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[Flatlander]

The Battles for Orel/Oryol - Operations Zitadelle and Kutuzov - Summer1942
Co-op Missions. (IL-2 Sturmovik)



Flying for the Germans on the northern sector of the Kursk salient. July 1943.
Based on historical events.

Download here: https://ko-fi.com/s/51369c930c

These 13 missions are intended for a virtual-squadron of up to 12 players flying a wide mixture German aircraft. You will have the opportunity to fly Bf109s, Fw190s, Ju87s, Hs129s, and Ju88s against a slew of Russian fighters, bombers and other types. There are a mixture of mission types involved (ground pounding, bridges, defense, CAPs etc), and as many a 3 separate flight/activities per mission.

The Russian planes are all AI.
Skins are mostly all default.

The only Special BAT features I have used are the occasional trigger assigning of planes on take-off at the right time.

HISTORICAL SETTING
1943: Kursk Northern Sector
After the victory at Stalingrad the Russian forces advanced to a position that created a bulge 150 km deep and 250 km wide into the German line, around the city of Kursk. This subsequently became known as the Kursk Salient. Rokossovsky's command was moved to the north of the salient and was re-designated as a new front, which was twinned with the Voronezh Front, holding the south approaches.

In February 1943 Rokossovsky wrote in his diary: "I'm appointed commander of the Central Front. It means that Stalin has entrusted me to play the key part in the summer Kursk campaign."

Both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht prepared to make a decisive offensive in the summer of 1943 at Kursk. The Germans planned to drive two thrusts, one through each flank of the salient, and unite them at Kursk in order to cut off substantial Soviet forces, recover from the strategic loss at Stalingrad, and curtail further Russian advance. The Russians, alert to the coming attack, put their offensive plans aside and prepared for defense in depth with mass antitank units in prepared positions.

The German offensive, code named "Operation Citadel", was originally scheduled to begin in May but the attack was delayed several times in order to bring up fresh Panzer formations equipped with Tiger I's and Panther tanks and their latest assault guns. These delays allowed for even greater Soviet preparation. It was not until early July that the Wehrmacht operations in the Kursk salient got underway.

The resulting battle was one of the largest tank battles in World War II, with massive losses of men and equipment on both sides. As the commander of the Central Front, Rokossovsky's force was faced with a determined attack by the Army Group Center's 9th Army under Walter Model, including several tank formations augmented with the newest Tiger I tanks in battalion strength.

The first phase of Operation KUTUZOV began on 12 July with an offensive by Bryansk Front and the left wing of West Front. The extreme fire superiority of the Soviet attacking forces is clear from the following example. in the main directions of thrust, the artillery density was more than 200 guns and grenade launchers per kilometre of front. in the breakthrough section of Viii Guards Rifle Corps, it was as high as 260 guns and grenade launchers per kilometre.

REFERENCES
Black Cross Red Star volume 5. Christer Bergstrom

Enjoy.

This is the 3rd campaign in a consecutive series:
Caucasus Defense (https://ko-fi.com/s/9dd4f2bbcc)
Operation Skachok (https://ko-fi.com/s/e87a1411ff)
Battles for Orel (https://ko-fi.com/s/51369c930c)