1943 — Allied Forces make an amphibious invasion in southern Italy. Italian King Victor Emmanuel III dismisses Premier Mussolini, who is placed under arrest. German forces free Mussolini and make him the head of a puppet government in northern Italy. The Italian government of new Premier Pietro Badoglio surrenders and Italy joins the Allies.

Also that year:

• General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force that plans an invasion of Western Europe.
• Robert Oppenheimer organizes the Manhattan Project’s top-secret Weapons Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.
• The tiny town of Oak Ridge, Tenn. is suddenly populated by 50,000 scientists and aides conducting secret atomic research.