1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler - Kursk

Kursk

The spring rasputitsa halted offensive operations, giving the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler time to rest and refit. By early June 1943, the division had been fully refitted and now under the command of Brigadeführer, Theodor Wisch. Its armour strength was 12 Tiger Is, 72 Panzer IVs, 16 Panzer III and Panzer IIs, and 31 StuGs. In late June 1943, the formation of I SS Panzer Corps meant that Hausser's SS Panzer Corps was renamed II SS Panzer Corps.

The II SS Panzer Corps was moved north to Belgorod in preparation for the upcoming summer offensive; Operation Citadel. The LSSAH, along with the Totenkopf and Das Reich, was to form the spearhead of Generaloberst Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, tasked with breaching the southern flank of the Kursk salient. Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model's 9th Army was to breach the northern flank, and the two forces were to meet near the city of Kursk, thereby encircling a large Soviet force.

The II SS Panzer Corps reached its assembly areas on 28 June and began preparing for the assault. The attack was set for 5 July, and on 4 July the II SS Panzer Corps, as well as the XLVIII Panzer Corps on its left and the III Panzer Corps on the right, began minor attacks to secure observation posts. Fighting lasted throughout the day, with the LSSAH's Pioneer Battalion seeing heavy action clearing out the entrenched Soviets.

The LSSAH's panzers, advancing in Panzerkeils, soon ran into the Soviet Pakfronts. The elaborate system of Soviet defences slowed the attack, but unlike in Model's sector, the 4th Panzer Army, spearheaded by the II SS Panzer Corps and the LSSAH, was not halted, and eventually broke through.

By 9 July, the II SS Panzer Corps had advanced 30 miles (48 km) north, and were nearing the small town of Prokhorovka. The LSSAH again took the lead, by now its armour strength reduced to just 77 armoured vehicles. The 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by several tanks, advanced straight up the road to Prokhorovka against heavy resistance. By midday, the grenadiers had cleared the Komsomolets State Farm and they began the attack on Hill 241.6, which they secured shortly after nightfall on 10 July.

On 11 July, the advance resumed, with the division capturing Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2 in heavy fighting against Soviet Paratroops of the 9th Guards Airborne Division. On 12 July, the Soviets threw the 5th Guards Tank Army into a counterattack near Prokhorovka. Two tank corps faced the LSSAH, hitting the advancing Germans around Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2. In the ensuing fighting, the outnumbered Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets, knocking out many tanks. In the process, the LSSAH also suffered relatively light casualties; however the Soviet counterattack had stalled the German advance, and the division was forced to fall back to Oktiabr'skii. The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army lost 300 tanks destroyed and further 300 damaged on 12 July. Fighting continued on 13 July, but the focus of the Soviet attack had then shifted to the Totenkopf, on the left of the LSSAH.

With the Battle of Prokhorovka still in the balance, a massive Soviet counteroffensive near Orel caused Hitler to order the cancellation of Citadel. The II SS Panzer Corps was pulled back. LSSAH was ordered out of the line; having suffered 2,753 casualties including 474 killed. 11 tanks were lost during Operation Citadel. The division was then sent to Italy to help stabilise the situation there caused by the deposal of Benito Mussolini by the Badoglio government and the Allied invasion of Sicily on 10 July. The division left behind its armour and equipment, which was given to Das Reich and Totenkopf.