(Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from the book, The Tigers Are Burning, by Martin Caidin © 1974.)

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The massive confrontation of Kursk moved ponderously into action along two separate and distinct battlefields on the morning of July 5. To the north there was the central front under Rokossovsky; to the south the Voronezh front under Vatutin. Although each front cannot be separated from the Battle of Kursk, it is clear that the bitter fighting of each was a major offensive distinct from the other, and the two would be joined as a single entity only when and if the Germans managed to close the pincers they nee led so desperately to pinch off Kursk.