April 1943

April

• 03

  • The Battle of Manners StreetOn 3 April 1943 US Marines clashed with New Zealanders, Māori among them, outside a servicemen’s club in Wellington. No one was killed.
• 04

  • The escape from the Davao Penal ColonyOn 4 April 1943 ten American POWs and two Filipino convicts escaped from the Davao Penal Colony on Mindanao. Their accounts exposed the death march.
• 07

  • The Hitler–Mussolini meeting at KlessheimOn 7–10 April 1943 Hitler hosted a sick and dispirited Mussolini at Klessheim Palace near Salzburg. The Duce failed to press through a peace with the USSR.
  • The Battle of Wadi AkaritOn 6 April 1943 the Eighth Army broke the Axis position on the Wadi Akarit, and on 7 April its patrols met Americans of II Corps on the road to Gabès.
  • Bolivia declares war on the AxisOn 7 April 1943 President Enrique Peñaranda decreed that Bolivia was at war with Germany, Italy and Japan. The country supplied the Allies with tin.
• 10

  • The Eighth Army in SfaxOn 10 April 1943 the Eighth Army took Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, and Sousse two days later. The Axis forces fell back to Enfidaville.
• 13

  • Key eventThe Germans announce the Katyn massacreOn 13 April 1943 Berlin radio announced the discovery of Polish officers’ graves near Smolensk. The dispute let Stalin break with the Polish government.
• 15

  • Finland and peace with the USSRIn April 1943 Finland turned down an American offer to mediate peace talks with the USSR and announced it would continue its “defensive war”.
  • The raids on Stuttgart and PilsenOn the night of 14–15 April 1943 the RAF bombed Stuttgart. Two nights later a raid on the Škoda works at Pilsen missed its target, and 36 bombers were lost.
• 18

  • Key eventThe death of Admiral YamamotoOn 18 April 1943 American P-38 fighters shot down Admiral Yamamoto’s aircraft over Bougainville. The ambush was made possible by breaking a Japanese code.
  • The Palm Sunday massacreOn 18 April 1943 US P-40s and British Spitfires shattered a Ju 52 formation off Cape Bon. The Axis air bridge to Tunisia began to collapse.
• 19

  • The Bermuda ConferenceOn 19 April 1943 British and American diplomats met in Bermuda to discuss refugees from Europe. They had ruled out almost every means of rescue in advance.
  • Key eventThe Warsaw Ghetto Uprising beginsOn 19 April 1943, the eve of Passover, ŻOB and ŻZW fighters drove back the Germans entering the Warsaw Ghetto. They soon returned under Jürgen Stroop.
  • The attack on the Twentieth Convoy from MechelenOn 19 April 1943 three young Belgians with one pistol stopped a train taking Jews to Auschwitz near Boortmeerbeek. More than 230 people escaped.
• 22

  • The burning of the Warsaw GhettoFrom 22 April 1943 Stroop burned the Warsaw Ghetto building by building. The ŻZW left Muranowski Square, but the ŻOB and those in bunkers fought on for weeks.
• 25

  • USSR breaks relations with the Polish governmentOn the night of 25-26 April 1943 Molotov read Ambassador Romer a note breaking relations with the Polish government. The pretext was an appeal to the Red Cross.
• 26

  • The capture of Longstop HillAfter four days of fighting, on 26 April 1943 the British 78th Division took Longstop Hill, the last great natural barrier on the Medjerda valley road to Tunis.
• 28

  • Closing the Atlantic air gapIn spring 1943 the Allies sent long-range Liberators, escort carriers and support groups over the mid-Atlantic. On 28 April U-boats sighted convoy ONS 5.
• 30

  • Operation MincemeatOn 30 April 1943 HMS Seraph left the body of a fictitious Major Martin off Huelva, with letters pointing to Allied landings in Greece and Sardinia.