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• Stalin replaced top army commanders, putting Marshal Kliment Voroshilov in command of the Northern Front, Marshal Semyon Timoshenko in the Central Front, and Marshal Semyon Budyonny on the Southern Front. On the same day, the German 4.Panzergruppe captured Pskov, Russia as it moved towards Leningrad. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | TH]
• Reversing former statements, Maxim Litvinov broadcasted from Moscow in English that the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom must work together against Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• US Marine Corps organized Marine Air Group 1. ww2dbase [CPC]
• With one of his engines on fire, second pilot Sergeant James Ward tied a rope around himself and climbed out onto the wing of his Wellington bomber to extinguish the flames. Although he was badly burned, the aircraft made it home. The New Zealander is awarded the Victoria Cross but never received the medal, being killed on a raid two months later. ww2dbase [AC]
• Occupied Yugoslavia was carved up between Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria, with Croatia becoming an independent state. ww2dbase [AC]
• British bombers attacked Münster, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• After sundown, German bombers attacked Southampton, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• Jürgen Stroop was assigned to the infantry regiment of German 3rd SS Division Totenkopf. ww2dbase [Jürgen Stroop | CPC]

• Maggiore Baracca observed an Allied destroyer and a gunboat attacking Italian submarine Alessandro Malaspina with gunfire in the Atlantic Ocean at 1320 hours, and attempted to maneuver into an attack position; she would not be able to to do. At 1613 hours, the two submarines exchanged signals. At 1715 hours, Maggiore Baracca and Alessandro Malaspina were informed of an Allied convoy nearby. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | Maggiore Baracca | CPC]
• Alessandro Malaspina sighted what she thought was an armed merchant cruiser in the Atlantic Ocean at 1500 hours. She submerged at 1750 hours to get into an attack position, but the attack was abandoned after identifying the target as the Spanish freighter Ciudad De Alicante. At 1715 hours, the Italian submarine was ordered to move to a new patrol area. At 2005 hours, she sighted a fishing vessel. Shortly after, she sighted a four-engine bomber, and dove to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• German 20th Panzer Division crossed the Daugava River (Western Dvina), threatening to outflank the Polotsk Fortified Region in Byelorussia. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | Polotsk, Vitebsk | CPC]

• Asasaburo Kobayashi was made the chief of staff of Japanese 4th Army based in Bei'an, Heilongjiang Province, China. ww2dbase [Asasaburo Kobayashi | Bei'an, Heilongjiang | CPC]

• Australian troops outflanked French positions at Damour, Lebanon. ww2dbase [Campaigns in the Middle East | Damour, Lebanon | CPC]

• Iceland, coerced by the United Kingdom, allowed the United States to oversee the defense of the island. US 1st Marine Brigade arrived later on the same day and began to relieve the British garrison. ww2dbase [CPC]

• General Seishiro Itagaki was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea, relieving Kotaro Nakamura. ww2dbase [Seishiro Itagaki | CPC]

• The Norwegian merchant steamer Inga I departed the Tyne river mouth in Britain for Oban, Scotland, United Kingdom to join a convoy. ww2dbase [England | HM]

• The US Marine Corps established the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Quantico, Virgina, United States under Lieutenant Colonel Louis E. Woods. ww2dbase [Quantico Marine Corps Base | Quantico, Virginia | CPC]

7 Jul 1941 Interactive Map