Six weeks of fierce fighting would drive Axis (Italian and German) forces from the island, opening up the Mediterranean’s sea lanes. Start of Operation Citadel the German attempt to cut off the Kursk salient (a bulge in the Russian battle-line).Īllied forces invade Sicily in Operation Husky.

The German army in North Africa surrender to the British and Americans. The Germans had discovered a mass grave of 4,500 Polish soldiers in Russia. The first news of the Katyn Wood Massacre was broadcast. Manstein masses four Panzer corps south-west of Kharkov to launch another attack on the Russians.Īn early spring thaw prevents Manstein from making further gains, but in five weeks he has managed to push the Russians back 100 miles on the south-eastern Russian front Germans destroy the Russian 3rd Tank Army.

The Germans, led by Manstein, launch a counter-offensive against the Russians. Orde Wingate along with 3,000 of his Chindits cross the Chindwin River on their march into Burma, taking the fight to the Japanese in an attempt to disrupt their advance into India. The campaign ended Japanese expansion plans and perhaps signified the turning point of the war in the Pacific theatre. Hitler is furious that his commander chose surrender over suicide.Īfter six months of fierce fighting on land, sea and air, Guadacanal is taken by American forces. The Germans evacuate Tripoli in North Africa.ĭespite being promoted to the rank of field marshal the previous day, General Paulus surrenders the southern group of the German VI Army at Stalingrad. Stalin, not invited, was left out in the cold! Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to increase American bombing of Germany, and to transfer of British military resources to the Far East once Italy had been defeated. Two Russian armies attack the Germans at Kharkov in the Ukraine. Operation Ring begins at 08.00 with a massive artillery attack on the VI Army, and, as per instructions, the German troops were hunted down unit by unit. Hitler orders his general to hold position “to the last man standing.” It entails the destruction of the German VI Army at Stalingrad, unit by unit.Ĭut off and surrounded by an entire Soviet Army Group, Friedrich Paulus, commander of the German VI Army at Stalingrad, refuses a generous Russian offer to surrender his forces. Operation Ring approved by STAVKA – Russian HQ. Important events of 1943, including the arrest of Mussolini.

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