page_title: 1943
section_title: March
hierarchical_section_title: 1943 / Events / March
context_page_description: 1943 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1943rd year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 943rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 43rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1940s decade.
context_section_description: March – Exiled French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's self-illustrated children's novella, The Little Prince, is published in New York City, the all-time best-selling book originating in French.
  March–December – History of computing hardware: British prototype Mark I Colossus computer is constructed (the world's first totally electronic programmable computing device) to assist in cryptanalysis of German signals at Bletchley Park.
  March 1 – Heinz Guderian becomes Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops for the German Army.
  March 1–2 – WWII: Koriukivka massacre – 6,700 inhabitants of Koriukivka are murdered in the Ukraine, by a German SS unit.
  March 2 – WWII: Battle of the Bismarck Sea – United States and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships, then strafe survivors in the water.
  March 3 – 173 people are killed in a crush, while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green, London.
  March 4 – The 15th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Mrs. Miniver wins the Best Picture Award.
  March 4–6 – WWII: Battle of Fardykambos – Greek partisans and armed civilians force the surrender of an Italian army battalion.
  March 5 – The Gloster Meteor, the first Allied jet fighter, makes its first flight, in England.
  March 9–10 – WWII: North Atlantic convoy SC 121 is attacked by U-boats sinking seven ships.
  March 9 – Şükrü Saracoğlu forms the new government of Turkey (14th government; Şükrü Saracoğlu had served twice as a prime minister).
  March 10 – Banco Bradesco is founded in Marília, São Paulo, Brazil.
  March 12 – WWII: Italian occupation of Greece: The Italian occupying forces abandon the town of Karditsa to the partisans. On the same day, an Italian motorized column razes the village of Tsaritsani, burning 360 of its 600 houses and shooting 40 civilians.
  March 13 – The Holocaust: Nazi German forces liquidate the Jews of the Kraków Ghetto, in Occupied Poland.
  March 14 – WWII: British submarine HMS Thunderbolt is sunk off Sicily by an Italian corvette, the second time this vessel has been lost with all hands.
  March 15 – WWII:
  Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci sinks Canadian Pacific liner RMS Empress of Canada off Sierra Leone. Nearly half of the 392 fatalities are Italian prisoners of war.
  German forces recapture Kharkov after four days of house-to-house fighting against Soviet troops, ending the month-long Third Battle of Kharkov.
  March 16–19 – WWII: 22 ships from Convoys HX 229/SC 122 and one U-boat are sunk, in the largest North Atlantic U-boat "wolfpack" attack of the war.
  March 17 (Saint Patrick's Day) – Éamon de Valera, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, makes the speech "The Ireland That We Dreamed Of", commonly called the "comely maidens" speech, in Dublin Castle.
  March 22 – WWII: Khatyn massacre – The entire population of Khatyn, Belarus is burnt alive by German occupation forces.
  March 23 – The drugs Vicodin and Lortab are first produced in Germany.
  March 26 – WWII: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands, the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese troops attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
  March 27 – WWII: British Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Dasher (D37) is destroyed by an accidental explosion in the Firth of Clyde, killing 379 of the crew of 528.
  March 28 – In Italy a ship full of weapons and ammunition explodes in the port of Naples, killing 600.
  March 31 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! opens on Broadway, heralds a new era in "integrated" stage musicals, becomes an instantaneous stage classic and goes on to be Broadway's longest-running musical up to this time (1948).
caption: A low level attack on a Japanese ship during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
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