A counterattack by the GermanII SS Panzer Corps failed to dislodge the BritishSecond Army aroundCaen.[1] WhenGerd von Rundstedt phoned Berlin to report the failure, Chief of StaffWilhelm Keitel purportedly asked, "What shall we do?", to which Rundstedt replied, "Make peace, you fools! What else can you do?"[2]
The U.S. 133rd Infantry Regiment in Italy capturedCecina.[3]
To celebrateAmerican Independence Day, GeneralOmar Bradley ordered all artillery units in theUS First Army to open fire on the German lines precisely at noon. Some units fired red, white, and blue smoke shells at the Germans.
Winston Churchill gave a speech in the House of Commons about the V-1 campaign, revealing government figures that 2,752 had been killed and 8,000 injured by the flying bombs.[8]
Jackie Robinson was placed under arrest in quarters for refusing to move to the back of a military bus. He would be court-martialed but eventually acquitted in a trial on August 2.[9]
Regent of HungaryMiklós Horthy ordered a stop to the deportation of Jews from the country. Even so, the Nazis declared all of Hungary except forBudapest free of Jews.[10]
Japanese destroyerTamanani was torpedoed and sunk offManila by the American submarineMingo.
German submarineU-678 was sunk in the English Channel by Allied warships.
British and Canadian forces launchedOperation Charnwood with the goal of at least partially capturing the city ofCaen, which remained in German hands despite repeated attempts to take it over the past month.
With the Red Army approaching, SS authorities began liquidating theKovno Ghetto. About 8,000 Jews would be transferred toStutthof andDachau.[11]
Because of the danger of the German flying bombs, over 41,000 mothers and children left London in the second wartime exodus from the city and returned to their former wartime billets in the country.[5]
TheBattle of Vyborg Bay ended in defensive victory for the German/Finnish forces.
Operation Ostra Brama ended in victory for the Polish Home Army when the German occupiers inWilno were defeated, but the following day the SovietNKVD entered the city and proceeded to intern the Polish fighters and arrest their officers.
German field marshalErwin Rommel was seriously wounded when aSpitfire strafed his staff car nearLivarot.[18][19] Numerous Allied pilots claimed credit for the attack that knocked Rommel out of the war, but following the 2004 publicization of a Canadian historian's research into the incident, the Canadian Forces officially attribute the feat toCharley Fox of theRCAF.[20]
The British executedOperation Mascot, a British carrier air raid against the German battleshipTirpitz anchored in northern Norway. but the attempt was unsuccessful.
20 July Plot: An attempt was made to assassinateAdolf Hitler, perpetrated byClaus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators within the German military. At 12:42 p.m. during a conference at theWolf's Lair, a bomb that Stauffenberg had concealed inside a briefcase went off, killing a stenographer and leaving three officers with fatal injuries. The others in the room, including Hitler himself, were wounded but survived.[21]
Stauffenberg flew to Berlin to carry out the next step of the military coup, but the plan stalled when he was unable to get confirmation that Hitler was dead. A radio broadcast at 6:30 p.m. reported that Hitler had survived and the situation became increasingly confused. By the end of the day the coup had failed and Hitler loyalists began arresting the conspirators.[22][23]
A few minutes past four in the afternoon,Benito Mussolini arrived at the train station of the Wolf's Lair as scheduled and was surprised to see Hitler with his right arm in a sling. After learning of what had happened Mussolini was unsure of what he should do and considered leaving immediately, but he went ahead with his requests that included two Italian divisions to be sent from Germany and a pardon for four Italian naval officers who had just been condemned to death. Hitler, convinced that his remarkable escape was a sure sign of victory, was in a gracious mood and agreed to grant Mussolini almost everything he'd asked for. It would be the final meeting between the two dictators.[21]
Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the Democratic National Convention after being nominated for an unprecedented fourth presidential term. Speaking from the naval base in San Diego, he said his decision to accept the nomination was "based solely on a sense of obligation to serve if called upon to do so by the people of the United States." The president also said he would "not campaign, in the usual sense, for the office. In these days of tragic sorrow, I do not consider it fitting. And besides, in these days of global warfare, I shall not be able to find the time. I shall, however, feel free to report to the people the facts about matters of concern to them and especially to correct any misrepresentations."[24]
British destroyerIsis struck a mine and sank offNormandy.
At 1 a.m., Hitler gave a speech over the radio to prove to the German people that he was still alive after the previous day's attempt on his life. He declared that the conspirators would be "exterminated quite mercilessly."[26][27] The first execution of conspirators had taken place just after midnight. German troops poured into Berlin.[5]
Democratic vice presidential nomination of 1944: On the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago,Harry S. Truman won the vice presidential nomination due to dissatisfaction among party leaders with the incumbent Vice PresidentHenry A. Wallace. Wallace won the first ballot, but on the second vote the supporters ofWilliam O. Douglas switched their support to Truman. Truman came to the podium and gave one of the shortest acceptance speeches on record, lasting less than a minute.
Died:Ludwig Beck, 64, German general and member of the 20 July bomb plot (shot by a German sergeant after his suicide attempt only severely wounded himself);Heinz Brandt, 37, German Wehrmacht staff officer (died of wounds sustained in the 20 July bomb plot);Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, 39, German colonel (executed by firing squad for his involvement in the 20 July plot);Claus von Stauffenberg, 36, German army officer and leading member of the 20 July plot (executed)
Majdanek concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army, the first concentration camp to be liberated by Allied forces. The Soviet advance was so rapid that the SS fled before evidence of what went on in the camp could be destroyed. When Soviet officials invited journalists to the site, the full extent of Nazi atrocities began to be known to the world.[29]
Operation Gaff: Six British commandos parachuted into German-occupiedOrléans, France with the aim of killing or kidnapping German field marshalErwin Rommel. When they learned that Rommel had already been injured they moved toward advancing U.S. Army lines on foot.
Hitler namedJoseph Goebbels "Reich Plenipotentiary for the Total War Effort".[5]
President Roosevelt gathered his Pacific commanders atPearl Harbor for a two-day conference on strategy in the Pacific.Douglas MacArthur supported an advance on thePhilippines whileChester Nimitz argued for makingFormosa the first priority. Roosevelt listened impartially and made no decision at the time.[31]
U.S. submarineRobalo struck a mine and sank west ofPalawan Island. Four survivors who swam ashore were captured byJapanese Military Police, evacuated by a Japanese destroyer and never seen again.Robalo's CommanderManning Kimmel, son of AdmiralHusband E. Kimmel, is among those whose fate remains unknown.
German submarineU-214 was depth charged and sunk in the English Channel by the British frigateCooke.
German submarineU-2323 struck a mine and sank off Kiel.
Died:Takakazu Kinashi, 42, Japanese submarine commander (killed in the sinking of theI-29);Reza Shah, 66, Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941
TheLwów Uprising ended in Polish victory and the liberation of the city from the Nazis, although the Polish fighters would shortly afterwards be arrested by the invading Soviets.
TheGloster Meteor, the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only operational jet aircraft of the war, entered active service withNo. 616 Squadron RAF.
Operation Spring ended in German tactical success but Allied strategic victory.
The Soviet submarineV-1 (formerlyHMSSunfish) was bombed and sunk offNorway by an RAF Liberator when she dived instead of firing recognition signals that the submarine was friendly.
Died:Hans Collani, 36, German SS officer (committed suicide as his command post was being overrun by the Red Army);Bin Uehara, 35, Japanese popular music singer and soldier (killed in action in New Guinea)
Died:Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 44, French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pilot (disappeared during a reconnaissance flight of southern France)
^Holston, Kim R. (2013).Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 263.ISBN978-0-7864-6062-5.
