about 2,000 tanks for his thrust north into the bulge. The Germans had waited an extra three weeks for more Panther and Tiger tanks and this put them in a precarious position as it gave the Soviets time to gather their strength
             As the Germans began to prepare for the offensive and started to marshal their forces, which took an extraordinary amount of time, the Soviets, who knew the attack was coming began to prepare their defense in-depth. They poured in over 200,000 civilian workers, who laid a fifty-mile wide railroad track from Stary Oskol to Livny in order to allow a faster buildup of their defensive network in the bulge area. The work continued around the clock and the Soviets even put up a very good anti-aircraft network of guns and fighters that kept snooping German reconnaissance aircraft away. Also, as in earlier attacks, the Soviets imposed a strict radio silence in the army and any Soviet troop who broke that silence was given the death sentence.
             The Russians took serious advantage of the extensive German delays to pour men, guns, and armor into their defensive zones at a much faster pace than the Germans could ever hope to. The Soviets had the advantage of good interior lines, extensive defenses, good communications lines that had been checked and rechecked, and an excellent transportation system that ran both night and day. Small wonder than Hitler often said that the thought of a battle here made his stomach quail. Also, the Soviets brought in over 20,000 artillery pieces alone! Roughly, there was 6,000 of the awesome 76.2 mm anti-tank guns , well dug-in, as well as about 920 Katyusha rocket launchers. In addition, there were numerous mine belts, both anti-tank and anti-personnel, laid to a density of over 4,000 per mile. No force ever made could breach all of those lines and make a break for the rear areas like in 1941.
             The Soviets also had a great deal of intelligence help in the form of LUCY, a German ve...