CATANIA BATTLE RAGES, ALLIES NEAR ENNA; RUSSIANS PRESS ON OREL, STRIKE IN SOUTH (7/21/43)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 7/21/43 | Drew Middleton, Herbert L. Matthews, Daniel T. Brigham, Harold Callender, Bertram D. Hulen, more

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Kursk and Vicinity 1943: Battle of Kursk, 4 July-1 August 1943
Soviet Summer and Fall Offensives: Operations, 17 July-1 December 1943
Sicily, 1943: Italo-German Counterattack, 11 July and Allied Advance, 12 July-17 August 1943
South Pacific Area Operations: Capture of New Georgia, 21 June-27 August 1943
New Guinea Force Operations: Capture of Salamaua and Lae, 29 June-16 September 1943
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941: Status of Forces and Allied Theater Boundaries, 2 July 1942
India-Burma, 1942: Allied Lines of Communication, 1942-1943
Cartwheel, the Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls, and Concurrent Air and Naval Operations, 30 June 1943-26 April 1944

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The first part of this excerpt is continued from July 13.

Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring

[Homer_J_Simpson]

U.S. Troops Gaining (Middleton) – 2
Rome’s Rail Lines Severed; Only 5 of 500 Planes Lost – 3
War News Summarized – 3
Damage to Shrines is Kept to Minimum (Matthews) – 4
Giraud in London on Way to Algiers – 4
Hitler and Mussolini in North Italy While Bombers Were Over Rome (Brigham) – 5
Open City Status by Rome Doubted (Callender) – 5
The First Bombs Fall on the Last European War Capital to Be Attacked (photo) – 6
Red Army Closing Vise on Nazi Bulge – 7
Paramushiru Hit (Hulen) – 8
50 Reported Shot as Paris Hostages – 9
Issue in Sicily Sure (by Hanson W. Baldwin) – 11
British Boys Face Coal Mining Draft (by Milton Bracker) – 11
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on the Fighting in Various Zones – 12-15

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jul1943/f21jul43.htm

Red Army attacks in Orel salient
Wednesday, July 21, 1943 www.onwar.com

On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces capture Bolkhov in the Orel offensive.

In Sicily... The Allied advances continue. The British capture Gerbini, the Canadians take Leonforte and the Americans occupy Corleone and Castelvetrano.

In Italy... The Italian naval base at Crotone is bombarded.

In the Solomon Islands... A small American force lands on Vella Lavella to determine whether significant forces can be landed there, by-passing the Japanese stronghold of Kolombangara. On New Georgia, Griswald plans an new offensive.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/21.htm

July 21st, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Frigate HMS Retalick laid down.

GERMANY:

U-779 laid down.

U-1225 launched.
SICILY: US Rangers seize Castelvetrano and the airport; the US 82d Airborne Division takes San Margherita and the US 3d Infantry Division takes Corleone; the US 45th Infantry Division, pushing northwest, takes Valledolmo; and the US lst Infantry Division clears Alimena.

In the British 30 Corps area, the Canadian 1 Division takes Leonforte and the British take Leonforte.

During the night, Northwest African Tactical Air Force light bombers hit motor transport convoys in the Randazzo, Sicily area. This area is again hit during the day by about 20 Ninth Air Force B-25 Mitchells.

The Allies claim 40,000 prisoners, and that they control half the island.

During the night of 20/21 July, Wellingtons of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) hit Crotone Airfield and the Naples marshalling yard. During the day, NASAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Grosseto Airfield.

U.S.S.R.: A Free Germany Committee is formed. (Glenn Steinberg)

GREECE: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is on an inspection of German defenses in Greece. (Glenn Steinberg)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: In a series of sorties in support of ground forces on New Georgia Island, 22 B-25’s, 50+ USAAF and US Navy fighters, and 170+ US Navy dive bombers blast positions in the Bairoko area; 135 tons of bombs are dropped. About 60+ IJN aircraft targets in the Rendova area minutes after the last Allied aircraft leaves the area.

ELLICE ISLANDS: Japanese G3M “Nells” again attack the U.S. airfield on Funafuti Island, Ellice Islands.

CANADA: Trawler HMS Anticosti completed refit Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
Corvette HMCS The Pas collided with SS Medina while escorting ON 192 with two killed.

Trawler HMS Anticosti completed refit Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: - Nine Eleventh Air Force B-24s bomb Kiska Island targets, including the runway, North Head, and Main Camp area where fires are observed. Poor weather cancels other scheduled missions.

Two USN destroyers bombard Japanese positions in the Gertrude Cove area of Kiska Island.

- A Japanese task force consisting of 3 light cruisers, 10 destroyers, 1 escort ship and a tanker, depart Paramushiru Island in the Kurile Island enroute to Kiska Island to evacuate the Japanese garrison. This must be the last attempt due to a shortage of fuel for the ships.

U.S.A.:

Destroyer escort USS Herbert C Jones commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Revenge commissioned.

Destroyer escorts USS Currier and McClelland laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German submarine U-662 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the South Atlantic in the Amazon Estuary, in position 03.56N, 48.46W, by depth charges from a PBY-5A Catalina of US Navy Patrol Squadron Ninety Four (VP-94) based at NAF Belem, Brazil. Only 3 of the 47 sailors on the submarine survive; the PBY crew drops life rafts for them and they are picked up by PC-494 after 17 days.

Over a period of only few days this boat had been attacked by a USAAF B-24 Liberator while hunting convoy TF.2. Then came an attack by a B-18 aircraft and finally squadron’s VP-94 Catalinas located the boat and after one unsuccessful attack another VP-94 aircraft managed to sink the persistent boat. (Jack McKillop and Alex Gordon)

[BroJoeK]

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July 21, 1943:

• July 20: "Five hundred slave laborers are murdered at Czestochowa, Poland.

• "209 Jews are deported from Holland to Sobibór.

• "Two Jews escape from Sobibór."

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