Operation Citadel Archives

Russian soldiers advance beneath the fire support of one of their tanks. The Russians had planned a counterattack and made it fearsome.

Operation Citadel

The Kursk Battle: The Eastern Front’s Turning Point

By Jonas Goldstein

When they invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Germans were confident of a swift victory over the Russian untermenschen (subhumans). Read more

Operation Citadel

Field Marshal Erich von Manstein at Kursk: An Impossible Victory

By Valor Dodd

At 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

Operation Citadel

Otto von Knobelsdorff: Panzer Commander

By Harry Yeide

While 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

Operation Citadel

Montgomery’s Manpower Crisis at Caen

By William Weidner

In an August 14, 1944, General Bernard L. Montgomery was facing a manpower crisis, unable to drive the Germans out of Caen. Read more

Operation Citadel

Heinz Guderian: Author of the Blitzkrieg

By Phil Zimmer

Hitler was enraged as he stalked his way around the room during the waning months of World War II. Read more

Operation Citadel

The Battle of Kursk: Showdown at Prokhorovka and Oboian

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

With the German Sixth Army destroyed at Stalingrad, the Soviet juggernaut lunged west and southwest across the River Donets. Read more

German panzergrenadiers move past an idled Ferdinand self-propelled assault gun on a roadside near the Italian town of Nettuno in March 1944.

Operation Citadel

Ferdinand Porsche’s ‘Elefant’ Tank Destroyer Could Have Excelled

By Jonathan F. Keiler

World War II tanks usually had aggressive- or ferocious-sounding names, such as Hellcat, Panther, or Tiger. Yet the tendency was not universal, as with British Cruisers or the American M-3 Honey. Read more

Operation Husky was the start of the Italian Campaign. In the early stages, the Allied invasion of Sicily created a needed diversion to get the Germans redirected from the Soviet Front.

Operation Citadel

Operation Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily

by Jonas Goldstein

The necessity for another front as a diversion to German operations in the Soviet Union was early recognized by both the Western Allies and the Russians. Read more

From Around the Network

Flying with the Jolly Rogers

The Frigate Sailing Ship: Pride of The British Royal Navy

The 45th Infantry Division Museum is dedicated to the “Citizen Soldier.”

Jacobite Victory at Prestonpans