Battle of Kursk of Sicily had begun, Adolf Hitler was forced to have troops training in France diverted to meet the Allied threat in the Mediterranean, rather than use them as a strategic reserve for the Eastern Front. Hitler canceled the offensive at Kursk after only a week, in part to divert forces to Italy. Germany's extensive losses of men and tanks ensured that the victorious Soviet Red Army enjoyed the strategic initiative for the remainder of the war. The Germans hoped to weaken the Soviet offensive potential for the summer of 1943 by cutting off the forces that they anticipated would be
Battle of Kursk a small area in the immediate environs of Kursk. The combined depth of the three main defensive zones was about . The six defensive belts on either side of Kursk were deep. If the Germans managed to break through these defences they would still be confronted by additional defensive belts to the east, manned by the Steppe Front. These brought the total depth of the defences to nearly . The Voronezh and Central Fronts dug and of trenches respectively, laid out in criss-cross pattern for ease of movement. The Soviets built more than 686 bridges and about of roads in