80 Years Ago—Feb. 5, 1943: Nazis begin liquidating the Bialystok ghetto; 1,000 Jews are killed and 10,000 are sent to Treblinka extermination camp.
Members of CS-6 Dutch resistance group shoot Dutch Gen. Hendrik Seyffardt, commander of Dutch Legion of the SS; Seyffardt dies the next day.
Gen. Bernard Montgomery during a visit to England, 1943 (Imperial War Museum: TR 1037)
80 Years Ago—Feb. 4, 1943: British Eighth Army under Gen. Bernard Montgomery crosses from Libya into Tunisia.
US European Theater of Operations (ETO) branches into North African Theater of Operations (NATO) in North Africa and Mediterranean under Lt. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and ETO (Britain, Iceland, and continental Europe except Italy) under Gen. Frank Andrews.
Four Chaplains stained-glass window at the US Pentagon (US government photo)
80 Years Ago—Feb. 3, 1943: US Army troop transport Dorchester is sunk by German U-boat U-223 off Greenland, 675/904 killed; four chaplains of different faiths give away their life jackets and go down with the ship, arms linked and offering prayers.
Britain allows 5000 Bulgarian Jews, mostly children, to emigrate to Palestine.
German soldiers marching to a Soviet prisoner of war camp, Stalingrad, Russia, Feb 1943 (German Federal Archive: Bild 183-E0406-0022-010)
80 Years Ago—Feb. 2, 1943: German 6th Army surrenders to the Soviets in Stalingrad—91,000 prisoners are taken, of whom only 5000 will survive the war.
Australians counterattack at Wau, New Guinea.
Insignia of the US 442nd Regimental Combat Team
80 Years Ago—Feb. 1, 1943: Japanese begin evacuation of 13,000 troops from Guadalcanal.
Mussolini dismisses Gen. Ugo Cavallero as head of Italian armed forces (Comando Supremo), and replaces him with Gen. Vittorio Ambrosio.
US forms 442nd Regimental Combat Team for Japanese-American soldiers, including internees.
German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, Maj. Gen. Arthur Schmidt, and Col. Wilhelm Adam after their surrender, Stalingrad, Russia, 31 Jan 1943 (German Federal Archive Bild 183-F0316-0204-005)
80 Years Ago—Jan. 31, 1943: Karl Dönitz takes command of German Navy and is promoted to Grossadmiral, maintaining his position as Commander of U-Boats.
Soviets take southern pocket in Stalingrad and capture Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, commander of German 6th Army.
Germans take Faïd and Pichon Passes in Tunisia.
Recruitment poster for the French Milice, WWII
80 Years Ago—Jan. 30, 1943: RAF flies daylight raid to Berlin, timed to interrupt Goering and Goebbels’s speeches on the tenth anniversary of the German Reich.
The Milice, a Vichy French militia, is formed under Joseph Darnand to counter the French Resistance.
Australians defeat Japanese at Wau, New Guinea.
Recruitment poster for US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, WWII
80 Years Ago—Jan. 29, 1943: Soviets drive southwest on the Voronezh front toward Kharkov.
Australian paratroopers land at Wau, New Guinea.
Maj. Ruth Cheney Streeter is named the first director of the US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve.
Painting: “Go for Broke,” depicting Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team in action in France, October 1944 (US Army Center of Military History)
80 Years Ago—Jan. 28, 1943: Japanese attempt final drive for Port Moresby, New Guinea.
US military begins accepting Nisei volunteers and announces formation of Japanese-American combat units.
Germany orders registration of men ages 16-65 and women ages 17-45 for war work; most luxury and consumer industries are shut down.
Steel pennies, 1943 (Sarah Sundin collection)
80 Years Ago—Jan. 27, 1943: First American mission over Germany: US Eighth Air Force, led by the 306th Bombardment Group, bombs Wilhelmshaven.
Lt. Ronald Reagan begins work with the First Motion Picture Unit to make films to improve morale.
US begins production of steel pennies; 1.1 billion steel pennies will be produced in 1943, saving copper for 1.25 million artillery shells.
“Sundin’s craft is inimitable, and her literary finesse radiates from every page.”—Booklist starred review for The Sound of Light