Air Operations, Asia

• A Japanese Ki-77 courier plane is lost over the Indian Ocean en route to Berlin.
• RAF Vengeance dive-bombers attack the Japanese Headquarters at Thaungdara, north of Rangoon.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s and 22 23rd Fighter Group P-40s attack Japanese shipping in Canton’s West River estuary. 23rd Fighter Group P-40s down 2 A6M Zeros over Canton at 1220 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

Top Luftwaffe 'ace' Lt Erich Hartmann shoots down 4 Lagg fighters and 3 Shturmoviks near Kursk.

• 4 Mosquitos are sent to Cologne and 4 more to Düsseldorf without a loss.

Groundcrew show their appreciation a a particularly low-pass by this aircraft of No 77 Squadron.

Groundcrew Show Their Appreciation

This crew take time to enjoy flying a Halifax without the stresses and strains of German night-fighter attacks.

Crew Enjoying Flying a Halifax

Caught in a rare moment of peace, this Halifax rests as groundcrew assist a local farmer tend his fields.

Groundcrew Assist a Local Farmer

Groundcrew take a tea-break as the NAAFI wagon arrives at the squadron dispersal.

Tea-break as the NAAFI Wagon Arrives

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s, with Royal Australian bombers, attack targets in the Mubo area, near Nassau Bay, with more than 100 tons of bombs.

Air Operations, Sicily

• NASAF B-17s, B-25s, and B-26s attack the Gerbini Airdrome complex and the Bo Risso Airdrome.
• NATAF A-20s attack the Biscari, Bo Rizzo, Comiso, Mazara del Vallo, and Trapani/Milo Airdromes, as well as the Marsala radar station and several other targets.
• IX Bomber Command B-24s attack the Gerbini Airdrome complex and the rail line north of Brucoli.
• IX Bomber Command B-25s attack the Biscari and Comiso Airdromes.
• In one of at least three fighter engagements during the day, P-40s of the 325th Fighter Group's 317th Fighter Squadron down 5 Bf-109s and an Mc-202 during an attack on the Trapani/Milo Airdrome about 1030 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Kahili airfield on Bougainville.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 347th Fighter Group P-38s attack the Vila airfield on Kolombangara.
• During at least 2 midafternoon aerial engagements, VMF-121 and VMF-122 F4Us down 6 of 13 G4M 'Betty' bombers and 10 of 60 A6M Zeros intercepted around Rendova.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-185 sinks 3 ships in the Brazilian convoy BT-18. The U-boat first torpedoes the US freighter James Robertson (7176t) and the tanker William Boyce Thompson (7061t) in the first assault. The James Robertson collides with a couple of ships in the convoy before she is abandoned. The submarine chaser PC-575 rescues 21 men. 3 men are lost in the attack on the William Boyce Thompson before she is abandoned. Her survivors are picked up by the gunboat Surprise (PG-63). U-185 next torpedoes the US tanker S.B. Hunt (6849t) and the freighter Thomas Sinnickson (7176t). The former has no casuaties and manages to reach port at Trinidad. The latter loses 1 Armed Guard sailor in the initial explosion. The gunboat Surprise takes of 18 men this day and the rest the next day as the ship sink despite efforts by the crew to save her..
• The German submarine U-951 is sunk by Army aircraft in the eastern Atlantic.

U-951

Suomussalmi civilians are given old weapons to defend their homes, 7 July 1943.

Arming Finnish Civilians

Britain, Policy

London announces that Malta will be given its independence at the end of the war.

Diplomatic Relations

Gen Henri Giraud arrives in Washington to confer with Pres Roosevelt and other senior military officers about the role of the Free French in the war's coming stages.

Eastern Front

In the northern sector of the Battle of Kursk the Germans can only make a very small advance. For the rest of the battle Model is able to push forward less than a mile a day. The Russians carry out local counterattacks while preparing for a general counteroffensive. In the south the Germans come close to a breakthrough on the front of XLVIII Corps around Syrtzevo but Soviet armored counterattacks arrive in time to hold the Germans up in what soon becomes a slogging match. Russian sources speak of 520 tanks destroyed and 111 aircraft shot down. The reports also mention the recklessness of German tank crews driving straight through Russian minefields and suffering severely as a result.

Photographer of the newspaper 'Red Star' O. Knorring and cameraman Malov are taping a prisoner interrogation of Chief Corporal A. Baushhof that voluntarily defected to the Red Army. Interrogation is conducted by the Captain S.A. Mironov (right) and translator Jonas (center). Orel-Kursk direction, July 7, 1943.

Interrogating German Prisoner

The 9th Army's efforts today center on the village of Ponyri, which controls the road and rail links with Kursk from the north. Supported by tanks of the 18th Panzer Div, the troops of the 292nd Infantry Div launch attacks on the lines held by the 307th Rifle Div in the village. After fierce fighting, by th end of the day the Germans have captured half the village. Another attack by the 2nd Panzer Div, with the Tigers of the 505th Panzer Detachment and the 20th Panzer Div, on the right against the Soviet lines between Samodurovka and Olkhovatka fails.

Soviet Soldiers Fire at a Nazi Plane on July 7, 1943.

Counterattack of Soviet Tanks on July 7 1943. Orel-Kursk Line of Advance.

In the south, the day begins with a series of German attacks along the whole of the 4th Panzer Army's front. As dawn breaks in the east, so XLVIII Panzer Corps rolls forward. The Germans attack Dubrova and Syrtsevo and clear Soviet defenders from the west bank of the Pen River. Meanwhile, the Leibstandarte's 1st SS Panzer Regt and Das Reich's 2nd SS Panzer Regt of II SS Panzer Corps advance up the prokhorovka road, driving parts of the V Guards Tank Corps ahead of them, through and past Teterevino.

Army Detachment Kempf's 7th Panzer Div, the 45 Tigers of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Detachment and the 6th Panzer Div advance toward the vital road junction of Miasoedovo. In the evening, the Soviets commit 2 divisions of the XXXV Guards Rifle Corps to support the collapsing defenses, which are east of Belgorod. On the left flank of III Panzer Corps, the 19th Panzer Div takes Blizhniaia Igumenka in the rear of the 81st Guards Rifle Div, but fails to cross the Northern Donets River.[MORE]

Eisenhower and Air Marshal Keith Park

On July 7, the Supreme Commander General Dwight Eisenhower arrived in Malta. He was joined by Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations. On July 8, the Deputy Supreme Commander, General Harold Alexander, opened a Tactical Headquarters for 15th Army Group. Air Marshal Arthur Coningham moved to Malta as well to supervise tactical air operations. Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, the Allied Air Commander, retained his Mediterranean Air Command Headquarters in Tunisia but he shuttled between North Africa and Malta and appointed Air Vice Marshal H.E.P. Wigglesworth for better liaison with General Eisenhower.

New Guinea

The Japanese positions at Mubo(Mumbo?) are heavily bombed as Allied aircraft drop more than 100 tons of bombs. MacKechnie Force, after moving to Napier from the coast, is deployed for an attack on Nitoi Ridge. The Australians capture Observation Hill, a feature of particular strategic value about a mile away from Mubo.

Pacific

The US submarine Permit (SS-178) sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Showa Maru (2212t) off Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan.

Solomons

Fighting continues on the Zanana-Munda track on New Georgia, north of the Barike River. Further south, new American units reach the Bairoko-Munda track. More forces sail from Guadalcanal for Rendova.