Kursk: A Study In Operational Art
5/5
()
About this ebook
The Russian decision to defend first against an expected German offensive is an excellent example of the use of operational art. Acting on the information of the LUCY espionage network, Zhukov constructed his campaign around an unprecedented tactical defensive system in an effort to destroy the German armored formations as they attacked toward Kursk. He intended to initiate his counteroffensive at the point where the German panzer corps had been so attrited that they would not be able to prevent a Russian onslaught which would expel all German forces from the Donetz Basin. German operational flexibility, which had been the hallmark of their previous campaigns, was eliminated by Hitler’s centrally devised and executed plan, reducing commanders such as Manstein and Model to mere tactical actors. In the end the Russian victory was a complete one: tactical, operational and strategic.
Major Kerry K. Pierce
See Book Description
Related to Kursk
Related ebooks
Manstein’s Campaigns - More Than Tactics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anvil of War: German Generalship in Defence on the Eastern Front Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Soviet Defensive Tactics At Kursk, July 1943 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Russian Combat Methods in World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First Winter on the Eastern Front: 1941-1942 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eastern Front Campaign: An Operational Level Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Operational Level Analysis Of Soviet Armored Formations In The Deliberate Defense In The Battle Of Kursk, 1943 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Typhoon: The German Assault on Moscow, 1941 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle of Kursk, 1943 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Guderian 1941: The Barbarossa Campaign Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlitzkrieg Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoots Of Soviet Victory: The Application Of Operational Art On The Eastern Front, 1942-1943 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTyphoon over Moscow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eastern Front Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Blitzkrieg: From the Ground Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Drive on Moscow, 1941 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Battle of Brody and Battle of Kursk: Death and Destruction in the Biggest Tank Battles of The Second World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPanzer Operations: Germany's Panzer Group 3 During the Invasion of Russia, 1941 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for Kharkov, 1941–1943 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Defeat on the Eastern Front Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5German Army on the Eastern Front: The Retreat, 1943–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAugust Storm: Soviet Tactical And Operational Combat In Manchuria, 1945 [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vitebsk: The Fight and Destruction of Third Panzer Army Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The History of the Panzerwaffe: Volume 3: The Panzer Division Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Defense of Moscow 1941: The Northern Flank Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle Group!: German Kamfgruppen Action in World War Two Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Operation Barbarossa: The German Invasion of Soviet Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Kursk
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Kursk - Major Kerry K. Pierce
This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com
To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com
Or on Facebook
Text originally published in 1987 under the same title.
© Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publisher’s Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
KURSK: A STUDY IN OPERATIONAL ART.
By
Maj Kerry K. Pierce, USA.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
Figures: 5
ABSTRACT 6
SECTION I: INTRODUCTION 7
SECTION II: STRATEGIC SITUATION 8
SECTION III: THE CAMPAIGN PLANS 12
SECTION IV: PREPARATION - THE MEANS AVAILABLE 15
SECTION V: THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE 18
SECTION VI: THE FLASHING SWORD OF VENGEANCE 24
SECTION VII: CONCLUSIONS 27
MAPS 29
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 37
BIBLIOGRAPHY 38
Books 38
Journals and Periodicals 38
Manuscripts 39
Figures:
1. — Eastern Theater of War -March 1943
2. — Army Group South situation -March 1943
3. — Russian defenses at Kursk
4. — German offensive plan (ZITADELLE)
5. — Ninth Army’s attack
6. — Fourth Panzer Army‘s attack
7. — Operation KUTUZOV
8. — Operation RUMYANTSEV
ABSTRACT
KURSK: A STUDY IN OPERATIONAL ART. By MAJ Kerry K. Pierce, USA.
This monograph examines the practice of operational art from the perspective of the Kursk Campaign of July-October, 1943. The study begins by presenting the German and Russian campaign plans as examples of two different methods of achieving a desired end state. Each plan’s vision of the future was heavily influenced by the nature of the strategic situation and the personalities of the two principal artists: Adolph Hitler and Marshal Georgii Zhukov. These two leaders had vastly different understandings of strategic possibilities, time-space dimensions of the battlefield, and the means required to achieve their desired end states. The success of Zhukov’s campaign plan was directly related to his linkage of appropriate means and methods toward a desired end state, while Hitler’s failure represented a failure to do likewise. The monograph also uses Kursk to examine several theoretical concepts of war. These include the relative strength of offense and defense, culminating points, the art of combinations, use of reserves, and the center of gravity.
The Russian decision to defend first against an expected German offensive is an excellent example of the use of operational art. Acting on the information of the LUCY espionage network, Zhukov constructed his campaign around an unprecedented tactical defensive system in an effort to destroy the German armored formations as they attacked toward Kursk. He intended to initiate his counteroffensive at the point where the German panzer corps had been so attrited that they would not be able to prevent