Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Moscow: WWII’s First Critical Turning Point
By Jeff ChrismanMany consider the Battle of Moscow in late 1941 to be the first turning point of World War II on the Eastern Front. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Nazi Stuka Ace Hans Rudel
By Ludwig Heinrich DyckIn the village of Seiferdau, Southern Prussia, an eight-year-old boy with an umbrella jumped out of a second-story window. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Panzer General Strachwitz
By Ludwig H. DyckThe wide tracks of Soviet T-34S and colossal KV-1S crunched through the snow. Night had fallen west of Belgorod on March 15, 1943. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Field Marshal Erich von Manstein at Kursk: An Impossible Victory
By Valor DoddAt daybreak on Monday, July 12, 1943, SS Sturmbannführer Christian Bachmann, the panzer group commander of the 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division, ordered his unit to cross the Psel River and attack. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Ace of Aces
By Kelly BellBy May 8, 1945, Adolf Hitler had been dead for more than a week. Germany was in the act of formally surrendering to the Soviets and the Western Allies, so occupying Red Army troops in the eastern German town of Brunn were not expecting to witness what may have been World War II’s last dogfight over Europe. Read more
Battle of Kursk
The Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik: The Soviet’s Deadly Tank Killer
By Phil ZimmerVasily Emelianenko led an Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, or “Storm Bird,” flight in late June 1942 against a German-held airfield near Artemovsk in eastern Ukraine, flying low up a deep ravine to avoid detection. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Michael Wittmann: How the Legendary Panzer Ace Died in World War II
By Christopher MiskimonDuring the late morning of August 8, 1944, the day famed tank commander Michael Wittmann would meet his end in combat, German SS-Oberführer (Colonel) Kurt “Panzer” Meyer sat in his staff car as his driver made his way toward the town of Cintheaux, France, near the front lines. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Otto von Knobelsdorff: Panzer Commander
By Harry YeideWhile many in the English-speaking world have heard of Erwin Rommel and Heinz Guderian, few today know the name of Otto von Knobelsdorff, a German panzer general who commanded troops in battles every bit as pivotal as his contemporaries did, in quantity and quality, and who also fought against General George S. Read more
Battle of Kursk
French Aces on the Eastern Front: The Normandie-Niemen Squadron
By Andre Bernole and Glenn BarnettThe world was understandably shocked when France capitulated to Nazi Germany in June 1940, but not all Frenchmen accepted their country’s humiliation. Read more
Battle of Kursk
The Red Army’s T-34 Tank: The Eastern Front and Beyond
By Blaine TaylorIn 1942, careworn Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler lamented to his military intimates at his Wolf’s Lair headquarters near Rastenburg in East Prussia, “If I had known that there were so many of them, I would have had second thoughts about invading!” Read more
Battle of Kursk
Red Army Generals: Ivan D. Chernyakhovsky
By Steven L. OssadThe American jeep holding the 3rd Belorussian Front Commander, General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, drove quickly through the city of Mehlsack, just outside Königsberg. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Heinz Guderian: Author of the Blitzkrieg
By Phil ZimmerHitler was enraged as he stalked his way around the room during the waning months of World War II. Read more
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk: Showdown at Prokhorovka and Oboian
By Ludwig Heinrich DyckWith the German Sixth Army destroyed at Stalingrad, the Soviet juggernaut lunged west and southwest across the River Donets. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Night Jump into Tragedy
By Victor KamenirIn August 1943, immediately after the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army launched a series of follow up operations, resulting in the liberation of a large swath of Nazi-occupied Soviet territory. Read more
Battle of Kursk
Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev: The Race to Berlin
by Michael HaskewOn orders from Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, the offensive that resulted in the capture of the Nazi capital of Berlin in April 1945, developed into a race between the army groups of two Soviet commanders, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Ivan Konev. Read more
