World War Two 1943

The year 1943 marked a shift in the successes of both sides during World War Two. As Allied forces strengthened and began to target the opposition more efficiently, they began to enjoy more frequent, consistent and notable gains, ultimately leading to the downfall of Italy before the year drew to a close.

Although both sides suffered losses, the Axis defeats were often so significant that they left Germany struggling to keep an upper hand, particularly after the Kingdom of Italy surrendered in September 1943. This specific event forced the Nazis to deliver supplies and troops south in a bid to prevent an attack on Berlin, which impacted on the nation's ability to ensure continued strength in the East and West of Europe.

Other notable defeats for the Axis forces include the D-Day landings, where Allied forces struck against the Germans in Normandy and rendered their France-based U-boat bases inoperable. This marked the biggest invasion by sea in history and was the start of Operation Overlord, which would eventually see the Allied forces arrive in Berlin and end the war. Additionally, the year of 1943 marked a turning point in the US bid to retake many of the territories taken by Japan the previous year.

See also:

World War Two 1944

1943	Event
4 January	Operation Koltso (Ring) was approved by STAVKA (the high command of the armed forces in the Soviet Union). This consisted of the German 6th Army’s being destroyed at Stalingrad unit by unit on 10 January.
8 January	STAVKA requested that Friedrich Paulus, commander of the 6th Army at Stalingrad would surrender - however Paulus refused.
10 January	Operation Ring started from 8am with a huge artillery attack on the 6th Army. The German troops in Stalingrad were sought out unit by unit as planned.
12 January	Leningrad managed to gain a rail line and linked it to the outside.
13 January	The Kharkov struggle started happening again - two Soviet armies launched an attack on the Germans there.
14 January	The Casablanca conference of Allied leaders started. Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt attended.
22 January	The Germans evacuated Tripoli in Libya, and the British captured the city on 23 January.
31 January	Friedrich Paulus surrendered at Stalingrad. The German 6th Army’s final surrender happened on 2 February.
2 February	The first Allied merchant ship unloaded its cargo in Tripoli and this vastly improved Montgomery's supply lines.
5 February	The Americans drove the Japanese out of Guadalcanal.
8 February	The Russians retook the city of Kursk.
9 February	Guadalcanal was taken by American forces.
14 February	British General Orde Wingate’s ‘Chindits’ began their first long-range penetration patrols.
16 February	The Russians retook Kharkov.
20 February	The Germans set a counter-offensive against the Russians, led by Erich von Manstein.
2 March	The Germans completely damaged the Russian 3rd Tank Army.
3 March	Manstein massed four Panzer corps south-west of Kharkov to inflict another huge attack on the Russians.
15 March	The Germans re-captured Kharkov.
31 March	A ‘spring thaw’ in the weather meant Manstein was unable to make any more gains. However, in five weeks, Manstein succeeded in driving the Russians back 100 miles on the south-eastern Russian front.
13 April	The Katyn Forest massacre was originally broadcast on Radio Berlin. This was a number of executions carried out in Poland, 1940, by the Soviet NKVD. The Germans found mass graves and in 1943 Joseph Goebbels chose to use the discoveries as anti-Bolshevik propaganda.
19 April	The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began.
13 May	The German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrendered to the Allies.
5 June	The German attempt to sever the Kursk salient, known as Operation Citadel began.
9 July	Operation Husky was launched - the Allied invasion of Sicily.
12 July	The 'greatest' tank battle in history occurred at Kursk.
16 July	The Germans started retreating from the Kursk salient.
17 July	Allied planes bombed the Italian mainland and Sicily. Mussolini met with Hitler at Feltre.
24 July	The Grand Council of Fascism came to an agreement that Italy’s military power should lie with the king - Victor Emmanuel. The RAF and USAAF air attack on Hamburg, Operation Gomorrah, began. The Operation lasted eight days and caused so much destruction that it was later given the label ‘Hiroshima of Germany’. More than 40,000 people died and around 37,000 were wounded.
25 July	Mussolini was arrested.
3 August	Italy made the first step in the direction of a peace settlement with the Allies.
6 August	German troops started moving into Italy to increase the likelihood of a peace settlement which would remove the Italians from the war.
22 August	The Germans started moving away from Kharkov and the Russians ventured into the city the following day.
26 August	The Russians campaign to liberate eastern Ukraine began.
3 September	Invasion of Italy by Britain and America.
8 September	American/British forces landed at Salerno.
12 September	The Waffen-SS commandos launched the Gran Sasso raid to rescue Benito Mussolini from the Campo Imperatore Hotel in the Apennine Mountains - this turned out to be successful.
25 September	Smolensk was set free.
1 October	British troops entered Naples.
9 October	Northern Caucasus’ liberation was finalised.
6 November	German troops were made to leave Kiev.
20 November	The Battle of Tarawa began, and ended with the deaths of more than 1,000 US Marines.
23 November	Japan was driven out of the Gilbert Islands.
28 November	The Tehran conference began.
26 December	'Scharnhorst' got sunk in the north of Norway.

World War Two 1943

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