Winston Churchill left the UK by plane to the United States for a visit with Franklin Roosevelt.
He would not have left had he known how dire the British position in North Africa was becoming, something that he'd been reassured about by Gen. Auchinleck before he departed. On the same day, the Afrika Korps attacked El Adem and Sidi Rezegh near Tobruk, which effectively cut it off from contact with other British forces.
German U-boats had another good day in the Atlantic and Caribbean.
Operations Vigourous and Harpoon, designed to relieve Malta, concluded, largely a failure.
The Germans obliterated Ft. Maxim Gorky's artillery at Sevastopol.
The RAF conducted an ineffective nighttime raid on Essen.
