On 10 January the RAF mined the waters off Burma to put a temporary halt to Japanese shipping in the area. On 11 January “Operation Pointblank” began, a series of raids targeted at weakening the capability of the Luftwaffe. And on 12 January the first “Victory ship” was launched, SS United Victory; the Victory ships… Read more »Read more

The New Year began as the old one had ended, with Allied armies pressing the Axis forces on a number of fronts. On 4 January Soviet forces entered Poland for the first time, driving the German army into a retreat that took it ever closer to its own borders. In Italy, Allied forces attacked Cervaro… Read more »Read more

On 27 December General Eisenhower was officially named head of Overload, the planned Allied invasion of Normandy, as 1943 ended with a series of victories for the Allies. On 28 December the small Italian town of Ortona was finally captured by Allied forces after bloody fighting which resulted in the battle being called the “Italian… Read more »Read more

On 24 December US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. By 25 December the Allied offensives in Italy had reached something of a stalemate and the decision was taken to halt and regroup, though fighting continued in places all along the line. And on 26 December the German battleship… Read more »Read more

In Italy Allied forces continued to attack the German Winter Line, but deteriorating weather and stubborn resistance was resulting in slow progress and heavy casualties. On 14 December Soviet forces launched a new winter offensive against German troops in the western Soviet Union.   At Murkle in Caithness “Messrs Allan’s steam threshing mills have arrived… Read more »Read more

In Italy, Allied forces launched offensives against the Germans’ “Winter Line”, with Canadian forces attacking across the Moro River and the US Fifth Army attacking the Bernhardt Line. On 11 December over 140 German planes were shot down Emden, and on 12 December the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia signed a mutual assistance treaty. Also on… Read more »Read more

On 2 December in America fifteen atomic scientists were brought to New Mexico to work on the development of an atomic bomb. Also on 2 December Ernest Bevin, Minister for Labour, announced that ten per cent of male conscripts would be sent to work in Britain’s coal mines to make up the shortage of miners;… Read more »Read more

In Italy, after delays caused by heavy rain and the need to regroup, Allied forces finally launched an assault on German positions across the River Sangro on 28 November. US troops completed the capture of Tarawa Island from the Japanese and the RAF launched a heavy bombing raid on Berlin. Also this week, Roosevelt, Stalin… Read more »Read more

On 15 November the Allied Expeditionary Force for the invasion of Europe was established and in Nazi Germany the order was given for Gypsies and “part-Gypsies” to be sent to concentration camps. On 16 November American bombers attacked a heavy water factory in German-controlled Vemork, Norway, effectively ending German plans to create an atomic bomb…. Read more »Read more

On 9 November the Allies captured the Italian town of Castiglione and General Charles de Gaulle became president of the French Committee of National Liberation, known as the “Free French”. On 12 November German forces invaded the island of Leros in the Dodecanese and quickly overran the British and Italian troops there. In the Pacific… Read more »Read more