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• German forces launched Operation Hannover to clear the Bryanks-Vyazma rail line of partisans. ww2dbase [TH]
• The first battalion of Spanish volunteers who fought under the German banner returned to Spain after completing a tour in Russia; up until this point, only the wounded were sent back to Spain from the Eastern Front. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-502 sank Brazilian ship Gonçalves Dias 100 miles south of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic; 6 were killed, 39 survived. U-103 sank Dutch ship Hetor 60 miles northwest of Grand Cayman island at 1640 hours; 2 were killed, 29 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• British trawler HMS Retriever broke away from Allied convoy PQ-16 and returned for Iceland. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• The floatplane of Japanese submarine I-9 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Kiska and Amchitka Islands in the US Territory of Alaska. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Comandante Cappellini sighted Argentinian freighter Rio De La Plata in the Atlantic Ocean at 0907 hours; no action was taken. At 1020 hours, she sighted an American cruiser escorted by destroyers, and she submerged to avoid detection, resurfacing at 1347 hours. At 1630 hours, she sighted a tanker and approached, but gave up the pursuit when she determined the target to be an Argentinian ship. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Second Happy Time | CPC]

• USS S-38 arrived at Brisbane, Australia, ending her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [S-38 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• 3 US B-26 Marauder bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, destroying the Genzan Air Group headquarters building and destroying four land-attack aircraft on the ground; 2 of the US bombers were damaged during this attack. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi exited the drydock at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Kure Naval Arsenal | Akashi | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• Warrant Officer Susumo Ito, flying in a submarine-based (submarine I-21) E14Y aircraft, conducted a photographic reconnaissance mission over Auckland, New Zealand. The Auckland airport controllers mistook the Japanese aircraft for a friendly one and turned on the landing lights. ww2dbase [E14Y | Auckland | CPC]

• All American warships in the Coral Sea area were recalled to Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii in anticipation of the Japanese attack on Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | CPC]
• While in the Solomon Sea, USS S-43 suffered a air compressor breakdown with her main engine. ww2dbase [S-43 | Solomon Sea | CPC]

• USS Pompano sank Japanese fishing vessel Kotoku Maru with the deck gun 20 miles northeast of Taiwan. ww2dbase [Pompano | CPC]

• Soviet troops at Izium, Ukraine were completed surrounded by German troops. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | Izium, Kharkov | TH, CPC]

• German bombers attacked the Royal Navy seaplane training center at Poole in southern England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Poole, England | CPC]

24 May 1942 Interactive Map