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• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul and then Kavieng, departing later in the same day. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• At Wolf's Lair, German rocket research team leader Walter Dornberger presented his research to Hitler and successfully convinced him to give rocket research and production a high priority. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-759 sank Dutch cargo ship Poelau Roebiah of Allied convoy TAG-70 east of Jamaica; 2 were killed and 68 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Joseph Stilwell presented Chiang Kaishek and He Yingqin the Legion of Merit medals. ww2dbase [Chiang Kaishek | CPC]
• Cruisers USS Honolulu and USS St. Louis escorted by destroyers USS Nicholas, USS O’Bannon, USS Radford, USS Jenkins, and USS Chevalier departed Tulagi, Solomon Islands bound for Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Nicholas | St. Louis | Honolulu | Walden Ainsworth | DS]

• The broken-off bow of USS Helena sank in Kula Gulf northwest of New Georgia. A US Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator aircraft dropped lifejackets and four rubber lifeboats to survivors in the area of the bow. ww2dbase [Helena (St. Louis-class) | Solomon Islands Campaign | Kula Gulf | CPC]

• B-25 bombers of US 14th Air Force, escorted by P-51 fighters, attacked Tianhe Airfield in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. ww2dbase [Tianhe Airfield | Guangzhou, Guangdong | CPC]

• At the Wolfsschanze headquarters in Rastenburg, Germany, Werhner von Braun and Walter Dornberger presented Adolf Hitler a film of a V-2 rocket launch. ww2dbase [Wernher von Braun | V-Weapons Campaign | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]
• The first Ta 152A prototype aircraft took flight. ww2dbase [Ta 152 | CPC]
• Walter Dornberger, Werhner von Braun, and Ernst Steinhof met with Adolf Hitler, Albert Speer, Wilhelm Keitel, and Alfred Jodl at the Wolf's Lair (Wolfsschanze) in Rastenburg, Germany (now KÄ™trzyn, Poland). Hitler was thoroughly impressed with the progress of rocket research. ww2dbase [Walter Dornberger | Vergeltungswaffe 2 | Wernher von Braun | Albert Speer | Alfred Jodl | Wilhelm Keitel | V-Weapons Campaign | Adolf Hitler | Rastenburg, Ostpreußen | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Second commanding officer, Capt DS MacMahan USN, assumed command. Five splinter-proof shelters on beach completed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• USS Permit sank Banshu Maru No. 33 off Hokkaido, Japan, hitting her with 1 of 2 torpedoes fired; another transport was damaged with 2 of 2 torpdoes fired. ww2dbase [Permit | CPC]

• Soviet Il-2M aircraft, attacking in huge numbers, destroyed some seventy tanks of the German 9th Panzer Division in just twenty minutes during the Battle of Kursk. German aircraft also saw much action, with He 111 tactical bombers alone flew 178 sorties. ww2dbase [Battle of Kursk | AC, CPC]

• General Henri Giraud arrived in Washington DC, United States for conferences with President Franklin Roosevelt. ww2dbase [Henri Giraud | Washington | AC]

• USS Harder arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Harder | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]
• Submarine USS Tinosa departed Midway on her second war patrol bound for the Japanese shipping lanes south of Guam. ww2dbase [Tinosa | Midway Bases | Midway | DS]

7 Jul 1943 Interactive Map