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• » 1 Jun 1943

• Air Vice Marshal Roderic M. Hill became the commanding officer of the No. 12 Group RAF. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US submarines began active operations against Japanese shipping. ww2dbase [TH]
• The Allies formed the 2nd Tactical Air Force in England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [TH]
• Bryansk, Orel, and Smolensk in Russia were attacked by Soviet aircraft. ww2dbase [TH]
• Anthony Eden announced that British casualties in first three years of war were 92,089 killed, 226,719 missing, 88,294 wounded, and 107,891 captured. ww2dbase [Anthony Eden | CPC]
• The 4th Moroccan Mountain Division was raised from the 3rd Moroccan Infantry Division, but was not committed to Italy as a part of the French Expeditionary Force until Feb 1944. ww2dbase [AC]
• Léon Degrelle was promoted to the rank of SS-Obersturmführer. ww2dbase [Léon Degrelle | CPC]
• Peter Drummond was promoted to the rank of temporary air marshal. ww2dbase [Peter Drummond | CPC]

• The actor Leslie Howard, who had played the Spitfire designer Reginald Mitchell in the propaganda film "The First of the Few", was killed when the KLM DC3 airliner in which he was travelling from Lisbon, Portugal was shot down in flames by German Luftwaffe fighters over the Bay of Biscay. ww2dbase [Bay of Biscay | AC]

• B-17E bomber "Texas #6" was shot down over Waterfall Bay, New Britain by A6M Zero fighters. ww2dbase [New Britain | CPC]

• Alerted by US direction-finders the Brazilian police raid the house of German-born Werner Waltemath discovering his Abwehr radio, microfilm and other espionage paraphernalia hidden in a cavity under the living room floor. He would receive a twenty-five-year prison sentence, while a fellow–expatriate, Hans-Christian von Kitze whom he had recruited to his spy group would become a double agent for the British. ww2dbase [AC]

• US aircraft attacked Japanese troop transports near Yichang, Hubei Province, China, sinking several vessels and drowning a number of Japanese troops in the Yangtze River. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | Yichang, Hubei | CPC]

• Aldo Congedo was named the commanding officer of Alpino Bagnolini at Bordeaux, France, replacing Ferdinando Corsi. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Card arrived in Casablanca Harbor, Casablanca, French Morocco. ww2dbase [Card | Casablanca | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of Fighting Squadron 9 (VF-9; Model F6F-3) on board. Part of Torpedo Squadron 9 (VT-9; Model TBF-1) on board. Bombing Squadron 9 (VB-9; Model SBD-4) on board. Part of Fleet Air Base Unit 1 departed. Part of Bombing Sq 137 (VB-137; Model PV-1) departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Throughout this month, Shokaku was in and around the Kure-Tokuyama area, Japan. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• USS S-41 fired three torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Pacific Ocean off the Kurile Islands, scoring one hit and sinking her. ww2dbase [S-41 | CPC]

• With the establishment of the Second Tactical Air Force, the RAF's Army Co-operation Command was disbanded. Several of their Taylorcraft Auster squadrons were subsequently transferred to Army Air Corps control. ww2dbase [AC]

• Abdul Hossein Aziz became the first Afghan ambassador to the United States. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The USAAF's 58th Very Heavy Bombardment Wing was activated at Marietta, Georgia, United States in preparation for the delivery of B-29 Superfortress bombers to be employed on strategic attacks on targets in Japan. ww2dbase [Marietta, Georgia | AC]
• While serving time in prison for embezzlement, Fritz Kuhn, leader of the dissolved, pro-Nazi, German American Bund had his American citizenship cancelled. ww2dbase [AC]

1 Jun 1943 Interactive Map