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• Benito Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, Forlì, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | CPC]

• Mamoru Shigemitsu was born. ww2dbase [Mamoru Shigemitsu | CPC]

• Filipp Golikov was born in Perm, Russia; his birth date also appeared as 16 Jul 1900 when presented in the Old Style. ww2dbase [Filipp Golikov | CPC]

• Prince Hiroyasu was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander. ww2dbase [Hiroyasu | CPC]

29 Jul 1905 Interactive Map

• The independence of the Principality of Albania was recognized by the Conference of London. ww2dbase [AC]

• Two Austrian monitors steamed down stream from the Austrian frontier and opened fire on Belgrade. Serbian guns immediately returned fire and with the brief demonstration completed the Austrian monitors withdrew. ww2dbase [AC]
• The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei D. Sazonov received a telegram from the German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg. It implied that "further progress of Russian mobilization measures" would compel Germany also to mobilize. ww2dbase [AC]

• Horst Grund was born in Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Horst Grund | Berlin | CPC]

• Douglas MacArthur received his third Silver Star medal. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler was invited back to the Nazi Party by Anton Drexler. As the condition for his return, Hitler demanded, and received, a sole dictatorial leadership position. He also received support from the other party leaders that the party headquarters would remain in München (Munich) for at least six years. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | München | TH, CPC]

• A secret clause was added to the Russo-German Treaty of Rapallo, allowing German troops to train with heavy weapons, something disallowed by the Versailles Treaty, in Soviet territory. ww2dbase [Treaty of Rapallo | CPC]

• In Russia, Metropolitan Sergei Stragorodsky, the most senior prelate, issued a public declaration that the church recognized the Soviet state as its "Civil Fatherland". Hundreds of clergy refused to accept the church coming under state control and by 1930 an estimated one fifth of all those imprisoned in the Solovki camp complex were clerical victims of persecution. ww2dbase [AC]

• Tatsuta Maru arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | San Francisco, California | CPC]

• Amy Johnson married Jim Mollison. ww2dbase [Amy Johnson | England | CPC]

• Takashi Hishikari was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Kwantung Army in northeastern China. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The order for the construction of U-40 was issued. ww2dbase [U-40 | CPC]

• Troops of the Japanese Army 5th Division and Japanese naval troops separately attacked the Chinese city of Tianjin. In Tongzhou near Beiping, 5,000 Japanese-trained East Hebei Army soldiers mutinied against the Japanese. The rebellion soon became out of control. Japanese civilians were rounded up and massacred, and there were many incidences of rape committed against Japanese women. Much of the city was burned down by the time East Hebei Army officers regained control of their men. The militant factions in the Japanese government would use this incident as one of the justifications for starting the Second Sino-Japanese War. ww2dbase [Lugou Bridge Incident and Second Battle of Hebei | CPC]

29 Jul 1937 Interactive Map

• Japanese and Russian troops clashed on the border region between Manchukuo and Russia, starting the Battle of Lake Khasan. ww2dbase [Battle of Lake Khasan | CPC]

• Pavel Sukhoi was named the Chief Designer of aircraft factory number 135 in Kharkov, Ukraine. ww2dbase [Pavel Sukhoi | Kharkov | CPC]

• 40 German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers attacked Dover Harbor in southern England, United Kingdom at 0730 hours, escorted by 40 Bf 109 fighters; British fighters from No. 41, No. 43, No. 56, and No. 64 Squadrons shot down 8 German dive bombers and 7 fighters and anti-aircraft guns shot down 2 German dive bombers, while 2 British Spitfire fighters and 1 British Hurricane fighter were shot down. At 1700 hours, destroyer HMS Delight left Portland in southern England; at about 1830 hours, she was hitting by a bomb from a German aircraft from Cherbourg, France, killing 18 and wounding 59, but she was able to return to Portland under her own power. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | TH]
• British Air Ministry accused Germany of using rescue aircraft with Red Cross markings for reconnaissance purposes. ww2dbase [TH]
• At a conference held in a converted railway carriage, Colonel-General Alfred Jodl, Adolf Hitler's Chief of Operations, announced that the Führer had decided "once and for all" to rid the world of the Soviet menace. However, recognizing that the war against the United Kingdom took a higher priority at this point in time, Hitler pushed the invasion date to the spring of 1941. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | AC]
• British submarine HMS Sealion detected German submarine U-62 on the surface 60 miles southwest of Stavanger, Norway and attacked with 3 torpedoes (which all missed) followed by shots from the deck gun. U-62 dove and escaped the area. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright departed Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil for Buenos Aires, Argentina. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Sea Gladiator fighters from HMS Eagle shot down an Italian SM.79 bomber while escorting a convoy in the Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [Eagle | CPC]
• Portugal and Spain added a clause to the 1939 friendship treaty; it was later known as the Iberian Pact. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German submarine U-99 spotted the 7,336-ton British steam merchant ship Clan Menzies west of Ireland. Clan Menzies was originally built by Greenock Dockyard Company for Clan Line Steamers Limited of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. She was on a Sydney-Melbourne-Panama-Liverpool route. She was sailing alone following a zigzag course when a torpedo from U-99 hit on the starboard side near the engine room where the engineers on duty were killed. The explosion damaged the starboard lifeboats beyond use and made the radio equipment inoperable so that no distress message could be sent. The crew of 88 abandoned ship at about 0215 hours in the remaining lifeboats, 52 survivors in one boat and 36 in the other. The Master was required to give information to the Germans, and they were ordered not to show lights. The Master, Captain Hughes, navigated his boat into the port of Enniscrone whilst a passing Irish vessel, the Kyleclare, picked up the lifeboat with 52 survivors off Mayo Coast on the 30 Jul 1940. All told, 6 were killed. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | U-99 | CPC, HM]
• The 5,925-ton British cargo steamer Clan Monroe struck a mine off Harwich, England, United Kingdom whilst acting as an auxiliary transport. She was taken in tow and beached in Hollesley Bay in a depth of 27 feet at low water. Thirteen people were killed. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | North Sea | HM]
• The 1,262-ton British merchant steamer Moidart hit a mine and sank whilst on passage from Greenhithe near London for Newcastle in northern England, United Kingdom, carrying a cargo of cement. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | North Sea | HM]

• HMS Cumberland detached from Convoy WS1 on arrival in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where troops were transferred to smaller transports for onward passage. (Note: As the two liners were not required to pass through the Red Sea they went to Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) after disembarkation.) ww2dbase [Cumberland | Colombo | DS]

• German naval command (Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine) issued a memo noting that the mid-Sep 1940 invasion date for Britain as demanded by Adolf Hitler was possible, but considering the present state of affairs, a postponement to May 1941 was suggested. Meanwhile, a special economic board was set up to oversee the looting of British industry upon conquest. ww2dbase [TH]

• Maggiore Baracca departed La Spezia, Italy at 0805 hours for trials, returning at 1646 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]
• Alessandro Malaspina departed La Spezia, Italy at 0400 hours for her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | La Spezia, Liguria | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini arrived at Cagliari, Sardegna, Italy at 1527 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Cagliari, Sardegna | CPC]

• The Japanese reported that Mr. Melville Cox, one of nine British residents arrested in Japan on the previous day, had "committed suicide" by throwing himself out of a police station window. ww2dbase [AC]

• The weapons firm Albright & Wilson of Oldbury, England, United Kingdom demonstrated to the British Royal Air Force a self-igniting explosive containing petrol and phosphorus. ww2dbase [No. 76 | CPC]
• Jackie Sorour joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Jackie Moggridge | England | CPC]
• The 1,264-ton ex-Danish merchantman Gronland was sunk by German aircraft at the outer harbour at Dover, England, United Kingdom whilst on passage from Blyth to Plymouth. The 201-ton large private yacht Gulzar was also sank. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Dover, England | HM]
• The 5,601-ton British cargo steamer Ousebridge was mined on the in the Queens Channel leading to the docks of Liverpool, England, United Kingdom; she was on route from Pepel, Sierra Leone for Manchester, England with a cargo of iron ore. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | Liverpool, England | HM]

• US President Franklin Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and House Naval Affairs Committee chairman Carl Vinson arrived at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, United States, via presidential yacht Potomac, for an inspection. After the navy yard, they also visited US Army's Langley Field and the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company. ww2dbase [Norfolk Navy Yard | Franklin Roosevelt | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]

29 Jul 1940 Interactive Map

• Marshal Georgy Zhukov resigned as Chief of Staff of the Soviet forces. ww2dbase [Georgy Zhukov | TH]
• Orion sank the ship Chaucer by gunfire in the South Atlantic. The entire crew of 48 was rescued by Orion. ww2dbase [Orion | CPC]
• British merchant seaman David Hay was awarded an Albert Medal for his daring rescue of a fellow sailor from shark infested waters during the journey between Liverpool, England, United Kingdom and Takoradi, British Gold Coast. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Joseph Rochefort reported to US Navy Admiral Husband Kimmel that the Japanese fleet detected outside of Japanese home waters were heading back to Japan, thus there was no immediate threat of an aggressive Japanese response to Franklin Roosevelt's decision to freeze Japanese assets. ww2dbase [Attack on Pearl Harbor | Detailed Timetable | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini sighted Allied convoy OG 69 in the Atlantic Ocean at 2135 hours. Contact was lost at 2330 hours due to darkness. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]

29 Jul 1941 Interactive Map

• Proletarskaya was captured by German troops as they formed a bridgehead over the Manych River in the Caucasus in southern Russia. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | TH]

• German submarine U-160 sank Canadian ship Prescodoc off the coast of British Guyana at 1019 hours; 16 were killed, 5 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Sunshine on this date dried the 39 survivors of Norwegian tanker Tankexpress, sunk by German submarine U-130 four days earlier. They were soaked by heavy rainfall that began two days prior. ww2dbase [HM]
• The 2,445-ton Norwegian merchant steamer Bill had left Ceara, Brazil on 22 Jul 1942 with general cargo including 500 tons of manganese ore, for Trinidad and New York. At 2000 hours she was hit by a torpedo from U-155 (Kapitänleutnant Adolf Piening), it struck her port side amidships in No. 3 hold and the vessel sank within ten minutes, 170 miles south-east of Barbados. The master, Christian Hartvig, was taken on board the submarine and kept as a prisoner. The Germans gave the survivors a course on which to steer for Barbados. The three lifeboats were separated but all survived. One boat of seven was found by the American merchant steamer West Durfee on 1 Aug, eight more made into land three days later and the remainder landed on Saint Vincent island in the Lesser Antilles. Christian Hartwig was taken to hospital after the submarine docked but died in Rennes, France from heart trouble. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC, HM]

• George Kenney met with George Brett (whom Kenney was replacing) and then with Douglas MacArthur in Brisbane, Australia. He spent the latter part of the day inspecting airfields in the region. ww2dbase [George Kenney | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• 200 Japanese troops supported by a Type 92 light howitzer attacked Kokoda airfield in Australian Papua at 0230 hours; after suffering 7 killed, the remaining 70 Australian defenders fell back toward Deniki; the Japanese suffered 12 killed and 26 wounded in this engagement. To the north, a Japanese convoy landed troops at Buna; at 1445 hours, 8 US Dauntless dive bombers escorted by P-39 fighters from Port Moresby attacked the convoy at Buna, damaging troop ship Kotoku Maru. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Kokoda | CPC]

• 291 British bombers attacked Saarbrücken, Germany, destroying 396 buildings, damaging 324 buildings, and killing 155 civilians; 9 bombers were lost on this attack. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Saarbrücken, Westmark | CPC]

• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides arrived in her patrol area off southern Japan in the shipping lanes to and from Kobe and Osaka. ww2dbase [Silversides | Kii Suido | DS]

• The Soviet Union established the Order of Suvorov for leading successful offensive campaigns, Order of Kutuzov for leading successful defensive campaigns, and Order of Nevsky for personal courage. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Columbia was commission into service with Captain William A. Heard in command. ww2dbase [Columbia | CPC]

29 Jul 1942 Interactive Map

• The Italian submarine, Pietro Micca, was torpedoed and sunk by the Royal Navy submarine HMS Trooper in the Mediterranean Sea. Eighteen men were rescued but 54 went down with the boat. An Italian rescue vessel later lowered listening gear to the submarine to detect signs of life but heard only the sound of gunshots. It was believed that the survivors took their own lives rather than endure a terrible, lingering death. ww2dbase [AC]
• German Armeegruppe A attacked to improve its positions on the Mius River in Ukraine. ww2dbase [TH]
• The US ambassador in Madrid, Spain demanded that the Spanish government withdrew the division of Spanish volunteers fighting on the Eastern Front; Franco would largely comply with this demand by the end of Sep 1943, although still leaving behind a regiment-sized unit in Russia. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS Ancon arrived at Mostaganem, French Algeria. ww2dbase [Ancon | Mostaganem | CPC]

• Hunter-Killer Task Group 21.14 centered around escort carrier USS Card and escorts arrived in Bermuda. ww2dbase [Card | Port Royal Bay | DS]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed Bordeaux, France at 1630 hours, arriving at Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France at 2130 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Joseph Goebbels' diary entry of this date noted that Hamburg, Germany had been devastated and about 800,000 were made homeless. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Hamburg | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the submarine yards at Kiel, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Kiel | DS]

• Fletcher-class destryer Hoel was placed in commission at the Bethlehem Shipyard, San Francisco, California, United States with Commander William Dow Thomas in command. ww2dbase [Hoel | San Francisco, California | DS]

29 Jul 1943 Interactive Map

• USS Puffer attacked a Japanese freighter in the Dutch East Indies; all 6 torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Puffer | CPC]
• Aleksandr Vasilevsky was made a Hero of the Soviet Union and was awarded his second Order of Lenin. ww2dbase [Aleksandr Vasilevsky | CPC]
• Ivan Bagramyan was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time. ww2dbase [Ivan Bagramyan | CPC]
• USS Gunnel started her sixth war patrol. ww2dbase [Gunnel | CPC]

• Escort carrier USS Bogue and her task group arrived at Port Royal Bay, Bermuda. ww2dbase [Bogue | Port Royal Bay | DS]

• B-29 Superfortress bombers of the 20th USAAF flying from advanced airfields near Chengdu in China attacked the Showa steel works at Anshan in Liaoning, northeastern China. During the raid B-29 bomber 42-5256 piloted by Captain Howard R. Jarrell was struck by a shell and badly damaged. Unable to make the 1,500 mile journey home, Captain Jarrell decided to try to reach Vladivostock in the USSR. Intercepted by Soviet Yak-9 fighters the crippled bomber was forced to land at the small strip at Tavrichanka where the aircraft and its crew were interned by the Soviet authorities. ww2dbase [Anshan, Liaoning | AC]
• Leng Peishu, flying a P-40N fighter, shot down a Ki-43-II aircraft while attacking Yueyang, Hunan Province, China. His fighter was hit by ground fire, shattering the canopy, and his forehead was cut by shattered glass; the engine was also damaged. He crash landed in Hanshou County on the western edge of Dongting Lake and was given first aid by a Belgian Catholic priest. ww2dbase [Leng Peishu | Hunan | CPC]

• A Me 163 jet fighter attempted to disrupt a B-17 raid on Mersburg, Germany but was instead pursued by Captain Arthur Jeffrey in a P-38 fighter. Jeffrey chased the Me 163 jet fighter to a very low altitude and confidently reported a victory, but post war records indicated that there was no Me 163 lost on this particular date. ww2dbase [Me 163 Komet | Mersburg, Halle-Merseburg | CPC]
• Destroyer Z44 was sunk by a British RAF raid on Bremen, Germany. ww2dbase [Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG | Z44 | Bremen, Weser-Ems | CPC]

• USS Becuna arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Becuna | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• USS Marblehead arrived in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. ww2dbase [Marblehead | Palmermo, Sicilia | CPC]

• The keel of landing ship No. 141 was laid down by Sasebo Naval Arsenal, Japan. ww2dbase [Sasebo Naval Arsenal | No. 101/103-class | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

• German Armeegruppe Nord was cut off as the Red Army reached the Baltic coast west of Riga, Latvia. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | TH]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) arrived back in the Mariana Islands area. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | DS]

• Destroyer USS Hoel moored to the repair dock at Ilse Nou, Nouméa, New Caledonia for repairs. ww2dbase [Hoel | Nouméa | DS]

• Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time. ww2dbase [Georgy Zhukov | CPC]

• In south London, England, United Kingdom, two surface air raid shelters were partly destroyed when a V-1 flying bomb impacted at the junction of Hollyoak and Dante Roads in Elephant and Castle; twenty houses were rendered uninhabitable. There were no casualties with this bomb, however another exploded nearby killing five and damaging almost 200 houses. Further south a V-1 flying bomb crashed and blew up near the town of Sevenoaks in western Kent after being shot down by a fighter, as often happened in the countryside, after the explosion schoolboys took parts for souvenirs. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | London, England | HM]

29 Jul 1944 Interactive Map

• A special attack aircraft struck destroyer USS Cassin Young, killing 22 and injuring 45. ww2dbase [Cassin Young | CPC]
• American battleships USS South Dakota, USS Indiana, and USS Massachusetts began a two-day bombardment of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Preparations for Invasion of Japan | CPC]
• A special attack Japanese biplane trainer aircraft crashed into destroyer USS Callaghan off Okinawa, Japan; Callaghan was to be the last American warship to be sunk by special attack aircraft in the war. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• USS Sennet attacked a Japanese transport in the Sea of Japan; the single torpedo missed. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]
• USS Bluefish ended her ninth war patrol. ww2dbase [Bluefish | CPC]
• USS Bailey arrived at Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• Prisoner of war Dick Lanigan, who was injected with malaria-infected blood by Unit 731 doctor Captain Enosuke Hirano, died from the disease at Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Headquarters British Eighth Army was redesignated as the Headquarters British Troops in Austria. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Spot arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Spot | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]

• B-25 bombers of US 5th Air Force damaged Japanese escort carrier Kaiyo at Hiji, Japan. ww2dbase [Kaiyo | Hiji, Oita | CPC]
• The order to abandon Setsu in place at Etajima, Japan was given. ww2dbase [Settsu | Etajima, Hiroshima | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched raids on the Tokyo area. ww2dbase [Preparations for Invasion of Japan | Yorktown (Essex-class) | Tokyo | DS]
• 32 US A-26 aircraft attacked Nagasaki, Japan between 1000 and 1200 hours, dropping 51 tons of bombs and 6 tons of fragmentation bombs. The main target were the industrial facilities on the water. The ship fitting factory at the Mitsubishi shipyard was totally destroyed; several other industrial facilities nearby were also damaged. Merchant ship Sansui Maru No. 5 was sunk at its mooring at Akunoura. The attack also destroyed a 20-meter stretch of street car tracks, damaged the Nagasaki Teachers Training School, destroyed 43 homes, and damaged 113 homes. In total, 22 people were killed, 40 people were wounded, and 3 people were reported missing. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard | Nagasaki | CPC]

• A test bomb in the shape of the atomic bomb Little Boy, designated L-6, was loaded onto a B-29 bomber. The pilot Charles Sweeney then flew the aircraft from Tinian, Mariana Islands to Iwo Jima, Japan, where emergency procedures for loading the bomb onto a standby aircraft were practiced. ww2dbase [Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | Charles Sweeney | Tinian | CPC]

• Japanese submarine I-58 sank cruiser USS Indianapolis with two hits from Type 95 torpedoes; USS Indianapolis' prior order to maintain radio silence resulted in a 2-day delay in realizing she was lost. ww2dbase [I-58 | Indianapolis | Type 95 | Philippine Sea | TH]
• USS Bugara sank 4 small enemy craft with her deck gun in the Gulf of Siam and South China Sea area during the day. ww2dbase [Bugara | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Cabrilla attacked a Japanese patrol vessel with an acoustic seeking torpedo in the South China Sea; the torpedo missed. ww2dbase [Cabrilla | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Boarfish performed lifeguard duties off Singapore. ww2dbase [Boarfish | CPC]

• Hans Fritzsche was transferred from the Friedrichshagen Prison in Berlin, Germany to Moscow, Russia. ww2dbase [Nuremberg Trials and Other Trials Against Germany | Moscow | CPC]

29 Jul 1945 Interactive Map

• Chinese communist forces attacked an US Marines truck convoy. ww2dbase [CPC]

29 Jul 1946 Interactive Map

29 Jul 1949 Interactive Map

• Douglas MacArthur arrived in Taiwan, Republic of China. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | CPC]

• Josef Blösche was executed by a bullet through the neck in Leipzig, East Germany. ww2dbase [Josef Blösche | Leipzig, Sachsen | CPC]

• Filipp Golikov passed away in Moscow, Russia. ww2dbase [Filipp Golikov | CPC]

• U Nu arrived at Yangon Airport in Yangon, Burma at 1530 hours, after receiving amnesty from Ne Win. ww2dbase [U Nu | Yangon | CPC]