page_title: 1943
section_title: July
hierarchical_section_title: 1943 / Events / July
caption_attribution_description: During the Allied invasion of Sicily the Liberty ship Robert Rowan (K-40) explodes after being hit by a German Ju 88 bomber off of Gela, Sicily (Italy), on (11 July 1943). Robert Rowan was built at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina (USA). She was laid down on 3 March 1943, launched 6 April, and delivered to the Isthmain Steamship Company on 13 April. Her maiden voyage started on 14 May 1943 at Hampton Roads, Virginia (USA) to Oran (Algeria) as part of convoy UGS-8A. She was sent on to Gela, Sicily (Italy) to support the invasion of Sicily ("Operation Husky"). She arrived at Gela 11 July 1943 with a cargo of ammunition and 334 soldiers of the 18th Infantry. She also carried 14 U.S. Navy personnel, 32 U.S. Navy armed guards, and 41 crewmen. Just before 14:00 hrs German Junkers Ju 88 bombers appeared overhead and attacked the ships in the bay. During the attack the Rowan was hit by three 500 kg bombs. One bomb passed through the ship, but the other two exploded in the holds. Because of the nature of the cargo the ship was abandoned without any attempt to put the fire out. All 421 men on board safely evacuated the ship and were picked up by PT boats and transferred to nearby destroyers. Within twenty minutes the fire reached her munitions with a tremendous explosion tearing the ship in half. The burning ship came to rest on an even keel and burned for two days. The destroyer USS McLanahan (DD-615) tried to sink the ship because the fires lit up the area during the night, but this failed as the water was too shallow. The hulk lay in the waters off Gela until 1948 when it was sold and scrapped.
context_page_description: 1943 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1943rd year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 943rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 43rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1940s decade.
context_section_description: July 1 – The United States Women's Army Corps (WAC) is converted to full status.
  July 4 – 1943 Gibraltar B-24 crash: The aircraft carrying General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, crashes, killing him and 15 others, leading to a lasting controversy over the circumstances.
  July 5 – WWII:
  Battle of Kursk – The largest tank battle in history begins.
  A fleet sets sail for the Allied invasion of Sicily.
  The National Bands Agreement is concluded in Greece.
  July 6 – WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
  July 10
  (0245 GMT (4:45 a.m. local time)) – WWII: Allied invasion of Sicily – The Allied invasion of Axis-controlled Europe begins, with landings on the island of Sicily off mainland Italy by the Seventh United States Army and the British Eighth Army, including the 1st Canadian Infantry Division.
  The Holocaust: Jedwabne pogrom – At least 340 Polish Jews are marched to a local barn, locked inside and subsequently burned to death.
  July 11 – WWII:
  United States Army forces make an assault on Piano Lupo, just outside Gela, Sicily.
  Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Volhynia) peak.
  July 12 – WWII: Main engagement of the Battle of Prokhorovka – The Wehrmacht and the Red Army fight to a draw in one of the largest tank battles in military history.
  July 19 – WWII: Rome is bombed by the Allies, for the first time in the war.
  July 24 – WWII: Operation Gomorrha: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night; American planes bomb the city by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 42,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
  July 25 – Benito Mussolini, Fascist Prime Minister of Italy since 1922, is arrested after the Grand Council of Fascism withdraws its support. "Il Duce" is replaced by General Pietro Badoglio.
caption: The U.S. Liberty ship SS Robert Rowan explodes during the Allied invasion of Sicily, July 11, 1943.
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