Today in World War II History—July 23, 1942

Map of Papua New Guinea (US Army Center of Military History)
80 Years Ago—July 23, 1942: In Switzerland, Salvadoran consul-general Col. Jose Arturo Castellanos and Hungarian Jewish businessman George Mandel-Mantello, Castellanos’s secretary, begin forging thousands of false Salvadoran papers to send to Jews in Europe; 90% of certificate holders will survive the Holocaust.
At Treblinka concentration camp, Nazis begin mass extermination by gassing.
On Kokoda Trail on New Guinea, Japanese take Awala and force Australians back toward Wairopi.

George Mandl-Mantello (US Holocaust Memorial Museum: pa1133502)