Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
A lot of times people forget that the Soviets knew the intentions of the German's at Kursk due to the UK's Lucy Spy Ring.
Guderian campaigned against Kursk, he believed that the German's needed to preserve what was left of their military, and that no good would come from this battle. Even Hitler had his reservations, but he decided that they needed to engage in the battle, by that point he was beyond batshyte crazy anyways.
Zhukov who was really the Soviet Unions version of Patton in that he was extremely offensive minded, changed his tactics and decided that the Soviets needed to start in a defensive posture, soak up the German attack and then go to the offense. I watched a documentary where Zhukov ordered false fortifications and tank traps built to slow down the German's speed offense.
The Russian's outnumbered the German's by a 2-1 ratio in Tanks and a 3-1 advantage in men and a 4-1 ratio in heavy guns during the defensive phase. Anyone can tell you that the German's attacking the Russian's was sheer madness. When the Soviets shifted to offensive operations and threw their strategic reserve group into the battle the Russians had a 3-1 advantage in tanks a 4-1 advantage in men, and a 5-1 advantage in guns. Not only was this an extreme blunder by the German's but it outlined how bad their Military Intelligence had gotten.
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Fighting and winning under significant numerical disadvantage was common for the Germans in Russia. Attacking well prepared defensive as and giving up their superior tactical manoeuvring advantage was what really did them in.