July 23rd, 1944 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions.
- Mission 490: 280 bombers and 193 fighters are dispatched to attack airfields in France; 78 B-17s hit Creil Airfield while 166 B-24 Liberators bomb Couvron Airfield and Athies Airfield at Laon and Juvincourt Airfield. Escort is provided by 177 P-38 Lightnings and P-51 Mustangs.
1. 78 B-17s hit Creil Airfield; 1 B-17 is lost.
2. Of 198 B-24s dispatched, 61 hit Laon/Couvron Airfield, 57 hit Laon/Athies Airfield and 48 hit Juvincourt Airfield.
- Mission 491: 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
- 21 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
FRANCE: The Germans have launched a ferocious attack on the Vercors, a mountainous area south-west of Grenoble controlled by the French Resistance. The "Republic of the Vercors" began life on 3 July, when the area was declared "liberated territory" and occupied by 3,000 Maquisards. Two days ago, however, the Germans responded by laying siege to the "republic" with 15,000 troops, including men from elite SS and alpine regiments, under General Karl Pflaum. The SS men took the Maquisards by surprise when they landed by glider on an airfield at Vassieux, ironically intended for Allied aircraft to bring assistance to the rebels. So far 650 Resistance fighters have fallen in heavy combat, and as reprisal for their defiance the SS has shot the population of five villages.
Normandy: The First Canadian Army, under General Henry Crerar, becomes operational.
330+ USAAF Ninth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26s bomb rail bridges along the Argentan-Paris and Lisieux-Bernay-Evreux railroads, and hit fuel dumps at Foret de Conches; fighters escort bombers, attack rail lines, enemy installations, and movements in the Argentan-Alencon-Chartres-Evreux areas, and bomb bridges, strongpoints, and a supply dump in support of the US First Army.
ITALY: Units of the US IV
Corps occupy parts of Pisa which lie south of the Arno River.
The Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 42 B-24s to bomb the Berat, Albania oil refinery; 15
P-51s provide target cover for the bombers and afterwards strafe roads and targets of
opportunity in Yugoslavia near the Albanian border.
Sowar Ditto Ram(b.?), Central India Horse, despite losing his left leg to a mine, crawled across a minefield to aid a wounded comrade, before dying. His commander, Lt. St. John Graham Young (b.1921), Royal Tank Regt., was also going to help a wounded man when a mine blew off his right leg. He reached the man and treated his wound, but died next day. (George Crosses)
EASTERN FRONT: Russian forces capture Pskov, the last major town of pre-war Soviet Union in German hands. They also take Lublin.German Generaloberst (Colonel-General) Schörner replaces General Friessner at Army Group North which is defending the Baltic States. Schörners Army Group is outnumbered by the Soviets and Army Group Centre is some 30 miles away. Because of this, it is said that Schörner asked Hitler to let Estonia go. The Führer refuses. (Gene Hanson)
A Polish Committee of National Liberation is announced in Moscow. The Polish government in Exile in London denounces this move by "a handful of unknown communists".
Rastenburg: Heinz Guderian, the new army chief of staff, swears an oath of loyalty to Hitler.
Theresienstadt: An inspection is made of the camp by a committee of the International Red Cross. In preparation for the visit many prisoners have been deported to Auschwitz to relieve overcrowding, dummy stores, a cafe, a bank, kindergartens, a school and flower gardens are installed. In the wake of the inspection most of the prisoners interviewed are sent to Auschwitz. (Jean Beach)(118)
PACIFIC: Supporting the invasion of Guam and preinvasion
strikes on Tinian, P-47 Thunderbolts based on Saipan hit Tinian Island while Far East Air
Force (FEAF) B-24s again bomb Yap Island, hitting the town area and airfield, and Seventh
Air Force attacking Truk Atoll.
Three of the four task groups of Task Force 58 depart the Mariana Islands to attack
Japanese air bases in the western Caroline Islands.
GUAM: US Marines have captured the major airfield.
CANADA: HMC HC 276 Stores Lighter to St.
John's, Newfoundland.
HMC HC 270 Water Lighter 79ft, steel to Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.
HMC HC 280 Water Lighter 79ft steel to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Corvettes HMCS Long Branch and
Hespeler departed St. John's as part of escort for convoy HXS 300.
U.S.A.: Baseball, in a doubleheader between the Chicago Cubs and New York Giants, the Cubs' right fielder Bill "Swish" Nicholson hits four home runs in the two games including three consecutive home runs in the second game. The Cubs win the first game, 7-4, but the Giants win the second game, 12-10.
Destroyer minelayer USS Adams launched.
Destroyer USS Lowry commissioned.