Thursday, October 19, 2023

Sunday, October 19, 1943. Prisoner Exchange.

For the first time in the war, the United Kingdom and Germany engaged in a prisoner exchange.  4,340 Allied POWs, all sick or injured, were exchanged for 835 German POWs.  The Swedish Red Cross supervised the exchange, which took place in Sweden.  Seventeen Americans were included in the group.

On the same day, Allied aircraft sank the German-controlled cargo ship MS Sinfra in the Mediterranean.  Ironically, the 2,000 casualties were mostly Italian internees.

The Red Army broke out of the Kremenchug bridgehead.

Paul Robeson.

Paul Robeson made his Broadway debut, portraying Othello.  Robeson was a great singer, and a great, if tortured and misguided, intellect.  He obtained a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1923 while playing for hte NFL, which was integrated far earlier than baseball was.

Streptomycin was first isolated in a laboratory.

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