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• » 31 May 1943

• USS Tunny was attacked by a Japanese aircraft, incurring minor damage that was repaired at sea later in the day. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler expressed extreme dismay at the withdrawal of German submarines from the American coast. ww2dbase [Black May | CPC]
• Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was named the commanding officer of the 3rd Group of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 wing. ww2dbase [Egmont | CPC]
• Lydia Litvyak shot down a German observation balloon. ww2dbase [Lydia Litvyak | CPC]
• Francis Tuker was promoted to the rank of major general. ww2dbase [Francis Tuker | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland joined HM Cruiser Bermuda to relieve garrison at Spitzbergen, Norway escorted by HM Destroyers Eclipse and Athabaskan (RCN) covered by HM Aircraft Carrier Furious, HM Cruiser Scylla screened by HM Destroyers Echo and Middleton (Operation Gearbox II). ww2dbase [Furious | Cumberland | DS]

• US troops reclaimed the island of Attu in the Aleutian Islands, US Territory of Alaska. ww2dbase [Aleutian Islands Campaign | Attu | TH]

• George Kenney arrived at Port Moresby, Australian Papua to temporarily relieve Ennis Whitehead, who was sent to Australia for treatment for a badly infected toe. ww2dbase [George Kenney | Port Moresby | CPC]

• Japanese Army Major General Noboru Sasaki arrived at Kolombangara, New Georgia, Solomon Islands as the new commanding officer of the joint Army-Navy Southwest Detachment. ww2dbase [Noboru Sasaki | Kolombangara, New Georgia | CPC]

• Japanese forward positions in the Hubei-Hunan border region in China fell back in multiple places as the result of a large scale Chinese counterattack launched on the previous day. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | CPC]
• Zang Xilan, flying a P-40E fighter, shot down a Ki-44 aircraft that was pursuing the P-40E fighter flown by Lieutenant Colonel John R. Alison of 75th Fighter Squadron of USAAF 23rd Fighter Group. They were both escorting a group of B-24 bombers attacking Jingmen, Hubei Province, China. ww2dbase [Zang Xilan | Jingmen, Hubei | CPC]

• Berthe Albrecht was executed by hanging at the Fresnes Prison in Fresnes, France. ww2dbase [The French Resistance | Fresnes Prison | Berthe Albrecht | Fresnes, Île-de-France | CPC]

• US 15th Air Force bombed Foggia airfield in Italy, destroying a number of German and Italian planes on the ground. ww2dbase [Foggia Airfield Complex | Foggia, Puglia | TH]

• Shokaku and Zuikaku departed Yokosuka, Japan for the Inland Sea. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Shokaku | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Bogue and her escorts departed Argentia, Newfoundland on a purely offensive anti-submarine patrol. This was Bogue's first Hunter-Killer sortie without concurrent convoy escort duty. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Bogue | Argentia | DS]

• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides sailed through a large debris field in the open ocean, probably from the Japanese seaplane carrier Kamikawa Maru sunk two days earlier by submarine USS Scamp. ww2dbase [Silversides | DS]

• Battleship Parizhskava Kommuna was renamed Sevastopol. ww2dbase [Parizhskava Kommuna | AC]

• USS S-35 completed post-repair trials off Bremerton, Washington, United States. ww2dbase [S-35 | Bremerton, Washington | CPC]

31 May 1943 Interactive Map