The Battle of Prokhorovka (12 July 1943), one of the largest tank battles in history, was fought between Waffen-SS units of Nazi Germany and Red Army units of the Soviet Union during the Second World War on the Eastern Front. The climax of the German offensive Operation Citadel, it resulted when the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army intercepted the II SS-Panzer Corps of the German Wehrmacht near Prokhorovka. The Soviet forces were decimated in the attack, but succeeded in preventing the Wehrmacht from capturing Prokhorovka and breaking through the last heavily fortified defensive belt. With the Germans unable to accomplish their objective for Operation Citadel, they cancelled it and began redeploying their forces to deal with new pressing developments elsewhere. The failure of the operation marked the first time in the war that a major German offensive was halted before it could break through enemy defences. The Soviet Union permanently gained the strategic initiative, and Germany permanently lost the capacity to launch offensives of this scale on the Eastern Front. (Full article...)
The Centrepiece Masterpiece by Kazimierz Mrówczyński
... that Compendium ferculorum ("A Collection of Dishes"), the oldest cookbook in Polish, inspired the description of a traditional banquet (illustration pictured) in the Polish national epic?
... that Oklahoma state legislator Emily Virgin tried to derail a religious freedom bill by proposing that businesses must publicly post a notice declaring whom they would refuse services to?
... that Hayao Miyazaki aspired to become a manga artist but found he could not draw people, instead drawing primarily planes, tanks, and battleships for several years?
... that the release of Los Gatos' debut single "La balsa" on July 3, 1967, is widely considered to be the origin of Argentine rock?
The constellation Virgo ('the virgin') as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c. 1825. Virgo is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac, and the second largest of the 88 modern constellations. Aside from its brightest star, Spica, the constellation also contains the quasar 3C 273 (the first quasar discovered) and several galaxy clusters.
This Wikipedia is written in English. Started in 2001 (2001), it currently contains 5,439,953 articles.
Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
