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WWII On This Day: July 12

What happened on July 12 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1942 and 1943, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
A German tank commander in southern Soviet territory in June 1942, shortly before the opening of Case Blue.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0528-30 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

Stalingrad Front is created

On 12 July Stavka created Stalingrad Front from Timoshenko's former Southwest Front headquarters, reserve armies and the surviving Twenty-first Army. Its mission was to defend the Don and the approaches inside the great bend before Sixth Army could reach the Volga. The new front existed on paper before all of its forces were fully assembled. Some armies were still detraining between the Volga and Don; headquarters sat well behind forward screens, and units were arriving after the strategic retreat had already disrupted older command relationships. Its creation is important because…

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1943
A Tiger tank of the SS panzer corps during the battle of Kursk, July 1943.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Zschaeckel-206-35 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Battle of Kursk 1943

Operation Kutuzov opens behind Ninth Army

Before dawn on 12 July, the left wing of Western Front and Bryansk Front opened Operation Kutuzov against the Orel salient. Heavy artillery preparation preceded attacks against the German Second Panzer Army north and east of Orel. Kutuzov placed the northern German flank under strategic pressure while Ninth Army was still engaged south of Orel. Reinforcements required for the defence of the salient increasingly came from formations already committed to Citadel, tightening the connection between the failed northern attack and the Soviet summer offensive.

Continue in Battle of Kursk 1943 →
Voronezh Front troops counterattack behind T-34 tanks at Prokhorovka, 12 July 1943.
Voronezh Front troops counterattack behind T-34 tanks at Prokhorovka, 12 July 1943. Russian Ministry of Defence (Mil.ru) · CC BY 4.0 Source
Battle of Kursk 1943

The 5th Guards Tank Army counterattacks at Prokhorovka

At about 08:30, major elements of 5th Guards Tank Army attacked II SS Panzer Corps west and southwest of Prokhorovka. Soviet tank corps moved into broken ground crowded by defensive works, the railway embankment and German anti-tank positions while the neighbouring 5th Guards Army attacked farther north. The Soviet armoured force suffered severe losses. Zamulin's reconstruction gives 340 tanks and self-propelled guns damaged or destroyed across 5th Guards Tank Army on 12 July. II SS Panzer Corps retained most of its armoured inventory and was able to continue local operations.…

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Montgomery travels in a DUKW on Sicily on 12 July 1943.
Montgomery travels in a DUKW on Sicily on 12 July 1943. Maj Geoffrey Keating / No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit / IWM NA 4381 · UK Government public domain Source
Operation Husky: The Invasion of Sicily

Montgomery visits formations moving toward Catania

Montgomery moved among Eighth Army formations as the first landing objectives gave way to the attempt to reach Catania. British troops were pushing north while German units gathered to defend crossings on the coastal approaches. The road layout forced Montgomery to funnel infantry, armour and artillery through a limited number of valleys and river crossings. The advance depended on securing those routes before the Germans could strengthen them.

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