World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 4 Mar 1943

• Richard Saul became the head of the British Air Headquarters Air Defences Eastern Mediterranean. ww2dbase [Richard Saul | CPC]
• The Battle of the Bismarck Sea continued as US bombers sank already fatally damaged and abandoned destroyer Tokitsukaze and sank 6 landing barges that had arrived to rescue survivors of ships sunk on the previous day. After expending their bomb loads, American air crews strafed Japanese survivors floating in the sea. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | TH, CPC]
• The Bulgarian government, in an attempt to protect Bulgarian Jews, fulfilled German pressure by deporting about 4,000 Greek Jews from the occupied territory of Thrace. These Greek Jews were eventually sent to concentration camps in Poland. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• Bell was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Bell | CPC]
• USS Nicholas arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides in the early morning. Before sunset, Nicholas departed in company with USS Fletcher, USS O’Bannon, and USS Radford on a bombardment mission to Munda, New Georgia, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• USS S-28 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. ww2dbase [S-28 | Unalaska | CPC]

• At 0609 hours the unescorted 8,049-ton steam merchant ship City of Pretoria (Master Frank Deighton, OBE) was hit by two of three torpedoes from German submarine U-172 (Kapitänleutnant Carl Emmermann) and sank after a heavy explosion about 320 miles northwest of the Azores. The ship was reported missing and presumed the master, 108 crew members, 24 gunners, six passengers and six apprentices were lost. One of the passengers was the third officer James Alister Whyte who had previously survived 51 days in a lifeboat after the sinking of City of Cairo by U-68 (Korvettenkapitän Karl-Friedrich Merten) on 6 Nov 1942. ww2dbase [HM]
• The 8,300-ton motor merchant California Star was built in 1938 by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen, Denmark for F. Leyland & Co. Ltd. (Blue Star Line) of London, England, United Kingdom. When en route from Wellington & Cristobal for Liverpool, England carrying 6,434 tons of general and refrigerated cargo, she was torpedoed by German submarine U-515 (Kapitänleutnant Werner Henke) about 335 miles northwest of Flores, Azores. All lights went out and the ship stopped and because both starboard lifeboats were destroyed the crew began to abandon ship on the port side, but when the second port boat was being launched a coup de grâce hit on the port side at 2334 hours and the explosion destroyed the boat and killed all occupants. The remaining crew members had to abandon ship on rafts. The vessel sank by the bow a few minutes after being hit on the port side by a second coup de grâce at 2352 hours. The submarine surfaced to question the survivors and took the Second Officer George Cameron Smart as prisoner aboard. 45 crew were lost from a total of 64; one was taken prisoner. ww2dbase [HM]
• The Canadian corvette HMCS Shediac (K-110) and the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Croix (T 81) found German submarine U-87 west of Leixoes, Portugal. ww2dbase [HM]
• Comandante Cappellini detected an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 0420 hours and then again at 0521 hours; she submerged both times to avoid detection. At 0722 hours, she detected another aircraft with her Metox radar detector; she remained on the surface with gun crews at the ready in an attempt to rush back to base. She arrived at Bordeaux, France at 1605 hours, ending her eleventh war patrol. She would departed Bordeaux again before sundown. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• George Kenney departed Australia for Washington DC, United States. ww2dbase [George Kenney | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Post Office turned over to station. British Fighter Squadrons 882, 896, and 898 from HMS Victorious ("USS Robin"), arrived on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• The Dutch Submarine HNLMS K XI commenced a long overdue refit at Bombay, India. K XI had last been refitted from Aug to Dec 1940. The refit lasted until early Feb 1944 due to low priority and lack of skilled labour and supervision at the Bombay Royal Dockyard. ww2dbase [Bombay | HM]

• At 0110 hours in the Indian Ocean, German submarine U-160 (Kapitänleutnant Georg Lassen) attacked Allied convoy DN-21 hitting the 5,807-ton Empire Mahseer with two torpedoes. She and sank within two minutes. 17 crew members and one gunner were lost; the master, 29 crew members and six gunners were picked up by HMS Norwich City (FY 229) and landed at Durban, South Africa. At 0346 hours, she struck the same convoy again, firing two torpedoes. The 7,628-ton Marietta E. was sunk and the 4,868-ton Sheaf Crown was damaged. Four crew members and one gunner from Marietta E. (Master James Howard Williams) were lost. The master, 33 crew members and six gunners were picked up by the SAAF crash launch R-8 and landed at Durban, South Africa. The following British 10-ton landing craft were lost with the Marietta E.: HMS LCP(R)-673, HMS LCP(R)-680, HMS LCP(R)-684, HMS LCP(R)-685, HMS LCP(R)-689, HMS LCP(R)-692, HMS LCP(R)-693 and HMS LCP(R)-727. ww2dbase [HM]

• USS Permit damaged Japanese transport Hokuto Maru just off of the coast of Iwate Prefecture, Japan, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Permit | Iwate | CPC]
• Nachi arrived at Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Nachi | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]

• The German submarine U-83 under command of Kapitänleutnant Ulrich Wörisshoffer was sunk on south-east of Cartagena, Spain in the Mediterranean Sea by three depth charges dropped from a British Hudson aircraft. All 50 on board the submarine were lost. ww2dbase [HM]

• USS Sunfish sanked a Japanese ships in the East China Sea, hitting her with 3 torpedoes. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | East China Sea | CPC]

• While patrolling off Soussa, Tunisia the British submarine HMS Unseen destroyed the wreck of the 2,785-ton German merchant ship Macedonia that had been torpedoed and damaged by HMS P 35 on 13 Dec 1942. Macedonia had then been beached by her crew to prevent her from sinking. An air attack on 15 Dec 1942 had damaged her even further. Her cargo was being salvaged when Unseen attacked. There were no casualties. ww2dbase [HM]

• Colonel William Scobey, executive to the US Assistant Secretary of War, visited Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas, United States to recruit volunteers among the Japanese-American internees for combat duty. Of 1,579 eligible men, only 31 volunteered. ww2dbase [Jerome War Relocation Center | Jerome, Arkansas | CPC]
• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Card departed New York bound for Norfolk, Virginia. ww2dbase [Card | Brooklyn, New York | DS]

4 Mar 1943 Interactive Map