July 30th, 1944 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies two missions. In Mission 505, 237 P-47s and P-51 Mustangs fly sweeps of Evreux, St Quentin, Paris and Orleans, France claiming the destruction of 3 Luftwaffe">Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 9 on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost. In Mission 506, 1 B-17 is dispatched on a night leaflet mission but is recalled. Also, 31 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions.
The first ambulance version of the Avro Anson XI (NK 870) makes its maiden flight. (22)
Submarine HMS Varne commissioned.
ENGLISH CHANNEL: U-621 attacked an unknown convoy in the English Channel with LUT torpedoes and claimed a ship of 9,000 tons sunk. In fact the Ascanius was damaged.
FRANCE: Granville and Avranches fall
to US forces in France. German forces including II Parachute Corps make a
strong counterattack. The British advance near Caumont,
France.
The US Ninth Air Force dispatches 450+ A-20
Havocs and B-26s to bomb defenses in the Chaumont area in support of the US First
Army; fighters fly escort, cover the assault area and armored
columns, and carry out armed reconnaissance in the Orleans-Paris area; and 200+
C-47 Skytrains fly supply and evacuation missions to
the Continent
EASTERN FRONT: The US Fifteenth Air Force in
Italy sends 300+ bombers to attack targets in Hungary and YUGOSLAVIA: in
Hungary, B-24s bomb Duna Airfield; B-17s
bomb the aircraft factory at Budapest, and marshalling yards at Brod, Yugoslavia; P-38s
and P-51s escort the
missions.
ITALY: The first elements of the negro U.S. 92d
Infantry Division reach Naples. They are a handpicked group from the 370th
Regimental Combat Team. (Russell Folsom)
BALTIC SEA: U-250
(Type VIIC) is sunk on this day at 19.40 hours, in the Baltic Sea in the Gulf
of Finland, at position 60.28N, 28.25E, by depth charges from Russian sub
chaser MO-103. 46 dead, 6 survivors.
Earlier at 1242 hrs U-250 attacked the 56 ton
Russian sub chaser MO 105 with a G7e torpedo , at the
north side of the Koivisto-strait in the Gulf of
Finland. The Russian boat was destroyed easily (19 dead, 7 survivors), but the
noise of the explosion brought other Russian boats to the location.
At 1910hrs, Russian 'Oberleutnant`
Aleksander Kolenko, chief
of MO 103 got a sonar contact on U-250 and dropped five depth charges. U-250 was not heavily damaged,
but there were seen on the water an air-bubbles track and so MO 103 dropped a
second series of five depth charges. One of these exploded over the diesel room
and U-250 got a big hole in
the hull and sank. Kapitänleutnant Werner-Karl
Schmidt along with five other crew-members in the control-room got themselves
out at the last minute. Needless to say the Russians were thrilled to have a
German U-boat captain alive and a sunken U-boat in shallow waters. Russian
divers soon discovered that the boat lay at only 27-meter depth with only a
slight listing of 14 degrees to the right and a large hole over the top of the
diesel room. Two large air tanks, 200 tons each, were transported to the area
and the Russians worked behind a smoke-curtain to raise the boat. The Germans
and the Finnish did what they could to prevent the boat with the new secret T5
(Zaunkönig) acoustic-torpedo falling into Soviet
hands. Finnish coastal artillery and German torpedo boats made frequent attacks on the salvage site but to no avail.
Finally in September 1944 the Russian raised U-250and towed it between air
tanks to Kronstadt for examination. On 15 Sept 1944 U-250 came into the dry dock at Kronstadt. The former Commander Kptlt.
Schmidt had to go first into the now dry boat, as the Russian believed some
explosive charges might still be on the boat. The 6 survivors then spent some
years in Russian captivity. From 12 April 1945 to 20 Aug 1945
in the Russian Navy as TS-14. Later broken up.
(Alex Gordon and Dave Shirlaw)
U-481
attacked by two Soviet Il-2 (35. ShAP) in Narwa
Bay in the Baltic. One Il-2 damaged and later ditched. At 1736, U-481 fired a Gnat at group of
coastal minesweepers in Narva Bay and observed a hit
after 35 seconds and saw the KT-804 (No 35) sink. At 1740, a second Gnat was
fired, which detonated after 1 minute 55 seconds. Andersen could not observe
the sinking of the KT-807 (No 42), but he saw how the damaged KT-806 was towed
away. The U-boat later found wreckage at the site.
TINIAN: Tinian Town falls to the US forces.
In the Mariana Islands, US Seventh Air Force B-25s and P-47s from Saipan Island
support US Marine ground troops on Tinian.
NEW GUINEA: During Operation GLOBETROTTER, elements of the US
Army's 6th Infantry Division are landed at Cape Opmari
on the northwest coast of New Guinea and on Amsterdam and Middleburg Islands.
Supporting the operation is the Navy's Task Force 77.
GUAM: The southern half of the island has been
mostly cleared.
SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC: With Admiral Berkey's TF 78 supporting, General Sibert's 6th Divison lands, unopposed, on the islands of Amsterdam and Middleburg off Cape Sansapor, New Guinea.
U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Hilarity launched.
Submarines USS Kete and Sea Poacher commissioned.