July 2nd, 1944 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England dispatches 350 bombers and 171 P-51s on Mission 450 to hit 13 V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais area; 1 B-24 is lost:1. Of 78 B-17s, 24 hit Fleury, 24 hit Fressin, 21 hit Blengermont and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 33 B-17s are damaged.
2. Of 272 B-24s, 36 hit Crepy, 35 hit Fiefs, 24 hit Vignacourt, 23 hit Blanc Pignon, 22 hit Courbronne, 21 hit Renescure, 13 hit Haute Cote Island, 13 hit Mont Louis Ferme, 13 hit Santrecourt and 12 hit Belloy-sur-Somme; 1 B-24 is lost and 1 damaged beyond repair.
Escort for the above is provided by 166 of 171 P-51s without loss.
37 B-24s CARPETBAGGER missions in France during the night.
FRANCE: All USAAF IX Bomber Command missions are cancelled due to bad weather; fighters of seven groups of the IX Tactical Air Command fly interception missions in the Caen area and cover over the beach area, attack rail lines along the Loire, and hit a HQ and supply dumps and strongpoints near La Haye-du-Puits.
Paris: The review of Camus' Le Malentendu appears in the Pariser Zeitung, the last opening night review of the German occupation newspaper.
GERMANY: U-3008 is laid down.
AUSTRIA: 26 USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the industrial area at Gyor.
HUNGARY: USAAF Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack nine targets: (1-3) 509 bombers attack three targets in Budapest, the marshalling yard (253 aircraft), Vecses Airfield (142 aircraft) and the Shell Oil Refinery (114 aircraft) with the loss of 14 bombers; (4-5) one each aircraft bombs the city of Paks and the city of Kiskunhalas; (6) five bombers hit the Szolnok railroad bridge with the loss of one aircraft; and (7-9) four bombers hit targets of opportunity. Eighth and Fifteenth Air Force fighters sweep over the Budapest area; bombers and fighters claim 50+ fighters shot down;
ROMANIA: Liberators of the RAF No. 205 Group hit three targets. During the day, 44 hit the Prahova Oil Refinery at Bucharest with the loss of two aircraft. During the night, ten aircraft, in two groups of five, mine the Danube River.
FINLAND:
Battle of Tali-Ihantala
This day is relatively quiet at the Finnish 6th Division's front. While the Soviet artillery is active all day, the
only Soviet attacks come at the right flank, around Tähtelä. One attempt is repelled early in the night, and another, more serious, commences at 3.30 pm. This time the Soviet forces, supported by tanks, are able to penetrate the Finnish positions, but are beaten back by the reserves. Finnish artillery is again crucial in repelling the Soviet attacks.
But this evening the Red Air Force manages to launch a surprise attack at the Finnish airfield in Immola, where the German Stukas and Fw 190's of Obstlt. Kurt Kuhlmey's force are based. The attack, starting at 7.59 pm, destroys 9 German aircraft and damages 24. This succesful Soviet operation greatly weakens the German air forces supporting Finns.
U.S.S.R.: Russian forces west of Minsk cut several
railway lines.
Baltic Fleet, Ladoga Lake and Chudskoe
Lake Flotillas: MS
"T-210 "Gak"" - mined at Ola-Laht bay of Viborg Gulf
(later raised). (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
ITALY: Foiano is liberated by the British 4th Infantry Division.
YUGOSLAVIA: The USAAF Fifteenth Air Force hits four targets: (1) 37 bombers hit the Brod marshalling yard; (2) 26 hit the Vinconvivi marshalling yard (2 lost); (3-4) two aircraft bomb two targets of opportunity.
The Hungarian Air Forces admit to losses of 28 planes this day. (Jack
McKillop and Mike Yaklich)
INDIAN OCEAN: The US freighter SS Jean Nicolet is torpedoed by the Japanese submarine HIJMS I-8. The 99 people aboard the ship, 41 merchant seaman, 28 Armed Guards and 30 passengers, abandon ship and take to the lifeboats. HIJMS I-8 surfaces and sets the freighter afire with gunfire. The 99 survivors are taken aboard the submarine where they are searched, bound and questioned. One man is shot and some of them are made to run a gauntlet and beaten. The Japanese sink the lifeboats with gunfire and take the captain, radio operator and one passenger below deck. The hands of the remaining survivors are bound and they are left on deck as the submarine submerges and left to drown. However, some manage to free their hands and swim to the burning freighter where they launch rafts which had not been destroyed; a total of 28 are rescued on 4 July and only one of the three interned on the sub survives Japanese captivity.
MARIANAS ISLANDS, SAIPAN: The remains of Garapan village are
overrun by US forces during their advance.
NEW GUINEA: In Operation TABLETENNIS, the USN's
Task Force 57 lands the USA's 158th Regimental Combat Team (Reinforced)
(General Patrick) and
RAAF personnel on Noemfoor Island in the Schouten Islands off New Guinea.
Noemfoor, located 60 miles (96.6 km) west of Biak Island, is small, 15 by 12
miles (24.1 by 19.3 km), but has three airfields, Kamiri, Kornasoren and
Namber, and is invaded because of the delay in capturing the airfields on
Biak Island. The invasion is support by the USN's Task Force 75 consisting
of heavy and light cruisers and destroyers.
The USAAF's Fifth Air Force also supports the invasion. In the morning, A-20 Havocs, B-24s, B-25s and fighter-bombers attack the island and provide air support throughout the day.
No 62 Works Wing RAAF, with American engineer units under command , were involved in the Numfoor assault, landing 30 mins after the initial assault. They were mortared on the beach, two Americans being wounded. (Ric Pelvin)
The rejuvenated USAAF 17th Reconnaissance Squadron begins operating from Mokmer Airfield on Biak.
CANADA:
Corvette HMCS Guelph departed Halifax as escort for passage of submarines HMS P-553 and P-554 to Philadelphia.
Minesweepers HMCS Melville arrived Halifax from workups in Bermuda and assigned to Sydney Force.
U.S.A.:
Heavy cruiser USS Bremerton launched.
Submarine USS Bugara launched.
BRAZIL: The first contingent of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force has set sail from Rio de Janeiro heading for Naples to join the Allies forces in the desperate battle to liberate Italy. About 5,000 officers and men left aboard the American troop transport GENERAL W. A. MANN, escorted by three destroyers MARCILIO DIAS, MARIZ E BARROS and GREENHALGH. Brazil declared war on the Axis in August 1942 and its navy has participated in joint Allied action in the Atlantic. Last November it decided to send troops to join the fighting in Europe. The forces are to operate under the strategic command of the Americans.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Minesweepers
HMCS Melville arrived Halifax from
workups in Bermuda and assigned to Sydney Force.
HMC MTB 460 sunk by mine in English Channel.
The German Type IXC/40 submarine U-543 is sunk about 335 nm (621 km) west-southwest of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas Island, Canary Islands, in position 25.34N, 21.36W, by depth charges and a FIDO homing torpedo from a TBM Avenger of Escort Carrier Air Group Fifty Eight (VC-58) in the USN escort aircraft carrier USS Wake Island (CVE-65). All hands (58 men) in the U-boat are lost. (Alex Gordon)
At 0130, the unescorted Bodegraven was torpedoed and sunk by
U-547, which took one man on
board as POW.