On This Day

January 1943 in History

Events in History

  • Jan 1 Count Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to lt-colonel
  • Jan 3 1st missing persons telecast (NYC)
  • Jan 3 Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 4 Thomas Mann completes his tetralogy, "Joseph & His Brothers"

Novelist Thomas Mann
Novelist
Thomas Mann
  • Jan 5 Teams agrees to start season later due to WW II
  • Jan 5 William H Hastie, civilian aide to secretary of war, resigns to protest segregation in armed forces
  • Jan 9 Japanese government in Java limits sale & use of motorcars
  • Jan 10 Soviet offensive against German 6th and 4th Armies near Stalingrad

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 10 1st US President to visit a foreign country in wartime - FDR leaves for Casablanca, Morocco

32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • Jan 11 US & Britain relinquish extraterritorial rights in China
  • Jan 12 Frankfurters replaced by Victory Sausages (mix of meat & soy meal)

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 13 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Casablanca, French Morocco for a conference of Allied forces in World War II

Soldier, Author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Soldier, Author and British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 13 Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies

Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler
Dictator of Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler
  • Jan 13 Soviet offensive at Don under general Golikov
  • Jan 13 US infantry captures Galloping Horse Ridge, Guadalcanal

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 14 Heinrich Himmler views Warsaw

Leading Nazi and Reichsführer of the SS Heinrich Himmler
Leading Nazi and Reichsführer of the SS
Heinrich Himmler

  • Jan 14 World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, withdrawal of its troops from Guadalcanal
  • Jan 14 World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt travels from Miami to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill, becoming the first American president to travel overseas by airplane

Conference of InterestCasablanca Conference

Jan 14 World War II: Casablanca Conference begins between Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other Allied representatives

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Henri Giraud, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill at the Casablanca Conference
Henri Giraud, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill at the Casablanca Conference
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  • Jan 15 1st transport of Jews from Amsterdam to concentration camp Vught
  • Jan 15 World's largest office building, the Pentagon is completed to house the US military
  • Jan 15 1,000 workers complete air conditioning system for Pentagon
  • Jan 15 World War II: The Soviets begin a counter-offensive at Voronezh
  • Jan 16 -60°F (-51°C), Island Park Dam, Idaho (state record)
  • Jan 16 1st US air raid on Ambon
  • Jan 16 German 2nd SS-Panzer division evacuates Charkow
  • Jan 16 Red Army recaptures Pitomnik airport at Stalingrad
  • Jan 17 Tin Can Drive Day in the US, salvage collected for the war effort

Soviet UnionSiege of Leningrad

Jan 18 Soviets announce they have broken the long siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany by opening a narrow land corridor, though the siege would not be fully lifted until a year later

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Two young girls help assemble Soviet submachine guns during the Siege of Leningrad
Two young girls help assemble Soviet submachine guns during the Siege of Leningrad
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  • Jan 18 US rations bread & metal - banning presliced bread reduce bakery demand for metal parts

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 19 1st Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins

Leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Mordecai Anielewicz
Leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Mordecai Anielewicz
  • Jan 19 Joint Chiefs of Staff decide on invasion in Sicily
  • Jan 20 Lead, South Dakota, temperature is 52°F, while 1.5 miles away Deadwood records -16°F

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 20 Operation Weiss: German, Italian, Bulgarian & Croatian troops attempt to retake land liberated by Tito's partisans

President of Yugoslavia and Revolutionary Josip Broz Tito
President of Yugoslavia and Revolutionary
Josip Broz Tito
  • Jan 21 Soviet forces reconquer Worosjilowsk
  • Jan 21 Soviet forces reconquer Gumrak airport near Stalingrad

  • Jan 21 Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Royal Navy, promoted to Admiral of the Fleet
  • Jan 22 Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff determine invasion of Sicily for July 10th
  • Jan 22 Temperature rises 49°F (9°C) in 2 minutes in Spearfish, South Dakota
  • Jan 22 66.34 cm (26.12") precipitation over 24 hour period in Hoegees Camp, California (state record)
  • Jan 23 British 8th army marches into Tripoli
  • Jan 23 Japanese Mount Austen on Guadalcanal captured
  • Jan 24 Adolf Hitler orders German troops at Stalingrad to fight to the death
  • Jan 24 Jewish patients, nurses and doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau
  • Jan 27 1st US air attack on Germany (Wilhelmshafen)
  • Jan 29 New Zealand cruiser Kiwi collides with Japanese submarine I-1 at Guadalcanal
  • Jan 29 Sidney Kingsley's "Patriots" premieres in NYC
  • Jan 29 U.S. cruiser "Chicago" is heavily damaged by Japanese bombers on the first day of the Battle of Rennell Island
  • Jan 30 6 British Mosquitos bomb Berlin in daylight
  • Jan 30 German assault on French in Tunisia
  • Jan 30 German under officers shot down in Haarlem Neth

Battle of InterestNazi General Friedrich Paulus Surrenders

Jan 30 Adolf Hitler promotes Friedrich Paulus, commander of the 6th Army, to Field Marshal in the hope that he will not surrender

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German field marshal Friedrich Paulus, the highest-ranking German officer to surrender during World War II
German field marshal Friedrich Paulus, the highest-ranking German officer to surrender during World War II
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  • Jan 30 Illegal opposition newspaper Loyal begins publishing
  • Jan 30 USS Chicago sinks in Pacific Ocean
  • Jan 31 Chile breaks off relations with Germany & Japan

Victory in battleVictory in Battle

Jan 31 Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to Soviet troops at Stalingrad

German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus
German Field Marshal
Friedrich Paulus

Birthdays in History

  • Jan 1 Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, Indian scientist
  • Jan 1 Tony Knowles, 9th Governor of Alaska

Person of interestDoris Kearns Goodwin

Jan 4 Doris Kearns Goodwin, American historian and writer (Team of Rivals, No Ordinary Time), born in Brooklyn, New York

Writer and Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin
Writer and Historian
Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • Jan 6 Osvaldo Soriano, Argentine journalist & writer, born in Mar del Plata, Argentina (d. 1997)
  • Jan 7 Sadako Sasaki, Japanese child victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, born in Hiroshima, Japan (d. 1955)
  • Jan 9 Robert Drewe, Australian author, born in Melbourne, Australia
  • Jan 9 Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian politician, born in Charlottetown, Canada (d. 2007)
  • Jan 14 Shannon Lucid, Chinese astronaut (STS 51G, 34, 43, 58, 76/79), born in Shanghai, China
  • Jan 17 Daniel Charles Brandenstein, American astronaut (STS 8, 51-G, 32, 49), born in Watertown, Wisconsin

Person of interestRené Préval

Jan 17 René Préval, President of Haiti (1996-2001, 2006-2011), born in Port-au-Prince (d. 2017)

President of Haiti René Préval
President of Haiti
René Préval
  • Jan 18 Kay Granger, American politician, born in Greenville, Texas
  • Jan 19 Margriet Francisca, Dutch Princess
  • Jan 22 H James "Jim" Saxton, (Rep-R-NJ, 1984- )
  • Jan 23 Bill Gibb, Scottish fashion designer, born in New Pitsligo, Scotland (d. 1988)
  • Jan 26 Sherian Grace Cadoria, brigadier general
  • Jan 27 A H Harper, CEO (Baltic Exchange)
  • Jan 29 Charles Fitzgerald-Lombard, Abbot of Downside

Deaths in History

  • Jan 1 Andrew Summers Rowan, American military officer who gave "a message to Garcia", dies at 5
  • Jan 3 Sir Walter James, Premier of Western Australia, dies at 79 (b. 1863)
  • Jan 4 Marina Raskova, Russian navigator, dies in airplane crash at 30

Person of interestGeorge Washington Carver

Jan 5 George Washington Carver, African-American agricultural scientist (studied the peanut), dies at 81

Agricultural Scientist and Inventor George Washington Carver
Agricultural Scientist and Inventor
George Washington Carver

Person of interestNikola Tesla

Jan 7 Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist (tesla motor), dies at 86

Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Nikola Tesla
Electrical and Mechanical Engineer
Nikola Tesla
  • Jan 7 George Washington Crile, American surgeon (conducted the first direct blood transfusion and studied the effects of surgical shock), dies at 78
  • Jan 8 Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author (The Last Enemy), dies in a crash during a night training at 23
  • Jan 9 Robin G Collingwood, English philosopher (Roman Britain), dies at 53
  • Jan 11 Agustín Pedro Justo, President of Argentina (1932-38) during the Infamous Decade, dies at 66
  • Jan 11 Carlo Tresca, NY's Italian newspaper editor/anti-fascist, murdered
  • Jan 12 Jan Campert, Dutch resistance fighter and poet (18 Dead), dies at 40
  • Jan 12 Frank Alvord Perret, American volcanologist renowned for his research at Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli and Kilauea dies at 75
  • Jan 13 Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss artist dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning at 53
  • Jan 16 Franz Courtens, Flemish painter (Sunny Lane), dies at 88
  • Jan 23 Alexander Woollcott, critic, dies of a heart attack on radio, at 56
  • Jan 24 John Burns, British minister of Local Government (1905-14), dies
  • Jan 26 Nikolai Vavilov, Soviet botanist and geneticist (identified the centers of origin of cultivated plants), dies at 55
  • Jan 26 Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880)