Editing Battle of Kursk (section)

== Opposing forces ==
{{see also|Battle of Kursk order of battle}}

=== Germans ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Zschaeckel-206-35, Schlacht um Kursk, Panzer VI (Tiger I).jpg|thumb|Troops of the Waffen-SS [[Division Das Reich|Panzer Division ''Das Reich'']] with a  [[Tiger I]] tank, in June 1943 before the battle]]

For the operation, the Germans used four armies along with a large portion of their total tank strength on the Eastern Front. On 1 July, the 9th Army of Army Group Centre based in the northern side of the salient contained 335,000 men (223,000 combat soldiers); in the south, the 4th Panzer Army and Army Detachment "Kempf", of Army Group South, had 223,907 men (149,271 combat soldiers) and 100,000–108,000 men (66,000 combat soldiers) respectively. The 2nd Army, that held the western side of the salient contained an estimated 110,000. In total, the German forces had a total strength of 777,000–779,000 men, and the three attacking armies contained 438,271 combat soldiers.{{sfn|Frieser et al |2007|p=112}}{{sfn|Zetterling|Frankson|2000|p=18}} Army Group South was equipped with more [[armoured fighting vehicle|armoured vehicles]], infantry and artillery than the 9th Army of Army Group Center.{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=196}}{{sfn|Zetterling|Frankson|2000|p=18}} The 4th Panzer Army and Army Detachment "Kempf" had 1,377&nbsp;tanks and assault guns, while the 9th Army possessed 988&nbsp;tanks and assault guns.{{sfn|Frieser et al |2007|p=112}}

German industry produced 2,816 tanks and self-propelled guns between April and June, of which 156 were Tigers and 484 Panthers. At Kursk, a total of 259 Panther tanks, about 211 Tigers, and 90 Ferdinands were used.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oocities.org/armysappersforward/kursk.htm |title=WWII Battle of Kursk: Mine/Countermine operations |work=oocities.org |access-date=20 October 2016 |archive-date=23 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823054640/http://www.oocities.org/armysappersforward/kursk.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The two new Panther battalions – the 51st and 52nd – together equipped with 200 Panthers, for which the offensive had been delayed, were attached to the [[Panzer-Grenadier-Division Großdeutschland|''Großdeutschland'' Division]] in the XLVIII Panzer Corps of Army Group South. With the 51st and 52nd Battalions arriving on 30 June and 1 July, the two units had little time to perform reconnaissance or to orient themselves to the terrain they found themselves in. This was a breach of the methods of the ''Panzerwaffe'', considered essential for the successful use of armour.{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=237}}{{sfn|Healy|1992|p=41}}{{sfn|Dunn|1997|p=61}} Though led by experienced panzer commanders, many of the tank crews were new recruits and had little time to become familiar with their new tanks, let alone train together to function as a unit. The two battalions came direct from the training ground and lacked combat experience.{{sfn|Healy|2010|p=201}}{{sfn|Nipe|2011|p=143}} In addition, the requirement to maintain radio silence until the start of the attack meant that the Panther units had little training in battalion-level radio procedures.{{sfn|Healy|2010|p=201}}{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=237}} Furthermore, the new Panthers were still experiencing problems with their transmissions, and proved mechanically unreliable. By the morning of 5 July, the units had lost 16 Panthers due to mechanical breakdown, leaving only 184 available for the launching of the offensive.{{sfn|Healy|2010|p=205}}

July and August 1943 saw the heaviest German ammunition expenditure on the Eastern Front up to that point, with 236,915 tons consumed in July and 254,648 in August. The previous peak had been 160,645 tons in September 1942.{{sfn|Zetterling|Frankson|2000|p=140}}

{| class="wikitable collapsible" style=" margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"
|-
|+Order of battle: Army Group Centre (Field Marshal [[Günther von Kluge]]){{sfn|Clark|2012|pp=475–477|loc= The 2nd Panzer Army and 2nd Army are not included in the order of battle in the source. The 2nd Panzer Army did not take part in Operation Citadel, but played a significant part in [[Operation Kutuzov]]. The 2nd Army was tasked with pushing the western face of the salient once the encirclement was completed, but never got do so since the northern and southern pincers failed to meet at Kursk.}}
|-
! [[Field army|Army]]
! Army commander
! Note
! style=width:130px; | [[Corps]]
! Corps commander
! [[Division (military)|Divisions]]
|-
| [[9th Army (Wehrmacht)|9th Army]]
| [[Walter Model]]
|
| XX Army Corps
| [[Rudolf Freiherr von Roman]]
| [[45th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|45th]], [[72nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|72nd]], 137th, and 251st Infantry Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| XLVI Panzer Corps
| [[Hans Zorn]]
| [[7th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|7th]], 31st, [[102nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|102nd]], and 258th Infantry Divisions
|-|
|
|
|
| [[XXXXI Panzer Corps (Germany)|XLI Panzer Corps]]
| [[Josef Harpe]]
| [[18th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|18th]] Panzer Division; 86th and [[292nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|292nd]] Infantry Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| XLVII Panzer Corps
| [[Joachim Lemelsen]]
| [[2nd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|2nd]], [[9th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|9th]], and [[20th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|20th]] Panzer Divisions; [[6th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|6th]] Infantry Division
|-
|
|
|
| XXIII Army Corps
| [[Johannes Frießner]]
| [[216th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|216th]] and 383rd Infantry Divisions; [[78th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|78th]] Assault Division
|-
|
|
|
| Army Reserve
|
| [[4th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|4th]] and [[12th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|12th]] Panzer Divisions; [[10th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|10th]] Panzergrenadier Division
|-
| [[2nd Panzer Army]]
| [[Erich Clößner|Erich-Heinrich Clößner]]
|
| XXXV Army Corps
| [[Lothar Rendulic]]
| 34th, 56th, 262nd, and [[299th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|299th]] Infantry Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| LIII Army Corps
| [[Friedrich Gollwitzer]]
| [[208th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|208th]], 211th, and 293rd Infantry Divisions; 25th Panzergrenadier Division
|-
|
|
|
| LV Army Corps
| [[Erich Jaschke]]
| [[110th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|110th]], 112th, 134th, 296th, and 339th Infantry Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| Army reserve
|
|[[5th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|5th Panzer Division]]
|-
| Army Group Reserve
|
|
|
|
| [[8th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|8th Panzer Division]] (joined 2nd Panzer Army on 12 July 1943)
|-
| [[Luftflotte 6]]
|
|
|
|
| [[1st Air Division (Germany)|I Flieger Division]]
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible" style=" margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"
|-
|+ Order of battle: Army Group South (Field Marshal [[Erich von Manstein]]){{sfn|Clark|2012|pp=475–477}}
|-
! Army
! Army commander
! Note
! style=width:130px; | Corps
! Corps commander
! Divisions
|-
| [[4th Panzer Army]]
| [[Hermann Hoth]]
|
| LII Army Corps
| General [[Eugen Ott (general)|Eugen Ott]]
| 57th, 255th, and 332nd Infantry Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| XLVIII Panzer Corps
| [[Otto von Knobelsdorff]]
| [[3rd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|3rd]] and [[11th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|11th]] Panzer Divisions; 167th Infantry Division; [[Panzer-Grenadier-Division Großdeutschland|Panzergrenadier Division ''Großdeutschland'']]
|-
|
|
|
| [[II SS Panzer Corps]]
| ''General der Waffen-SS'' [[Paul Hausser]]
| [[1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler|1st (''Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler'')]], [[2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich|2nd (''Das Reich'')]], and the [[3rd SS Division Totenkopf|3rd (''Totenkopf'')]] SS Panzergrenadier Divisions
|-
| [[German Army Detachment Kempf|Army Detachment Kempf]]
| [[Werner Kempf]]
|
| III Panzer Corps
| [[Hermann Breith]]
| 6th, 7th, and 19th Panzer Divisions; 168th Infantry Division
|-
|
|
|
| Corps "Raus"
| [[Erhard Raus]]
| 106th and 320th Infantry Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| XLII Army Corps
| [[Franz Mattenklott]]
| 39th, 161st, and 282nd Infantry Divisions
|-
| Army Group Reserve
|
|
| XXIV Panzer Corps
| [[Walther Nehring|Walter Nehring]]
| [[5th SS Panzer Division Wiking|5th SS (''Wiking'') Panzergrenadier Division]] and the [[17th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|17th]] Panzer Division
|-
| [[Luftflotte 4]]
|
|
|[[8th Air Corps (Germany)|VIII ''Fliegerkorps'']]
|
|
|}

=== Red Army ===
The Red Army used two [[Army Group|Fronts]] for the defence of Kursk, and created a third front behind the battle area which was held as a reserve. The Central and Voronezh Fronts fielded 12 armies, with 711,575 men (510,983 combat soldiers) and 625,591 men (446,236 combat soldiers) respectively. In reserve, the Steppe Front had an additional 573,195 men (449,133). Thus the total size of the Soviet force was 1,910,361 men, with 1,426,352 actual combat soldiers.

Soviet armour strength included 4,869 tanks and 259 SPGs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.angelfire.com/wi2/foto/ww2/proh/page4.html |title=Strengths and Losses |access-date=12 August 2017 |archive-date=23 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823054600/https://www.angelfire.com/wi2/foto/ww2/proh/page4.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Overall a third of the Soviet tanks at Kursk were [[light tanks]], but in some units this proportion was considerably higher. Of the 3,600 tanks in the Central and Voronezh Fronts in July 1943, 1,061 were light as [[T-60]] and T-70 tanks. With very thin armour and small guns, they were unable to effectively engage the frontal armour of German medium and heavy tanks or AFVs.<ref>{{cite book |author=Walter S. Dunn Jr. |title=Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1943 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-y3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 |year=2008 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-1-4617-5122-9 |page=88 |access-date=6 August 2019 |archive-date=23 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823054639/https://books.google.com/books?id=o-y3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The most capable Soviet tank at Kursk was the T-34. However, the original version was armed only with a 76.2mm gun, which struggled against uparmoured Panzer IVs, and the frontal armour of Tigers and Panthers was essentially impenetrable. Only the SU-122 and SU-152 self-propelled guns had the power to destroy the Tiger at short range, but they were not equal to the Tiger's 88mm gun at long range, and there were very few SU-122s and SU-152s at Kursk.

{| class="wikitable collapsible " style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"
|-
|+Order of battle: Central Front (Army General [[Konstantin Rokossovsky]]){{sfn|Clark|2012|pp=478–484}}
|-
! [[Field army|Army]]
! Army Commander
! Note
! style=width:160px; | [[Corps]]
! [[Division (military)|Divisions]]
|-
| [[13th Army (Soviet Union)|13th Army]]
| [[Nikolay Pukhov]]
|
| 17th Guards Rifle Corps
| 6th, 70th, and 75th Guards Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 18th Guards Rifle Corps
| 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Airborne Guards Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 15th Rifle Corps
| 8th, 74th, and 148th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 29th Rifle Corps
| 15th, 81st, and 307th Rifle Divisions
|-
| 48th Army
| [[Prokofy Romanenko]]
|
| 42nd Rifle Corps
| 16th, 202nd, 399th, 73rd, 137th, 143rd, and 170th Rifle Divisions
|-
| 60th Army

| [[Ivan Chernyakhovsky]]
|
| 24th Rifle Corps
| 42nd and 112th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 30th Rifle Corps
| 121st, 141st, and 322nd Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| Independent Divisions
| 55th Rifle Division
|-
| 65th Army
| [[Pavel Batov]]
|
| 18th Rifle Corps
| 69th, 149th, and 246th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 27th Rifle Corps
| 60th, 193rd, 181st, 194th, and 354th Rifle Divisions; 37th Guards Rifle Division
|-
| 70th Army
| [[Ivan Galanin]]
|
| 28th Rifle Corps
| 132nd, 211th, 102nd, 106th, 140th, 162nd, and 280th Rifle Divisions
|-
| 2nd Tank Army
| [[Alexey Rodin]]
|
| 3rd Tank Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
| [[16th Tank Corps]]
|
|-
| Front Assets (Independent Units)
|
|
| [[9th Tank Corps (Soviet Union)|9th Tank Corps]]
|
|-
|
|
|
| 19th Tank Corps
|
|-
|[[16th Air Army#16th Air Army|16th Air Army]]
|General [[Sergei Rudenko (general)|Sergei Rudenko]]
|
| 3rd Bombing Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
| 6th Fighter Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
| 6th Mixed Air Corps
|
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"
|-
|+Order of battle: Voronezh Front (Army General [[Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin|Nikolai Vatutin]]){{sfn|Clark|2012|pp=478–484}}
|-
! [[Field army|Army]]
! Army Commander
! Note
! style=width:160px; | [[Corps]]
! [[Division (military)|Divisions]]
|-
| [[6th Guards Army]]
| [[Ivan Chistyakov]]
|
| 22nd Guards Rifle Corps
| [[67th Guards Rifle Division]], 71st Rifle Division and the [[90th Guards Rifle Division]]
|-
|
|
|
| 23rd Guards Rifle Corps
| 51st and 52nd Guards Rifle Divisions; 375th Rifle Division
|-
|
|
|
| Independent Divisions
| 89th Guards Rifle Division
|-
| [[7th Guards Army]]
| [[Mikhail Shumilov]]
|
| 24th Guards Rifle Corps
| 15th, 36th, and 72nd Guards Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 25th Guards Rifle Corps
| 73rd, 78th, and 81st Guards Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| Independent Divisions
| [[213th Rifle Division]]
|-
| [[38th Army (Soviet Union)|38th Army]]
| [[Nikandr Chibisov]]
|
| 50th Rifle Corps
| 167th, 232nd, and 340th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 51st Rifle Corps
| 180th and 240th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| Independent Divisions
| 204th Rifle Division
|-
| [[40th Army (Soviet Union)|40th Army]]
| [[Kirill Moskalenko]]
|
| 47th Rifle Corps
| 161st, 206th, and 237th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 52nd Rifle Corps
| 100th, 219th, and 309th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| Independent Divisions
| 184th Rifle Division
|-
| 69th Army
| [[Vasily Kryuchenkin]]
|
| 48th Rifle Corps
| 107th, 183rd, and 307th Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 49th Rifle Corps
| 111th and 270th Rifle Divisions
|-
| [[1st Guards Tank Army (Soviet Union)|1st Guards Tank Army]]
| [[Mikhail Katukov]]
|
| [[6th Tank Corps]]
|
|-
|
|
|
| 31st Tank Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
| 3rd Mechanized Corps
|
|-
| Front Assets (Independent Units)
|
|
| [[35th Guards Rifle Corps]]
| 92nd, 93rd, and 94th Guards Rifle Divisions
|-
|
|
|
| 2nd Guards Tank Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
|3rd Guards Tank Corps
|
|-
|[[2nd Air Army]]
|[[Stepan Krasovsky]]
|
|1st Bombing Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
|1st Assault Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
|4th Fighter Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
|5th Fighter Air Corps
|
|-
|Elements of the [[17th Air Army]]
|
|
|
|
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"
|-
|+Order of battle: Steppe Front ([[Ivan Konev]]){{sfn|Clark|2012|pp=478–484}}{{efn| name = Steppe Front | This order of battle does not show the complete composition of the Steppe Front. In addition to the units listed below, there are also the 4th Guards, 27th, 47th and 53rd Armies.{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=204}} Perhaps the order of battle below represents only the formations relevant to Operation Citadel.}}
|-
! [[Field army|Army]]
! Army Commander
! Note
! style=width:200px; | [[Corps]]
! [[Division (military)|Divisions]]
|-
| 5th Guards Army
| [[Alexey Zhadov|Alexei Zhadov]]
|
| 32nd Guards Rifle Corps
| 13th and 66th Guards Rifle Divisions; 6th Airborne Guards Rifle Division
|-
|
|
|
| 33rd Guards Rifle Corps
| 95th and 97th Guards Rifle Divisions; 9th Airborne Guards Rifle Division
|-
|
|
|
| Independent Divisions
| 42nd Guards Rifle Division and [[10th Tank Corps]]
|-
|-
|
|
|
| Independent 10th Tank Corps
|
|-
| 5th Guards Tank Army
| [[Pavel Rotmistrov]]
|
| [[5th Guards Motor Rifle Division|5th Guards Mechanized Corps]]
|
|-
|
|
|
| 29th Tank Corps
|
|-
|[[5th Air Army]]
|S. Gorunov
|
|7th Mixed Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
| 8th Mixed Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
| 3rd Fighter Air Corps
|
|-
|
|
|
| 7th Fighter Air Corps
|
|}

=== Comparison of strength ===

{| class="wikitable"
|+Operation Citadel 
|-
! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="3" | Men
! colspan="3" | Tanks
! colspan="3" | Guns
|-
! Soviet
! Ratio
! German
! Soviet
! Ratio
! German
! Soviet
! Ratio
! German
|-
! Frieser{{efn|name=CombatStrength |Frieser uses combat strengths.{{sfn|Frieser et al |2007|p=100}} }}
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,426,352
| style="text-align: right;" | 2.8:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 518,271
| style="text-align: right;" | 4,938{{efn|name=FrieserTanks| Frieser counts only operational tanks.{{sfn|Frieser et al |2007|p=91}}}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 2:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 2,465
| style="text-align: right;" | 31,415
| style="text-align: right;" | 4:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 7,417
|-
! Glantz{{efn|Glantz uses total strengths.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|p=337}}}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,910,361
| style="text-align: right;" | 2.5:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 780,900
| style="text-align: right;" | 5,128
| style="text-align: right;" | 1.7:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 2,928
| style="text-align: right;" |
| style="text-align: right;" |
| style="text-align: right;" |
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Red Army offensive phase
|-
! rowspan="2" | 
! colspan="3" | Men
! colspan="3" | Tanks
! colspan="3" | Guns
|-
! Soviet
! Ratio
! German
! Soviet
! Ratio
! German
! Soviet
! Ratio
! German
|-
! Frieser{{efn|name=CombatStrength }}
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,987,463
| style="text-align: right;" | 3.2:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 625,271
| style="text-align: right;" | 8,200
| style="text-align: right;" | 3:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 2,699{{efn|name=FrieserTanks }}
| style="text-align: right;" | 47,416
| style="text-align: right;" | 5:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 9,467
|-
! Glantz{{efn|Glantz uses total strengths.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|p=346}}}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 2,500,000
| style="text-align: right;" | 2.7:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 940,900
| style="text-align: right;" | 7,360{{efn|Glantz does not count reinforcements.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|p=345}}}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 2.3:1
| style="text-align: right;" | 3,253
| style="text-align: right;" |
| style="text-align: right;" |
| style="text-align: right;" |
|}

=== Preliminary actions ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-219-0596-12, Russland, Panzer IV und Schützenpanzer in Fahrt.jpg|thumb|German [[Panzer IV]] and [[Sd.Kfz. 251]] halftrack. June 1943]]

Fighting started on the southern face of the salient on the evening of 4 July 1943, when German infantry launched attacks to seize high ground for artillery observation posts prior to the main assault.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|p=81}} During these attacks, a number of Red Army command and observation posts along the first main belt of defence were captured. By 16:00, elements of the Panzergrenadier Division "Großdeutschland", [[3rd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|3rd]] and 11th Panzer Divisions had seized the village of Butovo and proceeded to capture Gertsovka before midnight.{{sfn|Barbier|2002|p=59}}{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=224}}{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|p=81}} At around 22:30, Vatutin ordered 600 guns, mortars and [[Katyusha rocket launcher]]s, of the Voronezh Front, to bombard the forward German positions, particularly those of the II SS Panzer Corps.{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=226}}{{sfn|Barbier|2002|p=59}}

To the north, at Central Front headquarters, reports of the anticipated German offensive came in. At around 02:00 5 July, Zhukov ordered his preemptive artillery bombardment to begin. The hope was to disrupt German forces concentrating for the attack, but the outcome was less than hoped for. The bombardment delayed the German formations but failed in the goal of disrupting their schedule or inflicting substantial losses. The Germans began their own artillery bombardment at about 05:00, which lasted 80 minutes in the northern face and 50 minutes in the southern face. After the barrage, the ground forces attacked, aided by close air support provided by the Luftwaffe.{{sfn|Clark|2012|pp=227, 233}}{{sfn|Barbier|2002|p=59}}{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|pp=84–86}}{{sfn|Newton|2002|p=77}}

In the early morning of 5 July, the VVS launched a large raid against German airfields, hoping to destroy the Luftwaffe on the ground. This effort failed, and the VVS units suffered considerable losses.{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=236}}{{sfn|Barbier|2002|p=59}} The air operation is misunderstood in most accounts. The German [[Freya radar|''Freya'' radar]] stations at Belgorod and Kharkov in 1943 had only picked up Soviet air formations approaching Belgorod and were not responsible for the failure of the entire Soviet preemptive air strike on the eve of Operation Citadel.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|pp=26–27}} The VVS lost 176 aircraft on 5 July, compared to the 26 aircraft lost by the Luftwaffe.{{sfn|Zetterling|Frankson|2000|pp=77–78}}{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=236}} The losses of the VVS [[Special Purpose Command#16th Air Army|16th Air Army]] operating in the northern face were lighter than those suffered by the [[2nd Air Army]].{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=263}} The Luftwaffe was able to gain and maintain air superiority over the southern face until 10–11 July, when the VVS began to obtain ascendancy{{Sfn|Clark|2012|p=236}}{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|p=137}} but the control of the skies over the northern face was [[air parity|evenly contested]] until the VVS began to gain air superiority on 7 July, which it maintained for the rest of the operation.{{sfn|Clark|2012|pp=263, 314}}{{sfn|Glantz|House|2004|p=118}}