| Summary/Abstract |
The author Valerii Zamulin addresses a long-standing controversy concerning the Battle of Kursk: Why was the III SS Panzerkorps much more successful in the south than the Ninth Army’s offensive in the north? The author argues that Vatutin, with the approval of the Soviet high command, opted for a sensible ‘matador’s defense’ by deliberately thinning a section of his front line at the main Oboian’ highway to lure the Germans to attack there and then to weaken and stop the onrushing German ‘bull’ with armored thrusts by the 1st Tank Army and two separate tank corps, plus the 67th Army. Vatutin’s mistake was his belief that these alone would be sufficient to stop the Fourth Panzer Army’s main attack.
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