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    Kursk: A Study In Operational Art
    Kursk: A Study In Operational Art
    Kursk: A Study In Operational Art
    Ebook63 pages56 minutes

    Kursk: A Study In Operational Art

    By Major Kerry K. Pierce

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    This monograph examines the practice of operational art from the perspective of the Kursk Campaign of July-Oct., 1943. The study begins by presenting the German and Russian campaign plans as examples of two different methods of achieving a desired end state. Each plan’s vision of the future was heavily influenced by the nature of the strategic situation and the personalities of the two principal artists: Adolf Hitler and Marshal Georgii Zhukov. These two leaders had vastly different understandings of strategic possibilities, time-space dimensions of the battlefield, and the means required to achieve their desired end states. The success of Zhukov’s campaign plan was directly related to his linkage of appropriate means and methods toward a desired end state, while Hitler’s failure represented a failure to do likewise. The monograph also uses Kursk to examine several theoretical concepts of war. These include the relative strength of offense and defense, culminating points, the art of combinations, use of reserves, and the center of gravity.
    The Russian decision to defend first against an expected German offensive is an excellent example of the use of operational art. Acting on the information of the LUCY espionage network, Zhukov constructed his campaign around an unprecedented tactical defensive system in an effort to destroy the German armored formations as they attacked toward Kursk. He intended to initiate his counteroffensive at the point where the German panzer corps had been so attrited that they would not be able to prevent a Russian onslaught which would expel all German forces from the Donetz Basin. German operational flexibility, which had been the hallmark of their previous campaigns, was eliminated by Hitler’s centrally devised and executed plan, reducing commanders such as Manstein and Model to mere tactical actors. In the end the Russian victory was a complete one: tactical, operational and strategic.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVerdun Press
    Release dateAug 15, 2014
    ISBN9781782895800
    Kursk: A Study In Operational Art

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      Book preview

      Kursk - Major Kerry K. Pierce

       This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com

      Or on Facebook

      Text originally published in 1987 under the same title.

      © Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      KURSK: A STUDY IN OPERATIONAL ART.

      By

      Maj Kerry K. Pierce, USA.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

      Figures: 5

      ABSTRACT 6

      SECTION I: INTRODUCTION 7

      SECTION II: STRATEGIC SITUATION 8

      SECTION III: THE CAMPAIGN PLANS 12

      SECTION IV: PREPARATION - THE MEANS AVAILABLE 15

      SECTION V: THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE 18

      SECTION VI: THE FLASHING SWORD OF VENGEANCE 24

      SECTION VII: CONCLUSIONS 27

      MAPS 29

      REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 37

      BIBLIOGRAPHY 38

      Books 38

      Journals and Periodicals 38

      Manuscripts 39

      Figures:

      1. — Eastern Theater of War -March 1943

      2. — Army Group South situation -March 1943

      3. — Russian defenses at Kursk

      4. — German offensive plan (ZITADELLE)

      5. — Ninth Army’s attack

      6. — Fourth Panzer Army‘s attack

      7. — Operation KUTUZOV

      8. — Operation RUMYANTSEV

      ABSTRACT

      KURSK: A STUDY IN OPERATIONAL ART. By MAJ Kerry K. Pierce, USA.

      This monograph examines the practice of operational art from the perspective of the Kursk Campaign of July-October, 1943. The study begins by presenting the German and Russian campaign plans as examples of two different methods of achieving a desired end state. Each plan’s vision of the future was heavily influenced by the nature of the strategic situation and the personalities of the two principal artists: Adolph Hitler and Marshal Georgii Zhukov. These two leaders had vastly different understandings of strategic possibilities, time-space dimensions of the battlefield, and the means required to achieve their desired end states. The success of Zhukov’s campaign plan was directly related to his linkage of appropriate means and methods toward a desired end state, while Hitler’s failure represented a failure to do likewise. The monograph also uses Kursk to examine several theoretical concepts of war. These include the relative strength of offense and defense, culminating points, the art of combinations, use of reserves, and the center of gravity.

      The Russian decision to defend first against an expected German offensive is an excellent example of the use of operational art. Acting on the information of the LUCY espionage network, Zhukov constructed his campaign around an unprecedented tactical defensive system in an effort to destroy the German armored formations as they attacked toward Kursk. He intended to initiate his counteroffensive at the point where the German panzer corps had been so attrited that they would not be able to prevent

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