Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Bostons attack the power station at Le Havre and 2 Mosquitos bomb Emden without loss.
• Emden is the target as 185 aircraft of 5 types are sent. Only part of the force identify and bomb Emden. About 100 houses are damaged and 1 person is injured. 3 Wellingtons, 2 Stirlings, 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster are lost on the raid.
• In minor operations, 5 Blenheims are on Intruder flights and 3 aircraft make leaflet flights over France.

Air Operations, New Guinea

5th Air Force B-17s attack the airfield at Lae.

Allied Planning

Churchill and Roosevelt agree on an invasion of northwest Africa.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The last of 8 groups of U-boats dispatched to the American East Coast since January fail to find 'worthwhile targets', i.e. ships sailing independently without adequate escort. 2 U-boats are sunk and, on July 19, the remainder are ordered away.
• The US freighter West Ira (5689t) is torpedoed and sunk by U-128 about 120 miles southeast of Barbados with the loss of 1 of the 48-man crew. The survivors are rescued between 3 and 5 days later.

Eastern Front

At Sevastopol amid bitter fighting the 'Lenin' fort is taken by the Germans and the Rumanians. They reach the southern bank of the Sevastopol Harbor.

North Africa

Rommel's attack on Tobruk begins with fierce dive-bomber attacks at 5:30a.m. The tanks go into action at 7:00a.m. and advance over a mile inside the perimeter. The Italian XX Corps attacks towards the southwest. The British tanks and artillery are wiped out. Gen Klopper has authorization to leave the fortress, but he can't since the enemy troops have succeeded in cutting him off from the harbor. The British 7th Arm Div tries to break through to the troops that have been cut off, but is unable to reach them in time. At 7:00p.m. the tanks of the German 21st Panzer Div enter Tobruk.[MORE]

Pacific

Japanese submarine I-26 shells a government telegraph station of Vancouver Island. There is no damage.

On June 20, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 torpedoes and shells the S.S. Fort Camosun off Cape Flattery. The crew abandons ship, but before it sinks it is towed to safety in Neah Bay by the Canadian corvette Edmuston. The freighter is saved by the crews of rescuing ships and by the fact that its cargo of plywood provides buoyancy. No lives are lost.

Japanese Submarine Attacks SS Fort Camosun