April 1943
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The following events occurred in April 1943:


April 1, 1943 (Thursday)

*
SIGSALY SIGSALY (also known as the X System, Project X, Ciphony I, and the Green Hornet) was a secure speech system used in World War II for the highest-level Allied communications. It pioneered a number of digital communications concepts, including the ...
, referred to as the X System vocoder or "Green Hornet", went into operation for use in secure phone conversations between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and U.K. Prime Minister
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
. The new system, developed by AT&T's Bell Labs, encrypted speech into electronic signals that could be transmitted at the rate of 1,551 bits per second, and decrypted it at the other end, permitting the two wartime leaders to talk to each other without being understood by wiretappers. The terminals for transatlantic calls were at The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and in the basement of Selfridges department store in London. *In the Second Battle of Sedjenane, Allied forces retook the Tunisian town of Sedjenane on the railway line to Mateur and the port of
Bizerta Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical antiquity, classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the List of northernmost items, northernmost city in Afri ...
. *Japanese forces launched Operation I-Go, an aerial counter-offensive in the Pacific. *The Royal Air Force marked its 25th anniversary by presenting Churchill with honorary wings. "I am honoured to be accorded a place, albeit out of kindness, in that comradeship of the air which guards the life of our island and carries doom to tyrants, whether they flaunt themselves or burrow deep," Churchill stated. *The Italian destroyer ''
Lubiana Lubiana (German: Alt Libbehne) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Pełczyce, within Choszczno County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Pełczyce, south-west of Chosz ...
'' was either sunk or stranded off the Tunisian coast and declared a total constructive loss.


April 2, 1943 (Friday)

*On a visit to Germany, King
Boris III of Bulgaria Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until hi ...
told German Foreign Minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
that the 25,000 Jews in Bulgaria would not be turned over to German control, despite the alliance between the two Axis powers. At most, the King said, the Bulgarian government might intern its Jewish citizens in camps under Bulgarian control.Richard J. Evans, ''The Third Reich at War, 1939–1945'' (Penguin, 2010) *The German submarine '' U-124'' was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of Oporto, Portugal by British warships. *Born:
Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He w ...
, American jazz fusion guitarist; in
Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...
(d. 2017)


April 3, 1943 (Saturday)

*The
Battle of Manners Street The Battle of Manners Street refers to a riot involving American servicemen and New Zealand servicemen and civilians outside the Allied Services Club in Manners Street, Te Aro, Wellington in 1943. The club was a social centre, open to all militar ...
, a riot in Wellington, New Zealand, between American servicemen and New Zealand servicemen and civilians, occurred when some of the American servicemen refused to allow
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
soldiers to enter the Allied Services Club. Dozens of people were injured but news of the riot was censored at the time. *Shipwrecked steward Poon Lim was rescued by Brazilian fishermen after being adrift for 131 days as the sole survivor of a British merchant ship, the , which had been torpedoed on November 29, 1942. *Born: Richard Manuel, Canadian-born pop musician for The Band; in
Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of . Stratford is the seat of Perth County, which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German im ...
(committed suicide 1986);
Trond Mohn Trond Mohn (born 3 April 1943) is a Norwegian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the owner and chief executive officer (CEO) of the family-owned company Frank Mohn AS. Early life Trond Mohn is the son of Frank Mohn (1916–2002) ...
, Scottish-born Norwegian billionaire, in Buckie *Died:
Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man Who Laugh ...
, 50, German-born film actor (''Casablanca'')


April 4, 1943 (Sunday)

* ''Lady Be Good'', an American B-24 bomber became lost over the North African desert after completing a bombing raid in Italy, ran out of gas, and crashed after its crew parachuted to safety. The nine member crew died of thirst, one by one, over the next eight days. For nearly 16 years, ''Lady Be Good'' would remain missing until its discovery on February 27, 1959. The bodies of the men would be found almost a year after that, on February 11, 1960. * William Dyess was able to escape from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines along with nine other men, and to make his way through the jungle and to a ship that transported him to Australia. Once free, Dyess would be able to reveal to the world the atrocities of the Bataan Death March that had taken place after U.S. and Philippine forces surrendered on April 9, 1942. *An American B-25 bomber on a training mission went down in Lake Murray in South Carolina. The entire crew was rescued by a boater on the lake, but the B-25 sank to the bottom of the lake for the next 62 years, finally being raised on September 19, 2005 in nearly perfect condition. *German radio announced that three former imprisoned leaders had been turned over by the government of Vichy France, to Germany, in order to stop "establishment of a counter-government". Former Prime Ministers Édouard Daladier and
Léon Blum André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of French Socialist le ...
, along with the former French Army commander in chief, General Maurice Gamelin, had been held in custody in France since shortly after the 1940 surrender, and would be sent to
Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
until the end of the war. *Born:
Mike Epstein Michael Peter Epstein (born April 4, 1943), nicknamed "Superjew", is an American former professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators / Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, and California Angels of Major League Bas ...
, American MLB baseball player nicknamed "SuperJew"; in the Bronx *Died:
Raoul Laparra Raoul Laparra (13 May 1876 – 4 April 1943) was a French composer. Life Born in Bordeaux, Laparra studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with André Gedalge, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré and Albert Lavignac. In 1903 he won the Premier Gran ...
, 67, French composer of the opera ''La Habanera''; in an American air raid on Paris


April 5, 1943 (Monday)

*Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested at the headquarters of the German military intelligence (the
Abwehr The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
) by the Nazi secret police (the Gestapo) along with lawyer Hans von Dohnanyi, and both were found to have incriminating materials in their possession, showing cooperation with the enemy in Britain. Adolf Hitler would order the execution of Bonhoeffer, Dohnanyi, and the Abwehr director, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, on April 9, 1945, less than a month before the conquest of Germany. *The German submarine '' U-635'' was sunk in the North Atlantic by a
B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
of
No. 120 Squadron RAF Number 120 Squadron or No. CXX Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force which was established as a Royal Flying Corps unit late in World War I, disbanded a year after the end of the war, then re-established as a RAF Coastal Command squadro ...
. *The Japanese submarine '' Ro-34'' was sunk off the Russell Islands by American destroyers '' O'Bannon'' and ''
Strong Strong may refer to: Education * The Strong, an educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States * Strong Hall (Lawrence, Kansas), an administrative hall of the University of Kansas * Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut, United Sta ...
''. *American bomber planes bombed the town of Mortsel in Belgium. The target was a local factory in which German fighter planes were being repaired. However, only four out of 216 bombs that were dropped hit the target, while the others destroyed most of the town of Mortsel, killing 936 civilians. *Born: Max Gail, American television actor who portrayed Wojo Wojciehowicz, on ''Barney Miller''; in Detroit


April 6, 1943 (Tuesday)

*The
Battle of Wadi Akarit The Battle of Wadi Akarit (Operation Scipio) was an Allied attack from 6 to 7 April 1943, to dislodge Axis forces from positions along the Wadi Akarit in Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The Gabès Gap, north of the tow ...
began in Tunisia. *The German submarine '' U-632'' was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by a B-24 of
No. 86 Squadron RAF ("We fly to freedom") , colors= , colors_label= , march= , mascot= , equipment=Bristol Blenheim Bristol BeaufortConsolidated Liberator , equipment_label= Aircraft , battles=World War II , anniversaries= , decorations= , battle_honours= , commande ...
. *'' The Little Prince'', a children's book by
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...
, was published. Saint-Exupéry would join the French Army later in the month, and would disappear the next year after his airplane was shot down in combat. *Five members of the U.S. Army Air Forces were rescued after having been marooned on an icecap in Greenland for almost five months. The men had been on a B-17 bomber that made a crash landing while searching for another lost plane, but were kept alive with supplies dropped by Colonel
Bernt Balchen Bernt Balchen (23 October 1899 – 17 October 1973) was a Norwegian pioneer polar aviator, navigator, aircraft mechanical engineer and military leader. A Norwegian native, he later became an American citizen and was a recipient of the Distingu ...
, an Arctic explorer and aviator.


April 7, 1943 (Wednesday)

* Adolf Hitler and
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
began a four-day meeting at
Schloss Klessheim Schloss Klessheim is a Baroque palace located in Wals-Siezenheim, west of Salzburg, Austria. The palace was designed and constructed by Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach for Prince-Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun in 1700. It ...
near Salzburg. Mussolini was in poor health and would spend most of the conference listening silently to Hitler's long rambling monologues; an attempt by Mussolini to bring up the possibility of making peace with the Soviets was swiftly rebuffed. *The British government published a plan drawn up by John Maynard Keynes for a postwar economy. The plan proposed an international monetary fund which could help any nation out of temporary financial difficulties. In return, that country would have to adopt policies aimed at restoring stability. *The
Battle of Wadi Akarit The Battle of Wadi Akarit (Operation Scipio) was an Allied attack from 6 to 7 April 1943, to dislodge Axis forces from positions along the Wadi Akarit in Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The Gabès Gap, north of the tow ...
ended in a Allied victory. American forces of 2nd Corps under General
George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
reached the El GuettarGabès road, where they linked up with the lead elements of the British 8th Army. With the Mareth Line broken in the south of Tunisia, the remaining Axis forces made a retreat to join the other Axis forces in the north. *The American destroyer '' Aaron Ward'' was bombed and sunk in Ironbottom Sound by Japanese aircraft. *The German submarine '' U-644'' was torpedoed and sunk in the Norwegian Sea by the British submarine '' Tuna''. *
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
declared war against the Axis powers, becoming the 33rd nation to enter World War II on the side of the Allies. *Died: Alexandre Millerand, 84, President of France 1920–1924


April 8, 1943 (Thursday)

*The Japanese decided to answer their logistic needs by building a new railway in northern Burma using forced labour. *The German submarine '' U-733'' sank in a collision with a patrol boat at Gotenhafen. ''U-733'' would be raised, repaired and returned to service. *The
Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...
defeated the Boston Bruins 2–0 to sweep the
1943 Stanley Cup Finals The 1943 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven series between the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings, appearing in their third straight Finals, swept the series 4–0 to win their third Stanley Cup. Paths to the Finals Boston ...
in four games. *The
1943 NFL draft The 1943 National Football League Draft was held on April 8, 1943, at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Detroit Lions selected running back Frank Sinkwich. This draft is the first NFL draf ...
was held in Chicago. The
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
selected running back Frank Sinkwich of the University of Georgia as the #1 overall pick. *Born: Michael Bennett, American choreographer and director (''A Chorus Line''), and winner of seven Tony Awards; as Michael Bennett DiFiglia in Buffalo, New York (died of AIDS in 1987) *Died: **
Harry Baur Harry Baur (12 April 1880 – 8 April 1943) was a French actor. Initially a stage actor, Baur appeared in about 80 films between 1909 and 1942. He gave an acclaimed performance as the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in the biopic ''Beethoven's Gr ...
, 62, French character actor, killed after being tortured by the Gestapo in Berlin **
Otto and Elise Hampel Otto and Elise Hampel were a working class German couple who created a simple method of protest against Nazism in Berlin during the middle years of World War II. They wrote postcards denouncing Hitler's government and left them in public pla ...
, 45 & 39, Germans opposed to Nazism, executed in Berlin ** Richard Sears, 81, seven-time U.S. tennis champion, 1881–1887


April 9, 1943 (Friday)

*Liquidation of the Jews in the Zborow ghetto in German-occupied Ukraine began, with the shooting of about 2,300 people on the first day. *The Japanese destroyer '' Isonami'' was torpedoed and sunk in the Banda Sea by the American submarine '' Tautog''. *The war film '' Edge of Darkness'' starring Errol Flynn and
Ann Sheridan Clara Lou "Ann" Sheridan (February 21, 1915 – January 21, 1967) was an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in the films ''San Quentin'' (1937) with Humphrey Bogart, ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938) with James Cagne ...
was released. *Died:
Philip Slier Philip "Flip" Slier (4 December 1923 – 9 April 1943) was a Dutch typesetter of Jewish origin who lived in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. At the age of 18, he received a letter from the Jewish Council ...
, 19, a Jewish Dutch typesetter whose letters about life in a Nazi forced labor camp would be discovered in 1997, was killed in the Sobibór extermination camp


April 10, 1943 (Saturday)

*Former American college football star Tom Harmon, who had joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, disappeared while flying over Surinam. The only member of his crew to survive a crash in bad weather, Harmon survived for seven days by drinking swamp water and eating rations, Harmon was able to make his way to Paramaribo and was able to rejoin his unit. *The Tunisian port of Sfax was captured from the Axis powers by the British Army, led by General
Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...
in the course of the North African Campaign. Sfax would then become the base for the Allied invasion of Sicily as the first stage of the Italian Campaign. *The Italian cruiser '' Trieste'' sank in port at
La Maddalena La Maddalena (Gallurese: ''Madalena'' or ''La Madalena'', sc, Sa Madalena) is a town and ''comune'' located on the islands of the Maddalena archipelago in the province of Sassari, northern Sardinia, Italy. The main town of the same name is locat ...
, Sardinia after being hit by several bombs from American B-24s. *Born:
Margaret Pemberton Margaret Pemberton (née Hudson; born 10 April 1943) is a British writer of women's fiction since 1975. Beside her married name Margaret Pemberton, her writings have been published under her maiden name Maggie Hudson and the pseudonyms Carris Car ...
, British romance and mystery author; as Margaret Hudson in
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...


April 11, 1943 (Sunday)

*
Frank Piasecki Frank Nicolas Piasecki ( ; ; October 24, 1919 – February 11, 2008) was an American engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer. Piasecki pioneered tandem rotor helicopter designs and created the compound helicopter concept of vectored thrust using ...
made the first flight of his own
Piasecki PV-2 The Piasecki PV-2 was a helicopter designed by Frank Piasecki. The PV-2 is best known for being one of the first successful helicopters flown in the United States. The PV-2 first flew on April 11, 1943.Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, which had made its first free flight on May 13, 1940. *The British destroyer '' Beverley'' was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by German submarine '' U-188''. *Born:
Harley Race Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federatio ...
, American pro wrestling star; in
Quitman, Missouri Quitman is an unincorporated community in west central Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. The population was 45 at the 2010 census. History Originally it was called Russellville which was first platted in 1856 by R. R. Russell. Later, th ...
(d. 2019) *Died: ** Rufus Leonoir Patterson Jr., 70, inventor and developer of tobacco manufacturing machinery ** James Hatsuaki Wakasa, 63, former chef from San Francisco and an internee at the
Topaz War Relocation Center The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp which housed Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come t ...
near
Topaz, Utah The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp which housed Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come t ...
. Wakasa, a Japanese-born American citizen, had been relocated to Utah as part of the
Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
. He was shot and killed by a military policeman, Private Gerald B. Philpott, after venturing too close to the fence surrounding the camp. Philpott would be acquitted of any wrongdoing at a
court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
.


April 12, 1943 (Monday)

*
Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...
was appointed as Secretary to the Führer, the second highest office in Nazi Germany. *The British War Office made its first report on the intelligence gathered concerning Germany's missile program, with the title "German Long-Range Rocket Development". *Eight days after he and his crewmates were lost in the Libyan desert in the crash of ''Lady Be Good'', co-pilot and U.S. Army 2nd. Lt. Robert Toner wrote the last entry in his journal: "No help yet, very cold nite". The diary, and Toner's body, would be found nearly 17 years later. *On
Budget Day Budget Day is the day that a government presents its budget to a legislature for approval, in a ceremonial fashion. It only exists in some countries of the world. India The Union Budget of India, referred to as the Annual Financial Statement in ...
in the United Kingdom,
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
Sir Kingsley Wood announced that the war had cost Britain a total of £13 billion to date and was costing £15 million per day. In the new financial year excess expenditure over revenue was estimated at £2,848,614,000.


April 13, 1943 (Tuesday)

*Radio Berlin announced the discovery by Wehrmacht of mass graves of 10,000 Poles killed by the Soviets in the Katyn massacre. *In Washington, D.C., the thirty-second U.S. president, Franklin Roosevelt, dedicated the Jefferson Memorial on the bicentennial of the birth of the third American president, Thomas Jefferson. *Died: Oskar Schlemmer, 54, German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school


April 14, 1943 (Wednesday)

*The Commander of the 8th Japanese fleet broadcast a coded message concerning a tour of the fleet by the Naval Commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to begin on April 18, probably in the high security code JN25 which Allied cryptanalysts had broken.Robert C. Ehrhart, et al., ''Piercing the Fog: Intelligence and Army Air Forces Operations in World War II'' (Air Force History and Museums Program, 1996) pp 270–271 *U.S. Senator
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
of Missouri appeared as a speaker in Chicago at the "United Rally to Demand the Rescue of Doomed Jews", calling for the United States to respond directly to the Holocaust. *The Soviet Union reorganized its intelligence gathering system, setting up the People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB, later the MGB) as a separate agency from the NKVD (later the KGB). Lavrentiy Beria remained in control of the NKVD, while Beria's assistant, Vsevolod Merkulov was named as the Director of the NKGB. Both Beria and Merkulov, along with four other Beria loyalists, would be executed on December 23, 1953, nine months after the death of Joseph Stalin. *The German submarine '' U-526'' struck a mine and sank in the
Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
. *Four inmates of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary attempted to escape from the prison, making it to the water when the tower guards opened fire on them. Two were killed and one hid until he was found three days later, but the body of the fourth, James Boarman, was never found.


April 15, 1943 (Thursday)

*The U.S. Army established its first overseas " V-Mail" station in order to use the "Victory Mail" process to get letters to and from servicemen. The facility, based in
Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
, Morocco, used the process of photographing, on microfilm, pre-screened letters to the United States so that mail could be transported to the U.S. with a minimum of space. V-Mail letters from the U.S. to servicemen were also put on microfilm, and enlarged prior to delivery. *The State Bank of Ethiopia was created as the new central bank in the African nation, which had recently been liberated from Italian control. The State Bank also had the authority to print banknotes and mint coins. It would be replaced in 1964 by the National Bank of Ethiopia. *'' The Fountainhead'', a novel by
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
, was released by Bobbs-Merrill and would go on to become her first bestseller. *The Sino-American Special Technical Cooperative Agreement was signed between the United States and the Republic of China, creating the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO). *The Italian submarine '' Archimede'' was sunk off Brazil by an American Consolidated PBY Catalina.


April 16, 1943 (Friday)

*At the Sandoz laboratories in Basel,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, biochemist Albert Hofmann accidentally ingested the drug LSD for the first time in history, and recorded the details of his experience.John Horgan, ''Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004) p141; Jan Dirk Blom and Iris E.C. Sommer, ''Hallucinations: Research and Practice'' (Springer, 2011) p308 *The
Battle of the Cigno Convoy The Battle of the Cigno Convoy (or ''Belluno'' Convoy) was a naval engagement between two British destroyers of the Royal Navy and two torpedo boats of the (Italian Royal Navy) south-east of Marettimo island to the west of Sicily, in the early h ...
was fought southeast of Marettimo island in the Mediterranean Sea. The result was an Italian victory as the British destroyer '' Pakenham'' was sunk while the Italians lost one torpedo boat in return. *In Mexico, Ramón Mercader, a.k.a. Jacques Monard, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for assassinating Leon Trotsky with an ice pick in 1940. *Born:
Krzysztof Wodiczko Krzysztof Wodiczko (born April 16, 1943) is a Poles, Polish artist known for his large-scale presentation slide, slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments. He has realized more than 80 such public projections in Australia ...
, Polish-born industrial designer and media artist; in Warsaw


April 17, 1943 (Saturday)

*The United States War Manpower Commission, headed by
Paul V. McNutt Paul Vories McNutt (July 19, 1891 – March 24, 1955) was an American diplomat and politician who served as the 34th governor of Indiana, high commissioner to the Philippines, administrator of the Federal Security Agency, chairman of the ...
, issued an order that prevented 27,000,000 civilian employees from changing jobs. Basically, an employee in an "essential activity" could not be hired to a job that was not essential to the war effort, unless he or she remained unemployed for at least 30 days. Likewise, a vital employer could not offer a higher wage rate to lure a worker from another vital employer without 30 days between jobs. Business owners and employees who violated the regulation were subject to a fine of up to $1,000 per violation and a year in prison. The manpower "freeze" was to remain in effect until the end of the war. *A fleet of 117 B-17 bombers of the U.S. Eighth Army Air Force raided
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
. *At a meeting in Salzburg with German Führer Adolf Hitler and Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, Admiral Miklós Horthy, the Regent and Head of State for the Kingdom of Hungary, refused a personal request by Germany to deliver 800,000 Hungarian Jews to the Nazis, despite the alliance between the two as Axis powers. *The German submarine '' U-175'' was depth charged and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the American coast guard cutter '' Spencer''. *'' Luftwaffe'' dive bombers raided the North African port of
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
. Fifteen Catholic Religious Sisters perished at their prayers as the bombs demolished an orphanage. The fifteen who died and three sisters who were severely wounded remained behind to pray when the raid started while other sisters led sixty orphans from the building to the safety of an air raid shelter. Among the victims was Mother Superior Marie Duval, who had been at the convent for 31 years. General Henri Honore Giraud, civil and military commander-in-chief of French North and West Africa, awarded Duval the French
Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
posthumously, stating: "On April 17, 1943, she was a victim of German barbarism, as were fourteen of her sisters."


April 18, 1943 (Sunday)

*Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Navy and the architect of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, was killed when the plane that he was on was shot down by U.S. Army fighter pilot Thomas Lanphier, Jr. American naval intelligence had intercepted and decoded a Japanese message that included the itinerary for an inspection tour that Yamamoto was making of the Solomon Islands. The body of Yamamoto, who was mortally wounded by
Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is ...
, was found the next day by a Japanese search party. *The British submarine '' Regent'' struck a mine and sank in the
Strait of Otranto The Strait of Otranto ( sq, Ngushtica e Otrantos; it, Canale d'Otranto; hr, Otrantska Vrata) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width at Punta Palascìa, east of Salento is less than . The st ...
.


April 19, 1943 (Monday)

*Fourteen German citizens associated with the White Rose anti-Nazi resistance group are found guilty and promptly executed for crimes against the Nazi regime. *At 8:00 am, SS Polizeifuhrer
Jürgen Stroop Jürgen Stroop (born Josef Stroop, 26 September 1895 – 6 March 1952) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era, who served as SS and Police Leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He led the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 194 ...
commenced the final destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and breaking of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, with German SS troops fighting the Jewish resistance. The operation would not be completed until May 16. The Jewish defenders would kill 16 Germans and wound 85. * The escape of 233 Belgian Jews from a train bound for Auschwitz was made possible by a raid by three members of the
Belgian resistance movement The Belgian Resistance (french: Résistance belge, nl, Belgisch verzet) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many sep ...
. The train was halted shortly after it had departed the concentration camp at
Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
with 1,631 internees, bound for the
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. Of the 233 who fled, 118 were able to get away. Another 89 were recaptured, and 26 were killed. *Biochemist Albert Hofmann followed up his accidental experience of three days earlier by intentionally ingesting 250 μg of lysergic acid diethylamide in an attempt to bioassay the substance. *Winston Churchill announced in the House of Commons that restrictions on the ringing of church bells throughout Britain would be lifted now that the threat of German invasion had passed. * Operation I-Go ended inconclusively. *
Gérard Côté Gérard Côté, (July 26, 1913 – 12 June 1993) was a Canadian marathon runner and a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon. Born in Saint-Barnabé-Sud, Quebec, Côté was training to be a boxer when he switched to running marathons. He co ...
won the
Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...
.


April 20, 1943 (Tuesday)

*In Tunisia,
Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...
approved an uncharacteristically aggressive series of small attacks against strongly defended Axis positions at
Enfidha Enfidha (or Dar-el-Bey, ar, دار البي ') is a town in north-eastern Tunisia with a population of approximately 10,000. It is visited by tourists on their way to Takrouna. Enfidha is located at around . It lies on the railway between Tunis ...
. Heavy Allied casualties resulted. *The RAF marked Hitler's 54th birthday by bombing Berlin and three other cities. Hitler himself passed the day quietly at the Berghof. * Mamoru Shigemitsu, Japan's Minister of Greater East Asia, was selected by Prime Minister Tojo to be the new Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, replacing
Masayuki Tani (2 September 1889 – 16 October 1962) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who was briefly foreign minister of Japan from September 1942 to 21 April 1943 during World War II. Career Tani was a career diplomat before assuming minis ...
. *Born: John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor; in Fontmell Magna, Dorset


April 21, 1943 (Wednesday)

*The bombing of Aberdeen killed 98 civilians and 27 servicemen. The attack was the worst of 34 separate German air raids on the Scottish city. *Admiral Mineichi Koga became the new Commander of the Japanese Navy, succeeding the late Admiral Yamamoto. *Captain Frederick M. Trapnell became the first U.S. Navy aviator to fly a jet airplane, when he took up the Bell P-59 from the Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base) in California. Colonel Laurence C. Craigie of the U.S. Army had flown the P-59 on October 2, 1942. *The American submarine ''
Grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word '' grenade'') was originally a specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in battle. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when grenadiers were recruited fr ...
'' was bombed by Japanese aircraft in the Strait of Malacca and scuttled the next day. *The British submarine '' Splendid'' was shelled and damaged off
Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
by German destroyer '' Hermes'' and was scuttled to prevent capture.


April 22, 1943 (Thursday)

*The final Allied attack on Tunisia began with the opening of the Battle of Longstop Hill. *The Battles of Bobdubi and
Mubo Mubo is a village located inland from Salamaua town, and is located in Salamaua Rural LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea at . Mubo was occupied by the Imperial Japanese on 14 May 1943 during the Second World War. Australian Army The Austral ...
began between Australian and Japanese forces in the Territory of New Guinea. *Born: Louise Glück, American poet laureate, 2003—2004; in New York City (d. 2023)


April 23, 1943 (Friday)

*SS Polizeifuhrer
Jürgen Stroop Jürgen Stroop (born Josef Stroop, 26 September 1895 – 6 March 1952) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era, who served as SS and Police Leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He led the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 194 ...
carried out the order by Heinrich Himmler to burn down all of the buildings in the Warsaw Ghetto. *The Battle of Longstop Hill ended in British victory. *The German submarines '' U-189'' and '' U-191'' were both lost to enemy action in the Atlantic Ocean, while '' U-602'' went missing on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea. *Born: **
Tony Esposito Anthony James "Tony O" Esposito (April 23, 1943 – August 10, 2021) was a Canadian-American professional ice hockey goaltender, who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), 15 of those for the Chicago Black Hawks. He was one of t ...
, Canadian ice hockey player and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee; in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (d. 2021) **
Gail Goodrich Gail Charles Goodrich Jr. (born April 23, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is best known for scoring a then record 42 points for UCLA in the 1965 NCAA championship game vs ...
, American basketball player and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee; in Los Angeles **" Fighting Harada" (Masahiko Harada), Japanese professional boxer, world bantamweight champion 1965–1968, in Tokyo ** Hervé Villechaize, French television actor who portrayed "Tattoo" on ''Fantasy Island'', in Paris (committed suicide 1993)


April 24, 1943 (Saturday)

*The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) responded to a fire on the munitions ship ''El Estero'' that threatened to destroy the port. The ship had been loading torpedoes at a pier used by the U.S. Army, caught fire, and began drifting after burning through the lines that tied it to the dock. The FDNY fireboat, ''Fire Fighter'' spent seven harrowing hours towing the ship away and then inundating it with enough water to sink it. An explosion of the ship could have set off a chain reaction that would have blown up other ammunition ships, tanks of natural gas, gasoline and oil on the shore, and "the largest ammunition dump in the U.S.", located on the New Jersey shore. Twelve years later, an author would describe the event as "the night New York City almost blew up". *The British submarine '' Sahib'' was scuttled after being depth charged and damaged off Capo di Milazzo, Sicily by a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88. *The German submarine '' U-710'' was sunk in the North Atlantic by a B-17 of
No. 206 Squadron RAF No. 206 Squadron is a Test and Evaluation Squadron of the Royal Air Force. Until 2005 it was employed in the maritime patrol role with the Nimrod MR.2 at RAF Kinloss, Moray. It was announced in December 2004 that 206 Squadron would disband on ...
. *Died: **
Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord Kurt Gebhard Adolf Philipp Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord (26 September 1878 – 24 April 1943) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr, the Weimar Republic's armed forces. He is regarded as "a ...
, 64, German general **
Kenneth Whiting Kenneth Whiting (July 22, 1881 – April 24, 1943) was a United States Navy officer who was a pioneer in submarines and is best known for his lengthy career as a pioneering naval aviator. During World War I, he commanded the first America ...
, 61, U.S. Navy Commander described as the "father of the aircraft carrier", died of a heart attack while hospitalized for pneumonia.


April 25, 1943 (Sunday)

*The German submarine '' U-203'' was sunk off Cape Farewell, Greenland by British aircraft and the Royal Navy destroyer '' Pathfinder''. * Easter occurred on the latest possible date. The last time it had happened had been on April 25,
1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...
, and the next time will be on April 25,
2038 The 2030s (pronounced "twenty-thirties"; shortened to the '30s) is the next decade in the Gregorian calendar that will begin on 1 January 2030, and will end on 31 December 2039. Plans and goals * NASA plans to execute a crewed mission to Mars be ...
. *Born:
James G. Mitchell James George "Jim" Mitchell is a Canadian computer scientist. He has worked on programming language design and implementation ( FORTRAN WATFOR, Mesa, Euclid, C++, Java), interactive programming systems, dynamic interpreting and compiling, docume ...
, Canadian-born computer scientist; in Kitchener, Ontario


April 26, 1943 (Monday)

*The aircraft carrier USS '' Intrepid'' was launched from
Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...
, and would be commissioned on August 16. *The Easter Riots broke out at a manifestation by a Nazi party in Uppsala,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. *Born: Dominik Duka, Czech Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Prague; in Hradec Králové, in the German " Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia" (now the Czech Republic)


April 27, 1943 (Tuesday)

*The
Battle of Hill 609 The Battle of Hill 609 took place at Djebel Tahent in northwestern Tunisia during the Tunisian campaign of World War II. The battle was for control over the key strategic height Hill 609 and its surrounding area between the American forces of the ...
began between American and German forces in Tunisia. *Because of German labor needs occasioned by World War II, Heinrich Himmler directed concentration camps to avoid murdering those persons who were able to work, and to make it a priority to execute "the mentally ill who could not work". *The German submarine '' U-174'' was depth charged and sunk south of
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
by an American
Lockheed Ventura The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in 1 ...
.


April 28, 1943 (Wednesday)

*SS ''
Kamakura Maru The was a Japanese passenger ship which, renamed ''Kamakura Maru'', was sunk during World War II, killing 2,035 soldiers and civilians on board. The ''Chichibu Maru'' was built for the Nippon Yusen shipping company by the Yokohama Dock Company. ...
'', a Japanese troop ship that had been converted from the ocean liner ''Chichibu Maru'', was torpedoed and sunk in the Pacific Ocean by the American submarine USS ''Gudgeon'', with the loss of 2,035 of the 2,500 people on board. *British Commandos of
No. 14 (Arctic) Commando No. 14 (Arctic) Commando sometimes also called the Special Commando Boating Group, was a 60-man Commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The commando was formed in 1942 for service in the Arctic and was disbanded in 1943. B ...
began Operation Checkmate, a raid on shipping at
Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipality on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. While the population is greater in the neighboring Karmøy municipality, the main commercial and economic centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland and southern ...
, Norway. *Born: ** John O. Creighton, American astronaut on three missions; in Orange, Texas ** Jim Northrup, American Indian (Ojibway) humorist and author; in Cloquet, Minnesota (d. 2016)


April 29, 1943 (Thursday)

*The Allied shipping
Convoy ONS 5 ONS 5 was the 5th of the numbered ONS series of Slow trade convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America. The North Atlantic battle surrounding it in May 1943 is regarded as the turning point of the Battle of the Atlantic in World ...
of 42 ships strong with 7 escorts, was attacked by over 40 German U-boats. Over the days, the convoy lost 13 ships totaling 63,000 tons, the escorts had inflicted the loss of 7 U-boats. This period is considered a turning point in the
Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
(known as Black May). *The American freighter SS ''McKeesport'' was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine, leading to a sea battle that continued over the next several weeks, during which 47 German U-boats were sunk. *The German submarine '' U-332'' was depth charged and sunk in the Bay of Biscay by a B-23 of No. 224 Squadron RAF. *Died: Canadian soldier
August Sangret August Sangret (28 August 1913 – 29 April 1943) was a French-Canadian soldier, convicted and subsequently hanged for the September 1942 murder of 19-year-old Joan Pearl Wolfe in Surrey, England. This murder case is also known as the "Wigwam M ...
, 29, was hanged in London's
Wandsworth Prison HM Prison Wandsworth is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Pri ...
, after being convicted of killing his girlfriend Joan Wolfe, in what was called "The Wigwam Murder".


April 30, 1943 (Friday)

*The British submarine HMS ''Seraph'' surfaced off of the coast of Spain, near Huelva, and dumped the body of "Major Martin" into the Mediterranean Sea as part of the Operation Mincemeat, to deceive German intelligence on plans for an Allied invasion of the continent.Tom Cutler, ''The Gentleman's Bedside Companion: A Compendium of Manly Information for the Last Fifteen Minutes of the Day'' (Penguin, 2011) *The German submarine '' U-227'' was depth charged and sunk north of the Faroe Islands by a Handley Page Hampden of
No. 455 Squadron RAAF No. 455 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) torpedo bomber squadron during World War II and became famous as part of the "ANZAC Strike Wing" that was formed from Australian and New Zealand squadrons. Raised in early 1941, mainly fro ...
. *Born: Frederick Chiluba, second President of Zambia (1991–2002); in
Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...
,
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...
(now Zambia) (d. 2011)


References

{{Events by month links
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...
*1943-04 *1943-04