Trenches and other anti-tank traps were dug. The Russians had guessed where the Germans would try to use their tanks in depth – and placed a large number of their anti-tank artillery guns there.
1.3 million soldiers were based there, 20,000 artillery pieces, 3,600 tanks and 2,400 planes. The Russians had also placed vast numbers of men and equipment in the Kursk bulge. By the summer of 1943, two-thirds of the German Army was based in Russia. As there was no second front in the west – and the Germans predicted that there would not be in 1943 – men based in the west were moved to the Russian Front. The new equipment was matched by an increase in manpower.
The Luftwaffe received the Focke-Wolfe 190A fighter and the Henschel 129. The Tiger, King Tiger and Panther tanks were introduced as was the new Ferdinand self-propelled gun. The production of planes had doubled between the two years ammunition production had increased three-fold by 1943.īy the summer of 1943, the Wehrmacht was also being equipped with new weaponry. In 1942, Germany produced 5,700 medium and heavy tanks. The German industrial sector headed by Albert Speer, was expanding at a massive rate despite the bombing of Germany by the Allies. This could only be to the advantage of the Germans.īy the summer of 1943, the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were increasingly well armed. A defeat of Russia in the east might result in the collapse of any form of relationship between the Russians and the Allies in the west. It was known that the Russians were becoming increasingly tired at the seeming unwillingness of Britain and America to open up a second front in the west. However, they also hoped to force through a political one. A successful German offensive had obvious military consequences for the Germans.
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