23 August 1939

August 23rd, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
King George leaves Balmoral and returns to London.
A personal appeal from Chamberlain is delivered to Hitler at Berchtesgaden.

Lloyd's of London increases war-risk rates as Europe braces for war.

Destroyer leader HMS Kelly commissioned.

FRANCE:

France begins mobilisation.

French citizens are advised to leave Paris.

Churchill leaves France and returns to London.

Daladier asks the Permanent Committee for National Defence whether they could stand by and watch the disappearance of Poland and Romania; they agree that they cannot.

BELGIUM proclaims its neutrality.

ITALY:
Sir Percy Loraine (British Ambassador to Rome) is confident that the Italians will not fight, and Mussolini declares himself ready to mediate.

U.S.S.R.:
Moscow: The Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact is signed. If either became involved in a war the other would give no help to the enemy; nor would either join any group against the other.
There was no clause stating that withdrawal was allowed if one signatory attacked a third party, although this was customary in such treaties.
There was also a secret protocol providing, in the event of what was referred to as a territorial transition taking place in Poland, for the partition of that country along the line of the rivers Pisa, Narew, Vistula and San. Allocating to the Soviet Union all the Byelorussian and Ukrainian provinces of Poland, as well as the province of Lublin and part of that of Warsaw. Germany was to take the western part of the country, though the possibility of retaining a small remnant of a Polish state was kept open at this stage. The USSR was to have a free hand in Finland, Estonia and Latvia; and Germany in Lithuania. Soviet interest in the Rumanian province of Bessarabia was recognised by Germany.

Khalkin-Gol: Northern group reinforced by 212th Airborne Brigade seizes the Palets Heights. In fierce hand to hand combat 600 Japanese soldiers are killed. Zhukov begins to reduce the trapped Japanese forces.

U.S.A.: The Dow Jones industrial average, responding to the news of potential war in Europe, suffers a US$3.25 (US$40.12 in year 2000 dollars) drop to close the day at US$131.82 (US$1,627.41 in year 2000 dollars).

23 August 1940

August 23rd, 1940 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:
Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Little activity due to cloudy, showery weather.

Night attacks on Bristol, South Wales (Cardiff).

Some Luftwaffe bombers drop their bombs on London when they are unable to find their targets. The attack is unintentional, and against explicit instructions of the German high command.

Manston received 30 more bombs at 01:25 and three Ju88s attacked Thorney Island.

Other incidents involved the Scillies, where 15 HEs fell on and around the radio station. At Colchester there were 40 casualties and Cromer, Harwich, Maidstone, Portsmouth and Tangmere were all bombed.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 2; RAF, 0.

U-37 sinks SS Keret and SS Severn Leigh.

GERMANY:
Berlin: The propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, worried by recent British successes, orders that ridicule of the English way of life must stop and the enemy's fighting spirit be stressed instead.
NBBS reports that the shelling of Dover by long-range artillery from the French coast indicates a German intention to land in that area.

ROMANIA: A DC-3-227 of the Romanian airline LARES (Linile Aeriene Romane Exploatate cu Statul) crashes at Cluj; all 21 on the aircraft are killed.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA:
Heavy mining in the Strait of Sicily by Italian surface ships leads to the loss of destroyer HMS Hostile (H 55) on passage from Malta to Gibraltar 18 miles SE of Cape Bon, Tunisia at 36 53N, 11 19E in what was previously thought to have been a safe area. This is minefield 5AN, laid a couple of days earlier by the Italian destroyers Maestrale, Grecale, Libeccio and Scirocco. She is eventually scuttled and sunk by torpedo from HMS Hero after her crew has been transferred. Extensive Italian fields in the 'Sicilian Narrows' sink and damage many RN ships over the next three years. (Alex Gordon)(108)

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Edmunston laid down Esquimalt, British Columbia.

U.S.A.: From the "Christian Science Monitor", Pg. 7: "U.S. Builds Biggest Bomber And Fastest Combat Plane"

General Arnold displayed the world's fastest military airplane—the Lockheed interceptor— to William S. Knudsen, Chairman of the National defence Advisory Committee, and told for the first time its performance figures.
Its speed. General Arnold said. Is 460 miles an hour at two-thirds throttle, but it is stepped up past 500 miles per hour when "wide open."
Its range is 1,100 miles; rate of climb 4,000 feet a minute; armament, one rapid fire cannon, shooting a one-pound shell, and four machine guns.

(Will O'Neil)

23 August 1941

August 23rd, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Submarine HMS P39 is launched.

FRANCE: General Schaumburg as Kommandant von Gross-Paris announces: "...all Frenchmen taken into custody, either by the German authorities in France or on orders originating with them, will be regarded as hostages. Should any further criminal action occur, hostages will be shot in a number corresponding to the seriousness of that action."

"Orion", a German merchant cruiser, arrives in the Gironde Estuary. After 510 days, 6 ships for 39,000 tons have been sunk. Seven other ships were sunk with the raider "Komet".

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler is unimpressed by the argument of the Panzer commander General Heinz Guderian, that Moscow should be the next target for attack.

U-755, U-629 and U-630 are laid down. U-155 is commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: The German 2nd Panzer Group and 2nd Army of Army Group Centre begin advancing south to link up east of Kiev with Army Group South. Hitler has insisted on this change in strategy, which stops the German advance on Moscow.

ITALY: Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit a marshalling yard at Bari. Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) B-26 Marauders bomb the Battipaglia marshalling yard.

BURMA: USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells fly a low-level strike against Myitnge bridge, knocking out a centre span and badly damaging 2 others.

CHINA: The Japanese bomb Chungking for the first time since 1941.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Calgary is launched from Sorel, Province of Quebec.

HMC S-09 arrives at Montreal, Province of Quebec, under tow. Built by British Power Boat Co., Hythe, for the ELCO Boat Corp., New Jersey. Arrived without engines, fitted with two 500 H.P., 45 tons, 70x20x4.5ft, 22kts, 4-.5in mg (2xII), 4-18in TT. Post WW.II, Jun 45 returned to RN by way of British Naval Liaison Officer New York

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Emmons is launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Whilst escorting convoy OG.71, Flower class corvette HMS Zinnia is torpedoed by U-564 West of Portugal at 40 43N 11 39E. The corvette exploded after the torpedo struck and caused 49 casualties. (Alex Gordon)(108)

SS Spind damaged by U-564 in Convoy OG-71.

U-143 sank SS Inger.

U-201 sank SS Aldergrove and SS Stork in Convoy OG-71.

U-552 sank SS Spind in Convoy OG-71.

HMCS Trail, a Flower-class corvette, departed St. John's to join with the 62-ship Halifax to Liverpool convoy HX-146, as part of the convoy’s close escort as far as Iceland. The relatively short endurance of most British escorts, but especially the corvettes, forced a complicated series of meeting points and escort handovers in order to provide continuous protection for convoys across the Atlantic. The corvettes, because of their short length and broad beam, suffered badly from plunging and rolling in heavy weather. This resulted in as much as a one-third reduction in their effective range. The sustained use of high speed in screening and reacting to emergencies also drove up their fuel consumption. The combined effect of weather, defensive screening, enemy action, poor mechanical condition and improper engineering operations all drove down endurance to the point where most small escorts could no longer traverse the Atlantic. British sloops were the only exception to this very debilitating endurance limitation. Like destroyers, early attrition reduced their numbers significantly. Convoy HX-146 arrived safely in Liverpool on 06 Sep 41 with all ships intact.

23 August 1942

August 23rd, 1942 (SUNDAY)

ÉIRE: A Luftwaffe Ju 88 and an RAF Spitfire Mk. V crash after they shoot each other down. The Spitfire, assigned to No. 315 (Polish) Squadron based at Ballyhalbert, County Down, Ireland, crashes at Ratoath, County Meath; the pilot, Sergeant Sawiak, is taken to the hospital but dies of his injuries. The Ju 88 crashes at Touger, County Waterford; one of the four man crew is injured. The four Germans are interned for the rest of the war.

UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minster Winston Churchill accepts President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal that the U.S. operate Persian Gulf facilities for aid to USSR.

Destroyer HMS Blean commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: After a year-long siege of the city, Hitler orders the final attack on Leningrad (Operation Nordlicht).

Achieving a propaganda victory, German troops climb Bt Elbrus in the Caucasus.

A battle group of the 16th Panzer Division and the 3rd and 60th Infantry Divisions rapidly advances from the Don River, reaching the west bank of the Volga River between Rynak and Erzovka north of Stalingrad.

At Izbushensky in the bend of the River Don, the Italian Savoia Cavalry, made up of 600 mounted men, counter attack Soviet Army units comprised of 2,000 men with mortar and artillery support. One cavalry squadron attacks head on, while the other, possessing only sabres, rides behind the enemy lines on horseback. They completely catch the Soviets by surprise and overrun the Soviet position. This last cavalry attack of World War II resulted in the destruction of 2 Soviet battalions, another battalion forced to withdraw and the capture of 500 POW's, 4 large artillery pieces, 10 Mortars, and 50 machine guns.

Six hundred Luftwaffe bombers attack Stalingrad as the battle for the city begins. Incendiaries dropped by the German bombers burn three-quarters of Stalingrad to the ground; 40,000 Russians are killed.

Soviet submarine SC-208 sunk by mines. All hands lost.
USN heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37), escorted by destroyers USS Rodman (DD-456) and USS Emmons (DD-457) and British destroyer HMS Onslaught, arrives at Murmansk, and disembarks men and unloads equipment from two RAF Bomber Command squadrons that have been transferred to Northern Russia. The ships depart the following day to return to the British fleet base at Scapa Flow, Orkneys.

AUSTRALIA: USAAF P-40s of the Allied Air Forces shoot down 7 IJN bombers and 8 A6M "Zekes" over Darwin, Northern Territory, between 1205 and 1245 hours.
The unit was the 49th Fighter Group which was tasked with the air defence of the Darwin area. It was one helluva unit. During May 1942, the 49th shot down 38 Japanese aircraft vs. the loss of 7 P-40s and 3 pilots. A lot of the credit for these victories belonged to the ground crews and other service personnel which usually kept 60 P-40s in commission which means the 49th was rarely outnumbered. After every combat, a critique was held with the pilots to overcome the inferior speed, manoeuvrability, climb and ceiling of the P-40. The 2-plane element was adopted, individual dog fighting was banned and they were only to attack when they had an altitude advantage. Otherwise, everything that the AVG had learned was adopted by the 49th.

GILBERT ISLANDS: Japanese light cruiser HIJMS Yubari, accompanied by four destroyers and supporting ships, shells Nauru Island in preparation for landings there.

PACIFIC OCEAN: US Admiral Fletcher with TF 61 and Japanese Admiral Nagumo with the units of the IJN begin skirmishes which will result in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. The US force is built around 3 fleet carriers and the IJN force is built around 2 fleet carriers and one escort carrier. These units of the IJN are charged with a mission of delivering additional troops and supplies in a convoy to Guadalcanal. This will develop into the 3rd carrier vs. carrier battle of the war.

Destroyer USS Blue scuttled after being torpedoed by the Japanese destroyer Kawakaze in Savo Sound, Solomons the day before. 9 crewmembers lost their lives.

A lone USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress of the Allied Air Forces bombs Buka Island.

Meanwhile, 5 IJN battle groups begin a complex plan to land IJA reinforcements on Guadalcanal. Included in the Japanese force are 2 fleet carriers, HIJMS Shokaku and HIJMS Zuikaku and the light aircraft carrier HIJMS Ryujo. US aircraft carriers in the area are USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Saratoga (CV-2) and USS Wasp (CV-7).

USN search planes find two IJN submarines at 0725 and 0815 hours and a PBY-5 Catalina of a detachment of Patrol Squadron Twenty Three (VP-23) operating from Santa Cruz Island, spots IJN transports at 0950 hours. A strike is launched by the USS Saratoga at 1410 hours consisting of 31 SBD Dauntlesses and 6 TBF Avengers but the Japanese had reversed course due to bad weather and the USN strike force, unable to find the transports, lands on Henderson Field for the night. At 1800 hours, USS Wasp, low on fuel, retires from the area to refuel.

U.S.A.: In baseball, former Washington Senators pitcher (1907-1927) Walter Johnson pitching to former New York Yankees star (1920-1934) Babe Ruth is the pregame attraction that draws 69,000 fans for the New York-Washington game at Yankee Stadium in New York City. The large turnout provides US$80,000 (US$889,000 in year 2002 dollars) for Army-Navy relief. Ruth hits the fifth pitch into the right-field stands, and then adds one more shot before circling the bases. Sixteen Army-Navy relief games contribute $523,000 (US$5.8 million in year 2002 dollars) during the season.

Escort carriers USS Croatan and Prince William launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-506 sank SS Hamla.

23 August 1943

August 23rd, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Minesweeper HMS Antares commissioned.

Submarine HMS Storm commissioned.

Frigate HMS Duff commissioned.

GERMANY:

Bomber Command opens "The Battle of Berlin" by dispatching 335 Lancasters, 251 Halifaxes, 124 Stirlings and nine Mosquitoes to the city. Total force dispatched: 719 aircraft.

Together with the aircraft involved in route marking, mine-laying and leaflet dropping, 788 Bomber Command aircraft were committed. In addition 26 Mosquitoes and ten Beaufighters of Fighter Command were dispatched to fly as intruders over German night-fighter fields and along the bombers route. Bomb tonnage carried was 1,812 tons, 53% high explosive, the remainder incendiaries. Thirty Blind Marker aircraft crews were handed a complicated plan which did not work. Their strike photographs showed that the dropped markers were centred four miles south-west of the Aiming Point and it was around that point that the ensuing raid developed. The problem was due to the inadequate H2S radar sets not because of any inadequacy on the part of the Marker crews.

In Berlin 2,611 properties were hit, 854 persons were killed and 83 more were missing. Despite this, the raid was not a success. In order to destroy Berlin Bomber Command would have to knock down and open buildings with HE so that the later incendiaries could start fires. Cities were not destroyed with HE but with fire. Many incendiaries fell on roofs and rolled off and burned in the streets. The fire had to be concentrated in one sector of the city and so intense that it overwhelmed the fire services. Bomber Command would learn.

Aircraft lost were:

Lancasters: 335 dispatched, 20 lost (6.0%)

Halifaxes: 251 dispatched, 25 lost (10.0%)

Stirlings: 124 dispatched, 17 lost (13.7%). (Jay Stone)

BALTIC SEA: Soviet motor torpedo boat TK 94 sinks Finnish minelayer Riilahti. 24 men, including commander, Knight of the Mannerheim Cross, Lt.-Cdr Osmo Kivilinna are lost.

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: A massive 224-gun salute by the Red Army thundered out in Moscow tonight in celebration of the recapture of Kharkov, the principal city of the Ukraine. Troops of General Konev's Steppe front took the city yesterday after Field Marshal von Manstein pulled his XI Corps out in defiance of Hitler's orders that Kharkov had to be held at all costs.

Von Manstein had no alternative. His soldiers were about to be cut off by immensely superior Russian forces sweeping round the city, and he knew that the men of XI Corps were of more value to him than the shattered ruins of Kharkov. In the south, General Tolbhukin has broken the German line at the river Mius and is driving for the Donets basin with the aim of recovering the area's mineral riches and cutting off the German forces still in the Crimea and the Kuban bridgehead. The Germans admit that a "Soviet spring flood" is pouring through a gap smashed in their lines at Mius.

ITALY: US Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit a marshalling yard at Bari and Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) B-26 Marauders bomb the Battipaglia marshalling yard.

BURMA: USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells fly a low-level strike against Myitnge bridge, knocking out a centre span and badly damaging 2 others.

During the night of 23/24 August, RAF Liberators of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group visually bomb four targets: 78 aircraft bomb the marshalling yard at Bagnoli, one bombs Ischia Island, and one bombs Villa Literno. Two aircraft also drop leaflets over Genoa.

CHINA: The Japanese bomb Chungking for the first time since 1941.

JAPAN: The Japanese General Staff decides to abandon the central Solomons and concentrate its forces in the northern islands of the archipelago, notably Bougainville.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The US submarine USS Grayling (SS-209) lands 2 tons of supplies and equipment near Libertad, Panay for the Filipino guerrillas.

NEW GUINEA: Tonight 4 US destroyers will bombard Finschhafen, New Guinea.

PACIFIC OCEAN: USN submarine USS Paddle (SS-263) sinks Italian merchant passenger/cargo ship SS Ada off Hamamatsu, Japan, in position 34.37N, 137.53E.

CANADA: Quebec: The "Quadrant" conference between Mr. Churchill, President Roosevelt and the Canadian prime minister, Mr. Mackenzie King, and their staffs has ended with a decision to press for a "second front" against Germany in France. This invasion, to be codenamed "Overlord", would be the top priority.

The communiqué issued here today said that "the whole field of world operations" had been surveyed, and the "necessary decisions have been taken to provide for the forward action" of Allied forces. Mr. Churchill had favoured a number of operations, against Norway and in southern Europe by continuing the offensive in Italy; the Americans wanted a frontal assault in France. A study is to be made of a landing in southern France.

There were also strategic differences over the conduct of the war in South-east Asia, where the US generals want to invade Burma, while Mr. Churchill wants to attack Sumatra. Again the Americans won the argument, although the new South-east Asia Command (SEAC) to direct operations in Burma seems likely to be headed by a Briton. Preparations for a new offensive in Burma will now proceed, along with a second campaign behind Japanese lines by Brigadier Wingate's Chindits. Britain also approved US plans for the next stages of the Pacific War.

Destroyer escorts USS Keppler, Lloyd Thomas, Milton Lewis, Strickland, Sutton laid down.

Tug HMCS Dispatch II assigned to Sydney , Nova Scotia.

HMC ML 109 commissioned.

U.S.A.:

Submarines USS Trumpetfish and Tusk laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Jordan and Thomason launched.

Destroyer escort USS Snowden commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Sage commissioned.

Destroyers USS Colahan and Cowell commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The 40th Escort Group, consisting of sloops HMS Landguard, Bideford, Hastings and frigates HMS Exe, Moyola and Waveney were deployed on a U-boat hunt off Cape Ortegal. Light cruiser HMS Bermuda covered the whole operation. On the 25th, the Canadian 5th Support Group, consisting of frigates HMS Nene, Tweed and corvettes HMCS Calgary, Edmundston and Snowberry were deployed to relieve the 40th Escort Group. While this was in progress the ships were attacked at 1415 by 14 Dornier Do-217's and 7 Ju-88's with the new German weapon, the Henschel Glider Bombs, (the "Hs293 A-1"). Designed by the German Professor Herbert Wagner. HMS Landguard and Bideford were the first of the Allied and RN ships to be attacked and damaged by them. Several sailors were injured on Bideford and one sailor was killed. On the 27th the Canadian 5th Support group was relieved by the 1st Support group consisting of the sloops HMS Pelican, and the frigates HMS Jed, Rother, Spey and Evenlode. Destroyers HMCS Athabaskan and HMS Grenville relieved covering cruiser HMS Bermuda. The Germans also attacked these ships. This time with 18 Dornier Do-217’s also carrying Henschel Glider Bombs. HMCS Athabaskan was heavily damaged and HMS Egret was sunk with the loss of 194 of her crew. After this loss the U-boat hunt was cancelled. According to Peter C. Smith, Ship Strike: The History of Air-to-Sea Weapon Systems (Airlife, 1998; ISBN 1-85310-773-5), pp. 100-102, the operation on 8/27/43 was "a deliberate decoy sweep" to learn about the new German weapons. "The sloop Egret, which had British scientists embarked with a special radio set to monitor the wavelength the Germans were using to control the missile, was hit in an attack just after noon that day, immediately blowing up and capsizing." According to Arnold Hague, Sloops 1926-1946 (World Ship Society, 1993; ISBN 0-95061-767-3), pp. 68-69, "5 officers and 30 ratings [from Egret] survived the attack and were picked up by the Canadian destroyer Athabaskan, herself damaged during the same attack".

U-380 damaged SS Pierre Soule.

An attack by an aircraft killed 2 and wounded 3 on U-406.

23 August 1944

August 23rd, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

The US Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 567:

6 B-17s drop leaflets in France and Belgium during the night. During the day, 142 P-47 Thunderbolts bomb and strafe rail transportation from Saint-Omer to Reims, France.

A V1 bomb kills 211 civilians in East Barnet, in Hertfordshire, and a B-24 bomber crashes on an infants' school at Freckleton, near Blackpool, in Lancashire, killing 57 people including 35 children. The aircraft had been based at the nearby Warton airfield. (An in-depth report)

ENGLISH CHANNEL: USN motor torpedo boats PT-511, PT-514 and PT-520 take part in night engagement (that lasts into the following day) that turns back the last German attempt to reinforce the besieged garrison at Le Havre, France; the PTs sink German artillery ferries AFP 98 and AFP 108.

FRANCE: The French resistance has largely freed Paris after fierce fighting. East of Paris Melun falls to US forces. South of Paris French troops with the US V Corps move forward to join the advance toward the French capitol.
Montgomery advances toward the River Seine.

Paris: German engineers begin placing explosive charges around the Eiffel Tower.

In the south French troops reach the outskirts of both Marseilles and Toulon.

In northern France, 4 US Ninth Air Force B-26s drop leaflets in the Lisieux-Bernay area; fighters fly ground forces cover, sweeps, armed reconnaissance over the battle areas and along the Seine River, and attack artillery positions; 150+ C-47 Skytrains fly supply and evacuation missions and several hundred reconnaissance aircraft fly tactical, visual, photographic, and artillery adjustment reconnaissance missions.

The German submarine U-180 is last heard from in the Bay of Biscay west of Bordeaux, France in approximate position 44.00N, 02.00W.

GERMANY: U-2341 laid down.

Ltnt. Kurt Braun, as Commander in deputise, brought U-763 from La Pallice in France via Bergen, Norway to Flensburg in Germany. He left La Pallice on 23 Aug, 1944, 4 days before his 21st birthday!

U.S.S.R.: 12 divisions of the German 6th Army are cut off by the Second and Third Ukraine Fronts. The Second Ukraine Front also takes Vaslui south of Jassy.

ITALY: The US Twelfth Air Force dispatches medium bombers to attack road and rail bridges north of the Arno River and roads leading north from Florence, and also hit bridges in the Rhone Valley of France; widespread haze in parts of France and Italy prevents accurate bombing; fighter-bombers continue to attack communications, gun positions, and road movements in the Provence battle areas.

AUSTRIA: B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb six targets in Austria: In Vienna, 68 bomb the Vosendorf Oil Refinery, 53 bomb the marshalling yard and 13 bomb the industrial area. Other targets hit are Markersdorf Airfield at St. Polten by 133 bombers, an aircraft engine plant at Wiener Neudorf by 94 aircraft (23 used H2X radar), and the industrial area at St. Leonhaid by 26 aircraft. Twelve aircraft are lost.

HUNGARY: One Fifteenth Air Force bomber bombs the marshalling yard at Nagykanizsa.

The US Fifteenth Air Force attacks targets at Ferrara, Italy, missing a river bridge but hitting a synthetic rubber factory.

ROMANIA: Rumanian King Michael dismisses Marshal Antonescu, who is subsequently arrested. General Sanatescu is appointed as Prime Minister. Romania then accepts Russian armistice terms. (Greg Kelley)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The German garrison on Isle de Proquerolles, except isolated stragglers, surrenders to Commander Task Group 86.3 (TG 86.3) in light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4); the island will then be occupied by Senegalese troops.

BURMA: 32 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts support British advances down the railroad in the Pinbaw area hitting gun positions, troops, and HQ buildings, immediately north of Pinbaw, and along Nansonti Creek; and 6 P-47s bomb Onsansaing, and 8 P-51 Mustangs bomb an encampment near Kadu.

CHINA: 4 Tenth Air Force P-51s hit Lungling and Mangshih; 5 others attack guns, fuel dump, and other targets of opportunity along the Burma Road from Wanling to Lungling while 7 more hit buildings and vehicles during sweeps of the general Mangshih-Chefang area; and 12 P-51s hit targets of opportunity southwest of Lungling and 2 P-40s strafe trucks at Chefang.

The Fourteenth Air Force dispatches 7 B-25s and 21 fighter-bombers to attack villages, compounds, other targets of opportunity near Hengyang, Lingyang, and Anjen; 40+ fighter-bombers hit villages, shipping, troops, supplies, and other targets of opportunity around Ichang, Yangtien, Siangtan, and Yiyang, and south of Sungpai and Siangyin.

JAPAN: The Japanese General Staff decides to abandon the central Solomons and concentrate its forces in the northern islands of the archipelago, notably Bougainville.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: USN submarine USS Grayling (SS-209) delivers supplies to Filipino guerrilla forces on Panay Island.

NEW GUINEA: US forces are withdrawn from Noemfoor after this area is captured.

USAAF Far East Air Force B-24s pound the Galela, Halmahera Island, area; in New Guinea, B-24s hit Langgoer Airfield and Saumlakki; fighter-bombers hit the airfield at Nabire, Moemi, and Urarom, the village of Moari, and town of Manokwari; B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers continue to attack barge hideouts, troops, villages, and general targets of opportunity around Wewak.

PACIFIC OCEAN: US Seventh Air Force B-24s from Saipan Island bomb Yap and Iwo Jima Islands while US Thirteenth Air Force radar-equipped B-24s attack airfields and defences in the Palau Islands.

USN submarine USS Paddle (SS-263) sinks Italian merchant passenger/cargo ship SS Ada off Hamamatsu, Japan, in position 34.37N, 137.53E.

CANADA: Destroyer HMCS St Clair paid off.

U.S.A.: The top pop song hits today are
(1) "I'll Be Seeing You" by Bing Crosby;
(2) "Amor" by Bing Crosby;
(3) "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet" by Ella Mae Morse; and
(4) "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)" by Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five.

Submarine USS Toro launched.

Submarine USS Piper commissioned.

Coast Guard manned Army FS-193 was commissioned at New Orleans. The first commanding officer was LTJG G. W. Hayman, USCGR. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-346 was commissioned at Kewaunee WI with LTJG F. J. Bell, USCGR, as commending officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area during the war. She was decommissioned 30 August 1945.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Canadian-built, British-registered cargo ship Fort Yale (7,134 GRT), Captain George W. Mortimer, Master, was sunk by U-480 in the English Channel, 17 miles SE of the Isle of Wight, in position 50.23N, 000.55W. On 08 Aug 44, while proceeding as part of convoy ETC-72, Fort Yale struck a mine in the English Channel, in position 49.26N, 000.33W. The ship was able to make the Normandy beachhead and was unloaded. Fort Yale was under tow by the British tug Hudson and the American tug Farallon when she was attacked by U-480. One person was lost from the 68 crewmembers and DEMS gunners onboard.

U-989 damaged SS Louis Kossuth.

23 August 1945

August 23rd, 1945 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: Parliament ratifies the United Nations Charter.

CEYLON: Colombo: A British fleet sets sail for Singapore to accept the Japanese surrender.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Demonstrations against return to French rule are staged in Vientiane, Laos, and other provincial towns under the auspices of the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). The membership of the ICP in Laos is entirely Vietnamese.

KURILE ISLANDS: 4 US Eleventh Air Force B-24s fly a photo mission over Paramushiru and Shimushu Islands. During the day, Lieutenant General Fusaki Tsutsumi surrenders to the Soviets thus ending the battle for Shimushu Island.

Off Japan, U.S. Third Fleet carrier planes fly in massed formation over the fleet's ships, as it awaits orders to move into Japanese ports. More than a 1,000 F4U Corsairs, F6F Hellcats, SB2C Helldivers and TBM Avengers participated in the flyover. The ships were operating within a few hours' steaming time of the Japanese coast.

PACIFIC OCEAN: Planes from the USN's Task Group 38.4 (TG 38.4) (Rear Admiral Arthur W. Radford) search for Japanese shipping between Hachijo Jima, a group of islands south of Honshu, Japan, and the Bonin Inlands. Such movement would have been contrary to surrender instructions, but the searching aircraft report no violations.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Manila: MacArthur releases 5,000 Filipinos interned for security reasons.

CANADA: Submarine HMS United arrived Digby, Nova Scotia for ASW training.

U.S.A.: Aircraft carrier USS Leyte launched.

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