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• American forces in Tunisia launched a counterattack at Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. Though achieving some results, the Americans suffered heavy casualties and lost 46 medium tanks. ww2dbase [Battle of Faïd Pass and Sidi Bouzid | CPC]
• The US military established Commander, Aircraft, Solomons in the Solomon Islands with Rear Admiral Charles Mason as its head. It was to oversee all air operations in the region across Army, Navy, and Marine ground-based aircraft. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | CPC]
• Lieutenant Colonel M. Z. Kiani took command of the Indian National Army. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Starting at 0340 hours, a total of 34 US B-17 bombers in four waves attacked Rabaul, New Britain, dropping 98,000 pounds of various bombs including flares, 300-pound demolition bombs, 100-pound daisy cutter bombs, 20-pound fragmentation bombs, and incendiary bombs, damaging aircraft and destroying food stores, oil drums, and ammunition dumps; three bombs were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing transport Nankai Maru at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean departed Suva, Fiji bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. ww2dbase [Mississippi | Minneapolis | Shaw | Suva | DS]

• More than 500 Japanese troops entered the French treaty port of Kouang-Tchéou-Wan (Chinese: Guangzhouwan) in southern China. This territory was forcibly leased from Qing Dynasty China via the Sino-French Treaty of 15 Nov 1899 and was administered by French Indochina. The Japanese kept the Vichy French governor in charge as a puppet. ww2dbase [Kouang-Tchéou-Wan | CPC]

• Oberst Edgar Gläsche was relieved from his position as the commandant of the Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle, Germany as he was transferred to Ukraine. He was to be replaced by Oberstleutnant Gerhard Prawitt. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]
• British prisoner of war Lieutenant Michael Alexander, who had conjured up a relationship with General Harold Alexander, was transferred to the Oflag IV-C camp at Colditz Castle in Germany; he was placed in the same cell with Giles Romilly, Winston Churchill's nephew. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Fighting Squadron 11 (VF-11; Model F4F) arrived. Departed 18 Feb 1943. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]
• USS Wahoo completed her scheduled overhaul at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Wahoo | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Task Force 67 consisting of cruisers USS Nashville, USS Helena (St. Louis-class), USS Honolulu, and USS St. Louis with destroyers USS Chevalier, USS Strong, USS Taylor, and USS Jenkins departed Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides for patrols in the lanes south of San Cristobal Island, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Honolulu | Helena (St. Louis-class) | Walden Ainsworth | Nashville | Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo | DS]

• Allied convoy JW-53 departed Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Liverpool, England | CPC]
• Yolande Unternahrer joined the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). ww2dbase [Yolande Beekman | Special Operations Executive | CPC]

15 Feb 1943 Interactive Map