Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

Rome, Vatican City - Before leaving for Naples, Princess Marie-José obtains a secret audience with Pope Pius XII, to which she goes alone. The Pope repeats to her all the aversion that Hitler and the Nazi regime inspire to him. He also says he is ready to do everything he can to accelerate the end of the conflict and the suffering that accompanies it.
Worried about the evolution of the situation, the Princess asks the Holy Father about the disposition of the Americans towards Italy. She hopes that the large Italian community in the United States would earn her country a certain indulgence from the newcomers in the conflict. While the Pope avoids answering the question, she insists:
"What would the Americans think if Mussolini were overthrown and Italy suspended hostilities? What would their attitude be then toward the monarchy?"
- Honestly, I don't know; I think they would think the same as Italian public opinion," replies the Pope, enigmatically.
- And what would Italian public opinion think?
- If you want to know, I'll find out, and I'll make sure to let you know the answer. But tell me, is this overthrow of Mussolini a serious hypothesis?" asks the Pope with a false ingenuity.
The Princess then describes to the Pope, who is very interested, the contacts she had made in the last few months. Both agree on the need to continue to keep themselves informed regularly. However, to avoid compromising each other, the Pope suggests going through Giovanni-Battista Montini, his Substitute for Ordinary Affairs, whose function justifies relations with the diplomats of the two camps.

 

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

Focke-Wulf factories in Dessau (Germany) - First test of the Fw 190 V13, powered by a DB-603 engine. This aircraft, the first of a series of "development" airframes (hence the letter "V"), is part of the program of improvement of the Fw 190, intended to increase the performances of the aircraft at high altitude. This program includes planes with DB-603 engine, BMW-801 engine and Jumo-213 engine. The BMW-801 TJ with turbocompressor beginning to be very late, the hopes rest in the immediate future on the DB-603 and Jumo-213 engines.

 

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

Slovenia - Operation "Provincia di Lubiana" - The Italians of General Roatta (1st Alpine Division Taurinense, elements of the 152nd ID Macerata and 13th ID Re) try to eliminate the Slovenian Partisans around Ljubljana.
The operation lasts until August 7th.

 

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

After the Battle of GP-19 (Operation Oni, Phase 3c)
"The Imperial Navy claimed to have sunk "one light cruiser, one destroyer and nine large transports" at the cost of two submarines. The Royal Australian Navy, on the other hand, had lost four freighters and a corvette (plus another corvette badly damaged), but believed it had destroyed three or four submarines.
In Tokyo, the staff concluded that "German-style" pack attacks could probably be effective, but only in very special circumstances, against poorly defended targets. The defenders of the original Japanese Doctrine were quick to point out the heavy expenditure of torpedoes on "secondary" targets (cargo ships) and the losses suffered, claiming that the Imperial Navy could not waste its submarines in this way.
In Brisbane, the COIC considered that this was a victory that rewarded the practice of six small escorts had indeed held out, with surprising accuracy, against a dozen submarines (including, if we were to believe Radio Tokyo, the famous Captain Hideo Yamamoto, already well known to the Moresby crew). This was not a bad estimate, even if the losses suffered by the convoy were very heavy. The result of this tough battle greatly improved the morale of the East Coast escort forces. While many flaws in the RAN's ASM training were identified, HMAS Rushcutter (Australian ASM training school) noted with satisfaction the first serious signs of veteran escort groups being formed. The Doomba and the Moresby had shared the work remarkably well. Rushcutter could see that the combination of their experience and the training they had done with the American S-Type submarines had greatly improved their capabilities."
(From Research for Australian Official Histories, 1949, notes by Mr Norman)

 

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

Zhejiang and Jiangxi Campaign - The four columns encircled in Poyang, Ruihong and Yujiang are cleared by the 13th and 34th IDs who withdraw. Anami succeeds in regroupig about 45,000 men.
These forces hope to cross the Poyang Lake again, but the "Chinese" air attacks are fatal to a large part of the small boats used by the Japanese, against which the 37 mm gun of the P-39 prove to be very effective.

 

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

Barbarossa
- Northern sector and Baltic Sea
In Courland, GeneralOberst von Küchler (18th Army) reorganizes his forces to take the Ventspils pocket. He assigns to the XXXVIIIth Corps (General von Chappuis) the 291. ID and the "Polizei" division.
On the Estonian front, General Schubert's XXIII Corps tries to resume its march towards Tartu, but it is stopped by the 1st and 42nd Armies, commanded by Vatutin. Schubert obtains then that the 93. ID be affected to him in order to continue his progression.
In the Baltic Sea, the Soviet mine-laying submarine L-20 is depth charged and sunk off Cape Arkona by two German minesweepers.
...
- Central sector
Guderian orders the XLVII. PanzerKorps of Model to attack Smolensk again. The 24th Soviet Army is too exhausted trying to break through to Orsha to be able to send reinforcements to the defenders. Yet, even with the commitment of tanks and Sturmgeschütz to support his infantry, Guderian is once again disappointed: thanks to the determination of the defenders and the density of Soviet artillery fire, the city remains in Russian hands.
All afternoon, the 29th Artillery Regiment fights a power duel with the Soviet artillery shells using 105 mm howitzers, 88 mm flak guns, Nebelwerfer rocket launchers and mortars. At dusk, the 71st Infantry Regiment enters the city, but it has to fight house by house and is still far from the center.
Between Vitebsk and Orsha, Belov's attack surprises the German units holding the road. If the Soviets had been better organized, they would certainly have opened a large hole in the German positions, and a large part of the encircled men could have broken through in force. Unfortunately for them, Belov's staff suffers from many command and control problems. The troops reach the Vitebsk-Orsha road, but then their organization slackens. At dusk, the Germans regain control of the road, but they could not prevent about 15,000 soldiers from escaping in small groups. Marching through the night, these men - including Belov himself and the staff of his 2nd Cavalry Corps - reach the advanced lines of the 24th Army in the morning, near Roudn'a.
In the south, the XLVI. PanzerKorps of General von Vietinghoff-Scheel captures Gomel in the afternoon. Before stopping for the night, it reaches 5 km south of the city.
In Moscow, the Stavka holds an extraordinary meeting to study the strategic situation in the central sector. The fate of Smolensk appears to be particularly important: the city is the key to the "land bridge" between the Dvina and the Dnieper, and the gateway to Moscow. At the end of the evening, it is decided to send General A.M. Vasilevsky to Yartsevo, as special representative of the Stavka to Tymoshenko.
...
- Southern sector
The attack of Rokossovsky starts in the night following two convergent axes. On the first, directed towards Ulyanov, a surprise attack is launched at 01:30 against the motorized vanguards of von Kleist deployed at the edge of the forest. On the second axis, the attack begins at 02:00, after a 30-minute artillery barrage, in the direction of Sel'nitsa. Both attacks take the Germans by surprise. The troops of Konev and Vlassov take advantage of this attack on their side at 02:15. Furious and confused fights develop on a rather large front. In the morning, Ulyanov and Sel'nitsa fall into the hands of the Soviets. Many small German units are isolated and must withdraw north or south to regroup. Many tanks and armored cars are victims of bottles filled with gasoline, which Krasnaya Zvesda (The Red Star), the newspaper of the Red Army, will call "Molotov cocktails" in memory of the name given in 1936 to this type of weapons, launched in front of Madrid against the Italian tanks (in the field, the soldiers rarely use this name, preferring a host of other names, all more or less unpublishable...).
Around noon, the attacks of Rokossovsky manage to open a corridor of 8 km wide, where soldiers and civilians flee to the east.
Kleist and Stülpnagel react quickly. They movedtheir artillery forward to support their tanks and motorized infantry. At the end of the day, despite VVS raids against the forces occupying Starokonstantinov, the Germans retake Sel'nitsa, but at night, Ulyanov is still held by the Red Army.
However, in the west of the pocket, the German 6th Army is advancing faster and faster, because all troops in fighting condition are engaged in the eastern part of the pocket, in the corridor sector.
Further south, the German LIV Corps has reached Orhei and is approaching Kishinev, while the German and Romanian troops of the 11th Army enter the city from the west again. Colonel-General I.V. Tyulenev orders the troops holding Kishinev to be ready to withdraw to Tiraspol and Kotovsk. On the other hand, south of the city, the marshy terrain and a well-staggered Soviet defense stops the German attack.
Noting that his offensive is losing momentum, von Schobert commits part of his reserves, the 46. and 72. ID.
...
- Black Sea
The coastguard Znamya Sociyalisma blows up on a German magnetic mine near the entrance of the port of Odessa.

 

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

Alger - Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery, until then commander of the South Eastern Command in England, takes command of the British ground forces engaged in Operation Torch, in preparation. To his great irritation, he is subordinated to Lieutenant-General Harold Alexander. Until then Commander of Southern Command, Alexander is appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Torch, responsible for the coordination of all British forces involved (Army, Navy and RAF).

 

[Wings]

July 12th, 1942

Aegean Sea, between Evia and Skyros island - The submarine MN Morse (CC Digard) intercepts a small convoy composed of the Romanian cargo ship Oituz (2686 GRT) and two German ASM escorts. For his first opportunity since the arrival of the Morse in the front line, Commander Digard does not skimp: he launches a spray of four torpedoes, two of which hit the target and send the Oituz to the bottom.
The latter isunlucky. It had already been the victim of a French submarine on 17 December 1941 in the east of Limnos. But, only damaged by a torpedo from the Espadon (CC Wacogne), it could be towed to the port of Moudros. At the end of dire negotiations, the Romanians had obtained from the Germans and Italians its repair.
After summary work in Moudros and Salonika, it was dragged to Piraeus, where it arrived in mid-February 1942 for final repairs. But then, the events ofLimnos and the passage of the big allied convoy had delayed its return to the Black Sea...

 

[Wings]

July 13th, 1942

London - The staff of the Chief of Combined Operations, Admiral Bertram Ramsay, discusses Operation Rutter with representatives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rutter (Routier) was decided to create a powerful strategic diversion a few days before a great offensive in the Mediterranean and to fix as many German troops as possible in the north of France and in Belgium, but also to give the Canadian troops an operational training and to definitively settle certain doctrinal debates on the conduct of amphibious operations.
Coming after numerous commando raids carried out on the continent since the summer of 1940, Operation Abercrombie, in April, demonstrated the usefulness of the new landing craft (LCI) and support ships (LCS). In this raid of a few hours against the small town of Hardelot (Pas-de-Calais), the coastal defences were evaluated and, although no prisoners were taken, many lessons were learned.
Because of its proximity to the English coast and the nature of the German forces deployed, the small port of Dieppe was chosen for what was no longer described as "a major raid" but as "a reconnaissance in force". The date of September 2nd was selected on the basis of tide times and amplitude.
After lengthy discussions between British, French and Canadian planners, the initial plan was amended based on operational experience gained in the Peloponnese during Crusader, and in particular the heavy losses suffered by the British forces during the frontal attack on Gythion. Tanks and infantry were to be landed on both sides of the port of Dieppe, and this landing was to be combined with an assault of the airfield, as well as the attack by commandos of the two batteries of Varengeville and Berneval. The previous variant of the plan, centered on a frontal attack against Dieppe itself, was abandoned after a careful study of the landings at Gythion, Kalamata and Pyrgos.
From the beginning, army officials insisted on the need for strong naval fire support, but to engage even an old battleship so close to the center of the German air power appeared too risky to Their Lordships of the Admiralty. Nevertheless, the experience of the Peloponnese demonstrated that the guns of the fleet could be decisive. The two heavy monitors Marshal Soult and Roberts (the first one saw the First War - hence his name which reflects the Entente Cordiale - and was recommissioned in the winter of 1941-1942), as well as eight new light monitors, forming the 4th Inshore Fire Support Squadron, are now assigned to Rutter.
Another important point raised by French officers from Normandy is the fact that the pebbles on the beaches of Dieppe could cause problems for the new Churchill tank. The
14th Canadian Tank Battalion (Calgary Regiment, Lt-Col. Andrews) has to use a mix of Churchill tanks and Canadian Rams.
The ground units are mostly Canadian, but includes British commandos, French commandos and airborne units (the 1st Groupement de Choc of Colonel Gambiez and the 2nd Regiment of Chasseurs Parachutistes), as well as a handful of US Rangers. They ar commanded by Major-General John H. Roberts (2nd Canadian Infantry Division). The naval forces would be commanded by Captain John Hughes-Hallett, and the air force - which is quite large because the RAF expects the operation to take the Luftwaffe to a fight - would be led by Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh- Mallory.

 

[Wings]

July 13th, 1942

Argentia, Newfoundland - Captain Donald MacIntyre, after several months of organizing convoys on the northeast coasts of Canada and the United States, embarks on the HMS Hesperus to take command of Escort Group B2.

 

[Wings]

July 13th, 1942

Indian Ocean - The 8th Japanese Submarine Squadron finds itself in the open sea. There, Rear Admiral Ishizaki learns that his five ships had sunk 21 transports in all. In addition to the victories we have already reported, the I-16 sank the Eknaren (5,243 GRT, July 1), the I-18 sank the Alchiba (4,427 GRT, July 9), the I-20 sank the Goviken (4,854 GRT, June 30) and the Steaua Romana (5,311 GRT, 30 June).
But Ishizaki is much less pleased to discover that the I-30 is sinking. For days, the damage it had sustained had worsened and its commander could only regret the absence of the auxiliary cruisers foreseen in the original plan, which could have helped him repair. The submarine is unable to dive without running great risks, and the sky is more and more often scoured by enemy aircraft. The least bad solution is to scuttle the I-30 and to embark its crew on the four other submarines.

 

[Wings]

July 13th, 1942

Truk - Beginning of Operation RY. The light cruiser Yubari and the destroyers Ariake, Oite, Yugure, Yunagi and Yuzuki weigh anchor. They are to escort the liner Hakozaki Maru to the islands of Nauru and Banaba.

 

[Wings]

July 13th, 1942

Barbarossa
- Northern sector and Baltic Sea
In Tallinn, a new marine infantry brigade is formed from the crews of the Ladoga lake flotilla. The "Ladoga Brigade" isto be sent to defend Ventspils.
At this very moment, the XXXVIII Corps launches a double attack against the Ventspils pocket. Faced with solidly entrenched troops, the advance does not exceed 2,000 meters.
The beached destroyer Surovy supports the defenders south of the city by engaging the German artillery at long range with its 130 mm.
In Estonia, the XXIII Corps, just reinforced by the 93. ID, tries again to advance towards Tartu. However, the progress of the German infantry is slow and only at the cost of heavy losses.
...
- Central sector
Lacking infantry, the German forces have to fight all day to ensure their control over the Vitebsk-Orsha road. However, their difficulties are gradually easing, because the Borisov pocket collapses by itself. Most of the Soviet units in fighting condition have been destroyed or escaped the day before, and there is no more organized resistance in the pocket. Borisov itself falls in the evening. Nevertheless, about 25 000 Soviet soldiers remain at large. Some will try to join the Soviet lines, individually or in small groups. Others (especially men from the region) will be at the origin of the first groups of partisans operating between Minsk, Vitebsk and Moghilev.
In Smolensk, the intensity of the fighting does not decrease. On the contrary, the power of the Russian artillery is increasing, as a regiment of 122 mm A-19 field guns is now supporting the 241st Artillery Division. These long-range guns provide deadly counter-battery fire as soon as the German artillery tries to shell the city. The city is on fire,
partly because Guderian had entrusted Model with the flamethrower tanks of the 100th Independent Armored Battalion to support his other tanks. But the narrow streets of Smolensk reduce the efficiency of the German tanks, and they are attacked by small groups of men emerging from the ruined buildings, who destroy a good number of them with grenades, anti-tank guns or flaming gasoline bottles. Nevertheless, little by little the defenders are pushed back to the Dnieper.
In the south, the XLVI. PanzerKorps is again stopped by Boldin's forces, this time 15 km south of Gomel. However, the German army has secured a solid support point on the left bank of the Dnieper, thus succeeding in breaking what the Stavka considers to be one of the strongest natural defense lines of the country.
In the afternoon, General Vasilevsky arrives at Tymoshenko's headquarters and begins to study the strategic situation in the central sector. At 22:00, he obtains from Shaposhnikov the 49th and 50th Armies, belonging to the Reserve Front, who are placed at his disposal. As Lt. General Eremenko is to take command of the 43rd Army, now concentrated near Smolensk, Vasilevsky emphasizes that "the situation in the region is very complex. It requires a high level of initiative on the part of the command. The Smolensk salient will undoubtedly concentrate a large number of German troops," Vasilevsky adds, "because the city is a major stop on the road to Moscow, and the enemy knows this
perfectly."
...
- Southern sector
The Germans attack again to close the corridor opened by Rokossovsky to the Khmel'nitskiy pocket. The Soviet troops, exhausted, are gradually pushed back, but at nightfall, the corridor is still 1 500 meters wide, and soldiers and civilians continue to pass under the shells to join the friendly positions between Kazatin and Vinnitsa. Konev and Vlassov themselves pass by at 23:35, leaving some voluntary units to fight until the end around Ulyanov.
Further south, the Germans now surround Kishinev on three sides, but they have not cut the road to Kotovsk. South of the city, von Schobert's troops are still blocked.
...
- Black Sea
The port of Sulina is attacked at dawn by 21 DB-3 bombers of the Soviet Fleet. A coaster and the port facilities are damaged. The Romanian PZL P-24E in charge of protecting the port, surprised, are unable to intercept the attackers.

 

[Wings]

July 13th, 1942

Benghazi - B-24Ds from the USAAF's 98th and 376th Bomber Groups, which recently arrived in Africa, begin training with French B-24s for Blowlamp. The first to arrive, the 376th BG, has named itself Liberandos and the 98th, whose officers are anxiously awaiting their deployment to Rhodes, took the name of Colossus (some whisper that the strong personality and imposing stature of colonel John Riley Kane, may also have played a role in this choice).

 

[Wings]

July 14th, 1942

Hammaguir - In the heart of the Sahara, people also want to celebrate Bastille Day.
The MB-162, superb in its high visibility red and white livery, flies 4,000 m above the desert. At its side, a Potez 63-11 rescued from the 40-41 battles carries a cameramanin its glass nose. On the ground, theodolites, Hussenot recorders, recovery teams, everything in place.
In the front (radio) and rear (gunner) compartments of the bomber, the engineers monitor their measuring instruments. Overflowing from the bomber's hold (whose doors have been removed), the Leduc 005 (so named because "it was a half-10") is ready. The pilot Jean Gonord put the big four-engine plane in a slight dive, at 300 km/h. The maneuver is delicate: if the radio fails, if the model does not separate correctly...
When the navigator of the Potez gives the signal, the model is released. It immediately separates from the MB-162 which then accentuates its descent, "just in case..." as Gonord will tell us. The radio guidance starts without any problem, tested as it was on the MB-175 duringseveral months. A few minutes of evolution later, the model lands wisely under its parachute. Vive la France!

 

[Wings]

July 14th, 1942

Burbank - At the Lockheed workshops, everyone is at their posts on this French national holiday. The French engineers who have come to reinforce the American team agree, but some habits of the Republic are hard to break, and the French Air Ministry in the presence of a few officials, organizes a small snack with "the ambassadors of French aeronautical know-how", in the presence of a few officials charged (officially) with "assuring our engineers of the full support of the government", but also - much more unofficially - to probe the said engineers on the state of their American colleagues' work and their patriotic spirit, which we do not know if it will allow them to come back home after the war despite the attraction of a comfortable dollar salary.
Payen, like many of his colleagues, does not like these social events. So he is ostensibly annoyed when a diplomat with an obscure function approaches him discreetly.
- Mr. Payen?
- That's me. And you, who are you?
- No need to get upset, dear Sir. I have a message for you from the head of studies, whom you met in Algiers a year ago about your Payen 22/2.
Payen raises an eyebrow, showing a discreet but real interest. The man smiles.
- There, you see that I interest you. I've been instructed to inform you on behalf of our services [Payen refrains from asking which services...] that your prototype will not fly for the Germans. It was unfortunately damaged during its first flight.
Then, seeing the engineer's distressed face: "An engine problem, a hydraulic fluid leakage I think... I was told it was an old engine, right?" The man has a smile
Payen is saddened, but reacts: "Yes, yes, from recovery obviously."
- Perfect! So your concept is not in question. There is no doubt that when we return to Metropolitan France, the Ministry will listen carefully to your proposals. We are not unaware of your contacts, probably fruitful, with Mr. Northrop, who is working on projects of the same kind as your Payen 22/2. But remember, Sir, that you are promised to a brilliant future in the service of our country, which will need men like you after the war.
After a moment's silence, the emissary concludes: "I wanted, in all cordiality to assure you of this, because the years to come will be difficult for our country. The past cannot be changed. But your reputation, which is rightly growing, is precious for our country, which we will do everything in our power to serve, including with regard to our guests."
On this deliberate ambiguity, the man retires with a new smile: "I wish you a happy national holiday, Mr. Payen." The engineer finds the strength to say, "I always look to the future, sir, you can be sure of that!"
.........
"The post-war period showed that Payen was not a madman. His work in aerodynamics contributed greatly to the success of the Bloch Ouragan, and of course to the Mirage series.
Payen was ahead of his time, but technical developments eventually proved him right. It is fortunate that he chose to return to France after the war, to collaborate with personalities whose behavior against him in the 1930s had given him good reason to complain. The French government and in particular the Ministry of the Air had led even before the end of the conflict, had taken energetic, though often concealed, action to limit the brain drain to the United States (or rather the non-return of these brains to France). This action was a major factor in the vitality of the industry and the design offices of the 1950s.
Without this policy, who knows what mistakes the national manufacturers would have made, deprived of their best elements?"
(Le Fana de l'Aviation n°494 : " 1940-1950 - The exiled from French aviation").

 

[Wings]

July 14th, 1942

Alger - The national holiday is marked by several radio speeches by the President of the Council Paul Reynaud, Vice Presidents Léon Blum and Georges Mandel, and the Minister of War, General Charles de Gaulle.
Paul Reynaud announces the abolition of the Indigénat code and forced labor, leaving Blum, enthusiastic, and Mandel, cautious, to develop this announcement. De Gaulle takes note, but in such a way that those who know how to listen cannot doubt that he was the inspiration for these measures. Some of his words will remain in our memories, such as his final invocation: "Senegalese Tirailleurs of Valence! Goumiers of Greece! Riflemen of Saigon! You have been in solidarity with France in her misfortune, you will soon be fraternally united with her other children for Victory!"
A large movement of the governors of the Colonies is decided in the wake of this, under the impulse of Mandel, who is anxious to make his mark. Félix Eboué is one of the few to keep his position, alas for him, one might say: he died of exhaustion shortly after the end of the war.
Among the administrators who reach the top ranks, we note Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
Despite his young age (he was born in 1905), at the end of the war he was appointed governor of the AOF. Appointed by Mandel, of course, but he will always remember that he owes this appointment to Charles de Gaulle.
The latter does not intend to stop there. As he indicated in his Mémoires de Guerre
(Volume 2, Unity [from the entry of the United States into the war to the tipping of Italy]): "A huge step had been taken; but once the accounts of the past had been settled, it was necessary to prepare the future. I had to convince Messrs Reynaud and Mandel of the interest of organizing a conference of the governors of all our Colonies in Brazzaville, in the heart of the Empire, at the beginning of 1943. The role of the colonies in our war effort justified the interest shown by the Minister of War in such a conference. But, in a broader sense, it was the importance of the problem for the place of France in the post-war world which required that attention be given to the establishment of Colonial representation in Parliament and the creation of local Assemblies. It was very clear to me that such structures were necessary to allow the inhabitants of the Colonies, at the end of the war and the Victory, to participate in the management of their own affairs at home, while opting either for an autonomy within the framework of close links with France, or for an integration in the French Homeland, assuming a community of Rights and Duties."

 

[Wings]

July 14th, 1942

Penang - The seaplane LeO H-246 n°1 (ex F-AREL) is seriously damaged by a Japanese bombing raid during the landing of supplies for the garrison of the island. It is irreparable.

 

[Wings]

July 14th, 1942

New Guinea Campaign - As the Japanese army begins to advance along the Markham Valley, the supply situation of the Kanga Force becomes critical. The RAAF has only a few transport planes, and only Dutch Lockheed Lodestar rotations allow the Kanga Force to continue its observation operations in the Markham and Wau area.
Dutch B-23 bombers and RAAF Blenheims attack Lae on several occasions without any results but their actions are good for Allied morale and begin to teach the Allies some hard lessons about air operations over New Guinea. While only one aircraft (a B-23) is shot down by the Japanese, four others are lost due to bad weather conditions.

 

[Wings]

July 14th, 1942

Guadalcanal - The 25th Koku Sentai detachment based at Tenaru, now at full strength, is about to begin offensive operations. It has 24 G4M1s and 33 A6M2s, plus 15 A6M2-Ns and 12 E13A1s at Tulagi Airfield.