The Battle of Orel/Kursk (1943)

The Soviet's Own Film Record of the Greatest Tank Battle in World History. A 1943 USSR Documentary Film, Directed by R. Gikov L. Stepanova. Filmed by cameramen of the Bryansk Front. Audio in English with English subtitles for Russian intertitles.

Culled from actual combat footage taken onsite by Red Army cameramen at the Orel/Kursk Salient in Russia in the summer of 1943, this is the Soviets’ own documentary story of the greatest tank battle in world history before or since, pitting the resurgent German Army against the now-victorious Red Army. The Germans introduced their new Tiger and Panther tanks, but were overwhelmed by massed T-34s. For the Germans, it was a must-win battle, and when they lost, the Soviets gained the initiative for the rest of the war. Known in the West as the Battle of Kursk, it was the greatest armored combat in history ever -before or since.