Mission 455: In the morning, missions are flown to France and GERMANY:

1. 800 bombers and 224 fighters are dispatched to bomb 18 V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais area; 556 B-17 Flying Fortresses and 133 B-24s bomb; escort is provided by 141 P-38 Lightnings and 83 P-51 Mustangs; they claim 4-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; a P-38 is lost.

2. 229 B-24s bomb the dock area at Kiel, Germany and one hits a target of opportunity; three B-24s are lost; escort is provided by 168 P-51s one of which is lost.

Mission 456: In the late afternoon 73 B-17s and 148 B-24s strike six V-weapon sites and supply installations, three railroad bridges, a highway bridge, and an airfield in northern France. Escort is provided by 443 P-38s, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51s; one P-47 is lost. Afterwards a squadron of P-47s dive-bombs three airfields in the Conches area.

212 P-38s and P-47s, fly fighter-bomber missions against rail and road traffic in the Paris area and claim 11-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; two P-47s are lost).

Mission 457: Seven B-17s drop leaflets in Belgium and France during the night.

During the night, 20 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions and a C-47 makes the first landing at a secret airstrip in the Ain, France area.

Destroyers HMCS Kootenay and Ottawa along with corvette HMS Statice sank U-678 SW of Brighton 50-32N 00-23W. No survivors from her crew of 52. U-678 was a VIIC Type U-Boat, built by Howaldtswerke Hamburg AG, Hamburg, launched 18 Sep 43, commissioned 25 Oct 43, in service 9 months, with no record of sinking any ships.

Frigate HMS Loch Killisport launched.
Submarine HMS Sleuth launched.
Aircraft carrier HMS Theseus launched.
Minesweeper HMS Moon commissioned.

Troopship HMS EMPIRE HALBERD strikes a mine laid by U-218 on 2 July and is damaged.

GERMANY: Field Marshal Günther Hans von Kluge replaces Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt for the Germans as C-in-C West. He and Rommel told Hitler that the military situation in the west was disastrous. This encounter was followed by a testy telephone conversation between von Rundstedt and Field Marshal Keitel, the chief of the OKW [Armed Forces High Command], who was told an allout attack by four SS Panzer Divisions on the British had collapsed. "What shall we do now?" Keitel asked. "Make peace, you fools," von Rundstedt snapped. 

U-3502 is launched.

AUSTRIA: 42 Liberator bombers of the RAF">RAF's No. 205 Group attack Feuresbrunn Airfield with the loss of 13 aircraft. During the night, two Liberators attack targets of opportunity.  

ITALY: The Polish 3rd Division liberates Osemo, Italy.
The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 530+ B-17s and B-24s to attack the following targets:
   - 125 bomb the oil storage facilities at Porto Marghera.
   - 114 bomb the oil refinery at Trieste.
   - 78 attack Aviano; 45 hit oil storage facilities and 33 bomb the airfield.
   - 55 bomb the railroad bridge at Latisana
   - 53 bomb the marshalling yard at Verona.
   - 53 bomb the steel works at Bergamo.
   - 52 bomb the railroad bridge at Carsarsa.
   - 49 bomb the railroad viaduct at Aviso.
   - 1 bombs the airfield at Vincenza. 

NORWAY: U-737 lands on Bear Island to check on an automatic weather station located there.

FINLAND: Ihantala: Soviet artillery begins a massive barrage on the Finnish positions in morning. Despite this the infantry and tank attack formations are successfully destroyed by Finnish counter-barrage. The Soviet attack commences at 6 pm. It's main aim is again Pyöräkangas, where the defending I/IR 35 is forced back. Col. Y. Hanste alerted his reserves, and orders I/IR 12 to attack from west, Separate Battalion 16 from east and I/IR 35 from north.  Artillery battle goes on for the whole day, until the Soviets are able to mount another attack in evening. They break successfully through Finnish positions and are able to capture some ground around the strategically important Pyöräkangas, but are pushed out by counterattacks by midnight. The Finnish counter-attack, supported by more than 13 artillery battalions, starts at midnight, and the lost positions at Pyöräkangas are recaptured by 3 am. on 7 July.

Melansaari Island, north of Teikari, is evacuated.

U.S.S.R.: The First Byelorussian Front captures Kovel which is 70 miles east of Lublin.

NEW GUINEA: Namber airstrip on Noemfoor, Schouten Islands is captured by US Army troops of the 158th Infantry Regiment, who make an amphibious landing and is almost immediately readied for operations.

MARIANAS ISLANDS, SAIPAN: The US forces on Saipan continue to advance towards the north end of the island. The senior Japanese commanders, Admiral Chichi Nagumo and General Yoshitsugu Saito both commit suicide while their remaining troops plan a final attack.
US Navy carrier based aircraft of Task Groups 58.1 and 58.2 continue attacks on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima. Surface ships begin a daylong bombardment after which all ships withdraw to the Mariana Islands.

U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt meets de Gaulle to discuss further aid to the Free French.

While riding on a bus from Camp Hood, Killeen, Texas, Lieutenant Jackie Robinson of the U.S. Army, refuses to give up his seat to a white man. He is court martialled for refusing the order of a civilian bus driver to move to the back of the bus and is acquitted.

In Hartford, Connecticut, 169 people, including many children, are killed when a fire breaks out in the main tent of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii: While passing through en route to Saipan Island, Mariana Islands, the advanced echelon of XXI Bomber Command is canvassed by Nimitz's staff trying to sell them the idea of a very heavy bomber (VHB) mining campaign against Japan's home waters, with the command furnishing the B-29s and crews, CINCPOA the mines and technicians. (Hal Turrel)

Submarine USS HALFBEAK is laid down. Escort carrier USS Roi commissioned.

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Oshawa commissioned.
Frigate HMCS Lanark commissioned.
Frigates HMCS Penetang (ex Rouyn) and Carlplace launched Lauzon, Province or Quebec.

CARIBBEAN:  An armed U.S. merchant tanker, en route from Cartagena, Colombia, to New York City, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-516 about 152 nm (282 km) northwest of the Dutch island of Aruba; eight of the 72-man crew and Armed Guard perish.