Air Operations, CBI

At the end of the Japanese air assault on the airfield at Hengyang, 3 P-40s have been lost while preventing much damage from being inflicted on the base. 7 Japanese Army fighters and 1 bomber are shot down during the morning by P-40s from the 23rd Fighter Group.

Air Operations, Europe

• 24 Bostons to Abbeville airfield and St Malo harbor. All bomb accurately
• 1 Mosquito bombs dock area of Duisburg
• No losses

• 630 aircraft to Düsseldorf
• 308 Wellingtons, 113 Lancasters, 70 Halifaxes, 61 Stirlings, 54 Hampdens and 24 Whitleys
• 484 claim successful bombing although photos show some bomb loads in open country; more than 900 tons dropped
• 453 buildings destroyed in Düsseldorf and Neuss, 15,000 damaged; 954 fires started, 67 classified as large; 279 people killed, 245 in Düsseldorf and 34 in Neuss, 1,018 injured, 12,053 bombed out
• 29 aircraft lost: 16 Wellingtons, 5 Hampdens, 4 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters and 2 Whitleys

• In minor ops, 6 Blenheims on Intruder flights
• 1 Blenheim lost

Air Operations, Greece

USAMEAF B-24s attack an Axis convoy in Pylos Bay and claim hits on 2 merhcant ships.

Air Operations, New Guinea

5th Air Force B-17s attack Gona and the transport damaged in the raid on the 29th.

Air Operations, Solomons

9 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-17s, based in New Hebrides, attack the uncompleted Japanese Navy bomber strip at Lunga and beach defenses at nearby Kukum on Guadalcanal Island.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-754 is sunk by an RCAF plane off Nova Scotia.

  U-754

  Class	Type VIIC
  CO	Johannes Ostermann
  Location	Atlantic, S of Nova Scotia
  Cause	Air attack
  Casualties	44
  Survivors	None

• A German submarine (U-751) lays mines off Charleston, South Carolina.
• U-213 is sunk by HM Ships Erne, Sandwich and Rochester during operations in support of Convoy OS-35. A good deal of wreckage is found after several depth charge attacks.

  U-213

  Class	Type VIID
  CO	Oberleutnant zur See Hans von Varendorf
  Location	Atlantic, S of Azores
  Cause	Depth charge
  Casualties	50
  Survivors	None

Eastern Front

The German 4th Panzer Div(Army?) launches an offensive directed toward the Don River. On the central front near Rzhev, Red Army troops launch offensive actions. The Germans cross the Don River on a wide front.

The Soviet 1st and 4th Tank Armies are stopped in their tracks, both have suffered massive losses. The 4th Panzer Army fractures the Soviet 51st Army and throws it back to Kotelnikovo. During July the Germans have lost 38,000 killed on the Eastern Front, insignificant compared to Red Army losses.[MORE]

A German motorized artillery column crossing the Don River in the Soviet Union by means of a pontoon bridge on July 31, 1942. Wrecked equipment and materiel of all kinds lies strewn around as the crossing is made. (AP Photo)

German Artillery Column Crossing the Don

New Guinea

Japanese units push over the Owen Stanley Mountains from Buna and Gona toward Port Moresby.

Pacific

• The amphibious force for the Solomon Islands operation, escorted by the aircraft and ships of Task Force 63 under Adm J. A. McCain, leaves Fiji for the Solomons.
• The US submarine Grunion (SS-216) torpedoes the Japanese transport Kashima Maru off Kiska, Aleutians, but is sunk by gunfire from her quarry, 10 miles north of Segula Island.

Solomon Islands

American bombers begin a series of raids with targets on Tulagi and Guadalcanal, where the Japanese are building an airfield, in preparation for the landing.

United States, Home Front

The carrier Essex is launched at Newport News, Virginia.