Year 1943

WW2 War Diary for Friday, December 31, 1943: Eastern Front Southern Sector: Russians storm Zhitomir – routing German garrison – and sweep westwards towards pre-war Polish frontier. Home Fronts USA: […]

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, December 30, 1943: Sea War North Sea: Battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth, Valiant, Renown and aircraft carriers Illustrious and Unicorn leave Scapa Flow and the Clyde

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, December 29, 1943: Eastern Front Southern Sector: New Russian offensive under way in Dnieper Bend, west of Zaporozhe.

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, December 28, 1943: Mediterranean Italy: Canadian troops capture Ortona (Adriatic coast) after prolonged, savage, house-to-house fighting with German paratroops and Panzer-Grenadiers, supported by tanks concealed

WW2 War Diary for Monday, December 27, 1943: Pacific New Guinea: Australian troops capture ‘Pimple Hill’ (Huon Peninsular).

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, December 26, 1943: Sea War BATTLE OF NORTH CAPE: Series of miscalculations by Admiral Bey of battlecruiser Scharnhorst, during sortie against a arctic convoy leads

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, December 25, 1943: Sea War Pacific: US carrier planes attack shipping at Kavieng (New Ireland). Japanese attack American beachhead at Arawe (New Britain). Mediterranean Italy:

WW2 War Diary for Friday, December 24, 1943: Home Fronts USA: ROOSEVELT NAMES ALLIED COMMANDERS FOR INVASION OF EUROPE. General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander; ACM Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander; Admiral Ramsay,

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, December 23, 1943: Air War Europe: 200,000 t bombs dropped on Germany to date.

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, December 22, 1943: Neutrals Spain: Repatriation of 14,284 men of Division Azul from Russian Front officially completed; 3,000 volunteers continue to fight on as the

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, December 21, 1943: Sea War Mediterranean: Old German cruiser Niobe sunk by British MTBs (night December 21-22).

WW2 War Diary for Monday, December 20, 1943: Air War Germany: 8th US AF drops 1,200 t bombs on Bremen and 576 RAF bombers deliver 2,000 t to Frankfurt by

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, December 19, 1943: Occupied Territories France: Rommel inspects ‘Atlantic Wall’ defences on French coast. Home Front USSR: New National Anthem, composed by Alexandrov with lyrics

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, December 18, 1943: Far East China: Stilwell to command Chinese troops in India and North Burma.

WW2 War Diary for Friday, December 17, 1943: Mediterranean Italy: US assault troops capture the shattered village of San Pietro, key to ‘Mignano Gap’, 8 miles (13 km) southeast of

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, December 16, 1943: Eastern Front Southern Sector: Novoseltsy, southeast of Cherkassy, captured by Russians.

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, December 15, 1943: Eastern Front Northern Sector: Bagramyovs’ 1st Baltic Front attacks south of Nevel and quickly punches hole, 80 km wide and 30 km

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, December 14, 1943: Eastern Front Southern Sector: Cherkassy captured by Russian 2nd UF after 5 days’ house-to-house fighting. 6,000 Germans killed; Russians push on west

WW2 War Diary for Monday, December1 3, 1943: Air War Germany: Heavy US bomber raid on Kiel, Bremen, Hamburg with 1,462 bombers. First use of P-51 Mustang long-range escort fighters

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, December 12, 1943: Home Fronts Germany: ROMMEL APPOINTED C-in-C OF ‘FORTRESS EUROPE’. Politics Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance. Sea War Mediterranean: British destroyers