Friedrich, AchtungPanzer is one of the sources we have; but the author of that site undoubtedly got the 90 Ferdinands from Healy et all. New sources, and even some older ones, cast doubt on this number. The newest source I have, Glantz, claims that 105 Ferdinands fought in the battle. My guess is probably right aound 90 Ferdinands served, but we can't be sure...

Nice stuff, Kai. Interesting- I've also read about a explosive vehicle used by the germans- the "Goliath". I wonder though- sounds like a different vehicle, but I don't know if they had two varieties... I saw one of these Goliaths at Aberdeen- looks like an armored beetle! The Goliath I saw would not have been driven at all- too small. It was controlled entirely by remote control. I've also read about their use with Ferdinands in clearing minefields at Kursk. I have read mixed reviews of their value- apparently the goliaths were vulnerable to small arms fire and explosions. This made it difficult, especially at a battle like Kursk, to actually use the Goliaths. I wonder about that number you found- 12 goliaths used to clear one area of minefileds. Did you find anything as far as a total for the number of Goliaths used? Were they just attached to the Ferdinands, or were the Goliaths part of a seperate company? Hmmmm...

Argh! According to your source, the 653rd fielded 49 Ferdinands- another new number! If each company fileded 49, that would make the total 98! Did your source mention anything about the 654th company?
If this is the case, now we are looking at either 90, 91, 96, 98, or 105 Ferdinands!

The initial deployment of the Panther was a total mess. I'm actually working, like the Ponyri struggle, on info from the struggle for Cherkaskoye (sp?), another town in the Kursk salient. Cherkaskoye was the location of the initial Panther deployment you noted. From what I've read so far, the Panthers were so badly thrown off by the minefield that they weren't able to make any significant contribution to taking Cherkaskoye. It took nearly the whole day to extricate the surviving Panthers and re-deploy them for the attack.
Geez- talk about a great machine having a BAD debut! I can't think of a way it could have gone worse!

From the info we have so far, I'm beginning to think that the most effective anti-tank tactic at Kursk was the most simple and easy- land mines. We have seen so much about german tanks being taken out by mines, I wonder if any of the other methods used at Kursk (infantry tactics, AFV, Pakfronts, etc.) even came close to the success rate of the minefileds...

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