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• The United States Navy’s Patrol Squadron VP-84 scored another success with the Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo south of Iceland when Lt Robert Millard dropped one Mark 24 torpedo from his PBY-5A Catalina against German submarine U-467. The U-Boat was lost with all 46 hands. ww2dbase [Mark XXIV | Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Black May | PBY Catalina | DS]

• At dawn, a 4,500-strong Japanese force attacked toward Pianyan, Hubei Province, China, but the force was quickly attacked and surrounded by elements of Chinese 5th and 18th Divisions; by the time the Japanese were able to extract themselves after dark, the force had suffered 3,000 casualties. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | Pianyan, Hubei | CPC]

• Kamoi reported a submarine attack at 1940 hours in the Flores Sea without damage; at 1946 hours, she dropped three depth charges and at 1956 hours she fired two rounds with her front main gun at the attacker. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Flores Sea | CPC]

• At Peenemünde, Germany, before Hermann Göring, Erhard Milch, and other top German leaders, an A-4 rocket and a flying bomb were tested. The A-4 rocket flew perfectly, while the flying bomb crashed only after a mile or two of flight. ww2dbase [Peenemünde Army Research Center | V-Weapons Campaign | Hermann Göring | Karl Dönitz | Erhard Milch | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | Peenemünde, Pommern | CPC]
• The German government issued the order to stop assigning concentration camp victims sequantial identification numbers in order to hide the true number of deaths. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• 759 British heavy bombers attacked Düsseldorf, Germany starting at about 0200 hours. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Düsseldorf | CPC]

• US submarine USS Saury (SS-189) commanded by Commander Anthony Henry Dropp sighted and attacked a Japanese convoy south of Kyushu island, Japan at about 1000 hours. The Saury fire three torpedoes of which two hit and sank the Japanese 2,351-ton transport Kagi Maru just north of Amami Oshima, Nansei Shoto (Ryukyu Islands), Japan. The counter-attacks by the convoy escorts were ineffective and the submarine withdrew unharmed. ww2dbase [Saury | Kagoshima | HM]

• USS Whale sank Japanese freighter Shoei Maru in the Mariana Islands, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedo fired. ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]

• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Bogue and her task group arrived at Argentia, Newfoundland. ww2dbase [Bogue | Argentia | DS]

• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides crossed the equator southbound. ww2dbase [Line Crossing Ceremony | Silversides | DS]

• Soviet troops began an offensive against the German units isolated between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea in the Kuban area of southern Russia. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | Krasnodar Krai | TH]
• V. T. Shirmanov was named the Soviet counterintelligence agency GUKR SMERSH's chief within the Central Front. ww2dbase [CPC]

• King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited RAF Wyton near St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [George VI | St. Ives, England | CPC]
• Allied convoy SC 130 arrived in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom without losses despite German submarine attacks en route. ww2dbase [Black May | Liverpool, England | CPC]

• USS Sable arrived at Chicago, Illinois, United States. ww2dbase [Sable | Chicago, Illinois | DS]

26 May 1943 Interactive Map