This offensive fizzled at the Battle of Ponyiri on 12 July. It consisted of the Ninth Army with five corps and six German panzer divisions. To the north was the German attack from the Orel salient that was about two-thirds the size of the attack in the south. On the other hand, it probably is not.īut, this was just one part of the Battle of Kursk. So depending on which Battle of Brody figures being used, and whether all the Soviet tanks were indeed ready-for-action and committed to the battle, then the Battle of Brody might be larger than the attack in the southern part of the Kursk salient. This includes tanks that were added during the two weeks of battle and mysterious adjustments to strength figures that we cannot otherwise explain. Our count of total committed tanks is slightly higher, 1,749 German and 2,978 Soviet. The Soviets at 4 July in the all formations that would eventually get involved has 2,775 tanks with 1,664 tanks in the Voronezh Front at the start of the battle. My tank counts for the southern attack staring 4 July 1943 was 1,707 German tanks (1,709 depending if you count the two Panthers that caught fire on the move up there). This offensive involved five German corps (including three Panzer corps consisting of nine panzer and panzer grenadier divisions) and they faced seven Soviet Armies (including two tank armies and a total of ten tank and mechanized corps). Now, is this really a larger tank battle than the Battle of Kursk? My book covers only the southern part of the German attack that started on 4 July and ended 17 July. So, total tanks involved are from 3,750 to up to 6,000, with the lower figure appearing to be more correct. Sources vary on this, and I have not taken the time to sort this out (so many battles, so little time). The German won with losses of around a 100 to 200 tanks.

Only 3,000 Soviet tanks made it to the battlefield according to Glantz (see video at 16:00). This rather confused affair pitted between 750 to 1,000 German tanks against 3,500 to 5,000 Soviet tanks. This battle occurred right at the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and consisted of two German corps attacking five Soviet corps in what is now Ukraine. What they put forth as the largest tank battle in history is the Battle of Brody in 23-30 June 1941. Displayed across the top of my book is the phrase “Largest Tank Battle in History.” Apparently some people dispute that.

Largest tank battle ever ww2