Łukasz
Author
(1129)1942
January
- 11
- The torpedoing of USS SaratogaOn 11 January 1942 the Japanese submarine I-6 torpedoed the carrier Saratoga off Hawaii. Six sailors were killed and the ship was out of action for five months.
- The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East IndiesOn 11 January 1942 the Japanese landed on Tarakan and near Manado, where they first used paratroops. The fight for the oil of the Dutch East Indies began.
- 13
- The Red Army retakes MedynIn mid-January 1942 the Western Front retook Kirov and Medyn and by the month's end stood before Vyazma. The Germans fell back but held Rzhev and Vyazma.
- The St James's Declaration on war crimesOn 13 January 1942, at St James's Palace, nine occupied countries made the punishment of crimes against civilians one of the principal aims of the war.
February
- 01
- The front at GazalaIn early February 1942 Eighth Army stood on the Gazala–Bir Hakeim line, 60 km west of Tobruk. Rommel, out of fuel, halted near Timimi and Mechili.
- The end of civilian car productionIn February 1942 American factories stopped making passenger cars for civilians. Detroit began building tanks, bombers, jeeps and engines.
- 19
- Executive Order 9066On 19 February 1942 Roosevelt authorised the army to create exclusion zones, the basis for the incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
- Conscription in CanadaIn February 1942 Ottawa argued over a plebiscite to release King's government from its pledge not to send conscripts overseas. No conscription act was passed.
March
- 05
- The fall of JavaOn 5 March 1942 the Japanese entered Batavia, declared an open city, without a fight. On 8 March at Kalidjati the Dutch accepted the demand to surrender Java.
- Britain extends conscriptionOn 5 March 1942 the Commons debated the mobilisation of women. Registration reached women aged 41, and the first conscripts were to join the ATS within days.
- 17
- MacArthur in AustraliaOn 17 March 1942 MacArthur landed near Darwin. Hailed as a saviour, he found no army to relieve the Philippines. At Terowie he vowed: “I shall return”.
- Killing begins at BełżecOn 17 March 1942 the first transports of Jews from Lublin and Lwów reached the Bełżec camp. They were murdered in the gas chambers soon after arrival.
April
- 03
- The final offensive on BataanOn Good Friday, 3 April 1942, Homma's 14th Army attacked on Bataan. Mount Samat fell on 5 April, and by 8 April the starving defenders' front had collapsed.
- The bombing of MandalayOn Good Friday, 3 April 1942, Japanese bombers burned most of Mandalay. Accounts speak of some 2,000 dead, and the city emptied.
- 05
- The Easter Sunday raid on ColomboOn Easter Sunday, 5 April 1942, Nagumo's carrier aircraft bombed Colombo, and in the afternoon sank the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire at sea.
- Directive No. 41On 5 April 1942 Hitler signed Directive No. 41. In the summer the Wehrmacht was to destroy the Red Army west of the Don and seize the oil of the Caucasus.
- 27
- The Canadian conscription plebisciteOn 27 April 1942 Canadians released King's government from its pledge not to send conscripts overseas. About 64–66% voted yes; in Quebec about 72% said no.
- The Amerikabomber projectOn 27 April 1942 a 33-page plan to bomb the USA from Europe via the Azores was completed. The “Amerikabomber” produced only a few prototypes.
- 29
- The Japanese take LashioOn 29 April 1942 the Japanese 56th Division took Lashio in Burma, the start of the Burma Road. China lost its last land link with the outside world.
- The Hitler–Mussolini meeting at SalzburgOn 29–30 April 1942 Hitler received Mussolini at Klessheim Palace near Salzburg. They discussed the Caucasus offensive, Malta and Italian troops for Russia.
May
- 26
- The Anglo-Soviet TreatyOn 26 May 1942 Eden and Molotov signed in London a treaty of wartime alliance and twenty years of co-operation. It said not a word about the Soviet borders.
- The Free French on Wallis and FutunaIn late May 1942 the aviso Chevreuil from Nouméa landed a Free French party on Wallis. The Vichy resident gave in without a fight; then the Americans came.
- 31
- The attack on Sydney HarbourOn the night of 31 May/1 June 1942 three Japanese midget submarines broke into Sydney Harbour. They sank the depot ship Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors.
- The Cauldron at GazalaAt the end of May 1942 Rommel, cut off from supplies, dug in in “the Cauldron” at Gazala, forced gaps through the minefields and on 31 May struck 150th Brigade.
June
- 07
- The Japanese on Attu and KiskaOn 6–7 June 1942 the Japanese took Kiska and Attu unopposed. Attu's Aleuts were deported to Japan, and the US removed Aleuts from other islands.
- The end of the Battle of MidwayOn 5–7 June 1942 Yamamoto called off the Midway attack, US planes sank the cruiser Mikuma, and a Japanese submarine finished off Yorktown, which sank on 7 June.
- The first action of ELASOn 7 June 1942, in the village of Domnista in Evrytania, Aris Velouchiotis and a dozen partisans announced the start of ELAS's fight against Greece's occupiers.
- 10
- Key eventThe destruction of LidiceOn 10 June 1942 the Germans shot 173 men of the Czech village of Lidice, sent the women to Ravensbrück and the children to Łódź, and razed the village.
- The defence of Bir HakeimOn the night of 10–11 June 1942, after two weeks defending Bir Hakeim, General Koenig's 1st Free French Brigade broke out of encirclement to the British lines.
- 13
- The Office of War InformationOn 13 June 1942 Roosevelt created the Office of War Information. The journalist Elmer Davis was to run US wartime information and propaganda at home and abroad.
- Black Saturday at GazalaOn 12–13 June 1942 Rommel smashed the British armoured brigades at Knightsbridge and El Adem. On the night of 13–14 June the Guards abandoned Knightsbridge.
July
- 11
- The fighting for Tel el Eisa and Ruweisat Ridge10–16 July 1942: Auchinleck seized the initiative at El Alamein. Australians routed the Italians at Tel el Eisa; New Zealanders bled on Ruweisat Ridge.
- The round-up in Liberty Square in SalonikaOn 11 July 1942 the Germans herded 9,000 Jewish men into Liberty Square in Salonika, humiliated them for hours and registered them for forced labour.
- 12
- The creation of the Stalingrad FrontOn 12 July 1942 the Stavka formed the Stalingrad Front from the shattered South-Western Front's command and three reserve armies to shield the Volga.
- An Operation Outward balloon over BöhlenOn 12 July 1942 a British balloon's wire shorted a 110 kV line near Leipzig. Post-war findings say a breaker failure then set the Böhlen power station on fire.
August
- 08
- The execution of the Operation Pastorius saboteursOn 8 August 1942 six German saboteurs from Operation Pastorius, condemned by a military commission, were executed in the electric chair in Washington.
- The Battle of Savo IslandOn the night of 8/9 August 1942 Mikawa's cruisers surprised the Allied screen of the Guadalcanal landing off Savo and sank four heavy cruisers.
- 12
- Churchill in MoscowOn 12 August 1942 Churchill flew to Moscow and told Stalin in the Kremlin that there would be no second front in France in 1942.
- Americans in the New HebridesOn 11 August 1942 a US Navy construction battalion landed on Espiritu Santo. The New Hebrides were becoming the rear base for the fight for Guadalcanal.
- 22
- Brazil declares war on Germany and ItalyAfter U-507 sank five ships with over 600 dead, Brazil recognised on 22 August 1942 that it was at war with Germany and Italy.
- The massacre of Jews in StanisławówOn 22 August 1942, in a “reprisal action”, the Germans shot over 1,000 Jews in Stanisławów and hanged the Judenrat chairman and about 20 policemen.
September
- 12
- Key eventThe sinking of the LaconiaOn 12 September 1942 U-156 sank the troopship Laconia with 1,800 Italian POWs aboard. The rescue that followed ended in Dönitz's Laconia Order.
- The Battle of Bloody RidgeOn the nights of 12–13 and 13–14 September 1942 Kawaguchi's brigade attacked the ridge south of Henderson Field. Edson's Marines barely held it.
- 23
- Rommel leaves AfricaOn 23 September 1942 a sick Field Marshal Rommel flew out of Africa for treatment. General Georg Stumme took over Panzer Army Africa at El Alamein.
- The fighting on the MatanikauOn 23–27 September 1942 the Marines attacked the Japanese on the Matanikau on Guadalcanal. The attack failed; surrounded companies were taken off by boat.
October
- 18
- The Commando OrderOn 18 October 1942 Hitler ordered Allied commandos to be killed, even in uniform and trying to surrender. Five days later the first victims died.
- Halsey takes command in the South PacificOn 18 October 1942 Nimitz relieved the exhausted Ghormley and gave the South Pacific to Vice Admiral Halsey. The news lifted morale on Guadalcanal.
- 22
- Britain lowers the call-up ageOn 22 October 1942 Ernest Bevin told the Commons that 18-year-olds would be called up. Until then, in practice, men were called only from 18 and a half.
- Clark's mission to AlgeriaOn the night of 21–22 October 1942 General Mark Clark landed from a submarine near Cherchell to agree French help for the landings with General Mast.
- The raid on GenoaOn the night of 22–23 October 1942, 112 RAF Lancasters bombed central Genoa, opening an autumn bombing offensive against the cities of northern Italy.
- 23
- Key eventThe Second Battle of El Alamein beginsAt 9.40 p.m. on 23 October 1942 almost 900 Eighth Army guns opened fire at El Alamein. The infantry of four divisions advanced into the Axis minefields.
- The battle for Henderson FieldOn 23–26 October 1942 the Japanese 2nd Division attacked the American perimeter around Henderson Field on Guadalcanal and was repulsed with heavy losses.
November
- 10
- Darlan and the armistice in North AfricaOn 10 November 1942 Admiral Darlan, under pressure from General Clark, ordered the Vichy forces in North Africa to stop fighting. Oran surrendered the same day.
- “The end of the beginning”On 10 November 1942 Churchill called El Alamein “the end of the beginning”. Montgomery was knighted and made a full general; on 15 November the bells rang.
December
- 02
- The Battle of TebourbaOn 1–4 December 1942 the German 10th Panzer Division counter-attacked at Tebourba and drove the Allies back from Tunis. The Axis took the initiative in Tunisia.
- Key eventThe first controlled chain reactionOn 2 December 1942, beneath the stands of Stagg Field in Chicago, Enrico Fermi's team started up Chicago Pile-1 – the first nuclear reactor.