WWII On This Day: August 23

Red Army soldiers carrying a Soviet flag through the ruins of Stalingrad in 1943. — Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R76619 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

August 23, 1942 · 16:00 Battle of Stalingrad

XIV Panzer Corps reaches the Volga

After driving roughly sixty kilometres east from the Don bridgehead, the leading elements of 16th Panzer Division reached the Volga at the northern edge of Stalingrad at about 16:00. The thrust cut the riverbank road north of the city and put German tanks within sight of the industrial district. The advance had outrun much of Sixth Army. XIV Panzer Corps held a salient linked to the Don by a long corridor while Soviet forces remained on both its northern and southern sides. Paulus refused proposals to pull the exposed spearhead…

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A German tank commander in southern Soviet territory in June 1942, shortly before the opening of Case Blue. — Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0528-30 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

August 23, 1942 · 16:00 Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

Sixth Army reaches the Volga

On 23 August XIV Panzer Corps broke through to the Volga north of Stalingrad, creating a narrow corridor that cut the city's northern land approaches. Luftflotte 4 simultaneously mounted a major attack on the city. The breakthrough was a substantial operational success, but it did not finish the Stalingrad problem. Soviet forces continued to hold the city, retained crossings over the Volga and attacked the German corridor from north and south. For Case Blue, the date shows how far the strategic division had developed. Sixth Army was now committed at…

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The Children’s Circle fountain and the damaged Stalingrad railway station after the German air raid, 23 August 1942. Emmanuil Yevzerikhin / TASS archive · Public domain Source

August 23, 1942 · 16:18 Battle of Stalingrad

Luftflotte 4 begins the mass bombardment of Stalingrad

At 16:18, according to the local battle chronology, Luftflotte 4 opened the mass air attack on Stalingrad. Successive bomber and dive-bomber formations struck rail facilities, industrial and river targets and extensive residential areas. Fires spread rapidly through wooden housing districts and smoke obscured large parts of the city. The attack aimed to disorganise the Soviet defence and transport network as German ground forces reached the Volga north of the city. It also destroyed buildings that would soon become defensive positions, while civilians who had not been evacuated were caught inside…

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Soviet troops in Kharkov during the August 1943 fighting; the file record dates the image only to August 1943. Unknown Soviet photographer · Public domain in Ukraine Source

August 23, 1943 · 12:00 Battle of Kursk 1943

Kharkov is retaken and the Kursk operation closes

Steppe Front forces secured Kharkov on 23 August after hard fighting around the city and its approaches, while German formations withdrew to positions farther west and southwest. The capture completed the Belgorod–Kharkov strategic offensive. The broader Kursk sequence had begun with a German attempt to regain the initiative by destroying the salient and ended with Soviet forces advancing beyond both of its former shoulders. German armies would continue to mount powerful counterattacks on the Eastern Front, while the scale and direction of strategic offensive action had shifted decisively toward the…

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Allied landing craft off the Île d'Or at Le Dramont, Camel Beach, during the landing in Provence, August 1944. — Landing craft off the Île d'Or at Le Dramont, Camel sector, August 1944 · Public domain · Source

August 23, 1944 Operation Dragoon

The fight for Marseille

The 3e Division d'infanterie algérienne under General de Monsabert entered Marseille where an insurrection was already under way, with the FFI and the dockworkers holding parts of the city. Fighting ran for five days through the Vieux-Port and up to Notre-Dame de la Garde. The German commander surrendered on 28 August, twelve days after the landing and 27 days ahead of the schedule.

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The insurgent-built Kubuś armoured car during the Warsaw Rising. It was built by the Krybar Group on a Chevrolet 157 chassis. Unknown photographer · Public domain (Poland) Source

August 23, 1944 The Warsaw Rising

Kubuś and Szary Wilk attack

After 03:00 on 23 August about 150 soldiers of the Krybar Group moved into position for a renewed attack on the German-held University complex. The improvised armoured car Kubuś and the captured Sd.Kfz. 251 Szary Wilk carried assault troops toward the defended entrance under supporting machine-gun fire. The vehicles gave the attackers protected movement across exposed ground, but German fire stopped the assault before the complex could be taken. The University remained a German strongpoint on the Powiśle edge of Krakowskie Przedmieście.

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Tanks and half-tracks of the French 2e Division Blindée pass the Arc de Triomphe through crowds on the Champs-Élysées, 26 August 1944. — Jack Downey, US Office of War Information · Library of Congress · Public domain · Source

August 23, 1944 · 09:00 The Liberation of Paris

Hitler threatens Paris with destruction

Orders reaching the Paris command demanded that the capital should not be surrendered intact and threatened bridges and key installations if the city had to be abandoned. The result was less theatrical than the legend that grew after the war. The Supreme Commander's report states that Choltitz made no attempt to destroy the bridges or other major installations. His later memoir placed his personal refusal at the centre of the story; motive is harder to establish than the surviving city.

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August 23, 1944 · 16:00 The Liberation of Paris

The Grand Palais burns

German forces set the Grand Palais on fire during fighting on 23 August after clashes involving police and FFI nearby. Smoke from the huge glass-roofed building became one of the most visible signs that the struggle for the city was still active. The fire strengthened the fear that continued delay could leave more of central Paris damaged before Allied troops arrived.

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