What was the point of Operation Citadel?

a gamble by hitler who was on amphetamines at the time

you cannot win a war by defense only, germany certainly couldnt

the kursk pocket would have been a devastating loss for the red army giving the initiative back to the wehmacht

it is up for debate if it was a deliberate bait by the soviets or they just got knowledge of german plans in time

either way, there was no chance of getting through that defense with anything

>>2199685
Wrong. It was entirely conceived by the German high command. Hitler himself was opposed to the plan, and made them call it off early.

"Hitler ruined everything" is a meme pushed by German generals post-war who didn't want to have to take responsibility for their fuck-ups.

>>2199630
The last chance for them to win the war.

>>2199702
Hitler called off Citadel because of fears the Allies were about to invade the Balkans throught Greece, and he redirected several divisions and dozens of aircraft, thanks in part due to Allied misinformation.
Then the Allies landed in Sicily.

>>2199630
Because the front line was not straight and this triggered the German autism. See Battle of the Bulge.

>>2199630
It was Germany's last chance to regain the iniative from the Red Army who had wrested it from them during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Despite Germany's victory in the Third Battle of Kharkov a sizeable portion of the Red Army still existed inside the Kursk salient jutting out into the German front line.

The German High Command also recognized from the disaster of Tunisia in which 300,000 Wehrmact soldiers surrendered that the Red Army needed to be dealt a killing blow before the Americans could bring their full strength to bear against Germany.

Therefore using new Panther and Tiger Tanks along with new Elefant Self-Propelled guns Hitler attempted to straighten out the line by encircling hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops at Kursk.

This failed as Zhukov learned of the entire german Plan down to the smallest details from a British spy ring based in Switzerland and was able to create a defense in depth zone around Kursk which made any breakthrough to Kursk impossible.

>>2199630
To make friends and influence people.

>>2199711

I thought Citadel was partially called off because of the landings.

>>2199630

You had a huge amount (about 25% of the Red Army strength) in a salient in their line. The hope was that if they could attack at the north and south, they could surround those troops in the salient and obliterate them. It would hurt the Soviets tremendously, possibly even to the point of turning the initiative around.

>>2199702
>Hitler himself was opposed to the plan

>Hitler replied, "I know. The thought of it turns my stomach." Guderian concluded, "In that case your reaction to the problem is the correct one. Leave it alone."[82][n]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk#German_plans_and_preparation