By July 1943, the Soviet industrial machine was now outperforming Germany and its allies in almost every key metric. Italy was wavering and the fresh and well-resourced US forces were about to land in Europe for the first time. Germany needed to gamble, even if only to delay an inevitable defeat. The Nazi high command abandoned the “illusion of conquering the Soviet Union,” and yet the majority of German soldiers and equipment was still on the Eastern Front. Any decisive victory would have to take place here against the Soviets, but after two years of bitter fighting the two sets of generals knew each other well – there would be no more blunders, or surprise attacks. Taken in by fantasies of another encirclement, Hitler ordered Unternehmen Zitadelle, an attack against the Kursk bulge. The Russians knew the exact whereabouts of the attack, and the key area was described as “the most fortified piece of land in military history.” The outnumbered Germans failed to make any headway. For the rest of the war, they would not mount another major offensive.

Key Battle: Kursk. Nearly 3 million soldiers, 8,000 tanks, more than 5,000 planes and 1 million mines set the stage for the biggest battle of the war. The Germans made a determined advance, but the Soviets re-took every hill they lost, and were about to go on the attack with their deadly Katyushas and JS-2 tanks, named after Stalin himself. However, with US troops landing in Sicily, Hitler called off the push, and did not let it play out to its bloody end, while the Soviets gained a platform from which to strike back.