July 29th, 1942 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM
: A combined British and US Production and Resources Board is established in London. The goal is to control allocations of material and industrial priorities. Averill Harriman for the US and Oliver Lyttelton for the UK are to be the senior members.Westminster: The minister of labour, Ernest Bevin, announces a scheme for universal state pensions.
Frigate HMS Itchen launched.
Rescue tug HMS Horsa launched.
Minesweeper HMS Hound launched.
Submarines HMS Sea Nymph and Tactician launched.
Destroyer HMS Cowdray commissioned.
GERMANY:
U.S.S.R.: Army Group A continues to attack south of the Don, making good progress and Proletarskaya falls. Hitler is not satisfied and returns the 4th Panzer Army to Army Group B. These changes by Hitler have caused much wasted time and effort moving this army from front to front.
NEW GUINEA:
The village of Kokoda is captured by the Japanese "South Seas Force", fighting overland from Buna to Port Moresby on the Kokoda Track. This is the halfway point in their overland trek to Port Moresby on the Coral Sea.Undeterred by the climate on the Papuan coast where disease is a greater enemy than the bullet, the fresh Japanese force has taken only a week to reach Kokoda village which is flanked by 7,000-foot peaks in the Owen Stanley mountains. On the night of 28-29 July the Japanese attacked and, in a confused battle, drove the defenders off and took the village.
USAAF A-24 Dauntlesses, with P-39Airacobra escort, and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
aircraft attack shipping off Gona, partially frustrating Japanese attempts to land more
troops and supplies; the Japanese recapture Kokoda, which they temporarily lost the
previous day. Five of 7 A-24s participating in this attack are lost and this leads the
USAAF to withdraw the aircraft from combat use.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Broome commissioned.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: US Navy PBY-5 Catalinas of Patrol Squadron Twenty Three (VP-23) based on Espirtu Santo Island, bomb Japanese installations on Tulagi and Gavutu.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: 4 B-24 Liberators and 5 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the US 11th Air Force bomb vessels and installations in the Kiska Harbor area with unobserved results due to clouds.
CANADA: Ottawa: Parliament has amended the National Resources Mobilization Act to permit the introduction of conscription for overseas service. This follows last April's referendum in which the English-speaking majority voted for conscription "if necessary", and the French-Canadian liberals voted against it.
Few leaders have overseen the passage of a bill more reluctantly. The prime minister, Mr. Mackenzie King, is convinced of "the wisdom of not attempting any conscription through coercion or in violation of pledges". His hand was forced by pressure from both the US and English-speaking Canadians.
The No. 1 Armored Train makes its first operational trip from Terrace, British Columbia to Prince Rupert. Built in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it was intended to protect the coastline from the threat of Japanese sabotage.
Its configuration was designed for defense. In front was a general purpose flat car equipped with one 75mm gun, together with a searchlight and diesel generator. The second car carried two 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. A low steel parapet around each of these cars gave the gun crews some protection from the wind. The third car was a steel-covered coach carrying the headquarters and one platoon of infantry. Four 3-inch mortars and personal weapons were also carried. The locomotive was in the center of the train. It was followed by another all steel car, which served as a train office and first aid room. A third armored coach followed, carrying two infantry platoons. The final two cars of the train duplicated the first two.
"Initially, the armored train made a return trip down and up the river each 24 hours. (251)
U.S.A.:
Light cruiser USS Columbia commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Sage laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2000, the Bill was torpedoed by U-155. The Brazilian mess boy was killed and the ship sank within four minutes. The master was ordered to come on board U-155, which took off after the crew in the lifeboats had been given the course for Barbados. He was later taken to a hospital in Rennes where he died of heart trouble on 27 Nov 1942. The three lifeboats were separated but all reached land near Trinidad on the 2, 10 and 15 August.
At 1019, the unescorted Prescodoc was torpedoed and sunk by U-160 NW of Georgetown, British Guinea. 15 crewmembers were lost. The master and five crewmembers were picked up by Predsednik Kopajtic and landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad.