Tigers versus T-34s

At a range of 1800m (5905ft), the Tigers started to take their toll on the Russian tanks. One after another the T-34s exploded in huge fireballs. Still the Russians kept coming. At 1000m (3280ft), every shot from the Tigers' 88mm cannons was scoring a hit. Up to 10 tanks a minute were being hit as the Soviet brigade continued to surge forward. The Russians tried to return fire, but they were firing on the move, and few of them were able to hit any of the German tanks. Now the famous incident occurred when a T-34 tried to ram the Tiger of the famous Leibstandarte tank commander, SS-Untersturmführer Michael Wittmann, at high speed. The Tiger survived the impact and was able to back off from the wrecked Russian tank before its ammunition exploded. The 181st Tank Brigade failed to penetrate the German line, and for much of the afternoon the Leibstandarte's panzers hunted down its remnants along the northern edge of the battlefield.

A tank brigade tried to launch an attack from the Psel valley later in the afternoon, but its T-34s barely got forward from their assembly area before accurate German 88mm fire from the Tigers broke up the attack. In the Psel valley the remnants of several Soviet tank brigades and battalions were trying to sort themselves out after being rebuffed with heavy losses during the day's battles. Commanders were trying to muster scratch battalions from the survivors, in order to rejoin the fight. Two more attacks were attempted towards the end of the afternoon, only to get the same reception from the German tanks. The Soviet tank crews were now starting to show a healthy respect for the Waffen-SS panzers, and made few attempts to emerge from cover. In addition, the Leibstandarte Division's artillery regiment started to direct regular barrages into the area to make sure that the Russian troops kept their heads down.

Das Reich under pressure

On the Das Reich's front the battle was equally fierce, with two tank corps and several infantry divisions trying to batter through its position from late in the morning. The brunt of these attacks were borne by the division's two panzergrenadier regiments, Der Führer in the south and Deutschland to the immediate right of the Leibstandarte, which set up a series of defensive fronts in the woods and gullies south of Prokhorovka. II Tank and II Guards Tank Corps had already been blooded against the Waffen-SS over the previous week, and were now more cautious in exposing their tanks to German firepower.

A series of coordinated brigade-sized infantry and armour attacks was launched throughout the day, beginning at 11:40 hours with a push against Der Führer's second battalion led by 30 T-34s. At the same time, an infantry attack hit Deutschland's front.

Barely had the Das Reich Division seen off these human-wave infantry assaults when Der Führer was bounced by a two-pronged attack. The regiment's front was engulfed by thousands of Russian infantry charging forward at the Waffen-SS lines. One German battalion also counted 40 Russian tanks advancing towards its lines among the infantry. In the north of the regiment's sector, another 70 tanks tried to push through to the Belgorod-Prokhorovka railway line at 14:00 hours.

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