Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands

• US carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.1 and Task Group 58.2—under overall command of Rear-Adm Joseph J. Clark—mount extremely devastating attacks against airfields and shipping at Chichi Jima, Haha Jima, and Iwo Jima. Naval gunfire is also employed against some targets.
• A VF-31 F6F and a VT-31 TBM crew down an H8K 'Emily' flying boat at sea at 1304 hours. VF-1, VF-2, and VF-50 F6Fs down 49 A6M Zeros in the Iwo Jima area between 1555 and 1635 hours.

Air Operations, Carolines

• FEAF B-24s attack Peleliu Island and the Woleai and Yap atolls.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• More than 20 10th Air Force fighter-bombers support Allied ground troops at Myitkyina.

• 4 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack rail facilities at Yoyang.
• 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 14th Air Force P-40s attack numerous other targets in the Tungting Lake region.
• B-25s airdrop supplies to Chinese Army ground troops near Hengyang.

• 14th Air Force P-40s attack a bridge and targets of opportunity at Phu Lang Thuong.

Air Operations, East Indies

380th Heavy Bomb Group attack Saumlakki in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

• 6 Mosquitos are sent to the Scholven/Buer oil pland and 4 to the Homberg one, 4 Stirlings lay mines off Brest, 24 aircraft are on Resistance operations, and there are 11 Mosquitos on flying bomb patrols.

Air Operations, Marianas

318th Fighter Group P-47s attack Japanese Army troops on Rota, Saipan, and Tinian islands.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• After a smoke screen has been laid by V Bomber Command A-20s and B-25s, 317th Troop Carrier Group C-47s airdrop a 739-man US Army parachute- infantry battalion at the Kamiri airfield on Noemfoor, which is already in American hands. Paratroop casualties are an extremely high - 10 percent due to accidents, drifting smoke, and, to a far lesser degree, enemy fire.
• V Bomber Command B-24s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighters and fighter-bombers attack Biak Island, Efman Island, Larat, and Manokwari.
• B-25s and P-38s attack Japanese Army troops and supply dumps near Noemfoor's Kamiri airfield.
• 5th Air Force aircraft attack coastal targets in the Wewak area.

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-boats equipped with schnorkels begin operations off Normandy.
• The Germans submarine U-154 is sunk by the US destroyer escorts Frost (DE-144) and Inch (DE-145) off Madeira.

Burma-India

On the Assam front the 7th Indian Div of the XXXIII Corps captures Ukhrul. But the Japanese dig in close to this important road junction.

Eastern Front

Troops of the 1st and 3rd Belorussian Fronts complete the capture of Minsk. Many German units, particularly from 4th Army are now isolated to the east and casualties and losses of equipment have been enormous. Already after less than 2 weeks of the Soviet offensive, Army Group Center is in total disarray with 28 of its 40 divisions being encircled and before long it will have practically ceased to be a coherent fighting formation. The Russians claim 400,000 German dead and 158,000 taken prisoner and the capture of 2,000 enemy tanks and 10,000 guns. This overwhelming victory beings a grave threat to the Army Group North, stationed in the Baltic states, which is in danger of being cut off. The 1st Baltic Front under Gen Ivan Bagramyan is about to unleash a powerful offensive against it. The Russians have superiority in every respect and during the attack against Army Group Center could muster at least 320 guns to every mile of the front in the most vital sectors. Gen Johannes Freissner replaces Gen Georg Lindemann in command of Army Group North. Moscow calls this battle 'one of the decisive victories of the war.'

Elements of the 5th Guards Tank Army enters Minsk, it and the 31st Army fighting bitter actions with German rearguards. The 3rd Army fights its way in from the south and southeast, linking up with the 3rd Belorussian Front. The German 4th Army, with 100,000 men, is isolated. Heavy fighting rages as the XXVII, XXXIX and XII Corps retreat, unaware that their escape route has been cut.

Italy

The 34th Div of the US IV Corps begins its push to Leghorn, in the teeth of stubborn and effective German resistance. Units of the 135th Inf Regt advance as far as the vicinity of the Rosignano fortress, southeast of Leghorn, after a fierce battle with units of the 16th SS Panzergrenadiere Div. Further east the 3rd Algerian Div of the French Expeditionary Corps takes Siena.

To their right in the advance toward Arezzo the British 78th Div takes Cortona.

Mariana Islands

On Saipan the Americans, advancing north, capture a height overlooking Tanapag on the west coast. They are held up on the east coast by an enemy strongpoint, which they bombard heavily during the following night.

New Guinea

On Numfoor Island the US 158th Inf Regt expands the beachhead eastward over a mile in the direction of Kornasoren airfield. A battalion of the 503rd Parachute Regt drops on Kamiri airfield and, despite many casualties, the area is occupied.

On Biak the Americans occupy the eastern caves without difficulty and begin mopping up operations.

On the mainland the headquarters of the Japanese 18th Army issues a directive for the preparation of an attack in force against the American's Aitape beachhead.

Pacific

2 task forces of American aircraft carriers and escort vessels commanded by Rear-Adms Joseph J. Clark and Ralph E. Davison bomb and shell Japanese installations in the Volcano Islands and on Chichi Jima and Haha Jima in the Bonin Islands. 4 enemy ships are sunk.

Western Front

At 5:30a.m. in a blinding rainstorm the American 1st Army launches the so-called 'Battle of the Hedges' or 'Hedgerows', a general offensive beginning from the western flank of the Allied line, in the Contentin peninsula. The goal is to reach a line from Coutances to St Lô. Starting here, Gen Troy Middleton's US VIII Corps attacks south against the divisions of the German LXXXIV Corps. The Americans deploy 3 divisions, the 79th, the 82nd Airborne and the 90th, but they make very little progress on account of the rain and generally bad weather which does not allow proper air cover and makes the terrain almost impassible, and of the determined opposition of the German 243rd, 353rd and 91st Divisions. Units of the 82nd Airborne Div report a small advance, taking Height 131, northeast of La Haye-du-Puits, on the road to Coutances.

Images from July 3, 1944

A German PzKpfw IV tank at 27th Armoured Brigade workshops, 3 July 1944. This vehicle had the turret number '612'

German PzKpfw IV tank

A Captured German PzKpfw IV Tank

Marine infantrymen move fast to take up new positions in Garapan, principal city of Saipan. Jap buildings and installations were set afire by supporting artillery barrages and the Leathernecks entered the town to engage the enemy in street fighting for the first time in the Pacific theatre, 3 July 1944

Marines Move Up in Garapan, Saipan

Sherman Tanks and Other Vehicles Under Repair at a REME Depot in Normandy, 3 July 1944

The crew of a Sherman ARV pose with an intact German PzKpfw IV tank which they successfully recovered and brought back to 27th Armoured Brigade workshops, 3 July 1944. This vehicle had the turret number ‘612’.

Crew of a Sherman Pose with German Tank

Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV flown by the CO of No. 610 Squadron RAF, Squadron Leader R A Newbury, based at Friston, Sussex, 3 July 1944

Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV

Supplies being unloaded from a ship at the Mulberry artificial harbour at Arromanches in Normandy, July 1944.

Unloading Supplies at the Mulberry

The Allies find themselves in the 'battle of the hedgerows', as they are stymied by the agricultural hedges in Western France which intelligence had not properly evaluated, 3 July 1944.

Battle of the Hedgerows

In the Streets of the Liberated Minsk, 3 July 1944

Red Army Soldiers before Hoisting the Tlag at the House of Government in Minsk, 3 July 1944

The campaign of Italy ended for the CEF (French Expeditionary Corps) with the taking of Sienna on 3 July 1944. In 45 days of combats, the 1st DFL (1st Free French Division) tallied 700 deaths and 2,100 injured men.

Entry of the French in Sienna, July 1944

New Zealand Soldiers On Leave in Rome, Italy, with Guide at the Colosseum, 3 July 1944