October 1943

October

• 01

  • The Ruzagayura famineIn autumn 1943 the Ruzagayura famine broke out in Belgian Ruanda-Urundi. Drought, crop disease and wartime requisitions cost tens of thousands of lives.
  • The Allies in NaplesOn 1 October 1943 Allied troops entered Naples, abandoned by the Germans after a four-day uprising. They found a city without water, power or a port.
• 03

  • Mountbatten takes command in South-East AsiaIn early October 1943 Louis Mountbatten, appointed at Quebec in August, flew to India to take over the Allied South East Asia Command.
  • The Germans take KosOn 3 October 1943 the Germans landed on Kos and next day took the island with the only Allied airfield in the Dodecanese. They shot about 100 Italian officers.
• 04

  • The liberation of CorsicaOn 4 October 1943 French goumiers entered Bastia, abandoned by the Germans. Corsica became the first liberated département of France.
• 05

  • The Allies on the VolturnoIn early October 1943 the Fifth Army reached the Volturno. It crossed the river on the night of 12–13 October; the Germans left only after 15 October.
• 06

  • The naval Battle of Vella LavellaOn the night of 6–7 October 1943 Japanese destroyers covered the evacuation of about 600 troops from Vella Lavella. Each side lost one ship.
• 07

  • The Wake Island massacreOn 7 October 1943, after an American air raid, the Japanese garrison of Wake shot 98 American civilians on the orders of Captain Shigematsu Sakaibara.
• 09

  • VII Corps in BritainIn October 1943 the headquarters of the US VII Corps arrived in England, part of the build-up of American forces in Britain before the invasion of France.
• 10

  • Chiang Kai-shek becomes Chairman of the National GovernmentOn 10 October 1943 in Chongqing Chiang Kai-shek was sworn in as Chairman of the National Government of China, an office now given real power.
• 12

  • Air raids on RabaulOn 12 October 1943 nearly 350 of General Kenney's aircraft struck Rabaul, opening the air offensive meant to neutralise the Japanese fortress.
• 13

  • Key eventItaly declares war on GermanyOn 13 October 1943 Badoglio's government in Brindisi declared war on Germany. The Allies recognised Italy as a co-belligerent, but not as an ally.
• 14

  • Key eventBlack Thursday over SchweinfurtOn 14 October 1943, 291 American B-17s again struck the ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt. Sixty bombers failed to return and some 600 airmen were missing.
  • Key eventThe Sobibór uprisingOn 14 October 1943 prisoners of the Sobibór death camp killed a dozen or so SS men and guards. About 300 escaped to the forest; a few dozen survived the war.
• 18

  • Key eventThe Moscow Conference of Foreign MinistersOn 18 October 1943 Hull and Eden reached Moscow. Talks with Molotov yielded a pledge of the UN, the European Advisory Commission and a war crimes statement.
• 19

  • The order for 12,000 V-2 rocketsOn 19 October 1943 the German Army Ordnance Office ordered 12,000 A4 rockets from Mittelwerk. They were to be assembled by prisoners of the Dora camp.
• 22

  • The raid on KasselOn the night of 22–23 October 1943, 569 RAF bombers attacked Kassel. A firestorm consumed the old town; sources put the dead at 6,000–10,000.
• 23

  • The sinking of HMS CharybdisOn 23 October 1943 German torpedo boats sank the cruiser HMS Charybdis and the destroyer Limbourne off Brittany. More than 500 British servicemen died.
• 25

  • The liberation of DnipropetrovskOn 25 October 1943 troops of Malinovsky's 3rd Ukrainian Front took ruined Dnipropetrovsk and Dniprodzerzhynsk on the lower Dnieper.
• 29

  • The London dock strikeWar chronologies record that on 29 October 1943 troops replaced striking London dockers. Sources do not confirm this, but strikes were rising that autumn.
• 31

  • Autumn rains in ItalyIn late October 1943 downpours, mud and mountains slowed the Allied march on Rome, giving the Germans time to build the Bernhardt and Gustav Lines.