ABSTRACT
O n the 28 June, 1942, six days after the first anniversary of the German aggression, the Red Army was subjected to another severe test. Against a front of 130 miles, between Kursk and Izioum, Marshal von Bock hurled a breaching force of motorized infantry, armoured divisions, and more than 3,000 aeroplanes. This time the O.K.W. inaugurated the ‘Motpulk system,’ the autonomous mailed fist, the moving fortress. The formations of assault cars, which also protected the flanks, escorted into the interior of the formation all the necessary weapons; artillery and motorized infantry, anti-tank guns, groups of pursuit cars, the bomber and fighter planes, the D.C.A., the munitions, the supplies, and the repair lorries or mobile workshops. Behind von Bock’s ‘Motpulks’ 195 German, Roumanian and Italian divisions were advancing, ready to fight a gigantic and decisive battle.
