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• A German Hudson aircraft, while on convoy escort duty, shot down a German aircraft 107 miles west-southwest of Achill Head, Achill Island, Ireland; the German crew was later rescued and interrogated. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Scharnhorst was detected by British RAF Coastal Command aircraft at La Pallice, La Rochelle, France by the results of a photo reconnaissance flight at 0915 hours. ww2dbase [Scharnhorst | CPC]
• HMS Manchester suffered an aerial torpedo hit on the port quarter in the Mediterranean Sea while escorting a convoy for Malta. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi operated off Indochina. ww2dbase [Akashi | CPC]
• Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109 aircraft. ww2dbase [Douglas Bader | CPC]

• Allied Convoy OG 69 was spotted by a German Fw 200 Condor aircraft; the aircraft was shot down, but the Germans would dispatch additional aircraft daily to track the convoy. ww2dbase [HM]
• Alessandro Malaspina was ordered to change its patrol area in the Atlantic Ocean at 2200 hours. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]
• Alpino Bagnolini sighted a freighter in the Atlantic Ocean at 1138 hours. The target was later identified as a neutral vessel, and the pursuit was abandoned. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]

• German troops captured Brest-Litovsk, Poland (now Belarus) after a month-long siege. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | Brzesc nad Bugiem, Polesie | TH]

• A British No. 44 Squadron Hampden bomber, returning from to Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom from a minelaying sortie, crashed into the staff residence of Lincoln Girls High School on Lindum Hill in the nearby city of Lincoln. The crew of four were all killed immediately as was the senior French mistress who died trying to escape from the burning building. Four other members of staff were injured and exploding ammunition peppered the surrounding area, seriously hampering the work of the fire and rescue teams. ww2dbase [Lincoln, England | AC]

• In Washington DC, United States, Senator Wendell Willkie (the defeated Republican candidate at the 1940 Presidential election) urged America to give unlimited aid to Britain. ww2dbase [Washington | AC]

23 Jul 1941 Interactive Map