[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo all,

Fascinating subject, as I am very interested in the Battle of Kursk both land and air. Last year I particularly enjoyed Christer Bergstrom's Kursk, The Air Battle; July 1943. I must say Bergstrom makes a compelling case for the effectiveness of the Il-2 - when it was properly employed en masse and in conjunction with the new PTAB bombs. I do not recall mention of large numbers of German Armoured Fighting Vehicles being claimed destroyed. In fact the actual number of AFVs destroyed in any attack was small, but these attacks by the Il-2s were very effective at disrupting and delaying the German advancing troops, blunting their own attacks and leaving them vulnerable to Soviet counter-attacks.

Leo.

If I may prevail on you for some extra information. Because of the different battle dates (as you noted) and possible insufficient or missing Soviet records Bergstrom's book has very confusing casualty figures at the end of his work. I wonder does Gorbach in Nad Ognennoy Dugoy give aircraft losses for the following air units that also figured in the Kursk battle to a greater or lesser extent.
1 VA (north of Orel)
5 VA (part of the strategic reserve)
ADD (the long-range bomber force)
PVO Strany (sections of the home defence air and AAA units)
Civil Air Fleet/Transport Fleet.

Anything would be of interest.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.