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07/01/1943 The second wave of the Allied invasion in the central Solomons reinforces the U. S. 43rd Infantry division's beachhead on Rendova, and Marine raiders seize Viru harbor on southern New Georgia.

Japanese sub RO-101 tries to attack American ships near Rendova but is damaged by destroyer Radford.

In Europe, Romanian premier Ion Antonescu meets with Mussolini and suggests Italy, Romania and Hungary break their alliances with Hitler and drop out of the war. Mussolini is so frightened by the proposition that he can't reply. Nothing comes of the idea.

07/02/1943 From Intelligence report VP54

Search for enemy shipping off NEW GEORGIA ISLAND Solomon Islands (specifically Tokyo Express). Contacted 3 CLs & 4 DDs at 2100L. Report of patrol plane commander of VP-54 based at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands. Aircraft 1 Black Cat. PPC McDonough.

Spies warn Moscow that the Wehrmacht is about to launch its big offensive against the Kursk salient in central Russia.

Allied bombers blast ports in Sicily, southern Italy and Sardinia. During the past month American and British raiders have dropped 2000 tons of bombs on Italian cities and shattered the morale of Italy's civilians and armed forces.

Domestically, a Senate committee approves legislation that defers drafting married fathers until Jan. 1, 1944.

07/03/1943 New England National Guardsmen of the U. S. 43rd "Winged Victory" Infantry division splash ashore on New Georgia and begin an agonizing five-week campaign to seize the Japanese airfield at Munda.

New Georgia is a miserable place to fight: heavy jungle, slimed with thick mud and horribly hot and humid.

The 43rd is carried in landing craft from nearby Rendova island to a beach at Zanana, eight miles east of the airfield, and makes an unopposed landing. But the Japanese have strong, camouflaged defenses near the Airfield and 5,000 diehard troops commanded by Maj. Gen. Noburu Sasaki. Eventually, it will take 34,000 GIs and Marines to take Munda and New Georgia.

07/04/1943 In the Pacific, the U. S. 43rd Infantry division on New Georgia is stopped five miles from Munda airfield.

The war's largest tank battle begins with the German 4th Panzer Army attacking the Red Army's heavily fortified Kursk salient in central Russia.

During the next 10 days, more than 2 million Germans and Russians will wage a titanic struggle as the Wehrmacht tries to encircle 60 Soviet divisions.

The Russians have built 15 lines of strong defenses along a 300-mile front and committed 40 percent of their field army to the battle.

Marshal Georgi Zhukov has massed 1.3 million men, 13,000 big guns, 6.000 anti-tank guns, 1,000 rocket launchers, 3,600 tanks and 3,100 planes. Shortly before the German attack, the Russians unleash an artillery bombardment that inflicts heavy casualties.

07/05/1943 In the South Pacific, a regiment of the U. S. 37th "Buckeye" Infantry division and Marine raiders open a second front on New Georgia's northern coast. The 37th's Ohio National Guardsmen will be one of the Army's finest divisions in the Pacific theater.

Off New Georgia, U. S. destroyer Strong is sunk during a nighttime skirmish between American and Japanese task forces.

The German attack on the Kursk salient in central Russia runs into well-prepared defenses.

More than 1 million Germans of the 4th Panzer and 9th armies are trying to break through north and south of Kursk. During their opening barrage, the Germans fire more shells than the Wehrmacht used during the entire Polish and French campaigns in 1940 and '41.

But the Soviet infantry is dug in behind barbed wire and enormous mine fields. During the first day's fighting, the Germans make shallow penetrations, but suffer 35,000 casualties and lose 550 tanks and 200 planes.

07/06/1943 In the Pacific, a naval task force thwarts a Japanese attempt to land reinforcements in the central Solomons. In a series of engagements, American ships and planes sink destroyers Niizuke and Nagatsuki and damage five others. But cruiser Helena is sunk by three torpedoes.

In the Aleutians, Kiska is bombarded by a task force that includes cruisers Portland, San Francisco, Santa Fe and Wichita.

As the battle of Kursk unfolds, the Germans are dismayed by the poor performance of their new Panther tanks whose engines are prone to break down or catch fire. And their new Tiger tanks lack machine guns to ward off Russian infantry. In contrast, the Red Army's new T-34s and Stalin perform well.

The northern wing of the German drive toward Kursk has pushed the Russians back six miles, the southern wing, 12 miles, but both have paid a stiff price in men and tanks.

07/07/1943 The northern wing of the German assault on the Kursk salient is stymied by hard-fighting Russians, but the southern wing almost breaks through.

Hitler orders mass production of V2 rockets for a massive attack on London and other British cities next year.

07/08/1943 The American offensive on New Georgia isn't doing well.

After five days on the South Pacific island, the U. S. 43rd Infantry division has advanced only three miles from its beachhead toward the Japanese airfield at Munda.

Part of the 43rd's problem is inadequate training for jungle warfare. It is also being held up by 5,000 Japanese holed up in a concealed line of bunkers and strong points five miles east of the airfield.

The Japanese bedevil the Americans with psychological ploys: taunts, sham night attacks and bursts of noisy firecrackers that startle the edgy GIs.

In Russia, the murderous battle of Kursk continues with the Germans pounding away at tough Red Army defenses on the southern side of the salient. But the Germans lose another 300 tanks and 160 planes.

Army Surgeon General Herman Thomas says the death rate from disease is the lowest of any army in history.

07/09/1943 From Intelligence Report VP-54

On searching for Tokyo Express attack Jap task force in KULA GULF at 2100 - 0400L. Aircraft 4 Black Cats.

On New Georgia in the central Solomons the U. S. 43rd Infantry division again fails to crack Japanese defenses near Munda airfield.

The Allied invasion of Sicily begins with fouled-up landings by American and British paratroopers.

Gale force winds scatter 3,400 airborne troopers of the U. S. 82nd "All America" division over southern Sicily. Though widely dispersed, small groups of paratroopers seize a hill overlooking an airfield, block a key road and cause havoc.

But the 1,200 glider-riding paras of the British 1st Airborne division are cut loose too early, and 200 troopers drown when their gliders splash into the Mediterranean. Some paras land near Syracuse and seize an important bridge.

Offshore, 3,750 Allied ships and landing craft -- the war's biggest armada, thus far -- tomorrow morning will land eight divisions of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton's 7th Army and Lt. Gen. Bernard Montgomery's British 8th Army.

In Russia, a Red Army counterattack halts the German assault south of the Kursk salient.

07/10/1943 The full-scale invasion of Sicily begins with 180,000 Americans, British and Canadians seizing beachheads on the island's southern and eastern coasts.

With little opposition, Patton's 7th Army establishes a 35-mile front from Licata to Scoglitti. Patton's force includes the 1st, 3rd and 45th Infantry divisions, part of the 2nd "Hell on Wheels" Armored division and three Ranger battalions.

The British 8th Army establishes a 30-mile beachhead from the island's southeastern tip to Syracuse. The skies are dominated by 3,700 Allied planes, and 3,750 Allied ships and boats are landing troops and supplies and providing gunfire support.

Last night's gale has subsided and most of the landings are accomplished swiftly and efficiently with seasick GIs and Tommies glad to stagger ashore. A lucky bomb hit flattens the headquarters of Gen. Alfredo Guzzoni, commander of Sicily's 270,000-man Italian and German garrison. Guzzoni will be out of touch with his troops for 24 crucial hours.

The only major Allied loss is U. S. destroyer Maddox, sunk by a German divebomber.

07/11/1943 Allied forces on Sicily win their first battles and deepen their beachheads.

The biggest victory is at Gela, a small port in the center of the American beachhead, where gunfire from cruisers Boise and Savannah and an Army artillery battalion wrecks the Hermann Goering panzer division and mangles an Italian infantry division.

Nearby, the U. S. 45th "Thunderbird" division's National Guardsmen from Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico make an auspicious combat debut by repulsing an Axis attack and capturing Comiso and Ragusa, two inland towns. By the end of the day, American GIs have advanced 15 miles.

The British 8th Army, the Desert Rats, have been given the invasion's most important assignment: capturing Messina, the port on Sicily's northeastern tip that's only three miles from mainland Italy. The 8th begins its drive by capturing Priolo, 10 miles north of Syracuse.

Another tragedy befalls the U. S. 82nd Airborne division when 23 paratroop-carrying planes are shot down by "friendly" anti-aircraft fire near Gela. The mistake causes 300 casualties.

In Russia, a German panzer spearhead makes a final attempt to hammer through the Kursk salient's southern flank. Field Marshals Erich von Manstein and Gunther von Kluge beg Hitler to cancel the costly offensive. Hitler refuses.

07/12/1943 From Intelligence report VP-54.

Search for enemy shipping, (specifically Tokyo Express) and contact with 5 DDs and 1 CL of enemy 15 miles N. of Kolombangara I., Solomon Is. Times of contact: 0010, 0200, and 0300L. (13 July 1943) Based at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, S. I. Aircraft 1 PBY-5A.

The U. S. 7th Army and British 8th Army link up and establish a continuous battle line on Sicily.

The U. S. 45th "Thunderbird" and 1st Canadian divisions meet in Ragusa, a rail and highway center. The Allies now control 115 miles of Sicily's southern and eastern coasts. On the western side of the beachhead, the U. S. II Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Lucian Truscott, pushes 20 miles inland and takes Canicatti.

The biggest tank battle of the war erupts in Russia: 1,450 tanks -- 600 German and 850 Soviet -- go muzzle to muzzle during a Red Army counterattack on the southern side of the Kursk salient. In a all-day shootout the Germans call "The Death Ride," more than 800 tanks are destroyed, 400 of them German.

Stunned by the crippling losses during the past week, Hitler calls off the Kursk offensive, marking the end of massive German attacks in Russia.

07/13/1943 For the fourth time in a year, Japanese warships maul an Allied task force during a night fight in the Solomons.

During the Battle of Kolombangara, Japanese destroyers sink U. S. destroyer Gwin and seriously damage cruisers St. Louis and Honolulu and New Zealand's Leander. Allied gunfire destroys cruiser Jintsu.

The British 8th Army takes Augusta, an ancient Roman city on Sicily's east coast, while a surprise attack seizes two bridges on the road to Messina. Axis commander Alfredo Guzzoni concentrates his best units -- mostly German -- to oppose the British thrust.

Hitler formally ends the disastrous attack on Russia's Kursk salient. He has lost 70,000 men, nearly 3,000 tanks and 1,400 planes.

07/14/1943 Stymied by thickening Axis defenses on Sicily's east coast, British 8th Army commander Bernard Montgomery orders the 1st Canadian division to loop around Mt. Etna volcano, pounce on the German-Italian rear and open the way to Messina. Aided by the U. S. 45th Infantry, the Canadians race inland and swing north. On the western end of the Allied line, the U. S. 1st Infantry takes Mazzarino, 15 miles north of the American beachhead.

In central Russia, the Red Army has launched its first summer offensive with an attack on Orel, a German supply center north of Kursk. The Russians will grind down Orel's defenses during the next five weeks.

Domestically, the country's most popular songs are "Coming in On a Wing and a Prayer," You'll Never Know How Much I Love You" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."

07/15/1943 In the Pacific, elements of the 37th "Buckeye" Infantry division reinforce the hard-pressed 43rd near Munda airfield on New Georgia. U. S. fighters shoot down 45 of 75 Japanese planes trying to raid Rendova. The loss causes the Japanese air force to concede defeat in the central Solomons.

The Selective Service System announces 9.3 million Americans are in uniform and the number will reach 11.3 million in mid-1944.

Patton is angry and frustrated by the secondary role assigned the U. S. 7th Army on Sicily.

The Allied battle plan has given the glory tasks -- defeating the island's garrison and capturing Messina --to the British 8th Army.

The Americans are relegated to guarding the British left flank.

To avenge what he sees as an insult to the courage and skill of his troops, Patton organizes a three-division strike force to seize Palermo and western Sicily.

07/16/1943 Roosevelt and Churchill again call on Italy to oust Mussolini and make peace. In a joint radio statement, they ask "whether Italians shall die for Mussolini and Hitler or live for Italy and civilization."

Patton's temper nears the boiling point when a directive from British Gen. Harold Alexander reaffirms the British 8th Army will have the major role in conquering Sicily. The U. S. 7th Army will play second fiddle.

07/17/1943 In the South Pacific, GIs on New Georgia repel a counterattack near Munda airfield, and American bombers sink destroyer Hatsuyuki during a raid on Bougainville in the northern Solomons.

Patton has a showdown with British Gen. Harold Alexander over the American 7th Army's secondary role in the Sicilian campaign. Alexander, realizing the Americans resentment, gives Patton permission to sweep across western Sicily and take Palermo.

The American drive begins with the U. S. 3rd Infantry taking Agrigento and the 1st and 45th Infantry pushing toward Clatanisetta, a mid-island road junction. On Sicily's east coast, the British 8th Army crosses the Simeto river and fights to within five miles of Catania, the island's second largest city.

The Russians unleash twin offensives in the southern Ukraine and continue their drive on Orel.

07/18/1943 Freed from British restraint, Patton exuberantly launches his 7th Army's drive toward Palermo and northern and western Sicily.

Except for occasional skirmishes, it will be a four-day, 100-mile joyride through cheering Italian crowds. Peasants will deluge the GIs with food and wine, barbers will shave them for cigarettes, and 53,000 Italian soldiers will willingly surrender.

The U. S. 45th "Thunderbird" Infantry division quickly takes Clatanisetta, cuts Sicily's main east-west highway and heads for the island's northern coast.

In eastern Sicily, German resistance halts the British drive on Catania and slows the inland swoop of the 1st Canadian division.

07/19/1943 More than 500 American bombers conduct the first air raid on Rome. Two thousand civilians are killed and the Basilica of San Lorenzo, which contains the burial crypts of many popes, is damaged.

On Sicily, elements of Gen. George S. Patton's 7th Army are only 50 miles from Palermo, Italian resistance is negligible.

07/20/1943 In the central Solomons, U. S. planes from Guadalcanal sink supply-laden Japanese destroyers Kiyonami and Yugure and damage cruiser Kumano.

Patton's 7th Army is rapidly closing in on Palermo -- Sicily's largest city -- and the western end of the island. The U. S. 3rd Infantry division take San Stefano, 30 miles from Palermo, and the 82nd Airborne moves into Menfi, 30 miles from the western tip.

The 1st Canadian division occupies Enna in the center of the island, then moves east toward Mount Etna. In 10 days, the Allies have overrun the southern half of Sicily.

The only Allied failure is in eastern Sicily, where two German divisions and still-resisting Italians have halted the British 8th Army's drive on Catania and Messina. Montgomery abandons his east coast attack and beefs up an attempt to outflank the Axis defenses.

07/21/1943 Pope Pius XII deplores the American bombing raid on Rome two days ago. He says Rome is a treasure trove of precious documents and relics and the city should not be attacked.

On Sicily, the U. S. 3rd Infantry division takes Corleone and is only 20 miles from Palermo, the island's capital and largest city. Other Americans take Castelvetrano and are only 10 miles from Sicily's west coast.

The British 8th Army's attempt to encircle German-Italian forces defending eastern Sicily makes encouraging gains as the 1st Canadian division takes Leonforte and continues moving toward Mount Etna.

In Russia, Field Marshal Erich von Manstein orders his badly cut up panzer divisions to abandon the ground they won during the attack on the Kursk salient. To hasten the German retreat, the Red Army launches offensives in central Russia, the Ukraine and the Caucasus.

07/22/1943 In the Pacific, Kiska in the western Aleutians is bombarded by a task force that includes battleships Mississippi and New Mexico and cruisers Louisville, San Francisco, Santa Fe and Wichita. A smaller task force that includes the cruiser Portland shells Little Kiska.

Reinforcements land on New Georgia to invigorate the stalled attack on the Japanese near Munda airfield. Planes from a new American airstrip on New Georgia sink Japanese supply ship Nisshin.

Patton's 7th Army takes Palermo and stages a victory parade. Sicilians chant "Down With Mussolini" and "Long Live America."

The city is first occupied by GIs of the 3rd "Rock of the Marne" Infantry division. Later, Patton rides into Palermo with the 2nd Armored "Hell on Wheels" division. Grinning infantrymen wave wine bottles at the passing tanks. Patton establishes his headquarters in the 1,200-year-old Royal Palace.

07/23/1943 Patton turns part of his 7th Army eastward and begins driving toward Messina. The Allies have now overrun two-thirds of the island.

The Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexican National Guardsmen of the 45th "Thunderbird" infantry division lead the drive -- taking the small ports of Termini Imerse and Campofelice. The 82nd Airborne division mops up western Sicily by occupying Trapani and Marsala.

American warships drop anchor in Palermo's harbor, and shore parties begin establishing a navy base and Army supply center. Off eastern Sicily, U-407 damages British cruiser Newfoundland.

07/24/1943 Lt. Cmdr. Lawrence Daspit and his sub Tinosa demonstrate a weapons scandal. American torpedoes are miserably flawed.

During a patrol in the Pacific, Tinosa fires 15 torpedoes at a large tanker. All make perfect hits, but 11 fail to explode. Daspit takes his last torpedo back to Pearl Harbor, where tests determine the torpedoes have fragile firing pins. As a result, perfect broadside hits are duds and only hits made at an angle detonate.

The torpedoes also run 10 feet deeper than they should, and their magnetic exploders are unreliable.

The glitches are fixed by Pearl Harbor's repair shops; henceforth American subs will massacre Japanese shipping.

On Sicily, the U. S. 1st Infantry division threatens Nicosia, a junction 65 miles from Messina, and the U. S. 45th Infantry division takes Cefalu, a small port 80 miles from Messina.

Raids by 200 American B-17s on Trondheim and Heroya, Norway, sink a U-boat and damage a German destroyer.

07/25/1943 From Intelligence report VP-54.

Night search mission. Glide bombing attack on small auxiliary at 2230(L)(SOLS;LAND BASED ARI:9-24) Aircraft 1 PBY-5A

Mussolini's 21-year reign as dictator of Italy ends as he's booted out of office by the Fascist Grand Council and King Victor Emmanuel III. He's immediately imprisoned. The king orders Marshal Pietro Badoglio to form a new government. Hitler orders the Wehrmacht to occupy Italy's Alpine passes and arrest the king, Badoglio and all involved in the Duce's ouster.

During the next nine days, the RAF and U. S. 8th Air Force will drop 3,300 bombloads on Hamburg, Germany's biggest Atlantic port. More than 40,000 people will be killed, 50,000 wounded and 800,000 made homeless.

07/26/1943 In the Pacific, the American offensive on New Georgia makes slow progress toward Munda, overcoming Japanese strong points one by one. A destroyer squadron led by Cmdr. Arleigh Burke bombards Munda airfield.

The heaviest air raid of the northern Pacific campaign batters the Japanese garrison on Kiska.

The new prime minister of Italy, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, organizes a non-Fascist government and declares martial law. Mussolini's Fascist party dissolves. Badoglio announces Italy will honor its alliance with Germany and continue to fight. Privately, he plans to seek peace.

German resistance in northern Sicily slows the U. S. 7th Army's drive on Messina. Patton reinforces his thrust with the 9th Infantry and Moroccan Goumeirs. German divebombers damage destroyer USS Mayrant.

07/27/1943 In the Pacific, troop-carrying Japanese destroyers Ariake and Mikazuki run aground near New Britain and are pulverized by U. S. bombers.

A firestorm kills thousands and levels several square miles of Hamburg, Germany.

A raid on Hamburg by more than 700 RAF bombers stokes fires ignited by earlier raids. The fires become so intense they suck air from the surrounding countryside, creating four hours of fiery hurricane-force winds that incinerate people caught in the open and suffocate those in air-raid shelters.

Italian Prime Minister Badoglio sends out secret peace feelers through the Vatican but delays contacting the Allies directly. Hitler figures Badoglio's government will surrender and orders the Wehrmacht to occupy Italy, rescue Mussolini and restore Fascist rule.

07/28/1943 Domestically, Roosevelt ends coffee rationing and promises to increase sugar allotments.

07/29/1943 In the Pacific, the assault on Munda airfield on New Georgia intensifies when Maj. Gen. John Hodge takes command of the New England National Guard's 43rd division and orders immediate attacks.

Eisenhower offers to release Italian prisoners captured in North Africa and Sicily if the new Badoglio government agrees to a cease-fire. Instead, Badoglio tries to cut a deal allowing Italy to switch sides; Hitler learns of the double-cross from an intercepted trans-Atlantic conversation between Churchill and Roosevelt.

On Sicily, Patton's 7th Army and Montgomery's British 8th Army prepare their final offensive. Patton organizes a two-thrust assault: One wing will push along Sicily's northern coast and the other along a road 20 miles inland. The British will attack east and west of Mount Etna. The jump-off is to be August 1.

07/30/1943 Unaware that the Japanese evacuated Kiska two days ago, the destroyers Farragut and Hull bombard the Aleutian island.

In the South Pacific, desperate Japanese counterattacks on New Georgia are repulsed by GIs of the 37th "Buckeye" Infantry division.

Allied bombers hit Hamburg for the fifth time in six days with a raid by 770 RAF heavy bombers. Casualties are light because more than one million terrorized Hamburg residents have fled the city.

Germany is stunned by the raids -- three by the RAF and two by the U. S. 8th Air Force -- which have killed more than 40,000 people and devastated nearly 15 square miles of the city.

In Italy, a crowd storms a Milan jail and releases 200 political prisoners. Army units refuse to fire on the demonstrators.

07/31/1943 The campaign on Sicily enters its final phase. During the past three weeks, the Allies have taken 87,000 prisoners and overrun three-quarters of the island.

Most of the island's defenders are German, including the elite 1st Parachute and Hermann Goering divisions who fight savagely and skillfully.

The only unresolved question is who will take the ferry terminal at Messina. Patton has his heart set on beating British 8th Army commander Bernard Montgomery to the city.

In the Eastern Atlantic, a force led by the Royal Navy's ace U-boat killer, Cmdr. "Johnnie" Walker, sinks three U-boats.