July 23
Mediterranean, Sicily
The US Seventh Army enters Palermo and the west coast ports of Trapani and Marsala.

July 23-24
Eastern Front, Ukraine
The German armies have now withdrawn to the lines held at the start of Operation Citadel at Kursk.

July 23-30
Mediterranean, Sicily
The Allies drive to Messina while German forces try to save the Sicilian bridgehead and the airfields around Catania. US forces move along the north coast and Highway 120 inland.

July 24
Politics, Italy
The Fascist Grand Council, the key constitutional body for debating government and party decisions, meets for the first time since 1939. Dino Grandi, former minister of justice, proposes that military authority should be given to the king and not Mussolini. His motion is approved.

The aftermath of the raids on the city of Hamburg.
The bombing and firestorms killed
an estimated 50,000 people

July 24 - August 2
Air War, Germany
A series of massive British raids are made on Hamburg. The attacks are made over four nights and last until August 2. The dropping of foil strips to confuse German radar equipment (the 'Window'; system) helps the bombers. Around 50,000 people are killed and 800,000 are made homeless. The attack on the 27th-28th creates a firestorm, which blazes so intensely that the flames suck oxygen from the area nearby. This creates a 'hurricane'; effect that feeds the flames, which travel at great speed.

July 25
Politics, Italy
The king of Italy relieves Benito Mussolini of his office. Mussolini is arrested and Marshal Pietro Badoglio forms a new government that lasts only six weeks. The government deters Germany from occupying the entire country by promising to fight on. Badoglio hopes, however, that the Allies will land and occupy most of Italy quickly and therefore confine any fighting to the north.

July 26
Eastern Front, Ukraine
The German high command orders forces around Orel to withdraw to the previously-prepared Hagen Line, just to the east of Bryansk.

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