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• The first preliminary test of the RaLa Experiment was performed by the scientists of the Manhattan Project; it was the first in a series of experiments attempting to create a spherical implosion to detonate a nuclear weapon. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | CPC]
• Operation Cobra, the US breakout operation in France, began. Canadian troops attacked south of Caen, France. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 2 | TH]
• In Berlin, Germany, Goebbels was designated the Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War. ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | TH]
• German authorities completed the evacuation of Jewish ghettos in Kovno, Lithuania. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS hoe fired 6 torpedoes at a Japanese submarine, scoring no hits. ww2dbase [Hoe | CPC]
• George Bush shared the credit for sinking of a Japanese cargo ship off the Palau Islands. ww2dbase [George Bush | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland, along with Eastern Fleet for offensive operation against targets in Sumatra including HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Valiant, HMS Renown, French battleship Richelieu, HM Cruisers Nigeria, Kenya, Ceylon and Gambia and screened by five fleet destroyers, bombarded Japanese positions at Sabang (Operation Crimson). ww2dbase [Cumberland | Queen Elizabeth | Richelieu | Renown | Valiant | DS]

• USS Franklin launched strikes against Palau Islands, Yap Island, and Ulithi Atoll through 27 Jul 1944. ww2dbase [Franklin | CPC]
• USS Wasp's aircraft attacked Japanese positions in the Palau Islands. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | Palau | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched raids on Yap, Ulithi, and the Palaus in the Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Yap | DS]

• General Leslie J. McNair, Commander of Army Ground Forces while on an inspection tour near Saint-Lô in Normandie, France, was killed when US B-26 bombers drop their bombs short of the intended target. He was the most senior US general to be killed in the war to date. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 1 | Saint-Lô, Basse-Normandie | AC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against targets around Saint-Lô, France. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Marigny-le-Lozon | DS]

• Francis Gabreski was captured by Obergefreiter Hanns Scharff near Niedermendig, Germany. ww2dbase [Francis Gabreski | Niedermendig, Mosselland | CPC]

• USS Segundo arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Segundo | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Steamer Bay arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Steamer Bay | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• The keel of landing ship No. 114 was laid down by Osaka Zosen. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 135 was completed. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Soviet units reached the Vistula River in Poland. To the north, the Germans evacuated Narva, Estonia, taking up defensive positions to the west. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | TH]
• An unarmed RAF Dakota aircraft took off from Italy for Zaborów, Poland, where it would pick up V-2 rocket parts captured by Polish partisan fighters. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 2 | V-Weapons Campaign | Zaborów | AC]

• Sorties were flown by aircraft of III KG/3 again during the night, in all 18 aircraft took off to launch V-1 flying bombs on England, United Kingdom. One aircraft, Heinkel He 111 5K+GT of 9 Staffel flown by Unteroffizier Günter Rohne, hit a high communication mast near Eindhoven in the Netherlands and blew up; there were no survivors. London and the counties of Hertfordshire and Essex were again hit but only light casualties were reported. 96 Squadron RAF lost a Mosquito XIII aircraft and the crew when the aircraft failed to return to RAF Ford. It was thought that the plane was hit by friendly fire when returning from the anti-diver patrol. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | London, England | HM]

• Production of P-39 Airacobra fighters ceased. ww2dbase [P-39 Airacobra | CPC]
• Composite Squadron VC-42 came aboard escort carrier USS Bogue with their FM-2 Wildcats and TBM-1c Avengers. Bogue and her escorts put to sea on an offensive Hunter-Killer anti-submarine mission along the Atlantic convoy routes in the North Atlantic. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Norfolk Navy Yard | Bogue | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]
• As USS Ranger approached San Diego, her task group became the object of a simulated air attack by three different air groups based in San Diego and Ranger’s group was ordered to take necessary evasive actions. First, six PB4Y Liberator reconnaissance planes from Bombing Squadron VB-117 detected the force. Then, F4U Corsairs from a Marine Corps squadron made a straffing attack. This was followed by a coordinated air group attack from Air Group 84 consisting of F6f Hellcats, SB2C Helldivers, and TBM Avengers. Ranger and her escorts then entered San Diego harbor. ww2dbase [Ranger | San Diego, California | DS]

25 Jul 1944 Interactive Map