July 11th, 1942 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: After Bremen, the RAF offensive against the U-boat menace has continued with an attack against Danzig. Flying 1,500 miles in bad weather without fighter cover, a force of 44 Lancasters took the enemy by surprise tonight with a hazardous run-in over the Baltic. Some dropped time-bombs from rooftop height during a thunderstorm. One machine scraped a roof and brought enemy house bricks home in the cockpit. Others his submarine pens with high explosive and incendiaries. Remarkably, only two aircraft were lost. Some Coastal Command experts argue, however, that submarines are easier targets at sea rather than when locked in concrete pens.
NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) B-24s attack harbor and shipping at Benghazi, Libya during the night of 11/12 July.
U.S.S.R.: The Germans take Lisichansk on the river Donets.
Moscow: Partisans, supported by paratroops, are continuing to make life behind the lines extremely dangerous for the Germans, despite anti-partisan sweeps involving thousands of front-line troops which Hitler needs elsewhere. Five days ago Operation Swamp Flower, against the large partisan units around Dorogobuzh, was launched.
Two major offensives were carried out in June. The first, Operation Kottbus, involved more than 16,000 German troops who attacked the partisans' "Republic of Palik" in a large area around Borisov.
The second, Operation Birdsong, sent 5,000 troops into action against 2,500 partisans based in the area between Roslavl and Bryansk.
The Germans claim to have killed 1,193 partisans for the loss of 58 soldiers, but it is likely that most of the partisan dead were in fact peasants, shot out of hand.
The partisans are adept at slipping away into the forests when major operations are mounted against them. Then, when the danger has passed, they return to terrorize German units.
They have become folk heroes to the Russians and, after an initial hesitancy, the government is using their exploits to bolster low morale. They are seen to be carrying the torch of resistance. Their effectiveness may be judged by the savagery with which they are treated by the Germans who festoon the countryside with loaded gallows.
CHINA: Japanese troops occupy Futou Island.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Four 11th Air Force B-24 Liberators are attacked by Japanese float fighters as they take off from Ft. Glenn Airfield on Umnak Island without loss. The bombers continue on weather, bombing and photo missions to Kiska Island. A Japanese cruiser is bombed with unobserved results.U.S.A. New York: The FBI has today announced the arrest of 158 German nationals resident in the US on charges of endangering state security. Among those arrested are 30 women. This is the largest group of a single nationality arrested since the US entered the war, and is the latest step in a determined drive against spies and enemy aliens. Those arrested are all members of the German American Vocational League, based on East 86th Street. Five are members of the Nazi Party.
CANADA: HMC
ML 098, 099 and 100 commissioned.
Fairmile depot ship HMCS Preserver
commissioned.