The first action for the Urals Volunteer Tank Corps was at Oryol, the counterattack (Operation Kutuzov) on the northern side of the Kursk salient after the German defeat at the Battle of Kursk proper. Historian John Erickson wrote that, following a 'ragged' attack by 11th Tank and 6th Guards Mechanised Corps by 4th Tank Army on 26 July 1943, during which both corps were heavily battered by concealed German tanks and assault guns. The next day, the 30th Tank Corps 'pushed in with a fierce attack' but the tank army 'covered only about one mile in all'.