Germany reportedly had amassed over 500,000 men, 10,000 mortars and artillery pieces, 2,500 aircraft and 2,700 tanks at the front in Kursk. Kursk, a city in western Russia 280 miles south of Moscow, became the stage of a week-long bloody battle involving heavy artillery, tanks and over a million men. The battle was Germany's last chance to conquer the Eastern Front after being defeated by the Red Army in the Battle of Stalingrad the year before. Anatolii STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images The Battle Of KurskĪ future clash between Ukraine and Russia in Donbas, as predicted by Morawiecki, echoes the horrors of the Battle of Kursk between German and Soviet forces in July 1943. Ukrainian authorities expect a huge battle to break out in the region soon. The abbreviations mean that it was assembled by 823 Armoured Workshops (ARMD WKSP), Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME), British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), based at the Maschinenfabrik Niedersachen (MNH) plant in Hannover.Ukrainian artillerymen prepare a BM-21 'Grad' multiple-rocket launcher on Apon the front line near Luhansk in the Donbas region of Ukraine. The small plate on the front shows where this tank was built. This Panther was one of a group of tanks that were built under British supervision after the German factory in Hannover had been taken over by the Allies. Production of the Panther was slow and there were never enough of them to make a serious difference to the fighting in Russia, Italy or North West Europe.

Its 75mm gun was a vast improvement on the Russian equivalent. Wide tracks spread the Panther’s weight when travelling over soft ground. The Panther’s suspension system was more complicated than that of the Russian T-34, involving torsion bars and 18 overlapping road wheels on each side.

The Panther was larger and of much better quality than the T- 34. Hitler ordered that the T-34 be copied and the result was the Panther, which saw action for the first time at Kursk in 1943.

When the Germans invaded Russia in June 1941, they were surprised by the quantity and quality of Soviet armour. The Panther is often believed to be the best German tank of the Second World War.

Biggest tank battle in world war 2