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• The British Commander-in-Chief of the Home Forces ordered an end to "blood-lust inculcation" in battle training. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The close escort force for Allied convoy PQ-16 was reinforced by 4 corvettes, 2 submarines, and 1 anti-aircraft vessel. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• US Navy intelligence officers determined that the Japanese fleet targeting Midway Atoll would likely depart on 26 May 1942. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | CPC]
• Soviet submarine ShCh-205 sank Turkish merchant ship Safak off Burgas, Bulgaria; Safak was suspected of bringing arms for German troops fighting in Ukraine. ww2dbase [ShCh-205 | CPC]
• German submarine U-103 sank US tanker Samuel Q. Brown 100 miles east of Cozumel, Mexico at 0926 hours; 2 were killed, 53 survived. U-155 sank Panamanian ship Watsonville just off Saint Vincent island in the Lesser Antilles islands. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• German submarine U-432 sank British ship Zurichmoor 150 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States just after 0000 hours, killing all 45 aboard. At 2200 hours, in the same general area, U-588 sank British ship Margot; 1 was killed, 44 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Japanese and Chinese troops clashed along the Hsipaw-Mogok road in northern Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• The United Stats Marine Corps established the Training Center, Fleet Marine Force at Marine Barracks, New River, North Carolina, United States. It was to include all Fleet Marine Force units and replacements except the 1st Marine Division. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The 4,626-ton German steamship Asuncion struck a mine laid by the Soviet submarine K-1 and sank north of Tromsø, Norway. ww2dbase [Norwegian Sea | HM]

• USS S-44 arrived at Brisbane, Australia, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [S-44 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Reginaldo Giuliani arrived at Bordeaux, France. ww2dbase [Reginaldo Giuliani | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• I-168 departed Kure, Japan on her second war patrol in the Midway area. ww2dbase [I-68/I-168 | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• Yamato arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. ww2dbase [Yamato | Hashirajima, Yamaguchi | CPC]
• Tenryu arrived at Maizuru, Japan. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Maizuru, Kyoto | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Baltimore bombers over Tobruk, Libya at 0720 and 0730 hours. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Tobruk | CPC]

• USS Ranger and Augusta departed Port of Spain, Trinidad bound for Quonset Point, Rhode Island. ww2dbase [Augusta | Ranger | Port of Spain | DS]

• German 14th Division and 16th Panzer Division, moving northward, and German 3rd Panzer Division and 23rd Panzer Division, moving southward, linked up, thus completing the encirclement of the Soviet 6th Army and 57th Army at Izium, Ukraine. In the same area, German troops captured Chepel to prevent the Soviet 38th Army from attacking the eastern side of the newly formed encirclement. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | Kharkov | CPC]

• Grand Duchess Charlotte arrived in Washington, United States and met with President Franklin Roosevelt. ww2dbase [Charlotte | Washington | CPC]

23 May 1942 Interactive Map