Germany's

Germany's Off offensive had failed.

Then it was the Red Army's turn.

They began their own offensive,

and it became the biggest tank battle in history.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 396, the Battle of Kursk.

We return to the Eastern Front today, and let me begin with a brief review, since it's been two weeks.

Stalingrad fell in early February. The losses left the German front line weak in the south.

The Red Army advanced in February, taking the key Soviet cities of Kharkov and Kursk,

but a German counterattack in March retook the city of Karkov. The spring season of mud,

the Rasputsica, then forced both armies to halt.

The Red Army still held the city of Kursk, which now lay inside a Red Army salient that extended west. After the heavy losses of the past two years, the German army was now seriously under strength,

but Hitler firmly believed in the importance of a 1943 offensive in which Germany could reclaim

the initiative in the east. It was called Operation Citadel, and its goal was to attack the neck

of the Kursk salient from both sides with forces

that would meet somewhere to the east of Kursk, surrounding and destroying the large Soviet forces

inside the salient and recapturing the city. This would both weaken the Red Army, denying it

the opportunity to begin its own offensive, while also collecting

hundreds of thousands of Soviet POWs who could be sent to Germany as badly needed slave labor

to keep the arms factories working.

The biggest problem with this plan was its predictability.

Anyone looking at a map could see that the Soviet salient around Koursk

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