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http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/thismonth/23.htm

October 23rd, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The prototype Vickers Windsor makes its first flight at Farnborough, Hampshire. It was originally designed to fulfill spec B.5/41 for high-altitude heavy bomber with a pressure cabin and a speed of 345mph at 31,000 feet while carrying 12,000-lb of bombs. Interestingly this aircraft also had remote control 20mm Hispano cannon installed to fire rearwards from the outer engine nacelles.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill issues a directive outlining the mission of Admiral Louis Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command.

Patrol vessel HMS Kilmelford launched.

Frigates HMS Riou and Rutherford launched.

Minesweeper HMS Arcturus commissioned.

Frigate HMS Kempthorne commissioned.

ENGLISH CHANNEL: Light cruiser HMS Charybdis (88) and destroyer HMS Limbourne (L 57) are sunk by German ships escorting a blockade runner.

Cruiser HMS Charybdis is torpedoed and sunk by torpedo boats T.23 and T.27 in the English Channel North of Ile de Batz at 48 59N 03 39W. There are 107 survivors.

Destroyer HMS Limbourne loses her bow when she is torpedoed in the English Channel, North of the Ile de Batz at 48 59N 03 39W. There are 103 survivors, but as the ship could not be towed or made to steer a straight course, she is scuttled by torpedoes fired from escort destroyers HMS Talybont (L 18) and HMS Rocket (H 92).

Whilst attempting to clear mines, minesweeper HMS Cromarty is mined and sinks at the western approaches of the Bonifacio Straits. There are 62 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

GERMANY: Operation Pointblank, the Anglo-US strategic bombing offensive against Germany, is growing in intensity and technical complexity. RAF Bomber Command now has over 700 operational heavy bombers, compared with just under 300 at the end of 1942, and is pounding German cities by night. Yesterday US chiefs of staff agreed to establish a new bombing force in Italy, the Fifteenth Air Force, which will strike at targets which the Eighth cannot reach from England.

A growing number of technical aids have been developed to help in the battle against the German night fighters. Last night for the first time “Corona” was used: confusing orders, readings from newspapers, even parts of Hitler’s speeches were broadcast from England on the fighters’ frequency to interfere with the German voice-control.

U-249 launched.

U-247 and U-317 commissioned.

U-196 under Korvkpt Kentrat completed from 13 March, 1943 to 23 Oct, 1943 the longest patrol a submarine in WWII ever did (225 days at sea).

POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: Jewish women from Warsaw today attacked the SS on the threshold of the gas chamber, killing one and injuring several others. The rebellion started in the undressing room, where a woman seized the revolver of SS Sergeant-Major Josef Schillinger, one of the camp’s most sadistic and feared guards, and shot him dead. The other women mauled their oppressors, scalping one and tearing the nose off another. They escaped the gas chamber. But their triumph was brief. Commandant Rudolf Hoess has had the rioters removed from the room one by one, and shot.

U.S.S.R.: Melitopol falls to the Russian Army. They also reach a point 20 miles from Krivoy Roy and are making good progress.

Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Dispatch Ship “Tanais” - by U-boat, in Karkinitskii Bay (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

ALBANIA: USAAF Twelfth Air Force XII Bomber Command B-25 Mitchells hit a bridge in Albania. ;

ITALY: The British 56th Division captures Sparanise.

In the U.S. Fifth Army’s VI Corps area, the 133d Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division, opens an assault on St. Angelo d’Alife but is unable to take it.

German planes raid shipping off Naples; U.S. freighter SS James Iredell is hit by three bombs that set alight the ship’s gasoline cargo. Although the ship is abandoned and the fire burns for 64 hours until it is ultimately put out, there are no casualties among the 44-man merchant crew, the 28-man Armed Guard or the 28 passengers.

USAAF Twelfth Air Force XII Bomber Command B-26 Marauders bomb railroad and road bridges at Marsicano and Montalto di Castro and P-38 Lightnings hit the airfield at Tirana. The XII Air Support Command, RAF Desert Air Force (DAF), and Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force attack troop concentrations in the Spinete area, and town areas, vehicles, trains, railroads, highways, bridges, and gun positions at or near Gaeta, Pescara, Vasto, Isolella, Sulmona, Isernia, Vairano, and Ancona.

During the night of 23/24 October, 50 RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group attack a railroad bridge at Civitanova with the loss of one aircraft.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Whilst attempting to clear mines, British minesweeper HMS Cromarty (J 09) is mined and sinks at the western approaches of the Straits of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia. There are 62 survivors.

CHINA: Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, Commander in Chief U.S. China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek Commander in Chief Northern Area Combat Command (NCAC) and Acting Deputy Commander in Chief South-East Asia Command, has by now decided that he can do little more toward improving the Chinese Army, his basic mission.

BURMA: USAAF Tenth Air Force B-25 Mitchells bomb the Meza railroad bridge, which is still being repaired following the damaging raid of 10 October; damage is done to the approaches.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, nine USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells hit the Bogadjim area.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Two days of air strikes on Rabaul, New Britain start today. The New Guinea based US 5th Air Force is heavily committed.

On southern Bougainville Island, 11 USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators and 16 P-38 Lightnings hit Kahili Airfield and 36 P-40s and P-39 Airacobras join 24 SBD Dauntlesses, 18 TBF Avengers and 60 fighters in a strike on Kara; both Kahili and Kara are attacked again later in the day, the former by six B-24 Liberators and 16 USN fighters and the latter by 35 AAF fighters and 42 USN dive bombers. Meanwhile, six B-24s bomb Kakasa on Choiseul Island.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Over 40 USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, bomb Rapopo Airfield on New Britain Island, destroying about 20 airplanes on the ground; 20 Japanese interceptors are claimed shot down.

PACIFIC OCEAN: 0000 hours: Submarine USS Balao (SS-285) sinks a cargo ship at 00-34 N, 147-40 E. (Skip Guidry)

A USAAF Seventh Air Force P-40 pilot shoots down a Japanese “Emily” flying boat (Kawanishi H8K, Navy Type 2 Flying Boat) about 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) south of Baker Island at 1220 hours.

In the Solomon Sea, 26 Australian Beauforts attack a Japanese convoy escorted by two light cruisers south of Cape St. George on the southeastern tip of New Ireland Island, Bismarck Archipelago. One of the warships is damaged and one Beaufort is lost.

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Chedabucto was taken inshore and grounded on a mud flat, 1.5 miles from the St. Simnon village quay. Due to the extremely soft bottom and strong currents, salvage was not possible.

U.S.A.: Aircraft carrier USS Midway (CVE-63) is commissioned, she is under the command of Captain F. J. McKenna.

Minesweeper USS Disdain laid down.

Destroyer escorts USS Major and Otter launched.

Minesweepers USS Measure and Method launched.

Destroyer escorts USS Fair, Kirkpatrick and Christopher commissioned.

Frigate USS San Pedro commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-274 (Type VIIC) is sunk in the North Atlantic southwest of Iceland at position 57.14N, 27.50W, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Duncan (D 99) and Vedette (D 48), and by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft (Sqdn. 224/Z). 48 dead (all crew lost). (Alex Gordon)

U-23 sank SS Tanais.

U-170 sank SS Campos.