The German Tanks A Tiger I of Heavy Panzer Battalion 505 in the summer of 1943.Īnother member of the Tiger family was used at Kursk, the Tiger I. In return however Ferdinand crews claimed the destruction of 502 Soviet tanks.

Of the 90 produced, just 50 survived Kursk and returned to Germany at the end of August. It also proved to be unreliable and many that were damaged or broke down couldn’t be recovered as they were just too heavy. However Ferdinands proved vulnerable to close range attack from infantry as the gun had limited traverse and it wasn’t fitted with any machine guns (they were added later). At Kursk they were used as a slow moving battering ram, relying on their thick armour for protection as they advanced. It fought in the North, around Ponyri and Maloarchangelsk.įerdinands proved to be formidable opponents, as their powerful guns could destroy Soviet vehicles at long range. The third vehicle in 3 rd Platoon, 6 th Company, its tactical number at Kursk was 633. It was issued to Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion 654 in May 1943. The Elefant was on display in the Tiger Collection and actually fought at Kursk. A Veteran of the Battle The Elefant, a veteran of the battle, at The Tank Museum.

This article will take a look at some of the German tanks used in the battle. There are examples of most of the tanks that fought at Kursk on display at The Tank Museum. In fact recent research has suggested that there were larger tank battles in 1941, and that the fighting at Prokhorovka involved fewer tanks than previously thought, but this shouldn’t take anything away from Kursk’s scale and importance. The Battle of Kursk is widely believed to have been the largest tank battle in history. This was about 70 per cent of all their tanks on the Eastern Front. The attacking German forces at Kursk amassed 777,000 men and around 2500 tanks and assault guns.

The battle of the tanks kursk 1943