From the various official explanations and post-war comments of the generals involved, it became clear that the battle was highly controversial and to a great extent the battle was played down by Montgomery in particular. This started an extensive search of regimental war diaries and reports, histories and the memoirs of tank crew members who fought in the battle to put together a more accurate record of the numbers of tanks lost.Īfter studying the battle casualties, I then wanted to better understand why the battle was fought and what its objectives actually were to determine whether it was actually a British defeat or victory. Numbers are plucked from the air by other authors, anywhere between two hundred and five hundred tanks left as smouldering wrecks littering the battlefield while even official reports are riddled with basic errors of addition. What soon became clear were the discrepancies between various historians and the official accounts of the numbers of tanks lost in this three-day clash of armour. As a student of armoured warfare in the Second World War for many years, I researched Operation Goodwood very early on as it was one of the largest tank battles of the war.

Battle of kursk remains of tank crew