0705_07: Bleed them White - PzC 07 Kursk '43

Southern Front, July 5th 1943: The 52nd Guards Rifle Division, of the 23rd Guards Rifle Corps, was deployed at the most critical point in the corps sector. It was astride the road which ran from Tomarovka to Oboyan and eventually to Kursk. Its defenses had been painstakingly constructed and were 8-12 Kms in depth, with sizable anti-tank and armor support from Corps and Army reserves. A very formidable defensive region indeed. In fact, its 8,000 plus men were facing the cream of the German Army, three superbly equipped SS Panzer-Grenadier Divisions of the II SS Pz Korps. The defense was based on the premise that the entire 52GRD would be sacrificed after inflicting as much damage as possible on the advancing Germans, to "bleed them white". [Size, small]