Exhibition “Sunset of the Citadel”

Victory Museum presents an exhibition dedicated to one of the most vivid pages of the chronicle of the Great Patriotic War — the heroic victory of the Red Army in the Battle of Kursk, which allowed to destroy the plans of Wehrmacht for the summer offensive operation "Citadel" and the German troops finally lost their offensive strategic initiative.

The success in the battles on the Kursk Bulge was achieved in consequence of well-prepared, carefully planned by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and successfully conducted defensive and offensive operations from July 5 to August 23, 1943.

Having information about the preparation of German troops for the offensive near Kursk, the Soviet command decided not to go on the offensive first, but to deliberately take a tough defense. The idea was to exhaust the Wehrmacht's attack forces at the beginning, knock out its new tanks, and then, by introducing fresh reserves, launch a counteroffensive.

The Central Front participated in the defensive operation in the Oryol direction; and the Voronezh front in the Belgorod direction. The enemy was exhausted and drained of blood by the rigid and persistent defense of the Red Army troops. On July 12, the largest counter tank battle of World War II took place near Prokhorovka.

In mid-July, a new stage in the Battle of Kursk began. Having launched a counteroffensive during Operation "Kutuzov", the troops of the Bryansk, left wing of the Western and Central Fronts defeated the enemy in the Oryol direction, and the troops of the Voronezh, Steppe, with the support of the Southwestern Front, during Operation "Commander Rumyantsev", in the Belgorod-Kharkov direction. At dawn on August 5, 1943, the city of Oryol was completely liberated from the Nazi invaders. On the same day, the city of Belgorod was liberated by the troops of the Steppe Front.

On the evening of August 5, for the first time in Moscow, a salute was held with 12 volleys of 120 artillery pieces in honor of the troops liberated Oryol and Belgorod.

On August 23, Kharkov was liberated after tough fights.

During the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army not only withstood a strong blow from the enemy, but, having launched a counteroffensive, threw it back in the western and south-western directions by 140—150 km. As a result, the conditions were created for the deployment of a general offensive of the Red Army with the aim of liberating Left-Bank Ukraine and reaching the Dnieper. In total, 30 German divisions, including 7 tank divisions, were defeated during the Battle of Kursk.

The exhibition "The Sunset of the Citadel" consists of five sections reflecting the extensive background work for the battles on the Kursk Salient and the chronology of the grandiose battle on the Kursk Bulge.

The exposition is based on materials from the funds of Victory Museum. The documents, photographs, letters and memoirs of the participants of the Battle of Kursk on display at the exhibition consist of the greatest interest, truthfully reflecting their immense feat in heavy battles on the "the Fire Bulge". The artistic part of the exhibition consists of posters, paintings and graphic works by artists participating in the Battle of Kursk and post-war authors.