Not all records have daily numbers recorded, and there is always the possibility of human error.įor Prokhorovka these difficulties are magnified by the fact that historians have never agreed on the exact scope of the battle. How many tanks were present at Prokhorovka? German Panzer IIIs fitted with Schurzen add-on armour on the move.Įxact numbers on any particular day can often be difficult to determine, as a unit’s records don’t always distinguish between numbers of tanks in their possession and the number actually functioning that day. The numbers presented here are taken from ‘Kursk 1943: A Statistical Analysis’ by Niklas Zetterling and Anders Frankson and ‘Demolishing the Myth’ by Valeriy Zamulin.
This post gives a very brief overview of the results of this research.
As a result it’s now generally accepted that these numbers have been greatly exaggerated and that Prokhorovka wasn’t the largest tank battle. However since the end of the Cold War extensive research by historians in the Soviet and German archives have analysed records of the units that took part. In particular the fighting at Prokhorovka on the 12 th July is often reported to have involved anywhere from 1200 to 2000 tanks clashing at point blank range, resulting in the destruction of up to 1200 vehicles. For decades the Battle of Kursk has been widely believed to be the largest tank battle in history.
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