"THE ARC OF FIRE" IV. A TANK BATTLE NEAR THE VILLAGE OF PROKHOROVKA IS THE BIGGEST IN WORLD HISTORY

The village of Prokhorovka is not marked even on the most large-scale maps. In the gloomy days of July 1943 it was one of the most significant points in the Kursk military operation. At a 8-10-kilometer-wide sector of the front near Prokhorovka a major tank battle in the whole history of wars took place.

At 8.30 on July 12, the bulk of Nazi troops comprising motorized SS divisions "Leibstandardt Adolf Hitler" and "The Dead Head" with up to 500 tanks and assault guns, including 42 Tigers, launched an offensive at Prokhorovka. At the same time, after 15 minutes of artillery preparations the Russian 5th Guards Tank Army under General Rotmistrov attacked the Nazi grouping. Marshal Pavel Rotmistrov reminisces:

"In the morning of July 12, with a group of officers I was at a watch tower from where a field of the would-be battle could be clearly seen. By six in the morning commanders of military units reported that their troops had taken specified positions and were ready for the battle. In the very first minutes of the battle two powerful avalanches of tanks moved toward each other making clouds of dust and smoke. The total of 1,500 tanks met in a battle on a small front sector in the vicinity of Prokhorovka. That tank battle was a major one in the whole history of wars, unprecedented in scale and the most fierce. A spacious field near Prokhorovka seemed to be too narrow for such a great number of belligerents. The battle lasted till late at night. Upon entering the battle tanks had formed a close-knit gigantic knot, and they could not broke up. On the battlefield hundreds of tanks and self-propelled guns were burning, noise from the tanks' catapillar tracks was terrible, shells hit the armour, and many of them flew aside with a squeal.

The Nazi command pinned great hopes on the superior quality of their newest heavy tanks--Tigers and Panthers and self-propelled Ferdinand guns. Yet Soviet soldiers making the best of high manoeuvrability of their tanks found vulnerable spots and skilfully set on fire the armoured monsters. Fired at short range Soviet shells pierced through the armour of Tigers. Inside them ammunitions blew up and heavy tank towers flew away to the distance of dozens of meters. Black smoke rose over the battlefield.

Men and junior officers displayed great courage in the battle. Here is but one example. A tank platoon under lieutenant Bondarenko was ordered to come to the rescue of the second company which found itself in a difficult position. When the platoon began to move in the company's direction two firing Tigers appeared on its way.Skilfully maneuvering Bondarenko's tank took a position behind one of the burning Nazi tanks. Nazis were sure that it was the Soviet tank that was burning. At that time Bondarenko was targeting his tank's gun and by an accurate volley set a Nazi Tiger on fire.

Here are more reminiscences from participants in the Kursk Battle. For Major-General Mikhail Ovsyannikov the Kursk Battle began near the village of Ponyri. That is what he says:

"When the Nazis lost the battle near Ponyri it meant a turning point in the Kursk Battle. Trying to change situation in their favour the Nazis moved their panzer divisions to Prokhorovka".

Another General, Alexander Gubenko, who also took part in the Kursk Battle agrees with Mikhail Ovsyannikov and adds the following:

"That was like hell--black smoke, thunder and roaring were everywhere round us."

The battle was on the ground and in the air. Soviet and Nazi aircraft were fighting over the two armies' tanks. The roaring of enflamed aircraft and the thunder of explosions on the ground merged into a continuous hum.

The fierce tank battle in which both sides suffered heavy casualties lasted for one hot day in July. It ended in a crushing defeat of the Nazi advanced grouping. From that time on it could not move forward even for one kilometer.

A participant in the battle, Yevgeny Shkurdalov, who was awarded with the Title of the Hero of the Soviet Union recalls: "The order of the battle was mixed up. When shells directly hit their targets tanks going at high speed blew up. Their towers were smashed, their catapillar tracks flew aside. No separate shots could be heard. There was one continuous thunder. In the heavy smoke of the battle the Soviet and the Nazi tanks could be sometimes identified only by their outlines. Tankmen got out of burning tanks and rolled on the ground to extinguish fire."

Finally the Nazi panzer divisions were all crippled.

True, the Soviet army paid a high price for the victory in the Kursk Battle. On one of the front sectors the enemy delivered a powerful blow. Three hundred Nazi tanks broke through. Gunners could not stop them. But soldiers with anti-tank grenades had the courage to face that moving avalanche of Tigers and Panthers. According to a participant in the battle, they did not take anything else with them so that they could move freely. They even took off their boots and uniform high-collared tunics. They crawled on the field unsheltered against bullets and shells. When they approached a tank at the distance of several meters they suddenly rose to their feet holding an anti-tank grenade in their hands. They threw it under the catapillar track of the enemy tank and blew it up, often they also died in the explosion.

Here is more from Marshal Pavel Potmistrov, a hero of the battle near Prokhorovka:

"Strong by their awareness of the duty to Motherland and their will to fulfill their task at any cost, courageous and prepared to self-sacrifice Soviet men and officers fought the enemy, driving it away step by step and making it to sustain heavy casualties in men and vehicles.

The fierce battle continued unabated till darkness fell. The Russian 5th Guards Tank Army lost many of its heroes on that day. Tankmen held fast. They fought in tanks caught by fire. They rammed into enemy tanks.

During one day of the battle near Prokhorovka the 5th Guards Tank Army destroyed some 400 Nazi tanks, including 70 Tigers, 158 heavy guns and mortars, it did away with over 300 cars and liquidated over 3,500 men and officers. The key Nazi grouping advancing toward Prokhorovka was crushed. The enemy suffered irreparable losses. The commander of the SS tank corps Hausser who was held responsible for the failure at the Kursk direction was removed from his post. During the battle over 700 tanks of both sides were put out of order. After the battle bodies of the killed men and officers were lying on the battlefield, crippled tanks and crushed guns were everywhere, craters and shell-holes were numerous. There were no green glass, there was only burnt black ground everywhere for the distance of 10-12 kilometers".

So, during the Prokhorovka battle the best Nazi panzer divisions were destroyed. Nazis could not recovered from that defeat to the end of the war. Their most experienced tank crews and best commanders stayed for ever in the fields near the city of Kursk.