Love and war come hand in hand in tonight’s Historama.
Largest World War II tank battle
Today in 1943, World War II saw its largest tank battle take place in Russia near the town of Kursk (536 kilometers south of Moscow).
The battle involved 1,200 tanks. In one day, Germany lost over 400 tanks and 10,000 men, so it had to switch from offensive to defensive tactics. This gave Russia the edge.
Read more about World War II on RT’s War Witness
The resulting Soviet victory gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the war.
Read more on this event in Russian history
Russian ballerina charms Spanish artist
On this day in 1918, Pablo Picasso married Olga Khohlova, a ballerina of Russian decent.
They met in Paris working together for Diagilev’s Russian Ballet.
Read more about Sergey Diagilev on Russiapedia
Pablo and Olga spent eight happy years together and had a son, Paulo.
In 1935, Olga found out that Picasso had been having a long-term affair, and that his lover was pregnant. Together with Paulo, she left the artist and moved to southern France.
Although she filed for divorce, she never got one. Picasso did not want to give her half of his property, as required by French law.