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Chapter 7 The Big Picture: A Short History of World War II
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infantry that make the difference. A bloody toll is extracted from the
German forces. Those not killed or wounded in the barrage are badly
shaken; the attack itself is beset with problems. Many new Panther
tanks break down with teething problems. Those Panthers still running,
along with Tigers and other tanks, are met by coordinated antitank
batteries that concentrate fire on one tank at a time. After five days of
fighting, the German units attacking from the south advance only 20
miles. The story is worse on the north side of the Kursk salient. After
five days of fighting, the Germans advance only eight miles.
When the Soviets commit their own armor, the German attacks are
broken; the Germans surrender the initiative on the Eastern Front for
good. Between now and the end of the war, the war on the Eastern
Front is one long fighting withdrawal for the German Army; the Red
Army doesn’t stop until it reaches Berlin.
The lessons of the Eastern Front are hard ones for both sides. The
Germans have lost over 1,000,000 men; the Soviets have lost far more,
but the Soviet Union can absorb its losses and Germany cannot.
The impact of the fighting in Russia on Operation Overlord is undeni-
able. Many of the German units that will meet the Allies in Normandy
have been transferred there to recuperate from the fighting in Russia.
Other German divisions are conscripted from countries to the east, and
have little incentive to fight the Allies. Perhaps most importantly, the
Eastern Front is a constant crisis the German High Command must deal
with throughout the Normandy Campaign. When the Allies land,
Germany has 59 divisions in France and the Low Countries; there are
190 German divisions still on the Eastern Front.
Monty and Torch
The North Africa Campaign
After pushing the British into Egypt,
the Afrika Korps has retreated before
the forces of Operation Crusader since
late November 1941. But as 1942
opens, the British have overextended
themselves. The Desert Fox
Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel
seizes the
opportunity to counterattack.
British soldiers in North Africa