Eastern Front
1943: From Kursk to the Dnieper
July – December 1943 · 2 battles
In the summer of 1943 the Germans tried for the last time to regain the initiative in the east: on 5 July they launched Operation Citadel, an attack on the Kursk salient from north and south. The Red Army, forewarned by its intelligence, was waiting in deeply echeloned defences; after a week of fighting, including the tank battle at Prokhorovka, the offensive stalled and Hitler called it off. Soviet counter-offensives at Orel and Belgorod grew into a general advance along the whole southern front: Kharkov was liberated in August, Bryansk, Smolensk and the Donbas in September, and in the autumn the Red Army crossed the Dnieper and on 6 November entered Kiev. From Kursk to the end of the war the initiative on the Eastern Front remained with the Soviet side.
- 5 July – 23 August 1943Key battleBattle of KurskThe last great German offensive in the East stalled in the Kursk salient, and Red Army counter-attacks retook Oryol, Belgorod and Kharkiv.
- 26 August – 23 December 1943Key battleBattle of the DnieperFrom August to December 1943 the Red Army drove the Germans from Left-Bank Ukraine, forced the Dnieper on a broad front and liberated Kiev on 6 November.