Курская дуга

In April 1943, Stalin received a secret document – a plan for the German Operation Citadel. The Wehrmacht was preparing a large-scale offensive, but the Führer's signature was missing. Could intelligence data and the authenticity of secret documents be trusted? How should the correct decision be made – to attack and attempt to inflict serious damage on the German armies, depriving them of the strength to launch an attack, or to defend and risk the possibility of failing to hold the lines? Nikolai Vatutin insisted that an attack was necessary without delay. Konstantin Rokossovsky insisted that it was essential to hold the line. Why did headquarters accept one point of view and reject the other? Which side did Marshal Zhukov support? The same dilemma – to attack or to defend – tormented the German headquarters. Among the German generals, there were those who even then realized that an attack on the USSR would be a fatal mistake. Why weren't they listened to? How did the newest German tank, the Tiger, end up at the Kubinka testing ground? What kind of blows did its armor withstand, and were its weak points discovered? What other "surprises" did the German military industry have in store, and how did the Soviet army have to defend itself?