Battles of the Ages: three of the most brutal tank battles in history. ORD: Myths of World War II: About the largest tank battle

Since its inception, the tank has been and remains the main threat on the battlefield. Tanks became a blitzkrieg tool and a weapon of victory in World War II, a decisive trump card in the Iran-Iraq war; even equipped with the most modern means of destroying enemy manpower, the American army cannot do without the support of tanks. the site has selected seven of the biggest tank battles since the first appearance of these armored vehicles on the battlefield until today.

Battle of Cambrai

This was the first successful episode of the massive use of tanks: more than 476 tanks took part in the Battle of Cambrai, united in 4 tank brigades. Great hopes were placed on armored vehicles: with their help, the British intended to break through the heavily fortified Siegfried Line. The tanks, mostly the latest at that time Mk IV with side armor reinforced to 12 mm, were equipped with the latest know-how of that time - fascines (75 bundles of brushwood fastened with chains), thanks to which the tank could overcome wide trenches and ditches.

On the very first day of the fighting, a resounding success was achieved: the British managed to penetrate the enemy's defenses for 13 km, capture 8,000 German soldiers and 160 officers, as well as a hundred guns. However, it was not possible to build on the success, and the subsequent counter-offensive of the German troops virtually nullified the efforts of the allies.

Irretrievable losses in the tanks of the Allies amounted to 179 vehicles, even more tanks failed for technical reasons.

Battle of Anna

Some historians consider the Battle of Anna to be the first tank battle of World War II. It began on May 13, 1940, when Göpner's 16th Panzer Corps (623 tanks, 125 of which were the latest 73 Pz-IIIs and 52 Pz-IVs, capable of fighting French armored vehicles on an equal footing), advancing in the first echelon of the 6th German army, started fighting with the advanced French tank units of the corps of General R. Prieux (415 tanks - 239 "Hotchkiss" and 176 SOMUA).

During the two-day battle, the 3rd French light mechanized division lost 105 tanks, the German losses amounted to 164 vehicles. At the same time, German aviation had complete air supremacy.

Raseiniai tank battle

According to data from open sources, about 749 Soviet tanks and 245 German vehicles took part in the Battle of Raseiniai. The Germans had air superiority, good communication and organization on their side. The Soviet command threw its units into battle in parts, without artillery and air cover. The result was predictable - the operational and tactical victory of the Germans, despite the courage and heroism of the Soviet soldiers.

One of the episodes of this battle became legendary - the Soviet KV tank was able to hold the offensive of an entire tank group for 48 hours. The Germans could not cope with a single tank for a long time, they tried to shoot it from an anti-aircraft gun, which was soon destroyed, to undermine the tank, but all in vain. As a result, a tactical trick had to be used: 50 German tanks surrounded the KV and began to fire from three directions in order to divert his attention. At this time, an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was secretly installed in the rear of the KV. She hit the tank 12 times, and three shells pierced the armor, destroying it.

Battle of Brody

The largest tank battle in the early stages of World War II, in which 800 German tanks were opposed by 2,500 Soviet vehicles (figures vary greatly from source to source). Soviet troops advanced in the most difficult conditions: tankers entered the battle after a long march (300-400 km), moreover, in scattered units, without waiting for the approach of combined arms support formations. Equipment on the march broke down, and there was no normal communication, and the Luftwaffe dominated the sky, the supply of fuel and ammunition was disgusting.

Therefore, in the battle for Dubno - Lutsk - Brody, the Soviet troops were defeated, losing more than 800 tanks. The Germans missed about 200 tanks.

Battle in the Valley of Tears

The battle in the Valley of Tears during the Yom Kippur War clearly showed that victory is not won by numbers, but by skill. In this battle, the numerical and qualitative superiority was on the side of the Syrians, who prepared more than 1260 tanks for the assault on the Golan Heights, including the latest T-55s and T-62s at that time.

All that Israel had was a couple of hundred tanks and excellent training, as well as courage and high stamina in battle, the Arabs never had the latter. Illiterate fighters could leave the tank even after a shell hit it without breaking through the armor, and it was very difficult for the Arabs to cope even with Soviet simple sights.

The most grandiose was the battle in the Valley of Tears, when, according to open sources, more than 500 Syrian tanks attacked 90 Israeli vehicles. In this battle, the Israelis were desperately short of ammunition, it came to the point that the jeeps of the reconnaissance unit moved from tank to tank with 105-mm ammunition recovered from the wrecked Centurions. As a result, 500 Syrian tanks and a large number of other equipment were destroyed, Israeli losses amounted to about 70-80 vehicles.

Battle of the Harhi Valley

One of the largest battles of the Iran-Iraq war took place in the Kharkhi Valley, near the city of Susengerd, in January 1981. Then the 16th tank division of Iran, which is armed with the latest British tanks "Chiften" and American M60, faced in a head-on battle with an Iraqi tank division - 300 Soviet T-62s.

The battle lasted about two days - from January 6 to 8, during which time the battlefield turned into a real quagmire, and the opponents became so close that it became risky to use aviation. The result of the battle was the victory of Iraq, whose troops destroyed or captured 214 Iranian tanks.

Also during the battle, the myth of the invulnerability of the Chieftain tanks, which have powerful frontal armor, was buried. It turned out that the 115-mm armor-piercing sub-caliber projectile of the T-62 cannon pierces the powerful armor of the Chieftain's turret. Since then, Iranian tankers have been afraid to launch a frontal attack on Soviet tanks.

Battle of Prokhorovka

The most famous tank battle in history, in which about 800 Soviet tanks collided with 400 German tanks in a head-on battle. Most of the Soviet tanks were T-34s armed with a 76mm cannon that couldn't penetrate the latest German Tigers and Panthers head-on. Soviet tankers had to use suicidal tactics: approach the German vehicles at maximum speed and hit them on the side.

In this battle, the losses of the Red Army amounted to about 500 tanks, or 60%, German losses - 300 vehicles, or 75% of the original number. The most powerful strike force was bled white. The Inspector General of the Wehrmacht’s tank forces, General G. Guderian, stated the defeat: “The armored forces, replenished with such great difficulty, were out of order for a long time due to heavy losses in people and equipment ... and there were no longer calm on the Eastern Front days".

July, 12 -memorable date of the military history of the Fatherland. On this day in 1943, the largest tank battle in World War II between the Soviet and German armies took place near Prokhorovka.

The direct command of tank formations during the battle was carried out by Lieutenant General Pavel Rotmistrov from the Soviet side and SS Gruppenführer Paul Hausser from the German side. None of the parties managed to achieve the goals set for July 12: the Germans failed to capture Prokhorovka, break through the defenses of the Soviet troops and enter the operational space, and the Soviet troops failed to surround the enemy grouping.

“Of course, we won near Prokhorovka, not allowing the enemy to break into the operational space, forced him to abandon his far-reaching plans and forced him to retreat to his original position. Our troops withstood the four-day fierce battle, and the enemy lost his offensive capabilities. But the Voronezh Front also exhausted its forces, which did not allow it to immediately go on the counteroffensive. A stalemate has developed, figuratively speaking, when the command of both sides is still wanted, but the troops can no longer!”

PROGRESS OF THE BATTLE

If in the zone of the Soviet Central Front, after the start of their offensive on July 5, 1943, the Germans were not able to penetrate deeply into the defense of our troops, then a critical situation developed on the southern face of the Kursk salient. Here, on the first day, the enemy brought into battle up to 700 tanks and assault guns, supported by aircraft. Having met a rebuff in the Oboyan direction, the enemy shifted his main efforts to the Prokhorov direction, trying to capture Kursk with a blow from the southeast. The Soviet command decided to launch a counterattack on the enemy grouping that had penetrated. The Voronezh Front was reinforced by the Headquarters reserves (5th Guards Tank and 45th Guards Armies and two tank corps). On July 12, the largest tank battle of World War II took place in the Prokhorovka area, in which up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns participated on both sides. Soviet tank units strove to engage in close combat ("armor to armor"), since the distance of destruction of the 76 mm T-34 guns was no more than 800 m, and the rest of the tanks had even less, while the 88 mm guns of the "Tigers" and "Ferdinands" hit our armored vehicles from a distance of 2000 m. When approaching, our tankers suffered heavy losses.

Both sides suffered huge losses near Prokhorovka. In this battle, Soviet troops lost 500 tanks out of 800 (60%). The Germans lost 300 tanks out of 400 (75%). For them it was a disaster. Now the most powerful strike force of the Germans was drained of blood. General G. Guderian, at that time the inspector general of the tank forces of the Wehrmacht, wrote: “The armored forces, replenished with such great difficulty, were out of order for a long time due to heavy losses in people and equipment ... and already more in the East there were no quiet days at the front. On this day there was a turning point in the development of the defensive battle on the southern face of the Kursk salient. The main enemy forces went on the defensive. On July 13-15, German troops continued their attacks only against units of the 5th Guards Tank and 69th Armies south of Prokhorovka. The maximum advance of German troops on the southern face reached 35 km. On July 16, they began to withdraw to their original positions.

ROTMISTROV: AMAZING COURAGE

I would like to emphasize that in all sectors of the grandiose battle that unfolded on July 12, the soldiers of the 5th Guards Tank Army showed amazing courage, unshakable stamina, high combat skills and mass heroism, up to self-sacrifice.

A large group of fascist "tigers" attacked the 2nd battalion of the 181st brigade of the 18th tank corps. The battalion commander, Captain P. A. Skripkin, boldly accepted the blow of the enemy. He personally knocked out two enemy vehicles one after another. Having caught the third tank in the crosshairs of the sight, the officer pulled the trigger ... But at the same moment his combat vehicle shook violently, the turret filled with smoke, the tank caught fire. The driver-foreman A. Nikolaev and the radio operator A. Zyryanov, saving a seriously wounded battalion commander, pulled him out of the tank and then saw that a "tiger" was moving right at them. Zyryanov hid the captain in a shell crater, while Nikolaev and the charging Chernov jumped into their flaming tank and went to ram, crashing into a steel fascist hulk on the move. They died while fulfilling their duty to the end.

The tankers of the 29th Panzer Corps fought bravely. The battalion of the 25th brigade, led by the communist major G.A. Myasnikov, destroyed 3 "tigers", 8 medium tanks, 6 self-propelled guns, 15 anti-tank guns and more than 300 fascist machine gunners.

An example for the soldiers was the decisive actions of the battalion commander, company commanders, senior lieutenants A. E. Palchikov and N. A. Mishchenko. In a heavy battle for the village of Storozhevoye, the car in which A.E. Palchikov was located was hit - a caterpillar was torn off by a shell burst. The crew members jumped out of the car, trying to repair the damage, but they were immediately fired upon from the bushes by enemy submachine gunners. The soldiers took up defense and repulsed several attacks of the Nazis. In this unequal battle, Aleksey Egorovich Palchikov died a hero's death, his comrades were seriously injured. Only the driver, candidate member of the CPSU (b), foreman I. E. Safronov, although he was also wounded, could still fire. Hiding under a tank, overcoming pain, he fought off the onslaught of the Nazis until help arrived.

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE STAFF OF THE VGK MARSHAL A. VASILEVSKY TO THE SUPREME COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ON THE FIGHTING IN THE PROKHOROVKA AREA, July 14, 1943

According to your personal instructions, since the evening of July 9, 1943, I have been continuously in the troops of Rotmistrov and Zhadov in the Prokhorovka and southern directions. Until today, inclusive, the enemy continues mass tank attacks and counterattacks against our advancing tank units on the front of Zhadov and Rotmistrov ... Based on observations of the ongoing battles and according to the testimony of prisoners, I conclude that the enemy, despite huge losses, as in human forces , and especially in tanks and aircraft, still does not give up the idea of breaking through to Oboyan and further to Kursk, achieving this at any cost. Yesterday I myself personally observed a tank battle of our 18th and 29th corps with more than two hundred enemy tanks in a counterattack southwest of Prokhorovka. At the same time, hundreds of guns and all the RSs we have took part in the battle. As a result, the entire battlefield was littered with burning German and our tanks for an hour.

Over the course of two days of fighting, Rotmistrov's 29th Tank Corps lost 60% of its tanks irrevocably and temporarily out of order, and up to 30% of its tanks in the 18th Corps. Losses in the 5th Guards. mechanized corps are insignificant. The next day, the threat of a breakthrough of enemy tanks from the south to the area of Shakhovo, Avdeevka, Aleksandrovka continues to be real. During the night I take all measures to bring the entire 5th Guards here. a mechanized corps, the 32nd motorized brigade and four iptap regiments... The possibility of an oncoming tank battle is not ruled out here and tomorrow. In total, at least eleven tank divisions continue to operate against the Voronezh Front, systematically replenished with tanks. The prisoners interviewed today showed that the 19th Panzer Division today has about 70 tanks in service, the Reich division - up to 100 tanks, although the latter has already been replenished twice since July 5, 1943. The report was delayed due to the late arrival from the front.

The Great Patriotic War. Military-historical essays. Book 2. Fracture. M., 1998.

THE COLLAPSE OF THE CITADEL

On July 12, 1943, a new stage of the Battle of Kursk began. On this day, part of the forces of the Soviet Western Front and the Bryansk Fronts went on the offensive, and on July 15 the troops of the right wing of the Central Front attacked the enemy. On August 5, the troops of the Bryansk Front liberated Orel. On the same day, the troops of the Steppe Front liberated Belgorod. On the evening of August 5, in Moscow, in honor of the troops who liberated these cities, an artillery salute was fired for the first time. During fierce battles, the troops of the Steppe Front, with the assistance of the Voronezh and Southwestern Fronts, liberated Kharkov on August 23.

The Battle of Kursk was cruel and merciless. The victory in it went to the Soviet troops at a great cost. In this battle, they lost 863303 people, including 254470 irrevocably. Losses in equipment amounted to: tanks and self-propelled guns 6064, guns and mortars 5244, combat aircraft 1626. As for the losses of the Wehrmacht, information about them is fragmentary and incomplete. In Soviet works, calculated data were presented, according to which, during the Battle of Kursk, German troops lost 500 thousand people, 1.5 thousand tanks, 3 thousand guns and mortars. Regarding losses in aircraft, there is evidence that only during the defensive stage of the Battle of Kursk, the German side irrevocably lost about 400 combat vehicles, while the Soviet side lost about 1000. However, many experienced German aces, who had been fighting for more than one year in the East front, among them 9 holders of the "Knight's Crosses".

It is undeniable that the collapse of the German operation "Citadel" had far-reaching consequences, had a decisive influence on the entire subsequent course of the war. The armed forces of Germany after Kursk were forced to switch to strategic defense not only on the Soviet-German front, but also in all theaters of military operations of the Second World War. Their attempt to regain the strategic initiative lost during the Battle of Stalingrad suffered a crushing failure.

OREL AFTER THE LIBERATION FROM THE GERMAN OCCUPATION

(from A. Werth's book "Russia in the War"), August 1943

(...) The liberation of the ancient Russian city of Orel and the complete elimination of the Oryol wedge, which had threatened Moscow for two years, was a direct result of the defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk.

In the second week of August, I was able to travel by car from Moscow to Tula, and then to Orel ...

In these thickets, through which the dusty road from Tula now ran, at every step, death lies in wait for a person. "Minen" (in German), "mines" (in Russian) - I read on old and new boards stuck in the ground. In the distance, on a hill, under a blue summer sky, one could see the ruins of churches, the remains of houses and lonely chimneys. These weeds, stretching for miles, were no man's land for nearly two years. The ruins on the hill were the ruins of Mtsensk. Two old women and four cats are all living creatures that Soviet soldiers found there when the Germans withdrew on July 20. Before leaving, the fascists blew up or burned everything—churches and buildings, peasant huts and everything else. In the middle of the last century, “Lady Macbeth” by Leskov and Shostakovich lived in this city ... The “desert zone” created by the Germans now stretches from Rzhev and Vyazma to Orel.

How did Orel live during almost two years of German occupation?

Of the 114 thousand people in the city, only 30 thousand now remain. The invaders killed many residents. Many were hanged in the city square - on the same one where the crew of the Soviet tank, which was the first to break into Orel, is now buried, as well as General Gurtiev, a famous participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, who was killed on the morning when Soviet troops took the city in battle. It was said that the Germans killed 12 thousand people and sent twice as many to Germany. Many thousands of Orlovites went to the partisans Orlovsky and Bryansk forests, because here (especially in the Bryansk region) there was an area of \u200b\u200bactive partisan operations (...)

Werth A. Russia in the war 1941-1945. M., 1967.

*Rotmistrov P.A. (1901-1982), Ch. Marshal of the armored forces (1962). During the war, from February 1943 - commander of the 5th Guards. tank army. From Aug. 1944 - Commander of the armored and mechanized troops of the Red Army.

**Zhadov A.S. (1901-1977). General of the Army (1955). From October 1942 to May 1945, commander of the 66th (from April 1943 - 5th Guards) Army.

Since the First World War, tanks have been one of the most effective weapons of war. Their first use by the British at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 ushered in a new era, with tank wedges and lightning-fast blitzkriegs.

1 Battle of Cambrai (1917)

After failures with the use of small tank formations, the British command decided to launch an offensive using a large number tanks. Since the tanks had not lived up to expectations before, many considered them useless. One British officer noted: "The infantry thinks that the tanks have not justified themselves. Even the tank crews are discouraged."

According to the plan of the British command, the upcoming offensive was supposed to begin without traditional artillery preparation. For the first time in history, tanks themselves had to break through the enemy defenses. The offensive at Cambrai was supposed to take the German command by surprise. The operation was prepared in strict secrecy. Tanks were brought to the front in the evening. The British were constantly firing machine guns and mortars to drown out the roar of tank engines.

In total, 476 tanks participated in the offensive. The German divisions were defeated and suffered heavy losses. The well-fortified "Hindenburg Line" was broken through to a great depth. However, during the German counter-offensive, the British troops were forced to retreat. Using the remaining 73 tanks, the British managed to prevent a more serious defeat.

2 Battle for Dubno-Lutsk-Brody (1941)

In the first days of the war, a large-scale tank battle took place in Western Ukraine. The most powerful grouping of the Wehrmacht - "Center" - advanced to the north, to Minsk and further to Moscow. Not so strong army group "South" was advancing on Kyiv. But in this direction there was the most powerful grouping of the Red Army - the South-Western Front.

Already in the evening of June 22, the troops of this front received orders to encircle and destroy the advancing enemy grouping with powerful concentric strikes by mechanized corps, and by the end of June 24 to capture the Lublin region (Poland). It sounds fantastic, but this is if you do not know the strength of the parties: in a giant oncoming tank battle, 3128 Soviet and 728 German tanks met.

The battle lasted a week: from 23 to 30 June. The actions of the mechanized corps were reduced to isolated counterattacks in different directions. The German command, through competent leadership, managed to repel a counterattack and defeat the armies of the Southwestern Front. The rout was complete: the Soviet troops lost 2648 tanks (85%), the Germans - about 260 vehicles.

3 Battle of El Alamein (1942)

The Battle of El Alamein is a key episode in the Anglo-German confrontation in North Africa. The Germans sought to cut the most important strategic highway of the Allies - the Suez Canal, and rushed to the Middle Eastern oil, which the Axis needed. The pitched battle of the entire campaign took place at El Alamein. As part of this battle, one of the largest tank battles in World War II took place.

The Italo-German forces numbered about 500 tanks, half of which were rather weak Italian tanks. The British armored units had over 1000 tanks, among which were powerful American tanks - 170 "Grants" and 250 "Shermans".

The qualitative and quantitative superiority of the British was partly offset by the military genius of the commander of the Italo-German troops - the famous "desert fox" Rommel.

Despite the British numerical superiority in manpower, tanks and aircraft, the British were never able to break through Rommel's defenses. The Germans even managed to counterattack, but the superiority of the British in numbers was so impressive that the German shock group of 90 tanks was simply destroyed in the oncoming battle.

Rommel, inferior to the enemy in armored vehicles, made extensive use of anti-tank artillery, among which were captured Soviet 76-mm guns, which proved to be excellent. Only under the pressure of the huge numerical superiority of the enemy, having lost almost all the equipment, the German army began an organized retreat.

The Germans had just over 30 tanks left after El Alamein. The total losses of the Italo-German troops in equipment amounted to 320 tanks. The losses of the British armored forces amounted to approximately 500 vehicles, many of which were repaired and returned to service, since the battlefield was eventually left to them.

4 Battle of Prokhorovka (1943)

The tank battle near Prokhorovka took place on July 12, 1943 as part of the Battle of Kursk. According to official Soviet data, 800 Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns and 700 German ones participated in it from both sides.

The Germans lost 350 armored vehicles, ours - 300. But the trick is that the Soviet tanks that participated in the battle were counted, and the German ones - those that were in general in the entire German grouping on the southern flank of the Kursk salient.

According to new, updated data, 311 German tanks and self-propelled guns of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps against 597 Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army (Commander Rotmistrov) participated in the tank battle near Prokhorovka. The SS men lost about 70 (22%), and the guards - 343 (57%) units of armored vehicles.

None of the parties managed to achieve their goals: the Germans failed to break through the Soviet defenses and enter the operational space, and the Soviet troops failed to surround the enemy grouping.

A government commission was set up to investigate the causes of the heavy losses of Soviet tanks. In the report of the commission, the military operations of the Soviet troops near Prokhorovka are called "a model of an unsuccessfully conducted operation." General Rotmistrov was going to be handed over to the tribunal, but by that time the general situation had developed favorably, and everything worked out.

5 Battle of the Golan Heights (1973)

The major tank battle after 1945 took place during the so-called Yom Kippur War. The war got its name because it began with a surprise attack by the Arabs during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur (Judgment Day).

Egypt and Syria sought to regain territories lost after the crushing defeat in the Six Day War (1967). Egypt and Syria were helped (financially and sometimes with impressive troops) by many Islamic countries - from Morocco to Pakistan. And not only Islamic ones: distant Cuba sent 3,000 soldiers to Syria, including tank crews.

On the Golan Heights, 180 Israeli tanks opposed approximately 1,300 Syrian ones. The heights were the most important strategic position for Israel: if the Israeli defenses in the Golan had been broken through, the Syrian troops would have been in the very center of the country in a few hours.

For several days, two Israeli tank brigades, suffering heavy losses, defended the Golan Heights from superior enemy forces. The most fierce fighting took place in the Valley of Tears, the Israeli brigade lost from 73 to 98 tanks out of 105. The Syrians lost about 350 tanks and 200 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles.

The situation began to change radically after the reservists began to arrive. Syrian troops were stopped and then driven back to their original positions. Israeli troops launched an offensive against Damascus.

Of all the branches of the armed forces, the most important are still tank ones. As for the importance of heavy armored vehicles in a real combat situation, it is difficult to overestimate it even in the modern rocket and space era. What can we say about the period of the Second World War, when the main, key battles were primarily tank ones. This time we will talk about the three greatest tank battles of this war - in 1941 near Dubno, in 1942 near El Alamein and, of course, near Prokhorovka in 1943.

June 1941: Battle of Dubno

AT recent times it has become fashionable for historians and publicists to assign the title of the largest tank battle to the battle of Prokhorovka, while another, less well-known, but no less bloody battle, near Dubno on June 23-28, 1941, played an equally important role in the course of the war.

There is a certain logic in this. Already there and then, the outcome of hostilities on the entire Soviet-German front could be predetermined, but on one condition: if the tankers of the Red Army had won. Alas, this did not happen, although the opportunities for this were excellent.

The largest tank battle that took place around and near the Western Ukrainian city of Dubno can be called solely for arithmetic reasons. There were more heavy combat vehicles that participated in it than on the Prokhorovsky field. And indeed it is.

June 27, 1941, when the Soviet mechanized corps were closest to achieving a triumph. If it had happened then, perhaps the enemy would never have reached Prokhorovka, but, unfortunately, everything turned out not at all so successfully.

Victory, as is now clear, was then very close. It was only necessary to support the group under the command of brigade commissar N.K. Popel with neighboring units, which fought out on the outskirts of Dubno. She could well cut the communications of the 1st Nazi Panzer Group, in fact, taking her into an environment.

But the infantry units, instead of moving along with the tankers, for some reason covered them from the rear. As a result, they could not cover the tanks.

It was customary in Soviet historiography to represent Commissar N.N. But he acted correctly - it was not his fault that the command of the Southwestern Front showed frank indecision. Not even all the tank units that had already been deployed took part in the offensive. It was from desperation, most likely, that N. N. Vashugin shot himself, from the realization of his own powerlessness to help the units sent by him into a deliberately losing battle.

Perhaps it was not without betrayal, otherwise how to explain why the main striking force of the entire Red Army - the 4th mechanized corps under the command of that same A. A. Vlasov - did not participate in the decisive battle?

Purely formally, he acted within the instructions of the command of the Southwestern Front, which, instead of the strike prescribed by the Headquarters on Lublin, decided only on a local operation near Dubno.

However, it could also bring success if, for example, the tankers of the then-famous commander M.E. Katukov made their way towards the Popel tankers. But his 20th Panzer Division and the rest of the units of the 9th Mechanized Corps under the command of another legendary Soviet commander, K.K. Rokossovsky, could not cope with the powerful and trained anti-tank defense of the Nazis. .

As a result, the Nazis quickly recovered from the unexpected breakthrough of the Popelevites to their rear and first stopped them almost on the streets of Dubno, and then they took them in pincers and defeated them, forcing all the rest of the Soviet tank forces to go on the defensive.

The latter, not only in battle, but also on the march, due to breakdowns, lack of fuel and enemy air strikes, suffered very heavy losses. So instead of a very real triumph, a terrible defeat turned out.

July - November 1942: Battle of El Alamein

The British also had their greatest tank battle of World War II. It happened near the Egyptian town of El Alamein in 1942. Strictly speaking, it did not happen, but continued throughout the second half of this year.

About this battle, as well as about most others that happened on their fronts, in addition to the Soviet-German, Russian and Western historiography has very different ideas. If in the West it is customary to attach an exaggerated significance to them, in our country, on the contrary, it is in the order of things to emphasize the secondary nature of what happened in North Africa.

The truth, as usual, is in the middle: of course, in the fields near Moscow, in the trenches of Stalingrad and the Kursk Bulge, the main battles were fought. But if the significant forces of the Nazis had not been diverted by the same battles near El Alamein, it would have been even more difficult to contain the enemy of the Red Army.

Yes, and strategically: if the Nazis were able to cut the Suez Canal, this would significantly strengthen their position. The capture of Alexandria and Cairo could push Turkey to participate in the war on their side.

In terms of scale, the battle in the Egyptian desert was very impressive. In terms of the number of participants, it was inferior to the battles near Dubno, where more than 3000 tanks participated on both sides, but surpassed the battle near Prokhorovka - about 1500 against 1200.

One way or another, tank duels in El Alamein were extremely important and thousands of kilometers away. Yes, and from a moral point of view, because the success of the English brothers in arms strengthened the already high spirit of the defenders of Stalingrad. In turn, their heroism most dramatically influenced the course and outcome of the battle in Egypt.

First of all, thanks to them, at first the "desert foxes" - German Field Marshal E. Rommel - did not receive the two missing divisions, since they were sent by Hitler to the Eastern Front. Then, because of the desire to take Stalingrad at any cost, the Fuhrer also took A. Kesselring's 2nd Air Fleet from Italy.

Thus, in the midst of the battles for the "doorknob of Alexandria" (as Rommel put it), he lost air protection and fuel supply routes. British aircraft sank several Italian transports - and the Nazi tanks lost the ability to move.

Rommel had to abandon the tactics of mobile defense, taking up static positions. There they were slowly but surely ground by the British 8th Army under the command of B. Montgomery.

The tactical miscalculation of the Nazis also played in favor of the British - they poisoned themselves on a campaign in the Middle East, leaving Malta in their rear, where the British air and naval bases were located. As a result, their communications and without the transfer of most of the aviation to the Soviet-German front were under attack.

But all the mistakes of Hitler do not diminish the courage of the British. First, they held back the onslaught of Rommel's corps, and then broke through his defenses, splitting the enemy's front into two parts.

The collapse of the Nazis in this case could have been predetermined, but it did not happen because of the unwillingness of the leadership of the Western countries to rush to open a second front. Otherwise, they would have lost reason to refer to the employment of troops in the North African theater of operations.

1943: Confrontation near Prokhorovka

Paying a well-deserved tribute to those who fought the Nazis near Dubno and El Alamein, one cannot but admit that it was Prokhorovka that was the main battle of tank armies in World War II and the Great Patriotic War. Because it was there that the fate of one and the other was finally decided - even the most stubborn Nazis there it became clear that their song was sung.

Prokhorovka was not just a major tank battle, but a decisive battle on a decisive sector of the front. The Soviet 5th Panzer Army under the command of P. A. Rotmistrov, hastily transferred to this direction from the reserve Steppe Front, had no right to make a mistake and retreat there.

For the Nazis from the 2nd Panzer Corps of Paul Hausser, in principle, everything was also at stake. But initially they had few chances both in a specific battle and in general in the war against the USSR and its allies.

Nevertheless, if they managed to break through then, on July 12, 1943, and enter the operational space to advance to Kursk, our troops could have big problems. Therefore, Rotmistrov's pupils fought desperately both for themselves and for those whom the Nazis could, if they took, end up encircling. Neither one nor the other were considered losses.

Formally, the Nazis lost fewer combat vehicles - 300 out of 400 available against 500 out of 800 Soviet ones. But in percentage terms, these losses were much more sensitive for them. With a hundred tanks remaining in service, Hausser's warriors no longer posed a serious threat.

And the Nazi Headquarters did not dare to abandon the last reserves. In addition, far to the West, their attention was diverted by the landing of the allies in Sicily.

But most importantly, the Nazis have already realized that they are dealing with a completely different enemy. Soviet tankers near Prokhorovka and their predecessors near Dubno were completely different tankers. Not only in terms of combat training, but also the perception of war. They already knew what misfortune fascism brought to our land, what atrocities the Nazis committed in the occupied territory.

It is clear that the Soviet soldiers fought hard and resolutely, knowing full well what a fierce enemy confronts them in the face of the SS. This helped them at least partially compensate for the superiority of the German Tiger tanks, capable of hitting our T-34s from a longer distance.

There was only one salvation - to try to get close to the enemy as quickly as possible. In this case, our armored vehicles already had an advantage in the form of higher maneuverability.

Tanks in Hitler's lair

In fairness, it should be noted that another major and also decisive tank battle took place at the very end of the war. The role of tank armies in the storming of Berlin was also very great. It was they who “gnawed through” the system of defensive positions on the Seelow Heights, and it was they who surrounded the Nazi capital and on its streets helped the assault groups break into the center.

But still, the Berlin operation is the merit of all branches of the armed forces, without exception, equally. As, however, in achieving the Great Victory in general.

Battle of Cambrai (1917)

After failures with the use of small tank formations, the British command decided to launch an offensive using a large number of tanks. Since the tanks had not lived up to expectations before, many considered them useless. One British officer noted: "The infantry thinks that the tanks have not justified themselves. Even the tank crews are discouraged."

According to the plan of the British command, the upcoming offensive was supposed to begin without traditional artillery preparation. For the first time in history, tanks themselves had to break through the enemy defenses.
The offensive at Cambrai was supposed to take the German command by surprise. The operation was prepared in strict secrecy. Tanks were brought to the front in the evening. The British were constantly firing machine guns and mortars to drown out the roar of tank engines.

Battle for Dubno-Lutsk-Brody (1941)

Battle of El Alamein (1942)