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• German submarine U-158 sank US tanker Cities Service Toledo 40 kilometers south of Abbeville, Louisiana, United States, killing 15 of 45 aboard. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• US B-17 and B-24 bombers raided Kiska, Aleutian Islands, damaging Japanese destroyer Hibiki. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday. "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support", she wrote in her first entry. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Shad was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Shad | CPC]
• German minesweeper M-4212 struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay; the mine was deployed by Free French submarine Rubis on 5 Jun 1942. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-124 sank British ship Dartford 550 miles east of Newfoundland; 30 were killed, 17 survived. U-129 sank British ship Hardwicke Grange 400 miles north of Puerto Rico; 3 were killed, 75 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• USS Swordfish sank Japanese transport Burma Maru in the Gulf of Thailand. ww2dbase [Swordfish | CPC]
• Greek submarine Papanikolis sank two Italian sailing vessels Catina and Aghia Aikaterini in the Aegean Sea. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-77 sank British destroyer HMS Grove 25 miles off Bardia, Libya at 0537 hours; 110 were killed, 60 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-21 fired 4 torpedoes at an Allied convoy 40 miles off Sydney, Australia at 0114 hours, sinking collier Guatemala (all aboard survived). ww2dbase [CPC]
• U-132 joined wolfpack Endrass. ww2dbase [U-132 | CPC]

• USS S-28 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska to receive fuel and provisions. ww2dbase [S-28 | Unalaska | CPC]
• USS S-27 departed Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, US Territory of Alaska. ww2dbase [S-27 | Unalaska | CPC]

• While at Brisbane, Australia, Lieutenant Irvin Hartman was made the commanding officer of USS S-41, replacing Lieutenant George Holley, Jr. ww2dbase [S-41 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• 11 ships departed Haifa, Palestine and Port Said, Egypt in Operation Vigorous escorted by battleship HMS Centurion (unarmed, serving as a deterrent only), 8 cruisers, 26 destroyers, and 9 submarines, also sailing for Malta; the Vigorous convoy was attacked by German Ju 88 bombers south of Crete, Greece, damaging freighter City Of Calcutta, forcing her to sail for Tobruk, Libya for repairs. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | Port Said | CPC]

• 5 British freighters and 1 tanker departed Gibraltar in Operation Harpoon with 43,000 tons of cargo for Malta, escorted by battleship HMS Malaya, carrier HMS Argus, carrier HMS Eagle, 4 cruisers, 17 destroyers, 4 minesweepers, 1 minelayer, and 6 motor gunboats. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Japanese submarine I-16 sank Yugoslavian ship Supetar in the Mozambique Channel. In the same area, I-20 sank Panamanian ship Hellenic Trader and British ship Clifton Hall. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | Mozambique Channel | CPC]

• The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters issued the Great Army Instruction No. 1 for a study on the possibility of an over-land invasion of Port Moresby, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Tokyo | CPC]
• Naka arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Naka | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• Axis forces pushed British troops back toward Tobruk, Libya, destroying many tanks; meanwhile, an attack on nearby El Adem was repulsed by Indian troops. The Allied defense line at Gazala was now in danger of being cut off. ww2dbase [Battle of Gazala | CPC]
• Hans-Joachim Marseille flew a mission in Libya, providing support for ground troops. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | CPC]

• During the morning roll call at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, 60 Polish prisoners were called out. They were shot at the Death Wall in the courtyard of Block 11 in retaliation of clandestine resistance organizations in Silesia region. The victims were transferred to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1942 from Sosnowiec, Katowice, and Krakow. ww2dbase [Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Oswiecim | CPC]

• 13 US B-24 bombers from RAF Fayid, Egypt bombed oil fields at Ploesti, Romania, causing minimal damage; 4 aircraft made emergency landings in Turkey and were interned. ww2dbase [Ploesti | CPC]

• Soviet cruiser Molotov delivered 2,998 men from the Soviet 138th Infantry Brigade to Sevastopol, Russia. ww2dbase [Molotov | Sevastopol | CPC]

• In San Francisco, California, United States, Fred Korematsu was given a US$5,000 bail. ww2dbase [Fred Korematsu | San Francisco, California | CPC]

12 Jun 1942 Interactive Map