FEBRUARY 1943 - draft
  • Feb 1 . Under air and PT attack, Japanese destroyer force (RAdm Shintaro) en route to evacuate Japanese troops from Guadalcanal extracts 4,935 soldiers.
  • Feb 2 . Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end with the surrender of the German 6th Army.
  • Feb 3 . Four chaplains give up their life vests to soldiers on sinking Dorchester.
  • Feb 4 . RAdm Shintaro' destroyers extract 3,921 more soldiers; four of his desroyers damaged by air attack from Henderson Field.
  • Feb 7 . RAdm Shintaro on the final mission to evacuate Japanese troops from Guadalcanal brings 18 ships, evacuates 1,796 troops.
  • Feb 9 . Guadalcanal declared secure.
  • Feb 9 . Shoe rationing in U.S. goes into effect
  • Feb 13. USMC Women's Reserve is offically established..
  • Feb 14. Battle of the Kasserine Pass, N. Africa: major U.S. defeat in their first battle.
  • Feb 18. Madame Chiang Kai-shek addresses Senate and then House in Washington, D.C.
  • Feb 28. Work begins on Hanford, WA, plutonium plant.
    Mar 2-4. Battle of the Bismarck Sea � Japanese convoy sunk by air.
    Mar 26 . Battle of the Komandorski Islands in the Aleutian Islands, USN intercept heavy escort of Japanese convoy attempting to reinforce Kiska.
    Mar 29 . Meat rationing reduced to 2 pounds per week.
    Apr 01. Japanese Operation I Go air offensive begins against Guadalcanal.
    Apr 11. Japanese Operation I Go air offensive switches to New Guinea, till 16th.
    Apr 18. Admiral Yamamoto shot down by P-38's.
    May 9-12. Japanese massacre of Changjiao, Hunan, China
    May 11. American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands.
    May 12. The Trident Conference begins in Washington, D.C.
    May 13. Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender.
    May 14. Australian hospital ship Centaur (AH-47) is sunk off the coast of Queensland by Japanese submarine I-177.
    May 16. Dambuster Raids by RAF 617 Sqdn on German dams to destroy production in the Ruhr valley.
    May 16. Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends with the city burned and 13,000 Jews dead.
    Jun 16. Flight of 666
    Jun 21. New Georgia, Solomons
    Jun 24. Magnetic detonator disabled on submarine torpedoes (except SW Pac).
    Jun 30. Beginning of Operation Cartwheel to isolate Rabaul.
    July 5-17. Battle of Kursk -- the largest tank battle in history.
    July 6 . Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
    July 10. Allied invasion of Sicily.
    July 24. Black Sheep Squadrom formed.
    Aug 3 . John F. Kennedy's PT-109 is rammed by destroyer Amagiri.
    Aug 6 . Battle of Vella Gulf, 6 DD attack 4 DD of Tokyo Express to Munda, New Georgia, sink 3 DD, with troops.
          Example of Island hopping, the by-passing strongholds.
    Aug 15. Kiska Island, Alutions, retaken, found enemy had evacuated.
    Sep 3 . Italy Surrenders.
    Sep 5 . US parachute regiment occupies Nadzab, near Lae in NE Papua New Guinea.
    Sep 6 . Churchill recommends Basic English in speech at Harvard University.
    Oct 6 . Battle of Vella Lavella. Three DDs attack 9 Japanese destroyers evacuating troops. Each side loses a DD.
    Nov 1 . Marines land on Bougainville.
    Nov 2 . Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville. Japanese 2 CA, 2 CL, 9 DD intercepted by 4 CL, 8 DD. Two Japanese DD sunk.
    Nov 5 . Saratoga (CV-3) and Princeton (CVL-23) with Air Force raid Rabaul and damage 4 CA, saves Bougainville.
    Nov 11. Second strike on Rabaul with five carriers, damage 5th Japanese heavy cruiser. Battle of Truk.
    Nov 20. Marines land on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands, take heavy losses.
    Nov 22. Cairo Conference - FDR, WSC, and Chiang Kai-Shek discuss Pacific.
    Nov 25. Battle of Cape St. George. 5 DD intercept 5 DD and sink three Japanese. End of Tokyo Express.
    Nov 26. British troop transport Rohna carrying 2,000 US troops off Algeria sunk by German wireless glide bomb; 1,138 killed.
    Nov 28. Tehran Conference - FDR, WSC, and Joseph Stalin discussion invasion of Europe.
    Dec 26. Marines land at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Solomons

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    draft : 43Apr-Jun , 43Jul-Sep , 43Oct-Dec