The Battle of Blue was postponed several times and was scheduled to begin on June 27. However, after that, thunderstorms continued and were postponed for another 24 hours. At 2:15 a.m. on June 28, 1942, the German "Weix" cluster finally moved from the area east of Kursk to the offensive. The Germans prepared for only 30 minutes of artillery fire, attacking entirely in a blitzkrieg manner.
The German Army's actions were strongly coordinated by the 8th Air Force, which had an absolute superiority in the air and a significant ground superiority. Coupled with the fact that the Soviet positions were too fragile, Weix attacked quite smoothly. With the cooperation of the 2nd Army, Hort's 4th Panzer Army, led by more than 500 tanks, soon broke through the positions of the 13th Army of the 13th Army of the Bryansk Front of the Red Army and the 3 infantry divisions of the 40th Army and rushed into the junction of the 2 armies. The 24th Panzer Army then pounced on Voronezh from the left flank and the 48th Panzer Army from the right flank, respectively, from the north and south. In two days, more than 500 German tanks had advanced 40 kilometers.
The news of the war reached Moscow and caused a great shock. In order to save the situation, Stalin ordered the reinforcement of the Bryansk Front with 3 tank corps. These included the 4th and 24th Tank Corps transferred from the Southwestern Front and the 17th Tank Corps of the Reserve. The 1st and 16th Tank Corps of the Bryansk Front Reserve and the 115th and 116th Tank Brigades were also engaged. There will be about 1,000 Soviet tanks attacking Hort's 579 tanks from different directions.
Stalin expected this time to win with the superior tanks. On 30 June, he telegraphed with The Commander of the Bryansk Front, Golikov, and his chief of staff, General Kazakov, and stressed in particular: "Remember that you have more than 1,000 tanks on the battlefield, and the enemy has not even 500 (579 in fact— this writer's note)." In front of the enemy's 3 armored divisions, we have 500 tanks, while the enemy has only 300-350 tanks (there are actually 461 tanks - this author's note). So now it's all up to you whether you're going to use those forces. ”