Battle of Kursk (Morgen die ganze Welt)

Timeline:  Morgen die ganse Welt

Thursday, May 13 1943 the end in Africa The last remnants of the German Afrika Korps surrender in Tunesia. This is the culmination of the disasters of Stalingrad and El Alamein. Hitler decides it is time for desperate measures.

Saturday, May 15 1943 accident Otto Ambros, I.G. Farben's authority on nerve gas, dies in an aircraft accident. He was summoned to a meeting with Hitler organized by Albert Speer who was hoping to use him to stop the Führer from using nerve gas. This new war gas is 300 times more powerful than cyanide. Otto Ambros was fully prepared to convince Hitler that the Allies had nerve gas and would retaliate by bombing German cities with nerve gas. Hitler now follows his famous intuition and decides to implement the recommendation of the HWA (Heereswaffenamt) to use Germany's most fearsome weapon. The total stock of 1,500 tons of Tabun and Sarin are allocated to the East Front, where a great battle has been planned in the Kursk area with the codename operation Citadel. This will become the greatest battle in human history. Hitler knows about the excellent Soviet spy network Rote Kapelle. Therefore he orders his reluctant generals to attack immediately so that the element of surprise is not lost. The generals want to wait until the new Panther tanks are available. Hitler points out that the battle will be decided by nerve gas - new tanks will be irrelevant.

Monday, May 31 1943 Operation Citadel At Kursk there is is a 200 km large bulge in the frontline punched out as a result of the battle of Stalingrad. It is an obvious springboard for a new Soviet offensive and at the same time a target for Axis attack. The Soviets have fortified the area with all available troops, tanks, artillery and aircraft, in total one fifth of Soviet manpower. Defensive lines are 175 km deep and considered impenetrable. This evening soldier first class Felis Ivanovitch is on guard at a forward supply dump 35 km from Prokhorovka. At 22.15 he hears a dull thud and a muffled explosion directly in front of him. On the horizon there are flashes of artillery fire and after half a minute the grumble of artillery reaches him. There are more muffled explosions nearby. Not being the type of hero advertised in war propaganda he moves suspiciously to investigate. He comes upon a small crater with some smoke coming out of it. Careful! This may be a gas shell that the political commissar has been warning about. While deliberating whether to risk making a fool of himself by giving a false alarm he notices something odd. Although the sun has set the sky is still light but now it is rapidly getting darker. He also starts sweating although it is not warm. His right arm starts trembling uncontrollably. Realization comes quickly and he takes a deep breath to shout an alarm. Too late. Air has become solid in his lungs, impossible to breath in or out. He crumples like a puppet with all his muscles revolting against him. Within seconds Felis is dead. His last thought is one of indignation that the hated Schwaben have found a way to re-enact the Soviet revolution in a human body. In a way Felis is one of the lucky ones who die quickly of a massive overdose. The artillery bombardment is calculated to achieve an average 100 mg per cubic meter nerve gas density over an area of 2000 square kilometers using 1,000 tons of Tabun and Sarin. But the density is uneven over the battlefield. This is of no benefit to the Soviets, it just means that some die in seconds while others take many hours to die miserably. Even if soldiers survive they have irreversible neurological damage. Soviet artillery opens up randomly, then abruptly falls silent as the nerve gas cloud reaches the guns. In pitch darkness Axis trucks roar forward and unload engineers in chemical suits. They start clearing mines in eerie silence. By 4 o'clock reconnaissance groups in chemical suits probe forward.

Tuesday, June 1 1943 Panzer voran Reconnaissance units secure observation posts while Stukas fly overhead to bomb Soviet airfields, HQs and communications with the remaining nerve gas. At 8:00 the command "panzer voran" is given. Axis tanks hesitantly move forward to their first targets: Savidovka and Butovo. Field engineers lead the armor checking for signs of persistent Tabun. There is no resistance of any sort. Trenches are filled with dead soldiers in contorted positions. Even hardened SS veterans have to look away from the scene. The advance continues past square kilometers of T-34 tanks with dead crew scattered around them, then past awesome antitank defenses. There is an unnatural silence as even insects have died. A war correspondent will later write in Signal magazine "This is what the end of the world looks like." The first Soviet airplanes are observed. The pilots are obviously bewildered, not knowing what to make of Axis armor movements deep in Soviet territory. They make half-hearted attacks on the tanks and return to their airfields. It is their last flight as Stukas have bombed the airfields with nerve gas.

Wednesday, June 2 1943 Battle of Kursk The Kursk offensive is successful beyond the wildest dreams of the OKH. Winds have blown the Tabun and Sarin cloud to the east, causing havoc for hundreds of kilometers behind the lines among Soviet reserve forces. Axis armor drives through Pokhorovka at high speed. By 4 o'clock in the afternoon Hoth's 4th army moving south and Model's 9h army moving north meet at Kursk and the trap is sprung. Three Soviet armies have been massacred in one day including the crack 5th Guards Tank Army, the heroes of Stalingrad. It is the greatest military defeat in human history and the only battle that eclipses Hannibal's victory against Rome at Cannae.

Thursday, June 3 1943 Battle of Kursk The Axis has won the battle of Kursk. And how! One million tons of supplies has been captured. This will enable the offensive to be extended and opens up new possibilities. Armor is already moving in the direction of Tula, Livny and Voronezh. Surviving Soviet defenders in the Kursk area are dazed and bewildered. They are mopped up and sent into captivity. 1.3 million Soviet soldiers are dead or captured, one fifth of Soviet manpower. More than 3,000 T-34 and KV-1 tanks are captured, effectively doubling Axis armor, and 20,000 artillery pieces. All Axis armored units that were converted to infantry are now reconverted to armor but still there is a shortage of crew. Tanks schools are ordered to send their recruits to the front, even when not ready as long as they can vaguely recognize the shape of a tank. General Zhukov, one of the best Soviet generals, is found dead in his HQ. Axis forces are in excellent shape, ready to follow up on the success. Losses are minimal: some 2,000 Axis soldiers have run into nerve gas and are incapacitated in spite of prompt treatment. They will never completely recover.

Saturday, June 5 1943 Battle of Kursk Axis armor pours through the undefended gap in the front. Livny is quickly captured. The advance is temporarily slowed when Axis troops run into pockets of persistent Tabun nerve gas. Engineers clear paths through contaminated areas with sodium hydroxide spray. Rumors of the advancing Axis armor causes panic far behind the frontline. Soviet forces are withdrawn from other theaters to try and plug the gap. Over 100,000 Soviets are sent to hospitals where the doctors can't make sense of the nerve gas symptoms. They will never fight again.

Sunday, June 6 1943 Battle of Kursk Voronezh is the first major city recaptured by the Axis. On desolate airfields more than 2,800 aircraft have been found intact, some with dead pilots in the seats. The Soviets have lost thousands of experienced pilots to nerve gas, losses that cannot be replaced quickly.

Monday, June 7 1943 Battle of Kursk Tula 200 km south of Moscow is captured by the Axis. General Von Manstein prefers to strike east towards the Volga and cut Russia in two. Hitler intervenes and demands that Moscow be captured. Von Manstein has to comply and orders an immediate attack over a broad front in the Smolensk area to tie down Soviet armies while concentrating forces in Tula.

Tuesday, June 8 1943 Battle of Kursk Captured tanks have been used by the Axis to create 20 new armored divisions. There is a shortage of crew but fortunately Soviet tanks are easy to handle. The Wehrmacht is already familiar with the T-34 as a few hundred captured ones were already serving in the army. One hundred T-34s are hastily sent to Sicily to reinforce Panzerkorps XIV. The Korps has only 47 tanks left. Three infantry divisions and some Luftwaffe squadrons are withdrawn from the East and sent to Italy and Greece. An invasion is expected at any moment somewhere in the South of Europe. The Allies have made many efforts to mislead the German Abwehr into expecting an invasion in Greece.

Thursday, June 10 1943 Battle of Moscow The Moscow offensive starts with the Soviets still reeling. The Luftwaffe has achieved complete air superiority in the Moscow area and hinders Soviet road movement. Bombers concentrate on the extended anti-aircraft defenses of Moscow while Messerschmitts strafe roads. General Jeremenko is in charge of the defense of Moscow while Stalin has prudently left for Gorki.

Thursday, June 10 1943 Pointblank The Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff issue the pointblank directive. It is an order to destroy the Luftwaffe in preparation of operation Overlord, the Allied invasion. Aircraft factories will be targeted and aircraft support industry. This will be a battle of attrition. There is some concern about rumored Axis victories in the east although this may be Axis propaganda. However the Allies feel they must help the Soviets in any way possible.

Saturday, June 12 1943 Battle of Moscow Soviets use masses of soldiers in human wave attacks trying to gain time. The Axis uses captured artillery to smash the attacks. Axis 9th army breaks through to Mozhaisk where operation Barbarossa stalled in 1941. Armored columns of the 4th army capture Kolomna to the east threatening to envelop Moscow. The Luftwaffe is making a supreme effort to disrupt Soviet communications. Nerve gas stocks are used up but after the recent success an increase in production capacity is ordered.

Tuesday, June 15 1943 Battle of Moscow Unstoppable Axis armor pincers meet at Aleksandrov, completely surrounding Moscow. At the same time two Soviet armies are surrounded on the Smolensk front. Desperate counterattacks are ineffective.

Friday, June 18 1943 siege of Moscow The first artillery shells land in the Red Square. The OKH is concentrating 10,000 artillery pieces - most of them captured - for the siege of Moscow.

Tuesday, June 22 1943 siege of Moscow Amid rumors of German secret weapons the demoralized Soviet armies in the Smolensk pocket crumble and surrender on the anniversary of operation Barbarossa. This is seen as a good omen by the OKH. Stalin keeps sending threats and commands to the armies for days after they don't exist anymore. 400,000 Soviets join the thousands that are already in prison camps. The Allied secret service has intercepted German secret messages that seem to indicate that Germany has developed a new type of poison gas. The Allies have been aware of a new German gas weapon but no details are known. Spies are asked to find more. Stalin is informed. Nobody realizes just how lethal the new poison gas is.

Wednesday, June 23 1943 siege of Moscow General Jeremenko in charge of the defense of Moscow signals to Stalin for reinforcements. The outlook is grim: he has 250,000 soldiers confronting 850,000 Axis soldiers with heavy guns and tanks. Relief is impossible. To the contrary, general Hoth is chasing towards Gorki on the Volga in the best blitzkrieg style, advancing 60 km per day. The Wehrmacht excels in this type of warfare.

Wednesday, June 30 1943 Siege of Moscow Street fighting in Moscow intensifies. The defenders are steadily driven back while Moscow is reduced to rubble. The last remaining Tabun is used where defenders put up too much resistance. An offer of honorable surrender from Von Manstein is stubbornly refused. Rzeh and Kalinn on the Volga north of Moscow are captured.

Monday, July 5 1943 Gorki Axis Reconnaissance columns reach Gorki on the Volga. Axis forces are now 1,600 km from their starting positions of operation Barbarossa. Axis forces relentlessly close in on the center of Moscow with the defenders running out of ammunition.

Friday, July 9 1943 siege of Moscow The last desperate resistance in Moscow collapses. Tiger tanks roar into the Red Square. They give covering fire for SS stormtroopers who assault the Kremlin with flame throwers and phosphorous grenades. The hopeless defenders hold out for one more hour, then the Swastika flies from the Kremlin. Axis troops break out in a thunderous cheer which is captured on film by Axis war correspondents - an invaluable item of propaganda. Fighting continues in isolated pockets. General Jeremenko is killed in one of the pockets of resistance. Field Marshall Paulus is found hiding in a house. He is transported to Berlin by the Gestapo. Hitler makes a triumphant speech in the Reichstag where he announces the fall of Moscow and rejoices in the immense defeat of the Soviet Union. He predicts that the whole rotten communist house of cards will come tumbling down. His speech ends with a solemn "Gott ist mit uns - amen." The crowd replies with thundering "Sieg Heil" for fifteen minutes. This speech is the first indication to the Allies of the disaster in the Soviet Union. Meanwhile the Volga front is quiet. Railways are being changed to German gauge, repair shops service tanks and the new armored divisions get used to the T-34. Supply lines to Leningrad are cut. Starvation is only months away for the city.

Saturday, July 10 1943 Husky Allied troops land in Sicily. It is hoped that this will divert German troops from the Soviet Union. The Allies know the Soviets are in trouble but they don't know the extent as Stalin is not keen on reporting failures. The OKH moves all available divisions in Italy to Sicily but this will take time. The forces present are not strong enough to repel the invasion. Armor from the East front has not arrived yet.

Sunday, July 12 1943 Sicily The US 7th army and British 8th army make good progress in Sicily in spite of a vicious counterattack.

Friday, July 17 1943 Sicily General Patton captures Palermo, the capital city of Sicily in a surprise attack. Axis forces make a fighting retreat to Messina, preparing to evacuate Sicily. The first Axis reinforcements have arrived.

Thursday, July 18 1943 Moscow Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Milch and an army of lesser dignitaries visit Moscow and attend the opera "Lohengrin" in the undamaged Bolshoi theater. The performers are flown in from Berlin. This is a propaganda exercise and very effective.

Monday, July 19 1943 Sverdlovsk Stalin makes a radio speech where he accuses Hitler of using poison gas. He promises that the Soviet Union will retaliate in kind. German propaganda subtly hints that a secret weapon called a "death ray" was responsible for the Soviet defeat but nobody is buying it.

Wednesday, July 21 1943 Sicily Luftwaffe fighter squadrons and some 100 Il-2 Sturmoviks arrive in Messina from the East Front. They will be used to challenge Allied air supremacy. General Kesselring is put in charge of all Axis forces in Italy and Rommel returns from sick leave to take command of the army. The newly created 35th panzer division using T34s and the veteran 501 Tiger battalion are transported across the strait of Messina. Total Axis armor is now 300 against 600 Allied tanks, but Axis tanks are superior. Rommel changes plans to evacuate Sicily and decides to attack instead.

Friday, July 24 1943 Messina Allied forces in Sicily advance on Messina intent on cutting off the Axis retreat. More Axis reinforcements arrive in Messina daily. Axis 35th armored division has moved forward and will be the spearhead of a massive counterattack. In Rome Mussolini is removed from power and arrested.