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• The construction of the American fighter strip at Espiritu Santo was completed. ww2dbase [CPC]
• American PBY Catalina aircraft bombed Tulagi. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | CPC]
• The American airfield at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides became operational. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Soviet North Caucasus Front was formed under Marshal Semyon Budyonny to counter the German advance into the Caucasus region of southern Russia. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | CPC]
• Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 227, ordering "Ni Shagu Nazad!" ("Not a step back!"). Unit commanders were told to form special units to enforce this order by detaining or executing violators. In parallel, penal battalions (shtrafnye batal'ony) were established for officers detained for violating this order; officers running these battalions would soon gain the authority to execute members for any reason. ww2dbase [Joseph Stalin | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-175 sank French ship Cagou in the Coral Sea. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German submarine U-66 sank British ship Weirbank 130 miles east of Tobago at 0040 hours; 1 was killed, 66 survived. At 0715 hours, U-115 sank Brazilian ship Barbacena 350 miles east of Tobago; 6 were killed, 56 survived. At 0800 hours, U-754 sank US fishing boat Ebb with her deck gun 60 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; 5 were killed, 12 survived. At 2230 hours, U-155 struck again, sinking Brazilian tanker Piave 350 miles east of Tobago; 1 was killed, 34 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• The survivors of civilian ship Honolulan, which was sunk by German submarine U-582 six days prior, were rescued up by British merchant ship Winchester Castle south of Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Morisini reported her position and supply status while at sea in the Atlantic Ocean at 0900 hours. She was ordered to patrol the route between North America and Freetown, Sierra Leone, British West Africa. ww2dbase [Morosini | CPC]

• George Kenney arrived in Brisbane, Australia and met with Richard Sutherland. ww2dbase [George Kenney | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]
• USS S-38 departed Brisbane, Australia, starting her sixth war patrol. ww2dbase [S-38 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• US Navy and Marines began a four-day amphibious landing exercise at Fiji as rehearsals for the Guadalcanal landings set for two weeks later. ww2dbase [Ralph Talbot | Hull | Mugford | San Juan | Helm | Chicago | Vincennes | Astoria (New Orleans-class) | Quincy (New Orleans-class) | Ellet | Hobart | Australia | Guadalcanal Campaign | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Saigon, Indochina. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Saigon, Cochinchine | CPC]

• Heinrich Himmler received a report from the railroad industry that, since 22 Jul 1942, 5,000 Jews arrived from Warsaw, Poland each day for each of Treblinka Concentration Camp and 5,000 Jews arrived from Przemysl each week for Belzec Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• 256 British bombers (161 Wellington, 71 Stirling, and 24 Whitley) were launched to attack Hamburg, Germany, but bad weather forced most of them to turn back before reaching the city; the 68 aircraft that reached Hamburg killed 13 and wounded 48 at the cost of about 30 bombers shot down. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Hamburg | CPC]
• Max Merten was transferred to the Recruitment and Discharge Office for Military Administration Personnel at Marburg in central Germany. ww2dbase [Max Merten | Marburg, Hessen-Nassau | CPC]

• USS Haddock departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Haddock | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• A transport of 1,010 Jews (542 men and 468 women) arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland from Westerbork camp in the Netherlands; after the selection, 473 men and 315 women were registered; the remaining 222 were killed in the gas chambers. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

28 Jul 1942 Interactive Map