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• USS Tang attacked a Japanese convoy southwest of Kagoshima, Japan and reported sinking two ships. Post war Japanese records showed that four ships of that convoy, Tamahoko Maru, Tainan Maru, Nasusan Maru, and Kennichi Maru, were attacked and sunk on that date. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Parche sank a Japanese patrol vessel with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Hitler ordered all but one division of LIII Korps, encircled near Vitebsk, Byelorussia, to break out. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Chinese troops, supported by heavy artillery, attacked Mogaung, Burma in support of the British Chindit operation. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• British Lieutenant General Geoffrey Scoones, due to poor intelligence, failed to pursue retreating Japanese troops from northeastern India, thinking that the Japanese might be planning a counterattack from Tamu and Bishenpur. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Alexander Novikov was awarded the Legion of Merit by the United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Saburo Sakai mis-identified a group of 15 F6F Hellcat fighters as friendly, but he was able to escape from their attacks unscathed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Flight Lieutenant David Hornell, on a routine patrol in a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Catalina aircraft, sighted a surfaced German U-Boat in the North Atlantic, but a hail of anti-aircraft fire came up to meet the Catalina as it made its bombing run. Although two large holes appeared in the starboard wing and oil was seen to be pouring from the burning starboard engine, Hornell managed to hold the blazing aircraft on course, and from low-level was able to straddle the enemy submarine with depth charges; which was then seen to thrust its bows abruptly into the air while the crew abandoned ship. The Catalina aircraft's engine tore itself away from the burning wing and Hornell needed all his skill to put the machine down on the heavy swell. Blazing furiously it began to sink immediately. The survivors had to wait 21 hours before they were picked up, by which time two men had already died of exposure and Hornell himself succumbed soon after being rescued. For his outstanding gallantry David Hornell would be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [AC]

• US Vice President Henry Wallace departed Chongqing, China. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• British No. 617 Squadron attacked the 20-foot thick concrete dome containing V-2 rockets at Wizernes, France with "Tallboy" bombs. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | AC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Parts of ARGUS-15, ARGUS-17, and ARGUS-23 departed. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]

• Troops of British XIII Corps linked up with Indian troops of British X Corps in Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The Mobile Fleet, including Yamato, arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched raids on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | DS]
• Light carrier Ryuho arrived at Hashirajima, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 131 was completed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Prisoners Edward Galinski and Mala Zimetbaum escaped from Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland but they would be re-captured in Jul 1944. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• During the morning, a V-1 flying bomb, shot down by a fighter, crashed on the Newlands Military Camp at Charing, near Ashford, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Forty-seven men were killed and twenty-eight seriously injured. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• The British government issued a statement saying 756 people had died and 2,697 badly injured since the V-1 flying bomb assault started. ww2dbase [Main Article | HM]
• 56 Squadron at RAF Newchurch in Kent, England, United Kingdom received its first Tempest aircraft and underwent intensive training on flying them. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Belgian pilot Flight Officer Joseph Brosteaux of No. 350 Squadron RAF had to make a forced landing after being hit by anti-aircraft fire over Sussex, the crash landing wrecked his Spitfire Vb aircraft but he was unhurt. ww2dbase [CPC]

24 Jun 1944 Interactive Map