I don't want to discuss if depth ... but it is related to the campaign tree and possibilities (ideas for scenario builders).kondi754 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 19, 2018 1:03 pm I have doubts whether even winning on the operational scale during the battle of Kursk (it's now recognized that the Kursk battle was only a tactical victory for the Germans ) would destroy in any significant way the offensive potential of the USSR, although it could end with a separatist peace between these two dictators
I know that the secret negotiations between the USSR and the Third Reich lasted until the conference in Teheran (end of November 1943), then Stalin decided to continue the alliance with the Great Britain&USA (the price for the continuation of the alliance was, among other things, the Soviets' control over Central and East Europe)
Mainly, don't look at Kursk as a single battle or Operation. Look at the whole thing from the "victory" at Stalingrad which was rather marginal victory or a draw in fact. Manstein's series of operations from the evacuation of the Caucasus, Rostov, Harkov, the counterattack after - all that resulted and formed the Kursk salient. That was the point where a peace talks were mentioned - Stalin asked too much, Hitler wanted to keep too much. The actual Kursk battle came way too late but still it was the last realistic point where things could have been turned. Stalin indeed had an already advantage in Tehran as he saved Britain big time in late 1940.