Prokhorovka

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In Kursk I take the tram that takes me to the busstation. There I try to figure out which bus I have to take which is hard because I understood that there is no direct bus from Kursk to Prokhorovka where I want to go. In the end I understand that I have to take the bus to Belgogrod and then get off somewhere. I’ve got no idea where, and what afterwords.

It looks like there is not too much public transport here and see only a few old “lada” cars pass. Then I decide to get a hitch from here to Prokhoravka. In Russia you don’t use you’re tumb for hitchhiking but use you’re hand and move it upside down. The first car that passes stops immediately. Luck or something else? The door doesn’t open and the man on the driverseat comes out and asks where I want to go.

His face changes immediately when he understand I’m foreigner. But I understand that he’s going the same way and I try to get in. The door almost comes out. I see absolutely nothing of all those gigantic big tank ditches, trenches and other things that were built to stop the Germans in the biggest tank battle of all time in WW2. It is a quiet area with wheat fields, other crops and here and there a few houses and some patches of forest.

We pass the sign indicating that we are entering Prokhorovka and we pass big sugar factories. Fortunately, yesterday I wrote down the two sites that I would like to see in the city. I have also taken into account that I will soon have to open my notebook to show the pictures of the church and the battlefield that I want to see and visit. The man in the car growls when I give him the piece of paper. I think he knows where the church is. The town is an extensive area without cityheart or noteworthy things - all low-rise buildings and tufts of houses here and there.

We drive past a parking lot full of T-34 tanks and a few artillery pieces - behind them is a museum and I assume that this is the museum I have found on the internet which is closed today. Although it seems much smaller. There is also a small white tower similar to the church that I want to visit later. When we stop in front of the church I immediately recognize it from yesterday; I want to give the man 100 rubles but the man does not want to know anything about it and I thank him for the lift.

I see the large tank museum next to the memorial church St. Peter and Paul which I wanted to visit but unfortunately this one is closed today. The museum is entirely dedicated to the great battle that took place here on 12 July 1943. There are, among other things, uniforms, handguns, documents and objects captured on the Germans.

Because I didn’t know where and when I would arrive somewhere I took some sandwiches with me; I take a seat on one of the benches around the tower of Pisa and take a bite. I look at the other monuments on the square and walk into the church which fortunately is open. This church was built after the war in memory of the Soviet soldiers who gave their lives for the Motherland during the tank battle. The names of 7,000 killed soldiers have become part of the interior of the church in a very special way. It is a strange phenomenon to see all those large marble plaques with names besides Biblical frescoes and a large golden altar as in many Russian Orthodox churches.  

After checking out the church and look at the remarkable monument of three or four tanks that crash which is been built in front of the museum. There are countless plaques with Russian script, but also many flowers and wreaths. I walk around the big museum and in the back is a part of a preserved mini-battlefield. Unfortunately, the modern building in which the museum is located is next to it, just like a busy road and some other buildings that are blocking the view.

There are some (reconstructed) wooden trenches, there is a tank, an artillery piece, some rusty helmets and pieces of other weapons. In the wooden bunker I am shocked because there are two women inside harvesting something. It’s very hard to imagine a big battle took place here.

Prokhorovka - Kursk: there is a train at 14:30 that takes about 2.5 hours to get into Kursk. Costs are 180 rubles.