![]() ![]() Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. Nazi Germany was unable to recover from the failed offensive and vast swaths of the land around the medieval fortress city of Kursk became an armored graveyard! Yet, as Soviet industry was ramping up they could afford the losses whereas the Germans could not. Upwards of 1,200 German tanks and assault guns were destroyed, while the Soviets lost more than 6,000 armored vehicles. Instead of breaking the Soviets, the Germans were the ones who broke and by the end of July were in full retreat – and casualties on both sides were massive. By the end of the battle, it involved nearly a million German soldiers and more than 3,200 tanks while the Soviets engaged with some 2.5 million soldiers and more than 7,300 tanks. Troops of Division Das Reich, Tiger I tank, in June 1943 before the battle.įrom July 5 to August 23, 1943, Operational Citadel was Germany’s attempt to weaken the Soviet Red Army’s ability to wage a major offensive. Had the Soviets been better organized they might have been able to stop the Germans cold. However, it was a costly victory for the Germans – in large part because they came upon the T-34, a tank they didn’t even know existed. The Germans lacked the numbers, but surprise and a clear objective aided their efforts. While the Germans had a capable leader, Generaloberst Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, the Soviet forces had no clear commander, and chaos ensued. The Battle of Brody pitted the German 1st Panzer Group against six concentrated Soviet Mechanized Corps drawn from the 5th Army to the North and the 6th Army to the South. 1933 tanks of the 19th Tank Division near Vojnitsa-Lutsk highway.įought in the opening days of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union from June 23 to June 30, 1941, this has been seen as the greatest armored engagement in history with as many as 5,000 tanks engaged, and it resulted in the destruction of a significant number of the Red Army’s operational tank force. Instead, they suffered a costly defeat, losing some 500 vehicles including around 250 of their newest tanks.ĭestroyed and abandoned T-26 mod. Nearly the entire Israeli tank force was destroyed and the defenders were on the verge of collapse but as reinforcements finally arrived, the Syrians withdrew – not knowing how close they came to victory. Unable to call in effective air support, the Israelis dug in and fought like the future of their country depended on it. Goliath in terms of the size of the forces.Ī single Israeli armored brigade with less than 100 tanks held out for four days against a Syrian infantry division equipped with more than 1,400 tanks including some 400 T-62s, the most modern Soviet tank in the field at that time. Image: Creative Commons.įought between October 6 during the Yom Kippur War, the Battle of the Valley of Tears may not have been the largest tank battle, but it ranks as one of the greatest as it was a true David vs. Yom Kippur War 1973 on the Golan heights. ![]()
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