The 50-day KURSK BATTLE, which lasted from July 5 to August 23, 1943, became truly the general battle of the Great Patriotic War and has no equal in world history. About two million fighters, six thousand tanks, four thousand aircraft participated in this grandiose confrontation. And our victory was not at all predictable and predetermined, as it may seem from the height of today - on the contrary, before the fiery arc of the Red Army, it was never possible to defeat the "summer German," and Hitler did not doubt the success of Operation Citadel.