GySgt Matt Gail Research Paper 23 Nov 01
             THESIS: Operational CITADEL (Zitadelle) was not only the greatest tank battle ever fought but it was also the last important German offensive in the East and the lost of the battle sounded the death knell for the German war effort on the Eastern Front.
             The town of Kursk held a prewar population of 120,000 and was of little meaning in and of itself, except as a reference point. However, it was the land around Kursk that mattered to the Germans. The land consisted of a mixture of valleys, small copses, villages, small brooks, and the River Pena, which possessed steep banks and a fast moving current which made a very good defensive position. The roads were impassable in the winter and the wet muddy spring and the cornfields made visibility very poor. It was the high ground in the north that attracted the Germans, Colonel Mellenthin specifically, which favored the defender and could only help the embryonic German mobile defense system. It was, as Colonel Mellethin put it, not good tank ground but this did not necessarily make it tankproof.
             Thus, as the planning for Operation Zitadelle began, the German line in south central Russia was marked by a very large bulge, pointing towards the German lines. (see Map #1) In the north and south, the German salients looked like two fangs getting ready to close on the Russian zone. The German High Command initially wanted a short and fast offensive to snip off the spearheads of the coming Soviet summer offensive and the High Commands on both sides realized that the victor would assume the initiative in the east and, with a German victory, the Soviets saw themselves back in the role that they played in 1941. The Germans possessed about 3,000 tanks and self-propelled guns and they had amassed over 1,800 aircraft to start the operation with. So, the plan had, Model, in the north, attacking south with about 1,000 tanks while von Manstein possessed ...