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• » 23 Mar 1943

• USS S-31 began patrolling in the Kwajalein area in the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• In its heaviest bombing raid to date, the British RAF Bomber Command attacked Dortmund, Germany with 2,000 tons of explosives. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• German 10th Panzer Division counterattacked the advancing American troops in the El Guettar region in Tunisia; heavy American anti-tank fire repulsed the German attack. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• In a free election in occupied Denmark, the Government Party won 143 seats while the Danish Nazi Party only won 5 seats. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German Luftwaffe aircraft sank HMS Windsor Castle off Algeria. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet troops surrounded the German headquarters at Ternopil, Ukraine. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Bernard Montgomery released British 1st Armoured Division from reserve to reinforce the New Zealand troops' offensive near Zarat, Tunisia. Indian 4th Division attacked the western end of the Mareth Line in coordination. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Heinrich Himmler's statistician reported to him that, thus far, 633,300 Russian Jews had been "resettled", with the latter word a likely euphemism for "exterminated". ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• 9 US B-17 bombers attacked the Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain, causing damage to the airfields. One of the bombers dropped large bombs in the Rabalanakaia volcano in an attempt to artificially cause an eruption, but the attempt was successful; the Americans did not realize that the volcano was actually dormant. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Nachi departed Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• USS Wahoo sank collier Katyosan Maru in the Laotieshan Channel between Liaoning Province and Shandong Province, China, hitting her with 1 of 1 torpedo. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Whale attacked a Japanese convoy off Saipan, Mariana Islands, hitting them with 4 of 6 torpedoes fired, sinking Kenyo Maru and damaging another freighter. A 7th torpedo was fired at the general direction of the convoy as she disengaged to discourage escorts from chasing her, but the torpedo circled back and almost struck USS Whale. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• A group of Greek Jews were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

23 Mar 1943 Interactive Map