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• General Sikorski and other members of Polish government-in-exile were killed in a plane crash in Gibraltar. Sabotage was suspected but it was never proven. ww2dbase [Władysław Sikorski | TH]
• The Battle of Kursk, what would become the largest tank battle in history, began. ww2dbase [Battle of Kursk | CPC]
• USS Tunny, while off Guam, Mariana Islands, received orders to sail to Johnston Island, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Tunny | CPC]
• USS Snook attacked a Japanese convoy with 16 torpedoes, 6 of which hit, sinking cargo ships Koki Maru and Liverpool Maru and damaging Atlantic Maru. ww2dbase [Snook | CPC]
• USS Pompano sank Japanese seaplane carrier Sagara Maru. ww2dbase [Pompano | CPC]
• Subhash Chandra Bose took command of the Indian National Army and assumed the leadership position of the Indian Independence League. ww2dbase [Subhash Chandra Bose | CPC]
• USS Bailey shifted from Mare Island to San Francisco, California. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]
• Cruisers USS Honolulu, USS Helena, USS St. Louis with destroyers USS Nicholas, USS Strong, USS Chevalier, and USS O’Bannon departed Tulagi, Solomon Islands on patrol of the New Georgia Sound (The “Slot”) toward Kula Gulf. ww2dbase [Nicholas | St. Louis | Honolulu | Helena (St. Louis-class) | Walden Ainsworth | Solomon Islands Campaign | DS]

• US Marines and US Army troops secured Kaeruka and Cheke Point on Vangunu Island, just southeast of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. On New Georgia, a 52-man special weapons unit of the US Marine Corps 9th Defense Battalion arrived with four 40mm anti-aircraft guns. To the south of New Georgia, the Japanese attempted attempted the last large daylight air raid on Rendova; 16 bombers were able to break through to drop bombs on the island, but 12 of them would be shot down. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | New Georgia | CPC]
• USS Helena escorted invasion transports to Kula Gulf west of New Georgia. ww2dbase [Helena (St. Louis-class) | Solomon Islands Campaign | Kula Gulf | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]

• The Sino-American Special Technical Cooperative Organization, or SACO for short, already officially signed into effect in Apr 1943, was signed by Chinese Army General Dai Li in China; Dai had not been able to travel to the United States for the official signing. ww2dbase [Milton Miles | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the aircraft assembly plant at Nantes, France. ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | RAF Thurleigh | Nantes | DS]

• The first of Chinese 30th Division began to arrive at Ramgarh Training Center in India. ww2dbase [Ramgarh Training Center | Ramgarh, Bengal Presidency | CPC]

• USS S-35 arrived off Paramushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. ww2dbase [S-35 | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]

• Journalist John Steinbeck of the newspaper New York Herald Tribune spent a day with British airmen at an airfield in England, United Kingdom. His experiences on this day would later be found in his work "Once There Was a War" in a chapter titled "Waiting". ww2dbase [England | CPC]

• USS Cero was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Cero | CPC]

4 Jul 1943 Interactive Map