http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jan1943/f25jan43.htm
Stalingrad Pocket Split in Two
Monday, January 25, 1943 www.onwar.com
Soviets troops celebrating [photo at link]
On the Eastern Front... Attacking Soviet forces meet in the middle of Stalingrad. The forces of the German 6th Army are now split into two pockets, holding about 36 square miles of territory in total. To the northwest, Voronezh is captured by Soviet troops.
In Tunisia... American forces advance to Maknassy, threatening Sfax and Gabes.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
anuary 25th, 1943
UNITED KINGDOM: Minesweeper HMS Elfreda launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Syrian sailing ships Mouyassar and Omar el Kattab was shelled and destroyed by U-431 near Haifa. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORTH AFRICA: General Giovanni Messe of the Italian First Army takes overall control of the Axis forces in North Africa.
U.S.A.: During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with “The German Squad in Combat” (William L. Howard)
AA cruiser USS Atlanta laid down.
Destroyer USS Harrison commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Chatelain laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Lackenby, a straggler from Convoy SC-117, was hit by two torpedoes from U-624 and sank south of Cape Farewell. The master, 38 crewmembers and five gunners were lost.
SS City of Flint sailed from New York as part of the convoy UGS-4. While en route she encountered a storm that caused her deckload to shift and she straggled from the convoy. The ship maintained a zigzag course at 11 knots and tried to find the other ships, when she was hit by one torpedo from U-575 at 22.05 hours on 25 Jan 1943. The torpedo struck on port side at the #1 hold and ignited the oil and gasoline stored there. As the vessel settled by the head, flames engulfed the forward section. With the engines secured, the crew of ten officers, 30 crewmen, 24 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and six 20mm guns) and one US Army Security officer abandoned ship with four lifeboats in rough seas within ten minutes. Then a second torpedo struck the port side aft of the bridge and the ship sank bow first at 23.05 hours about 300 miles south of Flores, Azores. Two crewmen and four armed guards died in the attack. The chief cook Robert Daigle was picked up by U-575 and was later interned in a POW camp. Three of the boats stayed in the area for two days before setting sail for the Azores. They used a portable radio for sending distress calls. The following day, the Portuguese destroyer Lima picked up 48 men and landed them at Ponta del Garda, Azores. On 28 January, destroyer HMS Quadrant rescued the ten survivors in the fourth boat and landed them in Gibraltar. (Dave Shirlaw)