Demolishing the Myth, p. 298, and Lloyd Clark, The Battle of the Tanks: Kursk, 1943 (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011), pp. 314–315. Porter, Fifth Guards Tank Army, p. 56, refers to the hatch problem.
34 Not all the Russian tankers … were men Anna Krylova, Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), brilliantly contextualizes the general subject.
35 Rotmistrov arrived at the command post Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, p. 299.
36 Caught in their blankets Ribbentrop’s narrative begins in Kurowski, Panzer Aces, pp. 174–178.
37 Only seven tanks that morning “KTB 4th Panzerarmee, Chefnotizen fur 12.7.1943,” National Archives T-313, reel 369.
38 Soviet barrage was falling short Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 284–385, 301–306.
39 Fifth Guards Tank Army’s first battle Ibid., pp. 306–307.
40 “Steel! Steel! Steel!” Ibid., pp. 308–309. Though Zamulin deftly corrects the details of Rotmistrov’s colorful, frequently cited account of the jump-off, its ambience remains.
41 A massive air attack Bergstrom, Kursk: The Air Battle, pp. 79–81.
42 None was better than Hans-Ulrich Rudel Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Stuka Pilot, trans. Lynton Hudson (New York: Ballantine Books, 1958), pp. 85–86. Bergstrom, Kursk: The Air Battle, p. 79, establishes July 12, rather than the more generally cited July 5, as the most likely date for this.
43 “The first flight flies behind me” Rudel, Stuka Pilot, p. 85.
44 “It was like a giant had grabbed” Interview quoted in Clark, Battle of the Tanks, p. 345.
45 Russians were advancing almost blindly An easily accessible overview of the technical and operational capacities of the T-34/76 at this period is Robert K. Forczyk, Panther vs T- 34: Ukraine 1943 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2007).
46 Puts 234 tanks in the first attack wave Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 309–310.
47 “The field … sprang to life” Ibid., p. 321.
48 “Alone at Prokhorovka” His actual title is “Born Again at Prokhorowka.” Kurowski, Panzer Aces, pp. 178–180.
49 No knowledge of its presence Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 327–328.
50 “Inferno of fire, smoke, burning T-34s” Kurowski, Panzer Aces, p. 181.
51 Command and control eroded Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 319–320.
52 Some of Citadel’s fiercest fighting Ibid., pp. 315–328 passim.
53 Personally took out a T-34 Patrick Agte, Jochen Peiper: Commander, Panzerregiment Leibstandarte, trans. Robert Dohrenwend (Winnipeg: J. J. Fedorowicz, 1999), p. 176.
54 Situational awareness and a cool head Patrick Agte, Michael Wittmann and the Waffen SS Tiger Commanders of the Leibstandarte in WWII, vol. 1. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006), specifically pp. 85–132 passim, contextualizes Wittmann’s Citadel experience with a minimum of the Waffen-SS-flavored heroic pathos common in this genre. T-shirts celebrating Wittmann are nevertheless available at a number of commercial and commemorative Internet sites.
55 Halt at an angle Nipe, Blood, Steel, and Myth, p. 330.
56 Citadel’s defining incident Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 352–353; Kurowski, Panzer Aces, p. 205.
57 The still-desperate melee Nipe, Blood, Steel, and Myth, p. 332; Agte, Jochen Peiper, p. 176.
58 Ran full tilt into Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 332– 334; Lehmann, Leibstandarte, pp. 234–235.
59 A veteran of the 10th Tank Corps … wrote Quoted in Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, p. 335.
60 Ramming a German AFV Ibid., p. 333.
61 The relationship of myth and reality was closer Ibid., pp. 364–370; Nipe, Blood, Steel, and Myth, pp. 340–343.
62 Improvised company of captured T-34s Weidinger, Das Reich, pp. 199–200.
63 Rotmistrov arrived Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 377–378, 456–457.
64 Heavily contingent on Totenkopf’s performance Nipe, Blood, Steel, and Myth, pp. 343–349, 381–398.
65 Not all the comrades were valiant Ibid., pp. 356, 389–90. Paul Wanke, Russian/Soviet Military Psychiatry, 1904–1945 (London: Routledge, 2012), surveys the USSR’s approach to psychiatric casualties.
66 As of 10:45 P.M. Totenkopf’s report of 22.45 in Stadler, Offensive gegen Kursk, p. 105; Nipe, Blood, Steel, and Myth, pp. 349–350.
67 Spent time in a mental hospital Charles W. Sydnor, Jr., Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death’s Head Division, 1933–1945 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977), p. 8.
68 The original, Soviet version Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 516–543, covers Russian mythology; Frieser et al., Ostfront, pp. 129–135, is the German counterpoint. Nipe, Blood, Steel, and Myth, pp. 326–327, focuses on the number of tanks directly involved.
69 Noted only one for July 12 Ralf Tiemann, Chronicle of the 7. Panzer- Kompanie I. SS-Panzer Division “Leibstandarte,” trans. Allen Brandt (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2004), p. 60.
70 Demanding to know what had happened Glantz and House, Battle of Kursk, p. 428, fn. 31; Frieser et al., Ostfront, pp. 132–133; Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 441, 507.
71 Rotmistrov shaking from the stress Armstrong, Red Army Tank Commanders, pp. 320–322. In the course of World War II, over 250 Russian generals were executed or sent to penal units. Christopher N. Donnelly, “The Soviet Attitude Toward Stress in Battle,” in Contemporary Studies in Combat Psychiatry, ed. Gregory Belenky (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987), p. 233.
72 Stalin remained sufficiently disturbed Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, p. 457; Zhukov, Reminiscences and Reflections, p. 190.
73 Manstein “thanked and praised” “Generalkommando II. SS. Pz.-Korps, 22.00 Uhr.,” in Stadler, Offensive gegen Kursk, p. 104.
74 Hoth was edgy “KTB 4th Panzerarmee, Chefnotizen fur 21.7.1943,” National Archives, T-314, roll 1170.
75 “Nothing mattered to me any more” Lochmann et al., Tiger Tank Battalion 503, pp. 116–117. Nipe, Blood, Steel, and Myth, p. 363,
