The submarine Kursk is named after the town of Kursk, 450 kilometres (280 miles) SW of Moscow
The Battle of Kursk, which raged from July 4-13, 1943, was the largest tank battle in history and a turning point of World War II.
During the battle 3,000 German panzers were driven back by 4,000 Soviet tanks with the loss of an estimated 50,000 German and 250,000 Soviet lives.
At the climactic encounter on July 12, about 350 German tanks were destroyed. The battle, which has attained mythical status in Russia, ended the German offensive in the East and gave the Soviet forces the initiative in what Russians still refer to as the ìGreat Patriotic Warî.
Kursk is one of the oldest cities in Russia (it was first mentioned in documents from 1032). It is one of the largest iron-producing regions in the world.
The Battle of Kursk
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