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- HILL 253, 40 MILES NORTH OF KURSK, July 9, 1943. Operation
- Citadel had begun, but instead of the desired lightning
- breakthrough, the fighting had taken on the characteristics
- of WWI trench warfare. In four days of grueling combat, the
- XLI Panzer Corps had managed to penetrate the defenses of the
- Soviet 13th Army to a depth of only about five miles. The
- Corps, now being slowly forced onto the defensive by
- increasing enemy pressure, needed to secure a strong position
- on which to anchor its left flank and free its mobile
- elements; such a spot was the commanding height of Hill 235
- near the village of Ponyri, where some of the most intensive
- fighting of the entire Eastern campaign was taking place. On
- July 9th the Germans stormed and captured Hill 239 and to
- exploit this success, an assault on Hill 235 was ordered.