Year 1943

WW2 War Diary for Friday, June 4, 1943: Air War Eastern Front – First of series of Luftwaffe raids on industrial centres in Russia: Night raid on Gorki (Nsihni Novgorod) […]

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, June 3, 1943: Occupied Territories France: De Gaulle and Giraud reorganize French Committee of National Liberation under their joint presidency: other members inc. Generals Catroux

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, June 2, 1943: Air War Eastern Front: Big air battle over Kursk; Russians claim 162 ‘kills’ for loss of 30. Sea War Mediterranean: Convoy of

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, June 1, 1943: Secret War Western Europe: Ju 88C long-range fighters shoot down Dutch airliner over Bay of Biscay, following false report from agents in

WW2 War Diary for Monday, May 31, 1943: Sea War Merchant shipping losses in May 1943: 41 Allied ships with 205,598 tons in Atlantic, 17 Allied ships with 93,830 tons

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, May 30, 1943: Sea War Pacific: End of organized Japanese resistance on Attu. 2,622 Japanese and 549 Americans killed. Air War Britain: FW 190 fighter-bombers

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, May 29, 1943: Far East China: Chinese troops recapture Yuyangkwan, east of Ichang. Air War Germany – Wuppertal Raid: 719 RAF bombers (33 lost) despatched;

WW2 War Diary for Friday, May 28, 1943: Air War Mediterranean: 100 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attack oil refinery and shipping at Leghorn (Livorno). P-40 Warhawk fighter-bombers and B-26 Marauder

WW2 War Diary for Thursday, May 27, 1943: Air War Germany: Mosquito bombers attack Carl Zeiss works at Jena, at roof-top height, despite balloon barrage and anti-aircraft guns. Occupied Territories

WW2 War Diary for Wednesday, May 26, 1943: Occupied Territories Yugoslavia: Fifth Axis offensive against Tito’s Partisans. 120,000 Germans, Italians, Bulgarians and Chetniks (turncoat partisans) trap 16,000 Partisans in Montenegro,

WW2 War Diary for Tuesday, May 25, 1943: Home Fronts USA: Death of Edsel Ford, President of Ford Motor Company, aged 49.

WW2 War Diary for Monday, May 24, 1943: Sea War Atlantic: ADMIRAL DOENITZ SUSPENDS U-BOAT OPERATIONS AGAINST CONVOYS (56 U-boats lost April – May, 1943). ‘Flak-trap’ U-boat U-441 shoots down

WW2 War Diary for Sunday, May 23, 1943: Air War Britain: Fighter-bomber raids on Bournemouth and Hastings; night raid on Sunderland. Total sorties: 99 (5 aircraft lost). Germany: 724 RAF

WW2 War Diary for Saturday, May 22, 1943: Air War Germany: Adolf Galland, fighter ‘ace’ and ‘General of Fighters’, test-flies Me 262 jet fighter. He reports to Luftwaffe QMG Milch

WW2 War Diary for Friday, May 21, 1943: Sea War Mediterranean: In operations off French Riviera, British submarine Sickle sinks U-boat U-303 and ‘torpedoes’ Monte Carlo Casino – 2 torpedoes