Battle of Kursk - The Brutal Soviet-Nazi Tank War

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After the heavy losses sustained by the opening of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht reached a decisive turning point. They could wait and be pummeled by an imminent Soviet offensive or take the upper hand and launch its own operation to encircle and subjugate the Red Army.
The decision came to Adolf Hitler, and the dictator opted to bet all of his armored forces and put together a decisive offensive at Kursk codenamed Operation Citadel.
However, the British let the Soviets know of the exact dates and locations where the offensive would take place, and thus the Battle of Kursk began.
More than 2 million men, 7,000 tanks, and over 4,000 aircraft would participate in the world's largest tank battle, where the Germans were outnumbered 3 to 1 in men, armored vehicles, and supplies.
The advance was bitter and brutal, but the Germans still fought tooth to nail against a relentless Soviet army that had the resources to drain them out to the last man, bullet, and tank.
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -

[@thegunslinger1363]

The scale of The Eastern Front was insane.

[@burtvhulberthyhbn7583]

75-80% of the entire German war effort was expended in Russia. Yes the scale of it is incomprehensible.

[@Manco65]

The open steppes have always been the prime place for large scale mobility warfare. From horses to tanks.

[@kyleschafer6275]

@@burtvhulberthyhbn7583 the germans basically had to fight with 1 hand behind their back from 43 onwards after N. Africa surrendered and the Italian front had to be put on life support meanwhile the Soviets were getting more and more supplies from the west.

[@svensebastian2712]

the Perekop invasion took 6 times the casualties of d-day. D day was a beach party against it. The Uman pocket alone had more victims than the USA in the whole war.

[@daviddoran3673]

Today....with new motorways and SUV's etc it takes 26 hours to drive from St Petersburg to the black sea coast at Taman......in 1942-1943 the Italian 8th army were fully responsible for holding 250 miles of front holding open the Stalingrad supply lines.....it's beyond comprehension....

[@CoolcatAMA-Pro]

That is an insane amount of military equipment concentrated in a small area I don't think most people understand The magnitude of it its kind of hard to grasp

[@nielsgroothedde8038]

Yeah almost impossible to grasp

[@daviddoran3673]

The kessel was about 100 miles long....

[@nitsu2947]

read from a book about German armored unit that the Soviet defense on Kursk was very complex and layered. With lots minefields, AT gun groups, bunkers and fortified positions. Even then, it was reported that Zhukov was not satisfied with the defenses and ordered *MORE*

[@thomasb1889]

Kursk was like Operation Overlord aka D-Day, something that we are unlikely to ever see again. In the post war interviews of the infantry from both sides that were there both Russian and German said the same thing, there were so many armored vehicles that they just huddled in their holes.

[@brandons9398]

There will never be anything like another D day. The advent of nuclear weapons kind of put a damper on that sort of massed attack. Hopefully we never see either!

[@GobBass]

Been waiting ages for Dark to cover Kursk. The ultimate battle.

[@trueKENTUCKY]

He prefers Nazis over anything what can you expect

[@pjotrtje0NL]

@@trueKENTUCKY, you seem to not quite understand what this series is about…

[@BeardedFrog]

@@trueKENTUCKY Not every german who fought for their country in WWII was a jew hating Nazi. A very low percentage were overall.

[@TheColombiano89]

This was truly an apocalyptic battle. The sheer magnitude cannot even be comprehended.

[@chemtrailmix3679]

I remember watching a documentary about the battle of kursk from the survivors of both sides. Shit was insane. German and Russian tankmen said that tank battles were so close that it was near impossible to miss.

[@jeffreyjoseph8930]

Most T-34 victories were scored by ramming the Germans.

[@saltypatriot4181]

Time Ghost Army , Mark Felton , and Dark Docs keep the Eastern Front covered 🤘

[@sillypuppy5940]

And TIK

[@svensebastian2712]

and militaryhistorynotvisualized +

[@dukeoftoast2420]

Basically every german general during this battle: "They don't stop coming and they don't stop coming"

[@yogurtdrift9872]

So much to do so much to see….

[@LexlutherVII]

They had Hearts of iron Lions!! pure fighters🤴

[@brandonfrancois9352]

@@LexlutherVII fighting for the oppression and destruction of an entire people. some of the most vial pieces of shit that ever lived. even if they were just doing their duty

[@LexlutherVII]

@@brandonfrancois9352 Yeah, compare them with the Real Devils aka UK 🇬🇧, France 🇫🇷, Spain 🇪🇸, Belgium 🇧🇪 etc

[@LexlutherVII]

@@brandonfrancois9352 How long and for Gow Long have those Devil massacred innocent beings for over Houndreds of Years undocumented and un Recorded etc?

[@jdotsalter910]

Imagine a war today where armies are losing 1000 + a day in men. That’s unbelievable. That’s hardcore war.

[@zaccabral8251]

My brother in christ you predicted it

[@low-keyrighteous9575]

Dark please never stop putting out content or making videos . Your style and material are amazing .... Im sincere when I say your channel has to be the best on KZbin . I can never scroll when I see your videos , Its an automatic click of the mouse for me my man . Thank you for your amazing content and the incredible history lesson I never got in school .

[@CraigerAce]

Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky were the two primary Red Army Commanders during the Battle of Kursk. Neither are mentioned in this video. They should’ve been included. Of course a comprehensive explanation of the battle wasn’t the purpose of the video, but even a brief mention of them would’ve added to the narrative.

[@tvgerbil1984]

Rokossovsky was, Zhukov probably not as much. Zhukov was Stalin's favorite after the defense of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad and might be that's why he was credited well over his actual involvement in Kursk.

[@CraigerAce]

@@tvgerbil1984 Thank you for your kind reply. I've listened to both sides of this discussion, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Rokossovsky and Zhukov, were both, as you undoubtedly already know, very able military leaders. Stalin was paranoid about anyone who achieved what he saw as excessive fame. So, he pitted one against the other in many and different ways. For example, Zhukov entered Berlin first, and Rokossovsky rode his white horse into Red Square during the victory ceremony first. Just another day in Stalinist Russia.

[@solarpower09]

Thanks for the briefe explanation of Battle of Kursk to Western world. The field near village Prokhorovka, where nazi and soviet tank armies literally collided head to head, took 20+ years to clean from the "tank salad".

[@wwslttry]

Battle of Kursk has always fascinated me since first reading of it at an early age. Have always wondered if the English had not had the ENIGMA code breaking machine and alerted the Russian forces of Operation Citadel what then? Surprise in battle has always been a tremendous advantage Enjoy your documentaries!

[@PUCK.GUN.LAWS1]

@@itchytriggerfinger7622 im not so sure about that i believe if not for hitler the German army could have won or atleast pulled off a stalemate and forced the allies into signing a treaty with Germany keeping most of the places they took in ww2. Or it most definitely would have went nuclear and if Hitler would have just listen to his generals

[@eyeli160]

Depends, the Soviets had started fortifying tho location since it was quite an obvious location to get attacked at. The Soviets also had the largest amount of spies of the Allies (it is really crazy how many different networks they had) so an attack could be uncovered before the Germans attacked

[@jameshirt7689]

Yeah, they weren't those kind of allies

[@xmeda]

Soviets had many spies and recon units too.. don't be so foolish to think that everything relied on some Enigma messages. That is just nice story for western audience.

[@wwslttry]

@@xmeda Never underestimated them my friend It's just that the Germans never had comparable use of "higher" sources like Enigma A matter of degree

[@Idahoguy10157]

Most of the new Mk 5 Panther panzers broke down before even making it to the battle. The new Elephant tank destroyers were a failure at Kursk

[@Professional_Lolicon]

Let's be honest the Ferdinand was a failure im general

[@5han921]

panthers were bombarded by katyusha and that's why they broke down right? pretty sure thats what i heard

[@Professional_Lolicon]

@@5han921 no, a majority were destroyed by either engine fires or the final drives going kaput, which was prevalent on the D variant which was used at Kursk.

[@Professional_Lolicon]

@@5han921 watch Spookston's video on the Panther kzbin.info/www/bejne/gou9gZ9siKeakJY

[@33z6i6]

If there were such a failure then why did XXXXI.PzK broke through the first two defensive belts and reached the third, despite only having infantry divisions (and one PzDiv that was underequipped and badly used in Ponyri)? It may had something to do with the artillery and SP assets this corps had. Yes the Ferdinands were an operational failure, their effect, however, was very useful for the German infantry. The 13A was the most reinforced Soviet army in the Kursk bulge. Still, XXXXI.PzK did a lot of damage to this army. Without the Ferdinands and the Sturmpanzers they wouldn't have been able to do that.

[@61diemai]

My great-uncle was killed in that battle, he was a medic in a German artillery regiment. He was the small brother of my grandma(1901-1986)and she loved him dearly, she kept talking about him until her own passing. I still have his military pass and his Iron Cross, also the death notice to the family written by his company commander back in the day.

[@factsdontcareaboutyourfeel7204]

@Thunder Cloud which he meant that the Russians should of also been beaten , not that Germany shouldn’t of been beaten .

[@factsdontcareaboutyourfeel7204]

@Thunder Cloud Your comment barely makes sense. I’m just stating a fact that Patton’s meaning behind that quote was that he wanted to carry on the fight against the Russians, after defeating the Germans.

[@factsdontcareaboutyourfeel7204]

@Thunder Cloud what complete and utter nonsense. Where’s your source for his statements ?

[@61diemai]

@swamp fox Not all German soldiers were nazis like not all Confederate soldiers were slave drivers and racists.

[@61diemai]

@swamp fox Were you there to see it?

[@hermocrasbreadlord9557]

This dude describes the battle as a Soviet pyrrhic victory. Look at the maps, and troop placements. There was no chance the Germans could've won they were running right into a wall and were battered.

[@kalomboC]

There's always an anti-Soviet slant in these videos. Even when the facts are evident.

[@hermocrasbreadlord9557]

@@kalomboC even when they're fighting Nazis too

[@andrewfernandes5516]

The doc says "communist forces" and "heroic German pilots" as if the names were the good guys.

[@hermocrasbreadlord9557]

@@andrewfernandes5516 Dark Doc will unironically say "the Germans bravely retreated from the cowardly Communist attack" I'm not accusing him of being a Nazi or Wehraboo but his language and bias is enough to pick on him for it.

[@markusk1015]

@@ActinOnOrder I thought he was saying they were brave because they performed well against a force that was much larger

[@razu720]

Love the war footage but could do with some maps to help visualise the battle

[@graemesaxon2067]

Have watched plenty of documentary about this battle This would have to be one of the best

[@nigelbagguley7606]

In many ways, Churchill's famous quote about El Alamein" This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end,but it is perhaps the end of the beginning" could in many ways apply to events on two other fronts.Both Stalingrad on the Eastern Front and Midway in the Pacific became just as clear markers for that moment the tide turned as El Alamein did in the desert war.

[@kyleroth1025]

I think the Germans were finished in December 1941. Reasons; June 1941 attacks were along the entire eastern front. 1942 only mustered enough forces to attack the southern part of the eastern front. 1943 only mustered enough forces to attack the Kursk salient.

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

After the disasters of 1943, Manstein attempted to convey the cold hard facts to Hitler regarding the truth, victory was now impossible and the Germans could only delay the inevitable. He was promptly dismissed.

[@evanmedi6144]

Gernany lost the first day it started the war, it was from the begining a war of attrition wgere the german could never hope of winning

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

@@evanmedi6144 The Germans were counting on a knock out blow in the first round! It didn't happen.

[@evanmedi6144]

@@StalinTheMan0fSteel they were delusional. Even if they managed to take stalingrad and moscow the soviets will just move in further to the urals. Germany didnt have the resources and manpower and even the strategic depth the soviet had. So their doom was inevitable

[@welditmick]

@@evanmedi6144 But - It was only because of all the supplies sent to Russia by the 'Allies' that they survived. Russia on it's own could not cope.

[@WarrenSummerlin]

Bro you’re speed is getting better 👍👍👍 keep it up man and thanks for sharing what these people went through in the past on all side’s and fronts to the rear ✌️

[@bradbutcher3984]

"The Russians lost 500,000 whilst the Germans only lost 200,000" is the dumbest thing I've ever heard someone say. And you say it very calmly.

[@CraigerAce]

And it’s inaccurate too.

[@bradbutcher3984]

@@CraigerAce yes every side lost even more.

[@KokenyRichard]

@@bradbutcher3984 wikipedia says 800.000 soviet and 200.000 german casualties. Yea the soviets lost even more than what he mentioned, but I don't get your point.

[@STILuVa]

Great video lots of action!! My favorite ww2 history is learning more and more about the eastern front. The scale of war on the eastern front was incredible ,so many loses on both sides. Just incredible bravery and savagery.

[@philsfreshfudge1688]

If any of you are into video games, Hell Let Loose has a map on Kursk and the tank gameplay is pretty fun.

[@lokisingularity3394]

Great game! I play it often. My name is Loki on the game. Whats the name of the map??

[@Idahoguy10157]

You’d think after WW1 on the Western Front the Germans would understand the attrition their forces would have at attacking the prepared Soviet forces at Kursk. Which never worked on the Western Front.

[@chriskingston4270]

As accurate and concise a synopsis as any I have seen of what is arguably the most pivotal point in WWII. Fantastic video.

[@Tomeohara]

WW2 is the classic example of politicians who think they know better.

[@stanmarks3950]

There is historical inaccuracy involving the file footage from later in the war. This is exemplified with later war variants of German tanks like King Tiger and later models of Panther medium tank on display here. Russian did not use T34/85 @ this time, as it only began production in 1944.

[@anprzewlocki1934]

Lier; 'By the end of 1940, when production of the T-34 started' wikipedia

[@zojo4348]

It started in 1943

[@zojo4348]

@@anprzewlocki1934 that's the first variants of the t-34 like t-34e and t-34/76

[@stanmarks3950]

@@zojo4348 You technically correct, it's just that the serious production run commenced in early 1944. The Guard units received the early 85's pre serious production units.

[@stanmarks3950]

@@anprzewlocki1934 You are ignorant of history girl. You are confusing different variants of T34's. ''Czterej Pancerni i Pies'' to byla tylko bajka.

[@P4Tri0t420]

Despite the Crazy Reasons they fought, they fought like no one before in this cicumstances 😪🇩🇪

[@doge286]

Rip to all who lost thier lives in WW2

[@mrvn000]

I Hope they are in Valhalla.

[@arunprasad918]

Theirs

[@musicilike69]

It's not being insulting to America but this oh we saved you is just so wrong. The Wehrmacht was streets ahead of any other army in the field. I once remember seeing stats around platoon sized engagements and the amount of fire being laid down. The German unit was every man putting out rounds AND manoeuvring while a British one or US had as many as 5-6 just hugging the dirt or being ineffective. The Eastern Front was titanic..America was daunted by 100,000 casualties from invading Japan..If the US had been on the Eastern front instead of Russia it probably would have gone under, Russia bled their army to defeat..Take out Russia out of the equationand you're looking at expending a million American lives at least surely? And I think that's a conservative estimate.

[@Isaac-muntz]

Yanks like to think themselves as "saviors" it's not surprising

[@loken67]

Well done. One small comment. The german tanks at 06:55 are King Tigers (Tiger 2). These tanks definitely didn´t fight at Kursk in 1943. The footage is more likely from the western front before the battle of the bulge in France 1944 (Ardennenoffensive)

[@jonmandelbaum5395]

I’m reminded of a comment by one American official re the Iran/Iraq war, that it’s a pity they couldn’t both lose.

[@richardfinney6127]

The battle of Kursk is one of my favourite ww2 tank battles in ww2

[@bucksdiaryfan]

the wehrmacht was like former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. If Tyson was going to get you, he would knock you out fast. But if you hung in there and survived the early rounds, it was just a matter of time before you could knock him out.

[@johnryder1713]

As they say the one tank battle where they ended up turning more troops into infantry than anytime, still trying to stop tanks with Hollow charge grenades when there was no alternative

[@michaelcodelmar9547]

Contrast how insane the war in the eastern front was...In the battle for stalingrad, it was house to house fighting ...In this battle, it was open ground...no place to hide....totally insane!

[@jeffersonwright9275]

Great video and thank you for the reminder of the key factor to winning a total war (yes that’s what WWI and WWII were). Brilliant tactics and bravery will only carry an army so far. What makes the difference is which country has the resources and economic might to out-produce their adversary. The question about the inevitable outcome answers itself.

[@hussell]

So scary that all of this happened less then 100years ago

[@Joshua-fq9tm]

yeah full scale wars like this in the past happened frequently, but what made ww2 especially worse was how mechanized and industrialized human slaughter was

[@GT3NJC]

The Battle of Brody 1941was the largest tank battle in WW2. Strange its never talked about... probably because the Germans won? Kursk was certainly the biggest battle of the war....

[@oatis053]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHKVY2tsq86Ir9k

[@siasiouk7035]

What about Stalingrad or Berlin?

[@jeremiahthompson82]

If we say Kursk was brutal, how much more Stalingrad, Leningrad,Moscow or even crimea? How about the cacauses and mountain fronts. The eastern front was extremely vast, it was extremely brutal because the Germans underestimated them

[@PikeBishop1]

They didn't underestimate them per se. The banked on the government collapsing after they obliterated them in the opening months and they didn't. They never planned on invading or occupying the entire, impossibly vast country, obviously.

[@BC-ns6px]

Numerical inferiority of German Army is the major reason that The Nazis were defeated. They are highly-skilled, have high tech weapons and as told in this documentary, they won the battle in terms of tactics and damages inflicted, but lost the battle in the end. It is more obvious in the western front where Americans massed millions of troops with almost endless reinforcements of hundreds of thousands tanks, aircraft and so on. The geography and the natural resources favored Americans, also in the WW1. No single bombed had been dropped to American continent, hence no halting of war production happened.

[@Desertfox8902]

The best thing that attracts me to the Wehrmacht is fighting soldiers to the last moment

[@LexlutherVII]

They had Hearts of iron Lions!! pure fighters🤴

[@Desertfox8902]

@@LexlutherVII I fought in many battles...the last one was in 2019 and I know exactly when you are less powerful than your enemy and the difficulty of keeping military units effective in such circumstances. Only the true soldiers will remain with you.... Praise be to God, after our steadfastness... God has blessed us with victory

[@SU-vy8nb]

"the germans won the battle" says the creator of this video. meanwhile, as a result all of the battle, Ukraine was retaken and 2 years later the red army would march through Berlin.

[@mpravica]

"The germans (may have) won the battle" but they lost the war.

[@heaterpistol6067]

Won the battle - Lost the war. Because of what Hitler was doing to women and children in the gas chambers, the German military lost its honor.

[@SU-vy8nb]

@@heaterpistol6067 it was mostly the SS and other special units that committed the warcrimes, the Wehrmacht was busy fighting on the front lines.

[@Marvin-dg8vj]

@@SU-vy8nb the wermacht was heavily involved in the Holocaust and so many other crimes it is hard to list them all

[@SU-vy8nb]

@@Marvin-dg8vj where did you elarn this?

[@jamesmays6826]

You can't say the Germans won when it ultimately ended any offence for them lol

[@mrdiplomat9018]

Offensive ❓

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

How would you like to be under the command of one who thinks that you are expendable?

[@Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry]

That's pretty much true of any army you could name. The term is, "cannon-fodder".

[@jeffreyjoseph8930]

German technical superiority was pitted against Soviet numbers, though by this point in the war the Sovs had narrowed the differences quite substantially. The TIgers and Panthers suffered many mechanical breakdowns that accounted for almost as many losses as those due to combat. Many of the Sov victories were scored by ramming German tanks and trucks as the fighting devolved into point-blank exchanges. Manstein originated the plan for Citadel, but he called for the attack to be launched in April or early May, weather permitting. His idea was to hit the Sov salient before they could reinforce it. However, Hitler insisted in building up numbers of the new Tigers and Panthers, and the schedule slipped to July. This gave the Sovs time to reinforce the salient and form new armies. And deploy new air forces with new versions of their proven Yak and IL-2 aircraft. The Germans failed to use their advantage in strategic mobility to hit the Sovs in a weak spot. The Germans should have feinted at Kursk and redeployed secretly to hit Moscow, which would have been a crippling blow if it had succeeded. (Communists are highly centralized physically and organizationally). Stalingrad was Hitler's last opportunity for victory in the east. By 1943 the war was lost even if they had succeeded at Kursk. The Soviet production capacity and endless reserves of manpower were just too big to overcome.

[@bamther5718]

In answer to Guidarians question of " Why Kursk? Does anyone know even where Kursk is?" .. It was to regain the " Offensive Initiative ".. whether that was important or not

[@danielburgess7785]

Colonel General Heinz Guderian fought his armor as cavalry. That made all the difference when dealing with opponents that fought their armor as infantry support vehicles.

[@Mrgunsngear]

Thanks

[@at_omic8578]

the words of Joseph Stalin effectively describe the outcome of Kursk: "Quantity has a quality all its own"

[@user-ee3mw7cy1d]

Great vid sir and you have slowed down just enough thank you!

[@0402554]

The Battle of Dubno in 1941 during Barbarossa was the largest tank battle ever.

[@richardsimms251]

Great video

[@FreeFallingAir]

Great video as always!

[@jellymop]

That’s what happens when you pick too many people to go to war with. When you’re throwing a punch at the guy in front of you, another one bites you in the ass in Sicily.

[@panthermartin7784]

Can you imagine the airborne projectiles... hell bullets are still flying over there 😑😑😑

[@hanshoffmann2582]

He said that Germans lost over 260k in Stalingrad when they actually lost much more, 868k soldiers.

[@Red_Sector_7]

Whatever the Germans lost at Stalingrad pales in comparison to how many Russians were killed there.

[@hanshoffmann2582]

​@@Red_Sector_7 No Axis lost 868k, Soviets 1129k thats pretty much equal, especially considering these were very strong formations. The British and French were losing 15 times more than the Germans in the first part of ww2.

[@miamijules2149]

Elephant tanks? Going to have to check that out….

[@nitonono4143]

elephant is a panzerjager, meaning a tank hunter or tank destroyer

[@jamescurth701]

it’s similar to the ferdinand

[@reecom9884]

The battle of Kursk was fought between two dictators for their own pride and they didn’t care how many people would be killed. Stalin had killed most of the Russian military officers because he felt they would turn against him and replaced them with his own political officers who would just send Russian troops into the “Meat Grinder” to kill Germans under his orders, no matter how many they lost. Hitler was trying to create a short term propaganda victory by destroying a Russian army unit in the Kursk salient for his pride as being a military genius as Germany was losing the war.

[@zxbzxbzxb1]

That's simply not true. The Red Army had a lot of very fine commanders by 1943, the incompetent political stooges and Stalins mates from the civil war were long gone. And during 1930s Stalins purges, far more officers were demoted or imprisoned that executed, and many of them were reinstated when the war started.

[@kaliguladx4085]

An Epic Historic Battle indeed!

[@fatalmokrane]

Can people stop saying that the germans were superior tactically and that the soviets only won because of numbers ? That's a cheap excuse to explain germany losing battles.

[@nickthenoodle9206]

Why all the images of Tiger 2's? Too many facts incorrect. Soviets did not have 3:1 advantage in tanks and men. Details of Prokhorvka completely wrong. Read The Battle of Prokhorvka by Christopher Lawrence or Blood, Steel and Myth by George Nipe or Demolishing the Myth by Zamulin.

[@HollywoodMarine0351]

Dark “series” are full of inaccuracies and errors. They rather focus on quantity over quality.

[@low-keyrighteous9575]

@@HollywoodMarine0351 I wouldnt diss Dark to bad .. he is aware that although there may be inaccuracies here and there he is always open for corrections . I wouldn't be so quick to say quantity over quality either , I find these videos very put together and tho there may be some errors here and there ... Mistakes happen . I think the quality of his overall production and content is set apart. He puts some incredible information out that I've never even heard of and appreciate his effort and each video he creates that I watch I honestly love. I love Dark. And I think these videos are just amazing , the material he does his videos on is outrageous and the fact that he is able to create material on historical events I can imagine it's hard to get all the information he needs in order to put out an all around solid video . People should just appreciate the history lesson we get from these videos

[@HollywoodMarine0351]

@@low-keyrighteous9575you call it a diss, I’ll opt for constructive criticism due to the series doing a half-ass job. Notable mistake that can’t be overlooked in a past video was mentioning Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery is Canadian. From that point on I knew this place was good for entertainment value and not for historical context.

[@teslarawks1673]

Right on Bro, very good video.

[@wizardtactics1052]

Love these videos

[@hamemoney]

Eastern Font required al ot of heavy lifting from both sides. Were some totally insane battles.

[@wylandreden1042]

videos never fail to entertain!

[@sarlaton1483]

what's that supposed to mean?

[@coling3957]

Just word on names. The tank destroyers the Germans deployed st Kursk were FERDINANDS. They were a terrible failure. Lack of defensive armament was deadly. The Germans used the remaining FERDINANDS they had, upgraded them and added defensive armament among other improvements. Deployed to Italy they were then renamed ELEFANTS.

[@Marvin-dg8vj]

They needed machine guns to keep enemy infantry at bay.They did not fit them.

[@JoeJ94611]

In comparison to their 1941 and 1942 summer offensives, the Germans got nowhere. Indeed, they very soon went on the defensive.

[@stevegeorge5322]

Thank you for a very thought provoking experience. Well done!

[@KingOfYourMouth]

Germany should've finished off Britain first before even thinking of opening another front. They could've won this one.

[@zombieslayer4951]

@4:25 I think the guy jumping on the tank thought the turret was locked……..apparently it wasn’t lol. Looks like he prolly busted ass. I’ve noticed little mishaps like this in a few different historical WWII clips. We’re all just human after all 🙂👍

[@siddharthrawat7431]

Please cover the "Battle of Longewala".

[@patrickwelsing3308]

Great video, could you some videos about against all odds tank warfare victories? I love seeing and hearing about these.

[@lorimeyers3839]

Only problem is, Kursk was NOT the largest tank battle in the world. The battle of Brody in central/north central Soviet Union in 1941 was. But in terms of the number of troops mobilized on both sides for this battle, I think this was one of the largest.

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@patrickbeerens7320]

The most brutal and heroic battle of modern history, all died like heroes

[@maxcrawford9954]

a video on Kursk and the first tank you see is a king tiger... lol

[@Secter84]

Can only imagine the carnage that went down there towards the end of that battle...shit had to have felt like the entire world was up in flames.

[@jayk9516]

Kim Philby had a personal sense of pride, for information handed over by him to the USSR that was crucial for the outcome of the battle Battle of Kursk, Philby would say Prokhorovaka, this being the village were the Germans were planning to deliver a decisive blow to the Red Army.

[@06colkurtz]

The 6th army was destroyed because Hitler refused to allow them to withdraw. The 2nd SS Panzer Corps was in the process of defeating the Soviets on the southern wing of the Kursk battle. They were defeating the 5th Guards Tank army and given a few more days, they might have done so. Again, Hitler saw the invasion by the Americans and British in the Italian theater and overreacted by pulling units out of the battle prematurely. The northern wing was unable to meet their objectives but had the southern wing been successful it might have had a different outcome.

[@mateuszdonda]

Rob the elder watch a David glantz lecture on Kursk on KZbin. He makes it clear that the Germans would have walked into a death trap simply because the soviets had so many reserves that German recon and Intel had completely missed/were unaware of.

[@bryangrote8781]

Regarding 6th Army at Stalingrad, this is true, but also because Manstein insisted that he could relieve them. Paulus was actually going to try to break out to the west at one point. There was a small window of a couple of weeks when 6th Army could possibly have broken out to the west but Manstein asked Paulus to wait. The relief attacks failed and 6th Army was by then too weak to break out on their own and their fate was sealed. As to Citadelle, Hitler likely did overreact to the Italian landings, but most of the troops diverted there were after Citadelle was already clearly lost. The Germans greatly underestimated Soviet strength and barely made it to the 2nd defensive line. There were at least 4 defensive lines at Kursk and in some areas up to 6. They waited too long to attack. The Soviets had over 3 months to prepare their defenses and by July the battle should never have been attempted. At that point it was suicide.

[@kremlguard9544]

That's a big MIGHT there as Operation Kutuzov launched by the Soviets against the flanks of the German Northern Front at Kursk threatend a cave in of the German offensive lines. In this case Hitler was right to call off the Operation because had the offensive continued Northern front would be cut off. The absolutely dumb excuse of blaming Hitler on the failure of Operation Citadel as a whole is ignoring the fact that the attack was not cancelled it's the fact that the attack was stopped and had failed and was never going to succeed.

[@destroyerarmor2846]

Meh, moustache man sucked and failed

[@mpravica]

There were many defensive layers constructed by the Soviets that never encountered by the nazis. This would have been further opportunity to destroy yet more nazi tanks.

[@johngraham8893]

First I've heard of Elephant tanks(at 12:05).That will be an interesting new snippet of history to learn about

[@keithlillis7962]

I don't know if this is true, but I once read that the Germans and the Russians both burned captured prisoners live in empty oil drums, after first dowsing them in petrol, during the Kursk battle, so please let's try to not glorify war.

[@deeppurple883]

A ten min documentary with adds

[@melgross]

He got a bit of this incorrect. It wasn’t the loss at Stalingrad that forced the Germans to turn south. It was the decision to go south to the oil fields that had them attack Stalingrad to prevent Soviet forces from attacking them from the north by traveling down the Volga. The failure of Stalingrad was a major problem and was the beginning of the end of the southern advance and the loss of any possibly of preventing the Soviets from using that oil or getting it for themselves. That was a pipe dream in any event as it would have taken the Germans up to a year to get significant amounts of oil out of the ground from what would have been totally destroyed fields, as the Germans found from the ones the did capture, as well as the transporting of the oil back to Rumania to refine without any pipelines to do so. By the time all of that happened, the Soviets, partly thanks to over 12 million tons of aid, mostly from the USA, were ready for major advances. Kursk, despite what some people like to think, was not “the turning point of the war”. The turning point was in December, 1941. Once Barbarossa failed at that point. It was just downhill from then on. They never really had a chance in the south and June 1944 destroyed any possibility that Germany would have enough troops, equipment, or industry to win.

[@monjettgraham2989]

Why does this video keep showing King Tiger tanks when there were no King Tiger tanks during the battle of Kursk? King Tigers were not present in 1943.

[@michaelhowell2326]

I watched something a few weeks ago on Military History Visualized or a similar channel that Kursk was only the second largest tank battle, with the largest taking place somewhere a fair distance to the North.

[@daviddoran3673]

No...Citadel was the greatest....some anti Russian sources claim the series of armoured clashes around Brody to the West was the greatest but there is no comparison..

[@bryangrote8781]

Dubno-Brody battles were larger. This was at the beginning of Barbarossa and involved the largest numbers of divisions, both armored and infantry, on both sides on the whole eastern front campaign except perhaps Bagration in mid ‘44. Generally Dubno-Brody battles are not considered to be a single major tank battle in the way Citadelle has been as it involved a much larger area and more engagements that were less coordinated and connected. Also due to the chaos on the Soviet side and speed of the German advance it’s much less documented and thus gets ignored by nearly everyone.

[@ErichHiller44]

Damn the Germans fought on so many fronts, Lost a lot of good men it's a shame. Rest in peace!

[@itsmannertime]

Guess the fuckers shouldn't have started it then.

[@ErichHiller44]

@@itsmannertime I was waiting for some asshole lol. So, tell me who started the wars before Germany? Does that make them (fuckers) too? Including the U.S.? or England? Or Russia?

[@PUCK.GUN.LAWS1]

The German army and navy and air force was the greatest fighting force to ever walk the earth

[@itsmannertime]

Lmao, why did they lose then? And don't say numbers because manufacturing is absolutely part of waging war. *And they sucked at it.*

[@ErichHiller44]

@@itsmannertimeOkay if you're going to be a troll at least try and be good at it? You could've at least came up with a better argument than they sucked at it. 1939-Mid late/Late 1943 Winning most battles. 1943 Tide turned Retreating Africa and Defense Russia. Suffering defeats but still winning some battles. 1944-1945 Retreat albeit with some counter offensives mainly defeats but still some victories. Most of the time on the eastern front inflicting anywhere from 2-10x the losses on the enemy. So for future reference don't use call of duty or marvel for your opinion that Germany sucked at waging war they were actually quite effective.

[@shawnmiller8969]

Great video👍🏼

[@billybud9557]

With almost no military training whatsoever, Hitler made decisions in days that generals would have studied for months.

[@duanepigden1337]

He was the allies best weapon.

[@MyRealName148]

Supply lines and weak Romanian and Italian flanks led to the destruction for the panzergreneder. We’re still paying the cost today.

[@oldschool8oy180]

I think you are talking about Stalingrad not Kursk.

[@Primal-Weed]

How exactly are you still paying the cost?

[@628steves]

Another great video.

[@SJstackinbodys]

The scale of the lend lease policy shows itself ones again...insane

[@daviddoran3673]

Several panzer divisions were equipped with only Panzer 3's and Czech Panzer 38 T's.....totally outgunned and penetrable to the Russian T34 - 76 with its 76.2mm main gun...

[@nikolaykolev7139]

The numbers the narrator is talking about just dont add up. The figures just contradict each other

[@HarrySingh_Unfeigned]

Kurt Knispel 7:06 Legendary ace

[@Asgard2208]

To give a notion of the scale of the battle: it occurred over an area the size of modern Wales in the UK. I think most people just fail to grasp the enormity of it all. Peace!

[@Vlaed]

Too much stressing of number superiority of Soviets - very anti-Russian/anti-Communist view. Would not recommend as a valid historical account. Just take the sheer population numbers 1940: German Reich: 110 mn, Soviet Union 194 mn. And on top Germany was strengthened by Hungarian, Rumanian, Finnish and Italian troops + some smaller countries and SS-legions from occupied territories. Taken together just based on the population, the army numbers should have been broadly the same if mobilized equally. Soviet numerical superiority is a myths to glorify Nazi Generals and Soldiers and discredit the military genius of Soviet commanders and the bravery and skill of Soviet soldiers. And clear, everything happening in the West were little skirmishes compared to the scales of the Eastern battles.

[@starguy2718]

Less than 2 years later, Zhukov leads the Red Army into Berlin.

[@leonm4810]

Every Soviet commander was from commoners stock, peasants. But with sheer talent and gallantry they defeated the Aryans.

[@joeblanton9972]

Gulag.. its not plural. Gulag is the system, not the camps..