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• Weather data for 31 Jul 1944

• Tirpitz conducted exercises at sea with five destroyers. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Tang departed for her fourth war patrol off Honshu, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Kete was commissioned into service with Commander R. L. Rutter in command. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Parche attacked a Japanese convoy off Taiwan and sank cargo ship Manko Maru and tanker Koei Maru; she also shared the credit with USS Steelhead for sinking another transport. She expended 19 torpedoes during this attack. Parche's commanding officer, Commander Lawson Ramage would later be awarded the Medal of Honor for this attack while the crew received the Presidental Unit Citation. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• British VIII Corps launched Operation Bluecoat towards Vire River in Normandy, France. Meanwhile, US 4th Armored Division captured Avranches and 20,000 prisoners of war in 6 days. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• The British 9th Armoured Division (Major General John D'Arcy) was disbanded. ww2dbase [AC]

• Nachi departed Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 108 was completed and was transferred to the Japanese Army as SB No. 125. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) left the area of the Mariana Islands headed United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | DS]

• 91 Squadron RAF lost a veteran pilot when Flying Officer Paddy Schade's Spitfire XIV fighter was hit by a Tempest fighter flown by Flight Sergeant Archie Wilson RNZAF of 486 Squadron when Wilson emerged from cloud whilst chasing a V-1 flying bomb. The wing of the Tempest fighter tore off the Spitfire fighter's cockpit; both pilots were killed. Flight Sergeant Stan Rudowski of 306 Squadron (Polish) RAF was vectored onto a V-1 flying bomb approaching the town of Rye, Kent in southern England, United Kingdom, two miles west of the coastal town he attacked from below, the flying bomb slowed, looped and exploded in the sea just off the beach. ww2dbase [Main Article | Event | HM]

31 Jul 1944 Interactive Map