It occurred to me that the battle of Kursk could have gone much differently, resulting in a different eastern front. It was delayed several times to wait for new weapons such as Tigers and Panthers and also because of Hitler's interference (he didn't like the plan), enabling the Russians to construct a vast network of layered defences. What if the Germans had attacked straight away or had done Manstein's backhand blow. Or what if - seeing intelligence reports on vast Soviet defences - Hitler decides to cancel Operation Citadel alltogether and remain on the defence and also freeing troops to aid in the defence of Italy when the Allies land in Sicily?