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• Weather data for 17 May 1943

• 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 [Main Article | CPC]

• Japanese 3rd Division surrounded Songzi, Hubei Province, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

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

• The Edersee Dam was breached by a British air attack. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The Möhnesee Dam in western Germany was breached by a British air attack. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• 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 [Main Article | CPC]

17 May 1943 Interactive Map