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• » 26 Feb 1944

• USS Tang sank Japanese transport Choko Maru. ww2dbase [Tang | CPC]
• At 0824 hours US Navy code breakers intercepted a message reading: "Submarine chaser No. 1 will proceed immediately to the position of the Ryusei Maru to assist in rescue operations." The Ryusei Maru had been sunk by submarine USS Rasher during the previous night north of Bali, Dutch East Indies; Rasher's commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Willard R. Laughon was not aware that Tango Maru had carried over 3,500 Allied prisoners of war. Most of the prisoners were killed during the sinking. ww2dbase [Rasher | HM]

• The 10,495-ton passenger steamer SS President Grant, serving as a troop transport for the US military, was grounded on a reef southeast of Australian Territory of Papua. There was no loss of life and the ship remained on the reef. ww2dbase [HM]

• The Japanese offensive on Sinzweya, Burma was called off, ending the Battle of the Admin Box. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Arakan | Sinzweya, Arakan | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]

• Syria declared war on Germany and Japan. ww2dbase [Syria | CPC]

• USS Alabama arrived at Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Alabama | Majuro | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) arrived at Majuro lagoon, Marshall Islands for rest and replenishing. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Majuro | DS]
• Carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Manila Bay escorted by USS Bailey arrived at Eniwetok, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Bailey | Eniwetok | DS]

• 650 Italian Jews from Fossoli transit camp near Carpi, Modena and 84 Soviet prisoners of war from the Lamsdorf (Lambinowice, Poland) POW camp arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. Of the Italian Jews, 95 men and 29 women were registered into the camp; the remaining 526 were sent to the gas chambers. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Lavrentiy Beria authorized Operation Lentil, which aimed to deport the whole of Chechen and Ingush (Ghalghai) populations to Central Asia and Siberia. ww2dbase [Deportation of Caucasian, Altaic, and Turkish Peoples | CPC]

• USS Bennington was launched, New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, United States. ww2dbase [New York Navy Yard | Bennington | Brooklyn, New York | DS]
• Composite Squadron VC-95 came aboard escort carrier USS Bogue with their FM-1 Wildcats and TBF-1c Avengers. Bogue and her escorts put to sea on an offensive Hunter-Killer anti-submarine mission along the Atlantic convoy routes between North America and Africa. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Norfolk Navy Yard | Bogue | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]
• Casablanca-class escort carrier Steamer Bay was launched at Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard, Vancouver, Washington, United States with Mrs. Evelyn Kendall as sponsor, wife of Rear Admiral Henry S. Kendall. ww2dbase [Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard | Steamer Bay | Vancouver, Washington | DS]

26 Feb 1944 Interactive Map