Sunday, September 6, 2009

War Supplement - 1943 thru August 13, 1944

Some of the events preceding Dad's arrival in Europe in August of 1944:

1943-
7/9,10 - Allies land in Sicily.
7/25,26 - Mussolini arrested - Italian government collapses.
9/8 - Surrender of Italy is announced. (Italians, not Germans surrendering to Allies)
9/9 - Allies land at Salerno and Taranto, Italy.
9/12 - Germans rescue Mussolini.
10/13 - Italy declares war on Germany.

1944-
1/6 - Russians advance to Poland.
1/22 - Allies land at Anzio.
1/27 - Leningrad relieved after 900 day siege.
3/4 - First major daylight raid on Berlin.
3/18 - British drop 3,000 tons of bombs on Hamburg, Germany.
5/25 - Germans withdraw from Anzio.
6/5 - Allies enter Rome.
6/6 - D-Day at Normandy, France.
6/13 - First German V1 rocket attack on Britain.
7/3 - Battle of Hedgerows in France.
7/18 - U.S. troops reach St. Lo, France.
7/20 - German attempt to assassinate Hitler fails.
7/24 - Soviet troops liberate first concentration camp at Majdanek.
7/25 - 2,500 USAAF aircraft drop 4,150 tons of bombs on German and American positions at St. Lo, which kill 601 Americans.
8/1 - U.S. Marines capture Tinian Island.
8/2 - Churchill announces that after seven weeks of non-stop V1 rocket attacks (when 5,340 rockets were launched), 4,735 have been killed; 14,000 injured; 17,000 homes destroyed.
8/4 - First British jet fighter was successfully used. Anne Frank and her family were arrested and sent to Auschwitz. The purge of the German army was announced, following the attempt on Hitler's life.
8/6 - Last Jewish ghetto in Poland is closed with 60,000 Jews sent to Auschwitz.
8/7 - Germans begin major counter-attack in France.
8/10 - Japanese resistance ends on Guam.

No comments:

Post a Comment