What happened in 1943
90 entries recorded for 1943, listed by date. That was 83 years ago.
1943 at a glance
- Years ago
- 83 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1940s
- Generation born
- Silent Generation
- Entries here
- 90
- Breakdown
- 90 historical events
January
- January 11
Trade union
Italian-American journalist and trade-union activist Carlo Tresca, a leading public opponent of the Mafia infiltration of unions, was assassinated in New York City.
- January 14
World War II
World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, the successful operation to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign.
- January 14
Franklin D. Roosevelt
World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.
- January 15
United States Department of Defense
The highest-capacity office building in the world, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense known as the Pentagon, was dedicated.
- January 18
World War II
World War II: In Operation Iskra, the Red Army established a narrow land corridor to Leningrad, partially easing the protracted German siege of the city.
- January 22
World War II
World War II: The Battle of Buna–Gona on New Guinea ended with an Allied victory after two months of fighting in which the Japanese fought with a resolve and tenacity not previously encountered.
- January 24
Franklin D. Roosevelt
World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
- January 29
World War II
World War II: The Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal campaign, began.
February
- February 2
World War II
World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.
- February 7
World War II
World War II: Japan successfully withdrew its troops from Guadalcanal.
- February 9
World War II
World War II: Allied forces declared Guadalcanal secure, ending the Guadalcanal campaign as a significant strategic victory for Allied forces fighting Japan in the Pacific War.
- February 10
World War II
World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
- February 14
World War II
World War II: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's 5th Panzer Army launched a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
- February 18
White Rose
The core members of the White Rose, an anti-Nazi resistance group, were arrested by the Gestapo.
- February 20
Fissure vent
A fissure opened in a cornfield in the Mexican state of Michoacán and continued to erupt for nine years, forming the cinder cone Parícutin .
- February 20
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post published the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms, among the most widely distributed paintings ever produced, in support of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms.
- February 23
Cavan Orphanage fire
35 children and 1 adult employee were killed in a fire at an orphanage in the town of Cavan, Ireland.
- February 24
World War II
World War II: The Battle of Kasserine Pass, the first major engagement between American and Axis forces in Africa, ended with the Allied forces suffering heavy losses.
March
- March 2
World War II
World War II: Australian and U.S. air forces attacked and destroyed a large Japanese naval convoy in the Bismarck Sea, north of Papua New Guinea.
- March 3
Bethnal Green tube station
World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
- March 4
The Holocaust
The Holocaust: Almost all Jews in Bulgarian-occupied Western Thrace were deported to Treblinka extermination camp to be killed.
- March 5
World War II
World War II: The Gloster Meteor, the Allies' only operational jet aircraft, made its maiden flight.
- March 6
Battle of Fardykambos
World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, ends with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion, the bulk of the garrison of the town of Grevena, leading to its liberation a fortnigh
- March 6
World War II
World War II: National Liberation Front forces defeated Italian occupiers in the Battle of Fardykambos, a major sign of the Greek resistance's growth.
- March 13
The Holocaust
The Holocaust: Nazi troops began the final liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto in German-occupied Poland, sending about 2,000 Jews to the Płaszów labor camp (deportation pictured), with the remaining 5,000 either killed or sent to Auschwitz.
- March 15
The Holocaust in Greece
The deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Greek city of Thessaloniki began.
- March 15
World War II
World War II: German forces recaptured Kharkov after four days of house-to-house fighting against Soviet troops, ending the month-long Third Battle of Kharkov.
- March 22
Deutscher Kurzwellensender Atlantik
British propaganda radio station Deutscher Kurzwellensender Atlantik began broadcasting to German submariners.
- March 22
World War II
World War II: Almost the entire population of the village of Khatyn, in present-day Belarus, were massacred by Ukrainian and Belarusian Nazi collaborators.
April
- April 8
Otto and Elise Hampel
Otto and Elise Hampel were executed in Berlin for performing acts of resistance against Nazism.
- April 13
Neoclassical architecture
The Neoclassical Jefferson Memorial (pictured) in Washington, D.C., was formally dedicated on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth.
- April 13
World War II
World War II: German news announced the discovery of a mass grave of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in Katyn, Russia, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile and the Soviet Union.
- April 18
Operation Vengeance
World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
- April 29
Dysentery
After suffering train derailments, defections, and outbreaks of dysentery and typhoid fever which killed two members, the Brazilian football club Santa Cruz returned from their Suicidal Tour (team pictured).
- April 30
World War II
Second World War: The Royal Navy submarine HMS Seraph began Operation Mincemeat to deceive Germany about the upcoming invasion of Sicily.
May
- May 14
AHS Centaur
World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
- May 14
World War II
Second World War: Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, killing 268 people aboard.
- May 15
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
- May 16
World War II
Second World War: The Royal Air Force's "Dambusters" squadron embarked on an attack on German dams using bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis.
- May 20
Luttra Woman
The Luttra Woman (skull pictured), a bog body from the Early Neolithic period, was discovered near Luttra, Sweden.
June
- June 1
Junkers Ju 88
Eight German Junkers Ju 88s shot down British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 over the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Spain and France, killing actor Leslie Howard and several other notable passengers.
- June 20
World War II
World War II: The Royal Air Force began Operation Bellicose, a four-day shuttle-bombing mission that included raids on Germany and Italy and a refuelling and rearming stop in Algeria.
- June 24
United States Army
Amid racial tensions, U.S. Army military police shot and killed a black serviceman after a confrontation at a pub in Bamber Bridge, England.
July
- July 4
Władysław Sikorski
The aircraft carrying Władysław Sikorski, prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, crashed off Gibraltar, killing him and fifteen others and leading to several conspiracy theories.
- July 9
World War II
World War II: The Battle of Saipan concluded after a mass Japanese suicide attack was repelled by American forces.
- July 12
World War II
World War II: German and Soviet forces engaged each other at the Battle of Prokhorovka (tanks pictured), one of the largest tank battles in military history.
- July 13
World War II
World War II: Operation Fustian, an Allied operation to capture the Primosole Bridge in Sicily, was launched.
- July 14
Diamond, Missouri
In Diamond, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.
- July 15
Emilia Plater Independent Women's Battalion
The all-female Emilia Plater Independent Women's Battalion was formed in the Soviet Union's First Polish Army.
- July 25
Grand Council of Fascism
The Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence against Benito Mussolini, who was arrested the same day by King Victor Emmanuel III and replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
- July 27
1943 Surprise Hurricane
As the Surprise Hurricane struck Texas, a United States Army Air Forces pilot made the first reconnaissance flight into a hurricane.
- July 28
Bombing of Hamburg in World War II
World War II: Operation Gomorrah: The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
August
- August 2
World War II
World War II: After the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. president, saves all but two of his crew.
- August 2
The Holocaust
The Holocaust: Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where approximately 900,000 persons were murdered in less than 18 months.
- August 17
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met in a secret conference in Quebec.
- August 17
World War II
World War II: The Royal Air Force began a strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme by attacking the Peenemünde Army Research Center.
- August 22
Ian Stephens (editor)
Ian Stephens, editor of The Statesman, defied British censorship to publish pictures of death and misery (example pictured) on Calcutta's streets, informing the world of the Bengal famine of 1943.
- August 23
World War II
Second World War: A decisive Soviet victory against German forces at the Battle of Kursk gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the war.
September
- September 3
Operation Baytown
World War II: British and Canadian troops land on the Italian mainland. On the same day, Walter Bedell Smith and Giuseppe Castellano sign the Armistice of Cassibile, although it is not announced for another five days.
- September 5
World War II
World War II: American and Australian airborne forces landed at Nadzab as part of the New Guinea campaign against Japan.
- September 10
Operation Achse
World War II: In the course of Operation Achse, German troops begin their occupation of Rome.
- September 14
World War II
World War II: Nazi forces began a mass extermination campaign against the civilian residents of around 20 villages on the Greek island of Crete, eventually killing more than 500 men.
- September 20
World War II
World War II: Australian troops led by Gordon Grimsley King defeated Imperial Japanese forces at the Battle of Kaiapit in New Guinea.
October
- October 4
World War II
World War II: Allied forces executed Operation Leader, an air raid against German shipping near Bodø, Norway.
- October 6
Burnings of Kali Sykia
World War II: Thirteen civilians are burnt alive by a paramilitary group in Crete during the Nazi occupation of Greece.
- October 10
World War II
World War II: The Kempeitai, the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured fifty-seven civilians and civilian internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on Singapore Harbour.
- October 13
Pietro Badoglio
World War II: Marshal Pietro Badoglio announces that Italy has officially declared war on Germany.
- October 14
Second Philippine Republic
The Second Philippine Republic, a Japanese puppet state, was established with Jose P. Laurel as its first president.
- October 14
World War II
World War II: During the second raid on Schweinfurt, the U.S. 8th Air Force suffered so many losses that it lost air supremacy over Germany for several months.
- October 14
The Holocaust
The Holocaust: Prisoners at Sobibor extermination camp revolted, killing 11 SS officers and staging a mass escape.
- October 16
The Holocaust
The Holocaust: The Gestapo conducted a raid on the Roman Ghetto, capturing 1,259 members of the Jewish community, most of whom were sent to Auschwitz.
- October 18
Pere Areny
Pere Areny, convicted of the murder of his brother, became the last person to be executed by Andorra.
- October 19
World War II
World War II: Allied aircraft sank the German cargo ship Sinfra, killing mostly Italian POWs.
November
- November 2
World War II
World War II: A U.S. Navy task force turned away an Imperial Japanese Navy formation at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, thus protecting the landings at Cape Torokina.
- November 3
The Holocaust
The Holocaust: The largest massacre of Jews by German forces began at Majdanek concentration camp.
- November 5
World War II
World War II: An unknown aircraft dropped four bombs on Vatican City, which maintained neutrality during the war.
- November 6
World War II
World War II: The 1st Ukrainian Front liberates Kyiv from German occupation.
- November 15
The Holocaust
The Holocaust: In the Romani Holocaust, Nazi official Heinrich Himmler ordered that the Romani were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps".
- November 17
World War II
World War II: Australian forces launched an assault on Sattelberg, New Guinea, against Japanese forces, initiating the Battle of Sattelberg.
- November 22
Lebanon
Lebanon gains independence from France, nearly two years after it was first announced by the Free French government.
- November 22
Cairo Conference
World War II: Cairo Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese Premier Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
- November 24
World War II
World War II: Following the American capture of Makin Atoll, USS Liscome Bay was sunk by a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-175, killing 644.
- November 27
World War II
World War II: Australian forces began the Battle of Wareo by conducting clearing operations between Bonga and North Hill.
- November 29
Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia
The second session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), held to determine the post-war ordering of the country, concludes in Jajce (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).
December
- December 2
World War II
World War II: The Luftwaffe conducted a surprise air raid on Allied ships in Bari, Italy, sinking twenty-eight vessels and releasing one ship's secret cargo of mustard gas.
- December 15
World War II
World War II: Australian and American forces (pictured) began the Battle of Arawe against Japanese forces on New Britain as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester.
- December 26
World War II
World War II: In the Battle of Cape Gloucester, American and Australian forces bombarded Japanese positions on New Britain in the Territory of New Guinea while U.S. Marines invaded from two sides of the island.
- December 28
World War II
World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division captured the Italian town of Ortona (pictured).
- December 28
Urban warfare
World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the Battle of Ortona concludes with the victory of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division over the German 1st Parachute Division and the capture of the Italian town of Ortona.
- December 28
Deportation of the Kalmyks
Soviet authorities launch Operation Ulussy, beginning the deportation of the Kalmyk nation to Siberia and Central Asia.
Questions about 1943
What happened in 1943?
This site records 90 entries for 1943, including Trade union on January 11. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1943?
83 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1943 turns 83 this year.
Which century is 1943 in?
1943 falls in the 20th century, in the 1940s.
Which generation was born in 1943?
Silent Generation (1928–1945). Children of the Depression and war years.
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