| Week
starting Saturday 2 July |
|
| Date |
Year |
Event |
|
| 2 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
British Commander-in-Chief (Middle East) Claude Auchinleck, acting on
information obtained by Ultra, sends troops south to outflank General Erwin
Rommel's PanzerArmee Afrika but hits them head-on instead. The ensuing tank
battle last well into the night with Rommel's limited forces holding off
the British through the use of 8.8cm FlaK 36 Guns used as anti-tank
artillery. |
| 2 |
1967 |
Egyptian and Israeli forces clash across the Suez Canal. |
|
|
For more on 2 July |
|
| 3 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
General Erwin Rommel's PanzerArmee Afrika attack Ruweisat Ridge after an
advance of nine miles. However he recognizes that he is now over-extended
and orders his forces to defend their current positions against expected
British attacks. |
| 3 |
1962 |
Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria achieves
independence from France. Abderrahmane Farès is appointed as President of
the Provisional Executive. |
|
|
For more on 3 July |
|
| 4 |
1936 |
Despite Haile Selassie's call for the League of Nations
to protect Abyssinia, the League decides to drop sanctions against Italy. |
| 4 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
British Commander-in-Chief (Middle East) Claude Auchinleck, believing
General Erwin Rommel to have pushed to far with such limited resources
(approximately 50 tanks and a total of 2,000 men) attempts to end the
battle by throwing his forces at such weakly defended positions.
Fortunately for Rommel he is warned by his 'radio intercept service'. Once
the British forces are repulsed, he starts to evacuate his tanks, replacing
them with Italian infantry. Battles continue for the next few days as
Auchinleck attempts to move his troops to the south and catch Rommel's
flank. |
|
|
For more on 4 July |
|
| 5 |
1969 |
Tom
Mboya, Kenyan Minister of Economic Affairs, is assassinated.
Allegations which linked the assassin to prominent KANU party members are
dismissed, and in the ensuing political turmoil Jomo Kenyatta bans the
opposition party, the Kenya People's Union (KPU), and arrests its leader
Oginga Odinga (who was also a leading Luo representative). |
| 5 |
1975 |
Cape Verde gains independence from Portugal (formally
known as Cabo Verde). |
|
|
For more on 5 July |
|
| 6 |
1964 |
Malawi gains independence from Britain (was Nyasaland,
then federated with Northern and Southern Rhodesia between 1953 and 1963),
with former Prime Minister, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, as president. |
| 6 |
1975 |
Comoros gains independence from France (Archipel des
Comores), except for the island of Mayotte which remains a French Overseas
Territory. |
|
|
For more on 6 July |
|
| 7 |
1967 |
Federal troops are sent into Biafra, the oil rich
eastern region of Nigeria, which declared its intent to secede on 30 May |
| 7 |
1976 |
Dora Bloch, one of the elderly British hostages taken on
hijacked Flight 139 (an Air France A-300B Airbus hijacked from Athens on 26
June) is reported as still missing. It is revealed later that she was
evacuated to a Kampala hospital during the early days of the hijack, and
was killed by Ugandan President Idi Amin Dada's forces as retaliation for
the Israeli raid on 3 July. |
|
|
For more on 7 July |
|
| 8 |
1960 |
The newly independent Republic of Congo's army mutinies
against Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba's government. Europeans are reported
to be fleeing the country. |
| 8 |
1966 |
Prince Charles Ndizeye, the Burundian royal heir,
announces that his father, Mwami Mwambutsa IV, is to abdicate on his
behalf. |
|
|
For more on 8 July |
|
