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April 25th, 1943 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Escort carrier HMS Ravager commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

FINLAND: Five Baglietto-type MTBs (”Hurja-class”) purchased from Italy arrive in Turku. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Free Poland.

CHINA: Sun Tien-ying, the commander of the Chinese Fifth Army, defects to the Japanese.

NEW GUINEA: A party from the Japanese “Provisions Transportation Unit”, carrying supplies from Salamaua to Komiatum is ambushed by Australian commandos. The commandos counted 60 men before they sprang the ambush. (Michael Alexander)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Quinte arrived Pictou , Nova Scotia under tow for repair. Quinte had completed a 6-week refit in Lunenberg just before she went aground on 30 Nov 42 at the entrance to St Peter’s Channel, Cape Breton Island. The damage to her hull was so extensive that she had to be beached to prevent outright sinking. Salvage operations were conducted over the winter of 1943. Her repairs were not completed until Jun 44. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The Hays Office, the motion picture censorship group, bans “zoot suits” from the movies. (Jack McKillop)

That is because of the Zoot Suit Riots.

Against this backdrop of hate and vengeance toward the Mexican American community in Los Angeles, what is known as the “Zoot Suit Riots” (though they are now often referred to as the “sailor riots”) occurred. On the night of June 3, 1943, eleven sailors on shore leave stated that they were attacked by a group of Mexican pachucos. In response to this, a group of over 200 uniformed sailors chartered 20 cabs and charged into the heart of the Mexican American community in East Los Angeles. Any zoot suiter was fair game. On this and the following nights, many a zoot suiter was beaten by this mob and stripped of their clothes, their zoot suits, on the spot. Nine sailors were arrested during these disturbances, not one was charged with any crime. On the following nights of June 4th and 5th, the uniformed servicemen (by this time the sailors had been joined by soldiers) again invaded East Los Angeles, marching abreast down the streets, breaking into bars and theatres, and assaulting anyone in their way. Not one was arrested by the Police or the Sheriff. In fact, the servicemen were portrayed in the local press as heroes stemming the tide of the “Mexican Crime Wave.” During the nights of June 6th and 7th, these scenes were again repeated. Time Magazine later reported that, “The police practice was to accompany the caravans of soldiers and sailors in police cars, watch the beatings and jail the victims.” According to Rudolpho Acuña in Occupied America, “Seventeen-year-old Enrico Herrera, after he was beaten and arrested, spent three hours at a police station, where he was found by his mother, still naked and bleeding. A 12-year-old boy’s jaw was broken. Police arrested over 600 Chicano youths without cause and labelled the arrests ‘preventive’ action. Angelenos cheered on the servicemen and their civilian allies.”

Finally, at midnight on June 7th, because the navy believed it had on actual mutiny on hand, the military authorities did what the city of Los Angeles would not, they moved to stop the rioting of their personnel. Los Angeles was declared off limits for all military personnel. Though there were little consequences for the rioters (servicemen and local law enforcement authorities alike), there was some public outcry. On June 16th, 1943, Eleanor Roosevelt commented in her column that, “The question goes deeper than just suits. It is a racial protest. I have been worried for a long time about the Mexican racial situation. It is a problem with roots going a long way back, and we do not always face these problems as we should.” Los Angeles’ response was typified by the June 18th headlines of the Los Angeles Times, “Mrs. Roosevelt Blindly Stirs Race Discord,” and she was accused of communist leanings in the accompanying editorial. Governor Earl Warren (later Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court during their landmark desegregation cases) convened a committee to investigate the riots and recommended punishment for all involved in the riots, servicemen and civilians. Other than the charges filed against the Mexican American victims, no punishment was ever meted out.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British escort carrier HMS BITER scores the first “kill” of her class when one of her Swordfish and the destroyer HMS PATHFINDER sink U-203. The aircraft attacks with a bomb, but misses. Later the U-boat is sunk south of Cape Farewell, Greenland, in position 55.05.N, 42.25W, by depth charges from Swordfish and PATHFINDER. 10 dead and 38 survivors. (Dave Shirlaw)

U-533 attacked by an American USN VP-84 PBY-5A. Three of U-533´s gun crew were injured by the Catalina’s .30 cal. gunfire. They were - (Bootsmaat Buttkus, Matrosengefreiter Ludwig and Matrosengefreiter Fekken). All of them went again out to sea and Buttkus and Ludwig perished with the boat the following October.

SS Empire Morn was damaged by a mine laid on 11 April by U-117. She reached Gibraltar and was used as store ship.

At 0143, the Rosenborg, a straggler from Convoy RU-71, was hit by two torpedoes from U-386 north of Rockall and sank within 30 seconds. The master, 21 crewmembers, four gunners and two passengers were lost. Two crewmembers were picked up by the British rescue ship Goodwin and landed at Clyde on 28 April.

SS Rouennais struck a mine laid on 2 April by U-455 and sank off Casablanca. (Dave Shirlaw)