January 12th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Winston Churchill leaves for Casablanca, French Morocco, where he and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt will plan the invasion of the European continent. Churchill believes it is essential for them to alleviate the pressure on the Soviets in 1943 with an attack on Sicily and then a cross-Channel invasion.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Prophet commissioned.
ASW trawler HMS Kingston Jacinth mined and sunk off Portsmouth.
FRANCE: During the night of 12/13 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 32 aircraft to lay mines off Bay of Biscay ports: nine aircraft off Gironde, six off La Rochelle, four off St. Nazaire, two off Lorient and one each off Bayonne and St. Jean de Luz.
GERMANY: During the night of 12/13 January, RAF Bomber Command dispatches four Pathfinder Mosquitos and 55 Lancasters in a problematical attack on Essen; 49 aircraft attack the city with the loss of one Lancaster. The Oboe equipment of the first Mosquito to arrive fails and the other three Mosquitos are all late. Because of this, many of the Lancasters bomb on dead reckoning. Some bombs do fall in Essen, where 20 houses are destroyed or seriously damaged and nine people are killed, but other bombs fall in Neviges, Remscheid, Solingen and Wuppertal, a group of towns 12-20 miles (19-32 kilometers) south of Essen. Nineteen people are killed in Remscheid.
U-342 commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: The attack on Stalingrad is extended with assaults on the Hungarian and German Second Armies.
Soviet troops create a breach in the German siege of Leningrad, which has lasted for a year and a half. The Soviet forces punch a hole in the siege, which ruptures the German encirclement and allows for more supplies to come in along Lake Ladoga.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Italian torpedo boat R.N. Ardente sinks after being rammed by destoyer R.N. Grecale.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-25 Mitchells sent to hit shipping in the Straits of Sicily and in the Gulf of Gabes fail to find targets and return with their bombs.
LIBYA: General Leclerc's Fighting (Free) French army captures the Fezzan from the Italians.
RAF (B-24) Liberators, under operational control of the USAAF IX Bomber Command, Ninth Air Force, bomb Tripoli.
Twelve USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the Castel Benito Airfield south of Tripoli claiming the destruction of 14 attacking Italian Mc 202 aircraft in aerial combat.
TUNISIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit the bridges at La Hencha and Chaaba, completely destroying one bridge. Fighters fly patrols, reconnaissance, C-47 Skytrain escort and strafe moored seaplanes and destroy numerous trucks during a sweep over the Ben Gardane area.
Seven Luftwaffe Ju 88s and five Bf 109s attack Thelepte Airfield.
NEW GUINEA: After an artillery preparation, two battalions of the Australian 18th Brigade, 7th Division, with tank support, attack Japanese positions at the junction of the Kododa Trail in Papua New Guinea. The U.S. 163d Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division, supports the assault with feints from Musket and Rankin. Japanese antitank fire soon disables the tanks, but Australians continue the battle, progressing slowly at great cost. The Japanese begin withdrawing from the junction, during the night of 12/13 January. The Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda trail enables the Allies to plan the encirclement of important Japanese positions in the Buna, Sanananda and Gona beachhead. Sanananda is the last of the three to fall to the Allies after weeks of heavy fighting.
In Northeast New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, in single-plane actions, bomb the Finschhafen and Madang areas.
PACIFIC: Submarine U.S.S. Guardfish (SS-217), patrolling the waters of the Bismarck Archipelago on her third patrol, fires three torpedoes during a night underwater radar attack. One torpedo finds the mark and destroys the ex-DD Shimakaze, now re-named patrol boat P 1 (1215T). She sinks about 10 miles southwest of the Tingwon Islands near New Hanover in position 02°51'S, 149°43'E. (Chris Sauder)
WAKE ISLAND: After the fall of Wake in December 1941, the 1,187 US Marines, were herded into the cargo holds of the 17,163 ton Japanese luxury liner Nitta Maru, for transportation to Yokohama and then to Shanghai. By 1 January 1943, there are still 98 civilian workers on the island but one is caught stealing food and is beheaded.. Tonight, the Japanese accuse the civilians of being in secret radio communication with U.S. naval forces. The 97 civilians are marched to the beach and there lined up with their backs to the ocean and machined gunned. After the war, the Japanese commander on Wake, Rear Admiral SAKAIBARA Sakaibara, and eleven of his officers, are sentenced to death by a US Naval Court at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. Sakaibara is transported to Guam, Mariana Islands and he executed by June 1947.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Guadalcanal, the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, continues their attack on "Galloping Horse," replacing the 3d Battalion with the 2d, and makes limited progress toward Hill 53. Company C, 35th Infantry Regiment, starts west toward the corps objective along the ridge southwest of "Sea Horse" but is soon halted by Japanese fire. The efforts of the 2d Battalion to break through the "Gifu" are frustrated by strong resistance.
USAAF B-26 Marauders, P-38 Lightnings, P-39 Airacobras and P-40s attack Munda, New Georgia Island with the loss of two B-26s. Other P-39s hit targets on Guadalcanal.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Amchitka Island is occupied by a small American force under General Jones.
The AMULET FORCE consisted of 2,000 men under command of Brigadier General Lloyd E. Jones. The invasion was covered by the USN's Task Group 8.6 (TG 8.6) consisting of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), light cruisers USS Detroit (CL-8) and USS Raleigh (CL-7) and four destroyers, which patrolled off Amchitka and Kiska Islands. The transport group consisted of the transports USS Arthur Middleton (AP-55), US Army Transport Delarof, and SS Lakona; the cargo ship USS Vega (AK-17); and the destroyers USS Dewey (DD-349), USS Gillespie (DD-609), USS Kalk (DD-611) and USS Worden (DD-352).
There is no enemy opposition but a fierce storm hits and continues for two weeks. The transport USS Arthur Middleton, manned by a US Coast Guard crew, runs aground as it rescues 175 sailors from the destroyer USS Worden.
The USS Worden is guarding the transport USS Arthur Middleton as that transport put the preliminary Army security unit on the shores of Constantine Harbor Amchitka Island. The destroyer manoeuvred into the rock-edged harbour and stayed there until the last men had landed and then turned to the ticklish business of clearing the harbour.
A strong current, however, sweeps USS Worden onto a pinnacle that tore into her hull beneath her engine room and caused a complete loss of power. USS Dewey passed a towline to her stricken sister and attempted to tow her free, but the cable parted, and the heavy seas began moving USS Worden totally without power inexorably toward the rocky shore. The destroyer then broached and began breaking up in the surf; Commander William G. Pogue, the stricken destroyer's commanding officer, ordered abandon ship, and, as he was directing that effort, was swept overboard into the wintry seas by a heavy wave that broke over the ship.
Commander Pogue was among the fortunate ones, however, because he was hauled, unconscious, out of the sea. Fourteen of his crew drowned. USS Worden, herself, was a total loss. (Jack McKillop & Paul Holland)
The USS Arthur Middleton is later repaired and sails to Tarawa, Kwajalein and Eniwetok before being assigned to the mainland for the remainder of the war. (Paul Holland)
Two USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators cover the Amulet Force landing on Amchitka Island. Two B-25 Mitchells and four P-38 Lightning escorts also on the cover mission turn back due to weather. Weather reconnaissance is flown over Attu, Agatuu, Semichis Islands and, lastly, over Kiska Harbor, where four ships are observed. (Jack McKillop
U.S.A.: Destroyer escort USS Pope launched.
Destroyer escorts USS Brackett, Donaldson, Mitchell and Reynolds laid down.