World War II Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Allies gain momentum (1943–1944)==== [[File:SBD VB-16 over USS Washington 1943.jpg|thumb|left|[[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] [[Douglas SBD Dauntless|SBD-5]] [[scout plane]] flying patrol over {{USS|Washington|BB-56|6}} and {{USS|Lexington|CV-16|6}} during the [[Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign]], 1943]] After the Guadalcanal campaign, the Allies initiated several operations against Japan in the Pacific. In May 1943, Canadian and U.S. forces were sent to [[Aleutian Islands campaign#Allied response|eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutians]].{{sfn|Thompson|Randall|2008|p=164}} Soon after, the United States, with support from Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islander forces, began major ground, sea and air operations to [[Operation Cartwheel|isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding islands]], and [[Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign|breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2001|p=610}} By the end of March 1944, the Allies had completed both of these objectives and had also [[Operation Hailstone|neutralised the major Japanese base at Truk]] in the [[Caroline Islands]]. In April, the Allies launched an operation to [[Western New Guinea campaign|retake Western New Guinea]].{{sfn|Rottman|2002|p=228}} In the Soviet Union, both the Germans and the Soviets spent the spring and early summer of 1943 preparing for large offensives in [[central Russia]]. On 5 July 1943, Germany [[Battle of Kursk|attacked Soviet forces around the Kursk Bulge]]. Within a week, German forces had exhausted themselves against the Soviets' well-constructed defences,<ref>{{Harvnb|Glantz|1986}}; {{Harvnb|Glantz|1989|pp=149–159}}.</ref> and for the first time in the war, Hitler cancelled an operation before it had achieved tactical or operational success.{{sfn|Kershaw|2001|p=592}} This decision was partially affected by the Western Allies' [[Allied invasion of Sicily|invasion of Sicily]] launched on 9 July, which, combined with previous Italian failures, resulted in the [[Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy|ousting and arrest of Mussolini]] later that month.{{sfn|O'Reilly|2001|p=32}} On 12 July 1943, the Soviets launched their own [[Operation Kutuzov|counter-offensives]], thereby dispelling any chance of German victory or even stalemate in the east. The Soviet victory at Kursk marked the end of German superiority,{{sfn|Bellamy|2007|p=595}} giving the Soviet Union the initiative on the Eastern Front.{{sfn|O'Reilly|2001|p=35}}{{sfn|Healy|1992|p=90}} The Germans tried to stabilise their eastern front along the hastily fortified [[Panther–Wotan line]], but the Soviets broke through it at [[Smolensk operation|Smolensk]] and the [[Battle of the Dnieper|Lower Dnieper Offensive]].{{sfn|Glantz|2001|pp=50–55}} On 3 September 1943, the Western Allies [[Allied invasion of Italy|invaded the Italian mainland]], following [[Armistice of Cassibile|Italy's armistice with the Allies]] and the ensuing German occupation of Italy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kolko|1990|p=45}}</ref> Germany, with the help of fascists, responded to the armistice by [[Operation Achse|disarming Italian forces]] that were in many places without superior orders, seizing military control of Italian areas,{{sfn|Mazower|2008|p=362}} and creating a series of defensive lines.{{sfn|Hart|Hart|Hughes|2000|p=151}} German special forces then [[Gran Sasso raid|rescued Mussolini]], who then soon established a new client state in German-occupied Italy named the [[Italian Social Republic]],{{sfn|Blinkhorn|2006|p=52}} causing an [[Italian Civil War|Italian civil war]]. The Western Allies fought through several lines until reaching the [[Winter Line|main German defensive line]] in mid-November.{{sfn|Read|Fisher|2002|p=129}} [[File:Soviet troops and T-34 tanks counterattacking Kursk Voronezh Front July 1943.jpg|thumb|[[Red Army]] troops in a counter-offensive on German positions at the [[Battle of Kursk]], July 1943]] German operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By [[Black May (1943)|May 1943, as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective]], the resulting sizeable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German Atlantic naval campaign.<ref>{{Harvnb|Padfield|1998|pp=335–336}}.</ref> In November 1943, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and Winston Churchill met with [[Chiang Kai-shek]] [[Cairo Conference|in Cairo]] and then with Joseph Stalin [[Tehran Conference|in Tehran]].<ref name="Kolko 1990 211,235,267_268">{{Harvnb|Kolko|1990|pp=211, 235, 267–268}}.</ref> The former conference determined the post-war return of Japanese territory<ref name="Iriye 1981 154">{{Harvnb|Iriye|1981|p=154}}.</ref> and the military planning for the [[Burma campaign]],{{sfn|Mitter|2014|p=286}} while the latter included agreement that the Western Allies would invade Europe in 1944 and that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within three months of Germany's defeat.<ref name="polley148">{{Harvnb|Polley|2000|p=148}}.</ref> From November 1943, during the seven-week [[Battle of Changde]], the Chinese awaited allied relief as they forced Japan to fight a costly war of attrition.<ref name="Beevor 2012 268_274">{{Harvnb|Beevor|2012|pp=268–274}}.</ref><ref name=H161>{{Harvnb|Ch'i|1992|p=161}}.</ref><ref name="Hsu Chang 412-416">{{Harvnb|Hsu|Chang|1971|pp=412–416, Map 38}}</ref> In January 1944, the Allies launched a [[Battle of Monte Cassino|series of attacks in Italy against the line at Monte Cassino]] and tried to outflank it with [[Battle of Anzio|landings at Anzio]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Weinberg|2005|pp=660–661}}.</ref> On 27 January 1944, [[Leningrad Front|Soviet]] troops launched [[Siege of Leningrad#Soviet relief of the siege|a major offensive]] that expelled German forces from the [[Leningrad Oblast|Leningrad region]], thereby ending the [[List of battles by casualties#Sieges and urban combat|most lethal siege in history]].<ref name="Glantz 2002 327_366">{{Harvnb|Glantz|2002|pp=327–366}}.</ref> The [[Leningrad–Novgorod offensive|following Soviet offensive]] was [[Battle of Narva (1944)|halted on the pre-war Estonian border]] by the German [[Army Group North]] aided by [[German occupation of Estonia during World War II#Estonians in Nazi German military units|Estonians]] hoping to [[Estonian government-in-exile#Failure to reestablish independence|re-establish national independence]]. This delay slowed subsequent Soviet operations in the [[Baltic Sea]] region.<ref name="Glantz 2002 367_414">{{Harvnb|Glantz|2002|pp=367–414}}.</ref> By late May 1944, the Soviets had [[Crimean offensive|liberated Crimea]], [[Dnieper–Carpathian offensive|largely expelled Axis forces from Ukraine]], and made [[First Jassy–Kishinev offensive|incursions into Romania]], which were repulsed by the Axis troops.<ref name="Chubarov 2001 122">{{Harvnb|Chubarov|2001|p=122}}.</ref> The Allied offensives in Italy had succeeded and, at the expense of allowing several German divisions to retreat, Rome was captured on June 4.<ref>{{Harvnb|Holland|2008|pp=169–184}}; {{Harvnb|Beevor|2012|pp=568–573}}.<br />The weeks after the fall of Rome saw a dramatic upswing in German atrocities in Italy ({{Harvnb|Mazower|2008|pp=500–502}}). The period featured massacres with victims in the hundreds at [[Civitella in Val di Chiana|Civitella]] ({{Harvnb|de Grazia|Paggi|1991}}; {{Harvnb|Belco|2010}}), [[Ardeatine massacre|Fosse Ardeatine]] ({{Harvnb|Portelli|2003}}), and [[Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre|Sant'Anna di Stazzema]] ({{Harvnb|Gordon|2012|pp=10–11}}), and is capped with the [[Marzabotto massacre]].</ref> The Allies had mixed success in mainland Asia. In March 1944, the Japanese launched the first of two invasions, [[Operation U-Go|an operation against Allied positions in Assam, India]],<ref name="Lightbody 2004 224">{{Harvnb|Lightbody|2004|p=224}}.</ref> and soon besieged Commonwealth positions at [[Battle of Imphal|Imphal]] and [[Battle of Kohima|Kohima]].<ref name="Zeiler">{{Harvnb|Zeiler|2004|p=60}}.</ref> In May 1944, British and Indian forces mounted a counter-offensive that drove Japanese troops back to Burma by July,<ref name="Zeiler" /> and Chinese forces that had [[Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan|invaded northern Burma]] in late 1943 [[Siege of Myitkyina|besieged Japanese troops]] in [[Myitkyina]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Beevor|2012|pp=555–560}}.</ref> The [[Operation Ichi-Go|second Japanese invasion]] of China aimed to destroy China's main fighting forces, secure railways between Japanese-held territory and capture Allied airfields.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ch'i|1992|p=163}}.</ref> By June, the Japanese had conquered the province of [[Henan]] and begun a [[Battle of Changsha (1944)|new attack on Changsha]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Coble|2003|p=85}}.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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