He commanded 5th Guards Tank Army in the Battle of Prokhorovka during the Battle of Kursk, and in Operation Bagration. The unit under his command, the 5th Guards Tank Army engaged in a brutal tank battle near Prokhorovka against the attacking Waffen SS divisions "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler," "Das Reich" and "Totenkopf" almost in a point-blank range of 100-200 meters. As the German advance was noticed, spearheaded by the three most elite Waffen SS divisions towards Prokhorovka advancing in force, Rotmistrov ordered direct counter-attack from the army that was prepared to go by radioing "Steel, Steel, Steel" against the Germans to get close to them as possible to make up for the better guns the German tanks had. In the ensuing battle, a close-quarter open field tank battle ensued so that most shots from both sides were a direct hit. The distance between the forces was such that tanks were shooting each other from left and right one after another and close enough to ram the German tanks to disable their relatively powerful guns from turning.