Air Operations, Europe

The RAF deploys the Gloster Meteor, the sole jet aircraft to be used by the Allies during the war.

• 222 aircraft of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups bomb a storage dump at Thiverny but the target is covered in cloud and no results are seen. Included in the aircraft total are 168 Halifaxes, 46 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos. 18 Lancasters and 5 Mosquito of No. 8 Group use Oboe to bomb the Rollez launching site.
• There are no losses.
• 153 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 3 and 8 Groups attack the important railway yards at Vaires on the outskirts of Paris. The target are is completely covered in cloud and the Master Bomber orders the attack to be abandoned after 2 Mosquitos have marked and 12 Lancasters have bombed.
• No aircraft are lost.

• 378 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 5 and 8 Groups attack railway targets at Culmont, Revigny and Tours. Culmont and Tours are accurately bombed, but cloud interferes with the all-No. 1 Group raid at Revigny and only half the force bombs.
• 10 Lancasters are lost on the Revigny raid and 2 on the Culmont one.
• 196 Halifaxes, 17 Lancasters and 17 Mosquitos of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups attack 4 flying bomb launch sites. All the targets are hit with the raid on the Bremont les Hautes being particularly accurate.
• There are no losses.

• 168 aircraft from all Main Force groups and Nos. 93 and 93 Groups (OTU) make a diversionary sweep over the North Sea. 8 Mosquitos are sent to Homberg, 12 Halifaxes lay mines off Haligoland, and there are 32 Mosquito patrols and 32 RCM and 14 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

The Scene at Culmont When Photographed on the July 13th

Burma-China

The Chinese and Americans, with strong air support, launch an attack in force against Myitkyina but are repulsed. Some of the aircraft bomb their own troops through a communications error.

On the Salween front the Japanese in the Sung Shan garrison continue to repulse the attacks of 2 Chinese divisions. The Chinese offensive is suspended.

Eastern Front

The great Russian offensive grows in scale and intensity. Moscow announces that the 2nd Baltic Front has launched a series of attacks between Nevel and Ostrov, south of Lake Peipus, capturing Idritsa, west of Velikiye Luki along the railway line to Riga.

The 2nd Baltic Front rips a 50-mile hole in the 16th Army, the 10th Guards Army advancing 10 miles into the German rear. The 3rd Shock Army has also broken through, reaching the Velikaya River while the 4th captures Drissa. Idritsa falls to the 4th Shock Army of the 1st Baltic Front.

The Stavka strengthens the 1st Baltic Front in its push toward the Gulf of Riga, allocating the 51st and 2nd Guards Armies from the reserve.

The Soviet 5th Army enters Vilnius.

Furious battles rage at Vilnius as the 5th Army forces its way into the city.

Koniev begins probing attacks against the junction of 4th and 1st Panzer Armies. The Germans immediately pull back their forward units to the main defense belt but are observed. Gambling that the Germans will not expect an attack without the usual arty barrage, Koniev decides to attack on the 13th.

Italy

The US IV Corps, advancing on Leghorn, takes Castiglioncello. On the right of the line the 34th Div runs into serious difficulties, while the 88th, supported by effective artillery fire, takes Laiatico.

Operation MALLORY MAJOR, a major sequence of Allied air attacks against the Po bridges to impede German re-supply efforts, is launched.

New Guinea

In the Aitape area the Americans re-group for the recapture of the positions lost on the Driniumor River.

Western Front

The US 1st Army sends the 101st Airborne Div back to England for a period of rest and to train new recruits. While the VIII Corps makes considerable progress southward toward the Ay and Sèves Rivers, the VII is in difficulties along the Carentan-Périers road. The US XIX Corps' offensive against St Lô goes on, but at a reduced pace, as the 30th Div is in trouble in the Pont-Hébert sector, as is the 116th Regt of the 29th Div west of that town. All the objectives on the features called Height 192, northeast of St Lô, are captured by the 2nd Div of V Corps.

Brig-Gen Theodore Roosevelt, Jr, CGM, dies of a heart attack.

Images from July 12, 1944

Captain J.W. Ferguson and Lieutenant D.L. Almas examining a damaged Henschel Hs-129 aircraft of the Luftwaffe, Carpiquet, France, 12 July 1944

Examining a Damaged Henschel Hs-129

Flash spotters of 10th Survey Regiment, Royal Artillery, on a 66ft high platform erected north of Cheux, 12 July 1944

Royal Artillery Spotters

Soldiers of the 552nd Field Artillery of the 442nd RCT fire a 105-mm Howitzer at the enemy during the battle for Leghorn Date: 12 July 1944

Artillery during the Battle for Leghorn

Briefing of Canadian troops outside a hangar on the airfield at Carpiquet. 12 July 1944, Carpiquet, France

Canadian Troops Briefing

Japanese-American soldiers of the 100th Infantry Battalion of US 442nd Regimental Combat Team in a captured German Schwimmwagen vehicle in the Castellina Sector, near Livorno, Italy, 12 July 1944

Japanese-American Soldiers in a Captured Vehicle

Japanese-American soldier of 522nd Field Artillery, US 442nd Regimental Combat Team with a soldier of Italian 11th Pack Mule Company, Castellina Sector, Italy, 12 Jul 1944

Japanese-American Soldier with Italian 11th Pack Mule Company

A view of 'Pegasus Bridge' over the Caen Canal at Benouville, 12 July 1944. Two of the Horsa gliders that brought the 'coup de main' force in on the night of D-Day can be seen in the background.

'Pegasus Bridge'

The Tirpitz in Kåfjord/Altafjord Photographed by a British Mosquito, 12 July 1944

Horsa gliders near Pegasus Bridge over the Caen canal at Benouville, 12 July 1944

300th Combat Engineers, Co. C constructing a by-pass between Carentan and Isigny, France, 12 July 1944. (Photo: Riel Crandall)

Constructing a By-pass

Canadian Soldiers Manning a Former German Strongpoint on the Airfield at Carpiquet, 12 July 1944

T-34-85 from the 226 Tank Regiment (tactical number 908) lost on 12 July 1944 on the Vuosalmi bridgehead and towed by Finns

T-34-85 from the 226 Tank Regiment