Date in year · 1943 · The 1940s

October 19, 1943

On October 19, 1943, the cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Crete and sunk. Two thousand and ninety-eight Italian prisoners of war drown with it. Margo MacDonald, Richard Smalley, Nikki Giovanni would arrive in the same year.

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Year

1943

1940s

Around 1943

The year in brief

1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1943rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 943rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 43rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1940s decade.

Read the full year of 1943 →

What happened

On October 19, 1943

  1. 1943 The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Crete and sunk. Two thousand and ninety-eight Italian prisoners of war drown with it.

    Cargo ship sunk during World War II

    Sinfra was a cargo ship built in 1929 as Fernglen by Akers Mekaniske Verksted in Oslo, Norway, for a Norwegian shipping company. The ship was sold to Swedish owners in 1934 and to a French company in 1939, on the last occasion having her name changed to Sinfra.

  2. 1943 Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.

    Aminoglycoside antibiotic

    Streptomycin is an antibiotic medication used to treat a number of bacterial infections, including tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium complex, endocarditis, brucellosis, Burkholderia infection, plague, tularemia, and rat bite fever. For active tuberculosis it is often given together with isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide. It is administered by injection into a vein or muscle.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1943

The class of 1943

Others born in 1943

Margo MacDonald 1943– Scottish journalist and politician (died 2014)
Richard Smalley 1943– American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate in 1996 for chemistry (died 2005)
Nikki Giovanni 1943– American poet, writer and activist (died 2024)
"Superstar" Billy Graham 1943– American wrestler (died 2023)
Colin Baker 1943– English actor
William Calley 1943– American military officer

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