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• German submarine U-804 sank American destroyer escort USS Fiske with torpedoes in the central Atlantic. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | AC]

• USS Flier departed Fremantle, Australia for her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Flier | Fremantle, Western Australia | CPC]

• In France, III/KG 100 sent out 9 Do 217M aircraft with V-1 flying bombs attached to attack railways and roads around Pontaubault in Normandie in an attempt to stall the Allied break out of the area. Mosquito fighter from 488 Squadron (RNZAF) intercepted the Germans, shooting down 2 before they had launched their bombs. The other Dornier bombers aborted the mission. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 1 | V-Weapons Campaign | HM]
• US VIII Corps moved west along Brittany coast from Avranches, France. ww2dbase [Normandy Campaign, Phase 2 | Bretagne | TH]
• Leutnant Erich Sommer flew an Ar 234 V7 prototype aircraft over the Allied Normandy beachheads in France while the two Rb 50/30 cameras on board took a photograph every 11 seconds. This was the first jet aircraft reconnaissance mission in aviation history. ww2dbase [Ar 234 Blitz | Basse-Normandie | CPC]

• The No. 1586 (Polish Special Duties) Flight RAF prepared for airdropping supplies for resistance fighters in Warsaw, Poland. As of this date, the flight only consisted of 5 crews and 8 aircraft. It was based in Italy. ww2dbase [Warsaw Uprising | CPC]

• Nachi arrived at Kure Naval Arsenal, Japan. ww2dbase [Kure Naval Arsenal | Nachi | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• Zuikaku exited drydock at Kure Navy Yard, Japan. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Kure Naval Arsenal | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• USS Wasp arrived at Eniwetok, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Wasp (Essex-class) | Eniwetok | CPC]
• USS New Mexico arrived at Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Eniwetok | CPC]
• Battleships USS New Mexico and USS Idaho with cruisers USS San Francisco and USS St. Louis arrived at Eniwetok, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [San Francisco | New Mexico | St. Louis | Eniwetok | DS]

• The Soviet-sponsored 1st Polish Army established a bridgehead over the Vistula River south of Warsaw, Poland. ww2dbase [Operation Bagration | TH]
• Zigeunernacht ("Gypsy Night"): 4,000 Roma were killed and cremated at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Turkey severed diplomatic relations with Germany. ww2dbase [TH]

• A V-1 flying bomb caused the deaths of 12 residents of Pendle Road in the borough of Streatham, South-west London, at 0510 hours, a second bomb impacted on Gypsy Road in Upper Norwood, killing 3, one of whom was an elderly lady awaiting evacuation from the area. ww2dbase [Vergeltungswaffe 1 | V-Weapons Campaign | London, England | HM]

2 Aug 1944 Interactive Map