1942: Japanese troops make landings at Rabaul on New Britain and at Kavieng on New Ireland. They also make a simultaneous landing on Bougainville Island in the Solomons. In the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese land at Kendari in Celebes.

1942: Australia appeals to Britain and the US for immediate reinforcements.

1942: General Cavallero, C in C, Italian High Command and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, German C in C, South, fly to Rommel's advanced HQ. The Italians want Rommel to stop his offensive and withdraw to his start line, but Rommel rejects this demand. The Italians therefore refuse to allow their troops to advance any further east, but undeterred, Rommel presses on with just the Afrika Korps.

1943: The Eighth Army triumphantly enters Tripoli. The Vice-Governor of Libya and prefect of Tripolitania offer a formal surrender.

1943: The last German airfield in the Stalingrad pocket falls.

1944: A Royal Navy destroyer, Janus is lost as the fighting rages around the Anzio beachhead.

1944: Troops of the Australian 7th Division clear Shaggy Ridge in New Guinea.

1945: The 5th Guards Tank Army enters Elbing on Baltic and Koniev reaches the river Oder in Silesia. The Kriegsmarine begins the evacuation by sea of hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees from East Prussia and the Danzig area, the Red Army having cut all land communications with the rest of Germany.

This Day in WWI

Western Front

1915: Continued heavy fighting in the Argonne and Alsace.

1916: Air-raid on Kent; no damage.

1916: German offensive near Neuville-St. Vaast (Arras).

1918: Germans occupy trenches east of Nieuport (Belgian Coast) after heavy bombardment. French restore position later.

1918: British bomb aerodromes at Courtrai and Ghent.

1918: French raid east of Auberive (Champagne).

Eastern Front

1917: German counter-offensive between Lake Babit and Tirul Marsh; Russians lose much of recently captured ground.

1917: Bulgarians driven back across Danube near Tulcea.

1918: M. Trotsky declares policy of Central Powers to be "a monstrous annexation".

1918: Rioting with much bloodshed in Moscow.

1918: Congress of Soviets meets in Petrograd.

Southern Front

1916: Austrians take Nikshich and Skutari (Montenegro).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

1915: Two Turkish divisions defeated at Khorsan (Armenia).

1916: Dispersal of Senussi Camp at Halazin, 25 miles south-west of Mersa Matruh (West Egypt).

Naval and Overseas Operations

1918: Action between a British submarine and three German submarines reported from Canary Islands.

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