Air Operations, Europe

30 German raiders, operating singly in cloudy weather over many parts of England, bomb 2 airfields, 4 factories and 4 railway junctions. 50 people are killed. There is a night raid on Birmingham.

8 Wellingtons are sent on cloud-cover raids to Northern Germany. They bomb blindly through the clouds in the Bremen and Emden areas.

Damage to the Focke-Wulf factory near Bremen after the recent series of raids against the city.

Focke-Wulf Factory Damage

Air Operations, New Guinea

22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s and 3rd Light Bomb Group A-24s attack Gona and Japanese ground forces near Buna.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US freighter Stella Lykes is torpedoed and shelled by U-582 off the west coast of Africa and abandoned with no casualties. The submarine takes 2 PoWs before scuttling the ship with demolition charges.

Eastern Front

The Germans capture Bataysk. Army Group B, and especially von Paulus' 6th Army, battles to clear the Don elbow of Russian troops. The Soviet bridgehead at Kalach, west of Stalingrad, is attacked.

Leading elements of the 4th Tank Army cross the Don but come under intense aerial attack. The 1st Tank Army is similarly hard pressed as it attempts to move into action. While the Soviets attempt to coordinate their counterattack, the Germans break through south of the Don, punching a 40-mile hole in the Soviet line. In the Caucasus, Bataisk falls to the 17th Army.

Heavy flak Guns Dealing with Soviet Tanks, July 1942

Gulf of Mexico

The German U-166 mines the waters off the Mississippi River delta.

Japan, Home Front

Speaking in Osaka, Tojo calls on Australia to surrender: 'At this time Australia, which has been orphaned, is showing a pitiful existence earnestly requesting aid from America. There is no need for me to mention that the Imperial Government [of Japan] will not hole any hesitation if the leaders of Australia still do not recognize the existing situation and continue to offer a profitless resistance.'

New Guinea

The Japanese push the Australians back through Kokoda and Kokoda is occupied by the Japanese.

North Africa

The first moves by the British begin shortly after midnight. All seems to go well at first, but lack of coordination between infantry and armor ends up with similar results as before. The Axis forces hold, the British suffer losses.[MORE]