March 1943

March 1, 1943 (Monday)

• The U.S. Office of Price Administration implemented rationing of canned goods, which had been barred from retail sale since February 20. Under the new rules, American consumers would be allowed 48 ration points worth, per person, per month of canned and bottled fruits, vegetables, soups, baby food and dehydrated fruit, while canned meats and fish remained unavailable. On the average, the affected canned goods would count for 12 points apiece.
• In the heaviest single air raid on the Nazi German capital, Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Force bombers struck Berlin in a 30-minute raid. German radio conceded that at least 89 people were killed and 213 injured. By the end of the week, the radio reported 486 dead and 377 seriously injured.
• The Koriukivka massacre took place in the Ukrainian SSR when the 6,700 residents of the city of Koriukivka, became victims of the German SS. After burning down the buildings in town, the SS troopers killed the survivors.
• Risto Ryti was inaugurated for a second term as President of Finland, and urged citizens to keep fighting for the Axis powers.
• Operation Buffalo began, German forces of Army Group Centre conducted a series of local retreats on the Eastern Front. This movement eliminated the Rzhev Salient and shortened the front line by 230 miles, releasing 21 divisions.
• The Nazi collaborationist Belarusian Central Council was established.
• Born: Richard H. Price, American physicist; in New York City

  March 2, 1943 (Tuesday)

• The Battle of the Bismarck Sea began. U.S. and Australian forces sank a convoy of Japanese ships, taking out all 8 troop transports and 4 escorting destroyers. Nearly 2,900 Japanese servicemen were killed over three days. The convoy had been discovered serendipitously the day before when Lt. Walter Higgins of the U.S. Army descended to a lower altitude while flying over the Pacific in a Liberator bomber.
• In a single day, 1,500 Jewish men, women and children were deported from Berlin after the citywide roundup three days earlier, and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp; 1,350 of them were executed upon their arrival at Auschwitz.
• The drama film The Human Comedy starring Mickey Rooney was released.
• Born:
• *Peter Straub, American author, in Milwaukee
• *Elaine Brown, African-American activist, leader of Black Panther Party; in Philadelphia
• *Tony Meehan, British drummer ; in Hampstead

  March 3, 1943 (Wednesday)

• A panic during an air raid killed 62 children and 110 adults in London who were trying to enter an air-raid shelter at the underground station at Bethnal Green, and another 90 were injured. Survivors reported that the stampede was triggered when a woman tripped and fell while descending the stairs, and an elderly man fell over her body, and then 300 more people were caught in the crush. The woman who tripped was rescued, but the baby she had been carrying suffocated. The trigger for the fleeing of residents to the station had been the noise from the launching of British defensive weapons, a salvo of anti-aircraft rockets from Victoria Park.
• The German minelayer Doggerbank was torpedoed and sunk by the, whose captain mistakenly believed that he was firing at an enemy ship. Captain Hans Joachim Schwantke then ordered U-43 to depart, under orders not to rescue the survivors because of the Laconia incident. Only one of the 365 people on board, Fritz Kuert, survived. Kuert, who had been able to escape safely from three other sinkings of ships, endured for 26 days with almost no food or water, was rescued on March 29 by the Spanish ship Campamor.
• Mohandas K. Gandhi ended his fast after 21 days, drinking a glass of orange juice brought to him in prison by his wife, Kasturba.
• "Why Have I Taken Up the Struggle Against Bolshevism", an open letter by Andrey Vlasov, was published in the newspaper Zarya.
• The Josef von Báky-directed fantasy comedy film Münchhausen premiered in Germany.
• Died: Edward FitzRoy, 73, British Conservative politician and Speaker of the House from 1928 until his death

  March 4, 1943 (Thursday)

• As part of The Holocaust in Bulgarian-occupied Greece, almost all Jews in the region were rounded up to be taken to Treblinka extermination camp.
• The 15th Academy Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles. Mrs. Miniver won Best Picture. Greer Garson won Best Actress and gave what is probably the longest acceptance speech in Academy Awards history at almost six minutes.
• Operation Ochsenkopf in Tunisia ended in Axis offensive failure.
• The three-day Battle of Fardykambos between Greek partisans and the Italian Army began.
• The German submarine U-333 shot down a Wellington bomber with anti-aircraft fire directed at the plane's Leigh light, and the U-87 was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by Canadian warships.
• Born:
• *Lucio Dalla, Italian singer and songwriter, in Bologna
• *Zoltan Jeney, Hungarian composer, in Szolnok

  March 5, 1943 (Friday)

• The Allied strategic bombing campaign known as the Battle of the Ruhr began with an opening raid by 412 RAF aircraft on the Krupp munitions factory at Essen.
• The Universal Horror film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi was released.
• In Athens and other Greek cities, a general strike and protest march was held against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany, resulting in clashes with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police. The decree was withdrawn on the next day.
• Born: Lucio Battisti, Italian singer and songwriter; in Poggio Bustone

  March 6, 1943 (Saturday)

• Major General George S. Patton Jr. took command of the U.S. Army II Corps, replacing Major General Lloyd Fredendall in the North African campaign and reorganizing the Corps. Patton, "recognized as the Army's foremost expert on tank fighting" was soon promoted to lieutenant general.
• Soviet premier Joseph Stalin promoted himself to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union, while the Communist Party proclaimed him to be "the greatest strategist of all times and all peoples".
• The Battle of Blackett Strait was fought in the Pacific. U.S. warships sank the Japanese destroyers Murasame and Minegumo.
• The Battle of Medenine was fought in Tunisia, resulting in a costly failure for the Axis. It was the last battle commanded by Erwin Rommel in North Africa.
• "I've Heard That Song Before" by Harry James and His Orchestra hit #1 on the Billboard singles chart.
• Died: Jimmy Collins, 73, American baseball player elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945

  March 7, 1943 (Sunday)

• The Polish government-in-exile reported for the first time about the executions of prisoners in a Nazi German "murder camp" at Oswiecim, known in Germany as Auschwitz.
• Mohammed Ali Jinnah was re-elected as President of the Muslim League in British India.
• Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein married Countess Georgina von Wilczek. It was the first time that the wedding of a ruling Prince had taken place in Liechtenstein. The monarch of the neutral mountain principality received congratulations from the Allied and the Axis powers.

  March 8, 1943 (Monday)

• The Battle of Sokolovo began on the Eastern Front, marking the first time that a foreign military unit, the First Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion, fought alongside the Red Army.
• The German submarine U-156 was depth charged and sunk east of Barbados by a Consolidated PBY Catalina of the U.S. Navy.
• Born:
• *Lynn Redgrave, English stage and film actress; in Marylebone, London
• *Susan Clark, Canadian TV actress known for the comedy Webster, and an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner; in Sarnia, Ontario

  March 9, 1943 (Tuesday)

• German field marshal Erwin Rommel was summoned back to Berlin and placed on medical leave, on orders of Adolf Hitler, following the failure of the German counterattack at Medenine.
• Şükrü Saracoğlu formed the new government of Turkey, becoming prime minister again.
• The Battle of Sokolovo ended in a political and moral victory for Czechoslovak forces.
• French nationalist politician François de La Rocque was arrested in Clermont-Ferrand, by the SIPO-SD German police, along with 152 high ranking Parti Social Français members in Paris, on charges of trying to convince Philippe Pétain to go to North Africa.
• Born:
• *Bobby Fischer, American chess player, World Champion 1972 to 1975; in Chicago
• *Charles Gibson, American TV news anchorman; in Evanston, Illinois
• Died: Harold James Suggars, 65, "the last of the X-ray martyrs". Suggars had suffered for 41 years from "x-ray dermatitis", a slow and painful deterioration of his skin from his exposure to x-rays while developing radiological devices.

  March 10, 1943 (Wednesday)

• The Soviet Union established "Laboratory No. 2", the secret atomic energy research facility, with Igor Kurchatov as the lab's "chief".
• Banco Bradesco, at one time the largest bank in Brazil, was founded by Amador Aguiar in the city of Marília.
• Germany announced new rationing of nonessential goods, prohibiting the manufacture of suits, costumes, bath salts, and firecrackers, and restricting telephone use and photography.
• The German submarine U-633 was rammed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the British freighter Scorton.
• The comedy film It Ain't Hay starring Abbott and Costello was released.
• Died: Tully Marshall, 78, American character actor of stage and film

  March 11, 1943 (Thursday)

• The Lend-Lease program of aid to the Allies was extended by the United States for another year after President Roosevelt signed legislation into law. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Senate voted 82–0 in favor of the resolution, and the day before, the House had approved it 407–6.
• Inventor John C. Donnelly received acknowledgment for his development of dehydrated foods.
• The entire Jewish population of the Yugoslavian cities of Skopje, Štip and Bitola— all three now part of the Republic of Macedonia— was deported to German's Treblinka II death camp by the German SS with the assistance of Bulgarian soldiers, with 7,240 being shipped out. The day before, the Jewish community in Bitola had been warned by the local Communist Party about the impending raid, though only a few were able to escape.
• The British destroyer HMS Harvester was sunk by the U-432, a German submarine. U-432 was then rammed and sunk by a French ship, the corvette Aconit, which rescued the few survivors of the Harvester. The day before, the Harvester had sunk another German sub, the U-444. There were 41 men lost on U-444, 26 on U-432, and 145 on the Harvester.