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• The fifth Axis air offensive against Yugoslav partisans began. ww2dbase [TH]
• Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Stillman led the 322nd Bomb Group on a disastrous low level mission to Haalem and Ijmuiden in the Netherlands. Light flak and Messerchmitt Bf 109G fighters accounted for the loss of ten out of the eleven American B-26 bombers that had set out. The only survivors were one crew that had turned back to its base early because of technical difficulties. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS New Mexico arrived at Kuluk Bay, Adak, US Territory of Alaska. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Adak | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Helm arrived at Sydney, Australia for a week-long tender overhaul alongside USS Dobbin at Wooloomooloo Wharf. ww2dbase [Helm | Sydney | DS]

• Japanese 3rd Division surrounded Songzi, Hubei Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | Songzi, Hubei | CPC]

• René-Émile Godfroy successfully lobbied for the rearmament of the interned French warships at Alexandria, Egypt. ww2dbase [René-Émile Godfroy | Alexandria | CPC]

• The Edersee Dam was breached by a British air attack. ww2dbase [Dambuster Raid | Eder, Kurhessen | CPC]
• The Möhnesee Dam in western Germany was breached by a British air attack. ww2dbase [Dambuster Raid | Möhnesee Dam | Soest, Westfalen-Süd | CPC]

• With further repairs complete, Gato-class submarine USS Silversides departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Silversides | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Bogue arrived at Hvalfjörður, Iceland where she stayed just one night. ww2dbase [Bogue | Hvalfjörður | DS]

• Destroyer USS Saufley departed Nouméa, New Caledonia bound for Efate, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Saufley | Nouméa | DS]

• USS Grayback sank freighter England Maru and damaged two others in the South Pacific with four torpedo hits; eight torpedoes were expended in this attack. ww2dbase [Grayback | CPC]
• Submarine USS Tinosa arrived on station off the Bungo Channel, Japan on her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Tinosa | DS]

17 May 1943 Interactive Map