Thursday, 23 July 1942

US NAVY

ATLANTIC—Unarmed U.S. freighter Onondaga, bound for Havana, Cuba, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-129 five miles north of Cayo Guillermo, 22°40'N, 78°40'W. Nineteen of the 33 man crew die in the attack, as does the sole passenger, the former master of U.S. freighter Thomas McKean (sunk by German submarine U-505 on 29 June).Cuban fishing boat Laventina rescues the 14 survivors.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

US ARMY MIDDLE EAST AIR FORCE—98th Bomb Group is assigned to USAMEAF.

FIFTH AF—B‑17’s, B‑26’s, A‑24’s, and fighters pound shipping, landing barges, storage dumps, AA positions, and troop concentrations at Buna and Gona as the enemy pushes inland along Kokoda trail. Fighters also hit harbor at Salamaua.

SOUTH PACIFIC—11th Bomb Group B‑17’s in New Caledonia begin photo reconnaissance of Guadalcanal-Tulagi-Gavutu area.

SEVENTH AF—3 B‑17’s, staging through Canton Island, carry out photo reconnaissance of Makin.

US ARMY

NEW CALEDONIA—42d Squadron of 11th Heavy Bombardment Group arrives.

NEW GUINEA—Continuing along Kokoda Trail, Japanese clash with Australian Maroubra Force near Awala, forcing Australians back toward Wairopi.

US MARINE CORPS

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Wednesday, 22 July 1942

US NAVY

PACIFIC—USAAF planes (B-17s, B-25s and B-26s are utilized in the attacks) attack Japanese shipping off Buna, New Guinea, damaging destroyer Uzuki and sinking army cargo ship Ayatosan Maru, 08°50'S, 148°50'E.

            U.S. freighter William Dawes is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-24 off the coast of Australia at 36°47'S, 150°16'E; four of the 15 man Armed Guard, and one (of five) Army passengers are killed in the attack, but there are no casualties among the 40 merchant seamen who make up the ship's complement. Survivors row toward the coast, where fishing boats tow them the remainder of the way. The burning William Dawes sinks the next day.

ATLANTIC—Unarmed U.S. freighter Honolulan is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-582 off the west coast of Africa at 08°41'N, 22°12'W. U-582 provides the Americans with cigarettes and question them briefly before departing. There are no casualties among the 39 man crew and one stowaway (see 28 July).

            Norwegian freighter Triton rescues survivors from U.S. freighter William F. Humphrey, sunk by German auxiliary cruiser Michel (Schiffe 28) in the South Atlantic on 16 July.

ARCTIC—German submarine rescues last survivors from lifeboat from U.S. freighter Honomu, sunk on 5 July 1942. Nine of the19 men in the lifeboat have perished of exposure during their ordeal.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

US ARMY MIDDLE EAST AIR FORCE—B‑24’s bomb Suda Bay claiming hits on 2 vessels. B‑17’s hit Tobruk.

FIFTH AF—P‑40’s and P‑39’s hit shipping and landing barges at Gona as Japanese forces continue to land in NE New Guinea with ultimate aim of pushing across the Owen Stanley Range to the Allied base at Port Moresby.

ELEVENTH AF—Of 8 B‑24’s and 2 B‑17’s dispatched to Kiska only 8 reach target and due to fog drop only 7 bombs with unobserved results. 1 B‑24 missing on return flight.

US ARMY

PACIFIC—98th Sq of 11th Heavy Bombardment Group lands in New Caledonia. Solomons Amphibious Force, with 1st Marine Division embarked, sails from Wellington, New Zealand. 3d Defense Battalion, final reinforcing unit, begins voyage from Pearl Harbor to join 1st Marine Division.

NEW GUINEA—Allied planes continue to attack enemy shipping off N coast, setting fire to a transport. Upon landing, Japanese Navy units move to Buna and Army forces to Giruwa. Advance force pushes inland at once from Giruwa to reconnoiter trail to Port Moresby and reaches Soputa area. General MacArthur orders General Morris, commander of New Guinea Force, to reinforce Kokoda as quickly as possible.

EGYPT—British Eighth Army continues attack, gaining some ground but failing to break through enemy line. 23d Armored Brigade, which has recently arrived from England, passes through gaps made by infantry in mine fields but is unable to gain ground and loses many tanks. New Zealand 6th Brigade and Battalion of Indian 161st Brigade are virtually destroyed by enemy counterattacks.

USSR—German Army Group A opens all-out assault against Rostov.

UNITED KINGDOM—British refuse U.S. proposal to launch Operation SLEDGEHAMMER.

US MARINE CORPS

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Tuesday, 21 July 1942

US NAVY

PACIFIC—Japanese forces occupy Buna, New Guinea, having been frustrated in their attempt to capture Port Moresby by sea (first at Lae-Salamaua and then at the Battle of the Coral Sea) in the first step of an overland campaign to take the same objective.

            U.S. freighter Coast Farmer is sunk by Japanese submarine I-11 in the South Pacific at 35°23'S, 151°00'E. RAAF crash boat rescues the 40 survivors (who include the 7 man Armed Guard).

GULF OF MEXICO—U.S. freighter William Cullen Bryant, in convoy TAW 4J, is torpedoed by German submarine U-84 in the Straits of Florida, 24°08'N, 82°23'W; all hands (40 man crew, 12 man Armed Guard, and 2 USN signalmen) abandon ship but later reboard the freighter; salvage vessel Willett (ARS-12) and civilian tug Moran tow William Cullen Bryant to Key West, Florida. She subsequently returns to service.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

UNITED STATES—Roosevelt calls Admiral Leahy, Ambassador to France and former Chief of Naval Operations, to serve as CoS to CinC of US Army and Navy.

EIGHTH AF—General Eisenhower assigns to Eighth AF the mission of carrying out, in collaboration with RAF, the degree of air ops with the view of attaining air domination over W France by 1 Apr 43.

FIFTH AF—B‑26’s attack convoy off Salamaua as invasion force heads for Buna, where it begins landings during 21/22 Jul. This move by the enemy forestalls Allied ops which were to have secured the same general area.

SOUTH PACIFIC—Initial squadron of B‑17’s of 11th Bomb Group arrives at Plaines des Gaiacs from Hawaii.

ELEVENTH AF—4 B‑24’s fly search and bomb missions over Kiska but make no contact because of weather.

US ARMY

PACIFIC—Solomons Expeditionary Force (TF 61) is ordered to rendezvous SE of Fiji Islands. on 26 July. Allied planes sight and attack enemy convoy approaching New Guinea, despite poor visibility, which prevents Japanese naval planes at Lae, however, from supporting enemy. After naval gunfire bombardment of Buna, Japanese begin landing near Gona, night 21–22, forestalling Allied Operation PROVIDENCE, which was to have secured the same general area. Japanese naval forces at Salamaua provide diversion by raiding Mubo and Komiatum, and enemy submarines become increasingly active.

EGYPT—British Eighth Army opens attack against center of enemy’s line late in day, employing infantry to clear mine fields for passage of armor.

US MARINE CORPS

Japanese land at Buna, New Guinea.

Monday, 20 July 1942

US NAVY

GENERAL—Admiral William D. Leahy reports to President Roosevelt as Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy.

PACIFIC—Naval Operating Base and Naval Air Facility, Dutch Harbor, Alaska, are established.

ATLANTIC—German submarine U-66 mines the waters off Castries, St. Lucia.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

US ARMY MIDDLE EAST AIR FORCE—Hal Bomb Squadron and 9th Bomb Squadron (19 B‑24’s and 9 B‑17’s) are organized as 1st Provisional Group under Col Harry A Halverson’s command at Lydda.

TENTH AF—3 B‑25’s bomb docks and warehouses at Chinkiang on the Yangtze River. 4 escorting P‑40’s strafe junks on the river. This is last CATF bombing raid of Jul.

ELEVENTH AF—General Butler moves adv HQ to Umnak. 3 B‑17’s bomb Kiska (especially barracks) with incendiaries and demolition charges. 4 P‑38’s try to intercept 4 fighters reported by Navy aircraft. No contact made.

US ARMY

PACIFIC—USAFIA, largely a supply organization, is discontinued, and U.S. Army Services of Supply, Southwest Pacific Area (USASOS SWPA) is established under command of General Richard Marshall. GHQ SWPA moves forward in Australia from Melbourne to Brisbane to be nearer scene of offensive. Maj General Alexander A. Vandegrift, CG 1st Marine Division, issues tactical orders for invasion of Solomons.

CHINA BURMA INDIA—Dr. Lauchlin Currie arrives in China to discuss U.S.-Chinese relations with Stilwell and the Chinese.

US MARINE CORPS

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Sunday, 19 July 1942

US NAVY

ATLANTIC—Carrier Ranger (CV-4) in TF 22 ferries 72 USAAF P-40s (earmarked for ultimate delivery to Burma) to Accra off the Gold Coast of Africa.

            With the successful operation of convoys off the East Coast of the United States, Admiral Doenitz orders the last U-boats deployed there (U-89, U-132, U-402, U-458, and U-754) reassigned to other hunting grounds.

            Unarmed U.S. tug Keshena is sunk by mine east of Okracoke Island, North Carolina, 35°00'N, 75°45'E, while engaged in salvage work on torpedoed and mined Panamanian-flag tanker J.A. Mowinkel. Two men perish in the explosion, but the surviving crew (14 men and 1 woman) is rescued by a launch and taken to the Coast Guard station at Okracoke.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

US ARMY MIDDLE EAST AIR FORCE—B‑24’s hit Bengasi while B‑17’s attack Tobruk in continuing effort to disrupt movement of supplies.

TENTH AF—In response to a Chinese request, 2 B‑25’s strike in pt of Chinese ground forces at Linchwan, a Japanese-held city under siege for some time. The Chinese CO later reports that the raid broke the stalemate and the city was entered the next day.

ELEVENTH AF—Search missions are flown over Attu and Agattu.

US ARMY

SOUTH WEST PACIFIC AREA—From Rabaul, Japanese invasion force of about 1,800 men sails for Buna, New Guinea. Lugger arrives at Buna with supplies and machine guns of Company B, Australian 39th Battalion.

CHINA BURMA INDIA—General Stilwell submits to Chiang Kai-shek a plan, dated 18th, calling for Allied co-operation in regaining Burma as a necessary preliminary to getting aid to China.

US MARINE CORPS

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Saturday, 18 July 1942

US NAVY

PACIFIC—Amphibious Force, South Pacific Area (Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner) is established.

NORTH RUSSIA—British minesweeper and escort vessel rescue 22 survivors from U.S. freighter Honomu, sunk on 5 July (see 22 July).

US ARMY AIR FORCE

INTERNATIONAL—Hopkins, General Marshall, Admiral King, Churchill, and British COS begin conference in London on proposed invasion of N Africa (TORCH) .

TENTH AF—3 B‑25’s from Kweilin bomb Tien Ho airfield.

ELEVENTH AF—A B‑17 flying weather and photo reconnaissance over Kiska crashes on Umnak Island.

US ARMY

USSR—Continuing southward on broad front, Germans take Voroshilovgrad, coal and coke center of Donets basin, and to SE reach the Don at Tsimlyansk.

US MARINE CORPS

Amphibious Force, South Pacific Area, is established under command of Rear Admiral Turner.

Friday, 17 July 1942

US NAVY

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US ARMY AIR FORCE

US ARMY MIDDLE EAST AIR FORCE—Halverson Det is redesignated Hal Bomb Squadron. B‑24’s bomb Bengasi harbor. B‑17’s hit Tobruk.

FIFTH AF—B‑17’s bomb harbor at Rabaul.

ELEVENTH AF—3 B‑17’s and 7 B‑24’s fly weather, bombing and photo missions. Shipping is bombed- North and South Heads of Kiska are photographed. Fighters down 1 B‑17.

US ARMY

SOUTH WEST PACIFIC AREA—Movement order for Operation PROVIDENCE, occupation of Buna area, New Guinea, is issued. Serial One is to leave Port Moresby on 31 July. D Day is to be 10–12 August.

UNITED KINGDOM—General Marshall, Admiral King, and Harry Hopkins arrive in England to urge that SLEDGEHAMMER be undertaken in 1942.

US MARINE CORPS

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