TheSecondWar.pl

Albert Kesselring

Person page: Albert Kesselring →

Tag

(23)

1941

July

21
- The first air raid on MoscowOn the night of 21/22 July 1941 nearly 200 Luftwaffe bombers attacked Moscow for the first time. The city's air defences limited the effects of the raid.

December

01
- The thousandth air raid on MaltaAround 1 December 1941 Malta logged its thousandth air raid alert since June 1940. A quiet autumn was ending as the Luftwaffe returned to Sicily.

1942

January

07
- Malta under air attack in January 1942In January 1942 the Luftwaffe in Sicily began bombing Malta's airfields systematically. The island had 263 alerts; its Hurricanes were outclassed by Bf 109s.

March

07
- The first Spitfires over MaltaOn 7 March 1942 fifteen Spitfires flew to Malta from HMS Eagle, the first such fighters outside the British Isles. Hurricanes were no match for the Bf 109.

April

May

09
- Operation BoweryOn 9 May 1942, 64 Spitfires flew off Wasp and Eagle for Malta. This time they went straight into action and the defenders began to win back the skies.

November

15
- The run for TunisIn mid-November 1942 the British First Army set off from Algeria to forestall the Germans in Tunisia. By late November it was 20–30 km from Tunis, and stuck.

1943

August

11
- The Axis evacuation of SicilyOn the night of 11–12 August 1943 the Germans began Operation Lehrgang. By 17 August more than 100,000 Axis troops had crossed from Sicily to Calabria.

September

October

31
- Autumn rains in ItalyIn late October 1943 downpours, mud and mountains slowed the Allied march on Rome, giving the Germans time to build the Bernhardt and Gustav Lines.

November

09
- The attack on the Winter LineIn early November 1943 the Allies reached the Garigliano and attacked the Bernhardt Line, but on 15 November the exhausted Fifth Army had to halt.

1944

January

17
- Key eventThe Battle of Monte Cassino beginsOn 17 January 1944 British X Corps crossed the lower Garigliano at the western end of the Gustav Line. The first Battle of Monte Cassino had begun.

March

June

August

04
- The liberation of FlorenceOn 4 August 1944 New Zealanders and South Africans entered southern Florence. Overnight the Germans blew the Arno bridges; only the Ponte Vecchio survived.

1945

April

29
- The surrender at CasertaOn 29 April 1945 at Caserta, envoys of Vietinghoff and Wolff signed the surrender of the German forces in Italy. The guns fell silent at 2 p.m. on 2 May.

May

02
- The surrender of German forces in ItalyAt 2 p.m. local time on 2 May 1945 the Caserta surrender came into force. German forces in Italy were the first whole front of the Reich to lay down arms.