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• HMCS Huron (G24) was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander H. S. Rayner in command. ww2dbase [AC]
• Yekaterina Budanova shot down a Bf 109 fighter near Antracit, Luhansk, Russia, but her Yak-1 fighter also sustained damage and caught on fire. She landed safely, but when farmers rushed to help, they found her already dead. ww2dbase [Yekaterina Budanova | CPC]
• Canadian destroyer HMCS Huron was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Crew of Canadian destroyer HMCS Iroquois staged a brief mutiny by refusing to obey orders from Commander William Boyd Love Holms, for what they perceived as harsh treatment by the commanding officer. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-513 was sunk by depth charges from a PBM-3C Mariner aircraft of US Navy Patrol Squadron 74 south east of São Francisco do Sul, Brazil; 46 were killed, 7 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyer escort USS Acree was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyer escort USS Keith was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Lydia Litvyak shot down a German Bf 109G-6 fighter while flying a Yak-1b fighter. ww2dbase [Lydia Litvyak | CPC]
• U-23 completed her tenth war patrol. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]

• The US 633rd, 634th, and 635th Bombardment Squadrons (Dive) and the US 407th Bombardment Group (Dive) began operating from Amchitka, Aleutian Islands. ww2dbase [Amchitka | CPC]

• Australian and American troops defended against repeated Japanese counterattacks at Mount Tambu, Australian New Guinea. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Mount Tambu | CPC]

• US aircraft detected the Japanese Night Battle Force in the Solomon Islands at 1905 hours and attacked, and the attack was repulsed. At 2100 hours, Japanese destroyer transports were ordered to separately proceed to Vila, Kolombangara, Solomon Islands. At 2220 hours, flares were sighted over the transport destroyers, but no American warships arrived to attack. At 2310 hours, Japanese warships of the Night Battle Force (Kumano, Yugure, Kiyonami, Yukikaze, and others) reversed course for Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Kumano | Yukikaze | Yugure | Kolombangara, New Georgia | CPC]
• During the day, in the Solomon Islands, B-17 and B-25 aircraft attacked Ballale Airfield on Ballale, while B-25, SBD, and TBF aircraft attacked Japanese positions at Bairoko, New Georgia. After sundown, US PBY and TBF aircraft attacked a Japanese task force near Choiseul Island east of Bougainville, sinking a destroyer and damaging a cruiser, but also losing several aircraft. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | CPC]
• US B-17 aircraft bombed Kahili Airfield on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Kahili Airfield | Solomon Islands Campaign | Buin, Bougainville | CPC]

• The keel of British minesweeper HMS Serene was laid down at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ww2dbase [Toronto, Ontario | CPC]
• The keel of Canadian frigate HMCS Joliette was laid down at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. ww2dbase [Quebec City, Quebec | CPC]

• Light carrier Ryuho departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Ryuho | Truk | CPC]

• The German-sponsored French military formation Légion des Volontaires Français held a parade in Paris, France. ww2dbase [Paris | CPC]

• German submarine U-854 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The keel of German submarine U-825 was laid down. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Japanese G3M bombers attacked the US airfield on Funafuti, Ellice Islands. ww2dbase [Funafuti | CPC]

• Dock No. 4 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii was ready for emergency use. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• The Italian capital of Rome experienced its first air raid by the USAAF, which resulted in 1,500 civilian deaths; 157 B-17 and 112 B-24 aircraft embarked on this attack, 5 of which were lost. Most of the bombers focused on rail marshalling yards in or around the city. ww2dbase [Operation Avalanche | Rome | TH, CPC]
• At Feltre, Italy, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met for the 13th and last time before Mussolini was ousted from power. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | Feltre | CPC]
• US 7th Army and British 8th Army continued to make advances in Sicily, Italy; encountering resistance along the coast, Bernard Montgomery ordered his British 8th Army to take an alternate route, inland, toward Messina in the north. The Allied Northwest African Tactical Air Force launched B-25 bombers to attack Catania and Randazzo while US 9th Air Force P-40 aircraft bombed railroads and railcars at Alcamo to support the ground troops on Sicily. After sundown, Allied bombers struck Aquino and Nicosia. ww2dbase [Invasion of Sicily and Italy's Surrender | Sicilia | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Feltre in northern Italy in a magnificent villa. Mussolini had come to ask Hitler for massive military help, but the meeting was a fiasco with Hitler promising no specific aid and instead spent the entire morning in a dreary dialogue about German arms production. Mussolini was unable to pin Hitler down with specific demands for equipment and troops. Just before lunch, a messenger arrived with the news that Rome, Italy had suffered a heavy air attack. Mussolini was so upset that he could no longer listen to Hitler's waffle. Yet at a private luncheon Hitler was able to persuade Mussolini that his secret weapons, including atom warheads on flying bombs, could still win the war for the Axis. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | Feltre, Veneto | AC]

• Naka arrived at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Naka | Kwajalein | CPC]

• 12 Polish prisoners of Auschwitz I camp were executed by hanging in front of the kitchen during roll call for helping three fellow prisoners escape. The men were Stanislaw Stawinski (No. 6569), Czeslaw Marcisz (No. 26891), Janusz Skrzetuski-Pogonowski (No. 253), Edmund Sikorski (No. 25419), Jerzy Wozniak (No. 35650), Józef Wojtyga (No. 24740), Zbigniew Foltanski (No. 41664), Boguslaw Ohrt (No. 367), Leon Rajzer (No. 399), Tadeusz Rapacz (No. 36043), Józef Gancarz (No. 24538), and Mieczyslaw Kulikowski (No. 25404). ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Soviet troops began to threaten German positions at Bolkhov, Russia. ww2dbase [Battle of Kursk | Bolkhov | CPC]
• Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-9 fighter, shot down a Ju 88 aircraft over Krasnikovo, Russia. ww2dbase [Marcel Albert | Krasnikovo | CPC]

• Winston Churchill suggested using icebergs as floating airfields. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | London, England | CPC]
• British minesweeping trawler HMS Gillstone was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British destroyer HMS Undaunted was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Greek submarine Pipinos was launched in Britain. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British submarine HMS Unswerving was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British frigate HMS Inver was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The US Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States was authorized to embark on the project codenamed Gorgon to develop air-to-air turbojet-powered remotely-controlled missiles. ww2dbase [Philadelphia Navy Yard | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | CPC]

• Pope Pius XII allowed citizens of Rome, Italy to take shelter in Vatican City. ww2dbase [CPC]

19 Jul 1943 Interactive Map