. Our second tank corps managed to oust the Germans to the west of the railway and began a rapid advance towards the villages of Teterevino and Kalinin.

And at this time, the advanced units of the German division “Reich” moved forward, while occupying the Storozhevoy farm and the Belenikhino station. At the end of the day, the first of the SS divisions received powerful reinforcements in the form of artillery and air fire support. That is why the “Dead Head” managed to break through the defenses of two Soviet rifle divisions and reach the villages of Polezhaev and Vesely.

Enemy tanks attempted to reach the Prokhorovka-Kartashovka road, but they were still stopped by the 95th Infantry Division. Only one heroic platoon, commanded by Lieutenant P.I. Shpetnoy, destroyed seven Nazi tanks. In the battle he was seriously wounded, but despite this, he took a bunch of grenades and rushed under the tank. For his feat, Lieutenant Shpetnoy was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the USSR.

The tank battle of Prokhorovka, which took place on July 12, resulted in significant losses in both the SS Totenkopf and Adolf Hitler divisions, thereby causing great damage to their combat capabilities. But, despite this, no one was going to leave the battle or retreat - the enemy furiously resisted. The Germans also had their own tank aces. Once, somewhere in Europe, one of them managed to single-handedly defeat an entire convoy consisting of sixty vehicles and armored vehicles, but he died on the Eastern Front. This proves that Hitler sent selected soldiers here to fight, from which the SS divisions “Reich”, “Adolf Hitler” and “Totenkopf” were formed.

Retreat

By evening, the situation in all sectors became difficult and the Germans had to bring all available reserves into battle. During the battle, a crisis arose. In contrast to the enemy, the Soviet side also brought into battle its last reserve - a hundred heavy armored vehicles. These were KV tanks (Klim Voroshilov). That evening, the Nazis still had to retreat and later go on the defensive.

It is believed that it was July 12th that crucial moment the famous Battle of Kursk, which the whole country was waiting for. This day was marked by the offensive of the Red Army units that were part of the Bryansk and Western fronts.

Unfulfilled plans

Despite the fact that the Germans lost the tank battle near Prokhorovka on July 12, the fascist command still intended to continue the further offensive. It planned to encircle several Soviet divisions belonging to the 69th Army, which were defending in a small area located between the Lipov and Seversky Donets rivers. On July 14, the Germans sent part of their forces, consisting of two tank and one infantry divisions, to capture the previously lost villages of Ryndinki, Shchelokovo and Vypolzovki. Further plans included advancing in the direction of Shakhovo.

The Soviet command unraveled the enemy's plans, so P. A. Rotmistrov gave the order to the combined detachment of N. I. Trufanov to stop the breakthrough of German tanks and prevent them from reaching the desired line. Another battle ensued. Over the next two days, the enemy continued to attack, but all attempts to break through were unsuccessful, as Trufanov’s group switched to a solid defense. On July 17, the Germans decided to withdraw their troops, and the heroic combined detachment was transferred to the reserve of the army commander. Thus ended the greatest tank battle near Prokhorovka.

Losses

It should be noted that none of the warring parties completed the tasks that were assigned to them on July 12, since Soviet troops were unable to encircle the German group, and the Nazis were unable to take possession of Prokhorovka and break through the enemy’s defenses.

In this difficult battle, both sides suffered not only significant casualties, but also a large loss of equipment. On the Soviet side, about five hundred tanks out of eight that took part in the battle were disabled. The Germans lost 75% of their armored vehicles, that is, three out of four hundred vehicles.

After the defeat, the commander of the German tank corps, Paul Hausser, was immediately removed from his post and blamed for all the failures that befell Hitler’s troops in the Kursk direction. In these battles, the enemy lost, according to some sources, 4,178 people, which amounted to 16% of the total combat strength. 30 divisions were also almost completely destroyed. The largest tank battle near Prokhorovka broke the warlike spirit of the Germans. After this battle and until the end of the war, the Nazis no longer attacked, but fought only defensive battles.

According to some reports, there is a report by the Chief of the General Staff A.M. Vasilevsky, which he provided to Stalin, which contained figures characterizing the outcome of the tank battle near Prokhorovka. It said that in two days of fighting (meaning July 11 and 12, 1943), the greatest losses suffered by the 5th Guards Army, as well as the 9th and 95th divisions. According to this report, losses amounted to 5,859 people, including 1,387 killed and 1,015 missing.

It is worth noting that all the above figures are highly controversial, but we can say with confidence: this was one of the hardest battles of the Second World War.

It was opened in 2010 just 35 km from Belgorod and is dedicated to all the heroes who died and survived in that largest and most terrible tank battle, forever included in world history. The museum was named “The Third Military Field of Russia” (the first was Kulikovo, the second was Borodino). In 1995, the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was erected on this legendary site. The soldiers who died at Prokhorovka are immortalized here - seven thousand names are carved on marble slabs covering the walls of the church.

The symbol of Prokhorovka is a belfry with an alarm bell suspended from it, which weighs about three and a half tons. It is visible from everywhere, because it is located on a hill, on the outskirts of the village of Prokhorovka. The center of the memorial is considered to be a truly grandiose sculptural composition consisting of six tanks. Its authors were monumentalist F. Sogoyan and Belgorod sculptor T. Kostenko.