7th Guards Army’s Combat Actions in Preparation Period of Kursk Battle (End of March – June 1943)

Abstract

The article deals with 7th Guards Army’s combat actions in the preparation period of Kursk battle. After ending of Stalingrad battle 7th Guards Army (previously 64th Army) came to Voronezh front. The army replaced in positions 69th Army suffered after heavy combats near Kharkov and Belgorod. 7th Guards Army took up positions on east bank of the Seversky Donets. The Army had 21th Army on the right flank and 57th of the Southwestern front on the left flank. The German armed forces had a bridgehead in Mikhaylovka – the village near Belgorod. In April 7th Guards Army’s formations attacked Mikhaylovka. The combat was unsuccessful for the Soviets. After that the Army started building fortifications in front of Mikhaylovka. In the article also described main types of combat actions during the preparation period of Kursk battle. main types of combat actions were firefights, artillery fire and annihilation reconnaissance group of the Wehrmacht. Analysis of archival documents made it possible to define a number of 7th Guards Army’s human losses.