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Originally Posted by zraver
The curse of the purges, it knocked Russian tactical skill backwards, and it wasn't very advanced to begin with.
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No, of course not, it just led the world in mechanized warfare!
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Also at Kursk the Gemrans had Tiger I, Ferdinands, and Panthers, nothing in the Russian arsenal could rleiably kill them from the front.
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All of which were plagued by horrifying mechanical problems, especially the Ferdinands and the Panthers. Ferdinands were almost worthless because they could be knocked-out by Soviet infantry.
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It is quite an accomplishment. Green Russian troops in average equipment led by inepxrianced officers and denied effective air cover stoped the mostly high trained panzer troops. Panzer troops who also had some of the best tanks to use, self propelled artillery, air support, and elite infantry.
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At the time of the Battle of Kursk the Red Army had plenty of experienced officers. In fact, Guderian himself said in 1941 when he was ambushed by Soviet armor near Tula that he had never seen an enemy lose so much and learn so much in order to do so much damage to him. Although the Germans were at the peak of their technological advantage, many of their tanks were prematurely introduced (not that it would have been better to do otherwise) and in the end the Germans didn't come close to defeating the Soviets at Kursk (not really to your post, but to another comment on this thread).
Model was complete stopped and Manstein was moving at a snail's pace. Even assuming Manstein could have continued the advanced, the entire Red Army's Steppe Front had not been engaged in battle, and the Red Army was just about to launch major offensives to the south against Manstein's flanks - forcing the Germans to disengage. Kursk was an ambitious offensive concocted by a man who thought German superiority could defeat the Red Army, when it had already failed twice.