Air Operations, Europe

• 5 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne and 4 more to Hamburg. 34 aircraft lay mines off the French ports and in the Frisians and there are 18 OTU sorties. 1 Stirling and 1 Wellington are lost in mine-laying operations.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

B-17s and Spitfires engage 100 German and Italian fighters over Gerbini airfield on Sicily. The top Italian 'ace' Capt Franco Lucchini, 26 victories, is shot down and killed.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s attack the airfield at Salamaua, 2 Japanese Army headquarters, and a trail.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 9 XIII Bomber Command B-24s on an antishipping strike to the Buin area fail to locate targets, so they attack the airfield at Ballale and the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia. This is the first strike force able to reach the northern Solomons in weeks on account of continuously bad weather.
• P-40s of the 18th Fighter Group’s 44th Fighter Squadron down two A6M Zeros over Munda and Rendova between 1245 and 1330 hours.

Mediterranean

U-593 sinks 2 US LSTs and 1 merchant ship off the Algerian coast.

Secret War

Russian forces in the Kursk salient have long been preparing to meet the German onslaught thanks to reports from the 'Lucy' spy ring in Germany.

Solomons

The main body of American troops is concentrated on Rendova, where there is a Japanese garrison 6,000 strong. 4 battalions of US troops from the 43rd Inf Div land in the north of New Georgia at Rice Anchorage not far from Bairoko, and advance elements reach the Giza Giza River. The fighting on the Zanana-Munda track continues.

During the night 3 groups of Japanese destroyers, 10 ships in all, bring 850 men to Kolombangara from the Shortlands and ?? almost 3,000 more troops to Vila. As soon as the operation is completed the 'Tokyo Night Express', which has never been out of action even if it has ceased to be the main supply line to Guadalcanal, leaves immediately. It is intercepted, howver, in the Gulf of Kula by a force under Rear-Adm Walden L. Ainsworth of 3 cruisers and 4 destroyers. A battle flares up and the Americans get the worst of the engagement. They lose the light cruiser Helena (CL-50) and the destroyer Strong (DD-467), sunk by a submarine, while the Japanese lose 2 destroyers, the Niizuki and Nagatsuki, the latter grounded and finished off at dawn by American aircraft.

Eastern Front

Operation ZITADELLE (CITADEL), the final German summer offensive, begins. It is an attempt to encircle and destroy 2 Russian army groups in the Kursk salient. Hitler declares, in an Order of the Day, the the Operation will 'decide the war' and that giant new Tiger tanks will smash the Russian defenses.

Both sides have assembled huge ground and air forces for what is to be the largest tank engagement of the war, the Battle of Kursk. The Germans hope to cut off the Kursk salient and create a huge gap in the Soviet front which can then be exploited. They will attack the salient in the Orel, Kursk and Belgorod sectors. The battle will take place on a 200-mile front. The Soviets are well aware of the general German intentions from local reconnaissance and high-level espionage information and have decided, after much debate, to follow Zhukov's advice and stand on the defensive rather than attack first themselves.

Altogether the Soviets and the Germans have concentrated 2,000,000 men, 6,000 tanks and 5,000 aircraft to take part in the operation with the Soviets having a slight numerical superiority in all categories. In artillery the Soviets have a significant advantage with 20,000 guns and 920 Katyusha flame-throwers. As far as the quality of the equipment is concerned, in every class the Red Army is receiving newer and better designed weapons than has been the case in the past. The excellent T-34 tank, already in service, is being supplemented by new assault gun models. These qualitative improvements are particularly significant for the Red Air Force, which now has much more advanced fighter and ground-attack aircraft. The Germans have delayed the planned starting date of the battle at Hitler's command, in order to allow larger numbers of the new Panther tank to be supplied to the units taking part. The heavy Tiger tanks and the even more massive Elefant assault guns are also to have an important role in the attack. All these models are basically very effective designs but the conditions of the battle, and minor design errors and teething troubles for the new Panthers and Elefants, will limit their performance and to some extent set aside the advantage of skill which the German tank crews and small-unit commanders still maintain.

In the Orel area, the northern wing of the German pincer is led by Gen Model and is spearheaded by XLVII Pzr Corps of 9th Army. The somewhat stronger southern wing is commanded by Gen Hoth and includes 4th Pzr Army and Operational Group Kempf and will advance from the Belgorod area. Von Manstein and von Kluge are in overall charge of the southern and northern army groups respectively. Model's attack falls on Rokossovsky's Central Front and Hoth's on Vatutin's Voronezh Front. Konev's Steppe Front is in reserve to carry out the planned counteroffensive when the Germans have shot their bolt. Zhukov is supervising the defense in the north and Vasilievsky in the south.

In all areas the Soviets have prepared elaborate fixed defenses of minefields, other obstacles and antitank guns. The densitiy of the minefields in the most important sectors is 1,500 anti-tank mines and 1,700 anti-personnel mines to every square kilometer, or 3,900 and 4,400 per square mile. Even before the German attack starts they fire a disruptive bombardment which causes the Germans considerable loss. When the attack is launched at dawn on July 5 the progress made is slow in both sectors and many tanks are lost. The Germans manage to make small penetrations in the Russian positions both to the north and south, but at tremendous cost. In the north, the gains of 6 miles of ground on a front of 12 miles costs them 25,000 dead and the loss of 200 tanks and as many aircraft. In the south an advance of about 25 miles on a front of 30 miles is paid for with 10,000 dead and the destruction of 350 tanks. On the very first day the Russians announce that they have destroyed 586 tanks and 203 aircraft. The is certainly an exaggeration, but it gives an idea of the scale of the giant battle, the biggest tank battle in history and one of the most important aerial battles which is to see the Luftwaffe lose its dominance in the Russian skies for the first time. Soviet casualties are also considerable, but at this stage, few of their tanks are engaged.

In support of CITADEL, the Luftwaffe flies 4,462 sorties against the Kursk salient.

Following exchanges between German and Soviet artillery, the Battle of Kursk begins at 5:30am when XXIII Corps on the right flank of the 9th Army attacks at the junction of the Soviet 13th and 48th Armies. Anti-personnel mines take a high toll on the men of the 78th, 216th and 38th Infantry Divs. They advance no more than 1.2 miles toward their objective, the town of Maloarkhangelsk. The 20th Panzer Div has more success: by 09:00am it has reache the village of Bobrik and driven into the defensive positions of the Soviet 15th Rifle Div to a depth of some 3 miles. By the evening the 9th Army has advanced 6 miles but has sustained 20 percent losses in its panzer units, 200 out of the 300 tanks and assault guns committed, and nearly 20,000 casualties.

In the south, XLVIII Panzer Corps and II SS Panzer Corps make their attacks up 2 converging roads leading north through Pokrovka and Oboyan toward Kursk itself. By nightfall XLVIII Panzer Corps has fallen short of its objectives. Hausser's II SS Panzer Corps, having negotiated the minefields, launches its 390 tanks and 104 assault guns along the main road toward Bykovka. The SS corps is supported by VIII Air Corps and the entire Nebelwerfer brigade. By the end of the first day Hausser's men have advance almost 16 miles, broken into the second Soviet defensive belt and sliced the 52nd Rifle Div in two.

The southernmost German force to attack is Army Detachment Kempf. It attacks across the Northern Donets River before breaking out from its bridgehead at mikhailovka near Belgorod. Facing it is the 7th Guards Army, which suffers heavy losses but holds up the German advance.[MORE]

Soviet artillery destroyed German tanks, robots B-IV and tanks control Pz.Kpfw. III (one of a number of tanks 23 F). North of the Kursk Bulge (near the village of Glazunovka). July 5, 1943.

German Tanks Destroyed by Soviet Artillery

German Offensive Starts in the Morning of July 5

The Battle of Kursk. The German offensive started in the morning July 5, 1943. Since the Soviet command was known exactly when the operation (3 am German army fought on the Berlin time in terms of the Moscow 5:00 am), at 22:30 and at 2:20 am Moscow time, the forces of the two fronts was conducted counter artillery preparation 0.25 ammo ammunition. In the German reports were significant damage to communication lines and minor casualties.

Record-Setting Battle

This battle established few records: It was the world’s costliest single day of aerial warfare, but also, biggest tank battle in history. It was also a decisive clash that marked the final offensive of the Germans in the East. At Kursk, Germany lost 100.000 solders, while the Soviet Union had 250.000 casualties and lost half of its tanks. The Battle of Kursk was the first clash in the history in which a Blitzkrieg offensive had been crushed before it could penetrate enemy defenses.

July 5, 1943. A German squad goes into the attack. In the foreground

a machine gunner to cover his comrades.

A German Squad Attacks

Dawn, 5 July 1943. German 88-millimeter gun opened direct fire on Soviet positions.This 88-mm anti-aircraft weapons were also highly effective anti-tank guns.

German 88 Opens up on Soviets