Air Operations, Europe

• 12 Bostons bomb the railway yards at Hazebrouck without any loss. 1 of the Bostons is flown by Captain Kegelman and his all-American crew, the first Americans of the 8th Air Force to take part in a bomber operation. Their hosts are 226 Squadron at Swanton Morley.
• 253 aircraft including 108 Wellingtons, 64 Lancasters, 47 Stirlings and 34 Halifaxes are dispatched to Bremen. Reports from the ground say 48 houses are destroyed and 934 are damaged. Extensive damage is caused in 5 important war industries including the Focke-Wulf factory and the A. G. Weser U-boat construction yard, and at the local gasworks, a museum and a local merchant-navy college. Most of this damage is caused by fire. 4 Stirlings, 4 Wellintons and 3 Halifaxes are lost.
• In minor operations, 18 Blenheims make Intruder flights, 7 Wellingtons lay mines off St Nazaire and 5 make leaflet flights. There are no losses.

SS Thomas McKean, US flag with planes visible on deck, being sunk by U-505 Loewe on 29 June 1942. Her master was later sunk in the Bahamas while returning to the US on ONANDOGA.

SS Thomas McKean Torpedoed by U-boat

Air Operations, Libya

HALPRO B-24s attack Tobruk harbor during the night. 1 B-24 is lost and its 10 crewmen the USAAF combat casualties in the Middle East.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US freighter Thomas McKean (7191t), en route to Cape Town, South Africa, is torpedoed, shelled and sunk by U-505 losing 3 of the Armed Guard sailors on board.

China

Chiang Kai-shek has a meeting with Gen Stilwell and asks for an American guarantee to dispatch three divisions and 500 aircraft, with 5,000 tons of supplies every month.

Eastern Front

The 4th Panzer Army continues to attack, widening the hole in the Soviet line. The Bryansk Front reels under the German attacks as artillery, armor and aircraft pound its forward units while it tries to bring up armor.

The 11th Army attacks Sevastopol, the LIV Corps sending an assault force of the 22nd and 24th Infantry Divisions across Severnaya Bay to land in the Soviet rear. The Soviet defenses are breached with little cost, undermining the inner defense zone. As Manstein successfully turns the Soviet northern flank, XXX Corps penetrates the Sapun Heights with its 170th Infantry Division, while the Inkerman Heights falls to the 50th and 132nd Infantry Divisions. The English Cemetery south of Sevastopol falls to the 28th Light Division.

Mediterranean

The British submarine support ship Medway, on the way to Haifa carrying 90 torpedoes, is sunk by the German submarine U-372. The central Mediterranean is now completely dominated by the Italian navy and the Axis air forces.

North Africa

Pushing on to the east, the German 90th Light Div reaches Sidi Abd el Rahman, only 20 miles from El Alamein where the British 8th Army is preparing a defense line. The front to be defended is about 30 miles wide, and the only routes by which the enemy can advance are at the extreme northern and southern ends of the front itself, one along the coast and the other along the 'Barrel Track' which leads straight to Cairo. Mussolini leaves for Cyrenaica, piloting his own plane. It is said there is a white horse on board which the Duce wants to ride when he makes his entrance into Cairo, which he believes will be in a matter of days, if not hours. 'Within 15 days,' he declares, 'we shall install an Italian High Commission.'

World Affairs

Meeting in London the World Jewish Conference reviews the suffering of Jews under the Nazis.

Grumman F4F-4 "Wildcat" Fighter, of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3)

Grumman F4F-4 "Wildcat" Fighter (Bureau # 5171), of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3) At Naval Air Station, Kaneohe, Oahu, on 29 May 1942, with ground crewmen folding the starboard wing. On 4 June 1942, in the Battle of Midway, this plane was flown by Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach, VF-3's Commanding Officer, during the afternoon combat air patrol defending USS Yorktown (CV-5), wherein Thach probably shot down Lieutenant Joichi Tomonaga, leader of the attacking Japanese torpedo planes.Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.