1942 significant event World War II
1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1942nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 942nd  year of the 2nd millennium, the 42nd  year of the 20th century, and the  3rd   year of the 1940s decade.The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in these terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was the deadliest such year. Death toll estimates for both 1941 and 1942 range from 2.28 to 7.71 million each.Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.March
March 1 – WWII: Japanese forces of the 2nd Division land in Port of Merak on western Java with the intention to advance on Batavia.
March 4 – WWII: Operation K: The Japanese launch an unsuccessful attack carried out by two Kawanishi H8K ("Emily") flying boats at Pearl Harbor. This is the longest distance ever undertaken by a two-plane bombing mission, and one of the longest bombing sorties ever planned without fighter escort.
March 5 – WWII: Japanese forces of the 16th Army under General Hitoshi Imamura enter triumphantly the Dutch colonial capital of Batavia without opposition.
March 6 – WWII: Yugoslav Partisans, operating in Nazi-occupied Serbia, assassinate Đorđe Kosmajac in Belgrade.
March 8–13 – Invasion of Salamaua–Lae: Japanese forces invade and occupy the Salamaua–Lae area in the Territory of New Guinea to establish an air base for the support of further operations in the region. A small Australian garrison (some 200 men) in the area withdraws to Wau after executing demolition operations to prevent the use of their facilities for the invaders. In response to the Japanese landings, Task Force 17 with aircraft carriers Lexington and Yorktown led by Admiral Wilson Brown, attacks the invading naval forces and destroys three transports, and damages the cruiser Yūbari and several other ships.
March 8 – WWII: Japanese forces of the 33rd Division under General Shōzō Sakurai capture Rangoon. The Allies manage to escape and try to make a stand in central Burma.
March 9 – WWII:
Executive order 9082 (February 28, 1942) comes into effect, reorganizing the United States Army into three major commands: Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces, with Henry H. Arnold as Commanding General of the United States Army Air Forces.
The Dutch Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces on Java, General Ter Poorten, surrenders to the Japanese. Ter Poorten's surrender announcement is made without consulting the commanders of the British and US forces, who want to continue the war.
March 11 – WWII: Douglas MacArthur's escape from the Philippines – U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, his family and key members of his staff are evacuated by PT boat, under cover of evening darkness, from Corregidor in the Philippines. Command of U.S. forces in the Philippines passes to Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright.
March 12 – WWII: American troops land at Nouméa on New Caledonia to build a base and garrison the island. This landing includes the first Seabees that are out on active service. The Seabees are Naval Construction battalions, and their name comes from the C and B in construction battalion.
March 15 – WWII: Dünamünde Action: 1,900 central European Jews are shot dead north east of Riga, 1,840 are killed on the 26th.
March 16 – WWII: New Zealand and Australia declare war on Thailand.
March 17 – The Holocaust: Operation Reinhard – The Nazi German Bełżec extermination camp opens in occupied Poland, about 1 km south of the railroad station at Bełżec in the Lublin district of the General Government. At least 434,508 people are killed here up to December 1942.
March 18 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, signs Executive Order 9102, creating the War Relocation Authority (WRA), which becomes responsible for the internment of Americans of Japanese and, to a lesser extent, German and Italian descent, many of them legal citizens.
March 19–30 – WWII: Battle of Toungoo: Chinese forces under General Dai Anlan set up a perimeter around Taungoo. The Japanese 55th Division bombards the positions on the west bank of the Sittaung River with artillery. The Japanese 56th Division links up with the 55th and crosses the river. Taungoo is surrounded and finally taken, while the remnants of the Chinese 200th Division withdraws to new defensive positions at Yedashe.
March 20 – WWII: After being forced to flee the Philippines, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur announces (in Terowie, South Australia), "I came through and I shall return."
March 22 – WWII: Second Battle of Sirte: Escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta ward off a much more powerful Regia Marina (Italian Navy) squadron, north of the Gulf of Sirte.
March 23 – WWII: The Germans burn down the Ukrainian village of Yelino (Koriukivka Raion), killing 296 civilians.
March 24 – The evacuation of Polish nationals from the Soviet Union begins. It is conducted in two phases: until April 5; and between August 10 and 30, 1942, by sea from Krasnovodsk to Pahlavi (Anzali), and (to a lesser extent) overland from Ashkabad to Mashhad. In all, 115,000 people are evacuated, 37,000 of them civilians, 18,000 children (7% of the number of Polish citizens originally exiled to the Soviet Union).
March 25–26 – The Holocaust: First mass transport of Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp, 997 women and girls from Poprad transit camp in the Slovak Republic.
March 28 – WWII:
St Nazaire Raid (Operation Chariot) – British Commandos raid Saint-Nazaire on the coast of Western France, to put its dockyard facilities out of action.
Bombing of Lübeck in World War II: St. Mary's Church, Lübeck is destroyed by an Allied bombing raid.
March 29 – WWII: Following a coup d'état, the Free Republic of Nias is proclaimed by a group of freed Nazi German prisoners in the Indonesian island of Nias; the republic exists for less than a month until the island is fully occupied by Japanese troops.
March 31 – WWII: Battle of Christmas Island – Japanese troops occupy Christmas Island without resistance, following a mutiny by British Indian Army troops against their British officers.May
May – Operation Pluto: The plan to construct oil pipelines under the English Channel, between England and France, is tested in the River Medway.
May 3–4 – WWII: Tulagi is invaded by Japanese forces in the British Solomon Islands of the South Pacific, as part of Operation Mo.
May 5 – WWII: Battle of Madagascar (Operation Ironclad) begins when British forces land on the Vichy French colony of Madagascar. On May 7 the northern city of Diego Suarez surrenders.
May 7 – WWII: On Corregidor, the last American and Filipino forces in the Philippines under command of 2LT Robert L. Obourn (92nd Coast Artillery Regiment, G Battery) from Fort Mills, surrender to the Japanese as directed by Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, the overall commander.
May 8 – WWII:
The Battle of the Kerch Peninsula: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet Armies (44th, 47th, and 51st) defending the Kerch Peninsula, in the eastern part of the Crimea.
The Battle of the Coral Sea (first battle in naval history where 2 enemy fleets fight without seeing each other's fleets) ends in an Allied victory.
The Battle of the Kerch Peninsula: German and Romanian forces launch Unternehmen Trappenjagd (Operation Bustard Hunt), aiming at defeating the Soviet Crimean Front defending the Kerch Peninsula. The battle ends in an Axis victory.
May 8–9 – WWII: At night, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands revolt. The mutiny is crushed, and 3 soldiers are executed (the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny).
May 9 – WWII: Operation Bowery: The USS Wasp and HMS Eagle bring 61 Spitfires to Malta ("Club Runs"). The fighter aircraft are desperately needed to bolster the island's defense against German Luftwaffe air raids.
May 12 – WWII:
Second Battle of Kharkiv: In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive to capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
Japanese minelayer Okinoshima is sunk by American submarine USS S-42.
May 15 – WWII: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
May 20 – The first African-American seamen are taken into the United States Navy.
May 21 – WWII: Mexico declares war against Nazi Germany, after the sinking of the Mexican tanker Faja de Oro by German submarine U-160 off Key West.
May 23 – WWII: German forces of the 6th Army under General Friedrich Paulus and the 1st Panzer Army led by General Ewald von Kleist meet up at Balakleya, southeast of Kharkov, and encircle most of the Soviet 6th and 9th armies, capturing a 250,000-strong Soviet force inside the pocket.
May 26 – WWII:
Battle of Gazala: German forces of Panzer Army Africa led by General Erwin Rommel launch a frontal attack on the central Gazala positions. During the day, the bulk of Rommel's forces move forward, giving the British the impression that this is the main Axis assault. When night falls, the armoured formations turn south in a sweeping move around the southern end of the Gazala line.
Battle of Bir Hakeim: The Free French and British troops slow the German advance in North Africa.
The Anglo-Soviet Treaty of 1942, to help establish a military and political alliance between the USSR and the British Empire, is signed in London by foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
May 27 – WWII: Operation Anthropoid: Czech paratroopers attempt to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich in Prague, and succeed in wounding him.
May 29 – Thai spelling reform of 1942 is initiated by the government of Prime Minister Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram with his office announcing a simplification of the Thai alphabet. The announcement is published in the Royal Gazette on June 1. The reform is canceled by the government of Khuang Aphaiwong on August 2, 1944.
May 30–31 – WWII: Bombing of Cologne – British RAF Bomber Command's "Operation Millennium", its first "1,000 bomber raid", with associated fires make 13,000 families homeless and kills around 475 people, mostly civilians; 3,330 non-residential buildings are destroyed.
May 31–June 1 – WWII: Attack on Sydney Harbour: Japanese midget submarines infiltrate Sydney Harbour in Australia, in an attempt to attack Allied warships.