Air Operations, Bismarcks

1 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 successfully attacks a ship off Kavieng.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack warehouses in Mandalay.
• 5 51st Fighter Group P-40s attack a bridge at Shaduzup.

• 23rd Fighter Group P-40s strafe a motor-vehicle convoy near Lungling.

Air Operations, Europe

NASAF B-25s and B-26s attack Arbatax harbor.

Air Operations, Gilberts

At 0400 hours, 12 307th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s temporarily based at the airfield at Funafuti attack barracks and gasoline storage on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

• NASAF B-17s attack Axis ships at sea north of Sicily.
• In the course of four separate engagements while patrolling along the coast or out to sea, pilots of the 1st, 31st, and 52nd Fighter Groups down 3 Axis flying boats and damage 1 Bf-109.

Air Operations, New Guinea

90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the town and airfield at Finschhafen.

Air Operations, Tunisia

• NASAF B-25s and B-28s attack motor vehicles and the rail line at Mateur, and various targets found along the Mateur-Bedja road.
• 320th Medium Bomb Group B-26s undertake that unit's first combat mission of the war against Pont-du-Fahs.

• NATAF A-20s, B-25s, fighter-bombers, and fighters, and IX Fighter Command P-40s mount an all-out effort against Axis ground forced throughout the battle area.
• IX Bomber Command B-25s attack Axis troop concentrations, artillery positions, and a landing ground north of Enfidaville.

Allied Planning

It is decided to set up a joint Anglo-American command to prepare the plans for a European landing. The British Lt-Gen Sir Frederick E. Morgan is appointed to head the new command with the designation COS-SAC, Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Commander.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-191 is sunk in a Hedgehog attack by the British destroyer Hesperus during the passage of convoy ONS-4.

U-191

Class	Type IXC/40
CO	Kapitänleutnant Herbert Fiehn
Location	Atlantic, SE of Cape Farewell
Cause	Hedgehog
Casualties	55
Survivors	None

• The US freighter Robert Gray (7176t), straggling from Convoy HX-234, is torpedoed and sunk by U-306 in the North Atlantic. The 39-man crew an the 19-man Armed Guard are lost.
• The US freighter Santa Catalina (6507t), bound for Basra, Iraq, is torpedoed and sunkby U-129 and abandoned.

Diplomatic Relations

The Union of South Africa severs relations with France.

Germany, Home Front

Hitler orders 'utmost severity' in coping with the uprising in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw.

New Guinea

Troops of the Australian 3rd Div occupy positions around Mubo without opposition. No significant activity is reported from the area where the Australians man a broken line from Mubo to Komiatum and Bobdubi.

North Africa

A Scottish battalion storms 'Longstop Hill' in 3 hours of violent fighting.

After secret redeployment of 193 km behind the Tunisian front, the US II Corps captures several wooded heights near Mateur and hold them against fierce counterattacks. Lt-Gen Lesley J. McNair is severely wounded.

The US II Corps begins a drive on Bizerte early in the morning, making its main effort on the right. On the northern flank, the 9th Div, reinforced by the Corps Franc d'Afrique, which is disposed along the coast on the extreme north and directed on Kef en Nsour, attacks toward the Jefna position on the highway between Djebel Abiod and Mateur, key points of which are Djebel Azag (Green Hill) and Djebel Ajred (Bald Hill).

While the 47th Regimental Combat Team conducts a holding action along the highway, the 39th and 60th Regimental Combat Teams make outflanking attacks in the hills to the north, the 39th Regimental Combat Team attacking toward Djebel Aïnchouna and the 60th Regimental Combat Team, farther north, pushing eastward from Djebels Mergrueb and Msid. Satisfactory progress is made on the division's flanks, but the 39th Regimental Combat Team is slowed in the center by stubborn opposition on Djebel Aïnchouna. On the southern flank of the II Corps, the 1st Div, reinforced by the 6th Armored Infantry of the 1st Armored Div, which is disposed on the extreme southern flank, attacks toward Djebel Sidi Meftah. On the northern flank, the 26th Regimenatl Combat Team attempts to take Hill 575 (Kef el Goraa) but is halted short of it. In the center, the 16th Regimental Combat Team fights indecisively for Hill 400. On the southern flank, the 18th Regimenatl Combat Team begins clearing the northern side of the Tine, and the attached 6th Armored Infantry is similarly employed south of the river. The enemy is driven from Hill 350 but retains Hill 407 to the northwest.

A Churchill Tank in the Medjez-el-Bab Area, 23-25 April 1943

Sherman Tanks Advance Past a Knocked-out 88mm Anti-tank Gun, 23 April 1943

In the British 1st Army area, the 5 Corps' 78th Div clears the enemy remnants from Djebel Tanngouche and continues along the Djebel el Ahmera ridge, clearing all but the northeastern slopes. In the IX Corps area, tank battles continue on the Goubellat plain, where the enemy is bringing up his mobile reserves.

American artillery detonates around attacking German tanks of the 10th Panzer Division near El Guettar on April 23, 1943. After hours of savage fighting, Ted Roosevelt reported that the enemy 'hesitated, turned around, and retreated. The men around me burst into cheers.'

American Artillery Hitting near German Tanks

In the Warsaw Ghetto, significant resistance ended on April 23, 1943, and the Nazi operation officially ended in mid-May, symbolically culminated with the demolition of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw on May 16, 1943. According to the official report, at least 56,065 people were killed on the spot or deported to German Nazi concentration and death camps, most to Treblinka.

Most Resistance Ends in the Warsaw Ghetto

Pacific

The Japanese patrol boat No. 39 is sunk off Formosa by the US submarine Seawolf (SS-197)