page_title: Timeline of World War II (1942)
section_title: February
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of World War II (1942) / February
caption_attribution_description: English: British soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese in Singapore, during World War II.
context_page_description: This is a timeline of events that occurred during World War II in 1942.
context_section_description: 1: Vidkun Quisling becomes the Nazi-aligned Minister-President of Norway
  Rommel's forces reach El Gazala, Libya, near the border with Egypt; during a "Winter lull" he will remain there.
  The United States Navy conducts the Marshalls-Gilberts raids attacking Jaluit, Mili, and Makin (Butaritari) islands as well as Kwajalein, Wotje, and Taroa.
  2: General Joseph ("Vinegar Joe") Stilwell is named Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek and Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces in China.
  3: Japanese air power conducts airstrikes against Java, especially the naval base at Surabaya.
  Port Moresby, New Guinea is bombed by the Japanese, increasing the threat to Australia posed by Japan.
  7: Americans continue their defence of Bataan against General Homma's troops.
  9: British troops are now in full retreat into Singapore for a final defence.
  Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
  10: The cruise liner SS Normandie catches fire and capsizes in New York harbour. Although the cause is probably a welder's torch, various conspiracies are imagined in the media.
  11: The "Channel Dash" – The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, rush out of Brest through the English Channel to northern ports, including Wilhelmshaven, Germany; the British naval units fail to sink any of them.
  USS Saratoga is torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-6 480 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor
  13: The battle for Bataan continues.
  15: Singapore surrendered to Japanese forces; this is arguably the most devastating loss in British military history.
  16: Being discussed in high American government circles are plans for the internment of Japanese-Americans living generally in the western US.
  The Japanese commit the Banka Island Massacre in which they open fire on Australian military nurses, killing 21.
  17: Orders are given for Rangoon to be evacuated as Japanese forces approach.
  19: Japanese aircraft attack Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory.
  President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
  A military conscription law is passed in Canada.
  20: Japanese troops cross the important Salween River in Burma.
  Japanese invade Bali and Timor by a combined use of paratroops and amphibious troops.
  21: The American Air Corps is now firmly established at bases in the UK.
  22: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur to evacuate the Philippines as American defence of the nation collapses.
  25: The internment of Japanese-American citizens in the Western United States begins as fears of invasion increase.
  Princess Elizabeth registers for war service.
  26: Vivian Bullwinkel, the only survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, is captured and imprisoned by the Japanese.
  27: Battle of the Java Sea – Under a Dutch Rear Admiral Karl Doorman, the combined forces lose 2 light cruisers and 3 destroyers.
  USS Langley is attacked by nine Japanese Betty bombers in the Java Sea, damaged and later scuttled to prevent capture.
  28: Japanese land forces invade Java.
caption: British soldiers captured by the Japanese after the Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942
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