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• USS Franklin launched strikes in the Manila Bay area at Luzon, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Franklin | CPC]
• USS Trepang arrived at Majuro, Marshall Islands, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Trepang | CPC]
• USS Tang attacked an escorted Japanese convoy consisted of three tankers, one transport, and one freighter. She penetrated to the center of the convoy without being detected and fired nine torpedoes, eight of which found targets. All five ships were sunk, and Tang was able to escape unharmed. ww2dbase [Tang | CPC]
• USS Snook attacked a Japanese convoy over the course of the day, firing a total of 20 torpedoes. Scoring 7 total hits, she sank passenger-cargo ship Shinsei Maru Number 1, tanker Kikusui Maru, and passenger ship Arisan Maru (which was carrying 1,800 American prisoners of war, many of whom did not survive). ww2dbase [Snook | CPC]
• USS Croaker sank a Japanese freighter with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired and damaged a schooner. ww2dbase [Croaker | CPC]
• The first unmanned flight of the prototype Ohka aircraft was conducted over Sagami Bay, Japan. ww2dbase [MXY7 Ohka | CPC]
• HMS Activity arrived in Trincomalee, Ceylon. ww2dbase [Activity | CPC]
• After dark, USS Guitarro spotted the Japanese Center Force sailing toward the Philippine Islands and tracked this fleet through the Mindoro Strait. ww2dbase [Guitarro | CPC]
• Captain Charles Alfred Evelyn Stanfield was named the commanding officer of HMS Mauritius. ww2dbase [Mauritius | CPC]
• USS Nicholas entered Leyte Gulf, Philippines. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• Escort carrier USS Bogue and her task group arrived at Port Royal Bay, Bermuda. ww2dbase [Bogue | Port Royal Bay | DS]

• Six TDR drones were flown against beached Japanese ships in Moisuru Bay, Bougainville and off the south end of the Kahili airstrip. Two TDRs scored a direct hits on a beached Japanese freighter serving as an antiaircraft gun platform at Kahili, and one hit another beached merchantman in Moisuru Bay. ww2dbase [Kahili Airfield | TDR | Buin, Bougainville | DS]

• Patrol Boat No. 102 departed Zhoushan archipelago, Zhejiang, China at 0715 hours. ww2dbase [Stewart | Zhoushan, Zhejiang | CPC]

• Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-3 fighter, shot down a Bf 109 aircraft 8 kilometers south of Stallupönen, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Nesterov, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). ww2dbase [Stallupönen, Ostpreußen | CPC]

• German III.Panzer Korps launched a counter attack near Debrecen, Hungary. ww2dbase [Budapest Strategic Offensive Operation | Debrecen | TH]
• Hungarian and German soldiers rounded up Jews in the city of Budapest, Hungary. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Budapest | CPC]

• British 78th Division captured Monte Spaduro, Italy. ww2dbase [Gothic Line Offensive | CPC]

• Japanese Navy landing ship No. 161 was completed and was transferred to the Army as SB No. 101. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Off the Latvian coast, a shell exploded in the barrel of No. 3 gun of destroyer Z35, wounding one man and blowing the barrel and breech overboard. ww2dbase [Z35 | CPC]

• Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita transferred his flag aboard Yamato after his former flagship Atago was sunk by submarine USS Darter. ww2dbase [Yamato | South China Sea | CPC]
• US submarines Darter and Dace detected a Japanese fleet in the Palawan Strait and reported the movement. Darter sank cruisers Atago and Maya. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 1, the Leyte Campaign | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Sunfish arrived at the Yellow Sea. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | Yellow Sea | CPC]

• Nachi arrived at Coron, Palawan, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Nachi | Coron, Palawan | CPC]

• Togo departed Gotenhafen, Germany (occupied Gdynia, Poland). ww2dbase [Togo / Coronel | Gdynia, Pomorskie | CPC]

• A passenger aircraft crashed near the Taiwan Grand Shrine on Yuanshan Mountain in Taihoku (now Taipei), Taiwan, destroying a torii gate and other important structures of the shrine. ww2dbase [Taihoku | CPC]
• A Japanese passenger transport plane that had just taken off from Matsuyama Airfield (now Songshan Airport) in Taihoku (now Taipei), Taiwan lost control and crashed atop the mountain where the Taiwan Grand Shrine was located. The accident and resulting fires destroyed the Torii ceremonial archway, stone toro lanterns, and other structures. ww2dbase [Matsuyama Airfield | Taihoku | CPC]

• Prototype of the Welkin II nightfighter took its maiden flight. ww2dbase [Welkin | AC]

23 Oct 1944 Interactive Map