Moscow, Soviet Union · November 28, 1942 On this date in 1942 twelve Free French pilots and their ground crews, flying from newly liberated Syria in the eastern Mediterranean, landed at their Ivanovo training center, 125 miles northeast of the Soviet capital, Moscow. Earlier in the year, in March, Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the…
Kursk, Soviet Union · July 13, 1943 On this date in 1943 Operation Citadel (Zitadelle), Adolf Hitler’s gambit to retake Kursk, an important Soviet rail hub south of Moscow, and straighten the German line on the Eastern Front failed with devastating losses on both sides, but especially to German strategic armored reserves. A day earlier…
Near Kursk, Russia · July 5, 1943 On this date in 1943 Germans and Soviets unleashed the largest tank battle in history, the Battle of Kursk. Following the surrender of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad (January 31, 1943), Soviet advances during the first months of 1943 pushed deep into German-held territory to recapture the Ukrainian…
Moscow, Soviet Union · April 15, 1943 On this date in 1943 Soviet Gen. Géorgui Zakharov placed a patrol of six Yak-7s with Soviet pilots under Free French command. The initial six French pilots formed a mixed patrol of six French and six Russian planes. The brainchild of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the…
Stalingrad, Soviet Union · January 31, 1943 On this date in 1943 Red Army staff officers arrived at German Sixth Army headquarters in Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd) to discuss surrender terms for an invading enemy now bereft of ammunition, food, and effective command. Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus’ defensive perimeter had shrunk to 300 yards when he surrendered…
When June 22 to August 19, 1944 Where Belorussia, Soviet Union (Belarus), Baltic States, and Eastern Poland Who Army Group Center under Field Marshal Ernst von Busch (1885–1945); after June 28, 1944, Gen. Walter Model (“Hitler’s fireman”) (1892–1945). Soviet forces were the First Baltic Front under Gen. Ivan Bagramyan (1897–1982), the First Belorussian Front under Gen….
When July 5–16, 1943 Where The area around the Russian city of Kursk (dead center in map), an important railroad junction nearly 280 miles southwest of Moscow Who Elements of Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge’s (1892–1944) Army Group Center and Field Marshal Erich von Manstein’s (1887–1973) Army Group South faced Gen. Konstantin Rokossovsky’s (1896–1968) Central…