Year 1943

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, July 24, 1943: Air War Germany: BATTLE OF HAMBURG begins with raid by 741 RAF bombers (12 lost). Millions of metal-coated paper strips (‘Window’) dropped […]

WW2 War Diary for Friday, July 23, 1943: Mediterranean Sicily: American troops capture Marsala. Sea War Mediterranean: Cruiser Newfoundland torpedoed by U-boat U-407.

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, July 22, 1943: Mediterranean Sicily: Palermo captured by US 7th Army. Air War Southeast Asia: B-24 Liberator bombers raid Surabaya (Dutch East India). Germany: 250

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, July 21, 1943: Occupied Territories Yugoslavia: Nazi authorities in Belgrade offer 2 rewards of 100,000 Reichsmarks for capture ‘dead or alive’ of Partisan leaders Tito

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, July 20, 1943: Home Fronts USSR: ‘Free Germany National Committee’ broadcasts Manifesto to German Army and people. Mediterranean Sicily: Allied troops capture Enna, vital centre

WW2 War Diary for Monday, July 19, 1943: Air War Mediterranean – FIRST ALLIED RAIDS ON ROME: 158 B-17 Forrtess and 112 B-24 Liberator bombers attack Lorenzo and Littorio marshalling

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, July 18, 1943: Sea War Caribbean: Fight between USN ‘Blimp’ airship K-74 and U-boat U-134 north of Cuba; former shot down.

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, July 17, 1943: Sea War Mediterranean: Battleship HMS Warspite bombards Catania. Mediterranean Sicily: US Rangers capture Agrigento. Occupied Territories Sicily: AMGOT (‘Allied Military Government of

WW2 War Diary for Friday, July 16, 1943: Mediterranean Sicily: British capture Lentini and descend on to Catanian Plain. Americans begin their assault on Agrigento. Pacific New Guinea – Battle

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, July 15, 1943: Eastern Front Southern Sector – Battle of Kursk: Russian spearheads have advanced 24-48 km in Orel sector.

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, July 14, 1943: Mediterranean Sicily: Germans counter-attack at Augusta. British capture Primo Solo Bridge, south of Catania. First issue of ‘Eighth Army News’ published in

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, July 13, 1943: Eastern Front Southern sector – Battle of Kursk: Hitler reluctantly calls off the offensive. Sea War Atlantic: Planes from US escort carriers

WW2 War Diary for Monday, July 12, 1943: Eastern Front Southern Sector – RUSSIAN COUNTER-OFFENSIVE AT KURSK AGAINST OREL SALIENT, north of Kursk, begins: reaches climax in ‘the greatest tank

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, July 11, 1943: Sea War Mediterranean: US cruisers Savannah and Boise with 8 destroyers halt Panzer counter-attack near Gela. Battleships HMS King George V and

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, July 10, 1943: Sea War Mediterranean – ALLIES INVADE SICILY (Operation Husky): Armada of 3,000 ships lands 12 divisions of British 8th Army (Montgomery) and

WW2 War Diary for Friday, July 9, 1943: Air War Mediterranean: B-24 Liberator bombers destroy Axis GHQ at Taormina (Sicily). British 1st Airborne Division and US 82nd Airborne Division land

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, July 8, 1943: Sea War North Sea: British Home Fleet, together with USS Alabama and South Dakota carry out unsuccessful sortie along Norwegian coast, intended

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, July 7, 1943: Air War Eastern Front: Top Luftwaffe ‘ace’ Lieutenant Erich Hartmann shoots down 4 Lavochkin fighters and 3 Stormoviks near Kursk (Hartmann’s final

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, July 6, 1943: Air War Pacific: Japanese planes bomb US troops on Rendova Island (New Georgia).

WW2 War Diary for Monday, July 5, 1943: Eastern Front TANK BATTLE OF KURSK (Operation Zitadelle; ‘Citadel’): final German summer offensive; attempt to encircle and destroy 2 Russian army groups