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WWII On This Day: July 5

What happened on July 5 during World War II? This date brings together 5 events from 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

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

Rokossovsky fires his own counter-preparation

Central Front received confirmation from captured German personnel that Ninth Army's attack was imminent and opened a pre-emptive artillery bombardment at about 02:20. Batteries fired on known and suspected assembly areas, artillery positions and command points across the northern sector. The bombardment caused disruption and delayed some German preparations, while the attacking corps remained capable of launching Citadel. The tactical question now shifted to the prepared belts: Ninth Army had to create enough depth quickly for the northern pincer to remain part of the planned encirclement.

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Battle of Kursk 1943

Ninth Army attacks the northern shoulder

Model's Ninth Army opened its main attack south from the Orel sector after a heavy artillery preparation. Infantry, engineers, assault guns and armour worked through minefields and defended villages on a comparatively narrow front. German forces penetrated the first defensive positions during the opening day, but the advance already depended on repeated mine clearance, artillery support and reorganisation. Soviet second-echelon formations and anti-tank reserves were positioned behind the first belt, so local penetration still had to be converted into operational movement.

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Waffen-SS panzergrenadiers advance in a medium armoured personnel carrier during Operation Citadel, July 1943.
Waffen-SS panzergrenadiers advance in a medium armoured personnel carrier during Operation Citadel, July 1943. Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-King-055-28 / King · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Source
Battle of Kursk 1943

Fourth Panzer Army and Kempf attack in the south

Fourth Panzer Army attacked north from the Belgorod sector with XLVIII Panzer Corps and II SS Panzer Corps, while Army Detachment Kempf advanced east of the Donets. The southern force gained more depth than Ninth Army and created the most serious threat to the Soviet operational reserve system. The German columns still moved through a defence organised around mines, anti-tank areas, artillery and repeated counterattacks. The main southern axes also had to remain mutually supporting: a deep advance by II SS Panzer Corps or XLVIII Panzer Corps would become vulnerable…

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Großdeutschland assault guns carrying grenadiers forward against Soviet positions in early July 1943 in the Belgorod–Orel battle area.
Großdeutschland assault guns carrying grenadiers forward against Soviet positions in early July 1943 in the Belgorod–Orel battle area. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J14778 / Kempe · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Source
Battle of Kursk 1943

The new Panther brigade loses momentum immediately

Panzer Brigade 10 entered the southern battle on the Großdeutschland axis with roughly 200 new Panthers in Panzer Regiment 39. Mechanical failures, mines, difficult ground and congestion reduced the number immediately available for combat during the opening days. The Panther's long 7.5 cm gun and sloped frontal armour made it a formidable anti-tank vehicle. At Kursk its battlefield value was constrained by immature drivetrains, recovery demands and the difficulty of moving a large new formation through a narrow, heavily mined attack corridor.

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1944
German prisoners of war captured during the Soviet summer offensive march through Moscow on 17 July 1944.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-696-0426-14A · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Operation Bagration

Stavka orders the offensive to continue west

With Minsk taken, Stavka did not order the four fronts to halt on the Berezina–Minsk line. New objectives pushed the offensive toward Šiauliai and the Baltic, Vilnius and Kaunas, Grodno and Białystok, and Brest and Lublin. The operational aim shifted from destroying the Belorussian salient to exploiting the gap created by Army Group Centre's collapse. That decision preserved momentum but changed the logistical problem. Mobile formations were now moving farther from railheads and repaired bridges, while German reinforcements had shorter approaches from East Prussia and central Poland. The Red Army…

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