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• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Ambon, Molucca Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• In southern Russia and Ukraine, 4.Panzearmee began to push down the Don River, attempting to meet with 6.Armee coming from Kharkov; meanwhile, 1.Panzerarmee crossed the Donets River. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | TH]
• Winston Churchill urged Franklin Roosevelt to agree to Operation Gymnast, a plan to jointly invade North Africa, since "[n]o responsible British general, admiral, or air marshal is prepared to recommend [a cross channel attack] as a practicable operation in 1942." ww2dbase [Operation Torch | CPC]
• Japanese carrier task force withdrew from Alaskan waters after the completion of the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British General Claude Auchinleck ordered an attack on Tel el Eisa and Tel el Makh Khad near El Alamein, Egypt. ww2dbase [First Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
• Chester Nimitz issued the final plan for the lower Solomon Islands offensive scheduled to be launhed in Aug 1942. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | CPC]
• Survivors of German submarine U-701, sunk by a US Hudson aircraft on the previous day off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, spotted American aircraft and ships in search of them. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-10 sank British ship Hartismere in the Mozambique Channel at 0748 hours; all aboard survived. I-10 struck again at 1800 hours, sinking Dutch freighter Alchiba in the same area, killing 5. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | CPC]
• USS S-37 sank Japanese transport Tenzan Maru 20 miles northwest of Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [S-37 | CPC]
• German submarine U-255 sank US ship Olopana of Allied convoy PQ-17 at 0100 hours; 7 were killed, 34 survived). ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland returned to Scapa Flow with combined RN/USN covering force. ww2dbase [Cumberland | DS]

• USS S-43 departed Brisbane, Australia for her second war patrol with RAAF Flight Officer Cecil John Trevelyan Mason. Mason was the liaison and rescue officer for friendly agents on New Ireland and Feni Islands. ww2dbase [S-43 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• M18 provided gunfire support for a Finnish counter-attack against a Soviet offensive at Someri island in the Gulf of Finland. ww2dbase [M18 | Gulf of Finland | CPC]

• Before dawn, 30 Soviet patrol boats and torpedo boats disembarked troops on the island of Someri, Finland, immediately engaging the Finnish garrison on the island. After daybreak, Finnish gunboats and torpedo boats arrived, sinking three Soviet torpedo boats. ww2dbase [Someri | CPC]

• Aldo Turcio was named the commanding officer of Alpino Bagnolini at Bordeaux, France; he replaced Mario Tei. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• 285 British bombers (137 Wellington, 52 Lancaster, 38 Halifax, 34 Stirling, 24 Hampden) attacked the docks at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, causing little or no damage to the docks, killing 25 civilians, and wounding 170; 5 bombers were lost on this mission. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Wilhelmshaven, Weser-Ems | CPC]
• Wing Commander (Acting) Guy Gibson, at 23 the youngest Squadron commanding officer in RAF Bomber Command and a man already marked out for great things, flew the newly issued Lancaster bomber operationally for the first time during the raid on Wilhelmshaven, Germany. A young Australian pilot officer, Dave Shannon, went with him to gain experience. Shannon, like Gibson, was later to find fame in 617 Squadron. The aircraft they flew was lost a month later over Essen, Germany with a different crew. ww2dbase [Wilhelmshaven, Weser-Ems | AC]

• Axis convoy Siena departed Suda Bay, Crete, Greece; it was consisted of 5 freighters, Italian destroyer Mitragliere, German destroyer ZG-3, Italian torpedo boat Sirio, Italian torpedo boat Cassiopea, German submarine chaser UJ-2104, and German submarine chaser UJ-2107. ww2dbase [Suda, Crete | CPC]

• Valetta harbor, Malta was attacked by air. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | Valetta | TH]

• Soviet submarine ShCh-317 sank German ship Otto Cords 10 miles off of the Swedish coast. ww2dbase [ShCh-317 | CPC]

• USS Ranger and Augusta continue with their aircraft ferrying assignment and depart Port of Spain, Trinidad bound for Africa’s Gold Coast. ww2dbase [Augusta | Ranger | Port of Spain | DS]

• The eight German saboteurs captured in the United States during the past several weeks were placed on trial before a special military commission at the Department of Justice in Washington DC, United States. ww2dbase [Washington | CPC]
• German submarine U-571 damaged US tanker J. A. Moffett, Jr. 4 miles off of the Florida Keys, Florida, United States at 0616 hours, killing 1 of 42 aboard; the tanker ran aground to prevent sinking, but she would later be declared a total loss. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Florida | CPC]

8 Jul 1942 Interactive Map