(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.

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

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The morning of July 5 saw Gross Deutschland confronted with a serious problem. The land between Ssyrzew and Sawidowka, where the powerful German division was to launch a full-scale offensive against the Voronezh front, had been turned into a sea of mud during the night by torrential rains. The river that separated the two villages had overflown its banks, transforming the rolling fields into a great swamp. Many lesser streams and brooks had become fast-moving water currents in the midst of the morass. Accordingly, dawn found the German division packed densely on its side of the swamp — staring at a great force of Russian artillery that had been moved up under cover of darkness, waiting for just this moment.