World war II chronology - September 1943

2 September 1943	Adolf Hitler names Albert Speer as Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production.
3 September 1943	An artillery barrage commences on the Italian mainland across the Strait of Messina, in advance of a landing. The British artillery barrage on the Italian mainland ends. Operation Baytown begins, as the British 8th Army begins an assault on Italy, from Sicily across the Strait of Messina, landing near Reggio di Calabria. (This is the first Allied landing on the continent with intent to stay since the retreat at Dunkirk in 1940.)    Near Syracuse, Sicily, Italian Guiseppe Castellano signs capitulation of Italy. General Dwight Eisenhower's chief of staff Walter Bedell Smith signs on behalf of the Allies. 320 British bombers attack Berlin, Germany. About 20 are shot down. Much damage is done, and 35,000 people are made homeless.
5 September 1943	American 503rd Parachute Infantry is dropped on Japanese-controlled Nadzab airfield north-west of Lae, New Guinea. The United States 101st Airborne Division troops leave New York by ship for Britain.
8 September 1943	On Algiers radio, General Dwight Eisenhower announces the surrender of Italy. An hour later, Italian Premier Marshal Badoglio also announces the surrender. The Soviet Red Army liberates the Donbas. Adolf Hitler issues codeword "Achise" (Axis), the signal for German forces to implement plans to take over strategic Italian positions, and to capture the Italian fleet.
9 September 1943	Italian Admiral Carlo Bergamini takes the remainder of the Italian fleet from La Spezia to deliver to Allies at Malta. Main ships are four battleships, three cruisers, and eight destroyers. Italian Admiral Carlo Bergamini with the Italian fleet en route to Malta is joined by three more cruisers, and two more destroyers from Genoa. Allied forces launch Operation Avalanche, with amphibious landings of 55,000 troops at Salerno, Italy. US 6th Corps under Ernest Dawley lands on the right, 25 miles south of Salerno. British 10th Corps under Sir Richard McCreery lands on the left, just south of Salerno. Allied forces launch Operation Slapstick, as the British 1st Airborne Division lands at Taranto, Italy, seizing the naval base. German Dornier Do 217K bombers of the Luftwaffe's III Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader 100 attack the Italian fleet en route to Malta. Guided PC1400X or Fritz X smart bombs are used; once released, the bombs can receive radio signals from a guider on the plane to the target. A bomb hits battleship Italia damaging its steering. A bomb hits the bridge of battleship Roma, killing Bergamini and staff; another bomb pierces the ship and explodes; the ship sinks in 30 minutes, taking oer 1350 crew.
10 September 1943	American forces expand their bridgehead at Salerno, landing most of the 45th Division.
11 September 1943	German Fritz X guided aerial bomb cripples USS Savannah off Salerno, Italy. About 200 are killed. The Italian Navy surrenders its warships to the Allies at Malta.
12 September 1943	German 29th Panzer grenadier Division and 16th Panzer Division thrust between British and Americans near Salerno, driving the British out of Battipaglia. Eight German gliders land at Campo Imperiale Hotel in the Abruzzi, Italy. Seventy parachutists and Waffen-SS commandos take over, and rescue Mussolini. The operation is over within twenty minutes.
13 September 1943	German forces evict American troops from Persano, near Salerno, Italy. A German Fritz X guided aerial bomb cripples British carrier Uganda off Salerno, Italy. Allies begin a six-day aerial bombing of Potenza, Italy, resulting in an estimated 2000 civilian casualties. US General Mark Clark prepares for the possible evacuation of Salerno, Italy. US 82nd Airborne Division drops paratroops in the US sector near Salerno, Italy.
14 September 1943	German Lieutenant General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin receives orders from Adolf Hitler to execute some 200 captured Italian officers. He refuses. A German guided aerial bomb sinks tanker Bushrod Washington off Salerno, Italy.
15 September 1943	Allies launch 1900 air sorties against German positions and communications near Salerno, Italy. The British 7th Armored Division begins landing on the British bridgehead at Salerno, Italy. British battleships Warspite and Valiant and a destroyer flotilla begin bombarding enemy targets at Salerno, Italy. United States 101st Airborne Division troops arrive in England. A German guided aerial bomb hits SS James Marshall off Salerno, Italy. British Bomber Command drops its first 12,000-pound bomb, against the Dortmund-Ems Canal.
16 September 1943	USS Nautilus submarine departs Pearl Harbor for the Gilbert Islands to take photos for reconnaissance prior to invasion. German commander in Italy Albert Kesselring authorizes a gradual northward retreat, first to the Volturno River, 20 miles north of Naples. German bombers hits British battleship Warspite with Fritz X radio-guided gliding bombs.
17 September 1943	US carriers Lexington, Princeton, and Belleau Wood launch air strikes on Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands.
20 September 1943	In the North Atlantic, German submarine U-305 torpedoes Canadian destroyer St. Croix, sinking it. There is only one survivor. A Canadian brigade diverted from the main Canadian advance toward Catazaro, takes Potenza in southern Italy.   In the North Atlantic German submarine U-952 sinks Royal Navy corvette Polyanthus with an acoustic torpedo.
22 September 1943	British Midget submarines X6 and X7 penetrate anti-submarine net defences at Kaafjord, northern Norway, and plant mines under the hull of German battleship Tirpitz. In the following explosions, the hull is severely damaged, the port engine is destroyed, and the propeller shaft bent. German submarine U-666 torpedoes Royal Navy frigate HMS Itchen, sinking it.
25 September 1943	Soviet forces re-capture Smolensk.
26 September 1943	German forces in Italy withdraw from the hill barrier between Salerno and Naples. Soviet forces seize Zaporozhye.
28 September 1943	Adolf Hitler issues Directive 50: preparations for the movement of 20th Mountain Army to Northern Finland and Northern Norway in case Finland withdraws from the war, or collapses like Italy.