Air Operations, CBI

4 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s based at Kweilin and staging through Hengyang set fire to the Hankow dock area. Later, while refueling at Hengyang, they are forced to scramble due to an incoming Japanese attack. While approaching Lingling airfield, one B-25 is mistakenly shot down by a P-40, but the crew bails out safely.

Air Operations, Europe

• In a raid using similar tactics as on the recent raid on Danzig, 21 Stirlings are sent to bomb Lübeck. Only 8 aircraft report bombing the main target. 2 planes are lost.
• In other operations, make a cloud cover raid on Essen, 2 Mosquitos to Ijmuiden, 1 Mosquito to Vegesack and 1 Mosquito to Wilhelmshaven. The only loss is the Mosquito that drops 2 bombs on the dockyard installations at Wilhelmshaven wounding 4 people.

Air Operations, New Guinea

1 5th Air Force B-17 attacks Salamaua.

Atlantic

The US freighter William F. Humphrey battles the German auxiliary cruiser Michel in the South Atlantic about 800 miles west of the mouth of the Congo River, but is sunk by gunfire and torpedoes. 2 of the 7-man Armed Guard are killed in the action. Michel recovers 26 crewmen and 3 Armed Guard sailors, but the rest manage to avoid capture.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US steamship Fairport, in the Persian Gulf convoy AS-4, is torpedoed and sunk by U-161. The US destroyer Kearney (DD-432) rescues all hands: 43-man crew, 16-man Armed Guard, and 66 passengers.

Diplomatic Relations

• The US breaks off diplomatic relations with Finland.
• Tojo says Japan has received reassurances of Russian neutrality from the Soviet Union.

Eastern Front

The Russians claim that in the fighting since June 15, the Germans have lost 900,000 men. Although this claim is wildly exaggerated, the Russian resistance has stiffened as the Germans near Rostov and press toward the Volga.

Fighting in Donets, 16 July 1942

Mediterranean

The Turkish tanker Antares is torpedoed by the Italian submarine Alagi and beached on the Lebanese coast.

North Africa

The British launch a counterattack. The salient west of El Alamein is widened by the capture of some rocky ground 3 miles from the railway station. The British XIII Corps launches more attacks on the southern flank of the Axis line.

Lt-Gen Walther Nehring delivers attacks on the 5th Indian Brigade which are repulsed but end any hopes that the brigade can make any further advance. The Aussies also begin to move south from Tell el Eisa. They compete the ruin of the wretched Sabratha Div but are then thrown back by the 382nd Infantry Regt of the 164th Light Div which is now in strength in the north of the Axis positions.

Rounding-up Parisian Jews

The Round-up of Parisian Jews at the Velodrome d'hiver, 16 & 17 July 1942. The round-up of the Vélodrome d'Hiver, sometimes called Vel' d'Hiv for short, was the largest massive arrest of Jews in France during World War II, mostly foreign or stateless Jews, who thought they had found a safe refuge in France (and they most likely would have if France hadn't been invaded by the German army). In July 1942, the Nazi regime ordered a large scale operation to round up Jews in several European countries. In France, the Vichy government, known for its willingness to go along German orders as well as its antisemitic stance, mobilized the French police to participate in the operation. In Paris, 9000 policemen and Gendarmes were called up. On July 17, at the end of the day, the number of arrests for the city of Paris and the surburbs would total 12 884, according to the police records. (4 051 children, 5 802 women et 3 031 men), The people under arrest were held at the velodrome, later they were moved to the detention camp of Drancy in the suburbs, before being transported by train to the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Pacific

The US submarine Seadragon (SS-194) attacks a Japanese convoy off the coast of French Indochina sinking the merchant cargo ship Hakodate Maru (5303t) north of Cape Varella.

United States, Planning

Adm Ghormley issues his operation plan for WATCHTOWER. Task Force 61 commander, Vice-Adm Frank J. Fletcher, has the carriers Saratoga, Wasp, and Enterprise and the battleship North Carolina, along with 6 cruisers, 16 destroyers, and 3 oilers. Rear-Adm Richmond K. Turner commands amphibious shipping, Rear-Adm Leigh Noyes commands the air support force, and Task Force 63, under command of Rear-Adm John S. McCain, represents all the land-based air forces in the South Pacific.