October 7, 1943. Murder

The Germans murdered 1,313 Jewish former residents of the Bialystok Ghetto at Auschwitz.  Most of them were children.  Bialystok's ghetto had seen a failed uprising.

Over 100 people, mostly Italian civilians, were killed when a bomb planted by the Germans went off at the post office in Naples.

Shigematsu Sakaibara (酒井原 繁松) reading a statement following his conviction of war crimes.

The Japanese murdered 97 American civilians who had been held on Wake Island under the orders of Japanese naval commander Shigematsu Sakaibara (酒井原 繁松).  He'd be sentenced to death for the event after the war.

Sakaibara believed an American landing was imminent, which would not justify in any fashion the murders.  It was, however, what led him to give the order.  After at first denying the murders had occured, he would ultimately confess to them and express regret, but also maintain that the Allies had no authority to try him and that his sentence was unjust following the American use of nuclear weapons.

The New Georgia Campaign came to an end with an Allied victory.

Lassie Come Home, the first Lassie film, was released.

Wednesday, October 6, 1943. The last Japanese naval victory and the second Posen speech.

Himmler reprised his prior day by giving the second of his Posen speeches, in which he stated:

The question will be asked: 'What about women and children?' I did not consider myself entitled to exterminate the men, to kill them or have them killed, and then allow their children to grow up to revenge themselves on our own sons and grandsons. The painful decision had to be taken, to remove this people from the face of the earth...

The Battle of Vella Lavella commenced, in which six U.S. Navy destroyers intercepted nine Imperial Japanese destroyers sent to evacuate troops from New Georgia.  Regarded as the last Japanese naval victory of World War Two, each side lost two vessels but the Japanese were able to complete the withdrawal of troops.

USS Selfridge after the battle and USS O'Bannon.  The O'Bannon was damaged in a collision during the action.  They were both repaired and put back ino action.

Monday, October 4, 1943. Monstrous

Himmler delivered the first of his Posen speeches to SS officers and German administrators, in which he stated, in part:

I also want to speak to you here, in complete frankness, of a really grave chapter. Amongst ourselves, for once, it shall be said quite openly, but all the same we will never speak about it in public. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30, 1934, to do our duty as we were ordered, and to stand comrades who had erred against the wall and shoot them, and we never spoke about it and we never will speak about it. It was a matter of natural tact that is alive in us, thank God, that we never talked about it amongst ourselves, that we never discussed it. Each of us shuddered and yet each of us knew clearly that the next time he would do it again if it were an order, and if it were necessary. I am referring here to the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people. This is one of the things that is easily said: "The Jewish people are going to be exterminated," that's what every Party member says, "sure, it's in our program, elimination of the Jews, extermination - it'll be done." And then they all come along, the 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his one decent Jew. Of course, the others are swine, but this one, he is a firstrate Jew. Of all those who talk like that, not one has seen it happen, not one has had to go through with it. Most of you men know what it is like to see 100 corpses side by side, or 500 or 1,000. To have stood fast through this - and except for cases of human weakness - to have stayed decent, that has made us hard. This is an unwritten and never-to-be-written page of glory in our history, for we know how difficult it would be for us if today - under bombing raids and the hardships and deprivations of war - if we were still to have the Jews in every city as secret saboteurs, agitators, and inciters. If the Jews were still lodged in the body of the German nation, we would probably by now have reached the stage of 1916-17. 

The wealth they possessed we took from them. I gave a strict order, which has been carried out by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, that this wealth will of course be turned over to the Reich in its entirety. We have taken none of it for ourselves. Individuals who have erred will be punished in accordance with the order given by me at the start, threatening that anyone who takes as much as a single Mark of this money is a dead man. A number of SS men - they are not very - many committed this offense, and they shall die. There will be no mercy. We had the moral right, we had the duty towards our people, to destroy this people that wanted to destroy us. But we do not have the right to enrich ourselves by so much as a fur, as a watch, by one Mark or a cigarette or anything else. We do not want, in the end, because we destroyed a bacillus, to be infected by this bacillus and to die. I will never stand by and watch while even a small rotten spot develops or takes hold. Wherever it may form we will together burn it away. All in all, however, we can say that we have carried out this most difficult of tasks in a spirit of love for our people. And we have suffered no harm to our inner being, our soul, our character.... 

He also stated:

What happens to the Russians, what happens to the Czechs, is a matter of utter indifference to me, Such good blood of our own kind as there may be among the nations we shall acquire for ourselves, if necessary by taking away the children and bringing them up among us. Whether the other races live in comfort or perish of hunger interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our culture. 

He went on to refer to these people as animals, noting how the Germans were, he claimed, the only people in the world to have a decent attitude towards animals.

These were words from a German leader, it might be noted, celebrating German murder.

The Germans took the Greek island of Kos, following which they killed 100 Italian officers, following orders from Hitler regarding Italian officers who had followed their government into action against the Germans.

Corsica was liberated from the Axis.

Australian commanders at Dampu.

The Australians prevailed in the Battle of Dampu.

Albanian resistance fighters prevailed in the Battle of Drashovica.

An RAF raid on Frankfurt hit a children's hospital's air raid shelder, resulting in 529 civilian deaths, of which 90 were children.

The U-279, U-389, U-422 and U-460 were all destroyed by aircraft in the Atlantic.

The U.S. Navy attacked German shipping at Bodø, Norway with aircraft from the USS Ranger in Operation Leader.  Five German ships were sunk, four damaged and two aircraft lost for a loss of four Navy aircraft.

Dauntless dive bomber in Opeation Leader.

The operation in far northern Norway was the U.S. Navy's only carrier assault on German targets during World War Two, outside of operations against submarines and in the Mediterranean.

Bing Crosby recorded I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Saturday, October 2, 1943. Japan extends conscription to university students.

The Japanese government ended the student deferment for conscription.

I am surprised to learn, frankly, that they had been deferred.

Japan had 45 universities and other additional institutions of higher education at the start of the war, and the number actually expanded during it.  The university system itself only extended back to 1877, to this was quite an expansion over a short period of time.

The Second Battle of Smolensk ended in a victory for the Red Army.

The Soviets gave Romanian POWs the choice of joining a Soviet formed Romanian division or remaining POWs.

Sweden issued a proclamation welcoming Danish refugees.  Sarah Sundin notes on her blog:

Today in World War II History—October 2, 1943: During the night of Oct. 1-2, the Nazis arrest Danish Jews, but most are in hiding, and only 284 are arrested.

The German governor of Poland Hans Frank created a court staffed by the Gestapo, which was authorized to carry out sentences immediately.  

The Australians took Finschafen, New Guinea.

The U.S. 6th Corps took Benevento, Italy.  The British 78th Division crossed the Biferno.  British commandos occupied Termoli.

Wednesday, September 29, 1943. Jeep.

US mascot on Guadalcanal, "Jeep", on a Navy Jeep.  September 29, 1943.

Marshall Badoglio officially signed the Italian instrument of surrender on board the HMS Nelson.  It stated:

INSTRUMENT OF SURRENDER OF ITALY

Whereas in consequence of an armistice dated September 3rd, 1943, between the United States and the United Kingdom Governments on the one hand and the Italian Government on the other hand, hostilities were suspended between Italy and the United Nations on certain terms of a military nature;

And whereas in addition to those terms it was also provided in the said Armistice that the Italian Government bound themselves to comply with other conditions of a political, economic and financial nature to be transmitted later;

And whereas it is convenient that the terms of a military nature and the said other conditions of a political, economic and financial nature should without prejudice to the continued validity of the terms of the said Armistice of September 3rd, 1943, be comprised in a further instrument;

The following together with the terms of the Armistice of September 3rd, 1943, are the terms on which the United States and United Kingdom Governments acting on behalf of the United Nations are prepared to suspend hostilities against Italy so long as their military operations against Germany and her Allies are not obstructed and Italy does not assist these Powers in any way and complies with the requirements of these Governments.

These terms have been presented by GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces, duly authorised to that effect;

And have been accepted by MARSHAL PIETRO BADOGLIO, Head of the Italian Government.

1.

(A) The Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces wherever located, hereby surrender unconditionally.

(B) Italian participation in the war in all Theaters will cease immediately. There will be no opposition to landings, movements or other operations of the Land, Sea and Air Forces of the United Nations. Accordingly, the Italian Supreme Command will order the immediate cessation of hostilities of any kind against the Forces of the United Nations and will direct the Italian Navy, Military and Air Force authorities in all Theaters to issue forthwith the appropriate instructions to those under their Command.

(C) The Italian Supreme Command will further order all Italian Naval, Military and Air Forces or authorities and personnel to refrain immediately from destruction of or damage to any real or personal property, whether public or private.

2.

The Italian Supreme Command will give full information concerning the disposition and condition of all Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces, wherever they are situated and of all such forces of Italy's Allies as are situated in Italian or Italian occupied territory.

3.

The Italian Supreme Command will take the necessary measures to secure airfields, port facilities, and all other installations against seizure or attack by any of Italy's Allies. The Italian Supreme Command will take the necessary measures to insure Law and Order, and to use its available armed forces to insure prompt and exact compliance with all the provisions of the present instrument. Subject to such use of Italian troops for the above purposes, as may be sanctioned by the Allied Commander-in-Chief, all other Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces will proceed to and remain in their barracks, camps or ships pending directions from the United Nations as to their future status and disposal. Exceptionally such Naval personnel shall proceed to shore establishments as the United Nations may direct.

4.

Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces will within the periods to be laid down by the United Nations withdraw from all areas outside Italian territory notified to the Italian Government by the United Nations and proceed to areas to be specified by the United Nations. Such movement of Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces will be carried out in conditions to be laid down by the United Nations and in accordance with the orders to be issued by them. All Italian officials will similarly leave the areas notified except any who may be permitted to remain by the United Nations. Those permitted to remain will comply with the instructions of the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

5.

No requisitioning, seizures or other coercive measures shall be effected by Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces or officials in regard to persons or property in the areas notified under Article 4.

6.

The demobilization of Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces in excess of such establishments as shall be notified will take place as prescribed by the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

7.

Italian warships of all descriptions, auxiliaries and transports will be assembled as directed in ports to be specified by the Allied Commander-inChief and will be dealt with as prescribed by the Allied Commander-in-Chief. ( Note. If at the date of the Armistice the whole of the Italian Fleet has been assembled in Allied ports, this article would run-"Italian warships of all descriptions, auxiliaries, and transports will remain until further notice in the ports where they are at present assembled, and will be dealt with as prescribed by the Allied Commander-in-Chief." )

8.

Italian aircraft of all kinds will not leave the ground or water or ships, except as directed by the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

9.

Without prejudice to the provisions 14, 15 and 28 (A) and (D) below, all merchant ships, fishing or other craft of whatever flag, all aircraft and inland transport of whatever nationality in Italian or Italian-occupied territory or waters will, pending verification of their identity and status, be prevented from leaving.

10.

The Italian Supreme Command will make available all information about naval, military and air devices, installations, and defences, about all transport and inter-communication systems established by Italy or her allies on Italian territory or in the approaches thereto, about minefields or other obstacles to movement by land, sea or air and such other particulars as the United Nations may require in connection with the use of Italian bases, or with the operations, security, or welfare of the United Nations Land, Sea or Air Forces. Italian forces and equipment will be made available as required by the United Nations for the removal of the above mentioned obstacles.

11.

The Italian Government will furnish forthwith lists of quantities of all war material showing the location of the same. Subject to such use as the Allied Commander-in-Chief may make of it, the war material will be placed in store under such control as he may direct. The ultimate disposal of war material will be prescribed by the United Nations.

12.

There will be no destruction of nor damage to nor except as authorized or directed by the United Nations any removal of war material, wireless, radio location or meteorological stations, railroad, port or other installations or in general, public or private utilities or property of any kind, wherever situated, and the necessary maintenance and repair will be the responsibility of the Italian authorities.

13.

The manufacture, production and construction of war material and its import, export and transit is prohibited, except as directed by the United Nations. The Italian Government will comply with any directions given by the United Nations for the manufacture, production or construction and the import, export or transit of war material.

14.

(A) All Italian merchant shipping and fishing and other craft, wherever they may be, and any constructed or completed during the period of the present instrument will be made available in good repair and in seaworthy condition by the competent Italian authorities at such places and for such purposes and periods as the United Nations may prescribe. Transfer to enemy or neutral flags is prohibited. Crews will remain on board pending further instructions regarding their continued employment or dispersal. Any existing options to repurchase or re-acquire or to resume control of Italian or former Italian vessels sold or otherwise transferred or chartered during the war will forthwith be exercised and the above provisions will apply to all such vessels and their crews.

(B) All Italian inland transport and all port equipment will be held at the disposal of the United Nations for such purposes as they may direct.

15.

United Nations merchant ships, fishing and other craft in Italian hands wherever they may be (including for this purpose those of any country which has broken off diplomatic relations with Italy) whether or not the title has been transferred as the result of prize court proceedings or otherwise, will be surrendered to the United Nations and will be assembled in ports to be specified by the United Nations for disposal as directed by them. The Italian Government will take all such steps as may be required to secure any necessary transfers of title. Any neutral merchant ship, fishing or other craft under Italian operation or control will be assembled in the same manner pending arrangements for their ultimate disposal. Any necessary repairs to any of the above mentioned vessels will be effected by the Italian Government, if required, at their expense. The Italian Government will take the necessary measures to insure that the vessels and their cargo are not damaged.

16.

No radio or telecommunication installations or other forms of intercommunication, shore or afloat, under Italian control whether belonging to Italy or any nation other than the United Nations will transmit until directions for the control of these installations have been prescribed by the Allied Commander-in-Chief. The Italian authorities will conform to such measures for control and censorship of press and of other publications, of theatrical and cinematograph performances, of broadcasting, and also of all forms of intercommunication as the Allied Commander-in-Chief may direct. The Allied Commander-in-Chief may, at his discretion, take over radio, cable and other communication stations.

17.

The warships, auxiliaries, transports and merchant and other vessels and aircraft in the service of the United Nations will have the right freely to use the territorial waters around and the air over Italian territory.

18.

The forces of the United Nations will require to occupy certain parts of Italian territory. The territories or areas concerned will from time to time be notified by the United Nations and all Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces will thereupon withdraw from such territories or areas in accordance with the instructions issued by the Allied Commander-in-Chief. The provisions of this article are without prejudice to those of article 4 above. The Italian Supreme Command will guarantee immediate use and access to the Allies of all airfields and Naval ports in Italy under their control.

19.

In the territories or areas referred to in article 18 all Naval, Military and Air installations, power stations, oil refineries, public utility services, all ports and harbors, all transport and all intercommunication installations, facilities and equipment and such other installations or facilities and all such stocks as may be required by the United Nations will be made available in good condition by the competent Italian authorities with the personnel required for working them. The Italian Government will make available such other local resources or services as the United Nations may require.

20.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the present instrument the United Nations will exercise all the rights of an occupying power throughout the territories or areas referred to in article 18, the administration of which will be provided for by the issue of proclamations, orders or regulations. Personnel of the Italian administrative, judicial and public services will carry out their functions under the control of the Allied Commander-in-Chief unless otherwise directed.

21.

In addition to the rights in respect of occupied Italian territories described in articles 18 to 20,

(A) Members of the Land, Sea or Air Forces and officials of the United Nations will have the right of passage in or over non-occupied Italian territory and will be afforded all the necessary facilities and assistance in performing their functions.

(B) The Italian authorities will make available on non-occupied Italian territory all transport facilities required by the United Nations including free transit for their war material and supplies, and will comply with instructions issued by the Allied Commander-in-Chief regarding the use and control of airfields, ports, shipping, inland transport systems and vehicles, intercommunication systems, power stations and public utility services, oil refineries, stocks, and such other fuel and power supplies and means of producing same, as United Nations may specify, together with connected repair and construction facilities.

22.

The Italian Government and people will abstain from all action detrimental to the interests of the United Nations and will carry out promptly and efficiently all orders given by the United Nations.

23.

The Italian Government will make available such Italian currency as the United Nations may require. The Italian Government will withdraw and redeem in Italian currency within such time limits and on such terms as the United Nations may specify all holdings in Italian territory of currencies issued by the United Nations during military operations or occupation and will hand over the currencies withdrawn free of cost to the United Nations. The Italian Government will take such measures as may be required by the United Nations for the control of banks and business in Italian territory, for the control of foreign exchange and foreign commercial and financial transactions and for the regulation of trade and production and will comply with any instructions issued by the United Nations regarding these and similar matters.

24.

There shall be no financial, commercial or other intercourse with or dealings with or for the benefit of countries at war with any of the United Nations or territories occupied by such countries or any other foreign country except under authorisation of the Allied Commander-in-Chief or designated officials.

25.

(A) Relations with countries at war with any of the United Nations, or occupied by any such country, will be broken off. Italian diplomatic, consular and other officials and members of the Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces accredited to or serving on missions with any such country or in any other territory specified by the United Nations will be recalled. Diplomatic and consular officials of such countries will be dealt with as the United Nations may prescribe.

(B) The United Nations reserve the right to require the withdrawal of neutral diplomatic and consular officers from occupied Italian territory and to prescribe and lay down regulations governing the procedure for the methods of communication between the Italian Government and its representatives in neutral countries and regarding communications emanating from or destined for the representatives of neutral countries in Italian territory.

26.

Italian subjects will pending further instructions be prevented from leaving Italian territory except as authorised by the Allied Commander-in-Chief and will not in any event take service with any of the countries or in any of the territories referred to in article 25 (A) nor will they proceed to any place for the purpose of undertaking work for any such country. Those at present so serving or working will be recalled as directed by the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

27.

The Military, Naval and Air personnel and material and the merchant shipping, fishing and other craft and the aircraft, vehicles and other transport equipment of any country against which any of the United Nations is carrying on hostilities or which is occupied by any such country, remain liable to attack or seizure wherever found in or over Italian territory or waters.

28.

(A) The warships, auxiliaries and transports of any such country or occupied country referred to in article 27 in Italian or Italian-occupied ports and waters and the aircraft, vehicles and other transport equipment of such countries in or over Italian or Italian-occupied territory will, pending further instructions, be prevented from leaving.

(B) The Military, Naval and Air personnel and the civilian nationals of any such country or occupied country in Italian or Italian-occupied territory will be prevented from leaving and will be interned further instructions.

(C) All property in Italian territory belonging to any such country or occupied country or its nationals will be impounded and kept in custody pending further instructions.

(D) The Italian Government will comply with any instructions given by the Allied Commander-in-Chief concerning the internment, custody or subsequent disposal, utilisation or employment of any of the above mentioned persons, vessels, aircraft, material or property.

29.

Benito Mussolini, his Chief Fascist associates and all persons suspected of having committed war crimes or analogous offenses whose names appear on lists to be communicated by the United Nations will forthwith be apprehended and surrendered into the hands of the United Nations. Any instructions given by the United Nations for this purpose will be complied with.

30.

All Fascist organizations, including all branches of the Fascist Militia (MVSN), the Secret Police (OVRA), all Fascist youth organizations will insofar as this is not already accomplished be disbanded in accordance with the directions of the Allied Commander-in-Chief. The Italian Government will comply with all such further directions as the United Nations may give for abolition of Fascist institutions, the dismissal and internment of Fascist personnel, the control of Fascist funds, the suppression of Fascist ideology and teaching.

31.

All Italian laws involving discrimination on grounds of race, color, creed or political opinions will insofar as this is not already accomplished be rescinded, and persons detained on such grounds will, as directed by the United Nations, be released and relieved from all legal disabilities to which they have been subjected. The Italian Government will comply with all such further directions as the Allied Commander-in-Chief may give for repeal of Fascist legislation and removal of any disabilities or prohibitions resulting therefrom.

32.

(A) Prisoners of war belonging to the forces of or specified by the United Nations and any nationals of the United Nations, including Abyssinian subjects, confined, interned, or otherwise under restraint in Italian or Italian-occupied territory will not be removed and will forthwith be handed over to representatives of the United Nations or otherwise dealt with as the United Nations may direct. Any removal during the period between the presentation and the signature of the present instrument will be regarded as a breach of its terms.

(B) Persons of whatever nationality who have been placed under restriction, detention or sentence (including sentences in absentia) on account of their dealings or sympathies with the United Nations will be released under the direction of the United Nations and relieved from all legal disabilities to which they have been subjected.

(C) The Italian Government will take such steps as the United Nations may direct to safeguard the persons of foreign nationals and property of foreign nationals and property of foreign states and nationals.

33.

(A) The Italian Government will comply with such directions as the United Nations may prescribe regarding restitution, deliveries, services or payments by way of reparation and payment of the costs of occupation during the period of the present instrument.

(B) The Italian Government will give to the Allied Commander-in-Chief such information as may be prescribed regarding the assets, whether inside or outside Italian territory, of the Italian state, the Bank of Italy, any Italian state or semi-state institutions or Fascist organizations or residents in Italian territory and will not dispose or allow the disposal, outside Italian territory of any such assets except with the permission of the United Nations.

34.

The Italian Government will carry out during the period of the present instrument such measures of disarmament, demobilization and demilitarisation as may be prescribed by the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

35.

The Italian Government will supply all information and provide all documents required by the United Nations. There shall be no destruction or concealment of archives, records, plans or any other documents or information.

36.

The Italian Government will take and enforce such legislative and other measures as may be necessary for the execution of the present instrument. Italian military and civil authorities will comply with any instructions issued by the Allied Commander-in-Chief for the same purpose.

37.

There will be appointed a Control Commission representative of the United Nations charged with regulating and executing this instrument under the orders and general directions of the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

38.

(A) The term "United Nations" in the present instrument includes the Allied Commander-in-Chief, the Control Commission and any other authority which the United Nations may designate.

(B) The term "Allied Commander-in-Chief" in the present instrument includes the Control Commission and such other officers and representatives as the Commander-in-Chief may designate.

39.

Reference to Italian Land, Sea and Air Forces in the present instrument shall be deemed to include Fascist Militia and all such other military or pare-military units, formations or bodies as the Allied Commander-in-Chief may prescribe.

40.

The term "War Material" in the present instrument denotes all material specified in such lists or definitions as may from time to time be issued by the Control Commission.

41.

The term "Italian Territory" includes all Italian colonies and dependencies and shall for the purposes of the present instrument (but without prejudice to the question of sovereignty) be deemed to include Albania. Provided however that except in such cases and to such extent as the United Nations may direct the provisions of the present instrument shall not apply in or affect the administration of any Italian colony or dependency already occupied by the United Nations or the rights or powers therein possessed or exercised by them.

42.

The Italian Government will send a delegation to the Headquarters of the Control Commission to represent Italian interests and to transmit the orders of the Control Commission to the competent Italian authorities.

43.

The present instrument shall enter into force at once. It will remain in operation until superseded by any other arrangements or until the voting into force of the peace treaty with Italy.

44.

The present instrument may be denounced by the United Nations with immediate effect if Italian obligations thereunder are not fulfilled or, as an alternative, the United Nations may penalize contravention of it by measures appropriate to the circumstances such as the extension of the areas of military occupation or air or other punitive action.

The present instrument is drawn up in English and Italian, the English text being authentic, and in case of any dispute regarding its interpretation, the decision of the Control Commission will prevail.

Signed at Malta on the 29 day of September, 1943.

Marshal PIETRO BADOGLIO

Head of the Italian Government

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

General, United States Army,

Commander-in-Chief, Allied Force

Inmates of the Syrets concentration camp in Ukraine rebelled against their guards. The prisoners had been detailed to help destroy the evidence of mass murder at Babi Yar.

280 of the 292 Jewish prisoners were killed in the uprising.

The Soviets captured Kremenchuk, Ukraine.

Tuesday, September 28, 1943. George Ferdinand Duckwitz. Sometimes it takes only one righteous man.

German diplomat George Ferdinand Duckwitz warned the Danish resistance that Berlin had ordered Danish Jews to be deported starting on October 1.  The information allowed the Danish resistance to help 8,000 Danish Jews, nearly the entire Danish population of the country, to leave the country, 7,200 of whom were taken by Danish fishermen to Sweden.

Duckwitz was a career German diplomat and remained in West Germany's service after the war, first as ambassador to Denmark and later to India.  He became Secretary of State in the Foreign Office in 1966.  Israel accorded him the honor of Righteous Among the Nations in 1971.  He died in 1973 at age 68.

Luxembourg was declared "cleansed of Jew" by the Germans after the deportation of its remaining 674 Jewish residents.

The British 10th Corps, an element of the U.S. 5th Army, broke into the Plain of Naples at Nocera.  The U.S. 6th Corps advanced towards Avelino.

Sunday, September 26, 1943. Melting the vessels.

The SS gave the Roman Jewish community 36 hours to make payments to the German occupiers.  Chief Rabbi Israel Zolli appealed to the Vatican regarding the monetary shortfalls, and which the Vatican did. As the payments were to be i gold, it is thought that religious vessels were melted to make the payment.

Isreal Zolli.

Rabbi Zolli would survive the war, but with a dramatic turn of events.  On Yom Kippur in 1944 he experienced a vision of Jesus while celebrating a religious service and felt himself to have experienced the words "You are here for the last time".  On February 13, 1945, he, his second wife (his first had died) and his daughters were received into Catholicism. He died on March 2, 1956 after having received Communion.  He was ill at the time, but had told a nun at the hospital at which he was located the date and hour of his death before it arrived.

The Free French occupied Ghisonaccia on Corsica.

The multinational (not including Americans) Z Special Unit raided Japanese shipping at Singapore.  The Japanese, in New Guinea, launched an unsuccessful counterattack on the Australians at Finschafen.

Saturday, September 25, 1943. Bazooka on the cover of Science News.

"The Bazooka" featured on the cover of Science News.

The Red Army took Smolensk.

The Wehrmacht issues a decree requiring the removal from its ranks of anyone who had two Jewish, or otherwise "non-Aryan" grandparents, as a defeated Germany dove deeper into an anti-Semitic barbarity.

The Yankees took the American League pennant, beating the Detroit Tigers in 14 innings.

September 23, 1943. The Italian Social Republic, the Holocaust reaches further.

On this date in 1943, the puppet fascist Italian Social Republic was founded. Venice was its capital, wih most of its government offices in the resort town of Salò.

And so Mussolini would consign Italy to a species of civil war over a doomed cause.

The Holocaust expanded with Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt issuing an order for the deportation of Jews from Nazi-occupied nations (Italy, Denmark, Hungary and Romania) and to negotiate for the same in Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland and Turkey, none of which would comply.

As if there was any doubt, 80 years later, as of its true focus, as the fortune of the Nazi regime faded, it grasped for complete murderous annihilation of Europe's Jews.

Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian SS official during the war who was a major figure in the murder.  He was tried and executed in 1946.

On the same day, the Germans began the removal of Jewish residents of Vilnius.

The Red Army took  Poltava.

The Free French took Bonifacio, Corsica.

The British 10th Corps, part of the US 5th Army, began clearing the passes to Naples.

Wednesday, September 23, 1943. State of Emergency

It was day two of Operation Source.

It would take until March, 1944, to repair the Tirpitz.

Having commenced killing surrendered Italian soldiers at Cephalonia the day prior, the Germans started killing Jews, both Italians and non Italians, at Lake Maggiore.

On the same day, over the recommendation of local administrator, Gestapo member Werner Best, Hitler approved the planned deportation of Danish Jews, to commence on October 2.  As earlier noted, the actions of the Danish underground, combined with a local diplomat providing them information, frustrated this effort and most escaped to Sweden.

Best would be convicted of war crimes after the war and serve a prison sentence.

The German Governor General of Belarus was assassinated by his maid, a secret Soviet partisan, who placed a bomb in his bedroom.

Japanese Prime Minister Tojo declared a state of emergency.  Plans were made for the evacuation of Tokyo.

The Huon Peninsula Campaign began on New Guinea with the US and Australian landing at Scarlet Beach.

As part of the offensive, the Battle of Finschhafen began between Australian and Japanese forces, following the Australian landing at Katika.

The Red Army took Anapa in the Kuban Peninsula, and Novomoskovosk. 

Toni Basel, popular in the 1980s, was born.  This is an odd thought as it means that her teen pop hit came when she was well past the age that it normally would.

Monday, September 20, 1943. Sort of airborne at Kaiapit, Holocaust expands into Belgium, Gold moved, Midget submarines deployed against the Tirpitz, Coast stand down, Consript the dads.

The Battle of Kaiapit in the  Markham and Ramu Valley – Finisterre Range Campaign was fought between the Japanese and Australian armies.

The battle saw the Australian 2/6th Independent Company flown into the Markham Valley by the United States Army Air Force, which then attacked the village the prior day.  The village was reinforced by the Japanese, unbeknownst to the Australians, who then held out against strong counter-attacks against a more numerous foe, allowing the Australian 7th Division to be flown into the upper Markham Valley.

The entire Allied strategy in the battles provided an interesting example of the use of air power for transport, making the units types of airborne units, while neither paratroopers nor glider infantry were deployed.  Insertion by C-47 is something that the US Army had experimented with prior to the US entering the war, briefly considering creating units that would fly in, and land, and then go into combat.  This was abandoned before the war, but it's exactly what occured here.

American forces on Sagekarasa in the Solomons discover that the Japanese forces have evacuated the island.  The Japanese were proving adept at withdrawing from locations undetected.

Sarah Sundin notes on her blog that the U.S. 5th Army and the British 8th Army linked in Italy on this day.

General Marshal and Admiral King testify in front of a Senate Committee that failing to conscript fathers of families stood to prolong the war.

Germany began the mass deportation of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz. 

The Germans demanded that Italy's gold reserves be placed in German custody in Milan.

Crew of the midget submarine X-5. All were killed by counter fire from the Tirpitz during the raid when their vessel was hit and sank.

Six Commonwealth midget submarines, of which five were lost, raided the German Kriegsmarine in Norway, damaging the Tirpitz.  The raid, Operation Source, was heroic, but of debatable utility given the heavy loss of life.

The crews were made up of members of the Australian, New Zealand and British navies.

The first flight of the De Havilland Vampire took place.

The fighters were ordered into production in 1944 with the first deliveries coming in April 1945, too late to be used during it.  It would go on to be a successful post-war British fighter, but was already obsolete by the early 1950s.

Sarah Sundin notes that the U.S. stood down its coast observation posts, the threat of invasion having ceased.

 USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56), September 20, 1943.

Saturday, September 18, 1943. German evacuations and atrocities.

The Germans executed Plan Asche, evacuating 25,800 German troops from Sardinia to Corsica.

This yielded the island's important airfields to the Allies.

The Germans began mass deportation of Jews from Paris and the liquidation of Jews in Minsk commenced.

The British occupied the Aegean islands of Simi, Stampalia and Icaria.

The Red Army took Soviet forces capture Priluki, Lubny and Romodan  Pavlograd, Krasnograd, Pologi and Nogaysk.

Sarah Sundin, on her blog, notes:

Today in World War II History—September 18, 1943: US opens Central Pacific offensive as Seventh Air Force Navy Task Force 15 aircraft begin bombing Tarawa, Makin, and Apemama in the Gilbert Islands.

Thursday, September 16, 1943. The Salerno Mutiny.

700 soldiers of the British X Corps refused postings to new units as replacements, fighting at Salerno, resulting in the Salerno Mutiny.  Most reconsidered after Lt. Gen. Richard McCreery talked to them, but 192 British soldiers, mostly of the 50th Northumbrian and 51st Highlanders refused and were court-martialed.

Gen. McCreery.

The accused were shipped to Algeria and tried, where they were found guilty.  A request for a pardon was made in 2000, but, in my opinion, rightfully rejected.

The Germans began to deport Jews from the parts of Italy they had newly occupied.

The Red Army took Novorossisk.

Congressman James M. Curely of Massachusetts was indicted on charges of mail fraud and racketeering relating to war contracts.

Depth charges detonated at Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virginia killing 23 and wounding 250.

Ho Chi Minh was released from Chinese captivity, where he was imprisoned for trying to induce the Chinese to assist the Viet Minh against the French.

Wednesday, September 8, 1943. Italy announces its surrender.

King Victor Emmanuel of Italy before the war. He was king from 1900 to 1946.

Italy officially surrendered to the Allies, although the deal had been worked out several days prior.

Prime Minister Badoglio read in a statement:

The Italian government, recognising the impossibility of continuing the unequal struggle against an overwhelming enemy force, in order to avoid further and graver disasters for the Nation, sought an armistice from general Eisenhower, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-American Allied forces. The request was granted. Consequently, all acts of hostility against the Anglo-American force by Italian forces must cease everywhere. But they may react to possible attacks from any other source.

The "other source" was, of course, Nazi Germany.  The reservation for resisting "other sources" effectively put Italy at war with Germany.

70,000 Allied POWs walked out of Italian POW camps, their guards having departed.

Adolph Hitler, down one ally, and his only really significant one in Europe, delivered a radio address to the German people attributing the Italian surrender to "failure or ill will of those elements which by systematic sabotage have caused capitulations."  The Germans, anticiapting the Italian surrender for some time, commenced Operation Achse, occupying Rome and the Italian occupied portions of France, as well as Salerno where US invasion forces were soon to land.

Corsican's rose up in rebellion against occupying Italian and German forces, taking the capital city of Ajacco.

In reality, at the point at which Italy surrendered, it was obvious that Germany's other allies in Europe would as well, when it became possible and necessary.

Franklin Roosevelt delivered a fireside chat, in which he stated:

My Fellow Americans:

Once upon a time, a few years ago, there was a city in our Middle West which was threatened by a destructive flood in the great river. The waters had risen to the top of the banks. Every man, woman and child in that city was called upon to fill sand bags in order to defend their homes against the rising waters. For many days and nights, destruction and death stared them in the face.

As a result of the grim, determined community effort, that city still stands. Those people kept the levees above the peak of the flood. All of them joined together in the desperate job that (which) had to be done -- business men, workers, farmers, and doctors, and preachers -- people of all races.

To me, that town is a living symbol of what community cooperation can accomplish.

Today, in the same kind of community effort, only very much larger, the United Nations and their peoples have kept the levees of civilization high enough to prevent the floods of aggression and barbarism and wholesale murder from engulfing us all. The flood has been raging for four years. At last we are beginning to gain on it; but the waters have not yet receded enough for us to relax our sweating work with the sand bags. In this war bond campaign we are filling bags and placing them against the flood -- bags which are essential if we are to stand off the ugly torrent which is trying to sweep us all away.

Today, it is announced that an armistice with Italy has been concluded.

This was a great victory for the United Nations -- but it was also a great victory for the Italian people. After years of war and suffering and degradation, the Italian people are at last coming to the day of liberation from their real enemies, the Nazis.

But let us not delude ourselves that this armistice means the end of the war in the Mediterranean. We still have to (must) drive the Germans out of Italy as we have driven them out of Tunisia and Sicily; we must drive them out of France and all other captive countries; and we must strike them on their own soil from all directions.

Our ultimate objectives in this war continue to be Berlin and Tokyo.

I ask you to bear these objectives constantly in mind -- and do not forget that we still have a long way to go before we attain (attaining) them.

The great news that you have heard today from General Eisenhower does not give you license to settle back in your rocking chairs and say, "Well, that does it. We've got them ('em) on the run. Now we can start the celebration."

The time for celebration is not yet. And I have a suspicion that when this war does end, we shall not be in a very celebrating mood, a very celebrating frame of mind. I think that our main emotion will be one of grim determination that this shall not happen again.

During the past weeks, Mr. Churchill and I have been in constant conference with the leaders of our combined fighting forces. We have been in constant communication with our fighting Allies, Russian and Chinese, who are prosecuting the war with relentless determination and with conspicuous success on far distant fronts. And Mr. Churchill (he) and I are here together in Washington (here) at this crucial moment.

We have seen the satisfactory fulfillment of plans that were made in Casablanca last January and here in Washington last May. And lately we have made new, well-considered (extensive) plans for the future. But throughout these conferences we have never lost sight of the fact that this war will become bigger and tougher, rather than easier, during the long months that are to come.

This war does not and must not stop for one single instant. Your (our) fighting men know that. Those of them who are moving forward through jungles against lurking Japs -- those who are (in) landing at this moment, in barges moving through the dawn up to strange enemy coasts -- those who are diving their bombers down on the targets at roof-top level at this moment -- every one of these men knows that this war is a full-time job and that it will continue to be that until total victory is won.

And, by the same token, every responsible leader in all the United Nations knows that the fighting goes on twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and that any day lost may have to be paid for in terms of months added to the duration of the war.

Every campaign, every single operation in all the campaigns that we plan and carry through must be figured in terms of staggering material costs. We cannot afford to be niggardly with any of our resources, for we shall need all of them to do the job that we have put our (undertaken) shoulder to.

Your fellow Americans have given a magnificent account of themselves -- on the battlefields and on the oceans and in the skies all over the world.

Now it is up to you to prove to them that you are contributing your share and more than your share. It is not sufficient to simply (to) put (money) into War Bonds money which we would normally save. We must put (money) into War Bonds money which we would not normally save. Only then have we done everything that good conscience demands. So it is up to you -- up to you, the Americans in the American homes -- the very homes which our sons and daughters are working and fighting and dying to preserve.

I know I speak for every man and woman throughout the Americas when I say that we Americans will not be satisfied to send our troops into the fire of the enemy with equipment inferior in any way. Nor will we be satisfied to send our troops with equipment only equal to that of the enemy. We are determined to provide our troops with overpowering superiority -- superiority of quantity (quality) and quality (quantity) in any and every category of arms and armaments that they may conceivably need.

And where does this our dominating power come from? Why, it can come only from you. The money you lend and the money you give in taxes buys that death-dealing, and at the same time life-saving power that we need for victory. This is an expensive war -- expensive in money; you can help it -- you can help to keep it at a minimum cost in lives.

The American people will never stop to reckon the cost of redeeming civilization. They know there never can be any economic justification for failing to save freedom.

And we can be sure that our enemies will watch this drive with the keenest interest. They know that success in this undertaking will shorten the war. They know that the more money the American people lend to their Government, the more powerful and relentless will be the American forces in the field. They know that only a united and determined America could possibly produce on a voluntary basis so huge (large) a sum of money as fifteen billion dollars.

The overwhelming success of the Second War Loan Drive last April showed that the people of this Democracy stood firm behind their troops.

This (The) Third War Loan, which we are starting tonight, will also succeed --because the American people will not permit it to fail.

I cannot tell you how much to invest in War Bonds during this Third War Loan Drive. No one can tell you. It is for you to decide under the guidance of your own conscience.

I will say this, however. Because the Nation's needs are greater than ever before, our sacrifices too must be greater than they have ever been before.

Nobody knows when total victory will come -- but we do know that the harder we fight now, the more might and power we direct at the enemy now, the shorter the war will be and the smaller the sum total of sacrifice.

Success of the Third War Loan will be the symbol that America does not propose to rest on its arms -- that we know the tough, bitter job ahead and will not stop until we have finished it.

Now it is your turn!

Every dollar that you invest in the Third War Loan is your personal message of defiance to our common enemies -- to the ruthless savages (militarists) of Germany and Japan -- and it is your personal message of faith and good cheer to our Allies and to all the men at the front. God bless them!

Italy has tended, in histories, to be regarded as almost a third class power during the war, but it really was not.  And the surrender of Italy was not only significant as a fact, but symbolically.  Italy had been the first fascist power in the world, and was originally the more significant of the two Axis powers. 

That Italy was drifting towards the far right and becoming aggressively expansionist was in evidence shortly after World War One, when various elements of the Italian far right viewed territorial expansion into areas with minority Italian populations as their right following the war.  Italy had been expansionist in a colonial sense before World War One.  But with the rise of the fascist, it took a new and much more aggressive turn.  Italy built a serious military machine which, ironically, would essentially peak too soon, in some ways reflecting that it arrived upon the fascist scene first.  It contributed fascist troops and equipment, including armor and aircraft, to the Spanish Civil War, where they proved effective but also where many of the most dedicated fascist combatants lost their lives.

By the Second World War, Italy had passed its peak and could no longer sustain the arms race that preceded the war.  Even during the early stages of the war, rank and file Italian troops were often ineffective in combat, although not to the degree which popular histories have tended to portray.  The war in North Africa really proved to be is last gasp, and by the time of Operation Husky it was effectively defeated on land and knew it.  Its navy, however, remained fairly effective in some ways right up until September 1943.

The country was between a rock and a hard spot in regard to its surrender, and essentially threw itself on the mercy of the Allies as it was obvious that it would be invaded by Germany.  It pledged itself, effectively, as an Allied power, but it was not going to be an effective one as its energy was spent.  The remainder of the war, and the immediate peace thereafter, was a deeply human tragedy for the Italians featuring extreme deprivation and desperation.

The Allies launched the Dodecanese Campaign in an effort to seize the Italian held Dodecanese Islands.  Conducted without air cover, the Anglo Italian campaign would ultimately fail, giving the Germans a mid war victory at a time at which those had effectively ceased.

The U.S. Army Air Force raided German headquarters at Frascati, resulting in 485 civilian deaths.

On the same day, the Red Army entered Stalino.

The Germans ordered the removal of 5,006 Jewish residents of Theresienstadt.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 8: 

1943  The first woman lookout was assigned in the Medicine Bow National Forest.  Perhaps it is coincidence, but this event occurred during World War Two when women were occupying many traditional male occupations due to labor shortages.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Friday, September 3, 1943. Italy surrenders and is invaded.

British troops boarding ships on September 2 for the landings the following day.  This soldier is carrying a Thompson submachinegun, but he foregrip is removed, which would make it nearly impossible to actually use.

The British 8th Army's 8th Corps, comprised of British and Canadian troops, crossed the Messina Strait and landed on mainland Italy.  They met with no resistance.

Additional landings were planned for Salerno for September 9.

The Italian government met with Allied representatives at Cassiblile in Sicily to sign a surrender instrument with the Allied powers.

The instrument of surrender stated:

FAIRFIELD CAMP

SICILY

September 3,1943

The following conditions of an Armistice are presented by

General Dwight D. Eisenhower,

Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, acting by authority of the Governments of the United States and Great Britain and in the interest of the United Nations, and are accepted by

Marshal Pietro Badoglio

Head of the Italian Government

1.  Immediate cessation of all hostile activity by the Italian armed forces.

2.  Italy will use its best endeavors to deny, to the Germans, facilities that might be used against the United Nations.

3. All prisoners or internees of the United Nations to be immediately turned over to the Allied Commander in Chief, and none of these may now or at any time be evacuated to Germany.

4. Immediate transfer of the Italian Fleet and Italian aircraft to such points as may be designated by the Allied Commander in Chief, with details of disarmament to be prescribed by him.

5 Italian merchant shipping may be requisitioned by the Allied Commander in Chief to meet the needs of his military-naval program. 

6. Immediate surrender of Corsica and of all Italian territory, both islands and mainland, to the Allies, for such use as operational bases and other purposes as the Allies may see fit. 

7. Immediate guarantee of the free use by the Allies of all airfields and naval ports in Italian territory, regardless of the rate of evacuation of the Italian territory by the German forces. These ports and fields to be protected by Italian armed forces until this function is taken over by the Allies. 

8. Immediate withdrawal to Italy of Italian armed forces from all participation in the current war from whatever areas in which they may be now engaged. 

9  Guarantee by the Italian Government that if necessary it will employ all its available armed forces to insure prompt and exact compliance with all the provisions of this armistice. 

10. The Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces reserves to himself the right to take any measure which in his opinion may be necessary for the protection of the interests of the Allied Forces for the prosecution of the war, and the Italian Government binds itself to take such administrative or other action as the Commander in Chief may require, and in particular the Commander in Chief will establish Allied Military Government over such parts of Italian territory as he may deem necessary in the military interests of the Allied Nations. 

11. The Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces will have a full right to impose measures of disarmament, demobilization, and demilitarization. 

12. Other conditions of a political, economic and financial nature with which Italy will be bound to comply will be transmitted at a later date. 

The conditions of the present Armistice will not be made public without prior approval of the Allied Commander in Chief. The English will be considered the official text. 

MARSHAL PIETRO BADOGLIO

Head of Italian Government 

By:

GUISEPPE CASTEI.LANO 

Brigadier General, attached to The Italian High Command 

Present: 

Rt. Hon. Harold Macmillan

British Resident Minister, A.F.H.Q. 

Robert Murphy

Personal Representative of the

President of the United States

Royer Dick

Commodore, R.N.

Chief of Staff to the C. in C. Med.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

General, U.S. Army,

Commander in Chief, Allied Forces

By:

WALTER B. SMITH

Major General, U.S. Army,

Chief of Staff

Lowell W. Rooks

Major General, U.S. Army

Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3

A.F.H.Q.

Franco Montanari

Official Italian Interpreter

Brigadier Kenneth Strong

Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3

A.F.H.Q.

The SS began raids in Belgium to gather Jews in that country.

Thursday, September 2, 1943. Prisoner exchange.

Eighteen-year-old Seweryn Klajnman led 13 Treblinka prisoners in an escape when the group killed their Ukrainian SS guard, and he changed into the guard's uniform, took hs rifle, and marched them out of the camp.

The Swedish MS Gripsholm left Jersey City, New Jersey bound for Mormugao in Portuguese India carrying 1,330 interned Japanese diplomats and their families while the Tela Maru was bringing American civilians to the same port to be exchanged.

USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56), September 2, 1943. Naval Air Station, Astoria, Oregon.

Wednesday, September 1, 1943. Tiny islands. Amon Göth.

U.S. forces landed on Baker Island.  An airstrip was built within a week.

Baker is a minuscule uninhabited Pacific Island, but was situated to support the campaign in the Gilberts.  Despite its tiny size, it had been briefly inhabited in the 1930s, when Baker and Howland saw American settlers brought there under the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project.

Baker in the 1930s.

The remaining three-person population was evacuated in 1942 after the Japanese attacked the island.

U.S. forces took Orete Cove on Vella Lavella.

Minami-Tori-shima, 1,000 miles from Tokyo and the easternmost island of the Japanese archipelago. was attacked by the Fast Carrier Task Force consisting of the Essex, the Yorktown and the Independence.

Minami-Tori-shima.  The nearest island is 1,000 miles distant.

The I-182 was sunk in the Coral Sea by the USS Wadsworth.

From Sarah Sundin's blog, the Navy took over coastal submarine patrols, relieving the Army Air Force from that duty.  Sundin also noted that the Civil Air Patrol, the Air Force Auxiliary, had during its run spotted 173 subs, 91 vessels in distress, and lifeboats carrying 363 survivors, quite a record.

The Red Army took Dorogobuzh.

Vogue hit the stands with a cover that had a stylish woman on the cover, and the words "Take A Job. Release a man to fight".  One of the articles was "Why Aren't You Working?"  Another was "Does War Drive People Crazy?"

Amon Göth, a central figure portrayed in the movie Schindler's List, decreed that Jewish workers could no longer work in factories in neighboring Płaszów, but excluded non-Jewish Poles in his confinement.

A brutal camp commandant, Göth was an Austrian.  He's turned to extreme right wing poliics by age 17, and was an early member of the Nazi Party.  His frst marriage to Olga Janauschek, a woman with a notably Slavic name, was brief and ended in 1934.  He married again to Anny Geiger, but that marriage, which overlapped with his crimes, ended when Geiger discovered his affair with Schindler secretary, Ruth Irene Kalder.  He had several children, including one with Kalder.

He was relieved of his command in September 1944 under suspicion of theft and other crimes, one being failing to adequately feed his prisoners.  SS doctors subsequently diagnosed Göth with a mental illness, and he was committed to a mental institution in Bad Tölz in Bavaria.  He was arrested by U.S. authorities at the end of the war, and turned over to Poland, which executed him after a trial.

Wednesday, August 18, 1943. Air Space.

President Roosevelt, via Executive Order, revoked deferments for striking defense plant workers.

The RAF hit Peenemünde with three waves of bombers in Operation Hydra.  Damage was so extensive that Luftwaffe General Jeschonnek, charged with defense of the Reich's airspace and well ware of his failings in that regard, and further having an inwardly timid personalty masked by a harden affectation, killed himself the following day, leaving a note that stated; „Mit dem Reichsmarschall kann ich nicht mehr zusammenarbeiten. Es lebe der Führer!“ ("I can no longer work together with the Reichsmarschall. Long live the Führer!").  He left a further note excluding Ulrich Dieseing and Bernd von Brauchitsche from his funeral.  A memorandum he left called upon Hitler to change leadership in the Luftwaffe, but was confiscated by Göring.

Ultimately, in some way, Jeschonnek was a victim of his personality, knowing internally that the air war was lost, but lacking the will to do something about it.

Sarah Sundin noted Jeschonnek's fate on her blog, and also noted the following:

Today in World War II History—August 18, 1943: Army Air Force barrage balloon battalions are inactivated in the US. Betty Smith’s bestselling novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is published.

The U.S. Navy bombarded Palmi and Gioai Taura in Italy.

The Allies prevailed in the Battle of Mount Tambu.

46,000 mostly Jewish Greeks arrived at Auschwitz.

Monday, August 16, 1943. The Bialystok Uprising

The Bialystok Ghetto uprising commenced when the SS surrounded the ghetto in that city to deport its residents. The Jewish underground of the Polish city revolted and fought back, resulting in a battle that lasted five days.

Bialystok smoldering.

There's a common myth, for some reason, that European Jews did not resist the Holocaust, often attributed to a lack of their being armed.  In fact, they did resist, sometimes causing the Germans significant casualties.

Taking a page from the American book, British forces made a small amphibious landing on Sicily's east coast, but it failed to cut off retreating Axis forces.  On the same day, US elements reached Messina.

The Red Army took Zhidra.

The Air Transport Command commenced ferrying Elanor Roosevelt on a tour of the Pacific Theatre.  The plane involved was a C-87, a cargo variant of the B-24.

Featured earlier, this Canadian soldier examined a Japanese machine gun on Kiska:

Friday, August 6, 1943. Naval ambush

The nighttime Battle of Vella Gulf was fought between destroyers of the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, the latter of which was better at night fighting.

U.S. Navy Task Group 31.2, consisting of a group of six destroyers, waited in Vella Gulf for the Japanese who were planning to land troops and supplies at Vila, Kolombangara with four destroyers.    All four Japanese destroyers were surprised by U.S. torpedoes, sinking three.  1,500 Japanese sailors went down with their ships.

The action was the first one in the Pacific in which US destroyers were authorized to operate independently from a cruiser force 

The Germans commenced the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto.  It was resisted.

U.S. and Free French forces prevailed at Toina, Sicily.