Battles of Kursk: Southern Flank

In early July, 1943 for the last time as equal combatants; German and Soviet forces fought one of World War 2's most pivotal battles at Kursk in Southern Russia. The battle was to be the zenith for Germany; it was never to drive the initiative in the East again. Kursk was to be the first time that the Russians stopped a German summer offensive before it had achieved its strategic aims and more significantly build their own operation where there was a clear defensive and offensive phase. The German attack was but Act I in the Russian plan. Battles of Kursk – Southern Flank is the first release in John Tiller's Panzer Battles series. With a focus on the more climactic southern attack, players will understand why both sides viewed the battle as a victory; though many would consider it Pyrrhic. Fought across nine days from July 4th to July 12th the battle was much more than the imagined storming of a fortified line. Meeting engagements, hasty defenses and even the first widespread use of tank busting aircraft were more typical of the day to day fighting. Both sides deployed their country's elite forces. The Germans fielded their carefully reconstituted Panzer forces, led by the II SS Panzer Korps. The Soviets deployed the armies that had recently crushed the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, newly replenished and promoted to Guards honorifics.