23 Jul 1942
  • General Maximilian von Weichs was appointed to command Armeegruppe B, relieving General Fedor von Bock. ww2dbase [Maximilian von Weichs | TH]
  • Adam Czerniaków passed away. ww2dbase [Adam Czerniaków | CPC]
  • Indian troops launched an attack on Deir el Shein near El Alamein, Egypt in failure. ww2dbase [First Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
  • Martin Bormann relayed Adolf Hitler's orders to Alfred Rosenberg, noting that the Slavic population in occupied Eastern Europe were to be nothing more than laborers of Germany, thus they did not need to be fed more food than absolutely necessary, and they were not to be educated. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Italian transport Rosolino Pilo, escorted by two destroyers and two smaller vessels, safely arrived at Benghazi, Libya after a three-day trip from Brindisi, Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • German submarine U-129 sank US ship Onondaga 5 miles north of Cayo Guillermo, Cuba at 2222 hours; 20 were killed, 14 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
  • German submarine U-752 sank British ship Garmula 200 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa; 21 were killed, 67 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
Australia Australian New Guinea
  • Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa of the Japanese 8th Fleet based at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago repeated his 21 Jul 1942 request for more destroyers. ww2dbase [Gunichi Mikawa | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]
  • USS S-43 disembarked Flight Officer Cecil John Trevelyan Mason of the Royal Australian Air Force, liaison and rescue officer for friendly agents at one of the Feni Islands. ww2dbase [S-43 | Feni Islands | CPC]
Australian Papua Hawaii Poland Russia
  • Führer Directive Number 45 was issued, ordering Operation Brunswick, the capture of the Caucasus region; Armeegruppe A would move through Maikop and Grozny to the Black Sea and Armeegruppe B would take Stalingrad on the drive to Astrakhan. Meanwhile, in southern Russia, German 13th Panzer Division, German 22nd Panzer Division, and Czechoslovakian Mobile Slovak Division captured the Kommolomny Bridge over the Don River at Rostov-on-Don. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | Rostov-on-Don, Rostov | TH, CPC]
  • Aleksandr Vasilevsky was named a representative of the Soviet Stavka at Stalingrad, Russia. ww2dbase [Aleksandr Vasilevsky | Stalingrad | CPC]
United States
  • The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Washington DC, United States, fearful that the completion of the Japanese airfield on Guadacanal in the Solomon Islands might signal a renewed enemy advance in the South Pacific that could threaten US aid to New Zealand and Australia, agreed to Marine deployments to secure the lines of communication (Operation Watchtower). ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Washington | AC]
  • Cruiser USS Raleigh and destroyer USS Shaw departed San Francisco, California bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii escorting a convoy of 8 ships. ww2dbase [Raleigh | Shaw | San Francisco, California | DS]
  • Balao-class submarine Bowfin was laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire ww2dbase [Bowfin | Portsmouth, New Hampshire | DS]
Photo(s) dated 23 Jul 1942
French-built Canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider howitzer in service with 212 Battery, 64th Medium Regiment, British Royal Artillery, North Africa, 23 Jul 1942The USS Enterprise conducted flight training when steaming from Hawaii to Tonga on 23 Jul 1942. Here, upon landing, a TBF Avenger slid off the flight deck into the catwalks; no injuries.

23 Jul 1942 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Famous WW2 Quote
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Thomas Dodd, late 1945


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