BATTLEFIELD:
THE BATTLE AT KURSK (1943)
K-141 Kursk was an Oscar-II class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine of the Russian Navy, lost with all hands when it sank in the Barents Sea on 12 August 2000.
The submarine was named Kursk after a decisive battle in Russia, during World War 2 (1943). It was the biggest clash of tanks ever and lasted for several days. Adolf Hitler wanted to gain the initiative in the East, though his generals (Guderian) wanted to regroup, to strike again in 1944.
Hitler's opinion prevailed, which lead to the clash of German and the Soviets near Kursk. About 1 million soldiers on either side.
Some remarks:
- the stubborness of the Fuhrer to refuse the retreat of von Paulus 6th Army at Stalingrad. Germany lost not just the battle but motivated and battle-hardened troops.
- Rumors go, that ufo's were seen over the battlefield. German or Alien? Maybe observers, who witnessed the first battle-test of a German atomic weapon. Failed.
- Afterwards strategists concluded, that the Nazis in fact won the battle at Kursk. Too late to regain the momentum.
- Kursk was a "Einzirklungskampf". A strategy in which the enemy was surrounded and destroyed. Before Kursk, the Germans succeeded in encircling 3 Russian armies at Charkov.
