Troop Deployments for the Battle of Kursk - WW2 Special

Over the last few weeks entire cities worth of troops along with all the logistical support needed to support them have gathered in and around the Kursk salient. Here's how they've been deployed, and where they could go from here.

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[WorldWarTwo]

This video has a lot of maps, as will many videos coming out in the next few days. Please give a huge thank you to Daniel and Sietse, our map animators and researchers. They have been working around the clock this week and have been crushing it. Thanks to all of you in the TimeGhost Army, we can hire incredible people like Daniel and Sietse to deliver you the quality maps that these subjects deserve.
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[ebolalegion]

"The failure of Barbarossa outside of Moscow concluded they couldn't win the war on their initial terms, while the failure of Fall Blau at Stalingrad and the Caucasus concluded they couldn't win the war on any terms. The failure of Operation Citadel at Kursk concluded their defeat in the war would be total."

Glantz & House make a statement like that at the end of their Stalingrad trilogy, and that thought kind of stitched together the whole Eastern Front for me.

[actionswon]

This is just incomprehensible. The numbers are so hard to imagine. every single man has their own life and own story but that means nothing in war.

[randomguy-tgok]

The Steppe Front is perhaps the most important part of Soviet deployments for this battle - _even if_ the Germans are able to encircle the much larger force that is prepared for an attack, the Germans are still going to have to contend with an entire extra Front built with the _express purpose_ of breaking the encirclement the Germans are going for.
It really shows just how powerful the Soviets are by this point that they're able to do that, and how fruitless this attack really is. The Wehrmacht really should be playing defence-only by this point.

(Edit: To everyone saying "They would have still lost" - yes, you're right. But playing defence makes some kind of miracle slightly more likely - think 0.01% instead of 0.001%.)

[diegopagura]

One thing to notice is how downgraded each German summer offensive was. In 1941 we are talking about an attack along the whole front, 3.5 million men. In 1942, it is "just" the south, 1.5 million men. In 1943 we are talking about an objective similar in terms of geography to the sep-41 encirclement at kiev for about 800.000 men. There were no realistic expectations to continue another offensive after this.

[alexandersturnn]

It's very possible that my Great-Grandfather died in this battle.
We don't know for sure, since my Grandmother was born in 1941 and didn't remember him at all and her family never got any reports on his exact fate...but since he died in Summer 1943 on the Eastern Front, it is likely he fell at Kursk during Operation Citadel.

[m]

So let me see if I have this clear
1.) The Defenders outnumber attackers 2:1 in men, equipment, big guns, tanks and Planes,
2.) And the defenders had ample time to dig up defenses and mines, with most up to date intelligence on when and where they are going to attack,
3) On top of it, the battle tactics of attackers are not suited for such battles,
4) And finally, the defenders have up to half million men in reserve in an entire front to avoid a worst case scenario.

yeah, I mean, its really hard for see how the battle is going to turn out.

[gunman]

Love all the statistics on the number of men and military equipment on both sides being displayed here, simply shows the scale of Operation Citadel in 1943. Thanks for the video World War Two team!

[seangannon]

Between this channel and WW1 it’s absolutely staggering how massive these battles actually were.

[yes_head]

"Blunt force" is usually accompanied by "trauma". Excellent breakdown, and superb job on the graphics!

[Mr_M_History]

Indy is the YouTube historian I look up to. What a king!

[andmos]

Meanwhile: “Hans, why are there boats outside the Italian coast?” “Well, they are going to Greece and Yogoslavia, obviously” “But what about Sicily?” “What about it, it’s clearly a diversion”

[chrisw]

this battle is so big its almost impossible to comprehend.

[fireman]

I am glad that you've caught up with the naming of Kempf as an "Army Detachment", which is basically the "officially accepted" translation of Armeeabteilung, instead of the erroneous "Army Group" that this unit was often named over the past episodes - well done!

[indianajones]

Hey Indy and team, Spoiler Alert! Since this series will end in 2024, you could do the Korean War week by week after WW2 starting in 2025 because it will be 75 years ago. Just a thought, you’re doing great!

[elbeto]

I feel like throughout 1941 the main problem of the Soviet military was not knowing when to retreat or defend, leading to the massive encirclements numbering millions even. By 1942 they conducted a strategic retreat, and now by 1943 they're preparing a large defensive ring, and A LOT of reserves to respond to breakthrough attempts by the Germans. It really goes to show how this know-how changed in two years.

[nikolajmadum]

Thank you for making a speciel episode, Indy!

Kursk was too big of a battle and too big in build up not to have a special episode about imo :)
The two armies facing each other was massive, especially on the Soviet side. Which makes it even more impressive the Germans managed to penetrate as much as they did in the South.

Looking forward to the weekly episode coming out today, have a great day!

[davidh]

I'm going to be off the Internet (hopefully only for a short time), but wanted to state how much I've enjoyed your WW2 in Real Time videos. Based on the numbers in this video,
I don't think I'll have to look in history books to see how the Battle of Kursk turned out. If ever I have the financial resources to do so, I shall gladly contribute to the TimeGhost Army.

[jayjayson]

Thank you very much for this video! I had commented on a video a couple months back if you were planning to do a special in Kursk. You had said that time constraints and budget wouldn't make that possible. I totally understand but thank you for this video!!! I really appreciate your efforts as it paints the grandiose of Kursk. Thank you so much for all you do.

[medicore_handyman]

I love these episodes. They really help me to understand the difference in force between the two sides. Telling me about the number of divisions is great, but knowing the number of troops and armor is fantastic.