In a confused close-quarter dog-fight two RAF fighters were destroyed in a mid-air collision. One or both are thought to be Eagles. But the RAF fighters in turn shot down three Messerschmitts. Two were shot down by young US pilot officers. A third fell to the British flight leader. In the same action a British sergeant pilot shot down two planes with a single fusillade.

FRANCE: RAF bombers damage the cruiser Prinz Eugen at Brest.

Heavy rains affect to roads, the armoured reconnaissance detachment of the German 7th Panzer Division under General Baron von Funck reported that it had been forced to halt its drive "because the prescribed roads have been reduced by heavy rainfall to an untrafficable swamp."

Hoeppners Fourth Panzer Group attacks toward Ostrov. The Romanian Third and Fourth Armies and the German Eleventh Army begin full scale attacks in the South.

ETHIOPIA: Debra Tabor: A force of 4,500 Italians and levies besieged by Ethiopian patriots surrender to a British force of one squadron and one company.

JAPAN: Tokyo: Japan is preparing for war against Britain and the US over Indochina by conscripting one million men and recalling all its merchant ships from the Atlantic. While 400,000 conscripts will reinforce the Kwantung army in China, the rest will be committed to south-east Asia. The decision to open up the southern front - known as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere - has been spurred by the speed of the German successes in Europe. At an imperial conference at which the emperor made rare appearance the war minister, Hideki Tojo, urged the cabinet that now is the time to secure more empire or risk missing the bus. These are repeats of Liaison Conferences. Liaison Conferences are held between military and political leaders. Imperial Conferences repeat the information for the Emperor and obtain his approval. This Conference ratifies the decision to attempt to take bases in French Indochina, even at the risk of war. (Additional Imperial Conferences will appear on other dates.)

CANADA: The Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force is set up.

Patrol vessel HMCS Talapus launched Victoria British Columbia.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "Sergeant York" premieres at the Astor Theater in New York City. This biographical film of World War I Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant Alvin C. York, is directed by Howard Hawks and stars Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Margaret Wycherly, Ward Bond, Noah Beery, Jr., and June Lockhart. Guests at the premiere include Cooper, Sergeant Alvin C. York, Eleanor Roosevelt, General John J. Pershing, Henry Luce and General Lewis B. Hershey, the head of Selective Service. The film is nominated for eleven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Cooper), Best Supporting Actor (Brennan) and Best Supporting Actress (Wycherly); the film wins two, Cooper as Best Actor and a technical award.  

In baseball, the New York Yankees again play the Boston Red Sox on a sweltering day before 52,832 fans in Yankee Stadium, New York City. If Yankee star Joe DiMaggio can get a hit today, he will set a new major league record of hitting in 45 consecutive games. Before the game, Joe DiMaggio had invited his brother, Boston center fielder Dom DiMaggio, to dinner after the game. Despite Joe's hospitality, Dom went out and made a sensational catch of Joe's drive to center, robbing him of an extra base hit. "It was a great catch," admitted Joe. "It was one of the best Dom ever made, but at that moment the only thing on my mind was the temptation to withdraw the dinner invitation." However, in his third at-bat, Joe DiMaggio ripped a 2-1 Dick Newsome fastball into the left-field seats for a three-run homer, thus breaking Willie Keeler's 1897 major league consecutive game hitting record.