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• » 29 Jan 1943

• SS-Gruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the SS and Police Leader for the German territory of annexed Austria, was named the head of the RSHA, which encompassed the Gestapo and the Security Service, succeeding the assassinated Reinhard Heydrich. ww2dbase [Ernst Kaltenbrunner | TH]
• Six RAF Mosquito aircraft attacked Berlin, Germany, purposely spoiling the party celebrating the Nazi Party's 10th Anniversary, interrupting speeches given by Göring and Goebbels. This celebration marked the first anniversary without a speech from Hitler. ww2dbase [TH]
• The Battle of Rennell Island began with land-based Japanese aircraft attacked US Navy TF 18 ships. USS Chicago was damaged and was taken under tow. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | CPC]
• US captured a Japanese 5-digit naval code book. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Ruth Cheney Streeter was commissioned a major in the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve and became its first Director. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet troops captured Maikop, Russia. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | CPC]
• German submarine U-255 sank Soviet cargo ship Ufa south of Bear Island, Norway at 0622 hours. To the east, Allied convoy RA-52 departed the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• German authorities ordered Roma and Sinti people across German-occupied Europe to be rounded up and sent to concentration camps. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

• German officials in Prague dissolved the Jewish Religious Congregation, the supreme authority for Czechoslovakia's Jewish communities. This organization would be succeeded by the Council of Jewish Elders on 8 Feb 1943, which was deemed to be more compliant by the German officials. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

• Benito Mussolini met with the Commando Supremo. Among the items discussed in this meeting was the plan to salvage, repair, and recommission French battleships Strasbourg and Dunkerque into the Italian Navy by the end of 1946. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• Nachi departed Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Nachi | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]

• Kurt Prüfer of German engineering firm J. A. Topf und Söhne visited the Central Construction Office of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland, inspecting the Crematoria II, III, IV, and V construction progress; he estimated the launch of Crematorium II to be around 15 Feb, Crematorium III around 17 Apr, Crematorium IV around 28 Feb, and Crematorium V's completion date depended largely on weather. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• USS Tunny entered waters off Taiwan. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]

• USS S-35 arrived at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, United States. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | S-35 | Bremerton, Washington | CPC]

29 Jan 1943 Interactive Map