Wednesday · November 11, 2026
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On this day › October 23

What happened on October 23 in American history

October 23 is the 296th day of the year (the 297th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from October 23 spanning 1942 to 2007. Among them: in 1942, Under a full moon, 882 guns open on Rommel's lines at El Alamein; and in 1944, Two US submarines catch Kurita's fleet at midnight; three heavy cruisers torpedoed by dawn.

1942Member story · 1776 Club

Under a full moon, 882 guns open on Rommel's lines at El Alamein

Four infantry divisions push into half a million mines as Montgomery's Eighth Army attacks on a sixteen-mile front.
1944

Two US submarines catch Kurita's fleet at midnight; three heavy cruisers torpedoed by dawn

Darter's radar finds the Japanese Center Force in the dark, and the admiral himself ends up swimming for his life.
1972Member story · 1776 Club

Nixon halts the bombing; Linebacker ends after five months over North Vietnam

Paris talks had produced a framework days earlier, and the long air campaign against Hanoi and Haiphong fell silent.
1983Member story · 1776 Club

Suicide bombers hit the Marine and French barracks in Beirut minutes apart; 299 troops dead

A yellow Mercedes truck cleared a fence and a guard shack before the driver detonated in the Marines' lobby.
2001

Apple shows a white box the size of a deck of cards: 1,000 songs in your pocket

Steve Jobs introduces a 6.5-ounce music player built around a 5 GB hard drive hidden inside a Cupertino auditorium.
2007

Discovery lifts off with Pamela Melroy in command, only the second woman to lead a shuttle crew

The mission carries a new station module and a piece of ice too small, NASA says, to worry about.