June 3rd, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: HMCS Tillsonburg ex HMS Pembroke Castle laid down Port Glasgow, Scotland.
FRANCE: The French Resistance destroy 300 tons of tyres at the Michelin tyre factory at Clermont-Ferrand.
GERMANY: A tunnel was broken at OFLAG VIIB at Eichstätt which got 65 officers out, all of whom were recaptured within a matter of days but which caused such a diversion of resources as to cause the Gestapo to insist upon extermination on the next mass escape. (Marc James Small)
U.S.S.R.: Germany launched Operation Cottbus, aiming to destroy Soviet partisans in the area of Borisov.
ALGERIA: Algiers: French Generals DeGaulle and Giraud agree to form the Committee of National Liberation. After three days of talks, the committee issued a communiqué tonight stating that it will be the "Central French Power". It will exercise French sovereignty in all territories outside the enemy's power, direct the French war effort and take command of all Fighting French forces.There will be seven members of the committee in all. Besides Giraud and de Gaulle, they are: Rene Massigli and Andre Philip (appointed by de Gaulle); Jean Monnet and General Georges (for Giraud); and General Catroux, who becomes the new governor-general here, chosen by both sides. The committee is very much a compromise between the two rival factions led by Giraud and de Gaulle. The intention is that their groups should be equal in power. For General de Gaulle, who arrived here on 30 May, this may be counted a success.
In the communiqué the committee, known as the CFLN, bound itself to the overthrow of the regime of Marshal Petain and restore French liberties. It called on all Frenchmen to rally to it "so that France should regain through battle and victory her traditional place among the Allies Great Powers" and be represented as such in the post-war peace negotiations and international settlements.
CHINA: Chinese troops recapture Nanhsien, in Hunan province.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Admiral William Halsey gives orders for Operation Toenails, the invasion of New Georgia which aims to secure Munda as a base for a series of "hops" through the islands.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: The USAAF's Eleventh Air Force dispatches aircraft against Kiska Island in the Aleutian Islands. Three weather missions flown by two B-24 Liberators and two P-40s, as well as two attack missions by two B-24s and six fighters are weathered out.
CANADA: HMCS Gatineau ex HMS Express commissioned.
Minesweepers transferred RCN to RN while under construction in Canada and renamed - HMCS Arnprior/HMS Courier, HMCS Bowmanville/HMS Coquette, HMCS Copper Cliff/HMS Felicity, HMCS Forest Hill/HMS Providence, HMCS Hespeler/HMS Lysander, HMCS Humberstone/HMS Golden Fleece, HMCS Huntsville/HMS Prompt, HMCS Kincardine/HMS Mariner, HMCS Leaside/HMS Serene, HMCS Long Branch/HMS Regulus, HMCS Mimico/HMS Moon, HMCS Orangeville/HMS Marmion, HMCS Petrolia/HMS Lioness, HMCS Sole Bay/HMS Skipjack, HMCS St Thomas/HMS Seabear, HMCS Tillsonburg/HMS Flying Fish, HMCS Toronto/HMS Mary Rose.
HMCS Edmunston completed forecastle extension refit in Halifax.
U.S.A.: USNAS Quonset Point RI, 1830 Sqn, Corsair a/c #JT116, Lt (P) James Ernest Gaunt RCNVR, of Toronto,, Ontario, Lost, flying accident, at North Kingston, Maine, when propeller hit the runway during takeoff.
The motion picture "Bataan" is released in the U.S. This war drama, directed by Tay Garnett and starring Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Nolan, Lee Bowman and Desi Arnaz, tells the story of thirteen American military personnel on Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands in 1942, detailed to blow up a bridge and keep the Japanese from rebuilding it.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Panamanian cargo ship HALMA is sunk by German mines laid by a U-boat off Halifax, Nova Scotia.
U-308 (Type VIIC) Sunk in the Norwegian sea northeast of the Faroes, in position 64.28N, 03.09W, by torpedoes from the British submarine HMS Truculent. 44 dead (all crew lost).
U-594 (Type VIIC) Sunk west of Gibraltar, in position 35.55N, 09.25W, by rockets from a British Hudson aircraft (48 Sqdn.). 50 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)