1 January 1943

ITALY: SICILY: Five USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb targets of opportunity at Syracuse and other locations.

U.S.S.R.: Velikiye Luki in the central sector is finally recaptured by the Soviet Army.

Stalingrad: The Russians squeeze the German army into a pocket of 100 square miles.

German Army Group A begins withdrawing the 1st Panzer Army northward toward Rostov to prevent it from becoming encircled with XXXX Pz.K. units pulling out of the Mozdok area. (Jack McKillop & Jeff Chrisman)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The 7,176 ton U.S. Liberty Ship SS Arthur Middleton is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-73 about 7 nautical miles (12,9 kilometres) northwest of Oran, Algeria, in position 35.45N, 0.45W.

Eleven ships from UGS-3, including SS Arthur Middleton from station #21, broke away from the convoy near Casablanca to proceed for their destination port Oran and began to form a single line to enter the harbour. At 1428, before the line was formed, two torpedoes hit the Arthur Middleton from U-73 at the bow. The U-boat commander saw the target explode after 17 seconds. The torpedoes had ignited portions of the cargo and sent water, hull plates, parts of the ship and flames 1000 feet into the air. The Liberty ship disintegrated from the #5 hatch to the bow, only the after part of the ship remained afloat for less than one minute three miles off Oran. Only three armed guards survived of the eight officers, 34 men, 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and nine 20mm guns) and 12 passengers (one US Army security officer and 11 crewmen from USS LCT-21). These three men jumped overboard from the stern gun platform and were picked up by destroyer HMS Boreas 25 minutes later and were transferred to hospital ship HMHS Oxfordshire.

ALGERIA: Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Force, places Major General Lloyd Fredendall in command of the U.S. II Corps, which is planning for Operation SATIN, the capture of Sfax, Tunisia, to prevent the junction of Axis armies. Task Force SATIN is to consist of the 1st Armoured Division and Regimental Combat Team 26 of the 1st Infantry Division. Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) takes responsibility for communications lines from Bone to Constantine, relieving the British First Army.

The British light cruiser HMS Ajax (22) is severely damaged in Bone harbour by Luftwaffe Ju 87 dive bomber. The ship makes her way to the New York Navy Yard in the U.S. for repairs and is out of action until October 1943.

TUNISIA: Five USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators and 18 USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses strike the port area at Tunis hitting the turning basin, the area just southwest of it, and nearby rail junction. Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit the marshalling yard at Tunis.

BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells attack the railroad bridge near Myitnge, claiming several hits on the target. The nearby airfield is also bombed.

FIJI ISLANDS: The USN fleet tug USS Grebe (AT-134) grounded at Vuanta Vatoa on 6 December 1942 while attempting to float the U.S. freighter SS Thomas A. Edison. Salvage operations are broken up by a hurricane that destroyed both ships during the night of 1/2 January 1943.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: The last Japanese food available in the Gifu position on Mount Austen, is distributed. It amounts to 2 crackers and a piece of candy per man.

From Hill 11 on Guadalcanal, the 2d Battalion, 132d Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, marches slowly south and west over precipitous terrain to the south-eastern slope of Hill 27, arriving too late in the day to open an assault as planned. Regimental Combat Team 27, 25th Infantry Division, arrives on the island.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators bomb the airfields at Gasmata and Rabaul on New Britain Island.

NEW GUINEA: The Urbana Force (two battalions of the U.S. 126th and 128th Infantry Regiments, 32d Infantry Division) attacks toward Buna Mission from the southeast and from the spit after heavy preparatory fire, but makes little progress. In the evening the Japanese are seen swimming from the Mission. Company B, U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, moves east toward Giropa Point to assist the Warren Force (based on the U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division), which encircles the Japanese between Giropa Point and Old Strip. On the left, the Australian 2/12th Battalion, 18th Brigade, 7th Division, supported by six tanks, drives to the coast at Giropa Point and turns southeast, clearing the coastal strip to Simemi Creek; the 1st Battalion, U.S. 128th Infantry Regiment, mops up bypassed pockets. On the right, the 3d Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment, and Australian 2/10th Battalion, 18th Brigade, make slow progress in a two-pronged attack to clear the Japanese entrenched in dispersal bays off the north-western end of Strip.

U.S.A.: Ground Controlled Approach equipment (GCA) was called into emergency use for the first time when a snowstorm closed down the field at NAS Quonset Point a half hour before a flight of PBYs was due to arrive. The GCA crew located the incoming aircraft on their search radar, and using the control tower as a relay station, "talked" one of them into position for a contact landing. This recovery was made only 9 days after the first successful experimental demonstration of GCA. (Gene Hanson)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British cruiser HMS SCYLLA sinks the German blockade runner RHAKOTIS and the Italian transport VIMINALE 200 nautical miles north-west of Cape Finisterre, Brittany. After an eight-hour search, Australian Sunderland Mk. II or III of No. 10 Squadron, RAAF, based at Mount Batten, Devon, spots the German blockade runner SS RHAKOTIS in the Bay of Biscay on 31 December, attempting to smuggle in war cargo from Japan. The light cruiser HMS Scylla was diverted to intercept, and ran at full speed through a gale for some 20 hours, with the Sunderland guiding her towards the target by dropping flares along the course. When the cruiser opens fire, the Germans scuttle their ship about 145 nautical miles (269 kilometres) northwest of La Coruna, Comunidad Autonoma de Galicia, Spain, in position 45.01N, 10.50W.

Swedish SS Brageland was stopped by U-164 off the Brazilian coast, searched and sunk according to prize rules.

U-406 had to abort her patrol in the North Atlantic due to serious engine trouble.

U-438 was damaged by underwater explosions, forcing her to return from patrol in the North Atlantic.

Minesweeper HMCS Minas damaged in collision with trawler HMS Liscomb off Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Corvette HMCS Woodstock sank MTB 105, 250 miles NW of Azores after merchant ship carrying it had been sunk.