Well, if not in '45 then sometime very soon after. Kursk was the last time the Germans had the means to start a major offensive on their own, the last time they could have the initiative. It was all abou diminishing resources. In 1941 they started Barbarossa across the entire front. In 1942 they could manage an offensive on the Southern front only. In 1943 they were pinching a salient. Do I see a trend here?

In 1943 if the Germans refrained in the last minute to initiate Kursk and decide for something else, remember the Russians already had quite a large mass of troops ready to start a few major offensives on their own at the same time or in short succession, so if the large end-of-German-hopes was not to be called Kursk it would be called something else, and this still in 1943.

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