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• The British Commander-in-Chief of the Home Forces ordered an end to "blood-lust inculcation" in battle training. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The United Stats Marine Corps established the Training Center, Fleet Marine Force at Marine Barracks, New River, North Carolina, United States. It was to include all Fleet Marine Force units and replacements except the 1st Marine Division. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Japanese and Chinese troops clashed along the Hsipaw-Mogok road in northern Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• German submarine U-432 sank British ship Zurichmoor 150 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States just after 0000 hours, killing all 45 aboard. At 2200 hours, in the same general area, U-588 sank British ship Margot; 1 was killed, 44 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-103 sank US tanker Samuel Q. Brown 100 miles east of Cozumel, Mexico at 0926 hours; 2 were killed, 53 survived. U-155 sank Panamanian ship Watsonville just off Saint Vincent island in the Lesser Antilles islands. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Soviet submarine ShCh-205 sank Turkish merchant ship Safak off Burgas, Bulgaria; Safak was suspected of bringing arms for German troops fighting in Ukraine. ww2dbase [ShCh-205 | CPC]
• US Navy intelligence officers determined that the Japanese fleet targeting Midway Atoll would likely depart on 26 May 1942. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | CPC]
• The close escort force for Allied convoy PQ-16 was reinforced by 4 corvettes, 2 submarines, and 1 anti-aircraft vessel. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• The 4,626-ton German steamship Asuncion struck a mine laid by the Soviet submarine K-1 and sank north of Tromsø, Norway. ww2dbase [Norwegian Sea | HM]

• Alpino Bagnolini attempted to use her hydrophone at 0140 hours to find a target she had sighted in the Atlantic Ocean on the previous day, but she would not succeed. At 0230 hours, she sighted two blue lights; she dove, resurfaced at 0505 hours at the range of about 800 meters, and dove again. Two depth-charges were heard, and the Italian submarine would not attempt to close again. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1640 hours; she submerged to avoid detection. At 1930 hours, she sighted another aircraft, and submerged once again. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• USS S-44 arrived at Brisbane, Australia, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [S-44 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Reginaldo Giuliani arrived at Bordeaux, France. ww2dbase [Reginaldo Giuliani | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• USS St. Louis departed Pearl Harbor bound for Midway with two companies of the 2nd Raider Battalion, United States Marine Corps. Two hours later, USS Kitty Hawk departed Pearl Harbor also bound for Midway. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Kitty Hawk | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Yamato arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. ww2dbase [Yamato | Hashirajima, Yamaguchi | CPC]
• I-168 departed Kure, Japan on her second war patrol in the Midway area. ww2dbase [I-68/I-168 | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• Tenryu arrived at Maizuru, Japan. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Maizuru, Kyoto | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Baltimore bombers over Tobruk, Libya at 0720 and 0730 hours. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Tobruk | CPC]

• USS Ranger and Augusta departed Port of Spain, Trinidad bound for Quonset Point, Rhode Island. ww2dbase [Ranger | Augusta | Port of Spain | DS]

• German 14th Division and 16th Panzer Division, moving northward, and German 3rd Panzer Division and 23rd Panzer Division, moving southward, linked up, thus completing the encirclement of the Soviet 6th Army and 57th Army at Izium, Ukraine. In the same area, German troops captured Chepel to prevent the Soviet 38th Army from attacking the eastern side of the newly formed encirclement. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | Kharkov | CPC]

• Grand Duchess Charlotte arrived in Washington, United States and met with President Franklin Roosevelt. ww2dbase [Charlotte | Washington | CPC]

23 May 1942 Interactive Map