January 1943

January

• 01

  • The First Panzer Army withdraws from the TerekOn the night before 1 January 1943 the First Panzer Army began to leave the Terek. On 21 January the Red Army took Stavropol; the Germans got out via Rostov.
• 02

  • The capture of BunaOn 2 January 1943 Americans and Australians took Buna Government Station – the last Japanese stronghold on the eastern flank of the beachheads in Papua.
• 05

  • The Inter-Allied Declaration against acts of dispossessionOn 5 January 1943 in London, 17 governments and the French National Committee vowed to void seizures of property in occupied lands, even “legal” ones.
• 07

  • Japanese reinforcements at LaeOn 7 January 1943 a convoy from Rabaul landed some 4,000 men of the Okabe Detachment at Lae. Losing Papua, Japan resolved to defend northern New Guinea.
• 10

  • Operation RingOn 10 January 1943, after its ultimatum was rejected, the Don Front attacked the Stalingrad pocket. Pitomnik fell on 16 January and Gumrak on 22 January.
• 14

  • Key eventThe Casablanca ConferenceOn 14 January 1943 at Anfa near Casablanca, Churchill, Roosevelt and their chiefs of staff began talks. They chose Sicily and a stepped-up bombing of Germany.
• 15

  • The offensive on TripoliOn 15 January 1943 the Eighth Army attacked Rommel’s position at Buerat. Montgomery gave himself ten days to take Tripoli, some 320 km away.
• 16

  • Iraq declares war on the AxisOn 16 January 1943 Nuri al-Said’s government declared Iraq at war with Germany, Italy and Japan from midnight, and Iraq joined the United Nations.
  • RAF raids on Berlin in January 1943On the nights of 16/17 and 17/18 January 1943 RAF Lancasters and Halifaxes bombed Berlin after a 14-month gap. Damage was slight, second-night losses heavy.
• 18

  • Key eventThe first armed resistance in the Warsaw GhettoOn 18 January 1943 the Germans resumed deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto. ŻOB fighters first resisted with arms; after four days the action was halted.
  • Key eventThe siege of Leningrad brokenOn 18 January 1943 the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts met by Lake Ladoga. Operation Iskra cut a land corridor 8–11 km wide through to Leningrad.
• 19

  • Zhukov made Marshal of the Soviet UnionIn January 1943 Georgy Zhukov became the first commander of the war to be made Marshal of the USSR, and on 28 January received Order of Suvorov 1st Class No. 1.
• 22

  • The end of the fighting at SananandaOn 22 January 1943 organised Japanese resistance at Sanananda ceased, ending the six-month Papuan campaign – a costly Allied victory.
• 23

  • The capture of TripoliOn 23 January 1943 British patrols entered Tripoli. The Eighth Army took the capital of Italian Libya exactly three months after El Alamein began.
  • The final offensive on GuadalcanalIn January 1943 Patch's XIV Corps took the Gifu on Mount Austen and, on 23 January, Kokumbona. The Japanese, already ordered to evacuate, covered their retreat.
• 24

  • The demand for unconditional surrenderOn 24 January 1943, closing the Casablanca Conference, Roosevelt announced that the Allies would demand the unconditional surrender of Germany, Italy and Japan.
  • The Stalingrad pocket splitIn late January 1943 Hitler rejected Paulus's requests to be allowed to surrender, and on 26 January Soviet troops split the Stalingrad pocket in two.
• 26

  • The liberation of VoronezhIn January 1943 the Voronezh Front crushed the Hungarian Second Army and the Italian Alpine Corps on the Don, and on 25 January retook ruined Voronezh.
• 27

  • The first American raid on GermanyOn 27 January 1943 American bombers attacked Germany for the first time. Of 91 B-17s and B-24s dispatched, 53 bombed Wilhelmshaven and three were lost.
• 28

  • Compulsory labour in the ReichSauckel's decree of 27 January 1943 required German men aged 16–65 and women aged 17–45 to register for work in the defence of the Reich.
• 29

  • The Battle of Rennell IslandOn 29–30 January 1943 Japanese torpedo bombers sank the cruiser Chicago off Rennell Island while covering the evacuation of Guadalcanal.
• 31

  • Key eventPaulus surrendersOn 31 January 1943 men of the 64th Army captured Field Marshal Paulus and his staff in a Stalingrad department store basement. The southern pocket fell.