Giffard Le Quesne Martel the Head of the Military Mission to the Soviet Union. He assessed the effectiveness of the Soviet order of battle and tactics during a visit to the frontline in the Kursk-Oryol region between 11 and 19 May 1943. In his autobiography, Martel describes advising the Soviet High Command, Stavka, to allow the Germans to strike first at the Battle of Kursk. To what extent his advice affected the course of the battle is debatable since his first conference with Stavka did not occur until late May 1943 while the Soviet Western Front commander, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, had been advocating the
Kursk government valued Kursk for rich deposits of iron ore and developed it into one of the major railroad hubs in the Russian southwest. In 1932 in the Kursk was included Yamskaya Sloboda. In 1935 a tram system began operating in the city. In 193?, the territory of the city of Kursk was divided into Leninsky District (left bank of the Kura), Dzerzhinsky District (right bank of the Kura) and Kirov District (Yamskaya Sloboda). In 1937 Stalinsky District was formed in the southern outskirts of the city. During World War II, Kursk was occupied by Germany between November 4, 1941 and