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• Captain Isaac Chauncey was named the commanding officer of New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, United States. ww2dbase [New York Navy Yard | Brooklyn, New York | CPC]

13 Jul 1807 Interactive Map

• Erik Scavenius was born. ww2dbase [Erik Scavenius | CPC]

• Leonard Gerow was born. ww2dbase [Leonard Gerow | CPC]

• Continuing experiments started at Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, United States in Jun 1921 to test the effectiveness of various weapons against surface ships, US Army bombers sank the Destroyer G-102. ww2dbase [AC]

• The "Heil Hitler" salute became compulsory for all public employees in Germany; it was also compulsory during the singing of the National Anthem and the party hymn, the "Horst Wessel" song. Germans unable to raise their right arm through disability were permitted to raise the left. At the same time all public correspondence was supposed to carry the words "Heil Hitler" instead of "Sincerely" or "Best Wishes". ww2dbase [AC]

• Adolf Hitler claimed to the German Reichstag that the Night of the Long Knives massacres were justified as the Nazi Party SA organization was planning a putsch. Although Hitler presented no concrete evidence, the Reichstag accepted the claim, thus legalizing the murders. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | AC]

• William Leahy was promoted to the rank of vice admiral. ww2dbase [William Leahy | CPC]

• The stern of the sunken USS Squalus was briefly raised in the Isles of Shoals off northeastern United States, but the wreck would slip under the surface again. ww2dbase [Sailfish | CPC]

• Kanalkampf: German bombers attacked Allied Convoy CS5 near Dover, England; escorting destroyer HMS Vanessa was damaged by near misses and had to be towed to port by destroyer HMS Griffin. Convoy Bread was attacked once again, this time off the Dorset coast; 6 German bombers were shot down while several British fighters were also lost, killing 3 pilots. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• German raider Atlantis sank British steamer Kemmendine 500 miles southeast of Ceylon; 57 crew and 25 passengers were taken prisoner. ww2dbase [Atlantis | CPC]
• German raider Widder sank British ship King John 200 miles northeast of Antigua; 5 crew and 21 survivors of Panamanian ship Santa Margarita (sank on 2 Jul) were taken prisoner. The total prisoner count aboard Widder was now 100, exceeding her capacity, thus some were put to lifeboats so that they could paddle toward islands in the Carribean Sea on their own. ww2dbase [Widder | CPC]
• USS Wichita and USS Quincy (CA-39) arrived at Santos, Brazil. ww2dbase [Quincy (New Orleans-class) | CPC]
• USS Walke and USS Wainwright departed Pará, Brazil for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British Army's new parachute force began training at Ringway Airport, Manchester, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [AC]
• Adolf Hitler met with top German military leaders at Obersalzberg, München-Oberbayern, Germany. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]
• Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov leaked diplomatic communications between Britain and the Soviet Union, which should had been held confidentially between the two countries per general rules of international diplomacy, to Germany. ww2dbase [Vyacheslav Molotov | CPC]
• While under heavy attack by Axis aircraft, Sea Gladiator aircraft launched from HMS Eagle shot down three Italian bombers in the Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [Eagle | CPC]

• Tennis star Jean Borotra was named the head of the Commissariat général de l’éducation générale et aux sports (CGEGS), which was to be officially created in the following month to design sport curriculums for school children in Vichy France. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci set sail from Naples, Italy at 0930 hours for torpedo exercises with torpedo boat Cilo, returning at 1630 hours. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Napoli, Campania | CPC]
• Alessandro Malaspina conducted exercises out of La Spezia, Italy between 0745 hours and 1205 hours. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]

• Kichisaburo Nomura was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure. ww2dbase [Kichisaburo Nomura | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at San Francisco, California, United States; among the passengers disembarked were 40 Jewish refugees from Russia, Austria, Germany, Norway, and Britain. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | San Francisco, California | CPC]

• The first of the Spanish volunteers began leaving Spain for military training in Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The German Armeegruppe Nord continued advancing towards Luga in northern Russia. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | TH]
• The Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre negotiations at Acre, British Mandate of Palestine was stalled as the French rejected British demands. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | CPC]

• The Norwegian merchant steamer Inga I arrived at Oban, Scotland, United Kingdom for repairs. ww2dbase [Oban, Scotland | HM]

• The newspaper The New York Times reported that the famed Polish Jewish violinist Henri Czaplinski (aka. Genrikh Maksimovich Chaplinsky in Soviet documents) had escaped an NKVD prison in Lvov, Ukraine during a German bombing. ww2dbase [New York | CPC]

• The first armed uprising in Nazi-occupied Europe occurred when 6,000 members of the Communist Party and its Youth League rise up against the Italian-occupied puppet Governorate of Montenegro in Yugoslavia. ww2dbase [Montenegro | AC]

• Destroyer USS Landsdowne sank German submarine U-153 in the Caribbean Sea 50 kilometers northwest of the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal; all 52 aboard were killed. 20 miles north of Cárdenas, Cuba, German submarine U-84 sank US ship Andrew Jackson; 3 were killed, 46 survived. 2 miles east of Cuba, U-166 sank US ship Oneida; 6 were killed, 23 survived. 80 miles south of Mississippi, United States, U-67 sank US tanker R. W. Gallagher; 10 were killed, 42 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Makassar, Celebes. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Cruiser Köln departed Oslo, Norway for northern Norway. ww2dbase [Köln | CPC]
• Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, commanding officer of German Army Group South, was fired from his command by Wilhelm Keitel for moving two Panzer divisions to assist the embattled 9th Panzer without Hitler's direct authority. ww2dbase [Fedor von Bock | AC]
• German submarine U-201 sank British ship Sithonia of Allied convoy OS-33 490 miles west of Canary Islands; 7 were killed, 21 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• USS Seadragon sank Japanese transport Shinyo Maru off Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina. ww2dbase [Seadragon | CPC]

• The floating wreck of Dutch merchant steamer Paulus Potter, damaged by German air attack 8 days prior, was discovered by German submarine U-225. The ship was a member of Allied convoy PQ-17. The second officer and two crew boarded the deserted ship and made an attempt to get her under way. However, the flooding in the engine room was too deep and after taking food, cigarettes and other useful material including a heavy chest from the bridge, they returned to the submarine. The chest contained the confidential papers pertaining to the convoy codes and positions which the Dutch in their haste had forgotten to throw overboard. U-225 then torpedoed and sank the Dutch merchant. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Barents Sea | CPC, HM]

• Kapitänleutnant Hans-Dieter Heinicke of U-576 sent a radio message back to base, noting that his submarine sustained light damage and would soon head back to Saint-Nazaire, France. ww2dbase [U-576 | CPC]

• Tanks of German 21st Panzer Division attacked Allied troops in the Tel el Eisa ridge region near El Alamein, Egypt and at a nearby South African position, driving Australian troops out of Point 24 at a heavy cost. ww2dbase [First Battle of El Alamein | El Alamein | CPC]

• German submarine U-562 fired four torpedoes at a small Allied convoy just off the coast of Syria-Lebanon at the distance of 2,800 meters, but all torpedoes missed; she would continue to follow the convoy and conduct further attacks on the next day. ww2dbase [CPC]

• 194 British bombers (139 Wellington, 33 Halifax, 13 Lancaster, and 9 Stirling aircraft) attacked Duisburg, Germany, destroying 11 houses and killing 17 without causing damage to the intended industrial targets; 6 bombers were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Duisburg, Essen | CPC]

• 12 Italian frogmen swam 5 kilometers from Algeciras, Spain to Gibraltar and planted limpet mines on British merchant ships; the resulting explosions would sink the ships Meta, Shuma, and Baron Dougla and would damage the ship Empire Snipe. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Fitted with an entirely new bow section, destroyer USS Shaw departed Mare Island Naval Shipyard bound for San Diego, California. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Shaw | Vallejo, California | DS]

13 Jul 1942 Interactive Map

• Hitler called off the Kursk offensive but the decision had already been taken from him by the Soviets who pounded the retreating German forces both north and south of the salient with tanks, artillery, and tank-busting aircraft. Apart from the Soviet Army, the victory at Kursk was as much a triumph for the Soviet workforce which has endured long shifts in appalling conditions to arm, clothe, and feed their fighting men. ww2dbase [Battle of Kursk | AC]
• Operation Fustian: After sun down, 1,900 men from the UK 1st Airborne Division set out to capture the Primosole Bridge over the Simeto River in Sicily, Italy by parachute and glider. Less than 200 men with three anti-tank guns reached the bridge. They overpowered the guards and removed demolition charges placed by Italian engineers. However, unbeknown to the Allies, the machine gun battalion of a German parachute division had just been dropped on to that very area. The two parachute forces were immediately locked into battle, but the tiny British unit, though heavily outnumbered, would remain at the bridge awaiting arrival of reinforcements. Elsewhere, British troops captured Augusta and Ragusa in Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [Invasion of Sicily and Italy's Surrender | AC]
• British Air Vice Marshal Harry Broadhurst moved his Western Desert Air Force Headquarters to Pachino, Sicily, Italy with three squadrons of Spitfire VC fighters under command. Over the next week Luftwaffe operations would be reduced from 275-300 sorties per day to less than 150. ww2dbase [AC]
• Pierre Charles Cournarie was named the Governor-General of French West Africa. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS S-28 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her sixth war patrol. ww2dbase [S-28 | Unalaska | CPC]

• Wing Commander John Nettleton, who won the Victoria Cross for leading the ill-fated Augsburg, Germany raid from RAF Waddington in Apr 1942, failed to return from mission to Turin, probably shot down by a night fighter over the English Channel. ww2dbase [English Channel | AC]

• Shortly after midnight, cruisers USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis, and HMNZS Leander escorted by destroyers USS Nicholas, USS O'Bannon, USS Radford, USS Jenkins, USS Chevalier, USS Gwin, USS Woodworth, USS Buchanan, and USS Maury engaged Japanese cruiser Jintsu and destroyers Yukikaze, Hamakaze, Yugure, Mikazuki, and Kiyonami in New Georgia Sound north of Kolombangara. Japanese Type 93 torpedoes damaged Honolulu, St. Louis, and Leander. Destroyers Woodworth and Buchanan were damaged in a collision. Jintsu was sunk by cruiser gunfire and a torpedo. Destroyer Yukikaze was damaged. Destroyer USS Ralph Talbot went to the aid of USS Gwin, badly damaged by a torpedo, and took aboard 155 officers and men. USS Maury took another 53 officers and men. Ralph Talbot then scuttled Gwin with torpedoes. The Japanese were able to land 1,200 men nevertheless. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Walden Ainsworth | Jintsu | Honolulu | Maury | Hamakaze | Yukikaze | St. Louis | Ralph Talbot | Yugure | Nicholas | New Georgia Sound, Solomon Islands | DS]
• During the Battle of Kolombangara, cruiser USS St. Louis was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the port bow, causing moderate damage. Down by the head, St. Louis withdrew to Tulagi Harbor, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | St. Louis | New Georgia Sound, Solomon Islands | DS]
• During the Battle of Kolombangara, cruiser USS Honolulu was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the starboard bow, causing 60 feet of the bow to fold and collapse downward so the deck was nearly vertical. Another torpedo crashed through Honolulu’s stern but did not explode. Down by the head, Honolulu withdrew to Tulagi Harbor, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Walden Ainsworth | Honolulu | New Georgia Sound, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler told Erich von Manstein that the forces to repel the Allied thrust through Italy and the Balkans would have to be found from the Eastern Front. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | AC]
• In Bremen, Germany, Atlas Werke AG held its final General Meeting. Shortly after, Krupp would take over Atlas's operations and would rename the company Maschinenbau Kiel GmbH. ww2dbase [Atlas Werke AG | Bremen, Weser-Ems | AG]

• On the 47th day of drifting at sea in teh Pacific Ocean, Louis Zamperini and Russell Phillips were found and captured by the Japanese Navy in the Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Louis Zamperini | CPC]

13 Jul 1943 Interactive Map

• Red Army units captured Vilna, Lithuania. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | TH]
• USS Hornet spent the day conducting refueling operations. ww2dbase [Hornet (Essex-class) | CPC]
• The secret of the German FuG 227 Flensburg equipment, which could home-in on RAF Monica radars, was revealed when a Luftwaffe pilot landed his Junkers Ju 88G-1 night fighter by mistake at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. In addition the capture of this aircraft's FuG 220 radar would permit British scientist to find a way of jamming its signal within a matter of weeks. ww2dbase [Ju 88 | AC]
• Captain Williams Mullen was named the commanding officer of USS San Diego. ww2dbase [San Diego | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]

• Japanese 18th Army under Lieutenant General Hatazo Adachi was divided by an American attack in the Aitape-New Hollandia area in New Guinea, making them effectively useless until their final defeat on 10 Aug. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Dutch New Guinea | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against railroad yards in Munich, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Munich, Bavaria | DS]

• The keel of landing ship No. 113 was laid down by Osaka Zosen. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• US Marines gave Japanese Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito a military burial near Tanapag, Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Yoshitsugu Saito | Tanapag, Saipan | CPC]

• USAAF 332nd Fighter Group, consisted of all African-American pilots, flew its first mission over Ploesti, Romania. ww2dbase [Ploesti | CPC]

• In the United Kingdom, General Frederick Pile and Air Marshal Roderic Hill held a meeting to discuss the best way for the British Royal Air Force and the anti-aircraft batteries to deal with incoming V-1 bombs. Two distinct areas for fighters were created, one over the sea in front of the guns and the other inland behind them; these zones were created partially because the gun batteries along the coast were to be supplied with the secret radio proximity fuzed shells that would pose an equal threat to nearby friendly aircraft as to the V-1s. There were many fatal V-1 bomb impacts over south London during the day; the worse was when the Tiger's Head Inn in Lewisham was hit killing 16 and injuring 40. Five members of a family were killed in the Park Hotel in Bromley, they were due to be evacuated that afternoon. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | VT Radio Proximity | London, England | HM]

• Submarine USS Growler made a nine-hour refueling stop at Midway Atoll on her way to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Growler | Midway | DS]

13 Jul 1944 Interactive Map

• USS Missouri escorted carriers while the aircraft struck Japan. ww2dbase [Missouri | CPC]
• Rear Admiral Walden Ainsworth relinquished the duties as Commander, Cruisers and Commander, Destroyers, Pacific Fleet. ww2dbase [Walden Ainsworth | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Four members of Congressional Committee inspected this station. Present: Edward VM IZAC, Albert A GORE, Andrew J BIEMILLER and CW BISHOP. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• I-400 departed Nanao Bay and arrived at Maizuru, Japan. ww2dbase [I-400 | Maizuru, Kyoto | CPC]
• I-401 departed Nanao Bay and arrived at Maizuru, Japan. ww2dbase [I-401 | Maizuru, Kyoto | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched strikes on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. ww2dbase [Preparations for Invasion of Japan | Yorktown (Essex-class) | Hokkaido | DS]

• Large cruisers USS Alaska and USS Guam, accompanied by 4 light cruisers and 9 destroyers, sortied from Leyte, Philippine Islands to attack Japanese shipping in the East China Sea. ww2dbase [Alaska | Leyte | CPC]

13 Jul 1945 Interactive Map

• Leslie Groves passed away. ww2dbase [Leslie Groves | CPC]

• USS Wasp arrived at Hamburg, Germany, welcomed by a gathering of 15,000 Germans. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | Hamburg | CPC]

• J. J. Clark died at the Naval Hospital in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, New York, United States. ww2dbase [J. J. Clark | Queens, New York | DS]

13 Jul 1971 Interactive Map

• Sections A and G of floating drydock ABSD-2 were sold for scrapping, sections E and I were sold for reuse or conversion, and sections B, C, and J were disposed of. ww2dbase [ABSD-2 | CPC]

• Vernon Baker passed away from cancer in St. Maries, Idaho, United States. ww2dbase [Vernon Baker | St. Maries, Idaho | CPC]

13 Jul 2017 Interactive Map