Editing Battle of Kursk (section)

=== 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
|
|}