Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
It's a combination of both. The Axis defeat at Stalingrad and the follow up operations had cost the Axis power more than 1/2 a million casualties. As a result of all of these defeats, there were gaps in the German lines.nIn order for the Germans to have brought up the forces for a counteroffensive after the Soviets reached the Culminating point, they needed to shorten their lines, so they withdrew their Army Group South out of the caucasus, and withdrew the German 9th Army from their Rzhev-Sychevka position. With all of these freed up forces, the Germans broke through the exhausted Red Army troops who were short on supplies. They defeated the Red Army at the 3rd battle of Kharkov, and created the Kursk salient. A vulnerable soviet position into the German lines. The German plan was to use Walter Model's 9th Army from the north of the Kursk salient at Orel, and Hoth's 4th Panzer Army from the south of the Kursk salient at Belgorod with Army detachment Kempf to support the flank. The goal was to surround and capture as many Red Army soldiers as possible, and send them to Germany as slave laborers. This would for the meantime get the Germans the strategic initiative and improve relations with German's Axis allies, who were considering withdrawing from the war. With the Allies landing in Sicily, Adolf Hitler called of the battle of Kursk and sent forces to Italy to protect Southern Europe from Allied invasions.