Air Operations, CBI

• Japanese Army bombers attacking the airfield at Kweilin are turned back by defending AVG P-40s who shoot down 4 Ki-27 'Nate' fighters without loss.
• 5 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and several AVG P-40s based at Kweilin attack the Canton/Tienho airfield without loss.
• The AVG 'Flying Tigers' are incorporated into the USAAF as the 23rd Pursuit Group and redesignated 'China Air Task Force' with headquarters at Kunming, China. There are a few survivors of the original complement of P-40 fighters. They are supplemented by a group of B-24s and 2 squadrons of B-25s. (see March 10, 1943.)

Air Operations, Europe

12 Bostons, 6 of which are manned by US 8th Air Force crews as they fly their first missions in Europe. The planes join in an RAF attack on 4 German air bases in Holland: De Kooy, Bergen, Haamstede and Valkenburg. Only 2 US-manned planes reach their targets. 2 are shot down and 1 is damaged.

Air Operations, Libya

During the night HALPRO B-24s attack ships and port facilities at Benghazi.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

HALPRO B-24s attack an Axis convoy at sea and set a tanker on fire.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 5th Air Force B-17s, B-25s and 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s attack the airfields at Lae and Salamaue.
• A 35th Fighter Group P-400 downs an A6M Zero near the Port Moresby/Seven Mile Drome at 1116 hours.

Arctic

The Germans score their first successes against PQ-17. Adm Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord, orders the convoy to scatter and the close cover and escort to retire. He believes that the German heavy ships, the Tirpitz, Admiral Scheer and Lützow, will inevitably attack and, since the convoy is now confortably with the range of German aircraft, it cannot be protected by the Home Fleet. The Admiralty messages are badly worded, but the commanders on the spot, although inclined to disobey, eventually conform to the orders. Over the next week 24 ships will be sunk by bombers, torpedo planes and U-boats. 13 ships will reach ports in northern Russia by July 28. The Germans lose 5 aircraft.

The Allied convoy PQ-17 (35 merchant ships plus escort) is attacked by U-boats and aircraft, prompting the issuing of the order for the convoy to scatter. The convoy had left Iceland on June 27. Heavy ice floes were encountered by June 30, and a German aircraft sighted the ships the next day. From July 1 to July 10 a large part of the convoy was wiped out. On July 2 the Germans made several attacks.

On July 4 there are attacks in which 2 American ships, the Christopher Newport and the William Hooper, are sunk by torpedoes. About an hour and a half before midnight, the convoy receives orders to disperse. The British Admiralty receives intelligence that German capital ships, including the Tirpitz and Princ Eugen, have left Trondheim to intercept the convoy. This proves to be untrue. However, the convoy's orders leave the slow and heavily loaded merchant ships virtually defenseless.

Only 11 of the 35 merchantmen who left Iceland finally make it to the Soviet Union, either Archangel or Murmansk. 14 of the ships sunk were American. More than two-thirds had gone to the bottom, along with 210 combat planes, 430 Sherman tanks, 3,350 vehicles and nearly 100,000 tons of other cargo. More than 120 seamen were killed and countless others were crippled and maimed. To compound the disaster, the suspicious Soviets refused to believe that 24 ships from one convoy had been sunk. They openly accused their Western allies of lying about the disaster.

CBI

Gen Claire Chennault becomes the commander of China Air Task Force (CATF), replacing his previous command, the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Chennault's new command has a B-25 Mitchell bomber and a P-40 fighter squadron. Chennault will require 2,000 tons of supplies per month, further cutting into deliveries provided to China.

Eastern Front

(when?)The siege of Sevastopol comes to an end. The Germans take 90,000 prisoners and have lost 24,000 casualties. The Russian death toll is impossible to estimate. German forces advance along a broad front in southern Russia, securing a solid base on the Don River.

In response to the XLVIII Panzer Corps crossing the Don River west of Voronezh, the Stavka commits the 5th Tank Army to seal the gap between the Bryansk and the Southwestern Fronts. Unfortunately, its 600 tanks are committed piecemeal, thus reducing their effectiveness. Luftwaffe attacks degrade their fighting capability further. In the Crimea Sevastopol has fallen to the 11th Army. The Red Army has lost 156,880 killed and missing and 43,601 wounded around the port since October 1941. Manstein takes 90,000 prisoners, together with 460 artillery pieces, 760 mortars and 155 anti-tank guns.[MORE]

Germany, Armed Forces

Army Group South is reorganized, being divided into Army Groups A and B. Army Group B (2nd, 4th Panzer and 6th Armies and the Hungarian 2nd Army) is ordered to destroy the Soviet forces between the upper Donets and middle Don and secure a crossing of the Don near Voronezh. The 4th Panzer and 6th Armies will then race east to Stalingrad, from whence they will sweep south to support Army Group A in the Caucasus. The army group is supported by VIII Air Corps. Army Group A (1st Panzer, 17th and 11th Armies) is to destroy enemy forces on the Mius River and then drive into the Caucasus. The army group is supported by IV Air Corps.

North Africa

The Australian 9th Div moves up to El Alamein to reinforce the XXX Corps of the British 8th Army. XIII Corps continues its attacks on the southern flank of the Axis positions. Stubborn resistance by the 8th Army and ceaseless Allied air raids compel Rommel to abandon his assault on the Alamein 'Line'.

XXX Corps pushes its armor forward from the eastern end of Ruweisat Ridge pushing back the 15th Panzer before being halted by Rommel's 88s. XIII Corps makes little progress being hampered by Stuka attacks. The Allied effort does help Rommel make up his mind to not attempt any further advance.

The Panzer Army Africa is reduced to a mere 36 tanks and an exhausted and depleted group of men suffering from severe ammunition shortages. Rommel begins to regroup, withdrawing his remaining armor and putting Italian units into the front line. The British 8th Army fails to take advantage of the German plight even though Auchinleck has been urging his field commanders to initiate offensive operations. The British troops, also, are equally drained of will and resources.

Preliminary preparations for Operation EXALTATION are begun. Auchinleck's plan: XXX Corps is to hold Rommel in front while XIII Corps attacks Rommel's flank and rear. XXX Corps ends up against the 15th Panzer Div and XIII against the 21st Panzer.

XIII Corps is to deliver the main blow, but almost all the tanks have been left with XXX Corps. Lt-Gen William Gott commands all 3 New Zealand Brigades plus the 9th Indian Brigade, but for support he has only armored cars of the 7th Motor Brigade and 8 Stuarts of the 1st Royal Tanks. There is no support from the Desert Air Force due to lack of liaison between the services.

Pacific

(5th?)US submarines torpedo 4 Japanese destroyers around the Aleutian Islands, 3 at Kiska and 1 at Agattu. 3 of the destroyers are sunk. The destroyer Nenohi is sunk by the Triton (SS-201) off Agattu. The destroyer Arare is sunk by the Growler (SS-215) off Kiska on the 5th.

In July 1942 Detroit's factories were busy producing General Grant Tanks which were used by US forces in the Middle East. This is a picture of the 28-ton tanks being made in Chrysler Corporation's tank arsenal in Detroit.

Detroit's Factories Making Tanks