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• 40 German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers attacked Dover Harbor in southern England, United Kingdom at 0730 hours, escorted by 40 Bf 109 fighters; British fighters from No. 41, No. 43, No. 56, and No. 64 Squadrons shot down 8 German dive bombers and 7 fighters and anti-aircraft guns shot down 2 German dive bombers, while 2 British Spitfire fighters and 1 British Hurricane fighter were shot down. At 1700 hours, destroyer HMS Delight left Portland in southern England; at about 1830 hours, she was hitting by a bomb from a German aircraft from Cherbourg, France, killing 18 and wounding 59, but she was able to return to Portland under her own power. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | TH]
• British Air Ministry accused Germany of using rescue aircraft with Red Cross markings for reconnaissance purposes. ww2dbase [TH]
• At a conference held in a converted railway carriage, Colonel-General Alfred Jodl, Adolf Hitler's Chief of Operations, announced that the Führer had decided "once and for all" to rid the world of the Soviet menace. However, recognizing that the war against the United Kingdom took a higher priority at this point in time, Hitler pushed the invasion date to the spring of 1941. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | AC]
• British submarine HMS Sealion detected German submarine U-62 on the surface 60 miles southwest of Stavanger, Norway and attacked with 3 torpedoes (which all missed) followed by shots from the deck gun. U-62 dove and escaped the area. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright departed Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil for Buenos Aires, Argentina. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Sea Gladiator fighters from HMS Eagle shot down an Italian SM.79 bomber while escorting a convoy in the Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [Eagle | CPC]
• Portugal and Spain added a clause to the 1939 friendship treaty; it was later known as the Iberian Pact. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German submarine U-99 spotted the 7,336-ton British steam merchant ship Clan Menzies west of Ireland. Clan Menzies was originally built by Greenock Dockyard Company for Clan Line Steamers Limited of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. She was on a Sydney-Melbourne-Panama-Liverpool route. She was sailing alone following a zigzag course when a torpedo from U-99 hit on the starboard side near the engine room where the engineers on duty were killed. The explosion damaged the starboard lifeboats beyond use and made the radio equipment inoperable so that no distress message could be sent. The crew of 88 abandoned ship at about 0215 hours in the remaining lifeboats, 52 survivors in one boat and 36 in the other. The Master was required to give information to the Germans, and they were ordered not to show lights. The Master, Captain Hughes, navigated his boat into the port of Enniscrone whilst a passing Irish vessel, the Kyleclare, picked up the lifeboat with 52 survivors off Mayo Coast on the 30 Jul 1940. All told, 6 were killed. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | U-99 | CPC, HM]
• The 5,925-ton British cargo steamer Clan Monroe struck a mine off Harwich, England, United Kingdom whilst acting as an auxiliary transport. She was taken in tow and beached in Hollesley Bay in a depth of 27 feet at low water. Thirteen people were killed. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | North Sea | HM]
• The 1,262-ton British merchant steamer Moidart hit a mine and sank whilst on passage from Greenhithe near London for Newcastle in northern England, United Kingdom, carrying a cargo of cement. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | North Sea | HM]

• HMS Cumberland detached from Convoy WS1 on arrival in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where troops were transferred to smaller transports for onward passage. (Note: As the two liners were not required to pass through the Red Sea they went to Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) after disembarkation.) ww2dbase [Cumberland | Colombo | DS]

• German naval command (Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine) issued a memo noting that the mid-Sep 1940 invasion date for Britain as demanded by Adolf Hitler was possible, but considering the present state of affairs, a postponement to May 1941 was suggested. Meanwhile, a special economic board was set up to oversee the looting of British industry upon conquest. ww2dbase [TH]

• Maggiore Baracca departed La Spezia, Italy at 0805 hours for trials, returning at 1646 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]
• Alessandro Malaspina departed La Spezia, Italy at 0400 hours for her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini arrived at Cagliari, Sardegna, Italy at 1527 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Cagliari, Sardegna | CPC]

• The Japanese reported that Mr. Melville Cox, one of nine British residents arrested in Japan on the previous day, had "committed suicide" by throwing himself out of a police station window. ww2dbase [AC]

• The weapons firm Albright & Wilson of Oldbury, England, United Kingdom demonstrated to the British Royal Air Force a self-igniting explosive containing petrol and phosphorus. ww2dbase [No. 76 | CPC]
• Jackie Sorour joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Jackie Moggridge | England | CPC]
• The 1,264-ton ex-Danish merchantman Gronland was sunk by German aircraft at the outer harbour at Dover, England, United Kingdom whilst on passage from Blyth to Plymouth. The 201-ton large private yacht Gulzar was also sank. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Dover, England | HM]
• The 5,601-ton British cargo steamer Ousebridge was mined on the in the Queens Channel leading to the docks of Liverpool, England, United Kingdom; she was on route from Pepel, Sierra Leone for Manchester, England with a cargo of iron ore. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Liverpool, England | HM]

• US President Franklin Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and House Naval Affairs Committee chairman Carl Vinson arrived at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, United States, via presidential yacht Potomac, for an inspection. After the navy yard, they also visited US Army's Langley Field and the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Norfolk Navy Yard | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]

29 Jul 1940 Interactive Map