Battleplan

The Defensive Battle

This programme looks at the conditions in which a commander might choose to fight a defensive battle, with two very different examples. The first is the deliberate German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line on the Western front in the spring of 1917. The next is the Battle of Kursk, 1943, where the Red Army knew that the Germans were determined to take the offensive again.

Category: Documentary / War / History
Original air date: 2005-06-07