(Britain)

On the 15^th April 1943 the Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted a heavy bombing raid against Stuttgart. This raid was the 9^th out of a total of 53 during the course of the war. It was also the 5^th out of 18 joint heavy bombing raids by the RAF and American 8^th Air Force. Stuttgart as a city had significant industrial capacity which included the Daimler and Porsche factories, a rail transport system and several military bases.Stuttgart is spread out in a series of deep valleys which confused and frustrated the Pathfinders of the RAF. On the 15^th April 1943, a total of 462 aircraft attacked the city, consisting of 146 Wellington, 135 Halifax, 98 Lancaster and 83 Stirling bombers. Stuttgart suffered 619 killed, 705 injured and 400 prisoners of war killed. We have not located details of any RAF losses.

In order to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily Operation Mincemeat was a successful deception operation. The deception was to convince the Germans that the Allies intended to attack Greece and Sardinia and Sicily was a decoy. With the approval of British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and military commander of the Mediterranean, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Operation Mincemeat was launched. Two members of British Military Intelligence (MI5) created the character of Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. The body of a tramp who had died after eating rat poison was obtained and dressed up as an officer of the Royal Marines. Placed on the body were his fictional personal details of Martin and in a briefcase was correspondence from two British generals suggesting the decoy. The generals’ correspondence was unofficial, the type which would not be sent by diplomatic courier or encoded signal. It was to be assumed, as a major, Martin would be carrying this correspondence when his aircraft was shot down over water. On the 30^th April 1943 a submarine released the body close to Huelva on the southern coast of Spain. A Spanish fisherman found the body the following morning after it had been washed ashore. The neutral Spanish government took possession of the body and informed the British Admiralty, via the vice-consul of Huelva, that the body had been found. Knowing the Germans had broken the code, pre-scripted messages from the vice-consul and the Admiralty stated it was imperative the vice-consul retrieved the briefcase. On the 1^st May 1943 the vice-consul attended Martin’s post mortem and persuaded the Spanish doctors to bring a verdict of “Drowning at sea” owing to the heat of the day and the smell of the corpse. A death certificate was signed and Major Martin’s body was released and on the 2^nd May 1943 was buried at Huelva Cemetery with full military honours. However, the Spanish navy retained the briefcase. Agents of the German military-intelligence service (Abwehr) were unsuccessful in persuading the Spanish to hand over the briefcase or its contents. The briefcase was forwarded to the Spanish naval headquarters in San Fernando where German sympathisers photographed the contents including the unopened letters. Spanish Naval HQ’s passed the briefcase to Madrid who were persuaded to hand the briefcase over to a senior Abwehr agent. The letters were secretly opened and the contents photographed then re-instated to their envelopes. The most senior Abwehr agent took the copies to Germany. From Madrid, on the 11^th May 1943, the briefcase and contents were returned to Huelva’s vice-consul by the Spanish authorities. The briefcase was forwarded to London in a diplomatic bag. Upon receipt forensic evidence proved the letters had been opened and read, and the vice-consul was duly informed. Another communication was sent to the vice-consul saying the letters had not been opened and this information was leaked to the Spaniards known to be sympathetic to the Germans. The outcome being that German reinforcements were not sent to Sicily but reinforcements were sent to Greece and Salonika.

(Atlantic)

The Battle of the Atlantic was longest running military campaign of the Second World War beginning in 1939 and ending with the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. The winter weather of January 1943 provided a brief respite from German U-boats in the North Atlantic. By March 1943 there were so many U-boats on patrol in the Atlantic it was difficult to avoid detection. A total of 476,000 tons of aid carried by 82 merchant ships were sunk in March 1943 while the Germans lost 12 U-boats. With supplies running low, especially fuel, there was talk that Britain would not be able to continue the war and contemplated abandoning the convoys completely. Before that point was reached the next few months saw a complete reversal of fortunes. Prior to March 1943 the mid-Atlantic was unreachable by aircraft. British RAF Coastal Command were operating Consolidated B24 Liberator bombers on anti-U-boat patrols during the Battle of the Atlantic. Due to their long range capacity they were the ideal aircraft to undertake surprise attacks on surfaced U-boats in the previously unreachable mid-Atlantic. Towards the end of April 1943, B24 Liberator bombers began operating from both sides of Atlantic. Subsequently the U-boat losses increased and the sinking of Allied merchant ships decreased significantly. During April 1943, 15 U-boats were destroyed for the loss of 39 merchant ships carrying 230,000 tons of aid for Britain.

(Germany)

Radio Berlin was ordered by the Nazi German government, on the 13^th April 1943, to announce the discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest of Poland. The propaganda faction of the Nazis did not wish to be held responsible for the graves. Prior to Germany invading Poland in September 1939 they had entered into a pact with the Soviet Union. Once the invasion began the Soviet Union advanced from the east whilst the Germans advanced from the west. In April/May 1940 the Soviet Union carried out the mass execution of 22,000 Polish military officers and civilians in what was known to be the Katyn Massacre. The German/Soviet Union pact ended when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Following the radio announcement Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin claimed the Nazis had massacred the Polish officers.

(Eastern Front)

After the invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939 German authorities began to concentrate the three million Jewish population into large Polish cities. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest and 300.000-400,000 Jews were densely packed into the central area of Warsaw. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on the 19^th April 1943. The sequence of events until the final defeat in May 1943 can be seen by referring to the Eastern Front section of January 1943.

On the 19^th April 1943, three members of the Belgian Resistance attacked the twentieth train convoy transporting Jews to Auschwitz. Following the invasion and occupation of Belgium in May 1940 all Jews were forced to register with the police.

The Belgian Mechelen (Malines) transit camp was chosen for the implementation of the “Final Solution” because it was the hub of the National Railway system. From the 22^nd July 1942, the first convoy train was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Once at Auschwitz the majority of the Jews were transferred to the gas chambers for immediate extermination. The deportations were temporarily halted in October 1942, by which time seventeen convoy trains had deported 16,600 people including Belgian citizens. The deportations resumed in January 1943. The convoy train, Transport N^o 20, was the only time the Belgian resistance halted a train during the course of the war. Transport N^o 20 left Mechelen transit camp on the 19^th April 1943 carrying 1,631 Jewish men, women and children. For the first time freight wagons with barbed wire covering the small windows replaced the previously used third class carriages. A special wagon, the Sonderwagen, was added to the convoy train with 19 Jews (18 men and one woman) who were listed on a Nazi “special list” These consisted of resistance members and ‘jumpers’ from previous transportations. A red cross on the backs of their clothes indicated to the guards they were to be immediately executed upon arrival at Auschwitz. Armed only with one pistol, three members of the Belgian resistance were able to stop the convoy train by using a lantern covered with red paper which acted as a danger signal. Despite being guarded by 16 German soldiers one of the resistance members were able to open a wagon and liberate 17 people. Of the prisoners on the ‘special list’ 3 prisoners escaped from the wagon and a forth was shot. The train driver assisted by maintaining the slowest possible pace allowing 233 people to escape the slow moving convoy train. Of these 89 were recaptured and put on later convoy. Only 118 of the original 233 escapees survived.  Of the remaining 1,395 Jews being transported to Auschwitz, 26 were killed either by being shot or from the fall from the train. Upon arrival at Auschwitz on the 22^nd April 1943, 521 people (276 men and 245 women) were assigned slave labourers of whom only 150 survived the war. The Jews who arrived at Auschwitz were immediately murdered in the gas chambers. One member of the Belgian resistance who undertook the attack. Youra Linchitz, was caught and executed. The second, Jean Franlemon, was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment following a German court-martial. The third, Robert Mastriau, fled to the Ardennes forest and eventually survived the war.

(North Africa)

By the 1^st April 1943, the British and U.S. Allies continued to squeeze the retreating Germans into the corner of Tunisia. On the 3^rd March 1943 the U.S. forces had beaten the experienced German tank units at the Battle of El Quettar. In the meantime the British Eighth Army, commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and nicknamed “Monty”, was approaching the Mareth Line from the east. The Italian defenders of the Mareth Line began their retreat on the 21^st March 1943 in order to escape Monty’s outflanking movement. On the 7^th April 1943, Allied armies linked up near Gafsa in Tunisia, the British from the east and the Americans from the west. In the meantime Monty led his Eighth Army into the coastal port of Sfax on the 10^th April 1943. With Allied air cover Monty entered Sfax to be greeted by the local people and secured the area when the defending Germans surrendered. In the meantime the Axis Powers were facing the threat of being trapped and destroyed by the Allies. In response reinforcements for the German Afrika Korps and Italian army were despatched by sea and air from Sicily. An immediate defeat in Tunisia was avoided by these reinforcements and logistical problems experienced by Allies helped the Axis to prolong their defence. In spite of the reinforcements in manpower and supplies the Axis were still being squeezed into the northern tip of Tunisia. Although the Allies had air superiority large numbers of the Axis forces were being evacuated by the Luftwaffe with impunity during darkness. Operation Flax had been ordered by the Allies to stop these evacuations which began on the 5^th April 1943. Allied air forces, consisting of the RAF and the United States American Air Force (USAAF) were to attack Axis aircraft by day and night. The Axis air force put up considerable resistance but the Allies succeeded in destroying the aerial link between Axis held Sicily and Italy. The tide had turned, the Axis were on the back foot.  During the encounter on the 18^th April 1943, German Junkers Ju52 transport fleets suffered heavy losses in what is known as the “The Palm Sunday Massacre”. The Ju52 transport planes were evacuating German forces from Tunisia. Operation Flax ended on the 27^th April 1943 and for the Axis their losses were 432 aircraft in total. During the same period the Allies lost 35 aircraft in combat. The German transport fleet was unable to recover especially as they had also suffered many losses in the attempted airlift during the Battle of Stalingrad.

(Pacific) 

The only Large scale escape of Allied prisoners-of-war from the Japanese in the Pacific occurred on the 4^th April 1943. Ten American POWs and two Filipino convicts broke out of the Davao Penal Colony on island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. The penal colony was surrounded by crocodile infested swamps and inescapable. The Japanese were arrogant enough to believe the security of the colony especially with indigenous head hunters and cannibals also in the region. As well as American POWs in the penal colony there were also Filipino hardened criminals and murderers, who hated the Japanese. All inmates of the penal colony were expected and forced to work. The ten Americans and two Filipino convicts came up with a plan to escape. The Americans offered the excuse they were going to build a storm shelter in the coffee field and the Japanese agreed knowing escape was impossible. Once out of the penal centre the ten Americans met up with the two Filipino convicts who would act as their guides through the swamps. After about a week the group were escorted by Filipino guerrillas from the Davao area into the safety of a nearby village. The escaped POWs were the first to break the news of the infamous Bataan Death March and other atrocities conducted by the Japanese to the world. The Bataan Death March news was suppressed by the U.S. government for fear of Japanese retaliation against the remaining POWs. They were also fearful that the enraged Japanese would cancel Red Cross supplies to American POWs.

During Operation Vengeance, on the 18^th April 1943, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy was killed. This incident took place during the Solomon Islands Campaign. Yamamoto was scheduled to inspect the Japanese units. American Intelligence had previously broken the Japanese naval codes and had intercepted messages giving details of Yamamoto’s itinerary. Once the message had been decoded it gave details of time, location and numbers/types of Japanese aircraft accompanying him. Of the Japanese aircraft, two were Mitsubishi G4M1 bombers and six were Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters. Mystery surrounds whether U.S. President Roosevelt authorised the attack mainly because the Americans blamed Yamamoto for the attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Eighteen P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft took off at 07.25 from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal equipped with long range drop tanks for the 1,000 miles return trip. Four P-38’s arrived at the intercept point at 09.34 and attacked the Japanese bombers, one of which was transporting Yamamoto. Being attacked from the rear one of the bombers crashed into the jungle. east of Bougainville Island and the second crashed into the sea. The remaining fourteen P-38’s briefly engaged the Zero fighters without making any kills before having to return to base before their fuel ran out. Evidence indicates American P-38 pilot Rex T. Barber shot down the bomber carrying Yamamoto. However, Captain Thomas Lanphier claimed he had shot down the bomber, but subsequently Barber was given the credit. Such was the controversy of Yamamoto’s death that another rumour emerged, a pilot fired a series of bullets to warm his guns prior to battle. Yamamoto’s bomber inadvertently flew into the path of the stray bullets No confirmed evidence has been found to prove or disprove this theory. The Americans suffered the loss of one P-38 fighter with one pilot being killed, whilst the Japanese suffered the loss of the two bombers and one of the Zero’s being damaged. The Japanese also had twenty men killed including Admiral Yamamoto. The morale of the Japanese was perceived to be damaged by the death of Yamamoto. It raised the morale of the Allied Forces in the Pacific theatre.

(Other Theatres)

The Allied Services Club was a social centre in New Zealand and open to all military personnel. The club was located in Manners Street, Te Aro in the capital city of Wellington. American servicemen had been stationed in New Zealand since 1942. The Battle of Manners Street flared up on 3^rd April 1943 when some U.S. Marines objected to native Māori soldiers entering the club. Racial tensions began when some marines started to stop Māori soldiers from entering. Both white and Māori New Zealand soldiers combined in opposition which created a stand-off between the two sides. The stand-off escalated into fights when the marines began attacking those who wanted to let the Māori’s in. A major brawl developed about 6 pm and lasted approximately 2 hours. Also at 6 pm the local hotel bars closed and as patrons were leaving they became involved in the disturbance and many joined in the brawl. At one stage more than one thousand servicemen were involved with several hundred civilians joining in. By about 8 pm the participants began to disperse as civil and military police took control. Both sides suffered dozens of injuries and only one New Zealand serviceman was arrested. Because news of the riot was censored at the time, unconfirmed reports that two American marines had been killed could not be verified. The Americans had problems with white and non-white population in the U.S. and didn’t appreciate the culture of New Zealand’s mixed race acceptance. In New Zealand during the course of the war a couple more riots were to occur mainly due to the different cultures of the two countries even though they were both fighting the same enemy of Japan.

At a meeting in Salzburg, Austria on the 7^th April 1943 the two fascist leaders of the Axis Power met to discuss future policies. This meeting was the first time Nazi German’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini had met since the collapse of Axis defence of Stalingrad in January 1943. Hitler and Mussolini were both dictators of their individual countries. Mussolini had accepted the loss of his Libyan colony in North Africa but feared an Allied invasion of Sicily. He requested reinforcements to create a second front. They only received moral support as it suited Hitler to have the Allies slowed down on the Italian front. Hitler, on the other hand, was convinced the war would be won or lost in Russia.

The South American country of Bolivia officially joined the Allies on the 7^th April 1943. They declared war on the Axis nations of Germany, Japan and Italy. Their involvement in the war was that their minerals were supplying much needed tin to the Allies. However, their involvement did not include providing troops or warplanes to be sent overseas. These would be needed at home even though Bolivia remained confident their geographic isolation would protect them from the war.

At Hamilton City in Bermuda an international conference was held from the 19^thto 30^th April 1943. The conference consisted of a delegation from the United Kingdom led by Richard Law, a junior minister at the Foreign Office and the United States led by Dr. Harold W. Dodds. The topic of discussion at the Bermuda Conference was the question of Jewish refugees. Many Jews had been liberated by Allied forces in Europe, while many still remained in Nazi occupied territory. Before any Jewish immigration policies could be discussed the only conclusive agreement was that the war against Germany had to be won first.

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