The Red Army at the end of the civil war and the Soviet-Polish war
(1919-1921) had a relatively large number of heavy machine guns (machine guns in short) Maxim wz. 1910. It was an obsolete weapon at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s. Its main disadvantages were the high production costs and the very large weight of the weapon. However, despite attempts to introduce a new heavy machine gun into the service of the Red Army, these efforts did not bring the desired effect. Although the DS-39 rifle was introduced, it did not live up to all hopes and turned out to be unreliable. As a result, at the start of the German-Soviet war in 1941, the production of this obsolete weapon was resumed. It is worth adding here that in 1941 there were three rifle companies in the Soviet infantry battalion, and each of them had a heavy machine gun platoon with two rifles (usually Maxim wz. 1910), and the battalion included a full company heavy machine guns. It was not until 1943 that a new machine gun, SG-43, was put into production. From 1943, it was introduced first in guard units, and later also in other branches of the Red Army.
The Battle of the Kursk (German code name: Operation Zitadelle) is widely recognized - not quite accurately - as the largest armored battle in World War II and the largest armored battle on the Eastern Front. It happened after the German defeat at Stalingrad in February 1943, but also after the successful German counter-offensive at Kharkiv in March of the same year. The German side, joining the battle, counted on the full acquisition of the strategic initiative, on the task of the Soviet side with the greatest possible losses, as well as on the nipple of the Soviet offensive expected in the summer of 1943. The Red Army adopted a defensive stance, trying to bleed the attacking Germans out of the blood in the initial phase of the operation, and then proceed to a counter-offensive. The battle on the Kursk arc began on July 5, 1943, and along with the Soviet Orłowo and Belgorod operations it lasted until August 23 of the same year. In its course, despite the involvement of significant forces by the German army and the newest Tiger and Panther tanks as well as the Ferdinand tank destroyers, the Soviets achieved victory, who prepared themselves very well for this battle, and despite suffering huge losses - they were able to go to the counteroffensive. The Battle of the Kursk region turned out to be one of the turning points in World War II. It is estimated that as a result (from July 5 to August 23), the German army lost approx. 240,000 soldiers - killed, wounded and captured, approx. 1,300 tanks and approx. 1,000 aircraft. The losses of the Red Army were undoubtedly greater.