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• Alan Brooke was born. ww2dbase [Alan Brooke | CPC]

• Dilly Knox was born in Britain. ww2dbase [Dilly Knox | CPC]

• Haile Selassie was born. ww2dbase [Haile Selassie | CPC]

• Donald Gary was born. ww2dbase [Donald Gary | CPC]

• Queen Wilhelmina suffered a miscarriage. ww2dbase [Wilhelmina | CPC]

• Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia which the Serbian government, desperate for peace, accepted. ww2dbase [AC]

• Settsu was assigned to Battleship Division 1 of the First Fleet. ww2dbase [Settsu | CPC]

• A French army under Henri Gourmand defeated the army of King Faisal's Independent Kingdom of Syria at Maysalun Pass about 12 miles west of Damascus. ww2dbase [Maysalun | AC]

• Gustav Stresemann, the chairman of the Deutsche People's Party, wrote to Crown Prince Wilhelm suggesting that Germany's priority should be the removal of foreign occupation. Within a month Stresemann would be appointed as the new Chancellor. ww2dbase [AC]

• The passenger ship Bremen, arguably the most famous of all German passenger ships, was launched by Deschimag in Bremen, Germany. ww2dbase [Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG | Bremen, Weser-Ems | AG]

23 Jul 1929 Interactive Map

• Song Ziwen survived an assassination attempt at the Shanghai North Railway Station in Shanghai, China. ww2dbase [Song Ziwen | Shanghai | CPC]

• The keel of ShCh-317 was laid down at Shipyard 194 named after A. Marti in Leningrad, Russia. ww2dbase [ShCh-317 | Leningrad | CPC]

• The Committee of National Defence, the Spanish Nationalist Government, met for the first time in Burgos. ww2dbase [AC]
• Tucker was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Tucker | CPC]
• ShCh-313 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [ShCh-401 | CPC]

23 Jul 1937 Interactive Map

• The Namita Detachment of the Japanese 11th Army Group landed east of Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Wuhan | CPC]

• Alerted that Germany and the Soviet Union were engaged in talks once again, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain began preparations to engage with the Soviets as well. ww2dbase [Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact | CPC]

• Japanese artillery bombarded Soviet positions at the Kawatama Bridge in Mongolia Area of China while infantry units launched small scale attacks. ww2dbase [Battle of Khalkhin Gol | Mongolia | CPC]

• The British Secretary of War announced that 1,300,000-strong Local Defence Volunteers was to be renamed the Home Guard. ww2dbase [TH]
• British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Kingsley Wood announced the third War Budget, rise in various taxes, and the estimation that war expenditure would be about £3,470,000,000 in the following next year. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 8,077 Canadian troops bound for Britain departed from Halifax, Nova Scotia on troopships Batory, Antonia, Monarch Of Bermuda, Sobieski, Duchess Of York, and Samaria, escorted by Canadian destroyers HMCS Assiniboine and HMCS Saguenay and British cruiser HMS Emerald. The convoy would arrive safely in Scotland on 1 Aug 1940. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British third war budget raised Income Tax to 8 shillings and 6 pence per pound. ww2dbase [AC]
• Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright arrived at Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German aircraft conducted raids on coastal cities in Britain and deployed naval mines overnight. A German Do 17 bomber of 1/KF1Gr 606 attacked British submarines HMS Narwhal and HMS Truant 125 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland, sinking the former. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]
• The British Minister of State for Air Sir Archibald Sinclair reported that the British bomber fleet was capable of dropping 65-70 tons of bombs on Berlin every night for one week. It was a goal to increase that number of 200 tons in the near future. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Sydney Camm, Chief Designer at Hawker aviation, managed to get the Typhoon and Tornado programmes reinstated with reduced priority after the British Air Ministry had decided to throw all resources at the manufacture and repair of existing types. ww2dbase [Typhoon | AC]

• A German Hudson aircraft, while on convoy escort duty, shot down a German aircraft 107 miles west-southwest of Achill Head, Achill Island, Ireland; the German crew was later rescued and interrogated. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Scharnhorst was detected by British RAF Coastal Command aircraft at La Pallice, La Rochelle, France by the results of a photo reconnaissance flight at 0915 hours. ww2dbase [Scharnhorst | CPC]
• HMS Manchester suffered an aerial torpedo hit on the port quarter in the Mediterranean Sea while escorting a convoy for Malta. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi operated off Indochina. ww2dbase [Akashi | CPC]
• Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109 aircraft. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | CPC]

• Allied Convoy OG 69 was spotted by a German Fw 200 Condor aircraft; the aircraft was shot down, but the Germans would dispatch additional aircraft daily to track the convoy. ww2dbase [HM]

• German troops captured Brest-Litovsk, Poland (now Belarus) after a month-long siege. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | Brzesc nad Bugiem, Polesie | TH]

• A British No. 44 Squadron Hampden bomber, returning from to Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom from a minelaying sortie, crashed into the staff residence of Lincoln Girls High School on Lindum Hill in the nearby city of Lincoln. The crew of four were all killed immediately as was the senior French mistress who died trying to escape from the burning building. Four other members of staff were injured and exploding ammunition peppered the surrounding area, seriously hampering the work of the fire and rescue teams. ww2dbase [Lincoln, England | AC]

• In Washington DC, United States, Senator Wendell Willkie (the defeated Republican candidate at the 1940 Presidential election) urged America to give unlimited aid to Britain. ww2dbase [Washington | AC]

23 Jul 1941 Interactive Map

• General Maximilian von Weichs was appointed to command Armeegruppe B, relieving General Fedor von Bock. ww2dbase [Maximilian von Weichs | TH]
• Adam Czerniaków passed away. ww2dbase [Adam Czerniaków | CPC]
• Indian troops launched an attack on Deir el Shein near El Alamein, Egypt in failure. ww2dbase [First Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
• Martin Bormann relayed Adolf Hitler's orders to Alfred Rosenberg, noting that the Slavic population in occupied Eastern Europe were to be nothing more than laborers of Germany, thus they did not need to be fed more food than absolutely necessary, and they were not to be educated. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian transport Rosolino Pilo, escorted by two destroyers and two smaller vessels, safely arrived at Benghazi, Libya after a three-day trip from Brindisi, Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-129 sank US ship Onondaga 5 miles north of Cayo Guillermo, Cuba at 2222 hours; 20 were killed, 14 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• German submarine U-752 sank British ship Garmula 200 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa; 21 were killed, 67 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]

• Douglas MacArthur arrived at Brisbane, Australia. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa of the Japanese 8th Fleet based at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago repeated his 21 Jul 1942 request for more destroyers. ww2dbase [Gunichi Mikawa | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Japanese troops engaged troops of the Papuan Infantry Battalion at Awala, Australian Papua on the Kokoda Trail. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Awala | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: First movies for all personnel, in mess hall. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland began mass extermination by gassing. Its first prisoners would be Jews recently deported from the ghetto in Warsaw. 700,000 would be killed within the following one year. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Treblinka Concentration Camp | Treblinka, Masovian | CPC]

• Führer Directive Number 45 was issued, ordering Operation Brunswick, the capture of the Caucasus region; Armeegruppe A would move through Maikop and Grozny to the Black Sea and Armeegruppe B would take Stalingrad on the drive to Astrakhan. Meanwhile, in southern Russia, German 13th Panzer Division, German 22nd Panzer Division, and Czechoslovakian Mobile Slovak Division captured the Kommolomny Bridge over the Don River at Rostov-on-Don. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | Rostov-on-Don, Rostov | TH, CPC]
• Aleksandr Vasilevsky was named a representative of the Soviet Stavka at Stalingrad, Russia. ww2dbase [Aleksandr Vasilevsky | Stalingrad | CPC]

• The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Washington DC, United States, fearful that the completion of the Japanese airfield on Guadacanal in the Solomon Islands might signal a renewed enemy advance in the South Pacific that could threaten US aid to New Zealand and Australia, agreed to Marine deployments to secure the lines of communication (Operation Watchtower). ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Washington | AC]
• Cruiser USS Raleigh and destroyer USS Shaw departed San Francisco, California bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii escorting a convoy of 8 ships. ww2dbase [Raleigh | Shaw | San Francisco, California | DS]

23 Jul 1942 Interactive Map

• German leader Fritz Sauckel ordered improvements in the living conditions for Eastern European workers in Germany who performed their functions well. ww2dbase [Fritz Sauckel | CPC]
• USS Gar arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• US Navy PBM Mariner aircraft attacked a German submarine in the Caribbean Sea, possibly U-759. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Charles J. Badger was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Charles J. Badger | CPC]

• Destroyer Yukikaze led a troop transport run to Kolombangara, New Georgia, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | Kolombangara, New Georgia | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Parachute building turned over to station. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Italian Air Force established plans to re-establish the 1st Air Force Assault Regiment "Amedeo d'Aosta" for possible use as guerrilla fighters in Sicily, Italy, but the plans would not come to fruition. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Soviet forces launched the Belgorod-Bogodukhov Offensive Operation toward Belgorod, Russia. ww2dbase [Battle of Belgorod | Belgorod | CPC]

23 Jul 1943 Interactive Map

• Hitler required that the Wehrmacht use the Hitler Gruß, the Nazi salute, in the aftermath of July Plot. ww2dbase [July Plot | TH]
• Soviet troops captured Pskov, Byelorussia. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | TH]
• After dark, a large group of British bombers attacked Kiel, Germany; the attack lasted through midnight into the next date. The German fighters summoned to intercept went after the decoy force rather than the main force. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• USS Astoria arrived at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. ww2dbase [Astoria (Cleveland-class) | CPC]

• In response to the American request for Chiang Kaishek to accept communist forces in his army, Chiang expressed that he would accept the request only if the Nationalist reserve forces would be off-limits to Joseph Stilwell, and if American Lend-Lease supplies would be controlled by Chiang. This counteroffer was to be rejected in the following month. ww2dbase [Yosuke Matsuoka | Chongqing | CPC]
• Wang Guangfu, flying a P-40N fighter, damaged a Ki-44 aircraft over China. ww2dbase [Wang Guangfu | CPC]

• The 1st Canadian Army (General H. D. G. Crerar) became operational in Normandy, France. ww2dbase [Basse-Normandie | AC]

• The German Gestapo arrested the head of German Abwehr Wilhelm Canaris. ww2dbase [Wilhelm Canaris | CPC]

• US 34th Division captured Pisa, Italy. ww2dbase [Advance to the Gothic Line | Pisa, Toscana | TH]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) left the Mariana Islands area and headed off to the west. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]

• USS Sterlet sank a small Japanese transport with three torpedoes (all missed) and her deck guns in the Pacific Ocean. ww2dbase [Sterlet | CPC]

• Tempest V fighters of No. 3 Squadron RAF based at RAF Newchurch in Kent, England, United Kingdom destroyed 13 V-1 flying bombs over the south eastern counties. At the same time further to the south the two Polish Squadrons were busy accounting for 8 more. One, shot down by Kasimierz Siwek PAF (315 Squadron) landed on the perimeter of RAF Kingsnorth, a prototype Advanced Landing Ground, narrowly missing aircraft parked there. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | Kingsnorth, England | HM]

23 Jul 1944 Interactive Map

• In Moscow, Russia, the Politburo approved the sentence of death by hanging of turncoat General Andrei Vlasov who had raised two divisions of Russian volunteers to fight for the Germans. ww2dbase [AC]
• American aviators reported the presence of barrage balloons 12,000 feet above Hitachi, Japan. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | CPC]
• Men landed by submarine USS Barb destroyed a train in Karafuto, Japan (Kurile Islands). ww2dbase [Barb | CPC]
• Major General William Donovan, director of the OSS, offered to turn over to the Russians an entire German intelligence unit commanded by the deputy foreign chief of the Gestapo, Dr. William Höttl. Generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower fumed when they heard about this unilateral gesture having despaired at cooperation with Moscow. ww2dbase [AC]

• The trial against Marshal Philippe Pétain began at Palais de Justice, Paris, France. ww2dbase [Philippe Pétain | Paris | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group 10 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Light carrier Hosho began preparations to depart Kure, Japan for Moji, Japan. ww2dbase [Hosho | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• USS Springer completed her patrol of the Kii Channel between Honshu and Shikoku islands of Japan and set sail for Guam, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Springer | CPC]
• I-400 departed Mutsu, Japan. ww2dbase [I-400 | Mutsu, Aomori | CPC]
• I-401 departed Mutsu, Japan. Shortly after, she was fired upon by friendly Japanese coastal artillery on the island of Hokkaido; she was able to submerge and escaped without damage. ww2dbase [I-401 | Mutsu, Aomori | CPC]

• A test bomb in the shape of the atomic bomb Little Boy, designated L-1, was dropped in the sea near Tinian, Mariana Islands from a B-29 bomber piloted by Paul Tibbets, to test the radar altimeter mounted on a B-29 bomber. ww2dbase [Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | Paul Tibbets | Tinian | CPC]

• USS Blenny reported sinking two small Japanese craft with the deck gun in the South China Sea off Malaya. ww2dbase [Blenny | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Sea Robin sank a small Japanese vessel with her deck gun in the East China Sea. ww2dbase [Sea Robin | East China Sea | CPC]

• Kamikaze arrived at Singapore. ww2dbase [Kamikaze | Singapore | CPC]

• The last USAAF personnel of Operation Frantic left Poltava, Ukraine as the final step in closing the operation. ww2dbase [Operation Frantic | Poltava | DS]

• USS Parche arrived at Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Parche | Midway | CPC]

23 Jul 1945 Interactive Map

• USS Sargent Bay was placed in reserve. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | CPC]
• Polish destroyer Garland was decommissioned from service and was returned to Britain. ww2dbase [Garland | CPC]

23 Jul 1946 Interactive Map

• Philippe Pétain passed away. ww2dbase [Philippe Pétain | CPC]

• Nikolaus von Falkenhorst was released from imprisonment due to health reasons. ww2dbase [Nikolaus von Falkenhorst | CPC]

• The People's Republic of Poland sentenced Jürgen Stroop to death by hanging for the brutal suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 and other crimes. ww2dbase [Jürgen Stroop | Warsaw | CPC]

• USS Rock departed San Diego, California, United States. ww2dbase [Rock | San Diego, California | CPC]

• Cordell Hull passed away. ww2dbase [Cordell Hull | CPC]

• The view of William Leahy's body at the Bethlehem Chapel at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, United States ended at 1200 hours. A Special Military Funeral for him was given at 1400 hours at the cathedral. Later in the afternoon, he was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, United States. Chester Nimitz, Thomas Hart, Charles Snyder, Louis Denfield, Arthur Radford, Edward Cochrane, Henry Williams, Jerauld Wright, Robert Dennison, Joseph Wellings, and William Hassett served as pallbearers. ww2dbase [William Leahy | Washington | CPC]

23 Jul 1959 Interactive Map