11,000 U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal, opening the first major American offensive of the Pacific War.

Nazi forces intensified reprisal killings across occupied Ukraine as the eastern campaign ground into its second summer of mass atrocities.

Allied forces launched a disastrous amphibious raid on the German-held French port, losing over 3,600 men in a single day.

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment, an all-female unit flying flimsy wood-and-canvas biplanes, conducted daring nighttime raids the Germans nicknamed the 'Night Witches.'

American and Japanese warships clashed fiercely off Guadalcanal, with U.S. battleships sinking the Japanese battleship Kirishima in a decisive nighttime engagement.

Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington, the guitarist who would redefine the electric guitar's sonic possibilities within a quarter century.