1904: To counteract feared Russian influence in Lhasa, the Younghusband expedition was dispatched to Tibet in may 1904. On 6 July, a company of Gurkhas in the force stormed a gorge, having to attack up a cliff-face, down which rocks were constantly hurled at them. The route up was only wide enough for one man at a time. Lieutenant Grant and a Gurkha NCO made it to the top, but were promptly thrown back down the incline and injured. Undaunted, they tried again, and this time managed to drive the defenders back. Grant was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1908: Commander Robert Peary sailed from New York in the Roosevelt to explore Arctic.

1917: Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba from the Turks.

1918: On the Western Front, Corporal Brown of the 20th Australian (New South Wales) Battalion attacked a machine-gun post on his own and with the threat of a grenade, forced the surrender of its twelve defenders. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1923: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.

1938: Russia and Great Britain signed hew naval protocol because of reported Japanese naval construction.

1940: The French navy announced that because of the Royal Navy’s attack on their ships, French naval officers were prohibited from wearing British medals.

1941: Following a similar experiment the previous day, Bomber Command dispatched a small formation of the new Stirling heavy bombers

in daylight against Lille and the shipyards at Le Trait with a strong fighter escort provided by Hawker Hurricanes

In the Lebanon, fierce fighting continued between Commonwealth and Free French forces on the one side and Vichy troops on the other. Lieutenant Cutler of the Australian artillery suffered a severe wound which cost him a leg. For his distinguished gallantry on repeated occasions over the previous three weeks, including defeating a tank attack and repairing a vital field telephone line during a barrage, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

The American transports USS Munargo and USAT Cheaeau Thierry arrived at Tungugdliarfik Fjord, Greenland, to begin construction of an air base at Narsarssuak; this was designated Bluie West One (BW-1).

Bluie was the code name for Greenland and W-1 indicated that this was the first base constructed on the west coast of Greenland; bases on the east coast were designated BE-numeric.

Also debarking from the freighter SS Siboney were a small cadre of Army Airways Communications System (AACS) personnel. AACS had been tasked with supporting the Air Corps Ferrying Command's flights across the North Atlantic by providing communications services to disseminate weather information and navigational aids. AACS detachments had already established sites at Gander, Newfoundland, in March 1941 and Goose Bay, Labrador; BW-1 went on the air on 21 August. By November 1941, AACS had established stations as far to the east as Reykjavik, Iceland.

1945: Nicaragua became the first nation to formally accept the United Nations Charter