January 8th, 1943 (FRIDAY)
GERMANY: During the night of 8/9 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches three Mosquitos and 38 Lancasters to attack Duisburg; 36 aircraft attack with the loss of three Lancasters.
U-194 commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet General Konstantin Rokossovsky, Commander-in-Chief of the Don Front, issues a surrender ultimatum to the troops of German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus' Sixth Army in Stalingrad, guaranteeing "their lives and safety, and after the end of the war return to Germanyť, and promising that "...medical aid will be given to all wounded, sick and frost-bitten..." Since Paulus had been ordered by German Chancellor Adolf Hitler not to surrender or attempt to breakout of the city, the summons is ignored.
Soviet forces seize Zimovniki, on the Stalingrad-Novorossisk rail line.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British submarine HMS/M P 311 (P 311) is reported overdue today. The ship is lost while engaged in Operation PRINCIPLE, the Chariot attack on Italian cruisers at La Maddalena, Sardinia. HMS/M P 311 left Scotland in November 1942 with sister-boats HMS/M Thunderbolt (N 25) and Trooper N 91) after addition of human torpedo deck-mounted watertight containers, direct for Malta. P 311 departed from Malta on 28 December 1942. She sent her last signal on 31 December when she was about 88 nautical miles (163 kilometres) west of Palermo, Sicily. After this signal she is not heard from again and she is presumed sunk by Italian mines in the approaches to La Maddalena on or around 2 January 1943. She is reported overdue today when she fails to return to base.
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (US Ninth Air Force):
TUNISIA: Eight USAAF Ninth Air Force B-24s hit Tunis after weather and engine trouble prevent a planned attack on Bizerte.
LIBYA: RAF Liberators, under operational control of the IX Bomber Command, attack a rail junction near Tripoli.
WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (US Twelfth Air Force):
TUNISIA: Fifteen USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17s hit the docks at Ferryville and the naval base at Bizerte.
B-25s hit bridges and rail junctions at Graiba and at Kalaa Srira while P-47s hit Kairouan Airfield. The heavy and medium bombers are escorted by P-38s.
A-20s, escorted by P-40s, bomb tank concentrations near Gabes. Other fighters fly numerous patrols and reconnaissance missions.
The 59th Fighter Squadron, 33d Fighter Group moves with its P-40s from Casablanca, French Morocco to Thelepte, Tunisia.
The 443d and 444th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium), 320th Bombardment Group (Medium) arrive at La Senia, Algeria from England with B-26s.
From
B-17_Bachelors_Delight/HOME_PAGE_Peter_L_Kleist,_Bombardier_352nd_BS,_301st_BG,_5th_BW,_15th_AAF.html"> http://b17bachelorsdelight.com/B-17_Bachelors_Delight/HOME_PAGE_Peter_L_Kleist,_Bombardier_352nd_BS,_301st_BG,_5th_BW,_15th_AAF.html
[1]
MADAGASCAR: British General Sir William Platt, Commander in Chief East Africa Command, formally hands over the running of the island, except for the Diego Suarez area, to the Free French General Paul-Louis Legentillhomme, High Commissioner of the French possessions in the Indian Ocean, Governor-General of Madagascar and General Officer Commander in Chief Madagascar.
CHINA: In a message to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek turns down a proposal for an offensive in the spring of 1943.
BURMA: Six USAAF Tenth Air Force P-40s bomb and strafe Watugyi and Nsopzup and strafe other targets. Six B-25 Mitchells bomb the storage area at Bhamo.
NEW GUINEA: In Papua New Guinea, Companies A, C, and F of the U.S. 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, overrun Tarakena. The 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, begins an offensive to clear the road to Sanananda: 1st Battalion attacks two Japanese perimeters located between Musket and Kano, making limited progress.
In Northeast New Guinea USAAF Fifth Air Force heavy, medium and light bombers, with fighter cover, join RAAF aircraft in the continued attack of the Japanese convoy as it unloads about 4,000 reinforcements at Lae. Japanese fighter cover and Allied aircraft continue fierce aerial combat. During this action, 2d Lieutenant Richard I. Bong, flying a P-38F Lightning, shots down an "Oscar" fighter (Nakajima Ki-43, Army Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa) over the Huon Gulf, 5 miles (8 kilometres) offshore. This is Bong's fifth victory making him an "Ace."
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Major General J. Lawton Collins, Commanding General 25th Infantry Division, issues Field Order 1 to the division concerning the upcoming offensive. The 35th Infantry Regiment moves secretly up Mt Austen toward the line of departure.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: A USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberator flies photographic reconnaissance over Amchitka Island. Another B-24 aborts a weather run over Kiska Island because of instrument trouble.
CANADA: Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada announced appointment of first Canadian Minister to the Soviet Union.
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Spence commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The first man lost from a U-boat in 1943 was during a storm when one man was washed overboard while saving the I WO. Also the commander was wounded and so the boat was brought back to base with the IWO in command on 16 Jan. [Obersteuermann Walter Schliephake].
At 2237, U-436 fired three single torpedoes on the convoy TM-1 and two of them hit the Oltenia II, which exploded and sank. The third torpedo hit the Albert L. Ellsworth, which fell behind the convoy and was abandoned by all hands. Her lifeboats picked up 20 survivors of the Oltenia II, but some of them died from their injuries. Destroyer HMS Havelock picked up the survivors. At 2043 the next day, the wreck of the Albert L. Ellsworth was shelled and sunk by U-436 in 27.57N/28.50W.
U-436 sank SS Yorkwood in position 04.10S, 35.30W - Grid FC 7416