Destroyer HMS Onslow laid down.

Minesweeping trawler HMS Deodar commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Garth commissioned.

FRANCE: The government moves to the spa town of Vichy, where the empty hotels are suitable new homes for government departments.

The U.S. Ambassador to France meets privately with the President of the French Council of Ministers, Marshal Henri Petain. Regarding the French Fleet, Petain states that orders have been given "to every captain of the French Fleet to sink his ship rather than permit [it] to fall into German hands." The Ambassador also has an interview with Admiral Darlan and is told that if the Germans demand the fleet, it had orders to sail for Martinique and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to join the USN.

GERMANY: U-88 laid down.

SPAIN: U-52 refueled from the German supply ship Bessel in Vigo.

ROMANIA: Bucharest: Oil-rich Romania, the chief source of Hitler’s oil supplies, today renounced the Anglo-French guarantee of its frontiers and sent "important emissaries" to Berlin.
These moves confirm the Allied fears that King Carol would look to the Nazis for protection following Russia’s occupation of the provinces of Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.
For the moment all is quiet in the capital, although there are reports of clashes between troops and workers at the port of Galatz.

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarine SC-137 launched.

LIBYA: Marshal Rodolfo Graziani succeeds the late Italo Balbo as commander-in-chief of Italian forces.

JAPAN: Rationing of sugar, matches and other goods is introduced.

U.S.A.: US President Roosevelt sign another naval construction bill. This provides for the construction of 45 more ships and provides 550 million dollars (US) for this and for other projects.
Effective this date, a new law passed by the U.S. Government places a two cent tax on movie theater tickets to help pay for increased defence spending.

Ben Turpin, the cross-eyed slapstick comedian of the silent movies, dies in Santa Monica, California, of heart disease. He was 65. He began his career as a burlesque comedian and entered films in 1907 but failed to attract attention and went back to burlesque. He returned to films in 1914 and his big break came in 1915 when he played opposite Charlie Chaplin. The two did not get along and Turpin moved on to another studio; Mack Sennett found him in 1917 and he went on to become a leading comedy star and insuring his eyes with Lloyds of London against uncrossing. He appeared in over 160 films until sound came in and then appeared in cameo roles in 18 films until his death.

The 7th "Bayonet" Infantry Division of the United States Army is activated. (Marc James Small)

Light cruiser USS Cleveland laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN:  Two German U-boats are sunk today:

- The crew of U-26 scuttles their boat about 282 nm (522 km) west of  Brest, France. The RN corvette HMS Gladiolus had dropped eight depth charges damaging the U-boat in an attack yesterday. Today, a Sunderland Mk. I, aircraft "H" of No. 10 Squadron, RAAF, based at Mount Batten, Devonshire, England, sights the boat on the surface and drops two sticks of four 250-pound (113 kg) bombs further damaging it and preventing it from diving. Recognizing their situation, the crew scuttles the boat to prevent capture by the British and all 48 crewmen are picked up by the sloop HMS Rochester. (Alex Gordon)

- After sinking a 5,219 ton merchant ship in Convoy SL-36 (Sierre Leone to U.K.), U-102 is sunk about 238 nm (440 km) west of Brest, France, in position 48.33N, 10.26W, by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Vansittart. All 43-hands in the U-boat are lost. (Alex Gordon)

At 1155, the Clearton in Convoy SL-36 was torpedoed and damaged by U-102 about 180 miles west of Ushant. At 1325, the now straggling vessel was again torpedoed by the U-boat and sank 042° 240 miles from Smalls. Eight crewmembers were lost. The master, 24 crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by HMS Vansittart, which had sunk U-102 shortly after the last attack and brought the survivors to Plymouth.

SS Damastos sunk by U-29 at 46.20N, 14.30W.

At 0023, U-30 attacked Convoy SL-36 about 300 miles west of Ushant and claimed the sinking of one ship with 7900 tons. This claim is not confirmed by Allied reports. At 0400 hours, the U-boat attacked again and sank the Beignon. The Beignon had picked up 84 survivors of the Avelona Star, which had been torpedoed by U-43 in the same convoy at 2227 hours on 30 June. Three crewmembers and three survivors were lost. The master, 29 crewmembers and 81 survivors were picked up by HMS Vesper and Windsor and landed at Plymouth

At 1351, the Amstelland in Convoy OA-175 was hit by a torpedo from U-65 about 380 miles SW of Lands End. Stockhausen claimed to have sunk his victim, but she remained afloat for two days, before HMS Marauder took the ship in tow. HMS Calendula escorted the damaged vessel to Falmouth, where they arrived on 5 July.

Prestwick, Scotland: A Consolidated B-24 flies from Washington via Montreal and Newfoundland, thus completing the types first transatlantic delivery. The RAF took 26 B-24s in exchange for a similar number of LB-30s. The first six were YB-24s (designated LB-30As) and they went into the North Atlantic Return Ferry Service. 

Today's flight used a modified B-24A of the USAAF's Air Corps Ferrying Command on this, the North Atlantic Transport Service for the aerial transport of passengers and cargo. The flight originated at Bolling Field, Washington D.C.  

Minesweeping trawler HMS Liscomb laid down.

Submarine HMS Sportsman laid down.

Tug HMS Canute commissioned.

GERMANY: The Wehrmacht High Command announced:

In the course of June 30 the Luftwaffe once again inflicted annihilating blows on the Soviet-Russian bomber and fighter formations. On June 30 the enemy lost 280 aircraft in all, 216 of them in aerial combats. German fighter wings led by [air ace] Lt. Col. Molders and by Major Trautloff particularly distinguished themselves during the fighting by shooting down 110 and 65 planes respectively. At Dunaburg [= Daugavpils in Latvia] the Trautloff Fighter Wing succeeded in destroying all 40 planbes of a Soviet attack group. The Molders Fighter Wing gave equally impressive proof of the superiority of the German Luftwaffe in the region east of Minsk and Bobruisk, where large numbers fo enemy formations soght to disrupt the movements of the advancing German troops. Of the approximately 100 attacking fighters and bombers, the Molders Fighter Wing destroyed 80. In the battle Lt. Col. Molders won his 82nd aerial victory, Captain Joppien his 52nd.

German Luftwaffe formations have intervened in the ground battle with telling effect. They bombed retreating enemy columns east of Lvov where these were marching two or three abreast along the same road; inflicted extremely heavy losses on Soviet troops encircled between Bialystok and Minsk; and attacked the enemy in relay waves where he was falling back through Riga (Latvia). Multitudes of armoured cars and hundreds of trucks were destroyed during these operations, enemy batteries were silenced and transport trains smashed to pieces.

The Opium Law classifies the amphetamine, Perivitin, as a restricted substance, even though ten million tablets are on order for the Heer. (Andreas Ulrich, Der Spiegel. May 6, 2005)(Henry Sirotin)

U-185, U-447, U-448, U-468, U-520, U-621 and U-622 laid down

U-159 launched.

U-131 is commissioned.
 

U.S.S.R.: Army Group North captures Riga and other German forces to the south have crossed the Dvina. West of Minsk the Berezina has been crossed.

Soviet submarine M-81 of the Baltic Fleet is mined and sunk near Laine Bank off Vormsi Island. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)

LATVIA: German troops occupy the capital, Riga.

SYRIA: Leading elements of 10 Ind Div (Maj-Gen W. Slim) enter eastern Syria from Iraq. 2/25 Bn commence operations to clear enemy from flanks of 21 Aust Bde at Beit ed Dine in the Damour valley. Four Hurricanes of 127 Sqn RAF catch two De520’s over Deir ez Zor and damage one. The Arab Legion destroys a French “light company” (raiding party) at Sukhna, capturing 80 prisoners and six armoured cars. (Michael Alexander)

EGYPT: Cairo: General Sir Claude Auchinleck officially takes over as C-in-C Middle East from General Wavell, who has been appointed C-in-C India. Oliver Lyttelton is appointed Minister of State, and is resident in the Middle East. This removes some of the political responsibilities from CiC India. Churchill has tired of Wavell and with the failure of the latest North African offensive has been able to make changes.

CHINA: Germany and Italy officially recognise the Japanese puppet government of Wang Chingwei.

Chungking: The Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang government has broken off diplomatic relations with Germany and Italy in retaliation for the decision by the Axis powers to recognise its new rival, the Reformed Kuomintang, the puppet regime set up the Japanese in Nanking under General Chingwei.

The Kuomintang leader, General Chiang Kai-shek, has reluctantly ordered the recall of the Kuomintang's ambassador in Berlin and its charge d'Affaires in Rome.

The Axis decision to support the Nanking regime is the result of diplomatic pressure from Tokyo, overriding the views of German officials in China who oppose recognition for Nanking. They argue that, following the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union, Germany and China - the latter at war with the Communists in the north - should unite against Communism.

NEWFOUNDLAND: US naval aircraft begin anti-submarine patrols from bases here.

CANADA: U69 repairs and overhauls her engines at the uninhabited Salvage Islands.

U.S.A.: All men aged 21 or over have to register for the draft today, and US Navy planes start patrolling the Atlantic for U-boats.

The New York Times military analyst, Hanson W. Baldwin says:
The United States army, after a year of expansion and preparation, is months away from adequate combat efficiency. In the opinion of most high ranking officers, not a single division is ready for war, although all of our organised divisions are already superior in training to the divisions we sent to France in 1917 ... Many officers, military iconoclasts though they may be, have out it bluntly and probably correctly: We are still training for a 1917 war.

Icelandic-United States exchange of letter respecting defence of Iceland.

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) begins television broadcasting. The first show is a broadcast of the Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies baseball game followed by the 1936 motion picture "Death from a Distance" with Lola Lane.

In baseball, the New York Yankees play a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox in Yankee Stadium, New York City before 52,832 fans, including New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Joe DiMaggio hits two singles against Red Sox pitchers Mickey Harris and Mike Ryba in the first game which extends his hitting streak to 43-games. In the rain shortened second game, DiMaggio hits the ball in the infield off Red Sox pitcher Jack Wilson and third baseman Jim Tabor makes a poor throw to first allowing DiMaggio to get on. The official scorer, Dan Daniel of the New York World Telegram, scores it as a hit instead of an error thus extending DiMaggio hitting steak to 44 games which ties the major league consecutive game hitting streak set by right fielder Willie Keeler of the Baltimore Orioles in 1897.

The first landing, takeoff and catapult launching form an escort aircraft carrier were made aboard USS Long Island (AVG-1), by Lieutenant Commander William D. Anderson, commanding officer of Scouting Squadron Two Hundred One (VS-201).

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) begins television broadcasting. The first show is a broadcast of the Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies baseball game followed by the 1936 motion picture "Death from a Distance" with Lola Lane.

Submarine USS Blackfish laid down.

Minesweeper USS Starling laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS Toronto City sunk by U-108 at 47.03N, 30W.

Minesweeper HMS Truelove laid down.

Rescue tug HMS Destiny launched.

Escort carrier HMS Dasher commissioned.

GERMANY:

U-414, U-707 commissioned.

U-528 launched.

U-284, U-926 laid down.

Rastenburg: Hitler's headquarters claimed today that Sevastopol has fallen to the Wehrmacht after 25 days of vicious hand-to-hand fighting. To celebrate the capture of the Crimean fortress General von Manstein has been promoted to Field Marshal.

However, little but ruins has fallen into the Germans' hands. The city has been pounded to pieces by Stukas dive-bombers and heaviest collection of guns yet used in the war. In the end the defenders, without air cover, could only be supplied by submarine.

The Russians fought from house to house, room to room, and had to be burnt out with flame throwers. The Germans also used toxic gas to force them out. When it became inevitable on 30 June that the city would fall every available boat was used to evacuate the defenders. Many did not get away. Some are fighting on, defiant to the end.

ARCTIC OCEAN: Convoy PQ-17 from Iceland to Murmansk is spotted by U-255 and U-408. This alert brings 8 other U-boats to join the operation.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: At 1343, U-97 fired two torpedoes at a small convoy NE of Port Said and hit the Marilyse Moller amidships with one torpedo. The ship exploded and sank immediately. A first torpedo had missed her at 1341 hours. The master and 30 crewmembers were lost. Four crewmembers were picked up by armed trawler HMS Burra and landed at Port Said.

NORTH AFRICA: The German advance in North Africa reaches El Alamein. The 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions are fighting at the west end of Ruweisat Ridge. There attacks will continue through July 4, making little progress.
Rommel's assault on the El Alamein Line, which began today, does not just threaten the British position in Egypt and the Suez Canal. If it is successful its effect could be very much greater.

Hitler believes that he is now in a position to overrun the whole of the Middle East by double envelopment. Field Marshal Fedor von Bock's Army Group South began a major offensive in the Ukraine on 28 June aimed at the Caucasus. With this secured, von Bock could drive on into Turkey, whose ill-equipped armed forces would offer little resistance, enter the Middle East by the "back door" and join hands with Rommel.

The loss of the Middle East would not only make British communications with India tenuous in the extreme but also deny Britain its main source of oil. This would put even greater pressure on the US oilfields and, in all probability, produce a major fuel crisis for the Allies. This in turn would severely affect strategy, not just against Germany and Italy but in the Pacific as well. It is thus even more crucial that the Eighth Army stops Rommel in his tracks.

Cairo: Ash Wednesday - staff at the British embassy and military headquarters frantically burn papers, expecting the Germans to arrive at any moment.

US Army, Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) B-24s bomb the harbor at Tobruk, Libya during the night of 1/2 July.

PALESTINE: Axis planes raid the port of Haifa.

CHINA: Lake Tai: Japan's 13th Army is to extend its rural pacification programme in the Lower Yangtze to eliminate Chinese guerrilla activity.

The 13th, working with Wang Chingwei's puppet regime, is setting up a second model peace zone on the Chekiang/Kiangsu border south of Lake Tai, where 5,000 Chinese Communist guerrillas are operating. It will be modelled on the successful, militarily protected peace zone set up last year in the Yangtze Delta. By this April, 600,000 war refugees had returned to live there behind its palisades controlled by collaborators.

PACIFIC: The USN submarine USS Sturgeon (SS-187) sinks the unmarked 7,267-ton Japanese transport SS Montevideo Maru about 65 miles (105 km) west of Luzon, Philippine Islands. The transport had sailed from Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, on 22 June 1942 destined for Hainan Island carrying 1,250 Australian civilians and POWs of the 2/22 Battalion. The only survivors of the sinking are 18 Japanese seaman.

CANADA: An agreement regarding the international trade in wheat is signed between Argentina, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The US Navy aerial strength in the Aleutian Islands consists of 40 PBY-5A Catalinas assigned to the three squadrons of Patrol Wing Four (PatWing-4). Patrol Squadron Forty One (VP-41) with 10 aircraft is at Naval Air Station (NAS) Dutch Harbor; VP-42 with 24 aircraft is at Cold Bay; and VP-51 with 6 aircraft is at Sand Point. The latter two squadrons are serviced by seaplane tenders.

IBM perfects the Vacuum Tube Digital Mulitiplier, which calculates 1,000 times faster than existing mechanical devices.

Washington: The US-Polish lend-lease agreement is signed.

The FBI arrests 250 aliens who allegedly plotted to blow up the Pennsylvania railroad.

A U.S. armed freighter of 7,551 tons is sunk by the German submarine U-126 north of Trinidad. Seven of the 56 crewmen and armed guard perish.

The first Army Engineer Fire Fighting Detachment is approved. (Jean Beach)

Caribbean Sea: June was the worst month of the war so far for Allied shipping losses. The total was 173 ships, amounting to 834,196 tons. Of this no less than 144 ships were sunk by U-boats.

The figures are a triumph for the German strategy of taking the U-boat offensive into the heart of American waters. Some 60% of the huge total of sinkings were in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

It was already clear by the middle of last month that the situation was grave. The American chief of staff, General George C. Marshall, then wrote to Admiral King urging him to introduce convoys. He pointed out that 20% of the Puerto Rican fleet, 22% of the bauxite fleet and 3.5% of all tanker tonnage had been lost. "The losses by submarines off our Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean now threaten our entire war effort," wrote General Marshall.

Two days later Admiral King himself wrote that "escort is not just one way of handling the submarine menace; it is the only way that gives any promise of success." He complains, however, that the US still has very little in the way of anti-submarine forces.

The unescorted Warrior (ex-John Jay) was hit at 1831 by two torpedoes on the port side, the first hit abaft the bridge and the second struck in the #5 hatch, breaking the main shaft. The ship sank rapidly by the stern and disappeared in five minutes about 125 miles east of Trinidad. Despite this, the four armed guards from the forward 3-inch gun fired four rounds but went down with the ship. The survivors had launched two lifeboats and were picked up by USS Herbert four hours after the attack and were brought to Trinidad. Three crewmen and four armed guards of the eight officers, 34 crewmen and 14 armed guards aboard died. The Warrior was armed with one 4-inch, one 3-inch, four 50 cal. and two 30 cal. guns.

At 1744, the unescorted Cadmus was torpedoed and sunk by U-129 in the Gulf of Mexico. Two men were killed on board and the remaining 20 crewmen reached the coast of Mexico between Tampico and Vera Cruz after five days.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS City of Birmingham was en route to Bermuda at 11 knots about 250 miles east of Cape Hatteras, escorted by USS Stansbury, which took station a mile distant. At 0127 just after the escort ship had signalled by flags and blinkers for a change of course, two torpedoes from U-202 hit the City of Birmingham in quick succession on the port side and another was seen passing ahead of the ship. The first torpedo struck about 100 feet abaft the bow in the #1 hatch and the second under the bridge. The second hit caused all the sections in the forward part of the ship to flood. She quickly listed 45° to port and sank within five minutes. Most of the ten officers, 103 crewmen, five armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and two .30cal guns) and 263 passengers on board abandoned ship in an orderly fashion in five lifeboats, five rafts and seven floats. The armed guards left last and jumped into the water. Stansbury picked up the survivors within two hours after she had dropped depth charges to chase away the U-boat. Five crewmen, one stewardess and two passengers were lost and one of the crew later died on board the escort. In the First World War, the Master, Lewis P. Borum, was master on the American SS City of Memphis (5252 tons, built 1902), which had been en route from Cardiff to New York in ballast on 17 Mar 1917 when she was torpedoed and sunk by UC-66 south of Fastnet.

Corvette HMCS Shediac completed refit at Liverpool, Nova Scotia and joined WLEF EG W-8.

Destroyer escorts USS Fechteler and Moore commissioned.

82 fighters of a force of 97 P-38s, 169 P-47s and 99 P-51s attack rail and road targets in northern France and claim 3-0-3 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1P-47 is lost and 2 damaged beyond repair.

18 B-24s participate in CARPETBAGGER missions in France.

FRANCE: The British hold effectively against an armoured attack by the German I SS Panzer Corps.

Motor Fishing Vessel HMCS Santa Maria paid off and returned to owner.

Mission 242: 100 B-29s bomb the Ube urban area destroying 0.42 square miles (1.1 square km), 23% of the city.

Mission 243: 126 B-29s attack the Shimonoseki urban area destroying 0.51 square miles (1.32 square km), 36% of the city; 5 other B-29s hit alternate targets; 1 B-29 is lost.

Mission 244: 24 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and the waters at Nanao and Fushiki.

148 Iwo Jima based P-51s are dispatched to hit airfields in the Nagoya area (Kasumigaura, Itami, Hamamatsu, and Nagano); they claim 2-0-0 aircraft in the air and 3-7 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.

Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Eighteen (VPB-118) based at Yonton, Okinawa with PB4Y-2 Privateers, fly their last mining mission off Korea having dropped 195 aerial mines.

For the first time since the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942, B-25s attack the Japanese home islands; 33 B-25s, operating in two flights from Okinawa, and escorted by USMC F4U Corsairs, bomb Chiran Airfield on Kyushu Island: two others hit Yaku-shima Island in the Osumi Islands.

Elements of Task Forces 30 and 38 set sail from Guam and Leyte Island, Philippine Islands for attacks on the Japanese home islands. The aircraft carriers assigned are:

Task Group 30.6, the Antisubmarine Warfare Group

- USS Anzio (CVE-57) with Composite Squadrons Thirteen and Sixty Six (VC-13 and VC-16)

Task Group 30.8, the Logistics Support Group

- Task Unit 30.8.1

- USS Roi (CVE-103) as an aircraft transport

- USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87) with VC-93

- USS Thetis Bay (CVE-90) as an aircraft transport

- Task Unit 30.8.2

- USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99) as an aircraft transport

- USS Hollandia (CVE-97) as an aircraft transport

- USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) with VC-63)

Task Force 38

- Task Group 38.1

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) with Light Carrier Air Group Thirty One (CVLG-31)

USS Bennington (CV-20) with Carrier Air Group one (CVG-1)

USS Hancock (CV-19) with CVG-6

USS Lexington (CV-16) with CVG-94

USS Jacinto (CVL-30) with CVLG-49

- Task Group 38.3

USS Bataan (CVL-29) with CVLG-47

USS Essex (CV-9) with CVG-83

USS Monterey (CVL-26) with CVLG-34

USS Randolph (CV-15) with CVG-16

- Task Group 38.4

USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) with Night Carrier Air Group Ninety One [CVG(N)-91]

USS Cowpens (CVL-25) with CVLG-50

USS Independence (CVL-22) with CVLG-27

USS Shangri-La (CV-38) with CVG-85

- USS Block Island (CVE-106) with Marine Carrier Air Group One (MCVG-1) comprised of Marine Fighting Squadron (carrier-based) Five Hundred Eleven [VMF(CVS)-511 and Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron (carrier-based) Two Hundred Thirty Three [VMTB(CVS)-233].

- USS Gilbert Islands (CVE-107) with MCVG-2 comprised of VMF(CVS)-512 and VMTB(CVS)-143.

- USS Suwanee (CVE-27) with Escort Carrier Air Group Forty (CVEG-40) consisting of Fighting Squadron Forty (VF-40) and Torpedo Squadron Forty (VT-40.During the day a flight ofUSNaircraft from Suwanee bombs and rockets barracks that have been captured by the Australians who had neglected to advise the aviators; several Australian soldiers are killed.

Because of the massive firepower at his disposal the Australian commander chose to attack directly at the heart of the enemy's defences, relying on saturation bombardment to obliterate resistance. Earlier the Australian government told MacArthur that it did not want the 7th Division used. MacArthur insisted that another division could not be substituted in time.

CHINA: Chinese forces liberate Liuchow.

CANADA: Corvettes HMCS North Bay and Stellarton paid off Sorel, Province of Quebec.

HMC ML 074, 089, 095 and 096 paid off.

825 (TBR) Sqn reformed, ASH-fitted Fairey Barracuda II aircraft at RNAS Rattray for HMCS Warrior.

U.S.A.: Vol III No 11 of US Intelligence Bulletin picks up what was covered in Tactical and Technical Trends. (Bill Howard)

In the U.S., New York State establishes the New York State Commission Against Discrimination to prevent discrimination in employment because of race, creed or natural origin; it was the first such agency in the United States.

During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with "Japanese Parachute Troops." (William L. Howard)

German PoW Lt-Gen Willibald Borowietz is killed in an auto accident. He is the highest ranking PoW buried at Fort Benning, Georgia. He holds the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. (Elliott Minor, Associated Press Writer, Published November 15, 2004)