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• In the Western Desert in North Africa, British Sergeant Keith Elliott win the Victoria Cross for leading an attack which captures four machine gun positions, an anti-tank gun and 50 prisoners despite being seriously wounded in the chest. ww2dbase [AC]
• British minesweeping trawler Neave was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The German Navy issued orders for the construction of 10 submarines; these submarines would later be commissioned as U-323, U-324, U-325, U-326, U-327, U-328, U-903, U-904, U-1171, and U-1172. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-631 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Vice Admiral Frank Fletcher the commanding officer of the Solomons Expeditionary Force. ww2dbase [Frank Fletcher | CPC]
• US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes the commanding officer of carrier air groups for the upcoming operations in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Rear Admiral John McCain the commanding officer of land-based air groups for the upcoming operations in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [John McCain | CPC]
• US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Rear Admiral Richmond Turner the commanding officer of the Amphibious Force for the upcoming operations in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Richmond Turner | CPC]
• German submarine U-160 fatally damaged tanker Beaconlight with 2 torpedoes 10 miles northwest of Galera Point, Trinidad at 0934 hours; 1 was killed, 40 survived in 3 lifeboats; British tug HMS Roode Zee sank the wreck to prevent it from becoming a hazard. German submarine U-166 stopped small trawler Gertrude 30 miles northeast of Havana, Cuba; Gertrude was sunk by gunfire after the crew of 3 abandoned ship as ordered. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• British destroyer Rapid was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British escort carrier Ravager was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-161 attacked Allied convoy AS-4 500 miles north of Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands at 1543 hours; the Germans observed two hits, both of which were made on US transport Fairport, which sank with all 123 aboard surviving in two lifeboats and five rafts. In the South Atlantic, German armed merchant cruiser Michel, after shadowing the targets since morning, sank US tanker William F. Humphrey with 3 torpedoes and gunfire at 2100 hours (8 were killed, 40 survived); at the same time, Michel's speedboat Essau damaged the other ship, Norwegian tanker Aramis, with 2 torpedoes. ww2dbase [Michel | Second Happy Time | CPC]
• ShCh-320 fired two torpedoes at German merchant ship Gudron off the German coast; both torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [ShCh-320 | CPC]
• Nicholas Bican became the chief administrator of the Portland Assembly Center in Oregon, United States. ww2dbase [Portland Assembly Center | CPC]

• USS Honolulu departed Kodiak Island, Alaska and resumed Alaskan patrols. ww2dbase [Honolulu | Kodiak | DS]

• The Japanese began the construction of an airfield on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Guadalcanal | CPC]

• Corvette HMCS Kitchener arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ww2dbase [Halifax, Nova Scotia | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Balikpapan, Borneo | CPC]

• Australian 24th Battalion attacked Point 24 near El Alamein, Egypt in failure, suffering 50% casualties. Meanwhile, German tanks attacked along the Ruweisat Ridge, unable to break the lines held by Indian 5th Infantry Brigade, British 2nd Armoured Brigade, and British 22nd Armoured Brigade. ww2dbase [First Battle of El Alamein | El Alamein | CPC]

• 9,000 French policemen conducted a round-up, gathering 12,887 Parisian Jews born outside of France. 6,000 of them were sent to Drancy Concentration Camp Camp located just outside the city, while the other 6,000 were detained at the Vélodrome d'Hiver stadium where they had to share one water tap and ten toilets. ww2dbase [Drancy Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Paris | CPC]

• The USS Seadragon (Lieutenant Commander W. E. Ferrall, USN) sighted a Japanese transport ship at 0923 hours, beraing 301-degrees at a range of 16,000 yards. 10 minutes later, Seadragon sighted a convoy of four ships. The submarine sped toward the convoy, and once in attack position, fired two torpedoes at the second ship in the column from a range of about 1,250 yards; both missed, hitting the beach beyond after almost 5 minutes. All ships in the convoy then turned toward USS Seadragon and started firing their guns. Two more torpedoes were fired from the stern at the last ship of the column at the range of about 2,750 yards. The ship, 5,303-ton Japanese transport ship Hakodate Maru, en-route from Taiwan to Bangkok, Thailand, was struck by both of them and sank 2 miles off the coast north of Cape Varella, French Indochina. Seadragon meanwhile had submerged to 100 feet. At 1052 hours, Seadragon returned to periscope depth and could see only three ships. After the sinking, Seadragon set sail for Fremantle, Australia. ww2dbase [Seadragon | Hoa Tam, Annam | CPC, HM]

• German aircraft damaged Soviet destroyer Bodry and minelaying cruiser Komintern at Poti, Georgia. ww2dbase [Poti | CPC]

• 8 (of 21 launched) British Stirling bombers attacked Lübeck, Germany at dusk; 2 were lost on this mission. Elsewhere, small groups of bombers attacked various targets in the Ruhr region in Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler departed from the Wolfsschanze headquarters near Görlitz, Ostpreußen, Germany. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Görlitz, Ostpreußen | CPC]
• Ju 290 aircraft took its first flight. ww2dbase [Ju 290 | CPC]

• USS Haddock arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Haddock | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Soviet forces evacuated Boguchar in Voronezh Oblast and Milerovo in Rostov Oblast in southern Russia as German troops advanced toward Stalingrad. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | CPC]

16 Jul 1942 Interactive Map