The year 1943 is rightfully considered the turning point of the
Second World War. It was a time when Nazi Germany and its allies were suffering
serious setbacks all across the world, the most disastrous being the Battle
of Stalingrad which turned around the entire course of the war. The major
Soviet counterstroke came in late 1942 when a number of artillery, tank
and mechanized divisions were inserted into the flanks of the Stalingrad
attack as to isolate the German 6th Army. Its commander General Friedrich
Paulus requested a permission from Hitler to retreat which was turned down
forcing the encircled German soldiers to suffer from the severe Russian
cold and see with their own eyes their leaders' complete lack of understanding
of their predicament. The remains of the 6th Army surrendered on February
2 thus ending one of the greatest battles in human history. In 200 days
of fighting between the Volga and the Don rivers, 1.5 million German officers
and soldiers were killed, wounded and taken prisoner and the strategic
initiative was now fully in the hands of Red Army.
The break of the 900 day-old siege of Leningrad was the most
spectacular Russian victory after Stalingrad. The siege took a terrible
toll on Russia's second city where nearly 850,000 peaceful civilians died
from famine and Nazi bombs and shells…
July 5 was the start of yet another great battle which went down
in history as the Battle of Kursk where the Germans had amassed a record
number of troops, armor and aviation preparing a second, more powerful,
thrust towards Moscow. A staggering 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns
rolled out simultaneously on both sides in the war's biggest tank battle
fought near the Prokhrovka village. The battle over, the Red Army launched
a major counteroffensive liberating a considerable portion of occupied
Russian territory.
Also in June, and Anglo-American expedition force landed on Sicily
severely undermining Italy's fascist government. Benito Mussolini resigned
his powers and, on the following day he was arrested. The Italian troops
stopped fighting the Allies and, just as they ceased fire, the German troop
swiftly entered from the north and, confronting the Allies north of Naples,
established a new front in Europe. In the German-occupied north, they quickly
re-established the fascist government led by Mussolini who had earlier
been rescued from prison. Still, the Duce's power now hinged fully on the
German military muscle while the Italian government was already formally
at war with Hitler.
By the end of the year, the war had already passed the point
of no return and was just about to enter its final victorious phase. On
November 28 the Allied leaders Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and
Josef Stalin had their first meeting in Tehran with an eye to coordinate
their effort in the coming year and discuss the post-war reconstruction
of Europe. One of the main decisions of the Tehran Conference was the fixing
of the exact date and venue of the much-delayed opening of the Second front.
One prime example of the Allies' wartime collaboration was the
joint effort bent by the Soviet and French military pilots. In 1943 the
French air force regiment Normandie-Neman made its base on Soviet territory.
The French pilots made about 5,000 sorties, four of them became Heroes
of the Soviet Union and the aviation regiment of the same name still existing
at Reims is a lasting tribute to our countries' wartime cooperation.
1i43 was the last in the life of the great Russian composer Sergei
Rakhmaninoff. Leaving Russia shortly after the 1917 revolution, he made
his home in the United States where, away from his native land, he was
taking deeply to heart the terrible hardships that had befallen Russia
in the most terrible war ever fought by man… Already on his deathbed, he
learned the good news of the Soviet victory in Stalingrad which only strengthened
his undying faith that Nazism would eventually be crushed once and for
all…
In Liverpool, England, there was born George Harrison, the youngest
member of The Beatles where he sung and played rhythm guitar. Mick Jagger
was born in the very same year and it's been 37 years since he joined the
legendary rock act the Rolling Stones who are still packing halls around
the world. Another great entertainer born in 1943 was the American movie
actor Robert de Niro - the proud winner of several Academy awards including
the one he got for his part in Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather 2 blockbuster.
In 1943 the French oceanographer Jacques Yves Cousteau, world
famous for his studies on board the research ship Calypso, invented the
self contained underwater breathing apparatus, better known for its five-letter
acronym SCUBA, and developed the technique of underwater filming .
THE 20th CENTURY:YEAR AFTER YEAR series
of historical programs is prepared by Vladimir Zhamkin.
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