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• » 24 Feb 1944

• USS Tang sank a Japanese freighter, hitting her with three of four torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Tang | CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi arrived at Palau Islands and performed repairs on herself. ww2dbase [Akashi | CPC]
• Hartwig von Ludwiger stepped down as the deputy commanding officer of 22nd Mountain Corps. ww2dbase [Hartwig von Ludwiger | CPC]
• Carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Manila Bay escorted by USS Bailey departed Kwajalein bound for Eniwetok, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• Japanese Colonel Tanahashi ordered a retreat from Sinzweya, Burma without authorization. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Arakan | Sinzweya, Arakan | CPC]
• The 1st Battalion of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) marched out of Ningbyen, Burma into Japanese-held territory in northern Burma at 0600 hours, the 2nd Battalion at 0900 hours, and the 3rd Battalion at 1100 hours. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Ningbyen | CPC]

• USAAF (day) and RAF (night) bombings were conducted on the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Schweinfurt Ball Bearing Factories | RAF Thurleigh | Schweinfurt, Mainfranken | TH]

• Two Italian motor torpedo boats attacked the Allied beachhead at Anzio, Italy before dawn, causing no damage and losing one boat. ww2dbase [Battle of Anzio | Anzio, Lazio | CPC]

• A PBY-5As aircraft of US Navy squadron VP-63, employing Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) gear, and a PV-1 aircraft of US Navy squadron VB-127, together with a Catalina aircraft of No. 202 Squadron RAF found and bombed the German submarine U-761 as she attempted to transit the Strait of Gibraltar. British destroyers HMS Anthony (H 40) and HMS Wishart (D 67) rescued the 51 survivors who abandon their badly damaged submarine after scuttling her to avoid capture. Nine of the submarine's crew were lost in the attack. U-761 was the first German submarine destroyed through the employment of MAD equipment. ww2dbase [Strait of Gibraltar | HM]

• USS Grayback sank cargo ship Taikei Maru, sank cargo ship Toshin Maru, and damaged two others of Japanese convoy Hi-40 in the East China Sea. ww2dbase [Grayback | East China Sea | CPC]

• USAAF 453rd Bomber Group based at Old Buckenham Airfield (US Station 144) in Norfolk, England, United Kingdom attacked aircraft factories at Gotha in central Germany without losses. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Old Buckenham Airfield | Old Buckenham, England | AC]
• The 2,085-ton merchant steamer Philipp M was torpedoed and sunk by a German E-boat off Great Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom. Seven of the crew were killed in the explosion, the other 18 were rescued. ww2dbase [England | HM]

• Carrier Shangri-La was launched at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, sponsored by sponsored by Josephine Doolittle, wife of famed aviator James Doolittle. ww2dbase [Norfolk Navy Yard | Shangri-La | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]

24 Feb 1944 Interactive Map