Chronology of World War II

July 1943

Wednesday, July 21


Air Operations, Aleutians

9 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s attack Kiska.

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Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 V Bomber Command B-24 attacks Rabaul.

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Air Operations, New Guinea

  • More than 50 V Bomber Command B-25s attack targets around Madang, especially supply dumps. Other B-25s attack Bogadjim and the area around the junction of the Gori and Ioworo rivers. 7 V Bomber Command B-26s attack barges and dock areas near Voco Point. 1 B-24 attacks the airfield at Finschhafen Airdrome.
  • P-38s of the 8th Fighter Group’s 80th Fighter Squadron and the 35th Fighter Group’s 39th Fighter Squadron down 12 A6M Zeros, 6 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters, and 4 Ki-61 'Tony' fighters over the Ramu Valley between Bogadjim and Madang between noon and 1217 hours.
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Air Operations, Solomons

  • In support of a US Marine Corps ground attack at Bairoko in northern New Georgia, 22 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s, more than 170 AirSols light bombers, and 50 AirSols fighters attack Japanese Army defensive positions with more than 135 tons of bombs.
  • VF-26 and VF-28 F4Fs down 3 A6M Zeros over Rendova between 1640 and 1700 hours, but a large number of D3A 'Val' dive bombers are able to attack the island.
  • Approximately 60 Japanese Navy aircraft attack targets in the Rendova area at about 1700 hours, just minutes after the last AirSols fighter patrol has left the area to return to the Russell Islands.
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Battle of the Atlantic

US Naval land-based aircraft (VP-94) sink the German submarine U-662 near the mouth of the Amazon River, Brazil.

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Eastern Front

The Soviets capture Bolkhov.

Soviet Infantry Go on the Attack with T-34 Tanks


Soviet infantry go on the attack
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Germany, Command

Rommel leaves his new headquarters in Bavaria to inspect Axis defenses in Greece and the Aegean. This is the sector where the Axis fears a new Allied landing.

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Italy

The Italian naval base at Crotone on the mainland is bombarded.

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Occupied Yugoslavia

Nazi authorities in Belgrade offer 2 rewards of 100,000 Reichsmarks for the capture 'dead or alive' of the Partisan leaders Tito and Mihailovich.

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Sicily

The Allied advance on Sicily continues. The British take Gerbini, the Canadians Leonforte where fighting goes on in the village streets until the morning, and the Americans Corleone and Castelvetrano.

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Solomons

An American reconnaissance group lands during the night near Barakoma, on Vella Lavella Island, northwest of Kolombangara, to examine the prospects for a landing. If they could take the island the Americans would neutralize the Japanese base at Vila, also on Kolombangara, and would be nearer to Bougainville, where the Japanese have 8 airfields and an important base at Biun. On New Georgia, Griswold lays plans for a large offensive.

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[July 20th - July 22nd]