Air Operations, Carolines

• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.
• FEAF B-24s attack the Yap Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack targets around Myitkyina and Naungtalaw.
• 8 B-25s attack Namting.
• More than 100 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army positions throughout the Myitkyina area, support Allied ground forces, and attack Kamaing, Mogaung, and other areas.

• 62 14th Air Force P-40s attack the airfield at Siangtan, Hengyang, and troops and other targets over a wide area. 6 B-25s and 21 P-40s attack rail facilities and warehouses in the Yellow River area.
• 10 P-40s support Chinese Army ground troops on the Salween River front.
• 3rd CACW Fighter Group P-40s down 11 Japanese fighters at 0830 hours over Yunglowkiang.

Air Operations, Europe

• 48 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of Nos. 3 and 8 Groups bomb flying bomb sites at Forêt de Croc and Mont Condon through thick cloud.
• There are no losses.

• 629 aircraft are sent to Kiel, the first major raid on a German city in more than 2 months. Included in this total are 519 Lancasters, 100 Halifaxes and 10 Mosquitos. The elaborate deception and RCM operations combined with the surprise return to a German target completely confuse the German fighter force and only 4 aircraft - all Lancasters - are lost. The city suffers heavily in this first RAF raid since April 1943 and its heaviest RAF raid of the war. The bombing force appears suddenly from behind a Mandrel jamming screen and the local radio warning system only reports it as being a force of mine-laying aircraft. 612 aircraft then bomb in a raid lasting only 25 minutes. All parts of Kiel are hit but the bombing is particularly heavy in the port areas and all of the important U-boat yards and naval facilities are hit. The presence of around 500 delayed-action bombs or unexploded duds cause severe problems for the rescue and repair services. There is no water for 3 days. Trains and buses do not run for 8 days and there is no gas for cooking for 3 weeks.
• 100 Halifaxes, 14 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of Nos. 6 and 8 Groups attack an oil refinery and storage depot at Donges, near the mouth of the Loire River. This is the beginning of a new campaign against oil targets in occupied countries. The bombing takes place in good visibility and the target is severly damaged. A tanker is also hit and capsizes.
• There are no losses.
• 102 Halifaxes, 12 Mosquitos and 2 Lancasters of Nos. 4 and 8 Groups attack 2 flying bomb sites with great accuracy.
• 1 Halifax is lost on the raid to Les Hauts Buissons.

• Support and 180 aircraft from training units make a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 27 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin and 5 to Düren, 6 Lancasters lay mines off Kiel and 2 Stirlings off Brest, 12 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 45 Mosquito patrols and 39 RCM and 8 OTU sorties.
• 1 mine-laying Lancaster is lost on the Kiel run.

This picture taken the day after the attack on the oil refinery at Donges shows smoke rising from the target area. A merchantman lies capsized in the adjacent river.

Oil Refinery at Donges

By the 25th, the smoke had cleared to reveal the full extent of the damage at Donges.

Damage to the Oil Refinery at Donges

Air Operations, Marianas

The pre-invasion air, naval, and artillery bombardment of Tinian is concluded.

Following a break in operations lasting several weeks, Task Force 52 escort-carrier aircraft rejoin the Marianas operation with the first of three July 23 attacks against Tinian’s landing beaches by 19 TBMs and 32 FMs. Through July 23, aircraft from Fleet Carrier Air Group 15 (USS Essex) and Light Carrier Air Group 32 (USS Langley) mount nearly 200 sorties against ground targets on Tinian, aircraft from VC-10 (USS Gambier Bay) and VC-5 (USS Kitkun Bay) mount 50 sorties against ground targets on Tinian, and 318th Fighter Group P-47s mount more than 100 sorties against ground targets on Tinian. Ground-attack and ground-support missions by escort-carrier and Saipan-based aircraft, amounting to an average of 175 sorties per day, will continue through the end of the Tinian operation.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack the airfield at But, port facilities throughout the Vogelkop Peninsula, offshore islands, and coastal targets in the Wewak area.

Allied Command

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek sends a message to Roosevelt confirming that he is prepared to give Gen Stilwell command of the Chinese forces. His conditions are that the Chinese Communist army, before coming under Gen Stilwell's command, should recognize the authority of the Nationalist government; that Gen Stilwell's responsibilities are clearly specified; and that the Chinese should have complete right to aid received under the Lend-Lease Act.

Burma-China

On the Salween front the 8th Chinese Army makes good progress toward Sung Shan.

Mountbatten proposes 2 operations to be carried out as soon as possible: Operation CAPITAL, an offensive across the Chindwin River, and Operation DRACULA, an attack in the Rangoon area to be carried out by amphibious and airborne troops.

Eastern Front

The Soviet forces of the 3rd Baltic Front capture Pskov - the last major town of the prewar Soviet Union in German hands. Farther south troops from 1st Ukraine Front enter Lublin. Fighting there continues. They also capture the Maidanek extermination camp.

In the German command Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner replaces Gen Hans Friessner at Army Group North. Friessner had made the mistake, in Hitler's eyes, of insisting on authority to withdraw his army group in the face of possible encirclement in the Baltic states.

Pskov falls to the Soviet 42nd Army.

The 65th Army closes on Brest-Litovsk. The Germans have concentrated the largely intact 2nd Army around the town and prepare to halt the Soviet advance.

Farther south the 8th Guards and 2nd Tank Armies fight their way into Lublin, liberating the Majdanek concentration camp on the outskirts of the town. Inside Lublin itself there is heavy fighting as the 4th Panzer Army puts up a strong defense.

The 1st Guards Tank Army crosses the San River near Yaroslav.

Italy

Units of the US IV Corps enter the outskirts of Pisa but are only able to occupy the districts south of the Arno.

Marianas

The 3rd Marine Div succeeds in extending the northern beachhead on Guam to Point Adelup. Other units from the southern landing cross the neck of the Orote Peninsula cutting off the main Japanese airfield on the island.

New Guinea

There is local fighting in the Aitape area. On Biak Island the final mopping up of the Japanese positions in the Ibdi area begins. On Numfoor Island, patrols of American paratroopers re-establish contact with the main body of the Japanese defenders near the village of Inasi, on the east coast.

Occupied France

The Resistance sets fire to the Engelbert tire factory at Choisy-au-Bac.

Poland, Politics

The formation of a Polish Committee of National Liberation is announced from Moscow. The London based Polish government calls it 'the creation of a handful of unknown communists'.

Western Front

Gen Harry Crerar's 1st Canadian Army becomes operational.

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Images from July 23, 1944

The SS murder the remaining prisoners at Treblinka, Poland. Bodies of inmates, shortly after the liberation. The Soviets did not have the facilities available to the British and Americans when they later uncovered the camps in the west – so the photographic record is not as complete.

SS Murder the Remaining Prisoners at Treblinka

Navy soldiers at the parade celebrating the liberation of Pinsk from the Nazi invaders, 23 July 1944

Celebrating the Liberation of Pinsk

Lt-Col James M. Stewart, USAAF, executive officer, 2nd Bomb Wing, post mission, 23 July 1944. (US Air Force)

Lt-Col James M. Stewart

Soldiers Landing at Arromanches, France, 23 July 1944

Members of the Kent Home Guard demonstrate a ‘Blacker Bombard’ spigot mortar during an inspection by Lieutenant General Sir Edward Schreiber, GOC South East Command, 23 July 1944.

Demonstrating a ‘Blacker Bombard’ Spigot Mortar

Charles J. Jozefik and Frank J. Zielinski, 142nd Armored Signal Company, 2nd US Armored Div. Around Saint-Lô, 23 July 1944

Around Saint-Lô

10 Canadian General Hospital, RCAMC, landing at Arromanches, France, 23 July 1944, about six weeks after D-Day.

10 Canadian General Hospital

DUKWs Soldiers, vehicles, equipment of the 77th Division, US Army, streams ashore on the Agat Beachhead. Guam, 23 July 1944

77th Division Coming Ashore on Guam

B-17G-20-VE Flying Fortress code VK-K 42-97622 'Paper Dollie' of the 303rd Bomb Group, 358th BS, crashlanded 23 July 1944

B-17G Crash Landing

Rifleman D.H. Holmes (Mooseman, Sask.) and Rifleman W.J. Wilkinson (Vancouver, B.C.) at loopholes in building, 23 July 1944, Vaucelles, France.

Looking at Loopholes in Building

Infantryman of the Regina Rifles Regiment Manning a Bren Gun Position, Vaucelles, 23 july 1944

Churchill Tank of the North Irish Horse during the Advance towards Florence, 23 July 19444