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• The first P-38 Lightning kill in the Pacific Theatre occurred when a pair of Kawanishi flying-boats were shot down off the Aleutian Islands. ww2dbase [P-38 Lightning | AC]
• Destroyer USS Tucker, damaged from hitting a mine on the previous day, sank while under tow near Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-160 sank Norwegian tanker Havsten 200 miles east of Trinidad at 0159 hours; 2 were killed, 31 survived but 2 were captured by U-160. At 0229 hours, German submarine U-607 sank already-damaged Belgian ship Belgian Soldier of Allied convoy ON-115 330 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland; 21 were killed, 39 survived. At 1558 hours, U-176 sank British ship Richmond Castle 1,100 miles southeast of Newfoundland; 14 were killed, 50 survived. At 1615 hours, U-155 sank British ship Empire Arnold 600 miles east of Trinidad; 9 were killed, 48 survived but the captain was captured by U-155. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Deportation of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp began. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• German submarine U-372 was detected by a British Wellington bomber 50 miles southwest of Haifa, Palestine; while British destroyers HMS Sikh, HMS Zulu, HMS Croome, and HMS Tetcott closed in on the location, the bomber's depth charges forced U-372 to surface, and the crew abandoned the submarine before the destroyers arrived; the entire crew of 48 survived and were captured by the destroyers. ww2dbase [CPC]

• George Brett departed Australia for the United States aboard B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft "Swoose". ww2dbase [George Brett | CPC]
• General George C. Kenney assumed command of Southwest Pacific Air Force in Australia. ww2dbase [George Kenney | AC]

• Winston Churchill arrived at Cairo, Egypt. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | Cairo | CPC]

• The first infantry training course began at Ramgarh Training Center, India. ww2dbase [Ramgarh Training Center | Ramgarh, Bihar | CPC]

• USS S-38 arrived in New Britain-New Ireland waters. ww2dbase [S-38 | CPC]

• Elements of German 4.Panzerarmee crossed the Aksay River en route to Stalingrad, Russia. ww2dbase [Battle of Stalingrad | Stalingrad | TH]
• Soviet 20th Army and 31st Army attacked Rzhev, Russia from the south while 29th Army and 30th Army attacked from the north. ww2dbase [Rzhev, Tver | CPC]

• At the Department of Justice Building in Washington DC, United States, a special military commission sentenced the 8 German saboteurs captured during the failed Operation Pastorius to death by electric chair, including George Dasch, the defector who contributed to the capture of the 7 others. ww2dbase [Washington | CPC]
• USS Whale departed San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Whale | San Francisco, California | CPC]

4 Aug 1942 Interactive Map