Air Operations, Bismarcks
5th Air Force B-17s attack shipping at Rabaul.
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]Air Operations, Egypt
The 98th Heavy Bomb Group's 345th Heavy Bomb Squadron, in its combat debut, attacks Besa Matruh.
[ | ]Air Operations, Europe
BOMBER COMMANDDaylight Ops:
- 1 Mosquito attacks chemical factory in Wiesbaden, bombs fall short; returns safely
- 138 aircraft of 4 types follow up previous night's raid on Mainz
- More damage to city center and also in industrial areas; main railway station seriously damaged; number of people killed between 40 and 163. Reports from Bingen, 15 miles to the west of Mainz, say a 4,000lb bomb each hit in the villages of Kempten and Gaulsheim; 130 houses damaged in Kempten, 97 in Gaulsheim
- 2 Lancasters, 1 Hampden, 1 Stirling and 1 Wellington lost
| ]Air Operations, Solomons
Vice-Adm Robert L. Ghormley's PBY amphibious patrol bomber lands on the incomplete but serviceable runway on Guadalcanal, the first Allied aircraft to do so. It evacuates several wounded Marines and a wounded VF-5 F4F pilot to Espiritu Santo, the first evacuation of wounded US servicemen from an active war zone.
[ | ]China
Japanese forces in central Shantung Province launch a massive new offensive against Chinese Nationalist troops. The Japanese are taking advantage of internecine warfare raging between Communist and Nationalist soldiers.
[ | ]Diplomatic Relations
The First Moscow Conference begins. The meeting will continue until August 15. Stalin, Churchill, Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, representing Roosevelt, and emissaries from Gen de Gaulle are in attendence. Churchill will apologize to Stalin that there will be no Second Front in 1942, but he does reveal to Stalin the details of Operation TORCH. (see July 25, 1942.)
As the fighting rages around Stalingrad and in the Caucasus, the First Moscow Conference begins. It is attended by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, representing President Roosevelt. The main purpose is to discuss a common war strategy. Churchill, with the support of Ambassador Harriman, informs Stalin that it wlll be impossible for the British and Americans to open a second front in Europe in 1942.
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Eastern Front
Russian attacks in the Rzhev area reach their greatest intensity but still bring no clear result. In the southern sector advance troops of Army Group A reach Slavyansk in the Kuban area, just a short distance from the east coast of the Sea of Azov.
NORTHERN SECTORA sudden change in the weather saves the Germans at the neck of the Demyansk salient from being overrun. Lashing rain halts Soviet attacks as their air forces are grounded and the ground turns to swamp.
SOUTHERN SECTORSlavyansk falls to the 17th Army. The fighting in the Kuban intensifies as the Coastal Group fights to prevent the Germans from reaching the Black Sea coast.
GERMAN COMMANDThe German 11th Army receives orders from the OKH instructing the army headquarters, together with headquarters of the LIV and XXX Corps, to proceed to the Leningrad sector. Only 4 divisions are to remain with the 11th Army, the remainder being dispersed along the eastern front or hold in the Crimea.
[ | ]Germany, Armed Forces
The 11th Army is broken up, the headquarters being ordered to the Leningrad area, 4 divisions remaining in the Crimea and the rest scattered along the Eastern Front.
[ | ]Germany, Politics
Himmler is given responsibility for maintaining order in Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland.
[ | ]Guadalcanal
Task Force 63 under Adm McCain, is given the responsibility of getting aviation supplies, ammunition and ground crews from Espiritu Santo to Guadalcanal. The first US plane, a PBY, lands on the airstrip now called Henderson Field after Midway hero Maj Lofton Henderson.
A patrol led by the 1st Marine Division Intelligence Officer leaves Kukum to make contact with the enemy in the Matanikau area who land during the night. The patrol is wiped out except for 3 persons by the Japanese.
[]New Hebrides
The Americans land 1,400 Marines on Espiritu Santu to build a supply base to support the Guadalcanal campaign.
[]North Africa
Gen Montgomery, the new commander of the British 8th Army, arrives in Egypt from Britain.
[ | ]North Sea
- The British submarine Sturgeon sinks the German steamer Boltenhagen (3335t) in Flekkefjord, Norway.
- The British submarine P-54 sinks the German steamer Georg L M Russ (2890t) off southern Norway.
| ]Solomons
The first aircraft with supplies lands on Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, which has just been completed.
[ | ]Mediterranean
The convoy and the covering forces of Operation PEDESTAL are attacked constantly throughout the day. One merchantman is sunk in the morning, and in the early evening, shortly before the main covering force withdraws on schedule, the carrier Indomitable is damaged and a destroyer is sunk. Later a cruiser and 2 freighters are sunk and 2 more cruisers, a transport and a vital tanker, the Ohio, are damaged.
On August 12th, 1942, a relief convoy to Malta is subjected to constant attacks during the day. Operation Pedestal was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta. The most crucial supply was fuel delivered by the SS Ohio, an American-built tanker (with a British crew). The operation started on 9 August 1942, when the convoy sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar. The arrival of the last ships of the convoy on 15 August 1942, coincided with the Feast of the Assumption (Santa Marija) and the convoy was named the Santa Marija Convoy.
Roughly fifty ships sailed through minefields, and came under attack by bombers, E-boats, and submarines.The operation cost of more than 400 lives, and only five of the original 14 merchant ships reaching the Grand Harbour. The SS Ohio made it to Malta but was so badly damaged that it sunk in Malta's Grand Harbor.
The Merchant Ship Weimarama Explodes. |
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Sinking of the Italian Submarine Cobolto |
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Evening Air and Submarine Attacks |
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HMS ITHURIEL Coming in to Ram the COBALTO |
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After the Ramming of the Cobalto |
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Indomitable On Fire |
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Damage to the Indomitable's Flight Deck |
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Torpedo Strikes the Tanker Ohio |
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