The biggest tank battle of the Second World War. The largest tank battles of the Second World War

On July 12, 1943, a grand tank battle took place near Prokhorovka as part of the Battle of Kursk. According to official Soviet data, 800 Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns and 700 German ones took part in it on both sides.

Since World War I, tanks have been one of the most effective weapons of war. Their first use by the British at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 ushered in a new era - with tank wedges and lightning-fast blitzkriegs.

Battle of Cambrai (1917)

After failures using small tank formations, the British command decided to carry out an offensive using a large number of tanks. Since the tanks had previously failed to live up to expectations, many considered them useless. One British officer noted: "The infantry thinks that the tanks have not justified themselves. Even the tank crews are discouraged."

According to the British command, the upcoming offensive was supposed to begin without traditional artillery preparation. For the first time in history, tanks had to break through enemy defenses themselves.
The offensive at Cambrai was supposed to take the German command by surprise. The operation was prepared in strict secrecy. Tanks were transported to the front in the evening. The British constantly fired machine guns and mortars to drown out the roar of tank engines.

A total of 476 tanks took part in the offensive. The German divisions were defeated and suffered heavy losses. The well-fortified Hindenburg Line was penetrated to great depths. However, during the German counter-offensive, British troops were forced to retreat. Using the remaining 73 tanks, the British managed to prevent a more serious defeat.

Battle of Dubno-Lutsk-Brody (1941)

In the first days of the war, a large-scale tank battle took place in Western Ukraine. The most powerful group of the Wehrmacht - "Center" - was advancing to the north, to Minsk and further to Moscow. The not so strong Army Group South was advancing on Kyiv. But in this direction there was the most powerful group of the Red Army - the Southwestern Front.

Already on the evening of June 22, the troops of this front received orders to encircle and destroy the advancing enemy group with powerful concentric attacks from mechanized corps, and by the end of June 24 to capture the Lublin region (Poland). It sounds fantastic, but this is if you don’t know the strength of the parties: 3,128 Soviet and 728 German tanks fought in a gigantic oncoming tank battle.

The battle lasted a week: from June 23 to 30. The actions of the mechanized corps were reduced to isolated counterattacks in different directions. The German command, through competent leadership, was able to repel a counterattack and defeat the armies of the Southwestern Front. The defeat was complete: Soviet troops lost 2,648 tanks (85%), the Germans lost about 260 vehicles.

Battle of El Alamein (1942)

The Battle of El Alamein is a key episode of the Anglo-German confrontation in North Africa. The Germans sought to cut the Allies' most important strategic highway, the Suez Canal, and were eager for Middle Eastern oil, which the Axis countries needed. The main battle of the entire campaign took place at El Alamein. As part of this battle, one of the largest tank battles in World War II took place.

The Italo-German force numbered about 500 tanks, half of which were rather weak Italian tanks. The British armored units had over 1000 tanks, among which were powerful American tanks - 170 Grants and 250 Shermans.

The qualitative and quantitative superiority of the British was partly compensated by the military genius of the commander of the Italian-German troops - the famous “desert fox” Rommel.

Despite the British numerical superiority in manpower, tanks and aircraft, the British were never able to break through Rommel's defenses. The Germans even managed to counterattack, but the British superiority in numbers was so impressive that the German strike force of 90 tanks was simply destroyed in the oncoming battle.

Rommel, inferior to the enemy in armored vehicles, made extensive use of anti-tank artillery, among which were captured Soviet 76-mm guns, which had proven themselves to be excellent. Only under the pressure of the enemy’s enormous numerical superiority, having lost almost all of its equipment, did the German army begin an organized retreat.

After El Alamein, the Germans had just over 30 tanks left. The total losses of the Italo-German troops in equipment amounted to 320 tanks. The losses of the British tank forces amounted to approximately 500 vehicles, many of which were repaired and returned to service, since the battlefield was ultimately left to them.

Battle of Prokhorovka (1943)

The tank battle near Prokhorovka took place on July 12, 1943 as part of the Battle of Kursk. According to official Soviet data, 800 Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns and 700 German ones took part in it on both sides.

The Germans lost 350 units of armored vehicles, ours - 300. But the trick is that the Soviet tanks that took part in the battle were counted, and the German ones were those that were generally in the entire German group on the southern flank of the Kursk Bulge.

According to new, updated data, 311 German tanks and self-propelled guns of the 2nd SS Tank Corps took part in the tank battle near Prokhorovka against 597 Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army (commander Rotmistrov). The SS lost about 70 (22%), and the guards lost 343 (57%) armored vehicles.

Neither side managed to achieve its goals: the Germans failed to break through the Soviet defenses and gain operational space, and the Soviet troops failed to encircle the enemy group.

A government commission was created to investigate the reasons for the large losses of Soviet tanks. The commission's report called the military actions of Soviet troops near Prokhorovka "an example of an unsuccessful operation." General Rotmistrov was going to be put on trial, but by that time the general situation had developed favorably, and everything worked out.

Battle of the Golan Heights (1973)

The major tank battle after 1945 took place during the so-called Yom Kippur War. The war received this name because it began with a surprise attack by the Arabs during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur (Judgment Day).

Egypt and Syria sought to regain territory lost after the devastating defeat in the Six-Day War (1967). Egypt and Syria were helped (financially and sometimes with impressive troops) by many Islamic countries - from Morocco to Pakistan. And not only Islamic ones: distant Cuba sent 3,000 soldiers, including tank crews, to Syria.

On the Golan Heights, 180 Israeli tanks faced approximately 1,300 Syrian tanks. The heights were a critical strategic position for Israel: if Israeli defenses in the Golan were breached, Syrian troops would be in the very center of the country within hours.

For several days, two Israeli tank brigades, suffering heavy losses, defended the Golan Heights from superior enemy forces. The most fierce battles took place in the “Valley of Tears”; the Israeli brigade lost from 73 to 98 tanks out of 105. The Syrians lost about 350 tanks and 200 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles.

The situation began to change radically after the reservists began to arrive. Syrian troops were stopped and then driven back to their original positions. Israeli troops launched an offensive against Damascus.

Initially, the main German attack on the southern front of the Kursk Bulge was directed to the west - along the Yakovlevo - Oboyan operational line. On July 5, in accordance with the offensive plan, German troops as part of the 4th Panzer Army (48th Panzer Corps and 2nd SS Panzer Corps) and Army Group Kempf went on the offensive against the troops of the Voronezh Front, in position 6- On the first day of the operation, the Germans sent five infantry, eight tank and one motorized divisions to the 1st and 7th Guards armies. On July 6, two counterattacks were launched against the advancing Germans from the Kursk-Belgorod railway by the 2nd Guards Tank Corps and from the Luchki (northern) - Kalinin area by the 5th Guards Tank Corps. Both counterattacks were repelled by the 2nd SS Panzer Corps.

To provide assistance to Katukov’s 1st Tank Army, which was waging heavy fighting in the Oboyan direction, the Soviet command prepared a second counterattack. At 23:00 on July 7, front commander Nikolai Vatutin signed Combat Order No. 0014/op on readiness to begin active operations from 10:30 on the 8th. However, the counterattack carried out by the 2nd and 5th Guards Tank Corps, as well as the 2nd and 10th Tank Corps, although it eased the pressure on the 1st TA brigades, did not bring tangible results.

Having not achieved decisive success - by this time the depth of advance of the advancing troops in the well-prepared Soviet defense in the Oboyan direction was only about 35 kilometers - the German command, in accordance with its plans, shifted the spearhead of the main attack in the direction of Prokhorovka with the intention of reaching Kursk through the bend of the Psel River . The change in direction of the attack was due to the fact that, according to the plans of the German command, it was in the bend of the Psel River that it seemed most appropriate to meet the inevitable counterattack of the superior Soviet tank reserves. If the village of Prokhorovka was not occupied by German troops before the arrival of the Soviet tank reserves, it was planned to suspend the offensive altogether and temporarily go on the defensive, in order to take advantage of the advantageous terrain, preventing the Soviet tank reserves from escaping from the narrow defile formed by the furnace the floodplain of the Psel River and the railway embankment, and prevent them from realizing their numerical advantage by covering the flanks of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps.

By July 11, the Germans took their starting positions to capture Prokhorovka. Probably, having intelligence data about the presence of Soviet tank reserves, the German command took action to repel the inevitable counterattack of the Soviet troops. The 1st Division of the Leibstandarte-SS "Adolf Hitler", better equipped than other divisions of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, took a defile and on July 11 did not undertake attacks in the direction of Prokhorovka, pulling up anti-tank weapons and preparing defensive positions. On the contrary, the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" and the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" supporting its flanks waged active offensive battles outside the defile on July 11, trying to improve their position (in particular, the 3rd Panzer Division covering the left flank SS Totenkopf expanded the bridgehead on the northern bank of the Psel River, managing to transport a tank regiment to it on the night of July 12, providing flanking fire on the expected Soviet tank reserves in the event of an attack through the defile). By this time, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army was concentrated in positions northeast of the station, which, being in reserve, on July 6 received an order to make a 300-kilometer march and take up defense at the Prokhorovka-Vesely line. The concentration area of ​​the 5th Guards Tank and 5th Guards Combined Arms Armies was chosen by the command of the Voronezh Front, taking into account the threat of a breakthrough by the 2nd SS Tank Corps of the Soviet defense in the Prokhorovsk direction. On the other hand, the choice of the indicated area for the concentration of two guards armies in the Prokhorovka area, in the event of their participation in the counterattack, inevitably led to a head-on collision with the strongest enemy group (2nd SS Panzer Corps), and, given the nature of the defile, excluded the possibility covering the flanks of the 1st Leibstandarte-SS Division “Adolf Hitler” defending in this direction. The frontal counterattack on July 12 was planned to be carried out by the 5th Guards Tank Army, the 5th Guards Army, as well as the 1st Tank, 6th and 7th Guards armies. However, in reality, only the 5th Guards Tank and 5th Guards Combined Arms, as well as two separate tank corps (2nd and 2nd Guards), were able to go on the attack; the rest fought defensive battles against the advancing German units. Opposing the front of the Soviet offensive were the 1st Leibstandarte-SS Division "Adolf Hitler", the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" and the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf".

It should be noted that by this time the German offensive on the northern front of the Kursk Bulge had already begun to dry up - from July 10, the advancing units began to go on the defensive.

Major General Mikhail Ovsyannikov remembers

70 years ago: the largest tank battle of the Great Patriotic War July 2nd, 2011

Usually in the USSR the biggest tank battle of the war was called the oncoming one. battle near Prokhorovka during the Battle of Kursk (July 1943). But 826 Soviet vehicles fought there against 416 German ones (although a little less took part in the battle itself on both sides). But two years earlier, from June 24 to June 30, 1941, between the cities Lutsk, Dubno and Brody The battle took place on a much more grandiose scale: 5 Soviet mechanized corps (about 2,500 tanks) stood in the way of the III German Tank Group (more than 800 tanks).

The Soviet corps received orders to attack the advancing enemy and tried to fight head-on. But our command did not have a unified plan, and tank formations struck at the advancing Germans one by one. The old light tanks were not scary for the enemy, but the new tanks of the Red Army (T-34, T-35 and KV) turned out to be stronger than the German ones, so the Nazis began to evade battle with them, withdraw their vehicles, put their infantry in the way of the Soviet mechanized corps and anti-tank artillery.

(Photos taken from site waralbum.ru - there are many pictures taken by all the warring parties
Stalin's generals with their divisions under the influence of "" (where it was ordered to "capture the Lublin region", that is, to invade Poland) rushed forward, lost supply lines, and then our tankers had to abandon completely intact tanks along the roads, left without fuel and ammunition. The Germans looked at them with surprise - especially powerful vehicles with strong armor and several turrets.

The terrible massacre ended on July 2, when the Soviet units surrounded near Dubno broke through to their front, retreating in the direction of Kyiv.

On June 25, the 9th and 19th mechanized corps of generals Rokossovsky (his memories of those days) and Feklenko dealt such a powerful blow to the invaders that they drove them back Smooth, to which the German tankers were already only a few kilometers away. On June 27, an equally powerful blow to the area Dubno inflicted by the tank division of Commissar Popel (his memories).
Trying to surround the enemy who had broken through, Soviet formations kept running into anti-tank defenses put up by the enemy on the flanks. During the assault on these lines, up to half of the tanks perished in one day, as happened on June 24 under Lutsk and June 25 under Radekhov.
There were almost no Soviet fighters in the air: they died on the first day of the war (many at airfields). German pilots felt like “kings of the air.” General Ryabyshev's 8th mechanized corps, hurrying to the front, lost half of its tanks during a 500-kilometer march from enemy air strikes (Ryabyshev's emars).
The Soviet infantry could not keep up with their tanks, while the German infantry was much more mobile - it moved on trucks and motorcycles. There was a case when the tank units of the 15th mechanized corps of General Carpezo were outflanked and almost immobilized by enemy infantry.
On June 28, the Germans finally broke into Smooth. On June 29, Soviet troops were surrounded by Dubno(On July 2, they were still able to escape from the encirclement). On June 30, the Nazis occupied Brody. The general retreat of the Southwestern Front began, and Soviet troops left Lvov, to avoid being surrounded.
During the days of fighting, more than 2,000 tanks were lost on the Soviet side, and either “about 200” or “more than 300” on the German side. But the Germans took their tanks, took them to the rear and tried to repair them. The Red Army was losing its armored vehicles forever. Moreover, the Germans later repainted some tanks, painted crosses on them and put their armored units into service.

The viewer experiences a complete view of tank warfare: a bird's eye view, from the soldiers' point of view of face-to-face confrontation and the careful technical analysis of military historians. From the mighty 88mm gun of the German Tigers of World War II, to the thermal guidance system of the Gulf War M-1 Abrams, each episode explores the significant technical details that defined an era of battle.

Self-PR of the American Army, some descriptions of battles are full of errors and absurdities, it all comes down to the great and all-powerful American technology.

Great Tank Battles brings the full intensity of mechanized warfare to the screens for the first time, analyzing weapons, defenses, tactics and using ultra-realistic CGI animations.
Most of the documentaries in the series relate to the Second World War. Overall, excellent material that needs to be double-checked before being believed.

1. Battle of Easting 73: The harsh, godforsaken desert of southern Iraq is home to the most merciless sandstorms, but today we will see another storm. During the 1991 Gulf War, the US 2nd Armored Regiment was caught in a sandstorm. This was the last major battle of the 20th century.

Year of issue : 2009-2013
Country : Canada, USA
Genre : documentary, war
Duration : 3 seasons, 24+ episodes
Translation : Professional (Single Voice)

Director : Paul Kilbeck, Hugh Hardy, Daniel Sekulich
Cast : Robin Ward, Ralph Raths, Robin Ward, Fritz Langanke, Heinz Altmann, Hans Baumann, Pavel Nikolaevich Eremin, Gerard Bazin, Avigor Kahelani, Kenneth Pollack

Description of the Series : Large-scale tank battles unfold before you in full view, in all their beauty, cruelty and lethality. In the documentary series “Great Tank Battles”, the most significant tank battles are reconstructed using advanced computer technologies and animation. Each battle will be presented from a variety of angles: you will see the battlefield from a bird's eye view, as well as in the thick of the battle, through the eyes of the participants in the battle themselves. Each issue is accompanied by a detailed story and analysis of the technical characteristics of the equipment that took part in the battle, as well as comments on the battle itself and the balance of power of the enemy. You will see a variety of technical means of combat, ranging from the Tigers used during the Second World War, which were in service with Nazi Germany, to the latest developments - thermal target guidance systems, which were successfully used during the battles in the Persian Gulf.

List of episodes
1. Battle of Easting 73: The harsh, godforsaken desert of southern Iraq is home to the most merciless sandstorms, but today we will see another storm. During the 1991 Gulf War, the US 2nd Armored Regiment was caught in a sandstorm. This was the last major battle of the 20th century.
2. The Yom Kippur War: Battle for the Golan Heights / The October War: Battle For The Golan Heights: In 1973, Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel. How did several tanks manage to hold off superior enemy forces?
3. The Battle of El Alamein: Northern Africa, 1944: About 600 tanks of the joint Italian-German army broke through the Sahara desert into Egypt. The British deployed almost 1,200 tanks to stop them. Two legendary commanders: Montgomery and Rommel fought for control of North Africa and the oil of the Middle East.
4. Ardennes operation: battle of PT-1 tanks - throw to Bastogne / The Ardennes: On September 16, 1944, German tanks entered the Ardennes forest in Belgium. The Germans attacked American units in an attempt to change the course of the war. The Americans responded with one of the most massive counterattacks in the history of their military operations.
5. Ardennes operation: battle of PT-2 tanks - attack of the German Joachim Pipers / The Ardennes: 12/16/1944 In December 1944, the most loyal and ruthless killers of the Third Reich, the Waffen-SS, carried out Hitler's last offensive in the west. This is the story of the incredible breakthrough of the Nazi Sixth Armored Army of the American line and its subsequent encirclement and defeat.
6. Operation Blockbuster - Battle of Hochwald(02/08/1945) On February 8, 1945, the Canadian Armed Forces launched an attack in the Hochwald Gorge area with the goal of giving Allied troops access to the very heart of Germany.
7. The Battle of Normandy June 6, 1944 Canadian tanks and infantry land on the Normandy coast and come under deadly fire, coming face to face with the most powerful German machines: SS armored tanks.
8. Battle of Kursk. Part 1: Northern Front / The Battle Of Kursk: Northern Front In 1943, numerous Soviet and German armies collided in the greatest and deadliest tank battle in history.
9. Battle of Kursk. Part 2: Southern Front / The Battle Of Kursk: Southern Front The battle near Kursk culminates in the Russian village of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943. It is the story of the biggest tank battle in military history, as elite SS troops face off against Soviet defenders determined to stop them at any cost.
10. The Battle of Arrcourt September 1944. When Patton's Third Army threatened to cross the German border, Hitler, in desperation, sent hundreds of tanks into a head-on collision.
11. Battles of the First World War / Tank Battles of the Great War In 1916, Britain, hoping to break the long, bloody, hopeless situation on the Western Front, used new mobile weapons. This is the story of the first tanks and how they changed the face of the modern battlefield forever.
12. Battle of Korea / Tank Battles of Korea In 1950, the world was taken by surprise as North Korea attacked South Korea. This is the story of American tanks rushing to the aid of South Korea and the bloody battles they wage on the Korean Peninsula.
13. The Battle of France At the start of World War II, the Germans pioneered a new form of mobile armored tactics. This is the story of the Nazis' famous Blitzkrieg, where thousands of tanks broke through terrain thought to be impassable and conquered Western Europe within weeks.
14. The Six Day War: Battle for the Sinai In 1967, in response to the growing threat from its Arab neighbors, Israel launches a preemptive strike against Egypt in the Sinai. This is the story of one of the fastest and most dramatic victories in modern warfare.
15. The Battle for the Baltics By 1944, the Soviets had turned the tide of the war in the East and were driving the Nazi army back through the Baltic states. This is the story of German tank crews who continue to fight and win battles even though they cannot win the war.
16. The Battle of Stalingrad Towards the end of 1942, the German offensive on the Eastern Front begins to slow down, and the Soviets place their emphasis on defense in the city of Stalingrad. This is the story of one of the most dramatic battles in history, in which an entire German army was lost and the course of the war was changed forever.
17. Tank Ace: Ludwig Bauer / Tank Ace: Ludwig Bauer After the success of the Blitzkrieg, young men throughout Germany flocked to the tank corps in search of glory. This is the story of a German tankman who comes face to face with the harsh reality of tank forces. He fights in several important battles and survives World War II.
18 October War: Battle for the Sinai / The October War: Battle for the Sinai Seeking to recapture lost territory six years earlier, Egypt launches a surprise attack against Israel in October 1973. This is the story of the final Arab-Israeli war in the Sinai, where both sides achieve success, suffer stunning defeats and - most importantly - enduring peace.
19. The Battle of Tunisia By 1942, Rommel's Afrika Korps had been driven back to Tunisia and met the new American Panzer Corps in North Africa. This is the story of the final battles in North Africa by two of history's most famous tank commanders, Patton and Rommel.
20. Battle of Italy / Tank Battles of Italy In 1943, the tanks of the Royal Canadian Armored Corps made their combat debut on the European mainland. This is the story of Canadian tank crews who fight their way across the Italian Peninsula and, in an offensive breakthrough, strive to liberate Rome from Nazi occupation.
21. Battle of Sinai. Wanting to regain lost territory, Egypt launched an attack on Israel in 1973. This is the story of how the war in the Sinai ended, bringing both defeats and victories to both sides.
22. Tank battles of the Vietnam War (part 1)
23. Tank battles of the Vietnam War (part 2)