Video: 'Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War II'
(Saturday, May 29, 1943; during World War II) — Norman Rockwell’s portrait of “Rosie the Riveter” appeared today on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
Category Archives: World War II
Roosevelt, Churchill open Trident Conference in Washington 70 years ago today (1943)
(Wednesday, May 12, 1943, during World War II)— The two-week Trident Conference, headed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, opened today in Washington. The plans for the Italian Campaign, air attacks on Nazi Germany and the Pacific War would be agreed upon during the next two weeks.
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JFK assumes command of PT-109 in the Solomon Islands 70 years ago today (1943)
Video: 'PT 109'
(Friday, April 23, 1943, part of the Pacific Theater of World War II) — U.S. Navy Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy assumed command today of PT-109, a motor torpedo boat, in the Solomon Islands during World War II. On Aug. 2, 1943, PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, the Amagiri, killing two crew members; the future U.S. president and 10 others managed to survive.
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Radio Berlin reveals graves of 22,000 killed in Katyn massacre, blames Soviets 70 years ago today (1943)
Video: 'Katyn Massacre - Russia and Poland Investigate' (Apr. 13, 1943 at 6:46)
(Tuesday, April 13, 1943; during World War II) — Radio Berlin announced today the discovery of thousands of graves of massacred Polish officers in Russia’s Katyn Forest. The Nazis blamed the estimated 22,000 killings on the Soviets, who in turn blamed the Nazis. Post-Soviet Russia has acknowledged the massacre was carried out by Josef Stalin’s much feared secret police.
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Crematorium II becomes operational at Auschwitz death camp 70 years ago today (1943)
Video: 'Auschwitz II Birkenau Crematorium II'
(Wednesday, March 31, 1943, part of The Holocaust during World War II) — Crematorium II, with the capacity to burn 1440 corpses a day, became operational today at the Auschwitz II–Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Originally designed as a mortuary, with morgues in the basement and ground-level furnaces, Crematorium II was converted to increase greatly the gassing capacity of Birkenau by placing a gas-tight door on the morgues and adding vents for Zyklon-B and ventilation equipment to remove the gas.
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Rationing of meat, fats and cheese begins in U.S. 70 years ago today (1943)
(Monday, March 29, 1943; during World War II) — Rationing of meat, fats and cheese began today in the United States. Rationed meats included beef, pork, veal, lamb, and tinned meats and fish. Poultry, eggs, fresh milk—and Spam—were not rationed. Cheese rationing started with hard cheeses since they were more easily shipped overseas.
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Battle of the Bismarck Sea begins 70 years ago this hour (1943)
Video: 'Battle of the Bismarck Sea'
(Tuesday, March 2, 1943, at about 10 a.m. local time; part of the Pacific War of World War II) — The three-day Battle of the Bismarck Sea began this morning in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA); U.S. and Australian warplanes were able to inflict heavy damage on an Imperial Japanese convoy.
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Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia begins 70 years ago today (1943)
Video: 'The World At War: Tough Old Gut Italy 1/5' (Feb. 19-25, 1943, at 5:21)
(Friday, February 19, 1943; during the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, part of the Tunisian Campaign of World War II) — German Gen. Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launched an offensive today against an Allied defensive line in Tunisia, North Africa, in the first large-scale meeting of American and German forces of the war.
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U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve officially established 70 years ago today (1943)
Video: 'Marine Corps Women's Reserve Drill Team, circa 1945'
(Saturday, February 13, 1943; during World War II) — The U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was officially established today to provide women shore duty jobs so the men of the Marine Corps could be released for combat duty.
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3,000 ‘Chindits’ march into Burma 70 years ago today (1943)
Video: 'The World At War: It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow Burma 2/5' (Feb. 8, 1943, at 3:43)
(Monday, February 8, 1943; during the Burma Campaign, part of the Pacific War during World War II) — 3,000 Chindits, a British India “Special Force” led by British Brigadier Orde Charles Wingate, marched into northern Burma today, launching Operation Longcloth against the Japanese.
