Spring 1943-preparing for Kursk

On 1 February 1943 during a conference in his headquarters Hitler spoke the prophetic words: I shall think it over yet, but I can say that the possibility of winning the war in the East through offensive operations does not exist any more. We should realise it very clearly. Soon however the desire to build up his prestige and revenge for Stalingrad won again over the sober mind. The new 6th Army, created on the basis of the hitherto Army Group Hollidt, had been even christened as the "Army of Avengers" by the Göbbels' propaganda.

In May 1943 the German military industry was at its peak of tank production: it produced 5.7 times more tanks than in an average month of 1941, and 3.1 times more than in 1942. Simultaneously the quality leap was also made: serial production of modernized tanks Pz.Kpfw.T-III and Pz.Kpfw.T-IV, as well as new types - Pz.Kpfw.T-V Panther and Pz.Kpfw.T-VI Tiger had started. In the T-III the 37mm gun was replaced by the 50mm one, and the T-IV was fitted with a 75mm long-barrelled gun.

Yet in 1943 the Luftwaffe's Achilles' heel was not as much the machines as the crews. A severe shortage of experienced pilots had occurred. While in March 1942 the bomber aviation had a reserve of 127 crews, a year later it was already lacking 364 crews.

And the thing I was looking for on this site:

The only source of reserve divisions could be the passive, or so-called "uneconomical", sectors of the front. There were three of them: Demyansk bulge in the Army Group North, Rzhev - Vyazma bulge in the Army Group Centre, and Kuban bridgehead in the Army Group A. Although thereto Hitler opposed any ideas of "rectifying" the frontlines, now he was forced to authorize them. On 21 February units of the 16th Army started a secret withdrawal from Demyansk bulge, completed successfully by the beginning of March; belated Soviet pursuit could not challenge it. This way the Army Group North moved nine divisions to its reserve. On 1 - 23 March the command of the Army Group Centre also successfully carried out the operation of withdrawal of the 9th Army from Rzhev - Vyazma bulge to a new, shorter position. This way they moved to its reserve one army command, four army corps commands, fifteen infantry divisions, three armoured divisions, two motorized divisions, and one SS cavalry division. Whereas did not succeed the withdrawal of the forces from Kuban bridgehead, widely advertized as the Wehrmacht's reinforcements' reservoir. Active operations of the North Caucasian Front and the Black Sea Fleet in the vicinity of Novorossiysk and in Taman peninsula engaged the entire Germano-Romanian 17th Army in a protracted and exhausting defence. Only two armoured divisions managed to pull out of the deadly trap.


http://2ndww.tripod.com/Kursk/total.htm

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