The War Continues
An allied soldier stands guard over some of the thousands of planes employed in the Angl-American strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Pictured are two B-17 heavy bombers.
Soviet troops duck for cover in the ruins of buildings in the once great city of Stalingard. Over a million men would be killed in this battlle, which, with the German defeat, is widely regarded as the turning point of the Second World War.
A United States G.I. stands with his head out of the commanders hatch of a captured Tiger Tank as American troops finally turn the tide on the Germans in Tunisia, April 1943.
US Coast Guard vessel attacks a German U-Boat in the Atlantic with depth charges, April 17, 1943
US Marines storm Rendova Island, in the Solomon chain, June 30 1943.
A map/diagram of the plans for Operation Huskey, the Allied invasion of Sicily, July 1943
African American soldiers set up work station between doric columns in southern Italy, just three weeks after the Allied landing, September 1943.
Jewish civilians being rounded up during the Warsaw Ghetto uprizing against the Nazis in April-May 1943. By war's end an estimate six million Jews would be killed in the Holocaust.
During the pre-Tehran period of 1942-1943 there was a shift in the war between the Axis and the Allies. Due to the Soviet victory in the battle of Stalingrad (September 1942-February 1943) the strategic initiative changed from the German to the Red Army in Russia. Meanwhile, British and American forces also changed the balance of power in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Taken together these moves represent a turning point in the war. Another important event of the period is the bombing campaign conducted by the Allies. Even though it is highly criticized today (due to the large number of civilian victims), it did weaken Germany through the damage inflicted to German industrial production, transportation system, and synthetic oil industry. It was during this period when Stalin issued his repeated demands for a Second Front in France. Stalin thought that the actions taken by the Allies in North Africa and Italy were not enough. He insisted that only an invasion of Northwest Europe would ease the tremendous pressure on the Red Army. The endless postponement by the Americans and the British of the opening of the Second Front led to the crisis in the relationships between the Anglo-Americans and the Soviets.