{"product_id":"demolishing-the-myth-the-tank-battle-at-prokhorovka-kursk-july-1943-an-operational-narrative-9781906033897","title":"Demolishing the Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka  Kursk  July 1943: An Operational Narrative","description":"\u003cp\u003eA groundbreaking book when first published in Russia in 2005  now Valeriy Zamulins study of the crucible of combat during the titanic clash at Kursk - the fighting at Prokhorovka - is available in English. A former staff member of the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum  Zamulin has dedicated years of his life to the study of the battle of Kursk  and especially the fighting on its southern flank involving the famous attack of the II SS Panzer Corps into the teeth of deeply-echeloned Red Army defenses. A product of five years of intense research into the once-secret Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense  Zamulin lays out in enormous detail the plans and tactics of both sides  culminating in the famous and controversial clash at Prokhorovka on 12 July 1943. Zamulin skillfully weaves reminiscences of Red Army and Wehrmacht soldiers and officers into the narrative of the fighting  using in part files belonging to the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum. Zamulin has the advantage of living in Prokhorovka  so he has walked the ground of the battlefield many times and has an intimate knowledge of the terrain. Examining the battle from primarily the Soviet side  Zamulin reveals the real costs and real achievements of the Red Army at Kursk  and especially Prokhorovka. He examines mistaken deployments and faulty decisions that hampered the Voronezh Fronts efforts to contain the Fourth Panzer Armys assault  and the valiant  self-sacrificial fighting of the Red Armys soldiers and junior officers as they sought to slow the German advance  and then crush the II SS Panzer Corps with a heavy counterattack at Prokhorovka on 12 July. The combat on this day receives particular scrutiny  as Zamulin works to clarify the relative size of the contending forces  the actual area of this battle  and the costs suffered by both sides. The costs to General P. A. Rotmistrovs 5th Guards Tank Army and General A. S. Zhadovs 5th Guards Army as they slammed into 1st SS Panzer Grenadier Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler  3rd SS Panzer Grenadier Division Totenkopf and a portion of 2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Division Das Reich were particularly devastating  and Zamulin examines the nuts and bolts of the counteroffensive to see why this was so. Zamulin does not exclude the oft-overlooked efforts of Army Group Kempfs III Panzer Corps on the right-wing of the Fourth Panzer Army  as it sought to keep pace with the II SS Panzer Corps advance  and then breach the line of the Northern Donets River in order to link up with its left-hand neighbor in the region of Prokhorovka. Zamulin describes how the Soviet High Command and the Voronezh Front had to cobble together quickly a defense of this line with already battered units  but needed to reinforce it with fresh formations at the expense of the counterstroke at Prokhorovka. Illustrated with numerous maps and photographs (including present-day views of the battlefield)  and supplemented with extensive tables of data  Zamulins book is an outstanding contribution to the growing literature on the battle of Kursk  and further demolishes many of the myths and legends that grew up around this battle.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651789873205,"sku":"ByrdShop_1906033897","price":65.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781906033897.jpg?v=1781840832","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/demolishing-the-myth-the-tank-battle-at-prokhorovka-kursk-july-1943-an-operational-narrative-9781906033897","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}