Epirus, June 14th, 1943
Konitsa was liberated by the Greek army. The Epirote front was something of an afterthought for both sides, a single Greek army corps of three infantry divisions and five much smaller Italian divisions and Albanian auxiliaries on the other side, with the Italians also having to deal with thousands of partisans of the Greek army of the interior in their rear.
Thessaloniki, June 14th, 1943
Maximilian Von Weichs took over command of Heeresgruppe E, the Wermacht command of all German troops in the Near East from Erwin Rommel. Rommel would be taking command of the newly reformed Heeresgruppe B i Italy.
Sicily, June 19th, 1943
Five weeks of fighting had reduced the Italian defenders and the four German divisions that had rushed to their aid to the north-east of the island in a line anchored by mount Etna. Now the Allies attacked the Etna line in turn, with the British 8th army attacking from the west and the US 7th army from the south. Between them the two Allied armies had 359,000 men and 600 tanks in ten divisions. But Messe's troops were hardly out of the fight yet. Just over the next six days they would launch no fewer than twenty-four counterattacks.
Solomon islands, June 21st, 1943
US marines begun landings in New Georgia. Two days later further landings would take place in Trobriand islands. Rendova island would follow on June 30.
Ionia, June 24th, 1943
The anticipated Allied invasion of Gallipoli and a renewed offensive in Ionia, had led to the concentration of over a quarter million Turkish soldiers and three German divisions to meet it. With the evaquation of the US 7th Army from Ionia, the Turkish 1st Army now found itself enjoying substantial numerical superiority over the Greek Asia Minor Army. The Turkish general staff was not the kind of men to let such a possible opportunity go to waste. The 1st army went to the attack.
Palazzo Venetia, Rome, June 25th, 1943
Benito Mussolini was being faced with increasing internal trouble for the past few months. The invasion of Sicily, despite the stubborn defense put up by the Italian army for the past seven weeks had turned things from trouble to outright crisis. It was clear to most people who counted within Italy that the war was not going well for the Axis. The invasion of Sicily had brought forth the realization that the situation was even worse for Italy in particular which was being faced with outright disaster. But Mussolini had not budged to the increasing pressure from the the chief of the armed forces Vittorio Ambrosio, the king and even within the fascist party to leave the German alliance and seek peace with the Allies. He had not, or was not able, though to take decisive action against the supporters of peace either, vaguely promising the king to arrange peace with the Allies by mid September. Under increasing pressure he had been forced to call the Grand Fascist Council in hopes of securing its support for the continuation of his policies and most importantly his continuing control of the state. But the council had just let the plots underway to overthrow him by the king, the army and Italo Balbo on one side and within the fascist party by Dino Grandi and his own son in law count Ciano to manifest themselves. Both fascist quadrumvirs present Balbo and De Bono, the third quadrumvir alive De Vecchi was in Greek custody since the capture of Rhodes in November 1940, had openly sided with Grandi against Mussolini as had the king. And that was it. After over two decades the duce was no more in charge of Italy. He would be arrested on the same day. A new government would be formed under royal auspices. Of the the three candidates for prime minister Enrico Caviglia would be quickly eliminated since he was critical of fascism and the king wanted the fascist regime to continue and no liberal politicians returned to power. This left Badoglio and Italo Balbo. The king would had preferred the former as he thought he would be able to control him more easily. But in the end Balbo's ties with the royal family, his well established anti-German credentials and a reputation as more decisive than the old marshal had won the day.
Sicily, June 27th, 1943
Catania fell to the US 36th Infantry Division. By now it should be clear to the Italian and German defenders that Sicily was going to fall. But fighting still went on while the newly formed Italian Royal government under Italo Balbo loudly proclaimed it would continue fighting...
