7 Jul 1944
  • American attacks near Carentan, France were held off by German counterattacks. In support of ground troops and to prepare for a new offensive to be launched on the next day, RAF bombers dropped 2,300 tons of explosives on the Germans in and around Caen, France. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | TH]
  • USS Mingo attacked a Japanese convoy off Luzon, Philippine Islands during the night, sinking destroyer Tamanami by hitting her with 3 of 8 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Mingo | CPC]
  • MiklĂłs Horthy suspended the deportation of Hungarian Jews to concentration camps. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
  • John Basilone and Lena Mae Riggi completed the application for a marriage certificate. ww2dbase [John Basilone | CPC]
  • USS Becuna detected a hostile submarine in the Atlantic Ocean and fired four torpedoes at the target; all torpedoes missed and contact with the enemy submarine was lost. ww2dbase [Becuna | CPC]
  • Ivan Bagramyan was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the first time. ww2dbase [Ivan Bagramyan | CPC]
Austria Germany
  • A large raid to attack targets in the Leipzig, Germany area by the US 8th Air Force with 1,129 B-17 Flying Fortress, including those from the 306th Bomb Group from RAF Thurleigh, and B-24 Liberator bombers and more than 700 escorts was met by a Gefechtsverband, led by Major Walther Dahl. Among the total of about ninety Luftwaffe fighters committed was the newly raised IV (Sturm)/JG3, an elite unit of volunteer pilots flying Fw 190A-8 aircraft armed with 30mm cannon, firing high explosive shells, and with additional armour protection to enable them to get within close range of their target. The Fw 190 fighters would attack the rear of the bomber bomber stream while two Bf 109 Gruppen kept the American fighters at bay. The tactic proved successful with eleven B-24 bombers of the low squadron destroyed within a minute and, by the end of the day, the 2nd Air Division had suffered 28 Liberators lost at a cost of nine IV/JG3 fighters shot down and three damaged. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Leipzig, Sachsen | AC]
India Pacific Ocean
  • USS Sunfish sank 13 Japanese sampans and a small patrol vessel with her deck gun in the Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | CPC]
Poland Sweden
  • Raoul Wallenberg departed Sweden for Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Raoul Wallenberg | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • German III/KG3 mounted a V-1 flying bomb assault on England, United Kingdom from their base in Rosières, France. Two of the Heinkel He.111 bombers collided on the runway during take off resulting in the death of one of the air crew. The night fighter Mosquito aircraft of 418 Squadron (RCAF) shot down 13 of the bombs mostly over the English Channel. One of the bombs that got through landed in Southampton, causing little damage. No. 91 Squadron RAF flying from their base at RAF Deanland shot down 12 flying bombs whilst No. 3 Squadron's Tempest V fighters brought down another. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 1 | V-Weapons Campaign | Southampton, England | AC, HM]
United States
  • USS Wisconsin departed Norfolk, Virginia, United States for Trinidad in the British West Indies. ww2dbase [Wisconsin | Norfolk, Virginia | CPC]
  • Franklin Roosevelt had dinner with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, Ana Roosevelt Boettiger, and John Boettiger in Washington DC, United States. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Washington | CPC]
  • USS Cummings arrived at San Francisco, California, United States after completing her loan to the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean and entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for maintenance. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Cummings | Vallejo, California | DS]
  • Anti-submarine Hunter-Killer Task Group 22.10 centered around escort carrier USS Card arrived at Boston, Massachusetts. ww2dbase [Boston Navy Yard | Card | Boston, Massachusetts | DS]
Photo(s) dated 7 Jul 1944
View of the market at the Place du Chateau, Cherbourg, 7 Jul 1944An oil dump exploding at Garapan, Saipan, Mariana Islands, 7 Jul 1944Major General Hugh J. Gaffey and Lieutenant General Patton, NĂ©hou, Basse-Normandie, France, 7 Jul 1944General Bernard Montgomery pins the British Military Medal on the uniform on T/Sgt Philip Streczyk of the US First Division for extraordinary gallantry on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, on D-Day.  Award presented Jul 7 1944.
See all photos dated 7 Jul 1944

7 Jul 1944 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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