The course of the war
After the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet army entered the counter-offensive, thinking that it could annihilate the German army with a single blow, but the German Marshal Manstein organized a Kharkov counterattack, defeated the Soviet army in Ukraine, and regained the initiative on the battlefield. The world's anti-fascist forces were in tension, and it was accustomed to the German army winning more in the Soviet Union with less, so although the Soviet army still held a huge advantage in its hands, the countries were still worried.
After the defeat of Kharkov, a huge mistake occurred in the process of Soviet retreat, and two army groups in the Kursk region did not have time to withdraw. Manstein saw an opportunity, and in February 1943 he prepared to swallow up the Soviet forces in the Kursk salient.
However, the German High Command believed that the time was not right, and guderian, a German tank expert, also believed that the German army needed to further improve its weapons and equipment, at this time his Tiger tank and Leopard tank had already gone offline, but the scale was not large enough to go to the battlefield.
The Germans hesitated, the Soviet land melted snow and ice, into the muddy season, and the attack was delayed again, until July.
The Soviets, on the other hand, were given plenty of time to prepare, and they reinforced the Kursk salient, which had been formed by mistakes, and made it a fist into the German defense line. Marshal Zhukov deployed a deep stepped defense in Kursk, raising the number of troops participating in the battle to 1.3 million, equipped with 20,000 cannons, 3,500 tanks, and originally an area of only two army groups, now with 2 fronts. In addition, the rear was filled with the Prairie Front, 5 Tank Army Groups and Air Force Army Groups as reserves.
This was the first time since World War II that the Soviet army had surpassed the German army in terms of numbers, artillery, tanks, etc., and it was far beyond the German army.
The Germans were unfavorable, and on July 4, a scout was captured by the Soviets again, and he gave Manstein the order to attack in the early morning of the 5th. The Soviets fired in unison before the German offensive on 5 July, disrupting the rhythm of the German offensive. The Germans also suffered one of the most difficult battles since World War II, with no way to move and huge losses.
At the same time, the Allied landings in Sicily in July, the U.S. army also bombed the Romanian oil fields, the German oil supply was on the verge of collapse, had to withdraw some of the troops to support the Direction of Italy, and sent a lot of troops to defend against landings that may come from the Direction of the British.
The battle lasted for 50 days, the Germans lost more than 500,000 people, 1500 tanks, 3000 artillery, 3700 aircraft, and lost nearly half of their elite belongings. Thousands of Soviet tanks and German tanks were dead on top of each other, firing shells at each other, and the charred corpses of soldiers who had no time to escape were scattered all over the battlefield. The Soviets lost 800,000 men and 6,000 tanks, twice as many tanks as Germany! However, the Soviets produced 14,500 T34 tanks this year, while the German production capacity was limited by the British Air Force.
After this battle, the German army completely lost its ability to fight and never organized its large-scale battles. Commenting on the Battle of Kursk, Zhukov said: From now on, we will be able to win the war on our own.
Let go of the enemy
Zhukov asked the Soviet High Command for instructions: he hoped to lead the Southwestern Front to encircle oryol, the main force of the German Army Group Center.
Army Group Center was the main German army that threatened Moscow head-on, with more than 1 million troops at its peak. At this time, the main Soviet army won at Kursk, which was already very close to the rear of the German Army Group Center, and if the German army was copied to the rear, it would be difficult for the other side to fly.
But the Soviet High Command responded that the task now was to drive the Germans out of the Soviet Union and that we needed to annihilate them in Germany.
We know that the two sides have a deep hatred like the sea, and they are eager to send each other to heaven immediately. Moreover, fighting in Germany, the Soviet army fighting away, the terrain is unfamiliar, obviously more unfavorable. Later facts also proved this, and in the Battle of Berlin, the Soviet army had to pay a heavy price of 300,000 people.
In the Soviet-German battlefield of World War II, the two sides fought fiercely, and the hatred between them had risen to the level of mutual disparity, and tens of millions of Soviets fell in the war. In addition to the number of deaths in the war, the successive fiasco of the Soviet army in the early stages of the war also left them with many regrets and unwillingness in military history.
cause
Why did the Soviet Union choose to let go of the German army of a million and abandon its immediate annihilation? You know, this is a great opportunity for revenge! It has to be said that there are complex considerations:
First of all, a truth that everyone understands very well is that war in the Soviet Union means that destruction also occurs in the Soviet Union.
Secondly, large-scale marching will bring huge attrition to the army, and the process of defeat and retreat can greatly deplete the confidence of the German army. Napoleon's expeditionary force in 1812 collapsed in retreat, and Napoleon himself was almost captured.
The third and most fundamental reason is for the sake of the international environment. The Germans completely lost their offensive ability in Kursk, but retained the illusion of defending Germany, and in the future they would choose to defend in Germany. If the Germans were to be overwhelmed at this time and lose the last hope of defending their homeland, they would surrender to the American and British allies.
As early as after the Battle of Stalingrad, the atmosphere of surrender to the United States and Britain was pervasive within the German army, and the German deputy fuehrer Göring once suggested that the Führer go to the field and preside over the surrender to the United States and Britain alone. Manstein, Rommel, and others also had such thoughts. Undoubtedly, this is indeed the best way to reduce German losses. It was only when Hitler persevered on his own influence that Germany fought to the end.
The soviet leaders once famously said that Hitler was more terrible than the living.
History also proves the vision of the Soviet leaders:
Although 26 countries of the anti-fascist alliance signed the Declaration of the United Nations, and the countries had sworn to ---- "absolutely not to make peace with the fascists alone", this is not credible, in 1945, when the German general Jodel and others fled to France to surrender to the United States and Britain alone, the United States and Britain randomly found a Soviet officer to represent the Soviet Union and accepted Germany's surrender, which was almost indistinguishable from surrendering alone. Fortunately, the Soviet Union occupied a large area of Berlin and Germany and re-held the surrender ceremony, otherwise this dumb loss would have been settled.
On the other hand, in August 1945, the United States again violated the Declaration of the United Nations and accepted Japan's surrender alone, allowing many war criminals to escape trial. Since the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and Russia have still not reached an armistice agreement with Japan.