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.
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.:
Destroyer escort USS Thaddeus Parker laid down.
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.