Air Operations, CBI

The 23rd Fighter Group's 74th Fighter Squadron makes it debut sending 6 P-40s, based at Kunming, China, on a reconnaissance mission to the China-Indochina border. In additional action, 6 P-40s from the 51st Fighter Group's 16th Fighter Squadron scramble from Kunming to intercept a Japanese reconnaissance plane, but fail to locate it.

Air Operations, Aleutians

4 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s are attacke by Japanese Navy float fighters as they take off from Fort Glenn Fiele, Umnak. There are no losses and the bombers carry out their mission to reconnoiter and attack Kiska. Near misses are scored on a Japanese cruiser.

Air Operations, Europe

• In an experimental raid, 44 Lancasters are dispatched to bomb the U-boat yards in Danzig. The planes are to fly at low level and in formation over the North Sea, but then to split up and fly independently in cloud which ias forecast to be present over Denmark and that part of the Baltic leading to Danzig. The target is expected to be clear of cloud and the Lancasters were to bomb from normal bombing heights just before dusk and return to England during darkness. With a round trip of 1,500 miles, it i the most distant target Bomber Command has yet attempted to reach. It is also another attempt to utilize Lancasters in a semi-daylight role. The plan goes well except that some of the Lancasters are late in identifying Danzig and bomb the general town area in the dark. 24 aircraft drop bombs at Danzig and return. 2 are shot down by Flak at the target. They are the only losses. The novel tactics and routeing prevent any German fighters from making contact. Several aircraft stray over western Sweden and Swedish fighters are scrambled.
• In minor operations, 7 Hampdens fly 'roving commissions' in the Bremen area, but only 1 drops bombs. 6 Mosquitos attack the U-boat yard at Flensburg with 1 plane being lost. Both these operations are intended to divert attention from the Lancaster raid on Danzig.
• During the night 41 Wellingtons and 8 Stirlings lay mines off Heligoland, in the Frisians and in the Langeland Belt. 2 Wellingtons are lost.

Air Operations, Libya

During the night, USAFMEAF B-24s attack shipping and port facilities at Benghazi.

Air Operations, New Guinea

35th Fighter Group P-400s shoot down 4 Japanese Navy bombers and 1 A6M Zero near Port Moresby at 1215 hours.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-136 is sunk while operating against Convoy OS-22 by depth charges from convoy escorts, the sloop Pelican, frigate Spey and French destroyer Léopard

U-136

China

Futou Island near Foochow is occupied by Chinese troops.

Eastern Front

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht announces that between June 28 and July 9 German troops have broken through the Russian lines beyond Kharkov and Kursk. Pushing on towards Rostov, Army Group A takes Lisichensk on the Donets River.

Lisichansk falls to the 1st Panzer Army while other elements reach the Aidar River at Starobelsk. Group Ruoff, with the 17th Army and Rumanian forces, launches strong attacks against the rearguards of the South Front. Heavy fighting rages on the road from Taganrog as the Soviets fight on the approaches to Rostov.

Hitler, believing the Soviets defeated on the west bank of the Don, orders the 1st and 4th Panzer Armies to converge at Kamensk and Millerovo to destroy the remainder of the South and Southwest Fronts before attacking in conjunction into the Caucasus. Believing the Red Army to have been vanquished, Hitler leaves the 6th Army to advance alone toward Stalingrad and seize the city. The 1st and 4th Panzer Armies and 17th Army push toward the oil fields. This is a break from the original plan, the German forces being sent simultaneously along separate axes of advance instead of securing the Volga before their southward drive. Hitler issues Directive 43, confirming the transfer of 4th Panzer to Army Group A and also ordering the 11th Army, which has been reduced to nothing more than the XLII Corps, to cross the Kerch strait.

Hitler issues Directive No 43 on the conduct of the war in the Crimea: 'After clearing the Kerch Peninsula and capturing Sevastopol, the first task of the 11th Army will be... to make all preparations for the main body of the army to cross the Kerch strait by the middle of August at the latest. The aim of this operation will be to thrust forward on either side of the western foothills of the Caucasus in a southeasterly and easterly direction. The operation will be known by the codename BLÜCHER.'

One of a series of images taken by German journalists in Salonika on 11th July 1942.

Salonika

The Jewish men were forced to adopt squatting positions and beaten if they fell over.

Punishment for Jewish Men

When the Germans invaded Greece in 1941 the city of Salonika had the largest population of Jews in the country, 54,000 people, around two thirds of the Jews living in Greece. They were an old community, having been established in the 15th century when the Jews were expelled from Spain.

The Nazi persecution began immediately with the forcible ‘confiscation’ of all radios, pianos and many other valuable goods which were shipped back to Germany – but the community was not forced into ghettoes immediately.

On the 11th July 1942 the men in the community were summoned to Plateia Eleftheria, Liberty Square , Salonika for ‘registration for labour schemes’. Seven thousand men arrived in the square, where they were humiliated and beaten.

Japan, Planning

The loss at Midway leads the Japanese Imperial Headquarters strategists to shelve plans for offensive operations against New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa. Tulagi, in the southern Solomons with its excellent harbor will become a key base for defending Rabaul. The Solomons can serve as a new base for operations against Port Moresby. Japanese planes based at Rabaul and the Solomons can provide air cover for an invasion fleet. The capture of Port Moresby would assure Australia's isolation and allow the Japanese to control the Bismarck Sea and the approaches to Rabaul.

Mediterranean

The South African whalers Protea and Southern Maid sink the Italian submarine Ondina off Beirut.

North Africa

Australian troops inflict heavy casualties on the Italians near El Alamein. Significantly, from this action on, the Germans feel the Italians can not be relied upon to maintain their defensive positions.[MORE]