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

70 years ago: the largest tank battle of the Great Patriotic War July 2nd, 2011

Usually in the USSR the biggest tank battle of the war was called the oncoming one. battle near Prokhorovka during the Battle of Kursk (July 1943). But 826 Soviet vehicles fought there against 416 German ones (although a little less took part in the battle itself on both sides). But two years earlier, from June 24 to June 30, 1941, between the cities Lutsk, Dubno and Brody The battle took place on a much more grandiose scale: 5 Soviet mechanized corps (about 2,500 tanks) stood in the way of the III German Tank Group (more than 800 tanks).

The Soviet corps received orders to attack the advancing enemy and tried to fight head-on. But our command did not have a unified plan, and tank formations struck at the advancing Germans one by one. The old light tanks were not scary for the enemy, but the new tanks of the Red Army (T-34, T-35 and KV) turned out to be stronger than the German ones, so the Nazis began to evade battle with them, withdraw their vehicles, put their infantry in the way of the Soviet mechanized corps and anti-tank artillery.

(Photos taken from site waralbum.ru - there are many pictures taken by all the warring parties
Stalin's generals with their divisions under the influence of "" (where it was ordered to "capture the Lublin region", that is, to invade Poland) rushed forward, lost supply lines, and then our tankers had to abandon completely intact tanks along the roads, left without fuel and ammunition. The Germans looked at them with surprise - especially powerful vehicles with strong armor and several turrets.

The terrible massacre ended on July 2, when the Soviet units surrounded near Dubno broke through to their front, retreating in the direction of Kyiv.

On June 25, the 9th and 19th mechanized corps of generals Rokossovsky (his memories of those days) and Feklenko dealt such a powerful blow to the invaders that they drove them back Smooth, to which the German tankers were already only a few kilometers away. On June 27, an equally powerful blow to the area Dubno was inflicted by the tank division of Commissar Popel (his memories).
Trying to surround the enemy who had broken through, Soviet formations kept running into anti-tank defenses put up by the enemy on the flanks. During the assault on these lines, up to half of the tanks perished in one day, as happened on June 24 under Lutsk and June 25 under Radekhov.
There were almost no Soviet fighters in the air: they died on the first day of the war (many at airfields). German pilots felt like “kings of the air.” General Ryabyshev's 8th mechanized corps, hurrying to the front, lost half of its tanks during a 500-kilometer march from enemy air strikes (Ryabyshev's emars).
The Soviet infantry could not keep up with their tanks, while the German infantry was much more mobile - it moved on trucks and motorcycles. There was a case when the tank units of the 15th mechanized corps of General Carpezo were outflanked and almost immobilized by enemy infantry.
On June 28, the Germans finally broke into Smooth. On June 29, Soviet troops were surrounded by Dubno(On July 2, they were still able to escape from the encirclement). On June 30, the Nazis occupied Brody. The general retreat of the Southwestern Front began, and Soviet troops left Lvov, to avoid being surrounded.
During the days of fighting, more than 2,000 tanks were lost on the Soviet side, and either “about 200” or “more than 300” on the German side. But the Germans took their tanks, took them to the rear and tried to repair them. The Red Army was losing its armored vehicles forever. Moreover, the Germans later repainted some tanks, painted crosses on them and put their armored units into service.

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 In the Kursk Bulge, the Nazis were defeated 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! - 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 "The Great" tank battles"Totally." 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”.

Year of issue : 2009-2013
A country : Canada, USA
Genre : documentary, war
Duration : 3 seasons, 24+ episodes
Translation : Professional (Single Voice)

Director : Paul Kilbeck, Hugh Hardy, Daniel Sekulich
Cast : Robin Ward, Ralph Raths, Robin Ward, Fritz Langanke, Heinz Altmann, Hans Baumann, Pavel Nikolaevich Eremin, Gerard Bazin, Avigor Kahelani, Kenneth Pollack

Description of the Series : Large-scale tank battles unfold before you in full view, in all their beauty, cruelty and lethality. In the documentary series “Great Tank Battles”, the most significant tank battles are reconstructed using advanced computer technologies and animation. Each battle will be presented from a variety of angles: you will see the battlefield from a bird's eye view, as well as in the thick of the battle, through the eyes of the participants in the battle themselves. Each issue is accompanied a detailed story and analysis technical characteristics equipment that took part in the battle, as well as comments regarding the battle itself and the balance of enemy forces. You will see a variety of technical means combat, ranging from the Tigers used during the Second World War, which were in service with Nazi Germany, to the latest developments- thermal target guidance systems, which were successfully used during the battles in the Persian Gulf.

List of episodes
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. The Yom Kippur War: Battle for the Golan Heights / The October War: Battle For The Golan Heights: In 1973, Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel. How did several tanks manage to hold off superior enemy forces?
3. The Battle of El Alamein: Northern Africa, 1944: About 600 tanks of the combined 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 entered 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. 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: SS armored 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 culminates 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. 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.
11. Battles of the First World War / Tank Battles of the Great War In 1916, Britain, hoping to break the long, bloody, hopeless situation in Western Front used a new mobile weapon. This is the story of the first tanks and how they changed the face of the modern battlefield forever.
12. Battle of Korea / Tank Battles of Korea In 1950 the world was taken by surprise because North Korea attacked South Korea. This is the story of American tanks rushing to the rescue South Korea and the bloody battles they wage on the Korean Peninsula.
13. The Battle of France At the beginning of World War II, the Germans were the first to introduce new uniform mobile armored tactics. This is the story of the Nazis' famous Blitzkrieg, where thousands of tanks broke through terrain that was considered impassable and conquered Western Europe within a few weeks.
14. The Six Day War: Battle for the Sinai In 1967, in response to the growing threat from its Arab neighbors, Israel began preemptive strike against Egypt in Sinai. This is the story of one of the fastest and most dramatic victories in modern warfare.
15. The Battle for the Baltics By 1944, the Soviets had turned the tide of the war in the East and were driving the Nazi army back through the Baltic states. This is the story of German tank crews who continue to fight and win battles even though they cannot win the war.
16. The Battle of Stalingrad By the end of 1942, the German offensive on the Eastern Front begins to slow down, and the Soviets place their emphasis on defense in the city of Stalingrad. This is the story of one of the most dramatic battles in history, in which an entire German army was lost and the course of the war was changed forever.
17. Tank Ace: Ludwig Bauer / Tank Ace: Ludwig Bauer After the success of the Blitzkrieg, young men throughout Germany flocked to the tank corps in search of glory. This is the story of one German tankman who comes face to face with the harsh reality of tank forces. He fights in several important battles and survives World War II.
18 October War: Battle for the Sinai / The October War: Battle for the Sinai Seeking to recapture lost territory six years earlier, Egypt launches a surprise attack against Israel in October 1973. This is the story of the final Arab-Israeli war in the Sinai, where both sides achieve success, suffer stunning defeats and - most importantly - enduring peace.
19. The Battle of Tunisia By 1942, Rommel's Afrika Korps had been driven back to Tunisia and met the new American Panzer Corps in North Africa. This is the story of the final battles in North Africa by two of history's most famous tank commanders, Patton and Rommel.
20. Battle of Italy / Tank Battles of Italy In 1943, the tanks of the Royal Canadian Armored Corps made their combat debut on the European mainland. This is the story of Canadian tank crews who fight their way across the Italian Peninsula and, in an offensive breakthrough, strive to liberate Rome from Nazi occupation.
21. Battle of Sinai. Wanting to regain lost territory, Egypt launched an attack on Israel in 1973. This is the story of how the war in the Sinai ended, bringing both defeats and victories to both sides.
22. Tank battles of the Vietnam War (part 1)
23. Tank battles of the Vietnam War (part 2)

The viewer experiences a complete view of tank warfare: a bird's eye view, from the soldiers' point of view of face-to-face confrontation and the careful technical analysis of 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 major battle of the 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 commanders: Montgomery and Rommel fought for control of North Africa and the oil of the Middle East.

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 culminates in the Russian village of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943. This is the story of the biggest 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.

Traditionally, the largest tank battle is considered to be the battle near Prokhorovka in the summer of 1943. But, in fact, the world's largest tank battle took place two years earlier: in June 1941 in the Brody-Dubno-Lutsk area. If we compare the numbers, Prokhorovka is clearly inferior to the Western Ukrainian Tank Battle.

The Battle of Prokhorovka took place on July 12, 1943. According to official Soviet data, 1.5 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns converged on both sides: 800 Soviet against 700 Nazi Germans. The Germans lost 350 units of armored vehicles, ours - 300. Allegedly, after this, the turning point came in the battle on Kursk Bulge.

However, this officialdom was questioned even by many Soviet researchers. After all, such a calculation contains obvious distortion. Indeed, in the 5th Guards Tank Army of General Pavel Rotmistrov, which counterattacked the advancing German troops that day, there were about 950 tanks. But as for the Germans, there were approximately 700 tanks and self-propelled guns in the entire German group on the southern flank of the Kursk Bulge. And near Prokhorovka there was only the 2nd SS Panzer Corps of Waffen-SS General Paul Hausser - about 310 combat vehicles.

Therefore, according to updated Soviet data, 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns converged near Prokhorovka: just under 800 Soviet versus just over 400 German (losses were not specified). At the same time, neither side achieved its goal, but the German offensive was objectively losing momentum.

According to completely updated data, 311 people took part in the tank battle on July 12 near Prokhorovka. German tanks and self-propelled guns against 597 Soviet ones (some of the vehicles of the 5th GvTA failed after a 300-kilometer march). The SS men lost about 70 (22%), and guardsmen - 343 (57%) armored vehicles. At the same time, their irretrievable losses in 2 SS TK were estimated at only 5 vehicles! The Germans, which even Soviet military leaders admitted, had better evacuation and repair of equipment. Of the Soviet vehicles damaged near Prokhorovka, 146 were subject to restoration.

According to Russian historian Valery Zamulin ( Deputy for Science, Director of the State Military Historical Museum-Reserve “Prokhorovskoye Field”), by decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, a commission was created to investigate the causes of the large losses suffered by the 5th GvTA near Prokhorovka. In the commission's report fighting Soviet troops on July 12 near Prokhorovka were called “an example of an unsuccessful operation.” General Rotmistrov was going to be court-martialed, but by that time the general situation at the front had changed - and everything turned out okay. By the way, the landing of Anglo-American troops in Sicily had a great influence on the outcome of the Battle of Kursk, after which the headquarters of the 2nd SS Tank Corps and the Leibshatnadrt division were sent to Italy.

Now let's go back two years to Western Ukraine- and compare

If the battle of Prokhorovka lasted only one day, then the Western Ukrainian tank battle (it is difficult to determine it by any one region - Volyn or Galicia - not to mention one settlement) lasted a week: from June 23 to 30, 1941. It was attended by five mechanized corps of the Red Army (2803 tanks) of the Southwestern Front against four German tank divisions (585 tanks) of the Wehrmacht Army Group South, united in the First Tank Group. Subsequently, another tank division of the Red Army (325) and one tank division of the Wehrmacht (143) entered the battle. Thus, 3,128 Soviet and 728 German tanks (+ 71 German assault guns) fought in a gigantic oncoming tank battle. Thus, total tanks and self-propelled guns that took part in the Western Ukrainian battle - almost four thousand!

On the evening of June 22, troops of the Southwestern Front (the most powerful group of Soviet troops in western border USSR) received the order “to encircle and destroy the enemy group advancing in the direction of Vladimir-Volynsky, Dubno with powerful concentric strikes of mechanized corps, all aviation of the Southwestern Front and other troops of the 5th and 6th armies. By the end of June 24, take possession of the Lublin region.”

Considering the balance of forces (primarily in tanks, but also in artillery and aviation), the counteroffensive had a very high chance of success. The Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Army General Georgy Zhukov, personally arrived to coordinate the actions of the Southwestern Front.

To implement the task, the command of the Southwestern Front decided to create two strike groups: each with three mechanized and one rifle corps. However, the breakthrough of the German tank group forced the front commander, General Mikhail Kirponos, to abandon this plan and give the order to launch a counteroffensive without waiting for the concentration of all forces. Tank formations entered the battle separately and without mutual coordination. Subsequently, orders changed several times, which is why some units made multi-kilometer marches under enemy air attacks.

Some units did not take part in the counterattack. Part of the forces was sent to cover Kovel from the Brest direction, from where German tanks were allegedly also advancing. But, as it later became clear, the intelligence report was completely inaccurate.

On June 27, the strike group of the 8th mechanized corps under the command of brigade commissar Nikolai Popel successfully counterattacked the Germans in the Dubno area, inflicting serious losses on the enemy. However, here the Soviet tankers stopped and, waiting for reinforcements, stood for two days! During this time, the group did not receive support and, as a result, was surrounded.

It is interesting that the German tank and motorized divisions, despite the Soviet tank counterattacks, continued the offensive, as if “running forward.” In many ways, the burden of the fight against Red Army tanks fell on the Wehrmacht infantry. However, there were also plenty of oncoming tank battles.

On July 29, the withdrawal of the mechanized corps was authorized, and on June 30, a general retreat. The front headquarters left Ternopil and moved to Proskurov. By this time, the mechanized corps of the Southwestern Front were practically destroyed. About 10% of the tanks remained in the 22nd, about 15% in the 8th and 15th, about 30% in the 9th and 19th.

Member of the military council of the Southwestern Front, corps commissar Nikolai Vashugin, who at first actively organized counterattacks, shot himself on June 28. The remaining members of the Military Council proposed to retreat beyond the line of the old Soviet-Polish border (which existed until September 1939). However, German tanks broke through the line of fortified areas on the old border and reached the rear of the Soviet troops. Already on July 10, German troops took Zhitomir...

It cannot be said that the Soviet troops showed complete failure in those battles. It was then that the Germans first started talking about the superiority of the T-34 and KV, against which German anti-tank guns were powerless (only 88-mm anti-aircraft guns could take them)...

However, in the end, the defeat was complete. By June 30, the Southwestern Front troops participating in the counteroffensive had lost 2,648 tanks—about 85%. As for the Germans, the First Panzer Group lost about 260 vehicles during this period (for the most part these were not irretrievable losses).

In total, the Southwestern and Southern Fronts lost 4,381 tanks in the first 15 days of the war (according to the collection “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century: Losses of the Armed Forces”) out of 5,826 available.

The losses of the First Tank Group by September 4 amounted to 408 vehicles (of which 186 were irrecoverable). A little more than half. However, with the remaining 391 tanks and assault guns, Kleist managed to link up with Guderian by September 15 and close the encirclement ring around the Southwestern Front.

One of the main reasons for the defeat lies in the unprecedentedly large non-combat losses of the Red Army. For example, non-combat losses in tanks (abandoned due to a lack of fuel and lubricants, breakdowns, falling from a bridge, getting stuck in a swamp, etc.) in different divisions amounted to about 40-80%. Moreover, this cannot be attributed solely to the poor condition of supposedly outdated Soviet tanks. After all, the newest KV and T-34 failed in the same way as the relatively old BT and T-26. Neither before nor after the summer of 1941 did Soviet tank forces experience such non-combat losses.

Considering that the number of missing soldiers and those lagging behind on the march also noticeably exceeded the number of killed and wounded, we can say that the Red Army soldiers sometimes simply ran away, abandoning their equipment.

It is worth looking at the reasons for the defeat from the angle of Stalin’s postulate “personnel decide everything.” In particular, compare the biographies of the commander of Army Group South, Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt, and the commander of the Southwestern Front, Colonel General Mikhail Kirponos.

66-year-old Runstedt graduated in 1907 Military Academy and became an officer of the General Staff. During World War I he was chief of staff of the corps, in 1939 he commanded an army group during the war against Poland, and in 1940 - an army group in the war against France. For successful actions in 1940 (it was his troops who broke through the front and surrounded the allies at Dunkirk) he received the rank of field marshal.

49-year-old Mikhail Kirponos started out as a forester. During the First World War he was a paramedic, during the Civil War he commanded a regiment for some time, then held various positions (from commissar to head of the economic command) at the Kyiv School of Red Petty Officers. In the 1920s he graduated from the Military Academy. Frunze, then was chief of staff of the division for three years and head of the Kazan Infantry School for four years. During Finnish war was a division commander and distinguished himself in the battles for Vyborg. As a result, after jumping over several steps career ladder, in February 1941 he headed the Kiev Special Military District (the largest in the USSR), which was transformed into the Southwestern Front.

Soviet tank forces were inferior to the Panzerwaffe in training. Soviet tank crews had 2-5 hours of driving practice, while German tank crews had about 50 hours.

As for the training of commanders, the Germans noted the extremely inept conduct of Soviet tank attacks. This is how he wrote about the battles of 1941-1942. German general Friedrich von Mellenthin, author of the study “Tank battles 1939-1945: The combat use of tanks in the Second World War”:

“Tanks were concentrated in dense masses in front of the German defense front; uncertainty and the absence of any plan were felt in their movement. They interfered with each other, collided with our anti-tank guns, and if our positions were broken through, they stopped moving and stopped, instead of building on their success. During these days, individual German anti-tank guns and 88-mm guns were most effective: sometimes one gun disabled over 30 tanks in an hour. It seemed to us that the Russians had created an instrument that they would never learn to use.”

In general, the very structure of the mechanized corps of the Red Army turned out to be unsuccessful, which already in mid-July 1941 were disbanded into less cumbersome formations.

It is also worth noting factors that cannot be attributed to defeat. First of all, it cannot be explained by the superiority of German tanks over Soviet ones. Quite a lot has already been written about the fact that at the beginning of the war, Soviet supposedly outdated tanks, in general, were not inferior to German ones, and the new KV and T-34 were superior to enemy tanks. There is no way to explain the Soviet defeat by the fact that the Red Army was led by “backward” cavalry commanders. After all, the German First Panzer Group was commanded by Cavalry General Ewald von Kleist.

Finally, a few words about why Brody-Dubno-Lutsk lost the championship to Prokhorovka.

In fact, they talked about the Western Ukrainian tank battle in the Soviet period. Some of its participants even wrote memoirs (especially the memoirs of Nikolai Popel - “In a difficult time”). However, in general, they mentioned it in passing, in a few lines: they say there were counterattacks that were not successful. Nothing was said about the number of Soviet ones, but it was emphasized that they were outdated.

This interpretation can be explained by two main reasons. First of all, according to the Soviet myth about the reasons for the defeat in the initial period of the war, the Germans had superiority in technology. To be convincing, in Soviet history about the initial period of the Second World War, the number of all German tanks (and their allies) was compared with the number of only medium and heavy Soviet tanks. It was generally accepted that the Red Army soldiers stopped the German tank hordes only with bunches of grenades, or even bottles with flammable mixture. Therefore, there was simply no place for the largest tank battle in 1941 in the official Soviet history of the Second World War.

Another reason for the silence of the greatest tank battle the fact that it was organized by the future Marshal of Victory, and at that time the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Georgy Zhukov. After all, the marshal of victory had no defeats! In the same connection soviet history The Second World War hid Operation Mars, the failed large-scale offensive at the end of 1942 against the German-held Rzhev salient. The actions of two fronts here were led by Zhukov. So that his authority would not suffer, this battle was reduced to a local Rzhev-Sychev operation, and they knew about the large losses from Alexander Tvardovsky’s poem “I was killed near Rzhev.”

Apologists for the Marshal of Victory even made candy out of the catastrophe of the Southwestern Front. Allegedly, already in the first days of the enemy invasion, Zhukov organized a counterattack on the Southwestern Front with the forces of several mechanized corps. As a result of the operation, the plan of the Nazi command to immediately break through to Kyiv and reach the left bank of the Dnieper was thwarted. Then the enemy suffered considerable losses in military equipment, which noticeably reduced its offensive and maneuver capabilities.

At the same time, about the initial goal of the offensive (to capture the Lublin region), they said that the order given was unrealistic, based on an overestimation of one’s troops and an underestimation of the enemy. And they preferred not to talk about the ruined tank armada, only casually mentioning that the tanks were outdated.

In general, it is not surprising that the tank championship was given to Prokhorovka.

Dmitro Shurkhalo, for ORD