World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 5 Jul 1942

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Menado, Celebes. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Operation Rösselsprung was canceled and battleship Tirpitz reversed course for Bogen near Narvik, Norway. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]
• Units of the German 4.Panzerarmee reached the Don River above and below Voronezh, Russia. In Ukraine, Soviet resistance in the Crimea region ended. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | TH]
• USS Finback attacked two Japanese destroyers in the Central Pacific, firing six torpedoes and claimed one hit. She was counterattacked with depth charges. ww2dbase [Finback | CPC]

• USS Growler attacked Japanese destroyers in Kiska Harbor, Kiska, Aleutian Islands, damaging Kasumi (10 were killed), damaging Shiranui (3 were killed), and sinking Arare (104 were killed, 42 survived). ww2dbase [Growler | Kiska Harbor, Aleutian Islands | CPC]

• The scattered Allied convoy PQ-17 was hunted down by German submarines and aircraft piecemeal throughout the day; British freighter Empire Byron (by U-703 at 0827 hours; 7 were killed, 63 survived), civilian commodore J. C. K. Dowding's ship River Afton (by U-703 at 2102 hours; 26 were killed, 38 survived)), British ship Earlston (by U-334 at 1747 hours; all 52 aboard survived), Washington, Bolton Castle, Paulus Potter (abandoned after Ju 88 attack; carrying 34 tanks, 15 aircraft, 103 trucks, and 2,250 tons of general goods; 51 crew, 14 gunners, and 11 passengers took to boats), Pan Kraft, US ship Carlton (by U-88 at 1015 hours; 3 were killed, 42 survived), Fairfield City, Daniel Morgan (by U-88 at 2252 hours; 3 were killed, 51 survived), Peter Kerr, British fleet oiler Aldersdale (fatally damaged by aircraft and abandoned), British rescue ship Zaafaran, and Honomu (by U-456 at 1431 hours; 13 were killed, 28 survived) were all destroyed. Meanwhile, Allied convoy QP-13 was sailing in the opposite direction; British minesweeper HMS Niger, in escort, entered a British minefield due to navigation error, struck a mine, and sank 10 miles north of Iceland at 2240 hours, killing 149; the 36 merchant ships of the convoy, following Niger's lead, also entered the minefield; 5 merchant ships would sink, 1 would sustain damage. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Barents Sea | CPC, HM]

• USS S-44 arrived at Brisbane, Australia, ending her second war patrol. ww2dbase [S-44 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• Soviet submarine ShCh-320 sank German coastal freighter Anna Katrin Fritzen off Memelland, Germany (Memel, occupied Latvia) at 1151 hours. ww2dbase [ShCh-320 | CPC]

• The battlefields near El Alamein, Egypt entered a period of relative lull as Axis forces halted due to lack of supplies and the Allied forces planned for a counter offensive. ww2dbase [First Battle of El Alamein | El Alamein | CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii decrypted an intercepted Japanese Navy radio message noting that engineering units were en route to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands to construct an airfield. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Avro York aircraft took its maiden flight at Manchester, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [York | Manchester, England | AC]

5 Jul 1942 Interactive Map