What was the largest tank battle in history?

The largest tank battle in history was the Battle of Kursk, fought between Germany and the Soviet Union in July and August 1943.

Germany’s Operation Citadel aimed to pinch off the Kursk salient, a large Soviet-held bulge in the Eastern Front. The Red Army had prepared several deep defensive belts, minefields, anti-tank positions, and large armoured reserves. When the German advance stalled, Soviet counteroffensives pushed the Wehrmacht back.

Kursk involved millions of soldiers and thousands of tanks, assault guns, and other armoured vehicles. It is often called the largest tank battle in history, although the famous Battle of Prokhorovka on 12 July was only one engagement within the wider Kursk campaign. Older accounts greatly exaggerated the number of tanks at Prokhorovka, which caused some confusion about which battle was truly the largest.

Kursk was also strategically important: it marked the failure of Germany’s last major offensive on the Eastern Front. Afterward, Soviet forces generally remained on the offensive until the fall of Berlin.