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15 August 2024

The Second Battle of Kursk: An Omen of Doom?

Walter Clemens

The Battle of Kursk from July to August 1943 marked a decisive turning point in the Soviet campaign to drive Hitler’s Wehrmacht from the USSR. Eighty-one years later, will another Battle of Kursk become a major event in Ukraine’s campaign to purge its territory from Vladimir Putin’s forces?

The German debacle in 1943 transpired just two years after Hitler’s June 1941 Blitzkrieg carried his forces swiftly beyond Leningrad until they stalled, froze, and shriveled at Stalingrad. Today’s Battle of Kursk takes place just two-and-a-half years since Putin’s forces, hoping for a lightening victory, poured into Ukraine in early 2022.

Putin, like Hitler, underestimated his target and overvalued his assets. Soon, both dictators faced difficulties supplying their forces and replacing losses of troops and equipment. Neither the vozhd’ nor the Fűhrer anticipated the help the United States would provide to the victims of their aggression.


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