KURSK – AN OLD CITY OF RUSSIA

The heroic feats of arms demonstrated by Kursk residents are portrayed in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. In the first quarter of the 13th century Russia, weary from incessant feudal strife, was attacked by the Tatars led by Gehnghiz Khan from the east and in 1237 – by Khan Baty’s hordes. Northern Russia, unable to unite even in the face of the enemy, was subdued. And the enemy, drained of its strength, failed to capture Novgorod and turned south-eastward, in the direction of Kursk, which it left in ruins. 

In 1355 the basins of the Desna and Seim Rivers along with the Russian towns of Putivl and Rylsk succumbed to Lithuania. Only in 1508, during the reign of Moscow Prince Vasily III the Kursk Province was annexed to the Russian State and became a border region. Under the leadership of Governor Ivan Polevoy a new fortress was erected. Starting from the 17th century the fortress were attacked by the Poles, who made four such attempts, all unsuccessful. In the middle of the 18th century the Kursk Fortress lost its military significance and with it the status of a fortress. Throughout its entire history the fortress had kept the enemy out never succumbing to opening up its gates to it. 

In August 1781 Kursk was smashed by a devastating fire that made a considerable part of it a wasteland. The new plan of the city was approved by Empress Catherine II and divided Kursk into 4 major districts and these in turn fell into neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods, in their turn, divided into “stone”, with stone buildings only, and “wooden”, where wooden houses only could be built. The new layout caused the city’s poor to migrate to the outskirts. 

In the Patriotic War of 1812 Kursk residents fought bravely against the Napoleonic army in the Battle of Borodino and near Tarutin and Maly Yaroslavets, where the invading force suffered successive defeats. Even though Kursk was not a front city its residents participated in both the military operations and did other patriotic services to their Motherland supplying the Russian army with weapons, food, clothes, boots and medicines. Kursk residents earned special favours from Field-Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, who interceded personally for City Governor Gladkov and liaison officer Sibilev to be awarded with a gold medal on St.Andrew band. 

The abolition of serfdom led to a dramatic rise in the economy of Russia. Rail construction was booming and one of the first railroads to spring up under the boom was between Moscow and Kursk. Kursk turned into an important railway hub. In 1897 tram communication was launched and the trams belonged to Belgians. 

The entire period of reforms was accompanied by peasant protests. Peasants seized lands and went as far as organizing mass rebellions. 

From the very first days of the war residents of Kursk demonstrated a high combat spirit. The city authorities and the defense committee called for uniting against the enemy. Hundreds of volunteers filed their applications with military enlistment offices. Some went to the fronts, some joined fighter battalions to guard plants and factories and fight saboteurs. Barricades were all across the city. More than 30 thousand Kursk residents built the defenses around the city and joined a protection force to defend the city against enemy planes. Thousands of people enlisted to volunteer corps. The city’s rail workers assembled armoured trains for the Red Army, the plants produced bombs and other weapons. For more than a month Red Army units, volunteer corps and fighter brigades held out against the enemy at the far approaches to Kursk. But there were less and less of the city defenders left and in the first week of November they were fighting the enemy on the barricades. Only after the Soviet command issued the relevant directive on the night from November 3rd 1941 our troops left Kursk. 

The siege of the city lasted more than 450 days and nights. Nearly three thousand people were killed, ten thousand were driven to Germany and ten thousand died of starvation. 

All industrial enterprises were destroyed, about two thousand apartment buildings were in ruins, schools, hospitals, the theatre, the circus, cinemas, the Medical and Pedagogical Institutes, the hotel, bridges and the railway station were all burnt down, the water supply system had been broken and the motorways lay in ruins too. 

That was the picture of the city that came before the eyes of Soviet soldiers of the 60th army of General Ivan Chernyakhovsky as they hoisted a Red Banner over the city on February 8th 1942. Kursk was welcoming in its liberators and was paying last tributes to the fallen heroes. 

On April 15th 1943 Hitler said in no uncertain terms in an instruction to his command that as soon as the weather conditions permitted to, the German army would carry out the “Citadel” offensive – the first offensive that year, which was of crucial importance. 

To take revenge for defeats under Moscow and Stalingrad Hitler amassed a nearly one-million-strong army near Kursk. About 10 thousand guns and mortars, up to 2700 tanks and assault guns, more than 2 thousand planes were to take part in the operation, which had been prepared thoroughly and in high secrecy. The battlefields stood still, as if before a storm. 

The Soviet command mounted a well-thought-out and powerful defense. 10 minutes before the German offensive on July 5th the Red Army carried out a powerful preparatory bombardment. Despite the losses and the disrupted communication and 3 hours behind schedule the Germans began the “Citadel” operation. On July 12th the Western and Bryank fronts launched a counter-offensive. On that day the Prokhorovka field saw the biggest in the history of mankind tank battle. About 1200 tanks took part on both sides. The Nazis lost 400 tanks. The attempt to make up for the defeat under Stalingrad suffered a fiasco. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk.