I understand that this is the common statement, Kursk being the largest battle. I even found it in the FAQ, here. But I also read around here that it actually wasn't, with another German-Soviet battle of an equally large scale happening in Ukraine, or was it during the earlier stages of Barbarossa... I don't remember exactly, but I read it on this sub. What I also read is that the Battle of Gembloux in '40 had more overall tanks.
So, what was the largest tank battle in history? Was it Kursk? Also, what's the difference between the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of Prokhorovka?
The battle of Kursk was an engagement between the Soviet and German forces near Kursk in summer 1943. It featured a German attack on the Kursk salient, ( operation citadel , ) followed by 2 Soviet counterattacks, over a total of 1 month 18 days.
The result was a strategic Soviet victory, and the soviet army taking the strategic initiative for the rest of the war; it was the last German strategic offensive in the east.
The battle of prokhorovka was a part of the battle of Kursk, featuring large armored clashes in the southern pincer of operation citadel on 12 july. The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army engaged the II SS-Panzer Corps of the 4th Panzer Army, preventing it from capturing prokhorovka and breaking through the 3rd soviet defensive belt, despite heavy losses. This eventually led to the German offensive being cancelled and the Soviet counteroffensive...
The battle of Kursk featured well over 8000 tanks (split 2,928 German versus 5,128 Soviet per Glantz) at the beginning and increasing to well over 10500 between them at the time of the Soviet counteroffensive.
The battle of Kursk is indeed famed as the largest tank battle in history. There has been some revision downwards of the numbers reported at prokhorovka based upon the definition of the start, operational numbers and repairs, and updates incorporating Soviet records etc. Perhaps this is the source of your confusion ?