Military operations
Category
(1014)1943
January
- 23
- The capture of TripoliOn 23 January 1943 British patrols entered Tripoli. The Eighth Army took the capital of Italian Libya exactly three months after El Alamein began.
- The final offensive on GuadalcanalIn January 1943 Patch's XIV Corps took the Gifu on Mount Austen and, on 23 January, Kokumbona. The Japanese, already ordered to evacuate, covered their retreat.
February
- 02
- Key eventThe end of the Battle of StalingradOn 2 February 1943 General Strecker's northern pocket surrendered and the Battle of Stalingrad ended. A day later the Reich announced the Sixth Army's defeat.
- Rommel on the Mareth LineIn early February 1943 Rommel's army fell back from Libya behind the old French Mareth Line in Tunisia. The Eighth Army entered Tunisia on 4 February.
- 09
- Key eventThe end of the fighting on GuadalcanalOn the nights of 1–8 February 1943 Japanese destroyers took some 10,600 soldiers off Guadalcanal. On 9 February the Americans declared the island secured.
- Bombing raids in February 1943In February 1943 the RAF razed Lorient, bombed blind with H2S radar successfully for the first time (Wilhelmshaven), and the Americans attacked Emden.
March
- 02
- Key eventThe Battle of the Bismarck SeaOn 2–4 March 1943 Allied aircraft destroyed a convoy from Rabaul to Lae. Eight transports and four destroyers were sunk and nearly 3,000 Japanese killed.
- The Chindits cross the IrrawaddyIn early March 1943 Wingate’s Chindits blew up the railway in northern Burma and crossed the Irrawaddy. At the end of the month they were ordered back to India.
- 05
- Manstein's counter-offensiveIn early March 1943 Manstein’s counter-stroke shattered the armies of the South-Western Front and the 3rd Tank Army. The SS Panzer Corps advanced on Kharkiv.
- The Battle of the Ruhr beginsDuring the night of 5–6 March 1943 the RAF bombed Essen, opening the Battle of the Ruhr. On 8–9 and 9–10 March bombers struck Nuremberg and Munich.
- 26
- Breaking the Mareth LineOn 26 March 1943 the New Zealanders and 1st Armoured Division, backed by aircraft, broke through at the Tebaga Gap. Messe’s army had to quit the Mareth Line.
- The Battle of the Komandorski IslandsOff the Komandorski Islands a weaker US Navy force fought a 3.5-hour gunnery duel with the escort of a Japanese convoy. The Japanese turned back.
- Action at the ArsenalOn 26 March 1943 scouts of the Grey Ranks Assault Groups freed Jan Bytnar “Rudy” and 20 other prisoners from the Gestapo in Warsaw.
April
- 18
- Key eventThe death of Admiral YamamotoOn 18 April 1943 American P-38 fighters shot down Admiral Yamamoto’s aircraft over Bougainville. The ambush was made possible by breaking a Japanese code.
- The Palm Sunday massacreOn 18 April 1943 US P-40s and British Spitfires shattered a Ju 52 formation off Cape Bon. The Axis air bridge to Tunisia began to collapse.
May
June
July
- 12
- The Battle of KolombangaraOn the night of 12–13 July 1943 the Allies sank the cruiser Jintsū, but Japanese torpedoes damaged three Allied cruisers and sank the destroyer Gwin.
- The Battle of ProkhorovkaOn 12 July 1943 the 5th Guards Tank Army struck the SS Panzer Corps at Prokhorovka. It lost hundreds of tanks but halted the German advance.
August
- 06
- The Germans move into ItalyFrom late July 1943 one Wehrmacht division after another crossed the Alps into Italy. At Tarvisio on 6 August both allies pledged loyalty – and both lied.
- The Battle of Vella GulfOn the night of 6/7 August 1943 six US destroyers ambushed four Japanese destroyers off Kolombangara and sank three of them without suffering a single hit.
- 15
- The landing on Vella LavellaOn 15 August 1943 the Americans bypassed strongly held Kolombangara and landed on weakly held Vella Lavella – the first deliberate “leapfrog” in the Solomons.
- The landing on an empty KiskaOn 15 August 1943 more than 34,000 Americans and Canadians landed on Kiska. The Japanese had gone, but fog, mines and booby traps still killed many men.
- 17
- The end of the fighting in SicilyOn the night of 16–17 August 1943 US patrols entered Messina, and Patton drove in that morning. After 38 days of fighting all of Sicily was in Allied hands.
- The Schweinfurt–Regensburg raidOn 17 August 1943 376 US B-17s attacked the Schweinfurt ball-bearing plants and the Messerschmitt works at Regensburg by day. Sixty bombers did not return.
- Key eventOperation HydraOn the night of 17–18 August 1943 nearly 600 RAF bombers attacked the rocket centre at Peenemünde. About 700 people died, most of them forced labourers.
September
- 10
- The Germans occupy RomeOn 10 September 1943, after two days of fighting by Italian troops and civilians left by their commanders, Rome capitulated to the Germans. Occupation began.
- The surrender of the Italian fleetOn 9–11 September 1943 the Italian fleet obeyed the armistice and sailed for Malta. En route German guided bombs sank the battleship Roma and Admiral Bergamini.
- 16
- The Dodecanese campaign beginsAfter Italy's surrender the British lost the race for Rhodes, but in mid-September 1943 they occupied Kos, Leros and Samos. The Dodecanese campaign had begun.
- The crisis at SalernoOn 13 and 14 September 1943 a German counter-attack nearly split the Salerno beachhead. On 16 September Eighth Army patrols met the Fifth Army.
- 22
- The landing at FinschhafenOn 22 September 1943 the Australian 20th Brigade landed near Finschhafen on the Huon Peninsula. The town fell on 2 October, but fighting went on until December.
- Operation SourceOn 22 September 1943 British midget submarines laid charges under the Tirpitz in Kåfjord. The battleship was put out of action for half a year.
October
November
- 16
- The attacks in MilanIn mid-November 1943 attacks by communist GAP groups on Germans and Salò Fascists mounted in Milan and other cities of northern Italy.
- The raid on VemorkOn 16 November 1943 American bombers attacked the Vemork power station and heavy water plant and the works at Rjukan. More than 20 Norwegians were killed.
- The sinking of USS CorvinaOn the night of 16–17 November 1943 the Japanese submarine I-176 sank the surfaced American submarine USS Corvina south of Truk. 82 men were lost.
- 20
- Key eventThe landing on TarawaOn 20 November 1943 Marines landed on Betio in Tarawa atoll and Army infantry on Makin. The reef, low tide and bunkers turned the first day into a slaughter.
- The Eighth Army on the SangroOn 20 November 1943 the British 78th Division seized a bridgehead over the Sangro, but downpours and floods again halted Montgomery's Eighth Army.
- 25
- The Battle of Cape St. GeorgeOn the night of 25 November 1943 Captain Arleigh Burke's destroyers sank three of five Japanese destroyers returning from Buka, without loss to themselves.
- The raid on RangoonOn 25 November 1943 the Americans and the RAF opened a joint air offensive against Rangoon. On day one cloud stopped the Liberators; only B-25s hit a target.
December
- 26
- Key eventThe sinking of the ScharnhorstOn 26 December 1943 ships of Admiral Fraser's Home Fleet sank the Scharnhorst in the Barents Sea. Of a crew of almost two thousand, only 36 survived.
- The landing at Cape GloucesterOn 26 December 1943 the US 1st Marine Division landed at Cape Gloucester on New Britain. On 30 December the Marines took the Japanese airfield.