The following events occurred in 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."OPA Rules Put U.S. on Short Rations Today", Chicago Daily Tribune, March 1, 1943, p1 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."Monster RAF Attack on Berlin Hailed as 'Prologue to Invasion'", Milwaukee Journal, March 2, 1943, p1; "Berlin Ups Toll to 486", Milwaukee Journal, March 7, 1943, p1 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."Must Fight On, Word To Finns", Milwaukee Journal, March 1, 1943, p1 Operation Buffalo (Operation Büffel) 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 (370 km), releasing 21 divisions.David Schranck (2014). Thunder at Prokhorovka: A Combat History of Operation Citadel, Kursk, July 1943, p. 17. Helion and Company. . The Nazi collaborationist Belarusian Central Council, led by Reichskommissar Hinrich Lohse, was established in what is now Belarus, in the German-occupied Reichskommissariat Ostland. Born: Richard H. Price, American physicist; in New York CityRichard Price Emeritus Professor University of Utah, Retrieved 23 September 2017
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."Allied Bombs Wreck 22 Ship Jap Convoy", Milwaukee Journal, March 3, 1943, p1 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."His 'Look-See' Found Convoy", Milwaukee Journal, March 8, 1943, p2 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.Martin Gilbert, Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction (Harper Collins, 2007) p263 The drama film The Human Comedy starring Mickey Rooney was released. Born: Peter Straub, American author, in Milwaukee (d. 2022) Elaine Brown, African-American activist, leader of Black Panther Party; in Philadelphia Tony Meehan, British drummer (The Shadows); in Hampstead (d. 2005)
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 (subway) 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."Fatal wartime Tube crush marked", BBC News, 2 March 2008 The woman who tripped was rescued, but the baby she had been carrying suffocated."Woman Trips, 178 Die in Raid Shelter Pile-up", Milwaukee Journal, March 5, 1943, p1 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.A. D. Harvey, Collision of Empires: Britain in Three World Wars, 1793–1945 (Continuum International, 2003) p577 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.James E. Wise, Jr., Sole Survivors of the Sea (Naval Institute Press, Mar 1, 2008 pp19-24 Mohandas K. Gandhi ended his fast after 21 days, drinking a glass of orange juice brought to him in prison by his wife, Kasturba."Gandhi Takes Orange Juice", Milwaukee Journal, March 3, 1943, p3 "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 ("Ox Head") in Tunisia, launched on February 26 by Germany's Korpsgruppe Weber with 77 tanks and 13,000 men to capture strategic locations, including Majaz al Bab, failed after a battle of six days. Germany lost all but six of its tanks to Britain's V Corps, which had slightly more than 25 tanks. The three-day Battle of Fardykambos between Greek partisans and the Royal Italian Army began with an ambush of an Italian transport column that had been preparing to garrison the town of Grevena. At battle's end on March 6, the Greek ELAS liberation fighters had killed 96 Italian soldiers and taken more than 550 as prisoners of war, including commander Perrone Pasconelli, while only three of the partisans were killed. 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 known for the song "Caruso"; in Bologna (d. 2012)La Stampa, "Pupi Avati "L'amicizia con Dalla l'ho girata in un film" Zoltan Jeney, Hungarian composer; in Szolnok (d. 2019)
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. and would continue for almost five months until July 31, 1943. The initial raid killed at least 457 people on the ground, destroyed 53 buildings at the Krupp works, and of the center of 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 (d. 1998 from cancer)
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.Dennis E. Showalter, Patton And Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century (Penguin, 2006) p301 Patton, "recognized as the Army's foremost expert on tank fighting""Colorful Patton Takes Over With Six-Shooter at His Belt", Milwaukee Journal, March 18, 1943, p1 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".Roman Brackman, The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life (Routledge, 2000) p361 The Battle of Blackett Strait was fought in the Pacific at the Solomon Islands as U.S. warships sank the Japanese destroyers Murasame and Minegumo with the loss of 174 Japanese lives. The U.S. submarine Grampus was lost with all crew while en route to the operation. The Battle of Medenine was fought in Tunisia, with General Bernard Montgomery leading a force of British, New Zealand and Free French fighters against an offensive by an armoured force of German and Italian fighters led by Erwin Rommel. The Axis lost 41 tanks compared to six by the Allies, and failed to delay Britain's attack on the Mareth Line. General Rommel, who never commanded in North Africa again, withdrew the Axis forces toward the Mareth Line the next day. "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."250 Dying Daily in Murder Camp, Charge by Poles", Milwaukee Journal, March 8, 1943, p2 Mohammed Ali Jinnah was re-elected as President of the Muslim League in British India."Moslems of India Re-elect Jinnah", Milwaukee Journal, March 8, 1943, p4 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."Prince Marries; U.S. and Hitler Send Greetings", Milwaukee Journal, March 8, 1943, p4
March 8, 1943 (Monday) The Battle of Sokolovo began on the Eastern Front near Kharkiv in the Ukraine, marking the first time that a foreign military unit (the First Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion), fought alongside the Red Army. The battle ended the next day in a political and moral victory for Czechoslovak forces, who were led by future Czechoslovak President Ludvik Svoboda, who delayed the German advance toward Kharkiv. The German submarine U-156, which had torpedoed and sunk the British troopship on September 12 and had sunk 19 merchant ships in 1942, was depth charged and sunk east of Barbados by a Consolidated PBY Catalina of the U.S. Navy. The British freighter Guido was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-633 in the North Atlantic south-west of Iceland, in position 58.21N, 31.00W, with 10 of the 45 people on board drowned. U-633 was then sunk by depth charges from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Spencer, with the loss of all 43 of the German crew, and the Spencer rescued the survivors of the Guido. Born: Lynn Redgrave, English stage and film actress; in Marylebone, London (d. 2010) Susan Clark (stage name for Nora Golding), 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.Gordon Williamson, German Commanders of World War II (Osprey Publishing, 2012) p8 Şükrü Saracoğlu formed the new government of Turkey, becoming prime minister again.