Operation Kutuzov

Operation Kutuzov
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Soviet T-34 tanks enter Orel, 1943
Date 12 July – 18 August 1943 (1 month and 6 days) Location Orel, Russian SFSR Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Walter Model Lothar Rendulic Günther von Kluge Robert von Greim	Konstantin Rokossovsky Ivan Bagramyan Vasili Sokolovsky Markian Popov
Strength
300,700 men[1] 625 tanks and assault guns[1] 610 aircraft[1] 5,500 guns[1]	800,000 men 2,409 tanks and assault guns[2] 2,220[3]–3,023[2] aircraft 26,379 guns[2]
Casualties and losses
86,454 men[4] 14,215 killed 11,300 missing 60,939 wounded unknown tanks[N 1] unknown guns 218 aircraft[6]	429,890 men[7][8] 112,529 dead or missing 317,361 wounded or sick 2,586 tanks destroyed[9] 892 guns lost[9] 1,014 aircraft destroyed[9]

Operation Kutuzov was the first of the two counteroffensives launched by the Red Army as part of the Kursk Strategic Offensive Operation. It commenced on 12 July 1943, in the Central Russian Upland, against Army Group Center of the German Heer. The operation was named after General Mikhail Kutuzov, the Russian general credited with saving Russia from Napoleon during the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Operation Kutuzov was one of two large-scale Soviet operations launched as counteroffensives against Operation Citadel. The Operation began on 12 July and ended on 18 August 1943 with the capture of Orel and collapse of the Orel bulge.

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