Air Operations, CBIBURMA
Air Operations, EuropeRAF BOMBER COMMANDEvening Ops:
Air Operations, New GuineaIn support of a final advance on Mubo by Allied ground forces, more than 40 V Bomber Command B-25s attack trails and Japanese Army troops and antiaircraft positions around Salamaua. 6 B-17s and B-24s mount individual attacks in the Lae area. As a result of the air support, Mubo is captured without loss. [ | ]Air Operations, Solomons
Battle of the Atlantic
Eastern FrontHitler reluctantly calls off the offensive in the Kursk area and begins pulling troops out for redeployment to Italy because of the invasion of Sicily.[MORE] [ | ]Germany, StrategyWorried about a possible Allied invasion in the south of Europe (the Allies had landed in Sicily on July 10), Hitler informs the commanders of Army Group Center and South: 'I must prevent that. And so I need divisions for Italy and the Balkans. And since they can't be taken from any other place, apart from hte transfer of the 1st Panzer Div from france ot the Peloponnese, they will have to be released from the Kursk Front. Therefore I am forced to stop CITADEL. [ | ]New GuineaThe Japanese positions at Mubo are overrun and their force is practically wiped out. The Australian 3rd Div completes the mopping-up of Lababia Ridge. [ | ]SicilyTroops of the British 5th Div take Augusta, the 51st Div of XXX Corps is engaged near Vizzini by the German Hermann Goering Panzer Div and the remains of the Italian Napoli Div, which are withdrawing on Catania. The British units are obliged to hold up their advance.
During the night Gen Dempsey's British XIII Corps opens an offensive against the Schmalz Group's positions in an effort to penetrate on to the Catania plain. At the same time British and American airborne troops are dropped south of Catania to guarantee the crossing of 2 very important bridges, the Ponte dei Malati on the Lentini River, about 3 miles north of the town of that name, and the Ponte Primasole on the Simeto River, which gives the easiest and most convenient access to the Catania plain. The Ponte dei Malati is captured by a Commando force landed on the coast from British ships. The operation to take Ponte Primasole starts disastrously since the Allied transport aircraft, under heavy anti-aircraft fire, drop the parachutists a bit off target. Only 200 of the 1,900 men dropped managed to reach the bridge with 3 anti-tank guns. Despite this disastrous beginning they succeed in capturing it. By coincidence the German 1st Paratroop Div is dropped near the Commandos' positions and can therefore begin its task of strengthening the Axis front immediately. [ | ]SolomonsThe Americans continue to reinforce their troops on Rendova and New Georgia. On New Georgia their attacks make a little more progress against fierce resistance. They succeed in capturing a hill that overlooks the Zanana-Munda track and establish a salient into the positions of the Japanese, who defend themselves with their usual fanaticism. Nearly 30,000 men of the US Army and Marines have now landed on New Georgia, Rendova and the smaller islands. [ | ] |
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[July 12th - July 14th] |