Sven Felix Kellerhoff, a journalist and history editor for the major German newspaper Die Welt, published an article entitled "Victory" for the Red Army, which was in reality a defeat. " Referring to archival documents, the author wrote that there was no victory for the Red Army in the battle at Prokhorovka. In this regard, in his opinion, the monument erected there "should actually be demolished immediately."
Information provocation
According to the German journalist, there was no victory of the Soviet troops in the Prokhorov battle, there was not even a grand tank battle, one of the largest in world history. Allegedly, 186 German tanks fought against 672 Soviet ones, and on the evening of July 12, 1943, the Red Army lost about 235 vehicles, and the Wehrmacht only 5 (!). If you imagine such a fantastic picture, it turns out that the Germans simply shot the Russians as targets, and they practically did not answer, or all the time they beat them by. Indeed, Kellerhoff compares the actions of the Soviet 29th Panzer Corps to a "kamikaze attack." Russian tanks "crowded in front of a narrow bridge" and were shot by tank battalions of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps.
The German journalist "confirmed" his thoughts with aerial photographs made by Luftwaffe planes. British historian Ben Wheatley discovered these photographs from the Russian Front in the archives of the United States. And, according to Kellerhoff, they show "the catastrophic defeat of the Red Army at Prokhorovka." Although even this incomplete data is easy to explain. A significant part of the tanks knocked out in battles could be restored. The Germans took out their wrecked tanks from the battlefield, but they could not take it far, since the Red Army took up in the Battle of Kursk. Later, these tanks, knocked out at Prokhorovka, and in the Battle of Kursk in general, fell to us, some of them were captured at repair bases.
Thus, based on this, Western historians conclude that the Red Army did not defeat anyone, that there was no great tank battle. Therefore, the monument to the victory of the Red Army erected in honor of the battle can be demolished.
Prokhorov battle
The Prokhorov battle was part of the Battle of Kursk, which began on July 5 and lasted until August 23, 1943 (50 days). It took place on the southern face of the Kursk salient, in the strip of the Voronezh front under the command of Vatutin. Here the Wehrmacht on July 5, 1943 launched an offensive in two directions - on Oboyan and Korocha. The German command, developing the first success, increased its efforts along the Belgorod-Oboyan line. By the end of July 9, the 2nd SS Panzer Corps had broken through to the third defense zone of the 6th Guards Army and wedged into it about 9 km south-west of Prokhorovka. However, the German tanks could not break out into the operational space.
On July 10, 1943, Hitler ordered the command of Army Group South to bring about a decisive turning point in the battle. Convinced of the failure of the breakthrough in the Oboyan direction, Commander Manstein decided to change the direction of the main attack and launch an offensive on Cruz in a roundabout way, through Prokhorovka, where success was outlined. At the same time, the auxiliary strike group was striking at Prokhorovka from the south. Elite divisions "Reich", "Death's Head" and "Adolf Hitler" from the 2nd SS Panzer Corps and parts of the 3rd Panzer Corps attacked Prokhorovka.
Having discovered this maneuver of the Nazis, the command of the Voronezh Front moved parts of the 69th Army to this direction, and then the 35th Guards Rifle Corps. At the same time, the Soviet Headquarters decided to strengthen Vatutin's troops at the expense of strategic reserves. On July 9, the commander of the Steppe Front, Konev, was ordered to move the 4th Guards, 27th and 53rd armies to the Kursk-Belgorod direction. The 5th Guards and 5th Guards Tank Armies were also transferred to the subordination of Vatutin. The troops of the Voronezh Front were supposed to stop the offensive, deliver a powerful counterstrike against the enemy in the Oboyan direction. However, on July 11, it was not possible to deliver a preemptive counterattack. On this day, German troops reached the line on which mobile formations were to be deployed. At the same time, the introduction into battle of four rifle divisions and two tank brigades of Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army made it possible to stop the Germans 2 km from Prokhorovka. That is, the oncoming battle of the advanced units near Prokhorovka began already on July 11, 1943.
On July 12, a counter battle began, both sides attacked in the Prokhorovka direction on both sides of the Belgorod-Prokhorovka railway. A fierce battle unfolded. The main events took place southwest of Prokhorovka. North-west of Prokhorovka, units of the Soviet 6th Guards and 1st Tank Armies struck at Yakovlevo. From the northeast, from the Prokhorovka area, units of the 5th Guards Tank Army with two attached tank corps and the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps of the 5th Guards Army attacked in the same direction. On the Belgorod direction, the 7th Guards Army went over to the offensive.
On the morning of July 12, after a short artillery attack, the 18th and 29th tank corps of Rotmistrov's army with the 2nd tank and 2nd guards tank corps attached to it began an offensive on Yakovlevo. Even earlier on the river. The German Panzer Division "Death's Head" began an offensive in the 5th Guards Army's defensive zone. At the same time, the Panzer divisions "Reich" and "Adolf Hitler", directly opposing the army of Rotmistrov, remained on the occupied lines and prepared for defense. As a result, a head-on collision of two tank strike groups took place on a fairly short front gap. The extremely fierce battle lasted all day. The losses of the Soviet tank corps were 73% and 46%.
As a result, none of the parties was able to fulfill the assigned tasks. The Nazis did not break through to Kursk, and the Soviet troops did not reach Yakovlev. However, the offensive of the main enemy strike group on Kursk was stopped. The German 3rd Panzer Corps, advancing on Prokhorovka from the south, was able to press the forces of the 69th Army that day, advancing 10-15 km. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The German command did not immediately abandon the idea of a breakthrough to Kursk, bypassing Oboyan from the east. And the troops of the Voronezh Front tried to fulfill the task assigned to them. Therefore, the Prokhorovka battle continued until July 16. The successes of both sides were private, the battles were fought on the same lines that the troops occupied. Both armies exchanged attacks and counterattacks, fought day and night.
On July 16, the troops of the Voronezh Front were ordered to go over to the defensive. On July 17, the German command began the withdrawal of troops to their original positions. The troops of the Voronezh Front went over to the offensive and on July 23 took up positions that they had occupied before the start of the enemy offensive. On August 3, the Red Army began an offensive against Belgorod and Kharkov.
On the causes of high losses
The main reason is the mistakes of the Soviet command. A powerful grouping of the Red Army attacked the strongest strike group of the enemy head-on, and not in the flank. The Soviet generals did not use the advantageous situation at the front, which made it possible to inflict a counterattack at the base of the German wedge, which could lead to a complete defeat, possibly to the encirclement and destruction of the enemy grouping, which was advancing north of Yakovlev. In addition, Soviet commanders, staffs and troops as a whole were still inferior to the enemy in skill and tactics. The Wehrmacht had already lost strategically, but fought with great skill. Affected by the mistakes of the Soviet troops in the interaction of infantry, artillery and tanks, ground forces with aviation, various units and formations.
Also, the Wehrmacht had superiority as an armored force. Medium and heavy tanks T-4, T-5 ("Panther") and T-6 ("Tiger"), assault guns "Ferdinand" - had good armor protection and strong artillery weapons. The armored self-propelled howitzers "Hummel" and "Vespe", which were part of the artillery regiments of tank divisions, could be successfully used for direct fire at tanks, they were equipped with excellent Zeiss optics.
In the Prokhorov battle, Rothsmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army included 501 T-34 tanks with a 76-mm cannon, 264 T-70 light tanks with a 45-mm cannon, and 35 Churchill III heavy tanks with a 57-mm cannon (their delivered from Britain). The British tank had very low speed and poor maneuverability. Each corps had a regiment of SU-76 self-propelled artillery mounts, but not a single powerful SU-152. A Soviet medium tank could penetrate 61 mm armor with an armor-piercing projectile at a distance of 1000 m and 69 mm - at 500 m. T-34 armor: frontal - 45 mm, side - 45 mm, tower - 52 mm. The German medium tank T-4 (modernized) had armor thickness: frontal - 80 mm, side - 30 mm, tower - 50 mm. The armor-piercing projectile of his 75-mm cannon at a distance of up to 1500 m pierced armor of more than 63 mm. The German heavy tank T-6 "Tiger" with an 88-mm cannon had armor: frontal - 100 mm, side - 80 mm, turret - 100 mm. Its armor-piercing round penetrated 115 mm of armor. He pierced the armor of the thirty-four at a distance of up to 2000 m.
The 2nd SS Panzer Corps had 400 modern vehicles: about 50 heavy T-6 tanks (88 mm cannon), dozens of T-5 Panther fast medium tanks, modernized T-3 and T-4 tanks (75 mm cannon) and the Ferdinand heavy assault guns (88 mm cannon). To hit an enemy heavy tank, the T-34 had to get closer to it by 500 m. Other tanks had to get even closer. In addition, the Germans had time to prepare for the defense, some of their tanks fired from defended positions. Soviet tanks, yielding to German vehicles in armor and artillery, could achieve victory only in close combat. Artillery was also used to combat Soviet tanks. Therefore, such high losses. In the Prokhorov battle, our troops, according to the Research Institute (Military History) of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, lost 60% of the vehicles (500 out of 800), the Germans - 75% (300 out of 400). It is clear that the Germans underestimated their losses, reporting 80-100 lost tanks.
Valery Zamulin, a modern Russian historian and specialist in the Battle of Kursk, reports that on July 12, Rotmistrov's army lost more than half of its equipment - 340 tanks and 19 self-propelled guns burned out or were damaged (some could be restored). In the period from July 12 to July 16, 1943, the losses of the 5th Panzer Army amounted to: 2,440 people killed, 3,510 wounded, 1157 missing, 225 T-34 medium tanks and 180 T-70 light tanks, 25 self-propelled guns were out of action. There is no exact data on German losses, and there are no documents on the losses of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps on July 12 either. It is clear that tales about the loss of 5 tanks are nonsense.
Who has won
Firstly, it should be noted that the Prokhorovka battle lasted more than one day, on July 12, as they write in the West. The first battles began on July 11, and the fierce battle continued until July 16.
Secondly, our troops repelled a powerful blow from the enemy grouping near Prokhorovka. The Nazis failed to take Prokhorovka, defeat our defending forces and break through further. Not having completed the task and seeing the futility of further attacks, they were forced to retreat. On the night of July 17, the withdrawal of troops began. Our reconnaissance discovered the enemy's withdrawal and Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive. That is, the victory was ours. The Germans left the battlefield and retreated. Soon our troops launched a large-scale offensive and liberated Belgorod.
Thus, the counterattack of the troops of the Voronezh Front, including the army of Rotmistrov, did not lead to the fulfillment of the task. The Germans were also unable to solve the problem. However, the troops of the Voronezh Front, including those in the Prokhorovka area, fulfilled their main task - they held out, did not allow a strong enemy to break through the defenses and enter the operational space. On July 13, Hitler ended the offensive Operation Citadel. The Prokhorovka battle is one of the battles of the great Kursk battle, during which a radical turning point in the war ended. The Red Army finally seized the strategic initiative in the Great War. Prokhorovka is one of the symbols of this great victory.
Rewriting history
The main purpose of such information stuffing in the West (like “the defeat of the Russians at Prokhorovka,” “millions of German women raped by Russian barbarians,” and so forth nonsense and lies) is to rewrite world history in general and the history of world war in particular. Therefore, they destroy monuments to Soviet soldiers and commanders in Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, in Little Russia-Ukraine. Monuments to SS legionaries are erected in the Baltic states, in Little Russia - to Bandera and other ghouls, in Moldova - to Romanian soldiers who fought with the Red Army, etc.
The world order established after the capture of Berlin is collapsing - the Yalta-Potsdam system. Then we won and established peace on the planet. After the destruction of the USSR in 1991, the masters of the West were given the opportunity to build their own world order. And for this you need to rewrite history. This is part of the information war of the West against Russia. There is a purge, a distortion of Russian history in order to destroy our historical memory, to make us "Ivan who do not remember kinship" (which has already been done with Russian-Ukrainians), second-class people, slaves of a new global order. Solve the "Russian question". This is the same order that Hitler built: a slave-owning world with "chosen" lords "and" two-legged weapons. " Only disguised with "democratic", liberal slogans and principles.
Therefore, we are being told that there were no great victories of the Red Army, that the Germans were "overwhelmed with corpses", that there was no liberation of Europe, but there was a "Soviet (Russian) occupation", that we were ruled by the "bloody tyrant" Stalin, who killed tens-hundreds millions of people, etc. When young people believe in it, the West will win.
