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• Weather data for 12 Jul 1943

• Destroyer Yukikaze led an attack on an US cruiser-destroyer group in the Battle of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Mingo damaged a Japanese freighter with torpedoes. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• HMS King George V bombarded Trapani, Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Soviet forces launched a massive offensive along their Bryansk, Central, and West Fronts in Russia, toward Bryansk, Kursk, and Orel. Prokhorovka, Russia became the site of what would be hailed as the largest armor battle in history. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Chiang Kaishek committed, in writing, to a Chinese offensive into Burma. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• British 8th Army captured Augusta, Sicily, Italy, adding yet another useful harbour for the Allied invasion forces. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]

• 432nd Fighter Squadron (flying P-38 aicraft) of USAAF 475th Fighter Group was out of Dobodura No. 15 airstrip of Dobodura Airfield, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Companies N and Q of the USMC 4th Raider Battalion departed New Georgia, returning to join the rest of the battalion at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. After dark, a Japanese force consisted of light cruiser Jintsu and destroyer-transports ran into a group of Allied light cruisers; the ensuing Battle of Kolombangara, which lasted into the next morning, saw the sinking of Jintsu and USS Gwin; the Japanese were able to land 1,200 men on New Georgia. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• HMS Howe bombarded Trapani and Favignana, Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Ancon departed off Scoglitti, Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | CPC]

• Yamato was drydocked at Kure, Japan for upgrades. A Type 21, Mod 3, air and surface search radar was to be installed. Twelve (4x3) new 25-mm AA guns were to be fitted on the weather deck. Yamato's total 25-mm AA suite would be 36 guns. Her 155-mm wing mount guns were to be provided with coaming armor and their barbettes with 28-mm of additional armor. Yamato's fuel storage would be reduced and her main and auxiliary rudder controls were to be improved. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• I-168 departed Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) departed Balboa, Panama Canal Zone. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]

• The National Committee for a Free Germany was formed in Krasnograd, Ukraine, made up of a number of captured German officers as well as exiled German communists. This group called for an uprising against Hitler and an end to the fighting between Germany and the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [TH]

12 Jul 1943 Interactive Map