Armor and Blood

47 Luftwaffe higher command for Citadel For details of organization and equipment, see Bergstrom, Kursk: The Air Battle, pp. 123–128.

48 Air force possessed a counterpart to Zhukov John Erickson, “Novikov,” in Harold Shukman, ed. Stalin’s Generals, pp. 155–174.

49 Shturmovik Yefim Gordon, Ilyushin Il2-Il10 (Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2010), is definitive on this famous but relatively unfamiliar aircraft.

50 The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht For more on the OKW’s input, see Citino, The Wehrmacht Retreats, pp. 170–175, and Walter Warlimont, Inside Hitler’s Headquarters, 1939–45, trans. R. H. Barry (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1991), p. 333. For background, see Geoffrey P. Megargee, “Triumph of the Null: Structure and Conflict in the Command of German Land Forces, 1939–1945,” War in History 4, no. 1 (1997): 60–80.

51 Zeitzler too was having second thoughts Healy, Zitadelle, p. 88.

52 Model weighed in Peter von der Groeben, “Ninth Army and Second Panzer Army,” in Kursk: The German View, pp. 102–105; and Newton, Hitler’s Commander, pp. 219–223.

53 On July 1, the Fuhrer summoned the senior generals Manstein, Verlorene Siege, pp. 495–497.

54 “The German Supreme Command could think of nothing better” Mellenthin, Panzer Battles, p. 217.

55 By the time the preparations for Kursk were complete Frieser et al., Ostfront, pp. 95–97.

CHAPTER III: STRIKE

1 Central Front’s counterbarrage opened Rokossovsky, A Soldier’s Duty, p. 195.

2 Agreed to delay the attack Glantz and House, Battle of Kursk, pp. 85, 400.

3 1st Air Division received a surprise Bergstrom, Kursk: The Air Battle, pp. 34–36.

4 Landser soon found the going heavy Healy, Zitadelle, pp. 220–222.

5 [Ferdinands] began life as a competitor to the Tigers For this unfortunate AFV, later renamed Elefant, see Walter J. Spielberger, “Panzerjaeger Tiger (p) Elefant,” no. 20 in Armour in Profile, ed. Stevenson Pugh (Letterhead, UK: Profile Publications, 1968).

6 Remote-controlled wire-guided mine-clearing vehicle Healy, Zitadelle, pp. 222–226.

7 Ninth Army’s initial Schwerpunkt Ibid., pp. 226–229; Glantz and House, Battle of Kursk, pp. 86–91; and, more closely focused, Christopher W. Wilbeck, Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War II (Bedford, PA: Aberjona Press, 2004), pp. 69–71.

8 Red Air Force was becoming a presence Hardesty and Grinberg, Red Phoenix Rising, pp. 241–243.

9 Model was anything but a rear-echelon commando Newton, Hitler’s Commander, pp. 228–234, reconstructs and analyzes Model’s command behaviors on July 5, 6, and 7 on the basis of a barely legible penciled “Notz fur Kriegstagebuch” (“Notes for the War Diary”) that survived the nearly total loss of Ninth Army’s relevant records later in the war. The document can be found in captured German records, National Archives, T-312, roll 322.

10 Rudenko quickly proposed mass attacks Bergstrom, Kursk: The Air Battle, pp. 40–43.

11 The only way out was through Newton, Hitler’s Commander, pp. 233–244, and Glantz and House, Battle of Kursk, pp. 91– 93, present the headquarters’ perspectives. The excerpts from the war diary of Panzer Battalion 21 in 20th Panzer Division (Jentz, Panzertruppen, vol. 2, pp. 75, 83–84) convey some of the sense of the seesaw fighting that characterized July 6 in Model’s sector.

12 Luftwaffe threw in every flyable plane Bergstrom, Kursk: The Air Battle, pp. 43–49.

13 The 6th Infantry Division Figures from Newton, Kursk: The German View, p. 409.

14 Rokossovsky handled his reserves effectively Rokossovsky, A Soldier’s Duty, pp. 197–201.

15 Model phoned Army Group Center Newton, Hitler’s Commander, pp. 237–239.

16 Committed to a mental hospital It is worth noting that a year later, Schmidt was briefly considered as a candidate for chief of the general staff! Hurter, Hitlers Heerfuhrer, pp. 602–603.

17 Ninth Army was running out of infantry Ibid., p. 243.

18 Ponyri as the key to Central Front’s position Frieser et al., Ostfront, pp. 109–110; Glantz and House, Battle of Kursk, pp. 115–117.

19 Model’s intended Schwerpunkt for July 7 Glantz and House, Battle of Kursk, pp. 117–120; Newton, Hitler’s Commander, pp. 239–245.

20 Intended to work with the tanks Matthew Hughes and Chris Mann, Fighting Techniques of a Panzergrenadier: 1941–1945 (Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing Company, 2000), is a useful introduction.

21 Ninth Army had taken more than thirteen thousand casualties Niklas Zetterling and Anders Frankson, Kursk 1943: A Statistical Analysis (London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2000), pp. 113, 120–121.

22 Fourth Panzer Army already had the heaviest hammer Ibid., p. 18; Frieser et al., Ostfront, pp. 90–93.

23 On May 10, Manstein met with Hoth Melvin, Manstein, pp. 360–361.

24 Ein alter Hase Hoth’s reservations are discussed by his chief of staff; see General of Infantry Friedrich Fangohr, “Fourth Panzer Army,” in Kursk: The German View, pp. 77–79.

25 Manstein understood the problem Manstein, Verlorene Siege, p. 494; Melvin, Manstein, p. 362.

26 Manstein’s May 10–11 visit Fifth Panzer Army’s war diary, May 11, 1944, in National Archives, T-313, reel 65. The most detailed analysis of the genesis of the “Hoth variant” is Steven H. Newton, “Hoth, von Manstein, and Prokhorovka: A Revision in Need of Revising,” in Kursk: The German View, pp. 357–363.

27 Manstein was horsey Stahlberg, Bounden Duty, pp. 299– 301.

28 The train he adopted as his mobile headquarters Manstein, Verlorene Siege, p. 498.