was being allocated a division in need of re-organisation, rather than a fully equipped and full-strength modern division. 11th Panzer Division When Mickl took command, the 11th Panzer Division had not yet finished rebuilding after suffering serious losses during the December 1942 Operation Winter Storm, the attempted relief of German forces encircled at Stalingrad and during the Third Battle of Kharkov in February and March 1943. The 11th Panzer Division formed part of General Otto von Knobelsdorff's XLVIII Panzer Corps under the operation control of Generaloberst Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, which was itself a component of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group South. For the main assault, Army Group South was the southern pincer of a manoeuvre aimed at cutting off all Red Army forces within the Kursk salient. It was to attack north out of the areas west of Belgorod, and link up with Field Marshal Günther von Kluge's Army Group Centre, which was to attack south from the Orel region. On the afternoon of 4 July, the successfully conducted a preliminary operation to breach minefields and secure the heights overlooking the nearly deep Soviet defensive positions near Kursk, which were essentially a series of staggered defensive positions and minefields reinforced with anti-tank weapons. Mickl's division achieved its objectives during the preliminary operation, and commenced its main assault at 06:00 on 5 July. The 11th Panzer Division advanced on the right flank of the XLVIII Panzer Corps, and on the left of the powerful Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland. Its progress was hampered by minimal air support, difficult terrain and constant Soviet counterattacks. Fighting alongside a Panzerkampfgruppe of the Großdeutschland Division, it had captured the heavily fortified village of Cherkasskoye. By the evening of 6 July, XLVIII Panzer Corps had breached the first belt of the formidable Soviet defences, and Mickl's division had reached the Pena river north and northeast of Cherkasskoye. This was short of the objective Hoth had set for 6 July, the bridge over the Psel River at Oboyan. XLVIII Panzer Corps regrouped during the night of 6/7 July, and the 11th Panzer Division continued its advance towards Oboyan on 7 July, alongside the Großdeutschland Division. Over the next few days, the two divisions overcame resistance from a series of Soviet strongpoints, along with their desperate counterattacks. By 10 July they had reached a position east of the Kursk-Kharkov road, on the heights south of Oboyan,