Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: July 14

What happened on July 14 during World War II? This date brings together 2 events from 1943 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1943
Waffen-SS troops with a Tiger I during a German counterstroke on the Eastern Front, July 1943; used here for the local post-Prokhorovka fighting.
Waffen-SS troops with a Tiger I during a German counterstroke on the Eastern Front, July 1943; used here for the local post-Prokhorovka fighting. Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Merz-025-18 / Merz · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Source
Battle of Kursk 1943

Operation Roland continues the southern fighting

III Panzer Corps and elements of II SS Panzer Corps opened Operation Roland on 14 July to close a local Soviet salient and improve the German position south and east of Prokhorovka. Das Reich and III Panzer Corps attempted to link while Soviet formations withdrew and reinforced threatened sectors. The operation gained local ground and failed to trap a large Soviet force. The wider German situation was moving toward disengagement as Kutuzov intensified in the north and Soviet offensives opened against Army Group South's Mius and Donets sectors.

Continue in Battle of Kursk 1943 →
1944
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
Operation Dragoon

Dragoon is authorised

The Combined Chiefs of Staff finally authorised the operation, renamed Dragoon for security after Anvil was judged compromised. General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson held the Mediterranean command, with Lieutenant General Alexander Patch commanding US Seventh Army for the assault. Churchill's account that the name reflected his being dragooned into it is often repeated. Codenames of this period were assigned from a random list, and the story appears to be his own later joke.

Continue in Operation Dragoon →