Zamulin Valeriy - Battle of Kursk : Controversial and Neglected Aspects

Controversial & Neglected Aspects

Valeriy Zamulin

Translated & edited by Stuart Britton

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Published by Helion & Company 2017

Designed 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 by Stuart Britton, Helion & Company Limited 2017.

Photographs in the book came from the following sources: the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents (Krasnororsk, Russian Federation); the Central Archive of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense (Podolsk, Russian Federation); the Kursk Oblast Local History Museum (Kursk, Russian Federation); the Museum Diorama Battle of Kursk. Belgorod direction (Belgorod, Russian Federation); the US National Archives and Records Administration (Washington, D.C., United States of America); the FRG Bundesarchiv [Federal Military Archive] (Koblenz, Federal Republic of Germany); the Shebekino History and Art Museum (Shebekino, Russian Federation); private collections and the authors own personal collection.

Maps 28 drawn by and Barbara Taylor 2011, maps 1 & 9 drawn by George Anderson Helion & Company Limited 2017.

Part of the material included in the book was prepared within the framework of Academic Project No. 15-01-00150 with the support of the Russian Humanitarian Academic Foundation.

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

ISBN 978-1-911512-37-0

eISBN 978-1-913118-07-5

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Krasnaia Zvezda newspaper correspondents Lieutenant Colonel V.S. Grossman (on the left) and Major P. Olender (in the center) in a discussion with the newspapers chief editor Corps Commissar D.I. Ortenberg in the area of the Kursk bulge before a trip to spend time with the troops; summer of 1943 (Photo by O.B. Knorring, RGAKFD).

Major K.I. Bukovsky (on the right), a correspondent of the Krasnaia Zvezda newspaper, at the command post of the 17th Guards Rifle Corps of the Central Fronts 13th Army; September 1943 (RGAKFD).

A photograph of a knocked-out Ferdinand heavy self-propelled gun that was displayed at the first postwar exhibition of the Kursk Oblast Regional Museum. The caption reads, Knocked-out Ferdinand self-propelled guns (they are also Panthers), Orel Kursk axis, 28.7.43. (Kursk Oblast Regional Museum)

The famous Krasnaia Zvezda correspondent and author K. Simonov (in the center) strikes a pose together with the commander of the 13th Armys 75th Guards Rifle Division Major General A.A. Gorishnyi (left) and his political deputy Colonel I.V. Vlasenko; summer of 1943 (RGAKFD).

Lieutenant Colonel I.I. Markin, the author of the first book about the Battle of Kursk that was published in the USSR for a wide audience and large circulation; a 1950 photograph (TsAMO).

Major General I.V. Parotkin, a military historian who made a weighty contribution to the study of the Battle of Kursk (a 1970 photograph; TsAMO).

A photograph of the cover of the 1958 2nd edition of I.I. Markins book Kurskaia bitva [Battle of Kursk]

The Commander-in-Chief of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy General of the Army A.A. Epishev (second from the right) and the First Deputy of the USSR Ministry of Defense A.A. Grechko during a 1963 meeting with family members of wartime partisans (RGAKFD).

The former Commander-in-Chief of the Central Front Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky addressing the crowd gathered in a stadium of the city of Kursk to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. 1963 (RGAKFD).

The first page of the former Commander-in-Chief of the Steppe Front Marshal of the Soviet Union I.S. Konevs report to an academic conference dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the victory at the Battle of Kursk, which was prepared for publication in the Major-General I.V. Parotkins edited book Kurskaia bitva after the inclusion of corrections. The handwriting in the upper left corner reads With corrections. I. Konev, 17.1.69 (Authors personal archive).

Chief Marshal of the USSRs Armored Forces P.A. Rotmistrov before addressing the academic research conference dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. In the background is the Voronezh Fronts former chief-of-staff General of the Army S.P. Ivanov; Moscow, August 1968 IAuthors personal archive).

Chief of the USSR Ministry of Defenses Institute of Military History Lieutenant General P.A. Zhilin addresses a council of war veterans in Moscow, May 1985 (RGAKFD).

Colonel G. Koltunovs letter of recommendation to the director of the USSR Ministry of Defenses Central Archives reading hall. (Authors personal archive).

The Commander-in-Chief of Briansk Front Lieutenant M.A. Reiter (second from the left) ponders the operational situation in the Kastornoe area on a map. On the left is the Fronts chief of staff Major General L.M. Sandalov. Second from the right is Military Council member Major General I.Z. Susaikov and on the right is the chief of the Political Department Major General A.P. Pigurnov; end of January 1943 (Archive of E.V. Iurinaia).

Commander-in-Chief of Voronezh Front Lieutenant General F.I. Golikov, January 1943 (TsAMO RF)

A squad of submachine gunners of one of the rifle divisions of the 40th Army attacking a village in Kursk Oblast, January 1943 (RGAGKFD)

Red Army infantry with the support of T-34 tanks attacking the enemy east of Kursk, February 1943 (RGAKFD)

Troops of the 40th Army examine German dead and knocked-out trucks on a street of the liberated Kastornoe, February 1943. (RGAKFD)

Another shot of destroyed German vehicles and wagons in Kastornoe, February 1943 (RGAKFD)

The German military cemetery in the center of Staryi Oskol, which was liberated in the course of the Voronezh Kastornoe operation. The frozen body of a dead German soldier awaits its own burial, likely in an unmarked fraternal grave.

A column of a German artillery unit on the retreat; the Kursk axis, February 1943 (RGAKFD)

A forward group of the German combat units that are breaking out of encirclement in Kastornoe enters a village; February 1943. A captured German photograph (RGAKFD)

Soldiers of the 60th Armys 248th Rifle Brigade Senior Sergeant P.N. Pantalov (on the left) and Private N.F. Nikutin converse with residents of a liberated village west of Kursk; February 1943 (Photography by S. Fridliand, RGAKFD).