![]() If Hitler's Wehrmacht smashed the Red Army, he could no longer hope for a lightning conquest, but the Fuhrer could expect the Soviet strongman to sue for peace on terms advantageous to Germany. The winner could expect to reap very high stakes indeed. Endless rolling plains – ideal “tank country” – vast forests, sprawling cities, and enormous tracts of agricultural land formed the environment over which millions of men and thousands of the era's most formidable military vehicles fought for their respective overlords and ideologies. The vast expanses of southern Russia and the Ukraine provided the Eastern Front arena where the armies of Third Reich dictator Adolf Hitler and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin wrestled lethally for supremacy in 1943. I consider the operation that has been planned a particularly grave error, for which we shall suffer later.” – Colonel Reinhard Gehlen, Wehrmacht intelligence analyst, writing about Operation Citadel (Fowler, 2005, 66). “On the German side, the reserves which will become so desperately necessary as the war situation develops will be tied down and thrown away uselessly. They have learnt the art of war from us.” – Wehrmacht Generaloberst Hermann “Papa” Hoth at Kursk (Healy, 1992, 90) They are no longer peasants with simple minds. “The Russians have learnt a lot since 1941. *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes accounts of the battle by generals and soldiers on both sides
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