July 1942

[July 1], 1942 (Wednesday)

• The First Battle of El Alamein began.
• German Army Group South overran Sevastopol fortress.
• Erich von Manstein was promoted to field marshal for capturing Sevastopol.
• 44 Japanese were killed by Australian commandos in the Raid on Heath's Farm in New Guinea.
• The first B-17 Flying Fortress arrived in Britain.
• Pierre Laval allowed German forces to enter Vichy France to hunt for clandestine radio transmitters.
• The Japanese auxiliary ship Montevideo Maru was torpedoed and sunk off Cape Bojeador, Luzon, Philippines by the American submarine Sturgeon, unaware that it was carrying a large number of Australian prisoners of war and civilians. 1,054 Australians perished, the worst maritime disaster in Australian history.
• German submarines U-414 and U-707 were commissioned.
• Born:
• *Geneviève Bujold, actress, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada;
• *Andraé Crouch, gospel singer, songwriter, producer and pastor, in San Francisco, California
• Died: Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, 84, Irish writer

  [July 2], 1942 (Thursday)

• Following two weeks of reverses on the North African front, a motion of censure was brought against Winston Churchill in the House of Commons proposing that "this House, while paying tribute to the heroism and endurance of the Armed Forces of the Crown in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central direction of the war." Churchill gave a lengthy speech before the vote, conceding that the campaign in North Africa had not been going well but insisting that things would improve once vast amounts of American military supplies arrived. The motion was defeated, 475 to 25.
• The German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army met at Stary Oskol, but no Soviet forces were encircled.
• British forces occupied the island of Mayotte in the Mozambique Channel.
• German submarine U-629 was commissioned.
• The Slovak Academy of Sciences was formed.
• Born: Vicente Fox, 55th President of Mexico, in Mexico City

  [July 3], 1942 (Friday)

• The Flying Tigers fought their final engagement, driving away eight Japanese bombers raiding Hengyang.
• The American Liberty ship Alexander Macomb was sunk on her maiden voyage east of Cape Cod by German submarine U-215, which was then depth charged and sunk off the coast of New England by the British anti-submarine trawler Le Tiger.
• Russian authorities admitted the loss of Sevastopol but claimed that its capture had cost the Germans 300,000 casualties.
• The U.S. Army relaxed its draft standards to allow induction of selectees with physical deformities for limited military service.

  [July 4], 1942 (Saturday)

• The Siege of Sevastopol ended after eight months with an Axis victory when organized Soviet resistance in the Crimea ended.
• German authorities began systematically gassing Jews at Auschwitz.
• Soviet forces retreated at Kursk and Belgorod.
• The Flying Tigers were dissolved and replaced by the China Air Task Force.
• The 15th Bombardment Squadron became the first USAAF unit to bomb occupied Europe when it joined the RAF in a raid on the Netherlands.
• Japanese destroyer Nenohi was torpedoed and sunk southeast of Attu Island by the American submarine Triton.
• German submarine U-167 was commissioned.
• Born:
• *Floyd Little, football player, in New Haven, Connecticut ;
• *Prince Michael of Kent, in Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire, England

  [July 5], 1942 (Sunday)

• German forces on the Eastern Front reached the Don River.
• Action of 5 July 1942: Japanese destroyer Arare was torpedoed and sunk off Kiska by the American submarine USS Growler.
• Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland. The Independence Party won a plurality of votes but the Progressive Party won a plurality of seats.

  [July 6], 1942 (Monday)

• The Japanese sent a survey party to the sparsely populated island of Guadalcanal to select a location for an airfield. A site was selected near Lunga Point and construction began.
• German submarine U-502 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by a Leigh light-equipped Wellington bomber.
• The American League defeated the National League 3-1 in the 10th Major League Baseball All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds in New York City. It was the first night game in All-Star history.

  [July 7], 1942 (Tuesday)

• German forces in the Battle of Voronezh reach the outskirts of the city.
• The German 6th Army linked up with the 4th Panzer Army northeast of Valuiki.
• Heinrich Himmler authorized sterilization experiments to take place at Auschwitz concentration camp.
• During a debate over a proposed amendment to the National Resources Mobilization Act, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King uttered the famous phrase that he believed that nothing better could be suggested than the government's present policy of "not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary."
• German submarine U-701 was depth charged and sunk off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by a Lockheed Hudson bomber.
• German submarine U-303 was commissioned.
• Born: Carmen Duncan, actress, in Cooma, Australia

  [July 8], 1942 (Wednesday)

• The German 1st Panzer Army crossed the Donets.
• Vichy France broke off diplomatic relations with Greece.
• One week after gaining U.S. citizenship, the British-born movie star Cary Grant married the socialite heiress Barbara Hutton at Lake Arrowhead, California.
• German submarine U-524 was commissioned.
• Died:
• *Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, 86, French World War I general;
• *Refik Saydam, 60, fifth Prime Minister of Turkey

  [July 9], 1942 (Thursday)

• Adolf Hitler modified Case Blue, dividing Army Group South into two groups. Army Group A was to seize Rostov-on-Don and then continue through the Caucusus, while Group B was to drive on Stalingrad through to Astrakhan. Hitler also ordered Hermann Hoth's forces to head south in the hope of encircling the Red Army units still west of the Don River.
• Şükrü Saracoğlu became Prime Minister of Turkey following the death of Refik Saydam.
• Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam got ill in a programme in All India Radio, never to be recovered again.
• German submarine U-630 was commissioned.
• Born: Richard Roundtree, actor, in New Rochelle, New York
• Died: Wolfgang Kaden, 42, German naval captain

  [July 10], 1942 (Friday)

• German forces captured the town of Rossosh and established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Don.
• The Douglas A-26 Invader had its first test flight.
• An American pilot spots the so-called Akutan Zero intact at Akutan Island. Information gained from studying the plane allowed the Americans to devise ways to defeat the Zero. Plane salvaged on July 15.
• German submarine U-186 was commissioned.
• Bombardier was founded in Quebec, Canada.
• The Orson Welles-directed period drama film The Magnificent Ambersons starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello and Anne Baxter was released.
• Born:
• *Ronnie James Dio, heavy metal singer and songwriter, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire ;
• *Pyotr Klimuk, cosmonaut, in Kamaroŭka, USSR

  [July 11], 1942 (Saturday)

• RAF Lancaster bombers flew the longest raid of the European theatre up to this time, traveling 1,750 miles to bomb German shipyards at Danzig.
• Allied convoy PQ 17 finally arrived in Russia after losing 24 of its original 33 vessels, the worst convoy loss of the war. Joseph Stalin suspected that the British had fabricated the heavy losses so as to provide the Soviets with fewer goods than promised.
• Japan canceled invasions of Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa.
• Hitler issued Directive No. 43, Continuation of Operations from the Crimea.
• German submarine U-136 was depth charged and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by Allied warships.
• German submarines U-225, U-267 and U-447 were commissioned.

  [July 12], 1942 (Sunday)

• Joseph Stalin began moving massive numbers of troops into the Stalingrad area. Semyon Timoshenko was placed in overall command of the new Stalingrad Front.
• Soviet general Andrey Vlasov was captured by the Germans. During captivity he would switch sides and collaborate with the Nazis.
• Born: Dennis Day, American child actor and "Mouseketeer"; in Las Vegas
• Died: William J. Powell, 44, American engineer, soldier, civil aviator and author

  [July 13], 1942 (Monday)

• 5,000 Jews from the Rovno ghetto were shot in a forest near the city.
• Hitler decided to dismiss Fedor von Bock from command of the newly created Army Group B and replace him with Maximilian von Weichs. Bock's dismissal took effect on July 15.
• The American destroyer sank the German submarine U-153 near Colón, Panama.
• Born:
• *Harrison Ford, actor, in Chicago, Illinois
• *Roger McGuinn, singer and guitarist of The Byrds, in Chicago, Illinois

  [July 14], 1942 (Tuesday)

• The Vichy government refused a U.S. offer to move nine warships of the French fleet to an American, neutral or Martinique port to prevent their seizure by the Axis.
• Two women were shot dead in Marseille when an enormous crowd gathered illegally for Bastille Day, waving French flags and singing "La Marseillaise". Charles de Gaulle led Bastille Day celebrations of his own in London.
• The Indian National Congress working committee adopted a resolution demanding British withdrawal from India but denying any intention of embarrassing the Allied war effort.
• The sports drama film The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig was released.
• The USAT Arcata sank after being shelled by Japanese submarine I-7, 16 died.
• Born: Javier Solana, physicist and politician, in Madrid, Spain