Air Operations, Aleutians

Following nearly two weeks of impassable weather, 16 28th Composite Bomb Group bombers mount armed-reconnaissance flights to Kiska, where 2 bombers attack ground targets.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a bridge at Shweli.

Air Operations, Europe

• 9th Air Force Liberators bomb Sedes airfield in Greece and drop pamphlets addressed to the local population.

• 630 aircraft are sent to Wuppertal. Included in the total are 251 Lancasters, 171 Halifaxes, 101 Wellingtons, 98 Stirlings and 9 Mosquitos.
• This attack is aimed at the Elberfeld half of the city since the Barmen half had received extensive damage in an attack at the end of may. The Pathfinder marking is accurate and the Main Force bombing begins well but creepback becomes more pronounced the usual. 30 planes hit targets in the more western part of the Ruhr, Wuppertal being in the eastern part. Regardless, extensive damage is caused in the Elberfeld part. Estimates say as much as 94 percent of the Elberfeld part of Wuppertal is destroyed in this attack.

• 4 Mosquitos are sent to Duisburg, 4 Stirlings lay mines in the Gironde River and there are 7 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Of 128 P-47 sorties launched over northern Europe, 1 78th Fighter Group P-47 downs and FW-190 near Ostend at 0910.

49 IX Bomber Command B-24s attack Salonika/Sedhes Airdrome.

First Landing on Shemya Island in the Aleutians by the AAF 24 June 1943.

Air Operations, Gilberts

3 VII Bomber Command B-24s stationed at Funafuti and 2 from Canton Island reconnoiter several atolls and islands.

Air Operations, Mediterranean

An Me-210 is downed at sea at 1910 hours by an 81st Fighter Group P-39 on convoy-escort duty.

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-25s strafe the airfield at Salamaua and several nearby villages.

Air Operations, Sardinia

• NASAF B-25s and B-26s attack the Alghero/Fertila and Venafiorita Airdromes, the rail junction at Chilivani, Axis ships at sea off the coast, and various targets of opportunity.
• While conducting aggressive sweeps over southern Sardinia, NAAF P-40s attack motor vehicles ner La Maddalena, sink 2 small vessels off the coast and strafe Axis aircraft on the ground at Capoterra Airdrome.
• While escorting the morning bombing attacks or conducting sweeps, 14th Fighter Group P-38s down 7 Bf-109s over Alghero Airdrome, 325th Fighter Group P-40s down 5 Bf-109s over the Gulf of Palmas, and 1st Fighter Group P-38s down 8 Bf-109s over Chilivani.

Air Operations, Solomons

During the night, XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Buka and targets around Kahili.

Battle of the Atlantic

• Working in the Bay of Biscay, the British sloop HMS Starling obtains an asdic contact which is determined to be a submarine. The ship drops a pattern of ten charges set to varying depths. Starling for a second pass when the U-boat, U-119, surfaces and begins using her guns. Starling heads towart the U-boat intent on ramming but a swell carried her onto U-119's casing and rode over her. The U-boat is finished off by a final attack by the sloop HMS Woodpecker.

U-119 Class Type XB CO Kapitänleutnant Horst-J. von Kamecke Location Atlantic, NW of Cape Ortegal Cause Ramming/gunfire Casualties 57 Survivors None

U-194 Class Type IXC/40 CO KorvettenKapitän Hermann Hesse Location Atlantic, S of Iceland Cause Air attack Casualties 54 Survivors None

• U-194 is heading out into the Atlantic when she comes within the area covered by the air patrols for convoy ONS-11. Catilina 'G' of USN Squadron VP-84 makes two attacks with depth charges, the second of which appears to have damaged the U-boat enough to cause it to sink.

• Naval land-based aircraft (VP-84) sink the German submarine U-200 in the North Atlantic area.

U-200 Class Type IXD2 CO KorvettenKapitän Heinrich Schonder Location Atlantic, SW of Iceland Cause Air attack Casualties 62 Survivors None

U-449 Class Type VIIC CO Oberleutnant zur See Hermann Otto Location Atlantic, NW of Cape Ortegal Cause Depth charge Casualties 49 Survivors None

• U-449 is attacked by two British sloops, the Wren and the Wild Goose. The U-boat is a wily opponent, diving deep and firing large number of SBTs (submarine bubble targets) which made it difficult for the surface ships to pinpoint her location. The sloops make a series of cree [ | ]
  

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  Eastern Front

  GERMAN COMMAND
  

  As the date of the attack looms closer, Hitler becomes increasingly worried at the prospect of failure, confessing to Goebbels that even if the Ostheer vanquishes the Red Army in this battle, the opinion of the neutral states in Europe will not be influenced. This is mainly aimed at Turkey, which Hitler has been trying to entice into the Axis camp since the war began.

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  India, Politics

  In a broadcast from Tokyo, Bose makes an appeal for an armed uprising by Indians against the British. 'Civil disobedience must develop into armed struggle. And only when the Indian people receive the baptism of fire on a large scale will they qualify for their freedom.'

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  Italy, Home Front

  Mussolini speaks in Rome to the Fascist Party Directorate on the threat of invasion.

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