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• » 6 Jul 1942

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kendari, Celebes. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Tirpitz arrived at Bogen near Narvik, Norway. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]
• Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British RAF Coastal Command scored its first enemy vessel sunk with the newly equipped Wellington bombers. ww2dbase [Wellington | AC]
• German submarine U-154 sank Panamanian fishing boat Lalita with shellfire 20 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico at 1837 hours. U-67 sank Norwegian ship Bayard 45 miles south of Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States at 1857 hours; 11 were killed, 21 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-10 sank Greek merchant ship Nymphe in the Mozambique Channel at 1615 hours. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | CPC]
• German submarine U-255 sank US ship John Witherspoon; 1 was killed, 49 survived. German aircraft sank US ship Pan Atlantic. Both ships were of Allied convoy PQ-17, traveling in the Barents Sea. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• George Marshall asked Douglas MacArthur whether he would like to have George Kenney assigned to him to lead the air forces based in Australia. ww2dbase [George Kenney | CPC]

• German submarine U-201 sank British ship Avila Star 90 miles east of the Azores islands at 0036 hours; 84 were killed, 112 survived. German submarine U-502 was sunk on the surface by a British RAF Wellington bomber with depth charges 250 miles west of France before dawn; all 52 aboard were killed. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]

• Japanese merchant ship Naruto Maru took on Australian nurses and 60 prisoners of war and departed Rabaul, New Britain, sailing for Yokohama, Japan. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• The 1,376-ton Norwegian merchant steamer Hero en route from Beirut in Syria-Lebanon to Port Said in Egypt in ballast was struck by two torpedoes from German submarine U-375 (Kapitänleutnant Jürgen Köenenkamp) at 0526 hours. The first hit the bow of the ship and was followed 30 seconds later by the next at the stern. The vessel disintegrated and was gone to the bottom within 40 seconds 10 miles west of the coast of Palestine. Fourteen men who had been on the deck at the time of the attack survived, either being blown over the side or jumping into the sea. Four Norwegians, two British and 24 Chinese crewmen died for a total of 30. The survivors were picked up by an escort vessel after two hours in the sea clinging to wreckage and taken to Jaffa, Palestine. The master, Erling Nielsen was one of them rescued but he died on board the rescue ship, increase the total death count to 31; Nielsen had been unconscious when he was taken on board and in spite of efforts to revive him for two hours he could not be saved. The other injured were all taken to a hospital in Jaffa. The British Gunner Frank Pottinger had a bad cut on his thigh and ended up having his leg amputated, the other British Gunner John Greighton had injured his back. The remaining four Europeans left the hospital that same evening, while the 6 Chinese survivors, who suffered from burns, cuts and bruises remained. The wreck being close to the coast was blown up and removed in Mar 1944. The 3rd Officer, Finn Kjellevik was later on the steam merchant D/S Storviken when it was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese on 1 Oct 1943. He was taken prisoner and survived many ordeals until being freed in Tokyo ant the end of hostilities. ww2dbase [CPC, HM]

• Kinryu Maru, another transport, and five destroyers arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands from Truk, Caroline Islands, disembarking Japanese 11th Establishment Unit, 13th Establishment Unit, 100 trucks, 4 heavy tractors, 6 steam rollers, 2 generators, 2 locomotives with cars, and other equipment necessary for building an airfield. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Guadalcanal | CPC]
• Tenryu escorted a convoy (containing an engineering battalion tasked with setting up an airfield) to Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Tenryu | CPC]
• Japanese construction crews arrived at Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Guadalcanal Campaign | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• German submarine U-132 attacked Allied convoy QS-15 at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, sinking Belgian ship Hainaut (at 0521 hours; 1 was killed, 44 survived), sinking Greek ship Anastassios Pateras (at 0521 hours; 3 were killed, 26 survived), and fatally damaging British ship Dinaric (at 0646 hours; 4 were killed); Canadian minesweeper HMCS Drummondville rammed (and missed) U-132 and dropped depth charges, causing minor damage to U-132. ww2dbase [U-132 | Second Happy Time | Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Quebec | CPC]

• Naka exited drydock at Maizuru, Japan. ww2dbase [Maizuru Naval Arsenal | Naka | Maizuru, Kyoto | CPC]

• 20 survivors from the Norwegian merchant steamer Cadmus, torpedoed by German submarine U-129 five days prior, made landfall near Túxpam, Mexico in two lifeboats. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Túxpam, Veracruz | HM]

• German 4th Panzer Army reached the outskirts of Voronezh, Russia and German 6th Army reached Ostrogozhsky 70 miles south of Voronezh, making the Soviets realize that the Germans were heading Caucasus region to the south rather than Moscow to the north. Joseph Stalin ordered Voronezh to be held at all costs in order to main control of the rail network linking the Caucasus region with the areas to the north. Stalin also allowed Semyon Timoshenko to withdraw east of the Don River. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | Voronezh | CPC]

• USS Ranger, Augusta, and Juneau arrived at Port of Spain, Trinidad. ww2dbase [Augusta | Juneau | Ranger | Port of Spain | DS]

• Franklin Roosevelt ordered US Ambassador to France William Leahy to return to the United States to serve as Roosevelt's military chief of staff. ww2dbase [William Leahy | CPC]

6 Jul 1942 Interactive Map