SUN 2 JUL 1944 Pacific
TF 77 (Rear Admiral William M. Fechteler, USN) lands U.S. Army troops (the reinforced 168th Infantry) on Noemfoor Island off Netherlands New Guinea, in Operation TABLE TENNIS, in order to secure the island's three airstrips that will support operations in New Guinea. TF 74 (Commodore John A. Collins, RAN) and TF 75 (Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey), composed of heavy and light cruisers and destroyers, provide gunfire support.
Japanese landing ship T.150 is damaged by mine off Amoy, China.
Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Jean Nicolet is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-8 at 03°00'S, 74°30'E and abandoned. I-8 then shells the ship, setting it afire. Survivors (41-man merchant complement, 28-man Armed Guard, and 30 passengers) are then taken on board the submarine, where their captors search them, bind them, and question them. At least one man is shot; some of the POWs are made to run a gauntlet; some are beaten. In the meantime, the Japanese destroy the lifeboats with gunfire. I-8 retains the master, radio operator, and a civilian passenger, and then submerges, leaving the remainder of the survivors on deck to drown. Some of the survivors, however, return to the burning Jean Nicolet (which sinks the following day) to launch rafts (see 4 July).
Atlantic
TBM (VC 58) from escort carrier Wake Island (CVE-65) sinks German submarine U-543 southeast of Azores, 25°34'N, 21°36'W.
Transport General W.A. Mann (AP-112), escorted by Brazilian destroyers Marcilio Dias, Mariz e Barros and Greenhalgh, sails from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the first elements of the Italy-bound Brazilian Expeditionary Force.
Europe
Motor minesweeper YMS-350 is sunk by mine off Cherbourg, France, 49°38'N, 01°35'W.
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