Valeriy Zamulin - The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient: 7th Guards Army’s Stand Against Army Detachment Kempf

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Published by Helion & Company 2018Designed and typeset by Mach 3 Solutions Ltd ( www.mach3solutions.co.uk )Cover designed by Paul Hewitt, Battlefield Design ( www.battlefield-design.co.uk )

Text Valeriy Zamulin 2017. English edition translated and edited byStuart Britton, Helion & Company Limited 2017.Images as individually creditedMaps drawn by George Anderson Helion & Company Limited 2017

Parts of this book have been published in Russian with the title Krax nastupleniia Generala Kempfa (Veche, 2016).

Front cover: An artillery battalion of the 7th Guards Armys 265th Cannon Artillery Regiment shells the enemys bridges across the Northern Donets River; July 1943. (Authors personal archive). Rear cover: The commander of the 6th Panzer Division Major General W. von Hnersdorff (in a Sd.Kfz.250/3 halftrack) listens to a report from the commander of II/Panzergrenadier Regiment 114 Captain Necknauer in the vicinity of Belinskaia in the valley of the Razumniaia River; 7 July 1943. (Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-022-2923-29A, photo: Kipper).

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The author andpublisher apologize for any errors or omissions in this work, and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in futurereprints or editions of this book.

ISBN 978-1-911512-57-8

eISBN 978-1-911512-57-8

Mobi ISBN 978-1-913118-20-4

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In Plate Sections

The commander of the 64th Army (subsequently the 7th Guards Army) Lieutenant General M.S. Shumilov in Stalingrad, before departing to the Belgorod area; end of February 1943. (RGAFKD)

The spring of 1943 came early: This is how the roads in the region of the Kursk bulge looked. (RGAKFD)

The city of Belgorod after the March 1943 fighting came to an end. (Captured files of the RGAKFD)

The commander of the 7th Guards Army Lieutenant General M.S. Shumilov washes up in the village of Protopopovka, Kursk Oblast, on a sunny April 1943 morning. (A photo from an issue of the Krasnaia znamia newspaper in the files of the Stalingradskaia bitva (Battle of Stalingrad) State Historical Park Museum)

In moments of calm, even army commanders had no objection to a little mischief. Lieutenant General M.S. Shumilov (on the right) has a little fun at the expense of a major on his 7th Guards Army headquarters staff, who is showing his booty to correspondents of the Krasnaia znamia army newspaper; village of Protopopovka, Kursk Oblast, April 1943. (A photo from an issue of the Krasnaia znamia newspaper in the files of the Stalingradskaia bitva State Historical-Memorial Park Museum)

The Commander-in-Chief of the Voronezh Front General of the Army N.F. Vatutin (in the center) receiving a report from one of his subordinate commanders during one of his trips to the front; spring of 1943. (RGAKFD)

A major, a battalion commander in one of the 81st Guards Rifle Divisions regiments, addresses his subordinate commanders; Voronezh Front, 7th Guards Army, May 1943. (Files of the Stalingradskaia bitva State Historical-Memorial Park Museum)

Commanders of the 27th Guards Tank Brigade study a mock-up of the terrain in its sector, June 1943. (RGAKFD)

T-34 radio operators of the 7th Guards Armys 27th Guards Tank Brigade in training: Sergeant Major Babushkin maintains contact with a tank battalion commander, May 1943. (Shebekino Historical-Art Museum)

The training of driver-mechanics in the 201st Separate Tank Brigade to overcome artificial obstacles. The tanks are Lend-Lease British Matilda tanks.

A training brochure issued on the eve of the Battle of Kursk to anti-tank gun, tank and artillery crews entitled The most vulnerable and damage-prone places on the German Pz-VI tank and the means to counter them. The page on the right states, Fire at the fuel tanks and forward wheels.

Tank company commander Senior Lieutenant F. Martekhov (first from the right) of the 7th Guards Armys 27th Guards Tank Brigade, who for his exploits in the Belgorod area on 12 July 1943 was deemed worthy of the title Hero of the Soviet Union, in conversation with a group of the brigades officers and soldiers at his dugout during a moment of rest; village of Voznesenovka, May 1943.

The commander of the 7th Guards Army Lieutenant General M.S. Shumilov (third from the right) and the chief of the Armys motorized transport pool Lieutenant Colonel Ia.T. Savchenko (fourth from the right) talk with a group of commanders of the motorized transport service. In the background on the left, a sector of barbed wire in a defensive belt is visible; June 1943. (Archive of the Kurskaia bitva. Belgorodskoe napravlenie (Battle of Kursk. Belgorod axis) Museum-Diorama.

A Soviet leaflet calling upon grenadiers of the 168th Infantry Division to surrender, found near Belgorod in 2007. (Authors personal archive)

Soldiers of one of the first-echelon divisions of the 7th Guards Army head out for their shift to man a combat outpost in the basin of the Northern Donets River; June 1943. (RGAKFD)

The commander of Army Detachment Kempf General W. Kempf. (Captured photo. Authors personal archive)

The commander of the III Panzer Corps General H. Breith; February 1943. (Captured photo. Authors personal archive)

General-Instructor of Panzer Troops Colonel General H. Guderian (in the first row, second from the left) during a meeting in II SS Panzer Corps SS Panzergrenadier Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler of Hoths Fourth Panzer Army. Standing next to Guderian on his left is the commander of the SS Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich Lieutenant General G. Keppler. It was the II SS Panzer Corps that was supposed to act in close cooperation with Army Detachment Kempf. Kharkov, April 1943. (Bundesarchiv, Bild 101III-Wiesebach-152-11A, photo: Wiesebach)

H. Guderian (second from the right) examines the new Pz.Kpf. VI Tiger tanks equipping SS Panzergrenadier Division Leibstandart Adolf Hitler s heavy panzer company. This particular tank is a Panzerbefehlswagen command tank carrying the tactical number 100). SS Captain Heinrich Kling, the commander of the heavy panzer company (on the right) is giving an explanation. Kharkov, April 1943. (Bundesarchiv, Bild 101III-Wiesebach- 152-14A, photo: Wiesebach)