World war II chronology - May 1943

3 May 1943	An Atlantic convoy outward bound from England results in the sinking nine German submarines. British corvette Pink sinks U-192. HMS Loosestrife sinks U-638. British destroyer Vidette sinks U-125. Oribi sinks U-531. British sloop Pelican sinks U-438. British Coastal Command aircraft sink U-710. Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft sink U-630. U-659 and U-439 collide and sink. Twelve New Zealand Ventura bombers take off from England to bomb a power station at Amsterdam. Only one plane reaches the target, and misses. Ten planes are shot down.
4 May 1943	596 British bombers attack Dortmund, Germany.
5 May 1943	The Comintern is dissolved, as a gesture of reassurance to Russia's allies.
6 May 1943	At Experimental Station Suffield, Alberta, Canada, a ten-day experiment begins testing the field performance of men burned with mustard gas. In Tunisia, Allied forces break through German defence lines in Medjez el Bab.
7 May 1943	American and British forces capture Tunis and Bizerte in North Africa. 160,000 German and Italian soldiers surrender at Tunis.
10 May 1943	Canada's National Research Council head Chalmers Mackenzie tells Louis Mountbatten in England that the Habbakuk ice ship project could not be completed for 1944. Hans-Thilo Schmidt, employee of the German Defence Ministry's Cipher Center, is arrested for treason for giving information to the French (French intelligence officer General Gustave Bertrand) since October 1932. he had given information on the Enigma coding machine, other cryptography systems, and Göring's wiretapping agency.
11 May 1943	The American 7th Infantry Division lands on Japanese occupied Attu Island.
12 May 1943	572 British bombers attack Duiburg, Germany, in the Ruhr. Over 1300 buildings are destroyed, damaging four of the Thyssen steel factories, 60 ships, and sinking 34 barges.
13 May 1943	In the North Atlantic, German submarine U-753 is sunk by combined efforts of Royal Canadian Navy corvette Drumheller, Royal Navy frigate Lagan, and British and Canadian aircraft.  In Tunisia in North Africa, German Afrika Korps commander General Dietloff Juergen von Arnim surrenders 275,000 troops.
14 May 1943	The Trident Conference is held in Washington, US. Britain and the US agree for an invasion of France after May 1, 1944. The German ME-262 twin-jet fighter plane is ready for serial production. The German OKW begins planning Operation Citadel, an attack on the Kursk salient. The Royal Canadian Air Force acquires long-range Liberator bombers from Britain for mid-Atlantic convoy escort and submarine warfare.
16 May 1943	Nine British Lancaster bombers fitted with dam-busting mines take off from Scampton, England, headed for the Möhne and Eder dams in Germany. After four unsuccessful tries, the fifth plane succeeds in breaching the Möhne dam. Six planes with three bombs head over to the Eder dam. The third hit breaches the dam 30 feet below the top. Five planes return to home base. Two more waves of bombers attack other dams, causing a small breach in the Sorpe dam. In total, 19 aircraft take off, and 11 return. 34 awards are given out. Extensive damage is done by the flooding and loss of hydroelectric power. 1000 houses are destroyed or damaged, 125 factories destroyed/damaged, 1294 people killed, 2822 hectares of farmland ruined, 6316 animals killed, 35 road bridges destroyed/damaged, etc. Germans add more defenses to other dams. Manpower is diverted from the West Wall to repair the dams. (It takes four months to complete closing the Möhne dam breach.)
21 May 1943	At the Trident Conference in Washington, Britain and the US agree Operation Overlord, the amphibious landing in France, should be launched May 1, 1944.
23 May 1943	826 British bombers attack Dortmund, Germany. This attack and the prior one on May 4 destroy over 3000 buildings and kill 1300 people.
24 May 1943	Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy Karl Dönitz withdraws submarines from the North Atlantic, due to heavy losses.
25 May 1943	759 British bombers attack Düsseldorf, Germany.
26 May 1943	At Peenemünde, comparison tests are made of the flying bomb (Fi.103 or FZG 76, later called V-1) and the A-4 rocket (V-2) in the presence of Nazi ministers and generals. Two rockets perform perfectly, flying 160 miles. Two flying bombs crash in the Baltic after travelling a mile or two. The Long-Range Bombardment Commission accepts the recommendation of putting both into production, top priority.
27 May 1943	In France, the National Resistance Council meets for the first time. British Bomber Command head Arthur Harris issues an order to his Groups, to prepare for major raids on Hamburg, intent on "the total destruction of this city". Code name for the operation is Gomorrah.
29 May 1943	1000 Japanese on Attu Island charge at US forces, but do not succeed. Of 2500 Japanese on the island, only 28 survive. 1800 Americans are wounded or killed. 719 British bombers attack Barmen, Germany, destroying nearly 4000 houses, damaging 200 factories, and killing 3400 people.
31 May 1943	Japanese forces driven from Aleutians.