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July 23rd, 1942

GERMANY: U-640 launched.

U-187, U-632 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

POLAND: Warsaw: The Judenrat [Jewish Council] leader, Adam Czerniakow, commits suicide.

EASTERN FRONT: There is heavy fighting in Russia along the Don from Rostov to Tsimlyansk.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: An RN 815 Sqn Swordfish failed to return from an eastern Mediterranean ASW sweep. (Dave Shirlaw)
NEW GUINEA: Advance elements of the Maj-Gen Horii’s South Seas Detachment (approximately equal to a weak division) advancing up the Kokoda Track towards Port Moresby make contact with Australian forces. Horii reports to Japanese 17th Army (Lt-Gen Hyakutake) at Rabaul.
The Australian forces in this instance are a five-man patrol from 1st Papuan Infantry Battalion. (Michael Alexander)

In New Guinea, B-17s, B-26 Marauders, A-24 Dauntlesses and P-39Airacobra and P-40 fighters pound shipping, landing barges, storage dumps, AA positions, and troop concentrations at Buna and Gona as the enemy pushes inland along the Kokoda trail; fighters also hit the harbor at Salamaua. (Jack McKillop)

PACIFIC: 3 B-17 Flying Fortresses, staging through Canton Island, Phoenix Islands, carry out photo reconnaissance of Makin Island, Gilbert Islands.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: USMC photographers of Marine Observation Squadron Two Hundred Fifty One (VMO-251) using USN cameras and flying in USAAF B-17Es, based in the New Hebrides, fly their first preinvasion photographic reconnaissance mission of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi-Gavutu area.

The B-17s are intercepted by “Rufe” floatplanes (Mitsubishi A6M2-N Navy Type 2 Fighter Seaplanes) but there are no loses on either side. (Jack McKillop)

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The planned bombardment of Kiska Island by Task Force 8 is postponed due to weather. (Jack McKillop)

U.S.A.: US Secretary of State Cordell Hull urges the formation of an international peace-keeping organization by the United Nations (Allies) after the war.

Destroyer USS Stevenson laid down.

Submarine USS Billfish and Bowfin laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

The unescorted Garmula was torpedoed and sunk by U-752 about 200 miles SW of Freetown. The master, 61 crewmembers and five gunners were picked up by armed trawler HMS Pict and landed at Freetown. 20 crewmembers and one gunner were lost. (Dave Shirlaw)

CARIBBEAN SEA: At 2222, the unescorted and unarmed Onondaga was hit by one torpedo from U-129 about five miles north of Cayo Guillermo, while steaming on a nonevasive course at 8.5 knots. The torpedo struck on the port side amidships, causing the ship to sink within one minute. The eight officers, 25 crewmen and one passenger abandoned ship by jumping overboard and swam to two rafts that had flooded free. Six officers, 13 crewmen and the passenger were lost. The survivors were picked up by the Cuban fishing boat Laventina the next morning and landed at Punta San Juan, Cuba. (Dave Shirlaw)