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• US Navy and Marines ended a four-day amphibious landing exercise. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | CPC]
• Hiyo was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Hiyo | CPC]
• USS Grunion damaged Japanese transport Kashima Maru 10 miles north if Kiska, US Territory of Alaska at 0547 hours; Kashima Maru fought back with her 80-millimeter gun, sinking USS Grunion, killing all 70 aboard. ww2dbase [Grunion | AC, CPC]
• Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein shot down three Allied aircraft, increasing his total victories to 17. ww2dbase [Heinrich | CPC]
• US aircraft located and attacked a Japanese convoy bringing reinforcements from Rabaul, New Britain to Buna, Australian Papua; the convoy was forced to return to Rabaul by this attack. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
• USS Nicholas arrived at Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• Task Force 8 consisting of USS Indianapolis, USS Nashville, USS Louisville, USS Honolulu, USS St. Louis, and escorts arrived at Kodiak, Alaska. ww2dbase [Nashville | St. Louis | Louisville | Indianapolis | Honolulu | Kodiak | DS]

• Canadian Hudson aircraft (Squadron Leader Norville Small) sank German submarine U-754 on the surface 120 miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; all 43 aboard were killed. 760 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland, German submarines U-164, U-210, U-217, U-511, U-553, and U-588 attacked Allied convoy ON-115 without success; Canadian corvette HMCS Wetaskiwin and destroyer HMCS Skeena counterattacked and sank U-588 with depth charges, killing all 46 Germans aboard. 150 miles east of the Azores islands, U-213 attacked Allied convoy OS-35 but was sunk by British sloops HMS Erne, HMS Rochester, and HMS Sandwich; all 50 aboard were killed. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Morisini reported her position while at sea in the Atlantic Ocean at 1830 hours, noting that she was en route to France. ww2dbase [Morosini | CPC]

• George Kenney arrived at Townsville, Australia. ww2dbase [George Kenney | Townsville, Queensland | CPC]

• USS S-44 arrived in New Britain-New Ireland region. ww2dbase [S-44 | CPC]

• USAAF began a 7-day bombardment against Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, the Allied invasion force (75 warships and transports with 16,000 men on aboard) for Guadalcanal departed from Fiji. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | CPC]

• 1,000 Jews from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia were taken to Baranowitsche Concentration Camp in Poland and gassed in vans. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• 30 men of Australian Plover Force attempted to land on Tanimbar, Moluccan Islands, Dutch East Indies; they were driven off by Japanese gunfire. The Japanese would secure the island before the end of the day. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Celebes and Moluccas | CPC]

• 630 British bombers (308 Wellington, 113 Lancaster, 70 Halifax, 61 Stirling, 54 Hampden, and 24 Whitley) attacked Düsseldorf, Germany with 900 tons of bombs, destroying 453 buildings, damaging 15,000 buildings, killing 276 civilians, and wounding 1,018 civilians; 29 bombers were lost on this attack. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Düsseldorf | TH, CPC]

• Cruiser USS Raleigh and destroyer USS Shaw arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii escorting a convoy of 8 ships. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Raleigh | Shaw | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Shokaku arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Hashirajima, Yamaguchi | CPC]
• Kaname Harada was recalled from quarantine into service. ww2dbase [Kaname Harada | CPC]

• Japanese troops under Corporal Hashimoto massacred the village of Sungei Lui, Jempol, Negeri Sembilan in Malaya; more than 400 were killed. ww2dbase [Jempol, jemNegeri Sembilan | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler reversed his order of 23 Jul 1942 which detached the 4th Panzer Army from the assault on Stalingrad, Russia; the 4th Panzer Army began moving north toward Stalingrad, which caused some logistical issues as other German units moved south along the same roads in the invasion of the Caucasus region. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | CPC]

• USS Ranger and Augusta departed Port of Spain, Trinidad bound for Norfolk, Virginia. ww2dbase [Ranger | Augusta | Port of Spain | DS]

• German bombers attacked Hull, England, United Kingdom with 46 tons of bombs between 0215 hours and 0325 hours, damaging Victoria Dock facilities and destroying several homes on Grindell Street. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Hull, England | CPC]

• The former neutral Argentinian motor tanker Victoria, damaged by German submarine U-201 in Apr 1942 and later requisitioned by the United States, was recommissioned as Panamanian ship Culpepper. ww2dbase [HM]

31 Jul 1942 Interactive Map