May 1943
11
U.S.
troops attack Japanese-held Attu in Aleutian Islands. For 18 days,
7th Infantry Division troops battle the Japanese garrison of 2,500, the vast
majority (99%) of which either dies in combat or commits suicide.
June 1943
13
Allies defeat Axis forces in Tunisia. In early May, British Gen.
Bernard Montgomery attacks Axis defensive positions in northeast Tunisia.
Heavy artillery and air preparation precede his assault, which manages to
penetrate the perimeter and cut German communications. With no additional
reserves or air support to counter Montgomery’s offensive, some 275,000
Axis troops—left high and dry by an Italian Navy that makes no attempt
to evacuate them—begin surrendering en masse.
July 1943
5 – 17
Battle of Kursk. In the largest tank battle of the war, Hitler’s
Panzers—in a bid to overcome Soviet defenses near Prokhorovka—collide
with Red Army tanks. Russian air power smothers Luftwaffe support, and more
than 1,000 tanks engage one another, with the Germans losing 400 tanks and
10,000 men. Soviet tank strength is cut in half, but the battle marks the
end of German initiatives in the east and the beginning of the Soviet counter-offensive.
9
Allies invade Sicily. Despite violent storms, British and American
armies surprise German and Italian forces, attacking Sicily’s southeastern
coast. The Allied operation gains momentum after war-weary Italians overthrow
Fascist leader Benito Mussolini on July 24. One of the largest amphibious
assaults of World War II, the victory reopens the Mediterranean to the Allies
and transforms the island into a training base for the invasions of mainland
Italy and, later, Normandy.
August 1943
5
Red Army overruns last major German defensive line in Soviet territory.
6
Japanese naval forces defeated in Battle of Vella Gulf, Solomon Islands.
17
Allies assume complete control of Sicily.
23
Soviets retake Kharkov, Ukraine.
September 1943
8
Italy sues for peace after Allied landings.
9
Allies land at Salerno, Italy.
10
German forces capture Rome.
12
Mussolini rescued by German paratroopers.
22
Soviets secure first bridgehead across Dnieper.
October 1943
1
Allies reconsolidate southern Italy. With momentum on their side,
Allied forces sweep across southern Italy. Montgomery’s Eighth Army
captures Foggia on September 27, and four days later the U.S. Fifth Army seizes
Naples. Over the next two weeks, French forces work with local resistance
groups to secure Corsica, while Canadian armies claim Campobasso further inland.
Amid all the progress, Italy officially joins the Allies, declaring war on
Germany on October 13.
1
U.S. forces invade Bougainville in Solomon Islands. During the ongoing
fight to cement control of the Southwest Pacific, a combined Army and Marine
force, lead by Admiral William Halsey, carries out a surprise landing at Bougainville.
In April 1944, after 7,000 of the defenders had been killed, U.S. troops secure
the island and take advantage of its airfields to position U.S. planes within
striking distance of Japanese-controlled Rabaul on the island of New Britain.
28-December 1
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet in Tehran. A few days after
meeting with China’s Chiang Kai-shek at the First Cairo Conference (November
22-26), Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill head to Iran’s capital
to discuss with Joseph Stalin plans to liberate France. The three leaders
approve both a cross-Channel invasion and an assault on southern France for
May or June the following year. Stalin also promises to join in the war against
Japan, despite a nonaggression treaty signed between the two countries in
April 1941.