Hitler was determined to move forward despite warnings from some of his senior strategists that the operation should be abandoned because of the Red Army's huge fortifications. The Red Army dug in and amassed its own formidable arsenal of around 1,300,000 men, more than 20,000 guns and mortars, 3,600 tanks, 2,650 aircraft, five reserve field armies of another 500,000 men and 1,500 additional tanks. However, delays to the blitzkrieg (shock campaign, or lightning war) offensive allowed the Soviets plenty of time to prepare for the battle. Germany amassed more than 500,000 men, 10,000 guns and mortars, 2,700 tanks and assault guns and 2,500 aircraft to mount an attack on the Kursk Bulge and take the city. Germany's original invasion of the Soviet Union had created a salient – an outward bend in a battle line where troops have advanced – known as the Kursk Bulge because Kursk lay at its centre. It was part of Operation Citadel, the Germans' final effort to regain dominance on the Eastern Front following huge losses in the Battle of Stalingrad and other major engagements. The Battle of Kursk took place in July and August 1943 around the Soviet city of Kursk in western Russia. The Battle of Kursk – The Russians won one of the biggest tank battles in history against the Germans
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