- Mission 478: In the morning 670 B-17s and B-24s and 433 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s are dispatched to hit tactical targets in France; 1 B-17 and 1 P-47 are lost.

- Mission 479: During the evening 34 B-17s and 106 B-24s escorted by 209 P-51s attack 12 V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais area without loss.

- Mission 480: 5 B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Netherlands during the night.

- 16 B-24s participate in CARPETBAGGER missions during the night. (Jack McKillop)

FRANCE: Saint Foy de Montgomerie: Rommel's Horch staff-car is strafed leaving him with multiple skull fractures, on a lonely road in Normandy when an RAF fighter piloted by Squadron-Leader J. J. "Chris" Le Roux from 602 Squadron saw his staff car at around 6.30pm. An attack is made by Typhoons of No. 193 Squadron led by Wg./Cdr. J. Baldwin. Among the pilots was Charley Fox, RCAF, who recalled: "He was thrown from the car, landed in a ditch and struck his head."

Rommel, who now commands the forces fighting the Allied invasion force, was going to his chateau headquarters at La Roche Guyon from the battle at Bourgebus Ridge, when the attack occurred. His driver saw the fighter coming and was trying to reach the cover of a tree-lined by-road when cannon shells tore through his vehicle. Tonight Rommel lies unconscious in hospital at Bernay. Field Marshal Kluge assumes Rommel's duties. (22)

US forces enter St. Lo.

US aircraft drop napalm for the first time, on a fuel depot at Coutances.

ITALY: The Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 162 B-24s to attack French targets including a marshalling yard and railroad bridges at Avignon and railroad bridges at Arles and Tarascon; P-51s and P-38s provide escort. (Jack McKillop)

NORWAY: HMS Formidable, Indefatigable and Furious, escorted by HMS Duke of York raid Tirpitz at Kaafiord, Norway. The Germans are successful in concealing their ship with a heavy smokescreen and the TIRPITZ is undamaged.

U-994 attacked by a Norwegian 333 Sqn Mosquito and the boat was damaged and 5 men wounded. The boat reached Bergen the same day. (Dave Shirlaw)

POLAND: Soldiers of the First Ukrainian Front trap 40,000 German troops at Brody.

The Soviet Army crosses the river Bug on a 40-mile front.

U.S.S.R.: 57,600 German PoWs are paraded through the streets of Moscow.

JAPAN: Admiral Nomura replaces Navy Minister Shimada in the Japanese Cabinet.

PACIFIC OCEAN: On Guam, underwater demolition teams begin blowing up obstacles to the invasion beaches.
Task Group 17.16 consisting of the submarines USS Guardfish (SS-217), USS Piranha (SS-389) and USS Thresher (SS-200) continues their attacks against Japanese shipping west of the Philippines by sinking a freighter and a cargo ship. Two ships damaged by Thresher yesterday, sink during the night. (Jack McKillop)

Japanese submarine I-166 is sunk by HMS Telemachus in the Malacca Strait. (Mike Yared)(144 and 145)

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Peterborough arrived Bermuda for workups.
Corvette HMCS Barrie completed foc’sle extension refit Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
HM S/M Seawolf arrived Philadelphia for refit.
Frigate HMCS Loch Morlich commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: US President Roosevelt announces that he will leave the selection of a Vice Presidential candidate to the Democratic Convention. This political move assists in dumping Henry Wallace and will result in the nomination of Harry Truman.

Port Chicago Disaster - At 2222, there was an explosion at the Ships Pier, cause of which is unknown. The consensus of opinion of witnesses is that two explosions took place within five seconds of each other, and that the first explosion was the lesser of the two. Two merchant vessels were berthed here at the time. The SS Quinault Victory (Type VC-2) was outboard, starboard side to. The SS A. E. Bryan (EC-2) was inboard, starboard side to. The Quinault Victory had berthed at 1800, and was being prepared for the receipt of cargo. No ammunition was aboard the Quinault Victory at the time of the explosion. The A. E. Bryan had been loading since 13 July 1944. The foregoing vessels were the 79th and 80th ships to have berthed and loaded ammunition at the Magazine since start of operations 30 Nov 1942, during which period in excess of 280,000 tons of ammunition and high explosives had been loaded for overseas shipment. Involved in the explosion was a total of approximately 5080 tons of ammunition and high explosives, of which approximately 4485 tons were aboard the A. E. Bryan and approximately 595 tons were in thirteen box cars on the Ships' Pier partially unloaded or awaiting loading in the two vessels. In addition, three cars of inert material and one empty Magazine boxcar were on the pier and were lost in the explosion. At the time of the explosion, cargo being loaded consisted of: MK7 Incendiary Bombs in #1 Hold, MK47 Depth Bombs (Torpex loaded) in #2 Hold, Tail Vanes in #3 Hold, MK4 Fragmentation Bombs in #4 Hold, and 40mm in #5 Hold. Practically all the tonnage that had been loaded aboard the A. E. Bryan was lower hold stowage. Results of the explosion may be summarized as follows: (a) Both vessels, the SS Quinault Victory and the A. E. Bryan, together with the Ships' Pier, one 45 ton Diesel locomotive, the Joiner Ship, Bldg. A-7, and the adjacent marginal wharf under construction, were completely demolished. A Coast Guard fire barge moored at the east end of the Ships' Pier was also destroyed and all hands aboard lost. A nearby Coast Guard patrol boat suffered no injury to vessel or crew other than blast damage to its superstructure. A MK33 1000-lb AP bomb landed on a passing oil barge. While same did not detonate, it caused considerable damage to the barge, which nevertheless was able to proceed under its own power to destination. A total of 319 people were killed and 255 injured. The dead consisted of: 9 Naval officers engaged in supervision of ship loading at the pier; 202 Naval Enlisted Personnel (mostly black), comprising two working divisions at the pier; 1 Marine enlisted man on sentry duty at the pier; 5 Coast Guard Enlisted Personnel--the crew of the Fire Barge; 3 Magazine Civil Service employees--the train crew; 30 Armed Guard Personnel attached to the Quinault Victory and the A. E. Bryan; 66 Merchant Marine Personnel--crews of the two vessels; 3 employees of the Macco-Case Construction Co.--Contractors for the marginal wharf under construction. The injured consisted of: 245 Naval and Marine Corps personnel transferred to hospitals, the greater majority of which suffered slight injuries, principally from glass fragments; 10 Magazine civilian employees suffered lost time injures; Numerous other personnel were treated for minor injuries, the exact number of which we have no record. Every building on the Magazine suffered damage from the blast except the kennels for the sentry dogs. However, all damage to buildings may be classified as Class "C" damage except the Recreation Building, which was Class "B", and the Joiner Shop, which was Class "A". At the time of the explosion, there were a total of 218 boxcars of ammunition and components in the Magazine yards. None of this ammunition detonated as a result of the explosion at the Ships' Pier, including two cars of bombs, spotted in the open on Spur 10, a distance of only some 1100 feet from the scene of the explosion. Two cars of MK4 Smoke Pots caught fire in Barricade B-206, but the fire was extinguished without further loss or damage. Of the 218 cars, representatives of the Bureau of Ordnance inspected and approved all but three cars for shipment as serviceable ammunition. While various railroad cars themselves suffered damage from the blast, only 54 cars were in such bad order that contents had to be transferred to other cars for shipment. Further inspection of each round in each car is being made by qualified Bomb Disposal officers, prior to releasing material for shipment. Of the 218 cars on hand at the time of the explosion, at this writing 145 cars have already been shipped to other loading points or naval activities, and it is anticipated that the remaining 73 cars will be shipped by 5 August 1944. Barricades and inset magazines were practically undamaged by the explosion except BM 138 and the doors of all inset magazines, which were blasted inwards. There was ammunition in 30 of the 50 inset magazines, primarily consisting of warheads, which was undamaged. Except for the fire in the two cars previously mentioned, no fire resulted from the explosion. General Class "C" damage from the blast was suffered in e town of Port Chicago and adjacent communities, including Pittsburgh, Concord, Walnut Creek, and Martinez. The lighthouse on Roe Island was similarly damaged by the blast. The explosion was felt in a radius of some 40 miles. It is not possible to name all personnel and agencies from the many communities and activities which came to the assistance of the Magazine at the news of the disaster. Generally speaking the response of everyone who could get here was magnificent, and too much praise can not be given for their efforts. Among those who responded were: The Martinez Fire Department, The Mt. Diablo Fire District, of Concord, The Rio Vista Fire Department, The Crockett Fire Department, The Berkeley Fire Department, The Associated Oil Co. Fire Dept., of Avon, The Red Cross, The USO, The Salvation Army, The US Army, including units from Camp Stoneman, the 217th AAA group, and the 324th AAA Searchlight Battalion The US Coast Guard, Navy Yard, Mare Island, Naval Ammunition Depot, Mare Island. The Army, in particular, was of inestimable assistance in the immediate feeding and evacuation of Magazine personnel. The devotion to duty during the emergency of all personnel attached to the station was also of the highest order, including officers, enlisted personnel, and Civil Service employees. Rehabilitation and re-establishment of facilities commenced almost immediately. Employees of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company were on the Base to restore telephone communications within three hours after the explosion. The following day, invaluable assistance was further given by employees of the Navy Yard at Mare Island and the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, particularly in the restoration of utilities. Numerous services were restored the first day after the explosion, most remaining were restored the second, and all essential utility services were restored the third day. The assistance of T. L. Rosenberg, Electrical Contractors of Oakland, Calif., was particularly helpful in the restoration of light and power circuits. By the end of the week, transfer of ammunition from damaged box cars to certified cars had begun under the direction of Bomb Disposal and Magazine officers, the physical handling of ammunition being performed by station enlisted personnel, who volunteered their services. The first shipments of cars of ammunition were made 25 July and similar shipments have gone forward each day since then. Loading of ammunition aboard lighters at the Barge Pier (which was undamaged) was resumed 24 July, and the first lighter of warheads was shipped from the Magazine on 25 July. To date a total of three lighters have been loaded and shipped since the explosion. Following conferences of various public works officers and representatives of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and Bureau of Ordnance, on 18th and 19th of July, plans for the immediate rehabilitation of Magazine facilities were formulated and contracts let for the repair of existing Magazine facilities and completion of the construction of other facilities that had been in progress, including the reconstruction of the partially completed marginal wharf destroyed in the explosion. At this writing, it is estimated that the first berth will be completed by 1 Sept 1944. The contracting firm of Barrett and Hilp was assigned the rehabilitation of the Magazine Administration Building and Marine Barracks, Buildings A-1 and A-2, together with certain other designated structures, and moved their men and equipment on the station 19 July. The 42nd Construction Battalion was assigned the rehabilitation of the remaining Magazine facilities, including in particular the structures in the Barracks area. The Seabees moved men and equipment on the station 20 July. To date, the work of all parties involved in the reconstruction of Magazine facilities is proceeding expeditiously. The makeup of the loading personnel became a large court-martial series and remains a civil rights cause celebre. Almost entirely black sailors, like men of the SOS (Services of Supply) in France in WWI, they were so assigned simply because nobody imagined them as anything more than labour gangs -- certainly not as proper sailors in warships. In the wake of that massive and deadly explosion, efforts to get very nervous black survivors to go right back to work around explosives provoked a virtual sit-down strike; they were not about to again get into something that would likely as not kill them, unless serious investigation and improvements were made to ensure safety. This amounted in Navy minds to a refusal to obey orders -- mutiny -- in time of war, thus a succession of heavy charges and courts-martial. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

Submarine HMS Seawold commenced refit Philadelphia.

Submarines USS Caiman and Sea Owl commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: On anti-submarine patrol over the Atlantic, a Catalina flying boat of 210 Squadron RAF piloted by Flying Officer John Alexander Cruickshank (b. 1920), RAFVR, sighted a U-boat. U-742 chose to fight it out on the surface and met the Catalina's attack with accurate anti-aircraft fire. One of the RAF crew was killed, and three others wounded, including Cruikshank, and the aircraft suffered serious damage. Cruickshank himself suffered 12 wounds, but ignored his injuries to bring the Catalina around for a second attack run. This proved on target, depth charges straddling the submarine and destroying her. The damaged Catalina then faced a 5.5-hour flight home. Cruickshank lost consciousness several times but managed to help land the aircraft safely. He received the Victoria Cross. (Dave Shirlaw)

Royal Canadian Navy escorts war's largest convoy of 167 ships into Atlantic; meets no U-Boat opposition; RCN now controls all BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC escort forces.

U-347 sunk west of Narvik in position 68.36N, 08.33E, by depth charges from an RAF 86 Sqn Liberator. 49 dead (all hands lost)

U-361 sunk west of Narvik in position 68.35N, 06.00E, by depth charges from an RAF 210 Sqn Catalina. 52 dead (all hands lost). (Dave Shirlaw)