-- The 1st of July - the 31st of July 1943 --
After the fall of Manchuria and the large army at Vladivostok the Japanese forces had collapsed completely.
The Korean peninsula was now almost in Soviet control and the Soviet forces had progressed deep into the previous Chinese warlords territory.
***
The Western front was still remarkably long. Due to the gaps in the front line it was now more than 2500 kilometres long.
But the Soviet forces were slowly pushing back the German defenders.
***
Several large battles were completed along the western front.
Turek was captured and more than 18000 defenders were lost.
The same thing happened to Goldap with 11000 troops lost.
A number of German pockets were created. One near the city of Risti, where Stalin had previously lost his first division to an encirclement. Lots of German troops were trapped there.
And in the central area a large German pocket was created.
In Italy the Soviet defenders had repelled the Italian counter attack at Trieste.
***
The Danish front line had been simplified with the capture of the entire Danish mainland.
All that was left now was the push south into Germany.
A lot of troops were needed in Denmark as Stalin had planned. He was pleased that he had anticipated this need and increased the infrastructure all the way from Russia to Denmark.
***
The Canadian invasion force in Stettin was annihilated.
***
Two interesting pieces of diplomatic news reached Stalin's desk.
In the east the Philippines had surrendered.
And in Europe the Netherlands surrendered.
***
To offset this bad news Stalin was handed some of the best news he had ever gotten.
His scientists were ready to create their first atomic bomb.
At least now Stalin would have another option if the army failed its task.
