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• Before dawn, Allied Northwest African Strategic Air Force Wellington bombers attacked Palermo and Messina in Sicily, Italy while C-47 Skytrain transports dropped British airborne troops at the Simeto River at Primosole Bridge; the paratroopers attempted to establish a bridgehead, but they faced stiff opposition. During the day, British and American aircraft attacked Messina, Marsala, Enna, Palermo, Randazzo, Licata, and Lentini; in indirect support, American aircraft struck Naples on mainland Italy. Elsewhere in Sicily, US troops captured Niscemi and Biscari airfield while other British troops captured Vizzini. ww2dbase [Invasion of Sicily and Italy's Surrender | TH]
• The Soviet Voronezh Front joined in the offensive against German 4.Panzer Armee and Armeeabteilung Kempf south of Kursk, Russia. ww2dbase [Battle of Kursk | TH]
• USS Gar reported damaging a Japanese ship in daylight with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• The keel of British frigate Redmill was laid down. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British frigate Anguilla was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British frigate HMS Usk and destroyer HMS Scourge were commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The keels of German submarines U-1209 and U-1210 were laid down. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-429 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-549 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-675 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• At Krasnodar in southern Russia, the Soviets began a trial of 11 Germans accused of the murder of 7,000 civilians by gas vans, shootings, and hangings. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• German submarine U-178 attacked transport ship Robert Bacon with torpedoes in the Indian Ocean 35 miles off the Mozambique Light at 0236 hours. After the initial damage was brought under control, 52 survivors began a relatively orderly evacuation of the ship with the 3 surviving lifeboats and 3 surviving rafts. At 0314 and then again at 0443, U-178 fired additional torpedoes at the burning wreck, sinking her. U-178 would surface to point to the survivors toward land before departing. ww2dbase [CPC]
• American troops occupied the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) and prepared for the contruction of airfields. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The keel of submarine Pomfret was laid down. ww2dbase [Pomfret | CPC]
• The keel of submarine Plaice was laid down. ww2dbase [Plaice | CPC]
• Destroyer escort USS Frederick C. Davis was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated US$30,000 for the George Washington Carver National Monument near Diamond, Missouri, United States. This future monument would be the first national monument dedicated to an African-American and the first to a non-president. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
• Aircraft from carrier USS Santee sank German submarine U-160 south of the Azores islands. Off Venezuela, German submarine U-572 sank sailing ship Harvard. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Joseph Stilwell departed China for India. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | CPC]
• The Marine Corps Glider Base at Edenton, North Carolina, United States, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Zebulon C. Hopkins, was redesignated a USMC air station. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The US-controlled Woodlark Airfield in the Trobriand Islands east of New Guinea was declared operational. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Rear Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson relieved Rear Admiral Richmond R. Turner as the commanding officer of the III Amphibious Force. ww2dbase [Richmond Turner | CPC]
• USS Bailey performed sea trials off the Golden Gate resulting in more broken gear teeth in the starboard reduction gears. Bailey returned to Mare Island. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]

• Destroyer USS Monaghan bombarded Japanese positions at Gertrude Cove, Kiska, US Territory of Alaska unopposed, firing 100 127mm rounds. ww2dbase [Monaghan | Kiska | CPC]

• TBF-1 Avenger aircraft flown by Lt(jg) John Ballantine flying from USS Santee in the Atlantic south of the Azores attacked the surfaced German submarine U-160 using Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. U-160 was lost with all 57 hands. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Mark XXIV | TBF Avenger | DS]

• US Army Major General Oscar W. Griswold became the commanding officer of the command of the New Georgia Occupation Force, relieving US Army Major General John H. Hester. ww2dbase [New Georgia | CPC]
• US Marine tanks, units of US Army 9th Defense Battalion, and units of US Army 103rd Infantry Battalion arrived at Laiana Beach, New Georgia, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Laiana, New Georgia | CPC]
• USS Honolulu departed Tulagi, Solomon Islands bound for Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Honolulu | Walden Ainsworth | Tulagi, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Corvette Cobourg was launched at Midland, Ontario, Canada. ww2dbase [Midland, Ontario | CPC]
• Frigate Stormont was launched at Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ww2dbase [Montreal, Quebec | CPC]

• Takuichi Ohmura stepped down as the President of the South Manchuria Railway; he was succeeded by Naoto Kohiyama. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USAAF Eighth Bomber Command, including the 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh, attacked three targets in France, with 111 B-17 bombers and 5 YB-40 bombers launched against aircraft factories at Villacoublay (3 B-17 bombers lost), 64 B-17 bombers launched against Glisy Airfield at Amiens (1 B-17 bomber lost), and 84 B-17 bombers launched against LeBourget Airfield at Paris (4 B-17 bombers lost).n ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | RAF Thurleigh | Paris | CPC]
• German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 arrived at Lorient, France after only 13 days due to damage from an attack by three British destroyers. ww2dbase [U-505 | Loirent, Bretagne | DS]

• USS Tunny arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Tunny | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: More of Air Group 9 on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Marcel Albert, flying a Yak-9 fighter, shot down a Bf 110 aircraft over Jagodnaja, Krasnikovo, Russia. ww2dbase [Marcel Albert | Jagodnaja, Krasnikovo | CPC]

• The keel of Sterlet was laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, United States. ww2dbase [Sterlet | Kittery, Maine | CPC]
• Two of the ten sections of USS ABSD-1 began to be towed from Morgan City, Louisiana, United States for the South Pacific. ww2dbase [ABSD-1 | Morgan City, Louisiana | CPC]

14 Jul 1943 Interactive Map