World War II Diaries:The Complete War Report
1943 July
E47 Dec 24, 2017
The losses on both camps are rocketing. The intensity of the fighting is draining the morale out of men who are fighting among rotting corpses and tanks that have been turned into scrap. In the Battle of Kursk, in the course of the Soviet counteroffensive around Prokhorovka the Fourth Panzer Army of Marshal Von Manstein loses over ten thousand men and 350 tanks. In addition, the Germans face the thrust of the Western and Bryansk fronts near Orel. Hitler, summons to his headquarters the generals in charge of Operation Zitadelle. Von Manstein suggests that the offensive be continued with the help of fresh troops, while Von Kluge is in favour of aborting it, in view of the deplorable state of the ninth army. The Fuhrer, to his regret, and in light of the Allied landings in Sicily, decides to temporarily halt Operation Zitadelle. The last major German offensive on the Eastern Front has represented a costly failure.