1943 July 5th. Kursk.

• 1943 – World War II: German forces begin a massive offensive against the Soviet Union at the Battle of Kursk, also known as Operation Citadel.
• Battle of Kursk
• Battle of Kursk
  Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
  2nd SS Panzer Division soldiers, Tiger I tank, during the battle.
  Date 5 July 1943 – 16 July 1943 (German offensive:1 week and 4 days) 12 July 1943 – 23 August 1943 (Soviet offensive: 1 month, 1 week and 4 days) Location Kursk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Result Decisive Soviet victory Germany's offensive power on the Eastern Front is crippled Territorial changes Soviets liberate  territory along a 2,000 km (1,200 mi) wide front
  Belligerents
  Germany	Soviet Union
  Commanders and leaders
  Erich von Manstein  Günther von Kluge  Hermann Hoth  Werner Kempf  Walther Model	Georgy Zhukov  Konstantin Rokossovsky  Nikolai Vatutin  Ivan Konev
  Strengths
  912,460 men 2,928 tanks 9,966 guns and mortars 2,110 aircraft	1,910,361 men 5,128 tanks 25,013 guns and  mortars 2,792to 3,549aircraft
  Casualties and losses
  Operation Citadel: 54,182 men 323 tanks and assault guns destroyed, and ~600 tanks and assault guns damaged  159 aircraft  ~500 guns  Battle of Kursk: According to German:~198,000 MIA, KIA, WIA (not inculd Army Group Reserve,Luftflotte 4 and Luftflotte 6's casualties)  Estimate 760 tanks and assault guns destroyed, 681 aircraft (for 5–31 July)	Operation Citadel: 177,847 men 1,614 1,956 tanks and assault guns destroyed or damaged 459aircraft 3,929 guns[ Battle of Kursk:  254,470 killed, missing or captured 608,833 wounded or sick  6,064 tanks and assault guns destroyed or damaged 1,626 – 1,961 aircraft 5,244 guns

  
  

  The eastern front at the time of Operation Citadel. Orange areas show the destruction of an earlier Soviet breakthrough. Green areas show German advances on KurskThe Battle of Kursk was a World War II engagement betweenGerman and Soviet forces on theEastern Front near Kursk (450 kilometres or 280 miles southwest of Moscow) in the Soviet Union during July and August 1943. The German offensive was code-named Operation Citadel(German: Unternehmen Zitadelle) and led to one of the largestarmoured clashes in history, theBattle of Prokhorovka. The German offensive was countered by two Soviet counter offensives,Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev (Russian:Полководец Румянцев) andOperation Kutuzov (Russian:Кутузов). For the Germans, the battle represented the final strategic offensive they were able to mount in the east. For the Soviets, the 

  decisive victory gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the war.

  The Germans hoped to weaken the Soviet offensive potential  for the summer of 1943 by cutting off a large number of forces that they anticipated would be in the Kursksalient assembling for an offensive.By eliminating the Kursk salient they would also shorten their lines of defence taking the strain off of their overstretched forces.  The plan envisioned an envelopment by a pair of pincers breaking through the northern and southern flanks of the salient.  Hitler thought that a victory here 
  would reassert Germany's strength and improve his prestige with allies who were considering withdrawing from the war. It was also hoped that large numbers of Soviet prisoners would be captured to be used as slave labour in Germany's 
  armaments industry.

  The Soviets had intelligence of the German intentions,provided in part by British intelligence service and Tunny intercepts. Aware that the attack 
  would fall on the neck of the Kursk salient months in advance, the Soviets built a defence in depth designed to wear down the Germanpanzer spearheads. The Germans delayed the start date of the offensive while they tried to build up their forces and waited for new weapons, mainly the new
   Panther tank but also larger numbers of the Tiger heavy tank. This gave the RedArmy time to construct a series of deep defensive lines. The defensive preparations included minefields, fortifications, pre-sighted artillery fire zones and anti-tank strong points, which extended 
  approximately 300 km (190 mi) in depth. In addition,Soviet mobile formations were moved out of the salient and a large reserve force was formed 
  for strategic counteroffensives.

  The Battle of Kursk was the first time a German strategic offensive had been halted before it could break through enemy defences and penetrate to its strategic depths. Though the Soviet Army had 
  succeeded in winter offensives previously, their counter-offensives following the German attack were their first successful strategic summer offensives of the war.

1776 July 4th.

Independence Day (United States)

"Fourth of July" and "4th of July" redirect here. For the date, see July 4. For other uses, see Independence Day 
 For other related material, see Fourth of July

Independence Day
Displays of fireworks, such as these over theWashington Monument, take place across the United States on Independence Day.
Also called	The Fourth of July The Fourth
Observed by	United States
Type	National
Significance	The day the Declaration of Independence was  adopted by  theContinental Congress
Celebrations	Fireworks, Family reunions, Concerts,Barbecues, Picnics, Parades, Baseball games
Date	July 4
Next time	4 July 2015
Frequency	annual

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is afederal holiday in the United States of Americacommemorating the adoption ofthe Declaration of Independenceon July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain (now officially known as the United Kingdom). Independence Day is commonl

associated with fireworks,parades, barbecues, carnivals,fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the National Day of the United States

1940 July 3rd. Operation Catapult.

• 1940 – World War II: In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers El Kébir, is bombarded by the British fleet, coming fromGibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and Bretagne. One thousand two hundred sailors perish.
• Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
• Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
  Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of World War II
  Battleship Strasbourg under fire.
  Date 3 July 1940 Location Off Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, North Africa 35°43′10″N 0°41′20″W Result Disabling of the French flotilla of Mers-el-Kébir
  Belligerents
  United Kingdom	France
  Commanders and leaders
  James Somerville  Dudley Pound	Marcel-Bruno Gensoul  François Darlan
  Strength
  1 aircraft carrier 2 battleships 1 battlecruiser 2 light cruisers 11 destroyers	2 battlecruisers 2 battleships 5 destroyers 1 seaplane tender
  Casualties and losses
  6 aircraft destroyed 2 dead	1 battleship sunk 1 battleship damaged 1 battlecruiser damaged 3 destroyers damaged 1 destroyer grounded 1,297 dead 350 wounded the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, part of Operation Catapult and also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir, was a British Navy bombardment of the French Navy at its base at Mers-el-Kébir on the coast of what was then French Algeria on 3 July 1940. A British naval task force attacked the French fleet, after giving them a warning that they would do so. The French fleet was at anchor and had not been expecting an assault from the United Kingdom, up until that time. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,297 French servicemen, the sinking of a battleship and the damaging of five other ships. France and the United Kingdom were not at war but France had signed an armistice with Germany, and the UK feared the French fleet would end up as a part of the German Navy, a fate that would greatly increase the Kriegsmarine's size and combat ability. Although French Admiral François Darlanhad assured Winston Churchill[2]the fleet would not fall into German possession, the British acted upon the assumption that Darlan's promises were insufficient guarantees.[3]

  
  

1822 July 2nd. Slavery.

• 1822 – Thirty-five slaves are hanged in South Carolina, including Denmark Vesey, after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion.
• Denmark Vesey, originally Telemaque,  (1767 – July 2, 1822) was an African-American man who was most famous for planning a slave rebellion in the United States in1822. He was enslaved in South Carolina. After purchasing his freedom, he planned an extensive slave rebellion. Word of the plans was leaked, and authorities arrested the plot's leaders at Charleston, South Carolina, before the uprising could begin. Denmark Vesey and others were convicted and executed.
  Many antislavery activists came to regard Denmark Vesey as a hero. During the American Civil War,abolitionist Frederick Douglass used Denmark Vesey's name as a battle cry to rally African-American regiments, especially the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
  Although it was almost certainly not Vesey's actual home, the Denmark Vesey House at Charleston was named a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

1916 July 1st.

The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the opening day of the Battle of Albert (1–13 July 1916). Nine corps of the FrenchSixth Army, as well as the BritishFourth and Third armies, attacked the German Second Army of General Fritz von Below, from Foucaucourt on the south bank to Serre, north of the Ancre and at Gommecourt 2 miles (3.2 km) beyond. The objective of the attack was to capture the German first and second positions from Serre south to the Albert–Bapaume road and the first position from the road south to Foucaucourt.

The German defence south of the road mostly collapsed and the French had "complete success" on both banks of the Somme, as did the British from Maricourt on the army boundary, where XIII Corps took Montauban and reached all its objectives and XV Corps captured Mametz and isolated Fricourt. The III Corps attack on both sides of the Albert–Bapaume road was a disaster, making only a short advance south of La Boisselle, with a huge number of casualties. Further north the X Corps attack captured the Leipzig Redoubt, failed opposite Thiepval and had a great but temporary success on the left, where the German front line was overrun and Schwaben and Stuff redoubts captured.

German counter-attacks during the afternoon recaptured most of the lost ground north of the Albert–Bapaume road and fresh attacks against Thiepval were defeated, also with great loss to the British. On the north bank of the Ancre the attack of VIII Corps was another failure, with large numbers of British troops being shot down in no man's land. The VII Corps diversion at Gommecourt was also costly, with only a partial and temporary advance south of the village. The German defeats from Foucaucourt to the Albert–Bapaume road, left the German defence on the south bank incapable of resisting another attack and a substantial German retreat began, from the Flaucourt plateau to the west bank of the Somme close to Péronne, while on the north bank Fricourt was abandoned.

Several truces were negotiated to recover wounded from no man's land on the British front, where the Fourth Army had lost 57,470 casualties, of which 19,240 men were killed. The French had 1,590 casualties and the German 2nd Army lost 10,000–12,000 casualties. Orders were issued to the Anglo-French armies to continue the offensive on 2 July and a German counter-attack on the north bank of the Somme by the 12th Division, intended for the night of 1/2 July, took until dawn on 2 July to begin. Since 1 July 1916 the cost of the battle and the "meagre gains" have been a source of grief and controversy in Britain; in German and French writing the first day of the Battle of the Somme has been little more than a footnote to the mass losses of 1914–1915 and the Battle of Verdun.