The Soviets took full advantage by launching smaller, indirect attacks across a wide front and pressuring valuable strategic locations, eventually pushing the German army back as far as the Don River, taking the town of Kursk, on February 8, 1943. The Germans were still holding firm with strong positions in the Ukraine, Central Russia, and the Baltic States, though they were suffering from an overstretched supply system and had been denied the ability to retreat or move flexibly by German High Command. After the decisive defeat of a large German force at the Battle of Stalingrad, the strategic momentum on the Eastern Front had shifted in favor of Soviet forces. The Battle of Kursk was a grueling month-long series of engagements lasting from July to August of 1943. ~Soviet Deputy Supreme Commander Georgiy Zhukov 1 It would be better to make the enemy exhaust himself against our defences, and knock out his tanks and then, bringing up fresh reserves, to go over to the general offensive which would finally finish off his main force. In the first phase, the enemy, collecting their best forces-including 13–15 tank divisions and with the support of a large number of aircraft-will strike Kursk with their Kromskom-Orel grouping from the north-east and their Belgorod-Kharkov grouping from the south-east… I consider it inadvisable for our forces to go over to an offensive in the near future in order to forestall the enemy.

The battle had two main phases: the German attack, called Operation Citadel, and later the Soviet counteroffensive. The Battle of Kursk was one of the most decisive battles of the Eastern Front, and of World War II in general. Combatants | History | Battle Mode Combatants

Tanks battle of kursk