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• » 22 Feb 1943

• German Armeegruppe Mitte launched an offensive between the Dneiper and Donets Rivers in southern Russia. ww2dbase [TH]
• Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, members of the White Rose, were executed in Stadelheim Prison in Munich, Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Air Marshall Sir Arthur Harris was appointed chief of RAF Bomber Command with a new remit: attempting to hit specific military and industrial targets was, in the main, to be abandoned in favour of the most densely built-up areas of German cities. The area bombing directive essentially said that if the RAF cannot destroyed the factories it should destroy the homes and the morale of the workforce. ww2dbase [Arthur Harris | AC]
• Norwegian Minister President Vidkun Quisling ordered the mobilization of 35,000 men for construction of roads, railways, and military-related facilities. Two Lutheran church leaders who protested were arrested and imprisoned in the Grini Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Vidkun Quisling | CPC]
• Bulgaria agreed to a German demand to deport 11,000 Jews from 23 communities in Thrace and Macedonia, occupied areas of Yugoslavia and Greece. They were sent to Treblinka Concentration Camp where many of them died subsequently. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• Winston Churchill was said to be "on the mend" after a severe fever. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | CPC]
• Allied troops pre-emptively struck the Axis attacking forces near Thala, Tunisia. ww2dbase [Battle of Kasserine Pass | CPC]
• The Northern Group of the Chindits reached Tonmakeng, Burma. Orde Wingate ordered an attack on a nearby Japanese garrison at Sinlamaung. ww2dbase [Operation Longcloth | CPC]
• German submarine U-606 sank British merchant ship Empire Redshank in the North Atlantic; 47 survivors were picked up by HMCS Trillium. ww2dbase [Trillium | CPC]
• Cruisers USS Montpelier, USS Cleveland, USS Columbia, and USS Denver along with destroyers USS Fletcher, USS O’Bannon, USS Radford, and USS Nicholas departed Tulagi bound for the Russell Island Group, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Denver | Montpelier | Columbia | Nicholas | DS]

• The North American Mitchell II aircraft made its combat debut with the RAF when No. 98 and No. 180 Squadrons operating from Foulsham, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom attacked oil installations at Terneuzen in Belgium. ww2dbase [Terneuzen | AC]

• Juzan Maru, Shinkyo Maru, and Aratama Maru departed Palau, Caroline Islands at 1300 hours with Yugure, Satsuki, and Fumizuki in escort. ww2dbase [Yugure | Palau | CPC]

• I-168 departed Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [I-68/I-168 | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• Iowa was commissioned into service at Brooklyn Naval Shipyard in New York, United States with Captain John L. McCrea in command. ww2dbase [Iowa | Brooklyn, New York | CPC]

22 Feb 1943 Interactive Map