Ted H. Kim's Weblog

Wednesday September 08, 2004

The Battle of Kursk

Since I liked the last Glantz book, I decided to try another one in August. This time I tried The Battle of Kursk by David M. Glantz and Jonathan M. House. I have only read Jonathan House as a co-author with Glantz, though apparently House has some books where he is the sole author. Nevertheless, it was Glantz's name which brought me to this book.

Like his other books, Glantz once again looks into the recently opened Soviet archives to give a fresh look at WWII Eastern front battles. If Stalingrad was the turning point, Kursk is generally known as the battle where the strategic initiative permanently shifted to the Soviet Union. The Eastern front in WWII was full of titanic, intense battles. Nevertheless, Kursk seems to have special legendary status associated with it. It was not just intense, but intense over a very large area. The campaign includes Prohorovka which is reputed to be the largest tank battle in history. The forces included the cream of Germany's mobile forces with the latest weapons rushed into production (including Elephants and the famous Panther with an immature drive train). On the Soviet side, defense was not only in depth to an unprecedented degree, but backed with huge reserves (multiple fronts). The defenses included six defensive belts, including lines that sealed off the entire Kursk salient, guarding against the possibility of the Germans exploiting a successful attack.

The Battle of Kursk gives an interesting description of the battle. What this account provides is a bit more insight into the actions of the Soviet side based on the records from the archives. Of course, it's hard to match the impact of the revelations about Operation Mars in Zhukov's Greatest Defeat. So what unfolds is interesting, but not really that surprising. As expected, the battle was a huge, intense struggle. But according to this book, while Prohorovka was a big tank battle, it is not as big as previous accounts like to paint it. Also, Glantz makes it clear that Kursk is really just the prelude to an overall strategic Soviet offensive plan for the summer of 1943. The offensives at Orel and Kharkov coming so quickly after Kursk are not surprising once seen in that light.

Glantz also tries to address some of the questions surrounding the battle. In this area, I think the book is not as strong as in the descriptions of the battle itself. For me, his analysis is interesting and somewhat convincing, but ultimately not yet the last word on these issues. For starters, why did the German attacks not succeed? In Glantz's opinion, it was the diffusion of effort necessary to fend off the continuous counter-attacks on the flanks. Of course, there is the larger question of whether getting past Obian, Prohorovka or Kursk would really let the German mobile forces break into the open. Even if they did, would that be decisive with the northern pincer stalled? Glantz notes that there were further defensive lines, though they were not as well prepared; but on the other hand, there were still substantial reserves to defend and counter-attack with. So while he doesn't flat out state it, I feel Glantz thinks the Kursk attacks did not have much chance to succeed.

An often repeated claim is that the German Kursk attack could have succeeded if launched in May as originally planned. Glantz makes the point that while Soviet forces were strengthened during the delay, the German forces also were being refitted and equipped with the latest weapons. (Oddly enough, the book has a rather poor picture of the Panther tank.) Perhaps, one part of the delay that was fatal was waiting so long that events outside of the Eastern front (Western Allies invasion of Sicily) had an impact.

The maps in this book are very much like that in Zhukov's Greatest Defeat and When Titans Clashed. Overall they are good, but at Kursk, there are so many Soviet units packed in to the battle that the maps are look very crowded and sometimes hard to read. Overall, though, I found the book very interesting and certainly something any Eastern front military history buff ought to look at.

Again, I would have liked to have mentioned a board wargame tie-in. But I don't have enough experience with the Kursk games out there to recommend one. Further, I am not sure the games will reflect the new information from this book. I am thinking of trying Clash of the Titans which is based on the famous Ring of Fire system. Certainly, I can recommend the latter game, if you want to take a look at the 4th Battle of Kharkov in the aftermath of Kursk.

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(2004-09-08 13:00:00.0) Permalink