"Zitadelle Launched: 5 July, 1943 – Breaking In ..." Topic

…the Southern Front I.

"Lieutenant Raimund Rüffer's previous experience with 78th Assault Division had been in a series of hastily arranged attacks during the winter, which had achieved mixed results. But the 20-year-old found Zitadelle very different.

Ivan bullets zipped around us, I could hear them flying past my ears. I expected to be cut down any moment or blown to smithereens by the shells that slammed about. This was not my first action, but it felt like it. We had been waiting. Oh, what a tortuous wait! As the day arrived our nerves jangled although we tried not to show it. By dawn I was cold, tired and – I don't mind admitting it – very frightened. We had not seen the enemy since March and in the meantime our bodies and minds had acclimatised to a war of training and fatigue parties. I enjoyed it. The comradeship in our platoon was sublime and, enjoying plentiful rations in the sunshine, it was easy to forget the coming storm…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Interesting find! A highly readable description, with several first-hand accounts sprinkled in. Just how I like my readings.

But … all told from the Axis side. No first hand Russian/Soviet accounts. And not much in the way of illustrations -- one photo, and one map (inserted in the OP) which is at a strategic/theater level, giving no added understanding of the tactical/local descriptions in the text.

A worthwhile read.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Glad you enjoyed it my friend!.

Amicalement
Armand