Battle of Kursk order of battle

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Battle of Kursk
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  • Order of Battle

The Battle of Kursk order of battle is a list of the significant units that fought in the Battle of Kursk between July and August 1943.

Units smaller than division size and Soviet aviation divisions are not shown in this order of battle.

German

Army Group Centre (Günther von Kluge)

2nd Army (Walter Weiß)

  • VII Corps (Ernst-Eberhard Hell)
    • 26th Infantry Division
    • 68th Infantry Division
    • 75th Infantry Division
    • 88th Infantry Division
  • XIII Corps (Erich Straube)
    • 82nd Infantry Division
    • 327th Infantry Division
    • 340th Infantry Division

9th Army (Walther Model)

  • XX Corps (Rudolf Freiherr von Roman)
    • 45th Infantry Division
    • 72nd Infantry Division
    • 137th Infantry Division
    • 251st Infantry Division
  • XLVI Panzer Corps (Hans Zorn)
    • 7th Infantry Division
    • 31st Infantry Division
    • 102nd Infantry Division
    • 258th Infantry Division
  • XLVII Panzer Corps (Joachim Lemelsen)
    • 2nd Panzer Division
    • 9th Panzer Division
    • 20th Panzer Division
    • 6th Infantry Division
  • XLI Panzer Corps (Josef Harpe)
  • XXIII Corps (Johannes Frießner)
    • 216th Infantry Division
    • 383rd Infantry Division
    • 78th Assault Division
  • Army Reserve
    • 4th Panzer Division
    • 10th Panzergrenadier Division
    • 12th Panzer Division

2nd Panzer Army (Erich-Heinrich Clößner)

  • XXXV Corps (Lothar Rendulic)
    • 34th Infantry Division
    • 56th Infantry Division
    • 262nd Infantry Division
    • 299th Infantry Division
  • LIII Corps (Friedrich Gollwitzer)
  • LV Corps (Erich Jaschke)
    • 110th Infantry Division
    • 134th Infantry Division
    • 296th Infantry Division
    • 339th Infantry Division
  • Army Reserve
    • 112th Infantry Division

Army Group Reserve

    • 5th Panzer Division
    • 8th Panzer Division

Army Group South (Erich von Manstein)

4th Panzer Army (Hermann Hoth)

Army Detachment Kempf (Werner Kempf)

  • III Panzer Corps (Hermann Breith)
    • 6th Panzer Division
    • 7th Panzer Division
    • 19th Panzer Division
    • 168th Infantry Division
  • XI Army Corps (Erhard Raus)
    • 106th Infantry Division
    • 320th Infantry Division
  • XLII Corps (Franz Mattenklott)
    • 39th Infantry Division
    • 161st Infantry Division
    • 282nd Infantry Division

Army Group Reserve

Luftwaffe

Soviet

Western Front

The following units were included in the Western Front, commanded by Colonel General Vasily Sokolovsky.[4]

50th Army

The 50th Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Ivan Boldin and included the following units.[5]

  • 38th Rifle Corps (Major General Alexey Tereshkov)
    • 17th Rifle Division
    • 326th Rifle Division
    • 413th Rifle Division
  • 49th Rifle Division
  • 64th Rifle Division
  • 212th Rifle Division
  • 324th Rifle Division

11th Guards Army

The 11th Guards Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Ivan Bagramyan, and included the following units.[6]

1st Air Army

The 1st Air Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Mikhail Gromov, included the following units.[7]

  • 2nd Assault Aviation Corps (Major General Vasily Stepichev)
  • 2nd Fighter Aviation Corps (Lieutenant General Alexey Blagoveshchensky)
  • 8th Fighter Aviation Corps (Major General Fyodor Zherebchenko)

Front assets

The following units were directly subordinated to the front.[8]

  • 371st Rifle Division
  • 1st Tank Corps (Major General Vasily Butkov)
  • 5th Tank Corps (Major General Mikhail Sakhno)

Bryansk Front

The Bryansk Front was commanded by Colonel General Markian Popov, and consisted of the following units.[9]

3rd Army

The 3rd Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander Gorbatov, and included the following units.[10]

61st Army

The 61st Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Pavel Belov and included the following units.[11]

63rd Army

The 63rd Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Vladimir Kolpakchi, and included the following units.[12]

  • 35th Rifle Corps (headquarters only, Major General Viktor Zholudev)
  • 40th Rifle Corps (headquarters only, Major General Vladimir Kuznetsov)
  • 5th Rifle Division
  • 41st Rifle Division
  • 129th Rifle Division
  • 250th Rifle Division
  • 287th Rifle Division
  • 348th Rifle Division
  • 397th Rifle Division
  • 28th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division

15th Air Army

The 15th Air Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Nikolai Naumenko, and included the following units.[12]

Front Assets

The following units were directly subordinated to the front.[13]

  • 25th Rifle Corps (Major General Pyotr Pererva)
    • 186th Rifle Division
    • 283rd Rifle Division
    • 362nd Rifle Division
  • 1st Guards Tank Corps (Major General Mikhail Panov)
  • 2nd Breakthrough Artillery Corps (to 63rd Army, Lieutenant General Mikhail Barsukov)
    • 13th Breakthrough Artillery Division
    • 15th Breakthrough Artillery Division
    • 3rd Guards Mortar Division
  • 7th Breakthrough Artillery Corps (to 61st Army, Major General Pavel Korolkov)
    • 16th Breakthrough Artillery Division
    • 17th Breakthrough Artillery Division
    • 2nd Guards Mortar Division

Central Front

The Central Front was commanded by Army General Konstantin Rokossovsky, and consisted of the following units:[14]

13th Army

The 13th Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Nikolai Pukhov, and included the following units:[15]

48th Army

The 48th Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Prokofy Romanenko, and including the following units:[16]

  • 42nd Rifle Corps (Major General Konstantin Kolganov)
  • 73rd Rifle Division
  • 137th Rifle Division
  • 143rd Rifle Division
  • 170th Rifle Division
  • 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division

60th Army

The 60th Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Ivan Chernyakhovsky and included the following units:[17]

65th Army

The 65th Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Pavel Batov, and was composed of the following units:[18]

70th Army

The 70th Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Ivan Galanin, and included the following units:[19]

  • 28th Rifle Corps (Major General Alexander Nechayev)
    • 132nd Rifle Division
    • 211th Rifle Division
    • 280th Rifle Division
  • 102nd Rifle Division
  • 106th Rifle Division
  • 140th Rifle Division
  • 162nd Rifle Division
  • 175th Rifle Division
  • 1st Guards Artillery Division
  • 12th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division

2nd Tank Army

The 2nd Tank Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Alexey Rodin, who was replaced by Lieutenant General Semyon Bogdanov on 2 August. It consisted of the following units:[20]

16th Air Army

The 16th Air Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Sergei Rudenko, and included the following units:[21]

  • 3rd Bomber Aviation Corps (Major General Afanasy Karavatsky)
  • 6th Mixed Aviation Corps (Major General Ivan Antoshkin)
  • 6th Fighter Aviation Corps (Major General Yevgeny Erlykin)

Front Assets

The following units were directly subordinated to the front:[22]

Voronezh Front (Nikolai Vatutin)

6th Guards Army (Ivan Chistyakov)

7th Guards Army (Mikhail Shumilov)

38th Army (Nikandr Chibisov)

40th Army (Kirill Moskalenko)

69th Army (Vasily Kryuchenkin)

1st Tank Army (Mikhail Katukov)

2nd Air Army (Stepan Krasovsky)

Front Assets

Steppe Front

The following units were part of the Steppe Front, commanded by Ivan Konev. The front was formed from the Steppe Military District on 9 July,[23] to serve as a reserve if the German attack broke through and to provide fresh troops for a counterattack to begin as soon as the German attack was halted. This order of battle does not show the complete composition of the Steppe Front. In addition to the units listed below, there were also the 4th Guards, 27th, 47th and 53rd Armies.[24] The 4th Guards,[25] 27th, 47th, and the 53rd Armies were held in reserve during the battle and thus did not participate.[26] The 5th Guards Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army were both committed to the counterattack in the Battle of Prokhorovka, where they fought as part of the Voronezh Front.[27]

5th Guards Army

The following units were part of the 5th Guards Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Alexey Zhadov. The 10th Tank Corps was directly subordinated to the front on 7 July and became part of the 1st Tank Army on 8 July. Also on 8 July, the 5th Guards Army was transferred to the Voronezh Front.[28]

5th Guards Tank Army

The 5th Guards Tank Army consisted of the following units, under the command of Lieutenant General Pavel Rotmistrov. The 18th Tank Corps joined the army from the Reserve of the High Command on 7 July. The army was transferred to the Voronezh Front on 11 July.[30]

5th Air Army

The 5th Air Army included the following units, and was commanded by Lieutenant General Sergei Goryunov.[31] It entered combat in mid-July.[32]

  • 7th Mixed Aviation Corps (Major General Pyotr Arkhangelsky)
  • 8th Mixed Aviation Corps (Major General Nikolai Kamanin)
  • 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps (Major General Yevgeny Savitsky)
  • 7th Fighter Aviation Corps (Major General Aleksandr Utin)

Citations

  1. ^ Holm, Michael. "Luftflotte 4". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  2. ^ a b Clark 2012, p. 200.
  3. ^ Holm, Michael. "Luftflotte 6". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  4. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 290.
  5. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 290–291.
  6. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 291–293.
  7. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 293.
  8. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 293–295.
  9. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 295.
  10. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 295–296.
  11. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 296–297.
  12. ^ a b Glantz & House 2004, p. 297.
  13. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 298–299.
  14. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 299.
  15. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 299–301.
  16. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 301–302.
  17. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 302.
  18. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 302–303.
  19. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 303–304.
  20. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 304.
  21. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 305.
  22. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 305–306.
  23. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 322.
  24. ^ Clark 2012, p. 204.
  25. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 244.
  26. ^ Dunn 2008, pp. 75–78.
  27. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 113.
  28. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 323–324.
  29. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 323.
  30. ^ Glantz & House 2004, pp. 326–327.
  31. ^ Glantz & House 2004, p. 328.
  32. ^ Zetterling & Frankson 2000, p. 75.

References

  • Clark, Lloyd (2012). Kursk: The Greatest Battle: Eastern Front 1943. London: Headline Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7553-3639-5.
  • Dunn, Walter S. (2008) [1997]. Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1943. Mechanicsburg, PA, USA: Stackpole. ISBN 9781461751229.
  • Zetterling, Niklas; Frankson, Anders (2000). Kursk 1943: A Statistical Analysis. Cass Series on the Soviet (Russian) Study of War. London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5052-8.
  • Frankson, Anders; Niklas Zetterling (2002). "Styrkorna inför den tyska offensiven". Slaget om Kursk. Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag. ISBN 91-1-301078-6.
  • Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan M. (2004) [1999]. The Battle of Kursk. Lawrence, KS, USA: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1335-9.