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• » 31 Dec 1943

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Palau. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• USS Cassin Young was commissioned into service under the command of Commander E. T. Schrieber. ww2dbase [Cassin Young | CPC]
• General Montgomery left his beloved British 8th Army in Italy to take up his role in the planning of the summer invasion of Europe in which he would command all land forces. ww2dbase [Bernard Montgomery | AC]
• Soviet troops again recaptured Zhytomyr, Ukraine. ww2dbase [TH]
• Arbiter was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Arbiter | CPC]
• Lieutenant General Oliver Leese assumed command of the British 8th Army. ww2dbase [Oliver Leese | AC]
• The Danish-Icelandic Act of Union of 1918 expired. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Kamoi entered the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Sunda Strait | CPC]

• Robert Johnson shot down two German Fw 190D aircraft over Savenay, France. ww2dbase [Robert Johnson | Savenay, Pays de la Loire | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against industrial facilities at Cognac, France. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Cognac | DS]

• Alexandros Sakellariou's 4 Sep 1946 promotion to vice admiral was retroactively dated to this date. ww2dbase [Alexandros Sakellariou | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Eight officers and 107 men of D-2, Unit 2, on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• During a meeting in Delhi, India, Joseph Stilwell successfully persuaded his superiors to give him command of the US 1688th Detachment, ousting British General Orde Wingate whose successful long range penetration operations directly led to the creation of the US unit. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | Orde Wingate | Delhi | CPC]

• As of this date, Auschwitz Concentration Camp had a population of 85,298 prisoners (55,785 men and 29,513 women). In the month of Dec 1943, 5,748 male and 8,931 female registered prisoners died at Auschwitz; these numbers did not include those killed in gas chambers immediately after arriving without being registered. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Allied convoy RA-55B departed the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• The Statue of Liberty in New York, New York, United States was lit briefly at night in celebration of the coming new year. ww2dbase [New York | CPC]

31 Dec 1943 Interactive Map