Date in year · 1943 · The 1940s

July 4, 1943

On July 4, 1943, world War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka. Margo MacDonald, Richard Smalley, Nikki Giovanni would arrive in the same year.

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1943

1940s

Featured · July 4, 1943

World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.

The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in a Soviet victory. The Battle of Kursk is the single largest battle in the history of warfare. It ranks only behind the Battle of Stalingrad several months earlier as the most often-cited turning point in the European theatre of the war.

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Around 1943

The year in brief

1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1943rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 943rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 43rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1940s decade.

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What happened

On July 4, 1943

  1. 1943 World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.

    1943 tank battle in the Soviet Union

    The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in a Soviet victory. The Battle of Kursk is the single largest battle in the history of warfare. It ranks only behind the Battle of Stalingrad several months earlier as the most often-cited turning point in the European theatre of the war.

  2. 1943 World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives.

    British Overseas Territory in Iberia

    Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory and city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean. 6 sq mi) and is bordered to the north by Spain. The landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, at the foot of which is a densely populated town area.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1943

The class of 1943

Others born in 1943

Margo MacDonald 1943– Scottish journalist and politician (died 2014)
Richard Smalley 1943– American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate in 1996 for chemistry (died 2005)
Nikki Giovanni 1943– American poet, writer and activist (died 2024)
"Superstar" Billy Graham 1943– American wrestler (died 2023)
Colin Baker 1943– English actor
William Calley 1943– American military officer

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