Posted on 03/03/2013 4:28:18 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/mar1943/f03mar43.htm
Soviet eliminated from west bank of Donets
Wednesday, March 3, 1943 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces enter Rzhev after the defending German forces withdraw. The Red Army also captures Lgov on the Seim River, west of Kursk. Meanwhile, Manstein’s counteroffensive to the south has eliminated Soviet forces from the west bank of the Donets River, south of Zmiyev. Soviet casualties are estimated at 20,000 dead and 9000 taken prisoner. The lack of prisoners resulting from the encirclement suggests the German forces no longer have the resources necessary to prevent trapped Soviet troops from escaping.
In Tunisia... British forces skirmish with 15th Panzer Division at Medenine during reconnaissance patrols.
In Burma... The southern Chindit group cuts the Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad line, north of Kyaikthin.
In the Bismark Sea... The Japanese convoy carrying the troops of the 51st Division, is heavily attacked by Allied aircraft from the 5th Air Force.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
March 3rd, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: People descending the steps to the shelter at Bethnal Green tube station in East London last night were crushed to death and suffocated to death in a tragic accident when not a single bomb has fallen. A middle-aged woman carrying a baby tripped near the bottom of the first flight of 20 steps.
Her fall brought down the man behind her, and others hurrying down to the shelter after the air-raid warning fell in their turn. Within minutes dozens of bodies were crushed on top of each other. Unaware, others pressed in from the street building up a wall of death. Out of 400 victims of the disaster, 173 died of suffocation, and 62 were badly injured. The woman lived. Her baby died.
In its largest daylight mission to date, VII Bomber Command dispatches a total of 566 B-17s and B-24s against Wilhelmshaven port area. A total of 434 B-17s and 105 B-24s drop a record 1,488 tons of bombs on the briefed target area between 1307 and 1335 hours. Seven B-17s are lost with 70 crewmen. This is also the first time that a bomb group goes out in double strength. The 90th BG (H) dispatches 50 B-17s. (Skip Guidry)
GERMANY: A tunnel is broken at OFLAG XXIB at Schubin which puts out 33 AF POW’s led by the “Big X”, Lt Cdr Buckley, who drowned on his way to Sweden. Buckley was the inspiration for Roger Bushell, who later headed up the Great Escape from STALAG-LUFT III at Sagan. None of the escapers make a home run. (Marc James Small)
U-545 is launched.
U-423, U-671 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: The Red Army captures the German base of Rzhev, and Lgov, west of Kursk.
INDIAN OCEAN: At 2322, U-160 made her first attack on Convoy DN-21 about 40 miles south of Port St John’s, South Africa, sank the Harvey W. Scott and Nirpura and damaged the Tibia. The Harvey W. Scott in station #32 was stuck by one torpedo on the port side at the #2 hold. The ship settled slowly as the engines were secured and the radio operator sent a distress signal. 11 minutes after the hit all eight officers, 34 crewmen and 19 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and four 20mm guns) abandoned ship in the four lifeboats. The vessel sank just after midnight, plunging bow first. 16 survivors in one boat were picked up by the Argentine SS Ombu and landed at Durban on 6 March. On 3 March, the motorboat with 7 survivors, including the master and chief mate, made landfall near Port St Johns. They traded the boat to the natives for food and clothes and were taken by horse and wagon through the jungle to Umtata, Natal. The remaining two boats landed at Umtata on 4 and 6 March. All survivors were then taken by train to Durban. 38 men from the Nirpura were lost and 88 (including the master) were picked up by the SAAF crash launch R-8 and landed at Durban. Tibia was hit at 2322 by a torpedo on port side, which immediately caused a heavy list to that side. The engine was stopped and the starboard tanks were counterflooded. The crew (with the exception of most Chinese) had worked efficiently and at 2341, the ship set course for Durban at full speed, arriving at 1740 on 4 March. (Dave Shirlaw)
BURMA: The Chindits cross the Mu river, and cut the rail link between Mandalay and Myitkyina for a second time.
PACIFIC OCEAN: SHIRAYUKI IJN, Japanese Destroyer, Sunk 55 miles south-east of Finchharven by USAAF and RAAF air attack.
TOKITSUKAZE IJN, Japanese Destroyer, sunk along with Shirayuki. (James Paterson)
U.S.A.:
Light cruiser USS Amsterdam laid down.
Destroyer USS Gatling laid down.
Submarine USS Guavina laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: MS Doggerbank was returning as blockade-runner from Japan. At 2153, U-43 torpedoed a steamer of the Dunedin Star type, but it was soon clear the she had sunk the Doggerbank, which was ahead of her scheduled arrival and was sunk in error. Built as British Speybank for Andrew Weir and Co, London 31 Jan 1941 captured by the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis in the Indian Ocean. A prize crew brought the ship to Bordeaux. Taken over by the Kriegsmarine, renamed Doggerbank (Schiff 53) and converted to auxiliary minelayer. Laid mines off South Africa and proceeded to Japan. (Dave Shirlaw)
Check out the column 2 “pay-as-you-go” story. Soon to be coming to the US of A later in 1943.
http://www.taxhistory.com/1943.html
1943: The Current Tax Payment Act
The Revenue Act of 1943, H.R. 3687, is said to be the first Revenue Act to be vetoed by the President, subsequently passed by the House and Senate, thereby overruling the President, and then superceded by the following year’s Revenue Act. [See 1944 Congressional Record and Congressman Carlson’s speech on May 4, 1944, Vol. 90, Part 4, page 4021].
However, in addition to the Revenue Bill of 1943 Congress enacted a separate piece of legislation requiring the payment of taxes in the year the income is earned, instead of the following year in which the taxes were normally paid. Basically the “Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 (H.R. 2570), deals with the “pay-as-you-go” concept of tax collection. In order to accomplish the transition, without collecting two years taxes in the same year, Congress had to come up with a workable plan. Part of that “plan” was the “withholding” provisions similar to that used by the Social Security Act. This is the beginning of our current “Collection of Income Tax at Source on Wages” (26USC3401) requirement. In addition, this is where the “estimated tax payment” requirement comes from. The Committee Reports provide a detailed explanation.
Some, no doubt, have heard of the “Ruml” plan and the proposal to forgive one year’s taxes in order to facilitate the move to a “pay-as-you-go” collection system. It did not happen. Instead Congress lowered the taxes due from 1942 income, based upon the 1941 schedules, and implemented the “withholding at the source on wages and salaries” provisions for the collection of taxes on current income (based upon gross receipts, or income under the new terminology). In addition, the provision for filing and paying estimated taxes was developed to facilitate the collection of current taxes from those acquiring their income through the operation of business and financial transactions (based upon net-income, or income under the old terminology). In other words, the tax would be taken from the paycheck of the employee on a scheduled basis as it was earned, whereas the sole-proprietor would file a quarterly statement and pay an estimated tax amount.
It is interesting to note that the “withholding” provision applicable to “wages”, in relation to the Victory Tax, was based upon the “personal exemption” of $624 single, $1,248 married, and $312 in the case of a dependent. Whereas, for the net-income tax provisions the exemptions were $500, $1200, and $350, respectively. The reasoning used was that the “Victory” tax was based upon the gross income of wages and salaries, and temporary in nature. Therefore, the personal exemption allowance was based upon the statistical cost of “food and a little more”, whereas under the net-income tax provisions the personal exemption was based upon an arbitrary amount. In other words, the Victory tax is where the value of the “personal exemption” changed from an amount adequate to cover the “personal living and family expenses” of the majority of the population, to an amount that barely covered the yearly cost of food. It remains that way today.
Accordingly, by a comparison of statistics from 1937 to 1943 taken from the Social Security records, average “wages” increased from $996 in 1937 to $1,462 in 1943, whereas the “personal exemption” decreased from $1,000 single, $2,500 married, and dependent $400 to $500 single, $1,200 married, and $350 for dependents. At the same time the Statistical Abstract of the United States shows that “personal consumption expenses” (actual average per capita cost of living) increase from $516 in 1937 to $726 in 1943. The difference between 1943 and 1954 is even more staggering, because the “personal exemption” was not increased, yet “wages” doubled along with the “per-capita” cost of living.
This is what we should have done to Hanoi and Haiphong. Every night until they surrendered.
Instead of trying to interdict the Ho Chi Minh trail.
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea is not one of the better known battles of World War 2, but in my opinion was one of the most important. The Japanese convoy was as heavily protected as the Japanese could manage. Eight transports covered by eight destroyers, with heavy fighter cover planned at both ends of the convoy run in New Britain and New Guinea. And yet, the convoy was completely wiped out by American air power alone.
The tactical lesson was not lost on the Japanese; from this day forward, they will never again attempt to send a convoy of merchant ships under the umbrella of American air power. In fact, orders to this effect are soon going to be issued from Tokyo.
But if the tactical lesson was learned, the strategic implications were too dire to accept. At this point, the Japanese should realize that the war has been lost. An admission that you cannot support your forces within reach of American planes is a confession of defeat. If American air power controls the skies above, it is only a matter of time before American troops control the ground below. It must eventually become an inexorable tide that cannot be stopped, even to the shores of the Home Islands. However, in the Japanese fashion, they cannot admit this. They refuse to even discuss it.
A political prosecution if ever there was one.
The new skip bomb and bomber strafing tactics must have come as quite a surprise to the Japanese.
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