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• USS Tunny made radar contact with Japanese submarine I-42 off Angaur Island, Palau Islands. At 2324, Tunny lauched four torpedoes at the range of 1,700 meters, hitting and sinking the Japanese submarine. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]
• Japanese troops assaulted an Allied defensive position in the crater of an extinct volcano near Sangshak, India, initially failing to take the position. Shortly after, Allied aircraft dropped supplies to the Indian troops at Sangshak, India, but most of the supplies fell behind Japanese lines. As Indian 152nd Parachute Battalion attacked from the volcano crater to regain the supplies, the Japanese drove them back, causing heavy casualties. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | CPC]

• USS Columbia departed Emirau, Bismarck Islands. ww2dbase [Columbia | Emirau, New Ireland | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Saufley arrived at Tulagi, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Saufley | Tulagi, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Colonel Charles Hunter, with his troops now 6 miles southeast of Inkangahtawng, Burma, decided to establish the roadblock at that location. He ordered the Khaki Combat Team to be held in reserve while the forward elements he sent out reached as far as the eastern bank of the Mogaung River, the village of Ngagahtwang, and a position 300 yards east of the Kamaing Road; from the latter location, the American soldiers were close enough to the Japanese to hear arriving trucks disembarking Japanese troops. The 1st Battalion of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) was supposed to establish another roadblock a few miles to the north, but 1st Battalion fell behind schedule, leaving Hunter's troops exposed without Hunter's knowledge. Also, unbeknownst to the Americans, the Chinese 22nd Division halted its southward advance to rest, further exposing Hunter's troops. ww2dbase [Charles Hunter | Battle of Myitkyina | Inkangahtawng | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched an incendiary bombing raid against Hamm, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Hamm | DS]

• USS Gabilan arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Gabilan | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of Air Group 19 on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Orde Wingate's headquarters completed its move to Sylhet, British India (now Bengladesh). ww2dbase [Orde Wingate | Sylhet, Bengal | CPC]

• Landing ship No. 152 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• USS Whale made rendezvous with USS Pollack and formed a wolfpack to patrol Torishima of Izu Islands and the Bonin Islands (Ogasawara Islands). ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]

• V. T. Shirmanov stepped down as GUKR SMERSH's chief in the 1st Byelorussian Front. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Submarine Trepang was launched at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California, United States. ww2dbase [Trepang | Mare Island Navy Yard | Vallejo, California | CPC]
• Loaded with 204 US Army personnel as passengers, 12 P-47 Thunderbolts, and 50 P-51 Mustangs, escort carrier USS Card departed Staten Island Army Base, New York bound for Casablanca, French Morocco. ww2dbase [Card | P-51 Mustang | P-47 Thunderbolt | Staten Island, New York | DS]

23 Mar 1944 Interactive Map