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• At the Berlin Sport Palace, Goebbels announced the implementation of total war in Germany, bringing women into the industrial war effort. In the same speech, he also called Jews "the root of evil in the world". ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | TH]
• The Gestapo arrested Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, members of the White Rose, for opposing the Nazi German regime. They were tried for treason by Judge Roland Freisler, found guilty, and executed in Stadelheim Prison in Munich as traitors on 22 Feb 1943. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 1,220 Polish Jews, 860 of whom children, arrived at the British Palestine after traveling through Russia, Iran, and India. They had to travel to Palestine by sea via India due to Iraq's refusal to allow the group to enter its borders. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Song Meiling addressed the House of Representatives of the United States Congress. ww2dbase [Song Meiling | CPC]
• Erwin Rommel submitted a plan to Albert Kesselring and the Italian High Command for attacking the Americans guarding the Tunisian-Algerian border. ww2dbase [Battle of Kasserine Pass | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze departed Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands to escort transport Gokoku Maru to Gasmata, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | CPC]
• The Northwest African Air Forces (NWAAF) commanded by Major General Carl A. Spaatz came into existence under the Allied Mediterranean Air Command. ww2dbase [Carl Spaatz | AC]

• Jean de Vienne was raised at Toulon, France and pressed into Italian Navy service under the new name FR.11. ww2dbase [Toulon Military Port | Jean de Vienne | Toulon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Fighting Squadron 11 (VF-11; Model F4F) departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Destroyer Yuzuki departed Yokosuka, Japan for the Central Pacific. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• Down to only 13 flyable P-40 fighters, USAAF 33rd Fighter Group was withdrawn from Telepte Airfield in Tunisia. ww2dbase [Telepte | CPC]

• In the British House of Commons 121 Ministers of Parliament (97 Labour members and including former prime minister David Lloyd George in his last ever vote in the House) condemned the Government for its failure to back the Beveridge Report. ww2dbase [London, England | AC]

• The construction for a large electromagnetic separation plant for enriching uranium, codenamed Y-12, began construction at Manhattan Project's Oak Ridge site in Tennessee, United States. ww2dbase [Clinton Engineer Works | Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | Oak Ridge, Tennessee | CPC]
• During a test flight from Renton near Seattle, Washington, United States a serious engine fire developed in the second XB-29 prototype aircraft. Test pilot Eddie Allen tried desperately to get back to the airfield but the huge bomber crashed into a packing plant killing the entire crew and a number of civilian workers in the building. ww2dbase [B-29 Superfortress | Renton, Washington | AC]

• Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa. ww2dbase [Mississippi | Minneapolis | Shaw | Pago Pago, Samoa | DS]

18 Feb 1943 Interactive Map