References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 June 28.

1943 July 1 First withholding tax from paychecks. [1] July 2 Lieutenant Charles Hall, becomes first black pilot to shoot down Nazi plane. [1] July 5 German Central Army Group and Southern Army Group, about 900,000 troops, begin Operation Citadel, an attack around the Kursk salient in the Ukraine. Size of the opposing forces at the start of the battle: German: 900,000 men, 10,000 cannons, 2000 aircraft, 2000 tanks; Soviet: 1.9 million men, 20,800 cannons, 2000 aircraft, 5100 tanks. [10] July 10 (0245 hours) Operation Husky begins, with an Allied invasion of Sicily. Four British divisions of the British 8th Army under General Sir Bernard Montgomery land on a 40-mile stretch on the southeast corner around Syracuse and Cape Passero. Four American divisions of the United States 7th Army under Lieutenant-General George Patton land on a 40-mile front to the west, around Scaglitti, Gela, and Licata. (In total, 478,000 troops land on the island.) [10] July 12 In the Kursk battle, German SS Panzer Corp with 400 tanks reaches Prokhorovka Station. Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army under P.A. Rotmistrov with 800 tanks counterattacks. By the end of the day, 320 German tanks and over 400 Soviet tanks are destroyed. (This is the greatest tank battle in history.) [10] July 17 United Artists releases Disney's animated and live-action feature film Victory Through Air Power to theaters. [6] July 19 Allied air forces raid Rome during WW II. [1] July 22 Allied forces captured Palermo, Sicily. [1] July 25 In Italy, King Victor Emmanuel III has Premier Benito Mussolini arrested, and appoints Marshal Pietro Badoglio as premier. [10] (0103 hours) The first wave of British bombers arrive at Hamburg, Germany, dropping 1000- to 8000-pound bombs. Within minutes much of the city is a raging firestorm. 1346 tons of high explosives and 931 tons of incendiaries are dropped, setting 55 miles of streets ablaze. 1500 are killed, and over 20,000 made homeless. 12 bombers are shot down. [10] July 26 120 degrees F (49 degrees C), Tishmoningo, Oklahoma (state record). [1] July 28 Italian Facist dictator Benito Mussolini resigns. [1] President Franklin Roosevelt announces end of coffee rationing in US. [1] (0057 hours) 722 British bombers attack Hamburg, Germany, dropping 2326 tons of bombs, creating nine square miles of firestorm, reaching 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, with winds up to 150 MPH feeding the fire. About 40,000 are killed. [10] July 29 Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels writes in his diary about the destruction of Hamburg: "A city of one million inhabitants has been destroyed in a manner unparalleled in history...". [10] July 30 Last Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movie released (Girl Crazy). [1] August 1 Race riot in Harlem New York City. [1] 164 American B-24 bombers attack Ploesti, Romania. Due to several factors, some planes take a wrong course, alerting defences. 41 planes are lost during the attack, two collide on the return trip, eight land in Turkey, 23 land at Allied bases in the Mediterranean, and 90 return to Benghazi, many too damaged to fly again. Three hundred American airmen are killed during the operation. (Despite considerable damage done at Ploesti, it is temporary, with production exceeding pre-attack levels within a few months.) [10] August 2 PT-109 rammed and sunk. [1] (evening) British Bomber Command makes one last air raid on Hamburg, Germany, this time with 737 bombers. Over the four evening raids, 8500 tons of bombs were dropped, and 87 planes lost. 6200 acres of a total 8383 are made uninhabitable for months, half of the city's living areas destroyed, 900,000 people made homeless, over one million forced to leave the city, 186 of 574 large industrial works destroyed, 4118 of 9068 smaller factories destroyed, 180,000 tons of shipping sunk in the harbor or destroyed by fire, 26 or 27 submarines destroyed or delayed in construction. [10] August 16 Sicily is conquered by Allied forces. [10] August 18 Final convoy of Jews from Salonika Greece arrive at Auschwitz. [1] (0017-0043 hours) Operation Hydra takes place, 597 British bombers in three waves attack the German rocket research site at Peenemünde targeting scientists' housing, the rocket-production plant, and the Experimental Works. 40 planes are shot down during the raid. Eight Mosquito planes make a diversionary attack on Berlin, dropping "Window" reflective strips to fool radar operators into reporting a major attack there. (The extensive damage results in Germans moving the rocket testing to Poland, and production to central Germany. The damaged buildings are successfully used as camoflage for continued work. An estimated two months of V-2 rocket output is lost, about 720 rockets, potentially saving 3600 lives.) [10] August 19 In Quebec, Canada, a conference is held by representatives of Canada, Great Britain, and the USA, over six days. British and American Chiefs of Staff approve outline plans for operation Overlord, an invasion of France across the English Channel. Target date is set for May 1, 1944. Discussions are held on atomic research and use of an atomic bomb. [10] August 23 Soviet forces recapture Kharkov, ending the Battle of Kursk. [10] August 25 US forces overran New Georgia in Solomon Islands during WW II. [1] August 30 Birth of R Crumb cartoonist (Father Time). [1] August 31 The USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for an African-American, is commissioned. [5] September 3 Operation Baytown begins, as the British 8th Army begins an assault on Italy, from Sicily across the Strait of Messina, landing near Reggio di Calabria. (This is the first Allied landing on the continent with intent to stay since the retreat at Dunkirk in 1940.) [10] Near Syracuse, Sicily, Italian Guiseppe Castellano signs capitulation of Italy. General Dwight Eisenhower's chief of staff Walter Bedell Smith signs on behalf of the Allies. [10] September 6 "Congressional Limited" train derails near Frankfort Pennsylvania, kills 79. [1] September 7 Fire in decrepit old Gulf Hotel kills 45 (Houston Texas). [1] September 8 (1830 hours) On Algiers radio, General Dwight Eisenhower announces the surrender of Italy. An hour later, Italian Premier Marshal Badoglio also announces the surrender. [10] September 9 Allied forces launch Operation Avalanche, with amphibious landings of 55,000 troops at Salerno, Italy. US 6th Corps under Ernest Dawley lands on the right, 25 miles south of Salerno. British 10th Corps under Sir Richard McCreery lands on the left, just south of Salerno. [10] Allied forces launch Operation Slapstick, as the British 1st Airborne Division lands at Taranto, Italy, seizing the naval base. [10] September 11 The Italian Navy surrenders its warships to the Allies at Malta. [10] September 12 (1400 hours) Eight German gliders land at Campo Imperiale Hotel in the Abruzzi, Italy. Seventy parachutists and Waffen-SS commandos take over, and rescue Mussolini. The operation is over within twenty minutes. [10] September 13 Chiang Kai-shek became president of China. [1] September 17 Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at Norfolk Naval Air Station. [1] September 21 Lynch Triangle (Square) in the Bronx named. [1] September 22 British Midget submarines X6 and X7 penetrate anti-submarine net defences at Kaafjord, northern Norway, and plant mines under the hull of German battleship Tirpitz. In the following explosions, the hull is severely damaged, the port engine is destroyed, and the propeller shaft bent. [10] September 25 Soviet forces re-capture Smolensk. [10] September 29 Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign an armistice. [1] October 1 Allied forces captured Naples during WW II. [1] October 10 Chiang Kai-shek takes oath of office as president of China. [1] October 13 Italy declares war on Germany. [10] October 14 60 B-24 Liberator bombers and 291 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the US 8th Air Force in England begin Mission 115, an attack on ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany. Due to bad weather, none of the Liberators is able to participate. 26 B-17s turn back due to mechanical difficulties. American P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes provide escort protection up to Aachen, Germany. Beyond that, German planes knock out 37 bombers before they reach their target. The remaining planes complete their bombing successfully. The factories are hit hard, resulting in a loss of 67% of ball-bearing production. Another 23 bombers are downed on the return trip. 200 bombers return, but only 60 survive with little damage. Due to the high losses, the day becomes known to the 8th Air Force as Black Thursday. [10] October 16 Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly opens city's new subway system. [1] October 19 Researchers at Rutgers University isolate Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis. [5] Theater Guild presentation of "Othello" opens at Shubert. [1] October 22 (evening) British bombers attack Kassel, Germany, creating a firestorm. 155 industrial buildings are destroyed or damaged, three Henschel factories making V-1 flying bombs are damaged, 26,000 residential buildings destroyed, 9,000 people killed or missing, and 100,000 people made homeless. [10] October 24 Anti-nazi Clandestine Radio Soldatsender Calais begins transmitting. [1] November 1 Dim-out ban lifted in San Francisco Bay area. [1] November 6 Kiev is liberated by Soviet forces. [10] November 18 First US ambassador to Canada, Ray Atherton, nominated. [1] 444 British heavy bombers attack Berlin, Germany, in the first attack of the Battle of Berlin. Nine British planes are lost. Little damage is done, mainly due to much cloud cover. [10] November 20 US forces land on Tarawa and Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Island. [1] November 22 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, American President Franklin Roosevelt, and Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek meet at Cairo, Egypt, over five days. They agree on military strategy against Japan. [10] Lorenz Hart lyricist, dies in New York. [1] November 23 US forces seized control of Tarawa and Makin from Japanese. [1] (evening) British bombers again attack Berlin, Germany, doing great damage. In this and the past night, over 30 major industrial complexes are destroyed, 9,000 people are killed or injured, and 200,000 are made homeless. [10] November 28 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, American President Franklin Roosevelt, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin meet at Teheran, Iran, over four days. Discussions include: European strategy, Far East strategy, Russia and Japan, United Nations, Turkey, Italy, Russian frontiers, Poland, and Germany's eastern frontier. [10] December 1 Franklin Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agree to Operation Overlord (D-Day). [1] December 2 First RSHA transport out of Vienna reaches Birkenau camp. [1] Nordahl Grieg writer, dies. [1] (0730 hours) Several German JU-88 bombers attack the Italian seaport of Bari. After 20 minutes, four ships have been damaged. One, a gasoline ship, explodes. Then an ammunition ship explodes. Sixteen cargo ships sink, with 1000 men killed. One ship containing 100 tons of mustard gas in 100-pound bombs sinks. 559 men suffer greatly from the gas poisoning, with a further 69 dying within two weeks. [10] December 3 Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy begins. [1] Howard Hanson's 4th Symphony, premieres. [1] December 4 Second conference of Caïro: Franklin Roosevelt, Churchill and Turkish President Inönü. [1] Carlo Mierendorff German politician/antifascist, dies at age 46. [1] Yugoslavian resistance forms provisionary government under Dr Ribar. [1] December 6 Firmin Baes Flemish painter, dies at age 69. [1] Hermann Lohr composer, dies at age 72. [1] December 7 Cairo: President Roosevelt travels back to the US. [1] John Bouber [Blom] actor/author (Bluejackets), dies at age 22. [1] December 8 John Van Druten's "Voice of the Turtle" premieres in New York City, New York. [1] December 10 British 8th Army occupies Orsogna/Ortona Italy. [1] December 13 150 US Marauders bomb Schiphol. [1] December 15 Thomas W "Fats" Waller jazz pianist, dies in Kansas City Missouri at age 39. [1] December 16 "Tamiami Champion" trains collide, kills 73 and injures 200. [1] December 17 Transport 63 departs with French Jews to Nazi-Germany. [1] December 19 Military coup in Bolivia. [1] December 20 "International" is no longer USSR National Anthem. [1] December 22 WEB Du Bois elected first black member, National Institute of Arts and Letters. [1] December 23 First telecast of a complete opera (Hansel and Gretel), Schenectady New York. [1] General Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day. [1] Theo[dorus J] Thijssen Dutch writer (Kees de Jongen), dies at age 64. [1] December 24 Franklin Roosevelt appoints General Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces. [1] Terence Rattigan's "While the Sun Shines" premieres in London. [1] December 25 Ilona Durigo Hungarian singer, dies at age 62. [1] Raymond Huntington Woodman composer, dies at age 82. [1] December 26 British sink German battle cruiser Scharnhorst. [1] December 27 France transfers most of her powers in Lebanon to Lebanese government. [1] German warship "Scharnhorst" sinks in Barents Sea. [1] Montgomery discusses Overlord with Eisenhower and Bedell Smith. [1] December 28 All inhabitants of Kalmukkie deported, about 70,000 killed. [1] December 29 William H Singer US painter/collector (Singer Museum), dies at age 75. [1] December 30 Hobart Bosworth actor (Woman of Affairs, Big Parade), dies at age 76. [1] December 31 New York City's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater. [1]