Operation Kutuzov
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Operation Kutuzov was the first of the two counteroffensives launched by the Red Army as part of the Kursk Strategic Offensive Operation. It commenced on 12 July 1943, in the Central Russian Upland, a
Soviet T-34 tanks enter Orel, 1943
A Panzer III of the 2nd Panzer Division near Orel
Soviet soldiers follow T-34s near Bryansk
Red Army private Aleksandr Ivanovich Shirobokov of the 17th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division embraces his sisters during the liberation of Karachev – their parents were shot by the Germans during the occupation.
Smolensk operation
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The second Smolensk operation was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943. Staged almost simultaneously with the Lower Dnieper Of
Operation Kutuzov
…Operation Citadel and the Soviets reduced the Orel salient and inflicted substantial losses on the German army. The Soviet victory set the stage for the battle of Smolensk several weeks later. With Operation Kutuzov, the Soviets seized the strategic initiative, which they would hold through the remainder of the war…
Yelena Zalogina, employed as forced labor by German troops, returns home with her children, August 1943
Red Army soldiers raising the Soviet flag in Yelnya
Soviet submachine gunners clearing buildings in Dukhovshchina
Officers of the Soviet 91st Guards Rifle Division raising their divisional banner over Dukhovshchina, 19 September