The largest tank battles of World War II

Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say that the tank battles of the Second World War are one of its most important images. How are the trenches of World War I or nuclear missiles of the post-war confrontation between the socialist and capitalist camps. Actually, this is not surprising, since the tank battles of the Second World War largely determined its nature and course.

Not the last merit in this belongs to one of the main ideologists and theorists of motorized war, the German General Heinz Guderian. He largely belongs to the initiatives of the most powerful blows of a single fist of the troops, thanks to which the Nazi forces achieved such dizzying successes on the European and African continents for more than two years. The tank battles of the Second World War gave a particularly brilliant result at its first stage, defeating the obsolete morally Polish technique in record time. It was Guderian's divisions that provided the breakthrough of the German armies near Sedan and the successful occupation of the French and Belgian territories. Only the so-called "dunker's miracle" saved the remnants of the armies of the French and the British from total defeat, allowing them to reorganize in the future and protect at first England in the sky and prevent the Nazis from concentrating all their military power in the east. Let us take a closer look at the three largest tank fights of this massacre.

Prokhorovka, tank battle

In the mass consciousness of our compatriots, the notion that this battle was the largest tank battle of the times of the war took root. Indeed, the number of forces here has been involved a lot! About 1500 tanks on both sides, approximately in equal ratio. This won battle in July 1943 became one of the greatest pages of our victory and an important component of the offensive on the Kursk Bulge. At the same time, despite the military glory and wide popularity, the Prokhorov field was not the biggest battle. More large-scale battles took place on the Eastern Front two years earlier, during the most difficult period of the war, when the Red Army retreated on all fronts. And, unfortunately, these battles were devastatedly lost, which is why they were oblivious to our official history. And there was no need to overshadow the joy of the victorious people, and so survived many hard days. After the end of the war, this fact was of serious importance only for the specializing historians, which made Prokhorovka the largest military confrontation. However, we will also highlight the tragic moments of Russian history.

Tank battles of the Second World War: the battle of Senno

This episode occurred at the very beginning of the German invasion of the territory of the USSR and became an integral part of the Vitebsk battle. After the capture of Minsk, the German units advanced to the confluence of the Dnieper and the Dvina, intending to launch an offensive against Moscow from there. On the side of the Soviet state, two panzer divisions participated in the battle , numbering more than 900 combat vehicles. At the disposal of the Wehrmacht there were three divisions and about a thousand serviceable tanks backed by aviation. As a result of the battle on July 6-10, 1941, the Soviet forces lost more than eight hundred combat units, which opened the way for the enemy to continue his advance without changing plans and launch an offensive toward Moscow.

The largest tank battle in history

In fact, the biggest battle took place even earlier! Already in the early days of the Nazi invasion (June 23-30, 1941) between the towns of Brody - Lutsk - Dubno, in Western Ukraine, there was a clash involving more than 3,200 tanks. In addition, the number of combat vehicles here was three times more than under Prokhorovka, and the duration of the battle was not one day, but a whole week! As a result of the battle, the Soviet corps was literally crushed, the armies of the South-Western Front suffered a quick and devastating defeat, which opened the way for the enemy to Kiev, Kharkov and the further occupation of Ukraine.