The following events occurred in February 1943:
February 1, 1943 (Monday) The 442nd Infantry Regiment, whose soldiers were Nisei (Americans of Japanese ancestry), was created by order of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. "No natural citizen of the United States," said the President, "should be denied the democratic right to exercise the responsibilities of his citizenship, regardless of his ancestry." Most Nisei in the mainland United States were still kept in internment camps at the time.Muller, Eric L. Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II (University of Chicago Press, 2003) p.41; Ng, Wendy L. Japanese American Internment During World War II: A History and Reference Guide (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002) p.56 Japanese forces on Guadalcanal began the actual withdrawal phase of Operation Ke. The Americans mistakenly believed the naval activity signaled a new offensive and put up little opposition.
Vittorio Ambrosio replaced Ugo Cavallero as supreme commander of Italian forces. The American destroyer De Haven was bombed and sunk east of Savo Island in the Solomon Islands by Japanese aircraft, with the loss of 167 troops."The Last Day of the De Haven", by Ernest A. Herr, Destroyerhistory.org The wreckage of De Haven would be discovered at the bottom of "Ironbottom Sound" 49 years later, by oceanographer Robert Ballard in 1992, and with its identification confirmed on July 8, 2025.
February 2, 1943 (Tuesday) The Soviet Union announced that the 163-day Battle of Stalingrad had ended after the last of the German Sixth Army forces surrendered."Siege Finished at Stalingrad", Milwaukee Journal, February 3, 1943, p1 Born: Akhtar Raza Khan, Muslim scholar, and Grand Mufti of India; in Bareilly, United Provinces, British India (now Uttar Pradesh state) (d. 2018) Died: Sir Rao Ganga Singh, 62, British Indian General, the only non-white member of the Imperial War Cabinet constituted by Britain during World War One, and the penultimate Maharaja of Bikaner
February 3, 1943 (Wednesday)
The U.S. troop transport , with 904 men on board, was torpedoed 150 miles off of the coast of Greenland by the German submarine U-233. Among the 605 people who died were the "Four Chaplains"— Methodist minister George L. Fox, Reformed Church in America minister Clark V. Poling, Roman Catholic priest John P. Washington, and Rabbi Alexander D. Goode— who helped others evacuate into lifeboats, gave up their lifejackets, and then went down with the ship. Other victims died of hypothermia in the icy waters. Another 299 were saved by the U.S. Coast Guard cutters Escanaba and Comanche. The "retriever" method of rescue was used for the first time, as swimmers from the Escanaba donned wet suits to reach those victims who were too exhausted to climb aboard rescue lifeboats.Malcolm Francis Willoughby, The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II (Ayer Publishing, 1980) p104 The German submarine U-265 was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean along with its entire crew of 46 men, by a B-17 of No. 220 Squadron RAF. The Howard Hawks-directed war film Air Force premiered in New York City. Born: Blythe Danner, American film, TV and stage actress, in Philadelphia
February 4, 1943 (Thursday) With the British Eighth Army's success in its African campaign, the remaining German forces in modern-day Libya, along with their commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, withdrew across the border into French Tunisia, where they would be defeated in May.Fiona Reynoldson, Key Battles of World War II (Capstone Classroom, 2001) p35 The German submarine U-187 was depth charged and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by British destroyers. Nine of its crew of 54 died, while 43 were rescued. Died: Frank Calder, 65, President of the National Hockey League since its founding in 1917
February 5, 1943 (Friday) Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini fired his Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, who was also Mussolini's son-in-law, along with most of the other cabinet ministers. The new Foreign Minister was Mussolini himself, who also held the posts of Interior Minister, War Minister, and Air Minister."Mussolini Drops Ciano From Cabinet", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 6, 1943, p1 U.S. Army Air Forces Lt. General Frank M. Andrews was named as the new commander of all U.S. forces in Europe, taking over a command formerly held by Lt. General Eisenhower, who had also commanded U.S. forces in Europe and North Africa."Andrews Named U.S. Commander for Europe", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 6, 1943, p1 Lt. General Andrews would be killed in a plane crash less than three months later, on May 3, 1943.Spencer Tucker, U.S. Leadership in Wartime: Clashes, Controversy, and Compromise (ABC-CLIO, 2009) pp 583–584 At a meeting between shoe manufacturers and U.S. Army generals, Lt. Col. Georges Doriot (who would pioneer the business of venture capital) persuaded General George Marshall to approve the acquisition of a more durable type of combat boot for American soldiers. At the time, the average lifespan of the existing U.S. Army boots was only 13 days.Spencer E. Ante, Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital (Harvard Business Press, 2008) pp 95–96; Shelby L. Stanton, U.S. Army Uniforms of World War II (Stackpole Books, 1995) p242 Born: Nolan Bushnell, American video game pioneer; in Clearfield, Utah Michael Mann, American film director, writer, and producer; in Chicago Craig Morton, American NFL quarterback; in Flint, Michigan Died: W. S. Van Dyke, 53, American film director
February 6, 1943 (Saturday) The arrest of 600 students was conducted on campuses across the Netherlands by the occupying German forces, after a fatally wounded Nazi officer said that he had been shot by students. The 600 were deported to the Herzogenbusch concentration camp near Vught. Another 1,200 were arrested and deported a few days later.Mark Klempner, The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers And Their Stories of Courage (Pilgrim Press, 2006) pp 73–74 Field Marshal Erich von Manstein flew to see Adolf Hitler seeking permission to fall back on the Eastern Front. Hitler agreed to allow German forces to withdraw to new defensive positions along the Mius River. Lt. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of the Allied armies in the African theater of operations (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco), based on a decision made by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at Casablanca. Previously, Eisenhower's command was limited to U.S. forces in North Africa."Baton Is Given to Eisenhower", Milwaukee Journal, February 7, 1943, p1 The Canadian corvette Louisburg was bombed and sunk off Oran, Algeria by Italian aircraft. A Los Angeles court acquitted the movie star Errol Flynn of three rape charges. Born: Fabian (Fabiano Anthony Forte), American singer and teen idol; in Philadelphia
February 7, 1943 (Sunday) Operation Ke was completed when the remaining 10,000 Japanese troops on the island of Guadalcanal were secretly evacuated to rescuing ships "before U.S. forces realized what had occurred"."Guadalcanal (August 1942 – February 1943)", in Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia Stanley Sandler, ed. (ABC-CLIO, 2002) p344 The "Japanese Dunkirk" during the Guadalcanal Campaign was accomplished by deceiving U.S. intelligence into believing that the ships were arriving to bring in reinforcements for a new attack.Gerhard L. Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2005) p344 German Führer Adolf Hitler brought top-ranking officials of both Germany and the Nazi Party to his headquarters to reassure them despite the devastating defeat suffered on the Russian front. One of Hitler's aides, Nicolaus von Below, would later recall that Hitler's speech was so inspiring that the officials were "obviously relieved" and came away believing that Germany could still win World War II. Records of the meeting showed that Hitler said, "Either we will be the master of Europe, or we will experience a complete liquidation and extermination," and pledged a total war against the remaining Jewish people in Germany, and the "international Jews" who, in his view, forged an alliance between capitalists and Communists.Robert Gellately, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (Random House Digital, 2009) pp 525–526 The American troopship USS Henry R. Mallory was torpedoed by the U-402, a German U-boat, killing 272 Americans.Bernard Ireland, Battle of the Atlantic (Naval Institute Press, 2003) p122 The German submarine U-609 was sunk by depth charges from the French corvette Lobelia with the loss of all crew. The German submarine U-624 was sunk by a Royal Air Force B-17 that dropped depth charges on U-624 while was on the surface and transmitting a lengthy report of its actions the night before. All 45 on board were killed. Born: Gareth Hunt, English television actor; in Battersea, London (d. 2007) Died: Howard W. Gilmore, 40, American U.S. Navy Commander, in an act for which he posthumously received the Medal of Honor. Gilmore was in the conning tower of the submarine USS Growler when it came under attack from the Japanese gunboat Hayasaki. Wounded by gunfire, and unable to climb down the hatch, Gilmore ordered the submarine to submerge, despite the certainty that he would drown, in order for his shipmates to escape destruction."Submarine Hero— Howard Walter Gilmore" , by Edward Whitman, www.navy.mil
February 8, 1943 (Monday)
After touring Germany as a guest of the Third Reich to give anti-British speeches, Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose and his assistant, Abid Hasan, were given safe passage from Kiel by the German submarine U-180.Sugata Bose, His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle against Empire (Harvard University Press, 2012) p232 The U.S. Territory of Hawaii, under American military authority since the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, was partially restored to civilian control by its Military Governor, Lt. General Delos Emmons, with the decree taking effect on March 10. The Territorial Legislature, absent its nine Japanese-American members, reassembled on February 17 for the first time in more than a year.Greg Robinson, A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America (Columbia University Press, 2010) p231 German forces, retreating from the Soviet Union, liquidated the remaining Jews in the Byelorussian S.S.R. city of Slutsk. Commander Eduard Strauch directed his soldiers from Minsk to oversee the deportation of the remaining 4,000 Jews.Yitzhak Arad, The Holocaust in the Soviet Union (University of Nebraska Press, 2009) p324 Nazi forces in Belarus began Operation Hornung, a counterattack against Belarusan partisans. The 60th Army of the Soviet Voronezh Front captured Kursk. U.S. Economic Stabilization Director James F. Byrnes ordered a temporary ban on the sale of shoes until Tuesday, when rationing would begin. Starting February 10 and at least through June 15, one pair of shoes could be purchased only by using "Stamp No. 17 in war ration book No. 1", which previously applied only to sugar and coffee. House slippers, ballet slippers and baby shoes were exempt from the order because their production was not affected by the limited supply of leather."Shoes Put on Ration Basis", Milwaukee Journal, February 8, 1943, p1John Bush Jones, All-Out for Victory!: Magazine Advertising and the World War II Home Front (University Press of New England, 2009) p211