F4U-1A Corsair of Marine Squadron VMF-216 at Torokina, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 10 Dec 1943 (US Marine Corps photo)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 9, 1943: In Italy, British Eighth Army secures Moro River beachhead near Ortona.
US airfield opens at Torokina on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, only 220 miles from major Japanese base at Rabaul.
Douglas C-47 Skytrain of US Air Transport Command, 1940s (US Air Force photo)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 8, 1943: Italian troops, in first combat action for the Allies, attack Monte Lungo, Italy, but are repelled with heavy casualties.
US Twelfth Air Force C-47 cargo planes fly first mission dropping supplies to partisans in northern Italy.
US paratroopers approaching San Pietro, Italy, Dec. 1943 (US Army Center of Military History)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 7, 1943: US Fifth Army launches first of several bloody attempts to take San Pietro, Italy.
Niels Bohr in front of his Institute for Theoretical Physics in 1957, Copenhagen, Denmark (Photo: Niels Bohr Institute)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 6, 1943: Soviets take Yeysk on Sea of Azov in Russia, cutting off German Army Group A.
Danish Nobel Laureate physicist Niels Bohr, having escaped from Denmark by boat, arrives in New York; Bohr will meet with Manhattan Project scientists and visit Los Alamos.
Back in Copenhagen, Germans occupy Bohr’s Institute for Theoretical Physics.
B-17 Flying Fortress “Maiden America” of the 385th Bomb Group is escorted on a mission by two P-51 Mustangs, including P-51D “Marymae” of the 357th Fighter Group (Imperial War Museum, Roger Freeman Collection: FRE 1404)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 5, 1943: US P-51 Mustang fighter planes first escort US Eighth Air Force bombers on missions, extending range of raids.
Japanese G4M bombers bomb Calcutta, India (350 killed) and nearby US Tenth Air Force airfields (500 casualties).
Pres. Franklin Roosevelt selects Gen. Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander for Operation Overlord (D-day).
Cdr. Robert Ward, WWII (US Navy photo)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 4, 1943: Submarine USS Sailfish, under command of Lt. Cdr. Robert Ward of Antioch, CA, sinks Japanese escort carrier Chuyo off Japan.
New song in Top Ten: “Shoo Shoo, Baby.”
Japanese escort carrier Chuyo after torpedo strike (public domain via WW2 Database)
Monte Sammucro and San Pietro, Italy, on the Winter Line (US Army Center of Military History)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 3, 1943: US Fifth Army launches main ground attack on the Winter Line in Italy after an artillery barrage and infantry assault at night.
Allied ships burning at Bari, Italy, after Luftwaffe air raid 2 Dec 1943 (US Army Signal Corps: 177084)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 2, 1943: Luftwaffe sends 105 Ju 88 bombers to bomb Allied ships at Bari, Italy, sinking or destroying 24 cargo ships and warships, including US Liberty ship John Harvey, which carried mustard gas; about 1000 soldiers, sailors, and civilians are killed.
Four correspondents fly on an RAF raid to Berlin: Nordahl Greig (Daily Mail) & Norman Stockton (Australian Associated News) are killed, Lowell Bennett (International News Service) is shot down and taken prisoner, but Edward R. Murrow (CBS) returns safely.
“Queen Elizabeth Comes Up The Clyde,” US Army painting by Byron Thomas, depicting troopship HMT Queen Elizabeth bringing US troops to England during WWII (US Army Center of Military History)
80 Years Ago—Dec. 1, 1943: First use of US P-51 Mustang fighter planes in Europe, as US Ninth Air Force P-51s fly a sweep over France.
Mussolini orders the arrest of all Jews in Italy, but Italians shelter many.
Troopship HMT Queen Elizabeth disembarks US 2nd Ranger Battalion and US 357th Fighter Group at Greenock, Scotland.
Marines raising US flag on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, Nov 1943 (US Marine Corps photo No. 2-5)
80 Years Ago—Nov. 30, 1943: US takes unoccupied Abaiang and Marakei Atolls north of Tarawa in Gilberts.
Construction of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico is completed.
“Another masterful installment in Sundin’s roster of WWII novels.”—Booklist starred review for Embers in the London Sky