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May 23rd, 1939 (TUESDAY)

GERMANY: Hitler announces to Keitel and his generals that he intends " to attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity."

U-43 is launched.

U.S.A.: The submarine USS Squalus sinks with 59 men off Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. 33 crew are saved. 26 are lost.

 

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23 May 1940

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May 23rd, 1940 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - road/rail communications at Avesnes, Maubeuge, Aulnoye and La Capelle. 58 Sqn. Five aircraft. 4 bombed, one FTR. 77 Sqn. Ten aircraft. All bombed. 102 Sqn. Nine aircraft. One returned early U/S, eight bombed. One damaged by Flak.

R V Jones, a scientist with Air Intelligence, tells the government that intersecting radio beams could guide Luftwaffe bombers to their targets.

London: Sir Oswald Mosley and 33 other Fascists, including a Member of Parliament, were arrested today on the orders of the Home Secretary. Under Defence Regulation 18B he has powers to detain members of organisations which may be used for purposes prejudicial to national security.

Mosley was arrested on returning to his flat in Dolphin Square in London. After a lightning raid on the office of the British Union of Fascists in Great Smith Street, eight other leading members were arrested. The MP arrested is Captain A M Ramsay, member for Peebles and president of the anti-Semitic ‘Right Club’.

The male detainees were taken to Brixton Prison. Six women detainees were in Holloway Prison last night. An official of the Ministry of Health, a secret Fascist, was also arrested.

The first prototype of the Covenanter tank is delivered. (Erik Lund)

Tug HMS Flamer launched.

Rescue tug HMS Assurance launched.

Minesweeper HMS Bangor launched.

Corvette HMS Campanula launched.

Destroyer HMS Harvester commissioned.

FRANCE: The Allies start to evacuate Boulogne as the Germans press on to the Channel ports.

Along the slopes of the Vimy Ridge Matilda tanks of the British 1st Army Tank Brigade check 7 Panzer Division.

On the night of 22/23, when Guderian had received news of Kleist’s permission to use his 10th Panzers, he decided that it should relieve the 1st at Calais, the capture of which was not urgent, in order to hurl this division against Dunkirk, as it was in a good position to attack that port. The most important consideration, in fact, was to cut the last vital artery of the Allied armies as soon as possible.

Therefore at 10 am, the 1st Panzers pivoted eastwards and advanced towards Dunkirk, using both the Bourbourgville and the Gravelines roads. During the day it was delayed by some centres of resistance, but mostly by the Allied air force, the superiority of which was for the first time reported by von Kleist to the OKH.

By the evening 1 Panzer has reached the Aa canal, between Holque and the coast, i.e. at the extreme right of the "canal line" which had been improvised only three days before by Lord Gort, and was very weakly held by mainly French troops from Gravelines to Saint-Momelin and the British south of Saint-Momelin.

Reinhardt’s corps arrives on the Aa canal between Saint-Omer and Aire, ready for a thrust to Cassel and Hazebrouck.

Boulogne: The British 20th Guards Brigade re-embarks on the destroyers which had brought it into Boulogne the day before. The French still hold out.

Calais: Attacked by 10 Panzer, it is defended by units of 21 Infantry Division (French) and British 30 Infantry Brigade, which had disembarked on the 22nd with a battalion of tanks.

Destroyer FS Jaguar sunk off Dunkirk by German MTBs S-21 and S-23.

Destroyer FS Orage bombed and sunk off Boulogne.

 

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: All three fleet carriers are proceeding to Scapa Flow in thick fog. HMS Ark Royal in company with the destroyers HMS Brazen, HMS Encounter, and HMS Volunteer in one force, while HMS Glorious and HMS Furious form the core of a second force. The later force arrived at  2134, 23 May, and commenced refuelling. (Mark Horan)

The carriers HMS Furious and HMS Glorious have flown ashore the first modern RAF fighters.

CANADA:

Patrol vessel HMCS Husky (ex-US Yacht Wild Duck) commissioned.

Corvette HMCS Amherst laid down Saint John, New Brunswick.



U.S.A.: US President Roosevelt wins the Democratic Party primary in Vermont and is assured the nomination for President by his party.

Submarine USS Marlin laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1254, the Sigurd Faulbaums was hit by two torpedoes from U-9 and sank by the stern in a few minutes. The ship was in tow of two tugs when torpedoed. The crew abandoned ship in seven lifeboats and was picked up by the tugs shortly thereafter.

For the second day in a row, U-101 in the North Atlantic encountered an enemy submarine. The latter fired torpedoes but the U-boat was able to dodge them.

U-122 encountered an enemy submarine in the North Atlantic, but neither boat attacked.

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23 May 1941

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May 23rd, 1941 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The "black propaganda" station GS1 makes its first broadcast to Germany, calling Churchill a "flat-footed bastard of a drunken old Jew."   (More on German propaganda radio stations.)

London:

The Admiralty invites the governments of Canada and Newfoundland to use St. John's, Newfoundland as an advanced base for joint escort services. This will enable continuous naval escort over the whole of the north Atlantic route.

In May 1941, the enemy started dropping a new type of mine, known as 'G' type, which had no parachute and which if it did not explode on impact, buried itself deeply in the ground (twenty to thirty feet or more). On 22 May 1941, Lt Frederick Ronald Bertram Fortt, RNVR, and Lt Denis James Patrick O'Hagan RCNVR were sent to Nuneaton to deal with one of the first 'G' mines dropped on land and unexpended. It was already known that it contained a new anti-handling mechanism activated by a photo-electric cell, which would explode when exposed to daylight and it was necessary to remove the unit of the mine containing this device before the mine would be safe to handle. Instruction showed that it was necessary to work in darkness and also that the mine would probably be magnetically alive and sensitive to any magnetic influence. The Nuneaton Bomb Disposal Squad (Lt R.A. McClune) volunteered to work on the preliminary heavy excavation, up to the point of locating the mine. The mine was found at twenty-two feet and Fortt and O'Hagan freed the end from the surrounding sub-soil; then widened the bottom of the shaft sufficiently for the necessary operations to be carried out upon the magnetic unit. The soil being in the form of petrified clay, work could only be carried out with picks and shovels regardless of any effect which the vibrations would have upon the mechanism of the mine -- then very largely and unknown quantity. To add to the difficulties, those parts which had to be removed in the early and most dangerous stages of the operation were very heavy, in practice too heavy for one man alone -- this was why two officers were sent. Working in the dark, they successfully removed the magnetic unit and primer and, after further excavation, the fuse. Dealing with an unknown mine, courage of a very high order is required. The operation was brought to a successful conclusion. Fortt has been in Land Incident Section for eight months and has dealt with thirty mines. O'Hagan for ten months and has dealt with twenty-three mines.

Authorization of construction or acquisition of 550,000 tons of auxiliary shipping for Navy.

FRANCE: Admiral Darlan tells why France chose collaboration freely. For "ameliorations of the consequences of defeat and of the conditions of the armistice. . . . It is necessary for her to choose between life and death. The Marshal and the Government have chosen life".

GERMANY: Göring  issues a directive for economic exploitation of the USSR, in which he says that famine and the deaths of millions of Russians are inevitable.

Hitler orders military support for Rashid Ali's rebels in Iraq.

GREECE: CRETE: King George of the Hellenes flees to Egypt.

Destroyer HMS Kelly (commanded by Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, second cousin of King George VI and the only man other than the King to hold rank in all three military services simultaneously) in company with HMS Kashmir is attacked by a force of 24 Ju.87 dive-bombers. Kelly is struck amidships by a single bomb whilst turning under full helm at 30 knots and rolls over to port. She remains afloat upside down for half an hour before sinking 13 miles south of Crete at 34 40N 24 10E.  There are 128 survivors, including Mountbatten who is thrown in to the Mediterranean.Mountbatten was still on the bridge of the ship when it finally flipped over; nevertheless, he managed to swim to shore and take control of the rescue operation.

Destroyer HMS Kashmir (in company with Kelly) sinks within two minutes of the air attack. There are 153 survivors who are rescued by HMS Kipling which is also attacked, but escapes by some nifty handling. It leaves her so short of fuel that net layer HMS Protector has to be sent out from Alexandria to supply her with fuel. Kipling lands 281 survivors from both destroyers.  (Alex Gordon)(108)

Many of the survivors are rescued by HMS Kipling after being machine-gunned in the water.

HMS Hasty (Capt. Nigel Austen) in company with HMS Hotspur sink U-79 after a a long and determined pursuit in which both warships almost exhausted their supply of depth charges. For this Capt. Austen will receive his first DSO and a personal visit from the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, who is delighted at this first U-boat kill in the eastern Mediterranean.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Gunboat FS Meuliere wrecked off Ajjacio, Corsica.

CANADA: HMCS Woodstock laid down Collingwood, Ontario.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Newfoundland Command and Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF) established. There were virtually no naval facilities in existence in St. Johns and initially, ships of the Royal Navy provided from operational support alongside. The RN auxiliary oiler Teakwood arrived on 29 May and the stores ship City of Dieppe arrived on 03 Jun. A second oiler, Clam, arrived on 9 Jun and on 14 Jun the submarine depot ship FORTH arrived. She was replaced in Sep by the destroyer depot ship Greenwich, which, despite her smaller size and greater age, was more suited to the needs of the NEF. A Great Lakes passenger steamer, known as HMCS Avalon II, was added to serve as an afloat barracks. Cmdre Leonard Warren Murray RCN arrived to assume command on 15 Jun. For a number of months his entire staff consisted of his deputy, Cdr Robert Edward Bidwell RCN (who did not arrive until Jul 41), and his flag secretary. The first escort of a convoy by the NEF was quickly undertaken on 02 Jun when HMC ships Chambly, Orillia and Collingwood put to sea to join with the 57-ship Halifax to Liverpool Convoy HX-129. This convoy, which left Halifax on 27 May, was the first to have continuous close escort all the way across the Atlantic. It arrived safely in Liverpool on 12 Jun 41.

Corvette HMCS Quesnel commissioned.

Destroyer HMCS Saguenay departed Greenock for St John's.

Corvettes HMCS Aggasiz, Alberni, Chambly, Cobalt, Collingwood, Orillia and Wetaskiwin departed Halifax for St John's to join Newfoundland Escort Force.

U.S.A.: Submarine USS Grampus commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: In the early evening, heavy cruisers HMS Suffolk and shortly HMS Norfolk sight BISMARK and Prinz Eugen north west of Iceland and shadow them southwestwards through the Denmark Strait. HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales, escorted by destroyers HMS Electra, HMS Anthony, HMS Echo, HMS Icarus, HMS Achates and HMS Antelope, press on to intercept west of Iceland.

HMS Ark Royal, Renown and Sheffield, accompanied by HMS Faulknor, Foresight, Forester, Fortune, Foxhound and Fury, are dispatched to the Atlantic to search for BISMARK.

At 1951, the Berhala was hit by one torpedo from U-38 in the engine room at the port side, killing the third engineer, the fifth engineer and the donkeyman 1st class. The port lifeboat was destroyed and immediately after the hit Chinese crewmembers cut through the ropes of the other lifeboat and rowed away in it. At 2020 a second torpedo struck the vessel and the remaining crewmembers had to jump overboard, because the ship sank within eight minutes about 250 miles off Freetown. Shortly after the sinking, the survivors were picked up by a British warship and taken to Freetown.

During heavy weather in the North Atlantic, a lookout on U-46 broke his arm.

 

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23 May 1942

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May 23rd, 1942 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette FS Commandant d'Estienne d'Orves (ex-HMS Lotus) commissioned.

GERMANY:

U-222 commissioned.

U-425 laid down.

U-267 and U-448 launched.

 

U.S.S.R.: The Russian 6th and 57th Armies are being encircled west of the Donets, in the Izyum salient, by the German 6th, 17th and 1st Panzer Armies.

INDIA: Lieutenant-General Joseph Stilwell and his men arrive at Dimapur, having retreated 150 miles through the Burmese jungle. "We have taken a hell of a beating," he says.

AUSTRALIA: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-29 launches a Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane, Allied Code Name "Glen," to fly a reconnaissance mission over Sydney.

Minesweeper HMAS Horsham launched.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: Cdr Joseph Rochefort of the Combat Intelligence Unit, Pearl Harbor (a.k.a. HYPO), personally attends Admiral Nimitz's morning staff meeting to deliver the final version of Admiral Yamamoto's OpOrder for the attack and occupation of Midway. (RADM D. M. (Mac) Showers)

"The Roundtable Forum, official newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable, <www.midway42.org>."

CANADA:

Tankers HMCS Dundalk and Dundurn ordered.

Minesweeper HMCS Port Arthur laid down Port Arthur, Ontario.

Corvette HMCS Woodstock arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.

Minesweeper HMCS Portage laid down.

U.S.A.: Washington: The USA today signed an accord with Brazil aimed at boosting the defence of the American continent. The possibility of an Axis attempt to gain a toehold in the Americas has worried the Americans ever since the attack on Pearl Harbor. The long Atlantic seaboard of Brazil, which broke off relations with the Axis powers on 28 January this year, could be a prime target.

Under the pact Brazilian air and naval forces in the north-east of the country would be under the command of the US South Atlantic Force, responsible for sea defence. Land operations will come under the aegis of the Brazilian army.

Another unarmed U.S. merchant tanker is sunk in the Caribbean south of the Yucatan Channel by a German submarine (U-103).

A production order is placed for F6F-3 fighters with the R-2800 engine. (Will O'Neil)

Minesweepers USS Caution and Change laid down.

Minesweepers USS Sentinel and Seer launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-333 encountered an enemy submarine in the North Atlantic, but neither boat attacked.

At 0926, the unescorted Samuel Q Brown was hit by one torpedo from U-103 about 100 miles south of Cape Corrientes, Cuba. The ship had been spotted at 0139 and was missed by a spread of two torpedoes at 0402. The torpedo struck on the port side at the bulkhead between the #9 tank and the after fuel tanks and set the vessel on fire immediately. The engines were stopped and the master ordered the boats to be launched, but the eight officers, 31 crewmen and 16 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, four 20mm and two .30cal guns) were forced to jump overboard and swam to two lifeboats and two rafts that were cut loose. Two crewmembers were lost. The survivors were questioned by the U-boat that surfaced 20 minutes after the hit and then left the area after hitting the tanker with a coup de grâce at 1035. On 23 May, the survivors, now together in the two lifeboats, were spotted by a USN patrol plane Upham, Canal Zone. The plane took five injured men on board and brought them to a hospital at Key West, Florida. The remaining survivors were picked up the next day by USS Goff and taken to Cristobal after the hulk was scuttled by gunfire from the destroyer on 25 May.

SS Watsonville sunk by U-155 at 13.12N, 61.20W.

SS Zurichmoor sunk by U-432 at 39.30N, 66.00W.

Steam tanker William Boyce Thompson damaged by U-558 at 04.05S, 35.58W.

At 2203, the unescorted Margot was hit by one torpedo from U-588 SE of Philadelphia. After 2205, the ship was attacked with gunfire until she sunk at 0020 on 24 May in grid CB 4720. One crewmember was lost. The officers of the U-boat questioned the survivors and a bottle of rum was given to them. The master, 38 crewmembers and five gunners were picked up four days later by the Swedish merchantman Sagoland and landed at New York.

 

 

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23 May 1943

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May 23rd, 1943 (SUNDAY)

GERMANY: Berlin: Dönitz orders all U-boats to be fitted with anti-aircraft guns.

Tonight the RAF drops 2,000 tons of bombs on Dortmund. 100,000 tons of bombs have been dropped on Germany since the war began.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: 

On Attu Island, the Americans begin a two-pronged attack on Fish Hook Ridge located southwest of Attu Village between Chichagof Harbor and the east arm of Holtz Bay. The 4th Infantry Regiment attacks the west face while the Southern Landing Force attacks the east face. The attacks are stopped cold by the Japanese.

The USAAF's Eleventh Air Force dispatches six B-24 Liberators and 12 B-25 Mitchells to fly three air-ground support missions over Attu but due to bad weather, they are rerouted to attack Kiska Island. Weather there is also poor and only one B-25 bombs the Main Camp area. Next, three B-24s and 18 P-38 Lightnings fly three air cover missions to Attu. The last of these missions is notified by a USN PBY Catalina that 16 Japanese bombers are west of Attu and five of the P-38s intercept the bombers over the island; the bombers jettison their bombs and close formation but five are shot down and seven are listed as probables; two P-38s are lost. 

A Navy construction battalion lands on Attu to begin construction of an airbase.

U.S.A.: The USS New Jersey BB-62 is commissioned. The sister ships of the Iowa class are: USS Iowa, USS Missouri and USS Wisonsin. She displaces 45,000 tons, with a length of 887 feet 7 inches, a draft of 38 feet and beam of 108 feet 1 inch. Powered by 4 Westinghouse turbines fired by 8 boilers, with 212,000 shaft horsepower, she has a top speed of 33+ knots. She will carry a crew (WWII) of 120 officers and 3,000 enlisted men. Nine 16"/50 cal guns in 3 turrets are the main armament, with 20 5"/38 cal dual purpose guns in twin mounts for the secondary armament. AA weapons include 64 40mm AA guns in 16 quad mounts and 49 20mm AA guns. She carries 3 Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes.

Frigate USS Reading laid down

Submarine USS Dorado launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Fairey Swordfish Mk. II, aircraft "B" of No. 819 Squadron in the escort aircraft carrier HMS Archer, damages the German submarine U-752 in the North Atlantic with rockets and the sub is scuttled by her crew in position 51.40N, 29.49W; 17 of the 46-man crew survive. This is the first successful sinking of a U-boat using rockets.

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23 May 1944

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May 23rd, 1944 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies three missions.

Mission 364: 1,045 bombers and 562 fighters are dispatched to hit airfields and rail targets in France; three bombers are lost:

1. 580 B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched to the marshalling yard at Metz (34 bomb), Epinal (36 bomb) and Chaumont (54 bomb); airfields at Orleans/Bricy (17 bomb) and Chateaudun (18 bomb); secondary targets hit are marshalling yards at Saarbrucken, Germany (139 bomb), Bayon (12 bomb), the town of Neunkirchen, Germany (37 bomb), Caen/Carpiquet Airfield (18 bomb) and 12 hit targets of opportunity; two B-17s are lost.

2. 465 B-24s are dispatched to hit airfields at Orleans/Bricy (167 bomb), Bourges (84 bomb), Avord (88 bomb) and Etampes/Mondesir (97 bomb); one aircraft hits a target of opportunity; one B-24 is lost.

Escort is provided by 96 P-38s, 142 P-47 Thunderbolts and 324 P-51 Mustangs; none are lost and no Luftwaffe aircraft are claimed.

Mission 365: 103 P-51s are dispatched to bomb a railroad bridge at Hasselt, Belgium; 75 bomb escorted by 14 acting as top cover; one P-51 is lost.

Mission 366: Four of five B-17s drop 928,000 leaflets on Belgium and The Netherlands without loss.

Seven B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations.

The USAAF's Ninth Air Force in England dispatches B-26 Marauders and P-38s against targets in France; 15 B-26s bomb the airfield at Beaumont-le-Roger in a predawn attack; during the afternoon 58 B-26s bomb coastal batteries at Etretat/Sainte-Marie-Au-Bosc, Maisy and Mont Fleury; and 120+ P-38s strafe and bomb rolling stock in central France.

Corvette HMS Alnwick Castle launched.

Boom defense vessel HMS Pretext launched.

Submarine HMS Virulent launched.

GERMANY: U-2505 and U-3002 laid down.

POLAND: The Germans cease to look for the remains of the V2 rocket which fell into the River Bug on 20 May. The Poles now remove the rocket with a team of horses and transport it on two heavy farm carts to a barn in the village of Holowczyce-Kolonia. (Alex Gordon)(129)

ITALY: US VI Corps attacks Cisterna making some gains at Anzio. Forcing a drive from the beach-head towards the hills.

The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy sends 300+ B-17s and B-24s to attack troop concentrations and communications in the rear of the battle area, at Avezzano, Subiaco, Valmontone, Marino, Nemi and Grottaferrata; P-38s and P-51s provide escort; other P-38s, covered by P-47s, strafe the airfield at Ferrara.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Aircraft of Task Group 58.6, the USS Essex (CV-9) with Carrier Air Group Fifteen (CVG-15), USS Wasp (CV-18) with CVG-14, and USS Jacinto (CVL-30) with Light Carrier Air Group Fifty One (CVLG-51), attack Wake Island.

The destroyer escort USS England (DE-635) sinks another Japanese submarine, RO-104, involved in Operation "NA;" this is the third submarine sunk by the DE in four days. The sub is sunk 250 miles (402 km) north-northwest of Kavieng, New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Loch Craggie launched.

U.S.A.:

Destroyers USS Harlan R Dickson and Hugh Purvis laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Thaddeus Parker laid down.

Destroyer escort USS Rolf launched.

Destroyer escort USS Tabberer commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-387 was commissioned at Los Angeles with LT J. L. Gray, USCG, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest and Western Pacific areas during the war.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-764 was attacked by an enemy aircraft and damaged. One crewmember wounded.

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23 May 1945

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May 23rd, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: British PM Churchill forms a caretaker government to serve until the elections. This action is due to the withdrawal of the Labour Party from the coalition government.

The general election - the first for ten years - will be on 5 July. The run-up to the contest to decide Britain's post-war future began today with Mr. Churchill going to see the King.

He resigned as prime minister and thus automatically ended the wartime coalition government. The constitutional wheels had been well-oiled. Four hours later the king asked Mr. Churchill to form a new government. He agreed. But would the king then graciously dissolve parliament next month to allow the July election?

The king assented. Mr. Churchill at once started forming a caretaker team in which Labour leaders and most of the Liberals will refuse to serve. Earlier this week the prime minister asked Labour to stay in the coalition government at least until Japan is defeated. Under pressure from party activists Mr. Attlee replied: "We will carry on only until October."

Mr. Churchill said that this was unacceptable for it would herald a period of damaging uncertainty. There is a feeling at Westminster that Labour's vote-gathering organization is in a higher state of readiness than that of its rivals. This explains the tactical manoeuvring over the date.

The Allies reveal PLUTO - the Pipeline Under The Ocean - which supplied them with fuel after the D-Day landings.

Minesweeper HMS Mariner commissioned.

HMC MTB 748 paid off.

GERMANY: Heinrich Himmler now captured by the British, commits suicide between being searched and his first questioning. He died as he was being examined by a British doctor at Second Army HQ, Luneburg. He had been stripped and searched, but when the doctor put a finger in his mouth Himmler jerked his head back and crunched a tiny phial of cyanide. Stomach pumps and emetics failed to save him. He was left in a heap on the floor until he had been seen by a Red Army liaison officer. Himmler, who was 44, went on the run after Germany's surrender. Stopped by a British patrol near Hamburg, he claimed to be a rural policeman called Heinrich Hitzinger, but under interrogation he removed the black eye patch he was wearing and put on the familiar full-moon glasses.

Flensburg: Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, the so-called Flensburg Führer, was arrested this morning along with members of his "government". The German high command was also dissolved and the officers placed under arrest on the orders of General Eisenhower. Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg, who signed the surrender at Luneburg, was allowed to visit the lavatory after his arrest; there he took poison.

Outside the town, at Schloss Glucksburg, Albert Speer, the minister of armaments and war production, was in his bath when an Allied officer told him that he was under arrest. "A good thing too," he said. "It was just an opera anyway."

The Allies were fearful that without a German government acting as a central authority the Wehrmacht units would not surrender smoothly. Now the German surrender is effectively finished.

For some Germans, however, it is a different story. Wernher von Braun and other rocket scientists have been taken to France to be put on board a ship for the US. Reinhard Gehlen, a senior intelligence officer, brought with him the files on German agents in the Soviet Union. He too has been made welcome by the Americans.

St. Johann: US troops dig up $4 million in mixed currencies, believed to be Himmler's personal cache.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Frigate HMCS Loch Alvie departed Kola Inlet with Convoy RA-67.

JAPAN: The 6th Marine Division south of Naha, Okinawa meets heavy resistance.

The USAAF's Twentieth Air Force based in the Mariana Islands flies Mission 181: During the night of 23/24 May, 520 out of 562 B-29 Superfortresses sent against Tokyo bomb an urban-industrial area south of the Imperial Palace along the western side of the harbor; five others hit targets of opportunity; 17 B-29s are lost; this is the largest number of B-29s participating in a single mission during World War II.

Mines laid by B-29s sink three Japanese cargo vessels and damage a fourth.

U.S.A.: Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-251 was commissioned with LT Robert A. Copeland, Jr. USCGR, as first commanding officer. He was succeeded 9 December 1945 by Boatswain Peter Butler, USCG. On 21 June 1944, she departed 3rd Naval District for the Southwest Pacific. On 7 December 1945, she was turned over with all equipment, stores, etc. to U. S. 6th Army at Nagoya, Japan, Captain J. J. Freeman, U. S. Army signing the receipt for the Army.

Corvette HMCS Morden departed New York as escort for Convoy HX-358.

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