Historical
Clear weather allowed the Luftwaffe to attack convoys in the English Channel. There were dogfights all day and five ships were damaged or sunk. The BBC’s reporter Charles Gardner described a dogfight from the cliffs of Dover, although he got many facts wrong in his excitement. http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/battleofbritain/11431.shtml
The Germans also bombed RAF airfield at Manston in Kent and a destroyer moored in Swanage Bay, Dorset, causing little damage.
The British armed merchant cruiser HMS Esperance Bay left Plymouth carrying ten million pounds in gold. A hundred miles west, she was bombed, killing seven crew, but was able to return to Plymouth.
The German armed merchant cruiser Thor sank the British SS Gracefield, carrying 7430 tons of wheat and bran, 500 miles off the coast of Brazil. The crew of 36 was taken prisoner.
U-boat UA sank the Norwegian tanker Sarita 100 miles west of Cape Verde. All 29 crew abandoned ship on two rafts and a lifeboat. U-52 sank the Greek steamer Thetis A. carrying grain, 300 miles West of Brest, France. 20 survivors abandoned ship in a lifeboat.
Bastille Day in the unoccupied portion of France was observed solemnly with flags at half-mast.
General elections were held in Cuba. Fulgencio Batista was elected president. Rigged elections began in Soviet-occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Winston Churchill gave a radio address declaring that Britain would fight on alone, saying: “Be the ordeal sharp or long, or both, we shall seek no terms, we shall tolerate no parley; we may show mercy – we shall ask for none.”
Game Day 318. China
In China, a force of six infantry units moved north-west towards the occupied industrial area. Two groups of six infantry units each simultaneously attacked two Japanese infantry units in Kwangtung in a pincer movement. The Japanese were destroyed and the Chinese units joined forces to face the approaching Japanese marching from Shanghai.
General Whiskers' semi-historical wanderings 