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• » 1 Feb 1943

• The 1st Free French Division (later to become the 1st Motorised Division) was established. ww2dbase [AC]

• Japanese troops began to be evacuated from Guadalcanal by destroyers commanded by Rear Admiral Shintaro. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Guadalcanal | TH]
• Destroyer Yukikaze evacuated troops from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | Guadalcanal | CPC]
• US Marine Corps squadron MABS-1 was assigned to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]
• USS Nicholas and USS DeHaven screened the landing of Army troops at Verahue on western Guadalcanal. While escorting the transport ships back to base, Nicholas and DeHaven came under a vigorous Japanese dive-bomber attack. DeHaven took three bomb hits including one hit on the forward magazine. DeHaven split in two and sank. Nicholas received minor damage from near miss bomb hits. Nicholas and the transports picked up DeHaven survivors. 146 were killed aboard DeHaven and two aboard Nicholas. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Guadalcanal Campaign | Savo Sound, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Oyashio and began repair transport Nankai Maru at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• Joseph Stilwell departed Chongqing, China for India. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | Chongqing | CPC]

• Cruiser Köln departed a German port for the Baltic Sea. ww2dbase [Köln | CPC]
• As of this month, 1,622,000 prisoners of war and 4,121,000 foreigners were now serving as forced laborers in Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Maximilian von Weichs was promoted to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall. ww2dbase [Maximilian von Weichs | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler's special train Amerika was renamed Brandenburg. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Raid drill. Torpedo Squadron 11 (VT-11; model TBF) departed. Radio transmission facilities usably complete. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Tenryu was struck from the navy list. ww2dbase [Tenryu | CPC]
• Nachi arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Nachi | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• USS Columbia arrived at Efate, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Columbia | Efate | CPC]
• USS St. Louis and USS Honolulu arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, refueled, and put to sea again to continue patrols. ww2dbase [Honolulu | St. Louis | Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo | DS]

• USS Tunny entered waters off China. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]
• The Fletcher-class destroyer USS De Haven was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Savo Island, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [AC]

• At Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland, SS personnel selected 20 Jewish prisoners who were already working at the crematorium in Auschwitz I and readied them for work in the soon-to-be-ready new crematoriums in Birkenau. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Trapped in the ruins of a department store in Stalingrad, Russia, Friedrich Paulus surrendered the southern pocket along with 14 of his generals; Paulus became the first German field marshal to surrender to an enemy force. Fighting continued in the northern pocket, however, and 85 of the 108 transport aircraft dispatched to airdrop supplies to the northern pocket were able to do so. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | AC, CPC]
• Germans fell back from Demyansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Demyansk, Leningrad | TH]

• The keel of CV-14, originally destined to be USS Hancock, was laid down at Norfolk, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]
• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Card arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, anchoring in Hampton Roads. ww2dbase [Norfolk Navy Yard | Card | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]

1 Feb 1943 Interactive Map