58 Sqn. Eight aircraft sent, one bombed primary and remainder attacked alternative targets. One FTR.

London: Lord Beaverbrook appeals for housewives to hand over aluminium artefacts for the war effort; Lady Reading, the head of the Women’s Voluntary Service, will handle the collection of donations.

The RAF raids enemy airstrips in the Netherlands and munitions factories in Germany.

FRANCE: Paris: The first issue of La Gerbe, a collaborationist weekly paper, appears.
Marshal Petain issues his first decree as the new Vichy Head of State which begins: "Nous, Philippe Petain".

ROMANIA: The government withdraws from the League of Nations.

In Lapland the attacking Germans are forced to recognize their operative mistakes and ask for reinforcements. Especially the SS-Division 'Nord' has been a disappointment. Finns send Infantry Regiment 14 which was originally meant to defend the Ahvenanmaa (Åland) islands in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden.

Julius Björkland is appointed the first Field Bishop (kenttäpiispa) for the Finnish Army. Björkland was the senior minister of the defence Forces with the title of kenttärovasti.

U.S.S.R.: The Germans who have taken 600,000 Russians prisoner, are ten miles from Kiev.
Marshal Voroshilov, North; Marshal Timoshenko, Central; Marshal Budenny, Southwest are appointed to command for these sectors of the Soviet front.

1st Pz. Gp. turned south (away from Kiev). XIV Pz. K. (Gen.d.Inf. Gustav von Wietersheim) and XXXXVIII Pz. K. (Gen.d.PzT. Werner Kempf) cleared the southern Ukraine while III Pz.K. (Gen.d.Kav. Eberhard von Mackensen) skirted Kiev to the South and reached the Dnepr River at Kremenchug. (Jeff Chrisman)

Units of Panzergruppe 2 begin crossing the Dnepr River, XXXIV Pz. K. units at Starye Bychov, XXXXVI Pz. K. units near Shklov and XXXXVII Pz. K. at Kopys. (Jeff Chrisman)

SYRIA: General Dentz accepts Armistice terms in Syria against Vichy instructions. 2500 Allied and 3500 French casualties.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Destroyer HMS Defender is attacked by German aircraft and damaged. She is taken in tow by HMS Vendett, but as her engine and boiler rooms were flooding and her back broken she settled lower in the water and finally had to be sunk off Sidi Barani, 60 miles east of Tobruk. (Alex Gordon)(108)

NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) B-24s attack harbor and shipping at Benghazi, Libya during the night of 11/12 July.

U.S.S.R.: The Germans take Lisichansk on the river Donets.

Moscow: Partisans, supported by paratroops, are continuing to make life behind the lines extremely dangerous for the Germans, despite anti-partisan sweeps involving thousands of front-line troops which Hitler needs elsewhere. Five days ago Operation Swamp Flower, against the large partisan units around Dorogobuzh, was launched.

Two major offensives were carried out in June. The first, Operation Kottbus, involved more than 16,000 German troops who attacked the partisans' "Republic of Palik" in a large area around Borisov.

The second, Operation Birdsong, sent 5,000 troops into action against 2,500 partisans based in the area between Roslavl and Bryansk.

The Germans claim to have killed 1,193 partisans for the loss of 58 soldiers, but it is likely that most of the partisan dead were in fact peasants, shot out of hand.

The partisans are adept at slipping away into the forests when major operations are mounted against them. Then, when the danger has passed, they return to terrorize German units.

They have become folk heroes to the Russians and, after an initial hesitancy, the government is using their exploits to bolster low morale. They are seen to be carrying the torch of resistance. Their effectiveness may be judged by the savagery with which they are treated by the Germans who festoon the countryside with loaded gallows.

CHINA: Japanese troops occupy Futou Island.

ITALY: British troops advance on Sicily almost unopposed. They take Pozzallo. US advance is resisted by the Hermann Göring  Panzer division.

Weather has contributed to problems with the US landings. Naval bombardment was necessary to assist with the German counterattack.

Gunfire of USN cruisers and destroyers stop a German attack on the landing beaches near Gela; the gunfire destroys 13 of 50 German tanks. 

In the air, Ninth Air Force B-24s hit airfields at Vibo Valentia, Sicily and Reggio di Calabria, Italy and B-25s hit airfields at Trapani, Milo and Bo Rizzo, and areas between Sciacca and Enna, Sicily. P-40s escort bombers and provide beach cover as invasion forces push inland. 

During the night of 10/11 July, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) planes hit Milo and Sciacca Airfields and numerous tactical targets during the day, including town areas, vehicle convoys, bridges, trains and roads; NASAF B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the Catania marshalling yard while B-26 Marauders hit Milo Airfield and Gerbini satellite airfields; and B-25s and P-38 Lightnings hit Sciacca Airfield and the town of Caltanissetta. 

Throughout the day NASAF fighters attack truck convoys on Sicilian highways, and hit gun positions and targets of opportunity.

A mixed force of 16 Fw-200s and He-111s attack the DIME invasion force and blow up the ammunition ship Robert Rowan. (Henry Sirotin)

NORTH AFRICA: The Fifth Air Force supports American and Australian ground troops in the Nassau Bay area by dispatching A-20 Havocs and B-25s to blast positions in the battle zone from Nassau Bay inland to the Mubo area, hitting the trail between Logui and Kennedy's Crossing, the Bobdubi and Bobdubi Ridge areas, Salamaua, Kela Point and villages scattered through the area.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Japanese continue to attack Allied forces in the Solomons. During the day, US Army Air Forces P-39Airacobra and US Marine F4U Corsair pilots shoot down 10 A6M "Zekes" and 2 G4M "Bettys."

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Five Eleventh Air Force B-24s take off from Attu Island to attack the Kataoka Naval Base on Shimushu Island in the Kurile Islands and fly a shipping search but are turned back by a heavy cloud front extending from the surface of the sea to 6,000 feet (1,829 meters); this is the first attempt to bomb Japan by heavy bombers in World War II. ]

A shipping search by 5 B-25 Mitchells finds nothing. 6 B-25s and 6 B-24s in 3 missions (one by radar) attack North Head and Main Camp on Kiska Island sighting new excavations near Sredni Point, strafe a tent near Haycock Rock, and also fly over Segula Island. 

The destroyer USS Mongahan (DD-354) bombards Japanese installations at Gertrude Cove on Kiska Island.

U.S.A.: Black troops at the Shenango Personnel Department in Greenville, Pennsylvania, upset at the treatment they have received, break into the weapons supply building and fire on white fellow soldiers. One black soldier is killed and four others are injured in the ensuing battle. (Drew Halevy)

CANADA: Destroyers HMCS Iroquois, HMS Douglas along with frigates HMCS Moyala and Swale were escorting the troopships Duchess of York, California and Port Fairy from Plymouth to Freetown, South Africa when they were attacked by 3 German Focke Wulf 200 'Kondor' high-altitude bombers at about 2100 hrs 200 miles off of Vigo, Spain. The German bombing accuracy was excellent and both California and Duchess of York were hit and burned furiously. The consorts evacuated both ships and the 2 damaged liners were sunk by gunfire and the convoy continued on to an unscheduled stop at Casablanca. Twenty-seven lives were lost in this incident. 680 survivors were rescued from Duchess of York by Iroquois. Duchess of York was the 2nd and last of the 4 CPR Duchess-class liners lost during the war. The 1st was Duchess of Atholl on 12 Oct 42; several other CPR liners were also lost.) She was a veteran of the evacuations from Norway and France and had travelled widely on hazardous routes. She was regarded as a lucky ship. During one of her 6 voyages to North Africa she had survived a hit by an unexploded bomb. The Duchess-class liners had been designed with a flat-bottomed hull for travelling up the St.Lawrence River, which gave them a significant roll. This characteristic trait caused them to be dubbed "The Drunken Duchesses". The 2 survivors, Duchess of Bedford and Duchess of Richmond, were renamed Empress of France and Empress of Canada after the war. The CPR lost 14 of its original 22 ships during WW II. Empress of Britain (42,348 tons) was the largest Allied passenger liner to be sunk and the biggest merchant ship loss of the war.

UNITED KINGDOM: London: 41,000 mothers and children are evacuated.

A Coastal Command Avenger turret gunner shoots down a V-1 rocket, at night, while on anti-E-boat patrol over the English Channel. (Ron Babuka)

The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions.
- Mission 466: 845 B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24s escorted by 699  fighters attack targets in Munich while 38 others bomb Augsburg and Eppington; 20 bombers and 4 fighters are lost:

1. 371 B-17s hit the Munich marshalling yard, Passing electrical station and a tire factory and three hit targets of opportunity; a B-17 is lost. Escort is provide by 209 P-38s, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs without loss.

2. Of 340 B-17s, 183 hit the BMW factory at Munich and 106 hit the Munich marshalling yard; three B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 166 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; a P-51 is lost.

3. Of 435 B-24s, 291 hit Munich, 55 hit Munich/Riem Airfield, 29 hit Augsburg, eight hit Eppingen and one hits a bridge on the Autobahn; 16 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 324 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s; they claim 2-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; a P-47 and two P-51s are lost.

- Mission 467: During the night, 6 B-17s drop leaflets on France.

29 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.

FRANCE: The US 9th Division holds against a counterattack by Panzerlehr Division, south-west of St jean de Daye. The British supported by heavy naval gunfire capture Hill 112, south-west of Caen.

Ninth Air Force A-20 Havocs and B-26 Marauders strike fuel dumps at Foret d'Andaine, Chateau-de-Tertu, Flers, and Foret d'Ecouves; NOBALL (V-weapon) sites at Chateau d'Helicourt and Chateau d'Ansenne; and a rail bridge at Bourth; fighters escort the bombers, patrol the battle area, and attack trains, gun positions, ammunition dumps, and other targets in the areas around Lessay, Periers, Saint-Lo, Lonrai, Tours and Folligny.

GERMANY: Berchtesgaden: Von Stauffenberg takes a bomb to a meeting with Hitler, but postpones the explosion because Himmler and Göring  did not attend.

Stavka orders the Leningrad Front to cease offensive operations on Karelian Isthmus. The strategic aims of the operation (ultimately the occupation of South Finland and forcing an unconditional surrender) has not been reached, and the drive to Berlin has much greater priority. First hints of this are given by Finnish radio-intelligence, and is later confirmed by patrols operating behind the enemy lines who observe trains loaded with tanks and other equipment, going back to east.

 

ITALY: Bad weather curtails the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy; the only target attacked is the harbor at Toulon, France, where 87 B-24s hit jetties, oil stores, a nearby telegraph cable factory, barracks, repair shops, an adjoining marshalling yard, and submarines in drydock.

MARIANAS ISLANDS, SAIPAN: Seventh Air Force P-47s based on Saipan continue preinvasion strikes on Tinian and Pagan Islands.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt agrees to recognize de Gaulle's French provisional government as the legitimate administration of liberated France. 

Washington: President Roosevelt announced at his press conference today that he would run for an  unprecedented fourth term in the White House. Ordering the doors of the Oval office to be closed, to prevent a "mad rush" to the door, the president informed correspondents by reading out a letter he had written to Robert Hannegan, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, accepting his invitation to run. Everyone in wartime, said the president, had a superior officer, and the commander-in-chief's superior officers were the American people. Roosevelt says: "If the people command me to continue in office ... I have as little right as a soldier to leave his position in the line."
Baseball!

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces that the  U.S. will recognize the French Committee of National Liberation as the de facto administrative authority in France.

Top songs on the Pop Charts today in the U.S. are 
(1) "I'll Be Seeing You" by The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and vocal by Frank Sinatra; 
(2) "Long Ago (And Far Away)" by Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes; 
(3) "I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)" by The Harry James Orchestra and vocal by Dick Haymes; and 
(4) "Straighten Up and Fly Right" by The (Nat) King Cole Trio.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Beacon Hill arrived Halifax from builder Esquimalt.

HM S/M P553 and HM S/M P554 returned to USN at Philadelphia.
Tug HMCS Gelnlivit launched Owen Sound, Ontario.

INDIAN OCEAN: British carrier aircraft bomb Japanese airfields on Sumatra.

In Japan during the night of 11/12 July:

- 2 Seventh Air Force B-24s from Okinawa attack Byu and Miyazaki Airfields on Kyushu, and

- XXI Bomber Command B-29s fly Mission 262: 25 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and waters at Miyazu, Maizuru, Obama Island and, in the first B-29 operation to Korea, 2 mine Pusan and Najin.