Ben Wheatley, The Panzers of Prokhorovka (Osprey, 2023)
The Battle of Prokhorovka in July 1943 is considered one of the three great Russian battles. Rightly so, perhaps, and it could be considered as a turning point on the Eastern Front. The claim that this battle was also the graveyard of the Panzers has been challenged, however, at first on the fringes of historical thought, but now also by Ben Wheatley who has brought the counter-argument into the mainstream with what he argues is definitive proof.
Wheatley lays out his thesis and methodology. He argues that the widely accepted panzer graveyard is a myth, and he produces aerial photographs of the battlefield and German AFV (Armoured Fighting Vehicle) records to support his case. He sketches the context for a battle that saw mind-boggling numbers of men and machines slogging it out as part of the wider Battle of Kursk. The Soviets heralded a great victory, which was true but not in the manner they claimed. In Wheatley’s narrative, the Soviet attack on the Germans was launched too soon, causing them heavy losses, though they did stop the German advance. But far from being smashed, the Germans withdrew having lost just a few tanks, three percent to the Soviet claim of up to seventy percent, according to Wheatley. The German before and after battle records are quite clear on that, and the aerial photographs show very few carcasses of German panzers to support the Soviet interpretation. In short, Wheatley contends, there was no panzer disaster at Prokhorovka.
This book is light on narrative, and beginner students embarking on the Eastern Front should probably do some background reading on the battle and campaign before diving into Wheatley’s analysis. But if you are familiar with the battle and are able to grasp the significance of the AFV reports, then you are in for a treat as Wheatley pursues the panzers through the records often down to individual tanks. He incorporates many tables, a host of remarkable photographs, and an annotated historiography to help you along. I find it unlikely that Wheatley’s argument will be successfully challenged, which surely brings the Prokhorovka debate to a satisfying close.
