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Breaching the Citadel

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Episode 4 – Breaching the Citadel By the afternoon of Day 2 (6th July 1943) on the northern salient of the battle(s) of Kursk, Model’s forces had reached the outskirts of Ponyri town following in the wake of massive ground and air bombardments. In 48 hours they had already sustained around 10,000 casualties due to relentless counter-bombardments and combined armour/infantry/air force counter-attacks, and the Soviets had suffered even greater losses up to this point. The German advance slowed to a near-halt all along the line as it encountered the second and third defensive belts of minefields, anti-tank batteries and entrenched fortifications built up over the past months by the Russians. At Ponyri, yard by yard over the next few days the Wermacht’s offensive ground down Marshal Rokossovsky’s defenders in a street-fighting nightmare into which both sides poured ever-increasing numbers of men and machines... This batch of photos attempts to depict the front-line troops on both sides enduring the unendurable. As usual there are no digitised tricks, they’re all clean through the lens. Ep 5 next time –Attrition.
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About the Author

About Tim Martin (Dioramartin)
FROM: NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

Celebrating 50th year of scale model building (1966, Ford Mustang in Boston, Mass.) & the glue hasn't got to me yyyyet. Born & lived in England until 1987, since then in beautiful Sydney Australia.


Comments

Lights! ... Cameras! … Action! … Pyrotechnics!!!💥💥💥 Good show buddy! 🍻 —mike
NOV 28, 2016 - 06:07 AM
Pretty amazing what some of us can do these days! Most impressed Tim!
NOV 28, 2016 - 08:39 PM
Most impressive! Thanks for sharing
NOV 30, 2016 - 06:20 PM
Thanks guys, I’m mildly surprised there have been no objections to P21 but if any lurkers have been concerned about the guy on the right they can rest easy, he performed an elegant triple pike and ended up stumbling away somewhat concussed – that’s him in P22 a few video frames later.
DEC 01, 2016 - 04:33 AM
That's probably my favorite pic- P21. Great "in the moment" snap. Also P39, so much happening. All around fantastic work. -Conor
JAN 01, 2017 - 09:16 AM
Thanks Conor, Ep 5 is ready to roll (if it passes Editorial audition)hopefully something for everybody. Cheers, Tim
JAN 04, 2017 - 03:40 PM