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From: ccoprmd@prism.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: When were tanks last used?
Message-ID: <1990Dec15.014704.16896@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 15 Dec 90 01:47:04 GMT
References: <1990Dec14.003407.28651@cbnews.att.com>
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From: ccoprmd@prism.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca)

In article <1990Dec14.003407.28651@cbnews.att.com> amoss%BATATA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Amos Shapira) writes:

>	Kursk: 6000 tanks involved. I didn't understand from the source (see
>	below) if this is the number of German tanks (seems more likely to
>	me) or the total.

In _The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers_, by Paul Kennedy, he mentions that 
in the Battle of Kursk, the Germans had 2700 tanks, and the Russians 4500, for
a total of 7200.  In that battle, over half of the Russian tanks were 
destroyed, but almost the entire German force was obliterated.  He used this 
battle as an example of how modern warfare depended much more than in the past
on the productive capacity of the national economy.

I'd recommend this book to the readers of this group, personally...it doesn't
deal primarily with military battles, but it shows (among other things) how
warfare in the last five centuries has changed as a result of changing economies
and technology.  A good read.
-- 
Matthew DeLuca
Georgia Institute of Technology      Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, 
Office of Information Technology     for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Internet: ccoprmd@prism.gatech.edu