Erich- do you have a kursk-related site? I'm confused...
And, I got one answer to something- the northern forces did include Tiger battalions. According to Healy (Kursk 1943 from Osprey Campaign series), 1st and 2nd Companies of Heavy Panzer Battalion 505, equipped with Tiger Is, were attached to the 6th Infantry Division on the northern front. (One thing from Healy though- he refers to the companies, as above, then in the next sentence refers to the Tiger "regiments"-?) Restayn (Tigers on the Eastern Front) confirms that the 505th was at Kursk. Both also agree about at least one action- on the 5th, the two tiger companies aided in smashing the 15th russian infantry and attached tanks. Restayn claims the 505th destroyed 42 T-34s during this action. Restayn (with a typo- he states July 1 as the date) claims the 1st company lost it's commander, Hauptmann Riedesel. Healy and Carell note the overall commander for 505th being Major Sauvant.
Erich, Healy also mentions the Hs129s. Hauptmann Meyer, flying a reconaissance group of Hs129s armed with 37mm cannon came across a T-34 brigade coming out of some woods. Healy claims the Hs129s destroyed 50 T-34s.
Healy's work is pretty good- nice and concise. Occasionally lacking in fine details though. His most recent source is Piekalkiewicz, so lack of more recent scholarship could be an issue with some details- but Piek. is from 1987. But Martin, I get the idea that Piekalkiewicz is pretty good. Correct, in your approximation?
Martin, I also think we've got it on the Intel. It was neither spies in Berlin or ULTRA- just good old fashioned interrogation! Like Piek in the last item you cite, Healy claims that on the night of July 4 a patrol under Rokossovky (Northern front) captured a german sapper team clearing mines. Interrogation provided the start time of the attack the next day. Upon checking, Carell actually backs this up as well for the source of info regarding exact start time. So that means that ULTRA could have been one of the main sources. I believe Hitler have decided a couple weeks in advance that the attack would be between July 3-6, just not the exact time. Thus, with ULTRA supplying that info, probably backed up by spies, the Russian commanders simply had to remain on highest alert and hope to get lucky. Which they obviously did!
Finally, on the Panthers. RedBaron, you nailed it. I'm still looking into more detailed info (just for the hell of it
), but so far-from Carell- the final drives on the Panthers did not recieve anywhere near adequate testing, and were still being replaced as the Panthers were on the trains for Kursk. Carell also mentions the Panthers "belching flames" from their exhaust, and some actually catching fire. I think my earlier estimate of 1/3 being lost to mechanical difficulty right off may have been too high. I'm guessing now that about 10-20 broke down before the fighting started. And I forget where, but I'm pretty sure again that the exhaust problem was placement of outlet pipes in relation to gas tanks.
But the main problem the Panthers had at Kursk was deployment- the Panthers, all part of the Grossdeutchland Division, were thrown into action right into a minefield the sappers had missed. Seems at least 30 were lost there, right at the start of the battle. And we know the nature of teh fighting at Kursk- things continued much the same way. By 9th July, Healy lists GrossDeutchland as having a total of under 100 tanks available, and this includes MkIIIs and MkIVs in addition to Panthers. So according to Healy's numbers, at least 120 or so Panthers were lost in the first three days. This seems rather high, but if we factor in continuing mechanical breakdowns and action losses, this is probably close to the actual losses.
Friedrich- enjoy the weekend, Herr General!