And we start numbering our world wars. Prisoners of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Weimar, Germany are shown in this undated file photo. About 56,000 people were starved, tortured and executed at Buchenwald. James Doolittle leads the first bombing run on Tokyo. On May 15, gasoline rationing begins.
Ordinary citizens are limited to three gallons a week.
A fire started by a busboy's match kills 491 people in Boston's Coconut Grove nightclub on Nov. 28. Many are servicemen on their way to war. In 1943, a new mold is discovered on a cantaloupe in Illinois. It yields nearly 10 times as much penicillin as other sources, allowing for mass production. The Withholding Tax Act is signed on June 10.