Donbass Strategic Offensive (July 1943) Donbass Strategic Offensive (July 1943) The Donbass Strategic Offensive was a military campaign fought in the Donets Basin from 17 July 1943 and 2 August 1943 between the German and Soviet armed forces on the Eastern Front of World War II. The Germans contained the Soviet offensive in its northern portion after initial gains and pushed the southern portion back to its starting point. In July 1943, while the Battle of Kursk was raging to the north, two German armies of Army Group South in the Donets Basin confronted two Soviet army groups on a 660-kilometer front. Stavka launched two
German tanks in World War II keep pace with Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, which respectively, either had sloped armor or relatively thick armor and both shared 76 mm guns. By 1941, the Panzer III was the most numerous of German tank designs, however, during the later parts of 1943, it was largely replaced by later versions of the Panzer IV and Panzer V "Panther". Its assault gun chassis variant, the Sturmgeschütz III was, with just over 9,400 units built, the most widely produced German armored fighting vehicle of World War II. The Panzer IV was the workhorse of the German tank force during World War