While the Battle of Kursk has long captivated World War II aficionados, it has been unjustly overlooked by historians. Drawing on the masses of new information made available by the opening of the Russian military archives, Dennis E. Showalter at last corrects that error. This battle was the critical turning point on World War II's Eastern Front. In the aftermath of the Red ARmy's brutal repulse of hte Germans at Stalingrad, the stakes could not have been higher. More than three million men and eight thousand tanks met in the heart of the Soviet Union in an encounter that both sides knew would reshape the war. On both sides, the generals and the dictators they served were in agreement on where, why, and how to fight. The result was a furious death grapple between two of history's most formidable fighting forces. In this book, Showalter re-creates every aspect of this dramatic struggle. But it is the author's exploration of the human dimension of armored combat that truly distringuishes this book. Scrupulously researched, exhaustively documented, and vividly illustrated, this book is a chilling testament to man's ability to build and to destroy.

Unabridged. Compact discs. This audiobook is encoded in MP3 format and will only play on CD players that are MP3 compatible.