Zitadelle

This account of the great tank battle at Kursk, the turning point of the German Eastern offensive in July 1943, is a detailed and valuable analysis of the German and Russian actions during the confrontation. It describes fully the German attempt to excise the Kursk Salient, and the brilliant Russian defenses instigated during German delays which ultimately led to the defeat of the panzers and the Soviet advance on the Reich. The German and Russian tactics, plans, and realities of war on sodden battlefields are fully explored, and new light is shed on the scale of the German defeat, which has been exaggerated for years without question by historians who relied on Soviet accounts of the battle. It is brought to life by maps and a wide collection of photographs taken during the campaign.