Air Operations, Aleutians

17 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 16 B-25s mount 5 separate attacks against Kiska, including two conducted with radar guidance.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

11 V Bomber Command B-17s and 7 B-24s attack the Vunakanau and Rapopo airfields at Rabaul.

Air Operations, Europe

• 3 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne, 2 to Duisburg and 32 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and off the Brittany ports.
• There are no losses.

July 2, 1943: Lt. Charles Hall, 99th Fighter Squadron, became the first US African American pilot to shoot down an Axis plane, a German Focke-Wulf 190 over Sicily, Italy. Pictured here, Capt. Charles B. Hall is congratulated by Maj-Gen John Kenneth Cannon. (US Air Force photo)

Capt Hall is congratulated by Maj-Gen Cannon

Air Operations, Mediterranean

Major ports in central and southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia continue to be the targets for heavy Allied air raids.

Between June 12 and this date the Allies have dropped more than 2,000 tons of bombs on Italian territory, causing immense damage and shattering the morale of the troops who will have to face the Allied landing. In the bombing raids on this day German aircraft make unsuccessful 'air-to-air' bombing runs over the US formations.

NACAF (Northwest African Coastal Air Force) aircraft attack 2 Axis ships at sea off Italy's west coast.

B-24 Liberator Hit by Anti-aircraft Fire over Italy

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Kela Point and Logui and one B-24 attacks targets around Salamaua.
• 10 Japanese bombers mount unopposed bombing and strafing attacks against the Nassau Bay beachhead.

Air Operations, Sicily

• The intensified final phase of Operation HUSKY, the pre-invasion bombardment of military targets in Sicily, formally begins.
• NATAF (Northwest African Tactical Air Force) B-25s attack the Castelvetrano Airdrome.
• IX Bomber Command B-25s attack the Sciacca Airdrome.
• NATAF's 86th Fighter-Bomber Group, in A-36s, makes its combat debut in attacks on Sicily mounted from its base at Korba, Tunisia.
• The independent 99th Fighter Squadron scores its first victory of the war downing 1 FW-190. 3 other FW-190s are damaged in the day's action, but 2 P-40s and their pilots are lost.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and AirSols F4Us attack Bairoko, New Georgia.
• After the Allied fighter umbrella is withdrawn because of impending bad weather, an estimated 18 G4M 'Betty' bombers, escorted by 20 A6M Zeros, mount a particularly telling attack against US Army and Marine ground forces on Rendova Island at 1330 hours. 59 Allied servicemen are killed by bombs.
• VMF-121 F4Us down 6 Zeros over and near Rendova during the early afternoon.

Battle of the Atlantic

The US tanker Bloody Marsh (10,195t), en route from Houston, Texas to New York City, is torpedoed and sunk by U-66 with the loss of 3 crewmen.

New Guinea

MacKechnie Force holds firm in its bridgehead against light Japanese attacks, and makes contact with the Australian 3rd Div.

Hitler Youth members being decorated for bravery while manning anti-aircraft guns, Hamburg, Germany, July 1943. (Bundesarchiv)

Hitler Youth Being Decorated for Bravery

Pacific

• The US submarine Flying Fish (SS-229) sinks the Japanese merchant troopship Canton Maru (2820t) off the China coast about 80 miles northeast of Amoy.
• The US submarine S-35 (SS-140) sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship No. 7 Banshu Maru (5430t) off the west coast of the Kamchatka peninsula, Aleutians.
• The US submarine Trout (SS-202) sinks the Japanese army cargo ship Isuzu Maru (2866t) off the north coast of Marinduque Island, Philippines.

Solomons

The American buildup on Rendova continues as the US 43rd Div begins to assemble the units which are to be transported from Rendova to New Georgia to capture Munda airfield. The Japanese garrison, however, still holds out. Japanese bombers attack Rendova with great violence and during the night a Japanese naval force bombards the American positions on the island with little effect.

Trobriand Islands

The Seabees start on the airfield construction.