World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » Events
• » 23 Jun 1944

• Martti Aho was promoted to the rank of colonel. ww2dbase [Martti Aho | CPC]
• Clifton Cates's promotion to major general was authorized by his superiors. ww2dbase [Clifton Cates | CPC]

• German submarine U-530 and Japanese submarine I-52 made rendezvous in the mid-Atlantic 850 miles west of Cape Verde islands. U-530 transferred a Naxos radar detector, a radar operator, and a navigator to I-52. ww2dbase [U-530 | CPC]

• USS Flying Fish set sail for Manus, Australian New Guinea. ww2dbase [Flying Fish | CPC]

• Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu became the only Fijian to win the Victoria Cross during the fighting on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. After rescuing two wounded comrades he was hit in the groin whilst attempting to rescue a third. Unable to move and knowing that his comrades would not leave him whilst he remained alive, Sukanaivalu selflessly raised himself in full view of the enemy, and died in a hail of bullets. The award was made posthumously. ww2dbase [AC]

• Captain Michael Allmand of the Gurkha Rifles won the Victoria Cross after charging ahead of his troops three times to clear the way of enemy positions in northern Burma; on the third time, he was seriously wounded. ww2dbase [AC]
• In Burma, Tulbahadur Pun of the Gurkha Rifles won the Victoria Cross for single-handedly crossing 30 yards of open swampy ground under concentrated enemy fire to destroy a position that had virtually wiped out his section. ww2dbase [AC]
• Chindit and Japanese troops engaged in fierce fighting at Mogaung, Burma. ww2dbase [Operation Thursday | CPC]

• Two representatives (one Danish and one Swiss) of the International Red Cross and one representative of the Danish Red Cross visited Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia for six hours; the prisoners gave them positive reports about the living conditions as they were instructed to do by the camp administration. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• Finnish fighter pilot Hans Wind flying a Bf 109 fighter downed four aircraft in a single sortie. Over a ten day period in Jun 1944 he would account for 25 opponents from his final tally of 75 kills throughout the war. ww2dbase [AC]
• Alpo Marttinen was promoted to the rank of colonel. ww2dbase [Alpo Marttinen | CPC]

• Over France, with two engines out and the fuselage on fire, Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski, a Canadian gunner in a No. 419 Squadron Lancaster, was ordered to bale out. However, he saw that the rear gunner was trapped and tried to free him even though his own clothing and parachute were on fire. Hopelessly stuck, the rear gunner signaled to Mynarski that he should save himself. The Canadian gallantly stood to attention and saluted his comrade before jumping out. He was found by the French but died later of his terrible injuries. Amazingly, the gunner was thrown clear when the Lancaster crashed and survived, as did the other crew members who had jumped. When they returned and told their story after the war, Mynarski was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [AC]

• Generaloberst Eduard Dietl of the German 20.Gebirgsarmee was killed in a plane crash. ww2dbase [Eduard Dietl | TH]
• In Germany, Joseph Goebbels, German propaganda chief, went on radio in Germany to say that the continuous V-1 bombs landing in London was like a nagging toothache to the British. "It will continue day and night and drive them mad." ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | HM]

• USS Franklin departed Pearl Harbor. ww2dbase [Franklin | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Parts of ARGUS-15, ARGUS-17, and ARGUS-23 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Light carrier Ryuho departed Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Ryuho | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 110 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 157 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• Zuikaku departed Nakagusuku Bay, Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Nakagusuku Bay, Okinawa | CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) conducts air strikes against Pagan Island in the Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Mariana Islands Campaign | Yorktown (Essex-class) | Pagan | DS]
• Northeast of Saipan, Mariana Islands, destroyer USS Saufley rendezvoused with battleship USS Maryland and took aboard Commander Battleship Division 4, Rear Admiral Theodore Ruddock, and his staff for transfer to battleship USS Colorado. ww2dbase [Maryland | Saufley | Saipan | DS]

• In the South China Sea, USS Flier continued to attack the same Japanese convoy which she had been pursuing since the previous day, sinking a transport with 3 of 4 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Flier | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Wasp set sail for Eniwetok, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | CPC]
• Submarines USS Guardfish, USS Thresher, USS Piranha, and USS Apogon effected a rendezvous 400 miles north of Wake Island and Apogon joined the "Mickey Finns" wolfpack. ww2dbase [Piranha | Apogon | Thresher | Guardfish | DS]

• Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Guimarras, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | CPC]

• Chelmno Concentration Camp in occupied Poland was re-opened for the liquidation of the Łódź Ghetto nearby. At Łódź, deportations began on the same day; through 14 Jul 1944, 7,196 would be sent to Chelmno where they would be killed in gas vans. ww2dbase [Chelmno Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Chelmno nad Nerem, Konin | CPC]

• Churchill, with misgivings, gave in to pressure from the Americans and sanctioned operation Anvil (the proposed US-French invasion of the south of France). Churchill called this a "Bleak and sterile exercise". ww2dbase [Invasion of Southern France | AC]
• Over southern England, United Kingdom, No. 3 Squadron RAF added a further 15 "kills" to their tally and 91 Squadron at ALG (Advance Landing Ground) Deanland accounted for a further 11. Flight Officer Ken Collier RAAF flying a Spitfire XIV aircraft became the first pilot to bring down a V-1 bomb by tipping it over using his wingtip. Pilots of the fighter Squadrons were now demanding that areas of defence be made as regards anti-aircraft batteries as some pilots had experienced friendly fire. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | England | HM]

• In the Unite States, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the US Congress drafted a resolution that supported the War Refugee Board and promised retribution against those responsible for atrocities in occupied Europe (Hungary in particular). ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

23 Jun 1944 Interactive Map