July 17th, 1942 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Churchill warns Stalin that, following the fate of convoy PQ-17, there will be no more convoys to northern Russia.FRANCE: Paris: With the Grande Rafle still in progress, another Franco-German conference takes place, which Dr. Joseph Billig haas summarised: "Bousquet, secrétaire-général for the Police-Nationale, working in perfect harmony with Laval and Leguay, his representative in the occupied zone, intervened very vigorously in the question of the Jewish children at Drancy [concentration camp on the outskirts of Paris]......The representatives of the French police expressed the wish several times to see the children deported to the Reich."
U.S.S.R.: Deprived of it's armoured spearhead
4 Pz. Armee, and being low on fuel, the advance of Army
Group B slows.
Moscow: The Germans are making further gains in their thrust towards Stalingrad, forcing the Russians to evacuate the towns of Boguchar and Milerovo yesterday. The Panzers are rolling through the ripening corn of the steppe, faced, in many cases, only by suicide squads with grenades and Molotov cocktails.
War correspondents with the advancing Panzers are writing about the Mot Pulk [motorized square] of trucks and guns guarded by an armoured skin of tanks crushing its way forward like an "irresistible mastodon". But the fierce struggle is still going on for Voronezh, the vital communications centre, which was one of the first objectives. When the Germans crossed the Don, Hitler gave permission for the city to be bypassed in order to pursue Marshal Timoshenko's escaping forces, but the commander, at that time Field Marshal von Bock, decided to take it by storm. On 13 July von Bock was replaced by General von Weich, but resistance at Voronezh has still not been wiped out; tanks which ought to be driving to Stalingrad are still fighting in the suburbs.
On 13 July Hitler made Stalingrad - not the Caucasus - the main objective for Army Group B, and today he switched the 4th Panzer Army to reinforce that attack. Despite the delays, he believes that Timoshenko and the Red Army are finished. This is not the view of his army chiefs of staff.
NORTH AFRICA: A British attack is finally
broken by German and Italian forces around Miteirya Ridge. Rommel is having increasing
difficulty, once again, with supplies and suggests retreat to Cavallero and Kesselring.
In Libya, US Army, Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) B-24s bomb Bengasi harbor and B-17s hit
Tobruk.
PACIFIC: USAAF B-17s bomb the harbor at Rabaul, New Britain
Island, Admiralty Islands.
Portugese Timor: The Kuru lands the first on many "Z Special Force" parties from AIB The Allied Intelligence Bureau. These teams, normally of 3 or 4 men with guerrilla and local language and customs skills are tasked with raising local troops; these troops will be sent back to Australia for specialist training then reinserted to cause the enemy as much mayhem as possible. (William L. Howard)(188, 189, 190, 191)
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Castlemaine commissioned.
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: In the Aleutians, three 11th Air Force B-17s and 7 B-24s fly weather, bombing and photo missions; shipping is bombed and North and South Heads of Kiska Island are photographed; fighters down 1 B-17E.
U.S.A.:
Submarine USS Hake launched.
Destroyer USS Satterlee launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-751 sunk NW of Cape Ortegal,
Spain, in position 45.14N, 12.22W, by depth charges from an
RAF 61 Sqn
Whitley and a 502 Sqn
Lancaster. 48 dead (all hands lost).