January 1943

The following events occurred in January 1943:

January 1, 1943 (Friday) The Soviet Union announced that 22 German divisions in Stalingrad had been encircled by the Red Army, and that 175,000 of the enemy had been killed and 137,650 captured."Reds Kill 175,000, Capture 137,650, Trap 22 Divisions In Stalingrad Drive", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 1, 1943, p1 The Battle of Gjorm began between Albanian Resistance fighters and Italian forces. The Georgia Bulldogs defeated the UCLA Bruins, 9–0, in the Rose Bowl before a crowd of 93,000 as the postseason college football game returned to Pasadena, California."93,000 See Georgia Beat UCLA, 9-0", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 2, 1943, p12 Georgia had been ranked #2 in the final Associated Press poll, while #1 Ohio State did not play in a bowl game. Disney released Der Fuehrer's Face, an anti-Nazi and anti-Axis propaganda short cartoon featuring Donald Duck. The work later won Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.Pictures from the Fabulous 1940's Born: Don Novello, American comedian known for the character "Father Guido Sarducci" on Saturday Night Live, and as Lazlo Toth in The Lazlo Letters; in Lorain, Ohio

January 2, 1943 (Saturday) In the Battle of Buna–Gona, American and Australian forces, under the command of U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger, were able to capture the New Guinea beachhead at Buna from the Japanese, after the Australian Army had captured Gona on December 9. The Allied victory left only one remaining Japanese stronghold on New Guinea, Sanananda, which would fall two weeks later.Dan van der Vat, Pacific Campaign: The U.S.-Japanese Naval War 1941-1945 (Simon and Schuster, 1992) p207 General Douglas MacArthur had given Eichelberger the order to "Take Buna, or don't come back alive", which one biographer would describe later as "the absolute nadir of [MacArthur's] generalship."Richard B. Frank, MacArthur: Lessons in Leadership (Macmillan, 2009) p63 The Battle of Gjorm ended in after two days with a decisive victory for the Albanian Resistance fighters over the Italian Army. A total of 186 Italian soldiers and officers were killed, including the commander of the Italian troops, Colonel Franco Clementi, while thousands were wounded and 80 were taken as prisoners of war. Born: Barış Manço, Turkish singer and television personality; in Üsküdar (d. 1999)"Baris Manco, Turkish Pop Star And Television Personality, 56", by Stephen KinszerThe New York Times, February 7, 1999, p.51

January 3, 1943 (Sunday) While being outfitted, the new Italian cruiser Ulpio Traiano was sunk in Palermo harbor by a British manned torpedo guided by Royal Navy raiders Dick Greenland and Alec Ferrier.Fred Warshofsky, War Under Waves (Pickle Partners Publishing, 1962) The 20-room Hollywood mansion of Bing Crosby was destroyed by fire after a short circuit caused a blaze to break out while the family was taking down its Christmas tree."Fire Razes Home Of Bing Crosby", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 4, 1943, p1 The U.S. Selective Service System warned that it would begin prosecuting draft dodgers beginning on February 1. On that date, new rules would require "all men in the 18 to 45 age groups who for six months or more have been subject to registration would have to carry their classification and registration cards with them at all times."Government Warns Draft Delinquents", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 4, 1943, p3 Born: General Nirmal Chander Vij, Chief of the Army Staff (India) 2003 to 2005; in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir princely state, British IndiaShankar Prasad, The Gallant Dogras: An Illustrated History of the Dogra Regiment (Lancer Publishers, 2005) p433

January 4, 1943 (Monday) General Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan, determining that the Allies' Guadalcanal Campaign was overcoming Japanese defense, ordered Japan's forces to evacuate Guadalcanal by the end of February. General Hitoshi Imamura would oversee the withdrawal of 10,000 troops from the island in the Solomons chain, abandoning the stronghold to the United States.Thomas E. Griess, ed., The Second World War: Asia and the Pacific (Square One Publishers, 2002) p133 A group of 300 men of the Jewish Fighting Organization tried to launch an uprising in the Częstochowa Ghetto, located in the Polish city of Częstochowa. The attempt was unsuccessful, and as punishment, the Nazi German occupiers shot 250 children and old people the next day. The remaining occupants would be shipped out to concentration camps by June.Margaret Helfgott and Tom Gross, Out of Tune: David Helfgott and the Myth of Shine (Hachette Book Group, 1998) Born: Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer, historian, and presidential biographer known for her interviews and book about U.S. president Lyndon Johnson, and profiles of other presidents; in Rockville Centre, New York Died: Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, 31, Greek-born Polish athlete and saboteur, was executed in German-occupied Greece."70th anniversary of the death of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, hero of Poland and Greece" (Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, 2015)

January 5, 1943 (Tuesday) The first use of a VT (variable time) fuze in combat was carried out by the USS Helena, which shot down a Japanese dive bomber with the new type of shell. The "variable time" name was deliberately misleading, to conceal the actual reason that the shell would explode right as it approached its target. Rather than containing a timer, each weapon had a radar that would trigger a detonation as soon as signals indicated that it was within 60 feet of its target.David M. Kennedy, The Library of Congress World War II Companion (Simon and Schuster, 2007) p387 At the port of Rabaul on the southwest Pacific Ocean island of New Britain, American bombers under the command of U.S. Army Brigadier General Kenneth Walker scored direct hits on eight Japanese merchant ships and two destroyers."American Fliers Attack Vessels In Rabaul Raid", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 1943, p1 General Walker was killed during the raid when his plane was brought down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard ordered manufacturers to reserve 30% of all butter produced, to be used for the U.S. Armed Forces, the first time."Butter Is Earmarked For Military Needs", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 1943, p1

Died: George Washington Carver, 78, African-American inventor and botanist"Negro Scientist Dead at Tuskegee", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 6, 1943, p2 Carver had suffered complications from injuries sustained when he had fallen down a flight of stairs. Caroline O'Day, 73, U.S. Representative for New York since 1935

January 6, 1943 (Wednesday) German Grand Admiral Erich Raeder tendered his resignation after a stormy meeting with Adolf Hitler. The German submarine U-164 was sunk off Pernambuco, Brazil by an American Consolidated PBY Catalina bomber, five days after the submarine had torpedoed and sunk the neutral Swedish freighter Brageland. Out of 56 crew on U-164, 54 died. The United States Office of Price Administration (OPA) banned pleasure driving in 17 states in the Eastern U.S., beginning at noon on Thursday, and lowered the limit of fuel oil that could be used by "schools, churches, stores theaters and other non-residential establishments"."Pleasure Driving Banned In 17 States; OPA Asks Police Report Violators Here", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 7, 1943, p1 A fire at the bowling alley in the Southside Beverly Recreation Hall in Chicago killed six people and left 35 hospitalized. The flames quickly moved across bowling lanes that had flammable shellac on them."Blaze Fatal To Six Probed", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 7, 1943, p2 Born: Terry Venables, English football manager known for coaching the England national team (1994-1996) and the Australian national team (1996-1998); in Dagenham, Essex (d. 2023) Died: A. Lawrence Lowell, 86, former President of Harvard University, who had "presided during the years of its greatest expansion""Ex-Harvard President Dies", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 7, 1943, p1

January 7, 1943 (Thursday) U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the annual State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress, revealing that there were seven million men in the armed services, of which 1.5 million were overseas. and stated that "I am confident that though the fighting will be tough, when the final Allied assault is made, the last vestige of Axis power will be driven from the south shores of the Mediterranean." Roosevelt said also that the bombing of Germany and Italy would continue to increase during 1943, adding, "Yes- the Nazis and Fascists have asked for it- and they are going to get it."Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 8, 1943, p1 The musical Something for the Boys, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, began a successful run on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre. It ran for one year, with 422 performances, and then had another successful run on London's West End at the Coliseum Theatre in 1944.Malcolm Macfarlane and Ken Crossland, Perry Como: A Biography and Complete Career Record (McFarland, 2009) p37 Born: Sadako Sasaki, Japanese atomic bomb sickness victim; in Kusunoki, Yamaguchi prefecture (d. 1955).Masahiro Sasaki, co-written with Sue DiCiccoThe Complete Story of Sadako Sasaki () Although she was not injured in the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, despite being only slightly more than a mile from the blast, she developed leukemia at age 12. She attracted the nation's attention with her mission to fold origami paper cranes as a symbol of peace, and a monument would be erected to her in 1958 as a symbol of innocent victims of war.Howard Curtis, et al., Michelin Green Guide: Japan (Michelin, 2009) p314

Died: Nikola Tesla, 86, Serbian-American engineer and inventor."Nikola Tesla Dead in New York", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 8, 1943, p1 Tesla spent his declining years in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel. Due to Tesla's pre-war claims he had invented a "death ray", the United States government removed his files and research notes two days after his death to see whether there was any security risk but the investigator in charge stated they "did not include new, sound, workable principles or methods for realizing such results."Tom McNichol, AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War (John Wiley & Sons, 2006) p166 Dr. George Washington Crile, 78, co-founder of the Cleveland Clinic and surgeon who had performed the first direct blood transfusion."Dr. Crile, Noted Surgeon, Dies", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 8, 1943, p1

January 8, 1943 (Friday) With Germany's Sixth Army completely encircled in the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Red Army commander, General Konstantin Rokossovsky, sent an ultimatum to the German commander, General Friedrich Paulus. Rokossovsky gave Paulus until 10:00 the next morning to surrender; if the Germans gave up, Rokossovsky said, they would be provided food and medical assistance. If 10:00 arrived without a surrender, the final attack would begin and the Germans would be destroyed. General Paulus was able to contact Adolf Hitler by radio, but Hitler refused the option to accept the terms. Paulus, who had been skeptical of the Soviet offer, let the ultimatum expire with no reply, and the attack would begin on Sunday.Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. and Gene Mueller, Hitler's Commanders: Officers of the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, the Kriegsmarine, and the Waffen-SS (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012); Don A. Gregory and William R. Gehlen, Two Soldiers, Two Lost Fronts: German War Diaries of the Stalingrad and North Africa Campaigns (Casemate Publishers, 2009) p12 Died: Richard Hillary, 23, Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain and author of The Last Enemy, was killed when his airplane crashed in England during a training flight.

January 9, 1943 (Saturday)