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• » 24 Oct 1943

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Sanya, Hainan, China. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• USS Cabrilla attacked a Japanese oiler with six torpedoes in the Dutch East Indies; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Cabrilla | CPC]

• British destroyers detected German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 east of the Azores not long after crossing the Bay of Biscay. She was forced to submerge and endure a severe depth-charge attack. During the height of the attack, commanding officer Kapitänleutnant Zschech shot himself in the submarine’s control room in front of his crew. First watch officer Oberleutnant zur See Paul Meyer took command and returned the boat to port with minimal damage. Zschech is believed to be the only submariner to commit suicide from the stress of a prolonged depth charging. ww2dbase [U-505 | DS]

• Leonard Siffleet was executed by beheading at the hands of Yasuno Chikao at Aitape, New Guinea. ww2dbase [Leonard Siffleet | Aitape | CPC]
• 62 B-25 bombers (modified for ground attack) from Dobodura, Australian Papua made rendezvous with 54 P-38 fighters from Kiriwina of Trobriand Islands, and the group attacked Rabaul, New Britain. The Americans lost 2 B-25 and 1 P-38 aircraft. The Japanese suffered 8 A6M fighters lost, 6 A6M fighters damaged, 2 G4M bombers lost, 5 G4M bombers heavily damaged, 27 G4M bombers lightly damaged. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]
• A Japanese patrol found a group of Australian and native coast watchers about 100 miles from Cape Orford on New Britain. Lieutenant Francis Barrett was killed in the engagement; Captain John Murphy, Sergeant Lambert Carlson, and others escaped. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | New Britain | CPC]

• Destroyer HMS Eclipse, heavily loaded with 200 troops, stores, and a Military Mission, destined for Leros, Greece, was sunk after hitting a mine off Kalymnos. The ship blew up at once and out of a total of 420, including the crew, a mere 44 men were recovered from the dark, dangerous oil covered sea by whalers from HMS Petard, following astern. ww2dbase [AC]

• Afghanistan and the Republic of China signed a friendly treaty in Ankara, Turkey. ww2dbase [Ankara | CPC]

• USS Ranger departed Scapa Flow bound for Rosyth, Scotland. ww2dbase [Ranger | Orkney Islands, Scotland | DS]

24 Oct 1943 Interactive Map