The Axis Conquers the Philippines: January 1942-July 1942

The Axis­­ continue to demolish onward in World War II during the first one-half of 1942 . On February 15 , 1942 , the British Empire suffered one of its most humiliating licking . At 6:15 p.m. , in a improvised conference room in theFord Motor Companyfactory in Singapore , General Arthur Percival surrender the island to Lieutenant General Yamashita Tomoyuki .

The Japanese made the island the headquarters of the Southern Army , which conquer Southeast Asia , and rename Singapore " Shonan , " think of " Light of the South . " Of the 50,000 snowy troop captured , 18,000 would exit of disease and/or mistreatment before war ’s end .

The Japanese armed military force aimed to capture a broad area in the south . They would defend the border while the rich imagination of the region were incorporated into the Japanese war travail .

Resistance was limited . In the Dutch East Indies , the 140,000 - man compound United States Army was overwhelmed . The northern Philippines , with a sundry indigene and American fo­rce , was chop-chop overrun except for the Bataan Peninsula , where 100,000 soldier and refugees were bottle up . The Japanese enamor the peninsula in April .

The American headquarters in the fort of Corregidor , in Manila Bay , fall on May 6 , 1942 , after a fierce defense . By early June , nearly all American forces in the Philippines had surrendered.­

Further west , a Japanese force overran Burma and entered the capital , Rangoon , on March 8 . A Japaneseaircraftcarrier raid the northern Australian port of Darwin on February 19 , and in April Japanese aircraft slump British merchant vessels on the Native American coast .

This was the limit of Nipponese expansion , though the violation had been so successful and rapid that senior commander seek to capitalise on their vantage with further advances . In early May , a naval effect sailed south to take over the southern peninsula of New Guinea while Admiral Yamamoto design a mid - peaceable offensive . This was design to destroy what was left ofU.S. navalpower in the ocean and cut off American tending to the South Pacific .

The prelude to the final Japanese violation was the seizure of Port Moresby in southerly New Guinea . The project forcefulness that was dispatched south in early May was attack by a modest Allied force in the Coral Sea . The battle was a strategic setback for Yamamoto , who was obliged to forsake his architectural plan to seize Port Moresby and sequester Australia . This was the first pinch that Nipponese enlargement was nearing its limit.­

A month later , Yamamoto complete a huge undertaking force to Midway Island , hoping to entice what was left of the U.S. Pacific Fleet to conflict and then eliminate it . With a modest force out of carriers and sufficient secret intelligence on Nipponese intentions , the Pacific Fleet commander , Admiral Chester Nimitz , plan a venturesome interception .

As the Japanese mailman fleet neared Midway , it was assault by American diving - bombers . Only a few of their bomb strike , but they sank all four fleet aircraft carrier . Yamamoto put a return to Japan . His program had been spoil by America ’s intelligence service successes , astute leadership , combat skills , and fortune .

Elsewhere , the global war remained balanced on a tongue boundary . China ’s long , pull - out conflict with Japan had become a stately province of war on December 9 , 1941 , following Pearl Harbor . Although the Japanese army control much of eastern and northern China , Chinese striking - and - lam tactic made it hard for Japan to pacify and control even those areas under occupation .

In May 1942 , Japanese commanders embarked on a ruthless insurance policy of pacification – " kill all , slip all , bite all " – to essay to deter further Formosan resistance . Roughly 250,000 Chinese were kill in 1942 .

In North Africa , British Empire forces based in Egypt had moved forward successfully across Libya against weak Italian opposition . But in January 1942 , against an Axis personnel strengthen by a Nazi German corps under General Erwin Rommel , the British Empire Forces get down a long retreat back to Egypt . Tobruk fell to the Axis on June 21 , and by the goal of June Axis forces were a few mile from El Alamein , Egypt , within striking distance of the Suez Canal .

The British position at sea – in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic – remain parlous . In 1942 they lost 7.8 million tons of merchant marine . Britain was able to spell only one - third of what it took in before the war . The Allies ' persistent bombardment of national socialist German naval installations and U-boat construction sites accomplish almost nothing .

The most dangerous situation lay in the Soviet theater of operations . With the successful defense of Moscow in December 1941 , the Soviets launched further offensive , trying to notice unaccented spots in the national socialist German line . In the south , the Red Army created a great salient in national socialist German defensive line south of Kharkov .

But when Joseph Stalin ordered the Red Army to capture the metropolis in May 1942 , the Nazi German front absorbed the attack and then encircled and annihilated the attackers . In the Crimea , the Nazi Germans repulsed a Soviet counteroffensive on the Kerch Peninsula . In July , they captured Sevastopol after an assault with the world ’s largest artillery piece : " Big Dora . "

Nazi Germany ’s central ambition was the final frustration of the Soviet Union in 1942 . Adolf Hitler plan to attack the less well - support southerly front toward the Volga River and the Caucasus vegetable oil fields . Their seizure would give his forces huge new oil supplies and deny them to the opposition .

On June 28 , Nazi Germany launch " Operation Blue " with substantial success . The Soviet southern front retire . So successful was the assault that Adolf Hitler divided the force in two . He sent the Sixth Army , under General Friedrich Paulus , to seize Stalingrad and shorten the Soviet Union off from the resources of the south . By August , national socialist German forces had reached the vegetable oil metropolis of Maikop and were advance toward the copious rock oil fields around Grozny .

In midsummer 1942 , the war was poised in the counterbalance . The strategic dream of the Axis powers was to link up in the Middle East . They would seize the Suez Canal and the oil that lay beyond it from one side , and they would sweep down from the Caucasus on the other side .

With Japan threaten India and the United States not yet fully armed , the aspiration seemed less fantastic at the time than it now come along . Yet the summer of 1942 watch the mellow water line of Axis aggrandisement . Over the next twelvemonth , the Allies would find not just great resources but also more effective ways of fighting . They were poised to reverse the foresighted series of defeats that had until then litter their war attempt .

Let ’s take a closer look at these event , beginning with a timeline of early January 1942 on the next Thomas Nelson Page .

Learn more about the significant events and players of World War II in these informative articles:

World War II Timeline: January 1942-28 November 2024

On January 2 , 1942 , the Filipino cap of Manila was occupy by the Japanese ground forces . Learn about this and the other significant World War II events that occur during the month of January 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: January 1-January 11

January : In a directive that is crucial for troop team spirit , British General Claude Auchinleck reminds his Eighth Army that Erwin " Desert Fox " Rommel is an ordinary , though successful general , and not an invincible , supernatural force .

January 1 : TheUnited Nationsis contain from an agreement among 26 Allied state not to make freestanding peace with the signatories of the Tripartite Pact .

Autodealerships across the United States close their doors after steel preservation measure force a moratorium on fresh car and truck sales .

Twenty - three Czech partisans are murdered by the Nazi line of work force out on distrust of sabotage .

January 2 : The rampaging Japanese ground forces occupies the Filipino upper-case letter of Manila .

January 3 - 12 : China emerges winning in a struggle for Changsha , Hunan . The Chinese aim some 70,000 Nipponese military personnel into full retreat .

January 4 : New Nipponese basis in Thailand are now usable .

January 6 : Washington and London announce project to station American troops in Britain to help further confederative military goals in Europe .

In a triumph that is Britain ’s first against Nazi German troops in this war , the Eighth Army rout a division of Erwin Rommel ’s Panzer Corps , inflict nearly 40,000 casualties .

January 10 : The Nipponese set up a propaganda warfare in the skies over the Philippines , dropping cusp on Allied troops that exhort for their giving up .

January 11 : Japan occupy the Celebes Islands , part of the Dutch imperium , and declares state of war on the Netherlands .

Japan continues its campaign of conquest with the seizure of the Malaysian working capital of Kuala Lumpur .

World War II Headlines

Below are more high spot and images that outline the events of World War II and show the details and consequence of Japan conquering the Philippines in 1942 .

British Borneo falls to Japan : Japanese infantry go on the assault in British Borneo . craggy and heavily jungled , with a limited connection of roads , Borneo was strategically authoritative due to its spot on the main itinerary between Japan and Malaya . It also offered with child supply of oil and raw materials to the resource - starved Japanese ( though for Japan to successfully transport oil along shipping lanes that would see increased Allied bodily function would be difficult ) .

For the moment , though , the possibility of Nipponese access to additional oil was unappealing to the Allies . British strategists had long realize that Borneo could not be held . Nevertheless , the only Allied ground unit on Borneo , an outnumbered Indian battalion of the fifteenth Punjab Regiment , managed to resist for 10 weeks before it was overwhelmed .

The Battle of Changsha , China : A Formosan soldier mans a lightmachine gunduring the Battle of Changsha . The Japanese offence against the metropolis start with 120,000 troops in belated December 1941 . The Formosan army resisted with 300,000 men , which harassed the Japanese advance and then established line of defense in Changsha itself .

The Japanese rape penetrated the city , but on January 1 the Chinese counterattack , inflict weighty casualty . Other Chinese unit sweep down from the mountains to sever Japanese supply lines . Suddenly notice themselves besieged , the Japanese began a costly hideaway , finally reaching the safety of the Sinchiang River on January 15 .

Brazil connect to Nazi Germany : The United States had deep concern about Brazilian insurance policy in the age prior to World War II . enamour of the national socialist German simulation , Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas had dissolved Brazil ’s constitutional government in 1937 and strengthened business deal linkup with Nazi Germany , make alarum in U.S. political rotary . Vargas smartly flirt upon those fears to win economical concessions from the U.S. In 1942 Brazil at last came into the war on the confederate side . However , foeman agentive role and the large German population in South America provide pro - Axis pressure and cover for Axis communication facilities well into 1944 .

See the next section for a timeline and more headline from January 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 21 December 2024-28 November 2024

The Soviet Union began evacuating the besieged city of Leningrad on January 22 , 1942 . Learn about this and the other authoritative World War II event that pass during the month of January 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: January 12-January 22

January 12 : The Inter - Allied Conference meet in London and resolves to assay Axis officials withwar crimesat the remainder of the battle .

January 13 : The first 700 of 10,000 Polish Jews from the city of Lódz ´ scheduled for " relocation " are transport to the newly established Chelmno death encampment in Poland .

The Nazi Germans launch Operation Drum Roll , aU - boatoffensive along the American East Coast .

January 14 : American and British state of war planners , meet in Washington , D.C. , agree to focus on Adolf Hitler ’s frustration before turn their attention to Nipponese supremacy in the Pacific .

Nearly 2,000 European companies with Axis interests are barred from doing business with any American entity , public or secret .

The tankerNorness , flying Panamanian colors , istorpedoedoff North Carolina ’s Cape Hatteras . It is the first ship assail off the U.S. East Coast by a Nazi German U - boat .

January 20 : At the Wannsee Conference in Berlin , the Nazis draw most German government agencies into the European dower of the " Final Solution " for the Jews . Reinhard Heydrich suggests that they should be worked to destruction , and those that do n’t succumb should be executed .

Facing a sure threat by Japan , Winston Churchill calls on British troops to represent Singapore " to the end . "

January 21 : Erwin Rommel shock his British foes by directing his Afrika Korps in a tactical about - face . He launches an offense in Libya that will see him regain lost territory almost immediately .

January 22 : The Soviets begin the emptying of hundreds of thousands of people from the besieged metropolis of Leningrad .

Below are more highlights and images that delineate the case of World War II in 1942 , including Japan ’s victories after theattack on Pearl Harbor .

Japan gathers a string of triumph in the Southeast : before long after Pearl Harbor , Nipponese forces invade Thailand and Malaya . landing also took space in the Philippines , North Borneo , and the Dutch East Indies . On December 26 , the fall of Hong Kong terminate an 18 - 24-hour interval Japanese onslaught . During January 1942 , Manila and Kuala Lumpur were fill and the Solomon Islands invaded . From February to April , the British stronghold of Singapore precipitate , and Japanese landing were made at Bali , Mindanao , and Dutch New Guinea .

Then , just as the overextended Nipponese forces sought to consolidate their newly deliver the goods territories , a serial of U.S. triumph from May to August – in the Coral Sea , at Midway , and at Guadalcanal – last reversed the strategic situation .

The political cartoon of Dr. Seuss : A decade before he broke through as a illustrious youngster ’s book author , Dr. Seuss ( Theodor Seuss Geisel ) created more than 400 political cartoons for the bighearted New York tabloidPMduring the state of war . elemental fair game for his biting caricatures were Adolf Hitler , Benito Mussolini , conservative political leader , and isolationist . Dr. Seuss also condemned anti - sinister and anti - Semitic beliefs , but he targeted all Japanese as likely enemy of America .

In cartoon depict aboved , which appear inPMon February 13 , 1942 , he expressed the fear that most of the Japanese Americans on the Pacific coast were potential saboteurs . His cartoons contributed to the hysteria that run to the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942 .

Italy rootle at Tobruk , Libya : In January 1942 , the Italian William Lloyd Garrison of Tobruk , Libya , fall to the Allied Western Desert Force . Some 25,000 prisoners , 208 guns , 23 tanks , 200 truck , and a numerosity of rations and provision were capture – as was a guarantee origin of sweet water . The British also evolve a major interface vital to their logistic plans .

Meanwhile , the Italian navy ache from faulty operating concept , underfunding , poor gunnery , and ecumenical misdirection . consequently , the part - submerged stiff of the Italian guided missile destroyer pictured above , sunk by the Royal Navy outside the harbour , symbolized the totality of the Italian frustration at Tobruk .

Nazi Germans immobilize on Eastern Front : Nazi German soldier huddle around a blast during their first wintertime in the Soviet Union in 1941 - 1942 . Daytime temperature were routinely -30ºF. Although national socialist German morale generally held up remarkably well , theWehrmachthigh command was unprepared for campaigning in the Soviet wintertime . lubricant freeze out , and accordingly vehicle and artillery reject to work . Many horses upon which the army – especially the artillery units – still look died during the bitterly cold Night . Meanwhile , many foot company were quickly dilute to platoon strength due to their lack of winter article of clothing . The Red Army was much better disposed .

Australians ambush Japanese : Trapped in a gorge , Japanese troops are cut down near the Gemencheh Bridge near Gemas , Malaya . On January 14 , 1942 , a caller of Australians ambushed Japanese bicycle - mounted scout group who were passing through a cutting that led to the bridge on the Sungei Gemencheh River . Despite inflicting gravid injured party in their first major confrontation with the Japanese , the Australians were finally forced to call back . The Japanese Fifth Division lost an estimated 1,000 men in the ambush and subsequent fighting nearer to Gemas . The Australian 2/30th Battalion suffered just 81 casualties .

Find a World War II timeline detail the important consequence of January 1942 on the next page .

World War II Timeline: 9 April 2025-17 April 2025

On January 25 , 1942 , Thailand declare war on the United States and Great Britain . acquire about this and the other of import World War II events that occurred during 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: January 23-February 1

January 23 : Australia sends an urgent request for assistance from the Allies after a series of conquests in the Southwest Pacific brings the Japanese within a thousand miles of Australian territory .

January 24 : U.S. Supreme Court justice Owen Roberts reports that inquests into culpability for theJapanese attack on Pearl Harborreveal indifference and disuse on the part ofNavyandArmycommanders – Rear Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lieutenant General Walter Short .

The first significant naval struggle in the Pacific Theater , the Battle of Makassar Strait , end with the Japanese losing four transport ships . Despite their losses , they will accomplish their objective of securing the oil colour - rich interface of Balikpapan , Borneo .

January 25 : Thailand declares war on the United States and Great Britain .

January 26 : The U.S. armed military group base their British office in the uppercase city of London .

The Japanese gain a decisive base with the seizure of Rabaul , New Britain .

January 30 : In a speech that lead no doubt about one of Adolf Hitler ’s elemental goals of the war , theFührerasserts that the conflict will end with the " complete annihilation of the Jews , " call them " the most evil universal enemy of all time . "

February 1 : The Reich institutes a policy of baccy rationing in the Fatherland , allowing Germanwomenhalf aman ’s ration .

national socialist tool Vidkun Quisling is named Norse prime minister for the 2d sentence . He will publicly accept his reappointment in a voice communication unapologetically delivered in German .

Nazi GermanU - boatsadopt a new cipher hollo " Triton , " meaning the Allies can no longer construe their content .

Below are more highlights and images that limn the events of World War II , including the evacuation of Singapore .

civilian killed during voiding of Singapore : adult female and children come in Britain after evacuating from Singapore . Confident of the invulnerability of the fort and fearful of produce a panic , British authorities waited too long to commence the mass excretion of civilian . As defeat loomed , all usable ships were hastily loaded with fleeing civilian . TheEmpire Star , designed to carry a small number of rider , was swot with 2,000 refugees . As coordination fall apart down , the excreting became a debacle . Enemy sheet assail the fleeing ships and thousands of civilians drowned . Others survived submerge only to be murdered by Japanese troops as they struggled ashore on Bangka Island .

Australian Vivian Bullwinkel survivesJapanese ­massacre : Sister Vivian Bullwinkel , an Australian Army nurse , was among the last 65 nurses evacuated from Singapore before it fell in February 1942 . Their ship was sink by Nipponese aircraft off Bangka Island near Sumatra . Bullwinkel and a grouping of survivors shinny ashore and surrendered to Nipponese soldiers , who bayoneted the valet de chambre and shot the woman .

Miraculously , Bullwinkel survived a bullet to the side . She get away into the hobo camp and eventually surrendered to Japanese sailor , from whom she concealed her wounds . She then stick out three year of harsh imprisonment , attributing her survival of the fittest to the friendship of fellow nurses and religion in Australia .

Britain ’s heartbreaking defeat in Singapore : The loss of the " Gibraltar of the Far East " on February 15 , 1942 , rate among the capital defeat in British military history . The nimble Japanese victory over a numerically superior force stunned the existence , shattered British military mogul in the area , disclose the myth of Western superiority for all to see , and raised the hopes of nationalistic movements chafing under colonial formula . Britain ’s colonial star move into decline and would never regain its former ascendancy .

See the next Sir Frederick Handley Page for a World War II timeline that follows the major events of former February 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 15 December 2024-3 May 2025

Franklin Roosevelt approved assistance to the Nationalist Chinese on February 7 , 1942 . hear about this and the other important World War II events that occurred during the month of February 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: February 1-February 13

February 1 : Nipponese bases on the Gilbert and Marshall islands fare under attack by more than 90 carrier - basedU.S. warplanes .

February 4 : In Egypt , British embassador Sir Miles Lampson surrounds King Farouk ’s palace with Allied tanks to pressure the monarch into appointing a pro - British governing .

Japan weigh Britain to surrender control of Singapore , the crown gem in the British Asiatic empire .

February 6 : British and American functionary contact inWashington , D.C. , for the first group discussion of the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff .

The United States counterattack a reward Nipponese force on the island of Luzon , Philippines .

February 7 : A congressional call for $ 500 million in aid to the Nationalist Chinese get Franklin Roosevelt ’s postage stamp of favourable reception .

February 9 : The Japanese conquer Singapore ’s Tengah airfield , a vital supply link .

February 10 : Axis sabotage is suspected whenNormandie , the luxury Gallic liner impounded in New York , catches flack and capsizes . No sabotage actually occurred .

February 11 : London questions Vichy France ’s assertions of neutrality , revealing that France has supplied national socialist German forces in North Africa with more than 5,000 lots of fuel over the past three months .

February 11 - 13 : The national socialist German US Navy humiliates the British with the perfect instruction execution of Operation Cerberus , also known as the " Channel Dash . " ineffectual to retort from Brest , France , to their home port via the British - manipulate Atlantic road , the national socialist German battleshipsScharnhorstandGneisenauand the cruiserPrinz Eugenmake an venturesome leakage up the English Channel .

Below are more highlights and images that outline key case of World War II , such as Japan ’s air maraud on Surabaya , Java .

Adolf Galland , theWehrmacht ’s youngest full general : Adolf Galland , believably the best - knownLuftwaffeace of the war , contribute a combatant group during the Battle of Britain that account for 103 aircraft " kills . " By later 1941 , he was commanding theLuftwaffefighter weapon system . In late 1942 , he became theWehrmacht ’s youngest world-wide ( years 31 ) . Despite his spring chicken , he consistently demonstrated impressive organisational and noetic abilities . Galland ’s well - founded advocacy of using theLuftwaffetactically rather than strategically was fully in line with the air - warfare policies of Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler . He was send packing in January 1945 , and was later shot down and captured while command an Me 262 jet-propelled plane fighter squadron .

The Blenheim bombers lash out national socialist German targets : The British Royal Air Force ’s ( RAF ) Bristol Blenheim zep were the first RAFaircraftto make a bombing attack against Nazi German object . These three - man - crew abstemious bombers wing at 225 mph to a range of 1,450 miles , carry up to 1,350 pounds ofbombs . Fivemachine gunswere provided for ego - defense .

Fifteen RAF Blenheim squadron were in help by 1939 , with a much - improved " long - nozzle " Mark IV version introduce that twelvemonth . Used for low - level daylight bombing foray in 1941 - 1942 , almost 600 of 1,012 RAF Blenheims were lose – 403 to foeman military action . They were eventually withdrawn from service in late 1942 , and were replaced progressively by Boston , Ventura , and Mitchell bombers .

Japan goes after Java ’s oil : cloud of smoke roil into the sky following an air foray on Surabaya , Java , in the Dutch East Indies ( now Indonesia ) in February 1942 . The Japanese had long coveted the neighborhood ’s Brobdingnagian oil playing field and refineries , and they prompt to reside Java soon after the fall of Singapore . An Allied attempt to turn away the Nipponese invasion fleet die in the seven - hr Battle of the Java Sea on February 27 . Five Allied warships were sink in the scrimmage , while the Japanese lost only a exclusive destroyer .

See the next page for item of the other pregnant World War II result that occurred during February 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 14 March 2025-13 April 2025

On February 15 , 1942 , Great Britain surrendered Singapore to the Japanese . find out about this and the other important World War II events that take place during the calendar month of February 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: February 13-February 22

February 13 : After legion delays , Adolf Hitler permanently invalidate the Nazi German invasion of Britain , code - nominate Operation Sealion .

­Japanese aviatorsinadvertently diving - flunk their own troops in a raid on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines .

February 14 : The British governance train the British Royal Air Force ( RAF ) to begin a military campaign that direct German civilians , shifting the focus aside from exclusivelybombingmilitary and production installation .

February 14 - 16 : The Nipponese score an authoritative strategical victory with the ictus of the crude - fertile island of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies .

February 15 : In a stunning defeat for the Empire , the British surrender Singapore to the Japanese , who will resurrect the rising sun flag over the regulator ’s manse the following day .

February 19 : The Canadian Parliament approves a resolution calling for a military gulp .

In just one day , the unstoppable Japanese attack Bali , Mandalay , and Timor . They will install occupation forces in both Bali and Timor the next day .

February 20 : Lieutenant Edward " Butch " O’Hare , Navyflying ace for whom Chicago ’s major airport will eventually be named , shoots down five Nipponese bombers over a five - arcminute period .

February 22 : The Allies set in motion a campaign against Japanese transport when they seed the mouth of Burma ’s Rangoon River with 40 British magnetised mines drop from USAAF B-24 bomber .

President Franklin D. Roosevelt transfer General Douglas MacArthur , pulling him from his post in the Philippines and naming him commanding officer of Allied forces in Australia .

Below are more highlights and images that delineate the events of World War II , include the involvement of Burma in the warfare .

Kozo Nishino ’s swears revenge on California : In the former thirties , a Japanese tanker docked near the Ellwood oil field outside of Santa Barbara , California , for refueling . As its commander , Kozo Nishino , walk along a route from the wharfage , he slip and accrue on a bristly pear cactus . Several workers on a nearby oil color rig laughed at Kozo ’s misfortune . mortify , he reportedly swore retaliation . On February 23 , 1942 , a Nipponese torpedo fired several shells at an Ellwood oil rig . Although the casing did minimal damage , they lift the anxiety floor of civilian look for a Nipponese invasion . The captain of the enemy sub was none other than Kozo Nishino .

President Roosevelt approves funds for testing bat bombs : In January 1942 , dental operating surgeon Lytle Adams submitted a plan to the White House that , he claim , would bring the blazing result of war to Japanese civilians . Upon inspection , President Franklin Roosevelt released finances for testing . Adams ’s plan call for the rescue of a large number of bats carrying minor incendiary bomb over foeman city . The bombs would be set to ignite after the bats took daylight asylum in surrounding buildings . examination began in March 1943 with limited success . some $ 2 million was spent on the project before it was scrapped in other 1944 .

ally scorch Rangoon , Burma , before departing : Smoke billow over Rangoon on March 6 , 1942 , as British forces organize to abandon the metropolis to the advancing Japanese . As Burma ’s Das Kapital and major port , Rangoon served as a major confederative supply point . Determined to leave nothing of value for the Japanese , the Allies empty the metropolis and declare a general scorched - terra firma insurance policy . Oil warehousing tank , refineries , port installations , railway car and trucks , stockpile of tires , and even bloodline of blanket and bed sheets were destroyed . The primary power station was blown up on March 9 as the last defenders left . The Japanese entered the ravaged city the following day .

Chinese attempt to help in Burma : Formosan troops arrive in Burma in early 1942 to connect the British in the battle against invading Japanese . implicated about the loss of theirLend - Leasesupply routes , the Chinese pop the question aid soon after Burma was invaded by the Japanese . The British accept their assistance only after the Japanese had break through toward Rangoon . By recent February , two Chinese armies had link the military campaign , but they proved to be footling mate for the Japanese . The British withdrew to India and the Chinese units return to China as well they could , some as an undisciplined syndicate of refugees .

Divided commitment between British and Japanese in Burma : Burmese civilian pad north to escape the get on Japanese in March 1942 . Many Burmese resented British colonial rule and underpin the Japanese in hopes of obtain independence . Others , in particular group such as the Karen and Kachins , remained loyal to the British and organized resistivity units to defend the Japanese . They suffer severely from both the Japanese and the puppet Burmese Independence Army . They later on provided invaluable help when the Allies recaptured Burma in 1944 - 1945 .

hold out the next division for a timeline of major World War II events in belated February and early March 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 1 February 2025-22 January 2025

More than 270 Allied merchant vessels were lost during March 1942 . pick up about this and the other important World War II events that occur during 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: February 23-March 9

February 23 : In the first Japanese " attack " on the American mainland , a Nipponese submarine aerofoil at Nox off Ellwood , California , near Santa Barbara . It discharge on an crude derrick , damaging a catwalk but little else . Much local scare keep up for a few 24-hour interval .

February 26 : Joseph Stalin make the first of many request to the American and British command to open up a second European front against the Nazi Germans so as to relieve some of the press on the Red Army .

February 27 : Japan launches an assault on the Andamans , a chain of islands on India ’s Bay of Bengal .

February 27 - March 1 : Ten Allied warships are sunk during the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea . With the Allies suffering one of the worst wartime defeats at sea , Japanese ships are left to roam Indonesian waters at will .

February 28 : Pearl Harbor air force officer Lieutenant General Walter Short and Rear Admiral Husband Kimmel retire . The U.S.militaryannounces it will motor hotel - martial the two commander at a later date .

March : The Allies lose 273 merchant vas this calendar month .

Desperate for metal to manufactureairplaneengines , Nazi Germany get to garner bronze and copper church bells for the smelter ’s fires .

March 2 : TheU.S. governmentbans all Japanese Americans from all of two and portions of three Pacific coastal State .

Nazis murder some 5,000 Jews in Minsk , Belorussia .

March 8 : The Japanese take the Burmese capital of Rangoon .

March 9 : The Japanese seize the Indonesian island of Java from the Dutch .

Below are more highlight and images that outline the events of World War II and provide details on Japanese internment during World War II .

Nipponese Americans describe to imprisonment ingroup : In answer to awful warnings from the military machine and rising panic among average citizen , the U.S. government in February 1942 begin evacuate the great unwashed of Japanese blood from Pacific Coastal areas . About 8,000 Japanese Americans voluntarily left , and another 120,000 – 72,000 of whom were U.S. citizens – were forcibly relocated . Nipponese Americans were held under guard at fabrication center , where their luggage was scrutinize for forbid point , such ascameras , shortwaveradios , andguns . They were then bussed to camps east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains .

Life in the Japanese impounding camp : Japanese Americans were relocated into barrack in such locations at Manzanar , California . Since the internee recognise nothing about where they were being taken , most did not have worthy clothing for the extremes of estrus and dusty in their new locations . Each family was designate a 20 ' ecstasy 25 ' life space , and they share communal latrine and showers . Confinement to barbed - conducting wire fenced refugee camp that were overseen by armed guard and watchtowers was psychologically devastating to people who considered themselves good Americans .

Canada interns Japanese : Above , an officeholder of the Royal Canadian Navy questions Nipponese Canadian fishermen . When Canadians became afraid that fishermen of Nipponese ancestry might be charting the Pacific coastline for the foeman , the government confiscated all Japanese sportfishing boat . In former 1942 , Canada interned the nearly 23,000 Nipponese Canadians who lived in British Columbia – about three quarter of whom were citizens – in 10 camps scattered throughout the nation . At first , men and women were incarcerated separately . Later , families were allowed to be together if the men agree to fill labor shortfall on sugar beet farm .

The next Sir Frederick Handley Page outlines some of the other major effect that occur during March 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 21 April 2025-3 January 2025

On March 18 , 1942 , Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten was named the chief of Combined Operations by the Combined Chiefs of Staff . Learn about this and the other authoritative World War II events that come about during the month of March 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: March 10-March 20

March 10 : Britain has already drop more than nine billionpoundson the war effort , more than was spent on the full First World War .

March 11 : The French Resistance blows up a Nazi scout group gearing , killing about 250 Nazi German soldier .

As recompense for their merchant vessels losses to the Axis , Brazil capture Axis property .

March 13 : America enters the China - Burma - India theater with the arrival ofU.S. Army Air Forceairmen in Karachi , India .

March 14 : Washington sets program in motion to increase troop levels in Europe in preparation for an eventual plan of attack on the nitty-gritty of the Nazi Reich .

In response to the Japanese menace , the first contingent of American troops that will serve under General Douglas MacArthur shore in Australia .

March 17 : General Douglas MacArthur presume his new post as supreme commander of Allied force in the southwest Pacific Theater . He lands in Darwin , Australia , a few days after his first chemical group ofmen .

March 17 - 31 : Some 20,000 prisoners , mostly Jews , are mutilate in the new Belzec , Poland , death camp , which opened on March 13 .

March 18 : The American and British Combined Chiefs of Staff install Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten as the chief of Combined Operations .

March 19 : British nursing home secretarial assistant Herbert Morrison accuse the London paperThe Daily Mirrorof " reckless indifference to the national interest " for its practice of publishing account with an antiwar slant .

March 20 : Nipponese and Taiwanese troop clash along the Sittang River on the Burmese front .

Below are more highlights and image that outline the events of World War II , as well as the interest of British women during the war .

Hu Shih solicits U.S. support for China : Known as " the father of the Chinese literary gyration , " Hu Shih studied at Cornell University in 1910 and afterward at Columbia University . A renowned philosopher and intellectual , he wait on as Taiwanese embassador to the United States from 1938 to 1942 .

As ambassador , he successfully rallied U.S. understanding and support for his nation ’s battle against the Japanese . He later served as a delegate to the San Francisco Conference , which establish theUnited Nations . An outspoken counsellor of democracy and human right , Hu Shih relocate to Taiwan after the Chinese Revolution . He died of a heart tone-beginning in 1962 .

Chinese struggle to offer medical care : Throughout the war , the Chinese contend to adequately treat wounded and diseased troop and civilian . The relatively few available hospital facility stomach from a want of supply and equipment , and a famine of Dr. . Conditions were better at a U.S. missional hospital run by Dr. Gordon Seagrave and his nursemaid in the Namhkam Valley , Burma , off the Burma Road . Seagrave had been recruited by the U.S. military machine and may have had word duties as well as medical responsibleness .

British singerVera Lynn , the " Forces ' Sweetheart":When war began , youthful British singer Vera Lynn was certain that her fledgeling career was over . She volunteered for wartime duty , expect to work in a factory or join the Army . To her surprise , Lynn was order that she would be more useful as an entertainer . Soon dubbed the " Forces ' Sweetheart , " she became the most democratic vocalist of her meter , raising spirits on the warfare front and at menage with her wide repertoire of wartime songs . " We ’ll run into Again " was one of Vera Lynn ’s best - loved selections .

Resisters ' develop innovations to aid war effort : Active and peaceful resistance movements developed within most of Nazi German - engage Europe . Inevitably , opposer attracted harsh reprisal , fell interrogative , and sum-up executions . Many obstructor used ingenious expert innovations – assassination weapons , booby traps , codes , sabotage explosive , and communication theory equipment . Such innovations were designed and allow by the British Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) or devised locally . One such Norwegian twist was an intricately wired denture plate that could experience radio broadcast from London some 1,200 miles away .

Britain ’s Women ’s Land Army created : The Women ’s Land Army ( WLA ) was formed in 1939 under its first director , Lady Gertrude Denman , and numbered 87,000 amply trained " land girls " by mid-1943 . The governing body ’s members run in agriculture and forestry , produce much of the vital food stocks and timbre for wartime Britain . Although many domain girl survive middling well , either on the farm or in inn , others suffer an isolated and often rudimentary rural existence . In 1945 authorities parsimony abnegate the land girl postwar financial benefits .

HMSHermes , the war ’s previous aircraft attack aircraft carrier , destroyed : Launched in 1919 , the HMSHermeswas the world ’s first purpose - build up aircraft carrier . A keepsake by the time of World War II , theHermessuffered from design problems that admit a small hanger and unstableness at high sea . Even so , the carrier served the Allies in the southerly Atlantic and off the coast of Africa . On April 9 , 1942 , it was destroyed by 70 Japanese attack aircraft near Ceylon . show sinking feeling here ( in a pic take aim by a Japanese buffer ) , it go away down with 307 men .

See the next varlet for a timeline of the major World War II events of early give 1942 .

World War II Timeline: Spring 1942-27 March 2025

On March 28 , 1942 , the first of 6,000 Parisian Jews were send to the Auschwitz extermination camp . Learn about this and the other important World War II events that happen during the spring of 1942 below .

Spring : Construction set out at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah . TheU.S. Armyconstructs simulated Japanese and German towns in gild to test the effects of incendiarybombsand other weapons .

March 22 : British andAmerican Air Forceunits are left exhibit to lash out as they beat a retreat after the Japanese capture of Burma ’s Magwe field . The loss of the strategic landing funnies forget the Allies unable to call for aura support .

Abwehr(German intelligence ) captain and double federal agent Paul Thummel , a British MI6 plus on the ground in Czechoslovakia , is arrested by the Nazis .

March 24 : Japan launch an offensive against Bataan .

March 26 : The Nazi government orders that all Jewish homes in Germany and the occupy district must be identified as such .

Admiral Ernest King , commander - in - chief of the U.S. Fleet , becomes the highest - ranking police officer in theNavywith his appointment as chief of Naval Operations .

March 28 : Allies deliberately slam dance the HMSCampbeltowninto the gates at the Normandy dock at St. Nazaire on the Gallic Atlantic coast , the largest dry dock in Nazi - occupied Europe and the only one big enough to handle the Nazi German battleshipTirpitz . Once past the gate , Allied commando sabotage the deftness .

The first of 6,000 Parisian Jews designated for " relocation " at Auschwitz are loaded onto a caravan and send to that extermination pack .

March 31 : India ’s Congress Party demand immediate independence from Britain . It reject a British offering made the previous day that included Indian independency but only after the decision of the state of war .

Below are more detail that sketch the events of World War II , let in the horrific acts carried out by Japanese flock .

Homma Masaharu commandsPhilippines invasion : Japan ’s Homma Masaharu , whose fourteenth Army seize the Philippines , was an strange general . Highly levelheaded , artistic , and conversant with Western ways through unaired contact with the British Army in World War I and India , he was said to miss samurai spirit . After experience in China , he was name to command the Philippines encroachment . He planned meticulously and captured Manila rapidly , but his failure to prevent American withdrawal to Bataan precluded victory within the allotted 50 day . His unimpressed superscript in effect stop his calling by hark back him in August 1942 . pick up by U.S. flock in 1945 for state of war offence in the Philippines , Homma was put to death by firing squad in April 1946 .

Bataan prisoners beaten and kill by Japanese : American and Philippine troops summate 78,000 lead into captivity on Bataan on April 9 , 1942 . Their starvation and pathologic experimental condition influenced Major General Edward King ’s decisiveness to surrender , though he was ineffectual to take out from the Nipponese commanders a commitment to treat the prisoners compassionately . The Japanese decided to march the captive to Camp O’Donnell , some 65 statute mile aside . The following quote by U.S. Army tank crew member Lester Tenney describes his experiences surveil seizure on Bataan :

The first Japanese soldier I come into middleman with used sign language to necessitate if I had a cigarette . . . . I had to tell apart him I did not have any cigarettes . He smiled and then a 2d later tally me in the face with the butt of his gun . Blood spurted from my nose and from a deep gash on my malar . He laughed and said something that made all of his buddies laugh , too . He walked away from me and went to the GI on my rightfield . He used the same sign voice communication , and this time my buddy had cigarettes and offered him one . The Japanese soldier shoot the whole large number , and then he and his Quaker began pound my friend with rifle butts and cane - length piece of bamboo until he could not stand . Then they left , laughing , laughing at the discomfited and weak Americans .

POWs perish in the Bataan Death March : The trek from Bataan to Camp O’Donnell became know as the Bataan Death March . Japanese plan for the march did not take into account statement the enfeeblement , starvation , and illness of the prisoner , who were thus sure to conk in large issue . Added to this negligence was active Nipponese persecution . Some senior Nipponese officers so despised the captive that they wanted them kill en masse . field of operations officers decollate many with their sword , and Japanese common soldiers wilfully buried prisoners awake or set up flame to civilian who sought to help those suffering . No single factor adequately explains this brutality .

The next timeline post us into the major event of April 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 19 May 2025-1 December 2024

The British Royal Air Force ( RAF ) attacked Hamburg , Germany , with more than 270bomberson April 8 , 1942 . find out about this and the other important World War II event that occurred during the month of April 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: April 1-April 11

April 1 : Vital provision reach the Soviets , as 14 of the 19 ship of the first Arctic convoy successfully make it to the Soviet port of Murmansk .

April 3 : Some 2,000 Burmese civilians die during a Nipponese air raid on Mandalay .

April 4 : Adolf Hitler orders the Baedeker raid . Named after a serial of holidaymaker usher , the raid will be specifically targeted to visit maximum legal injury on Britain ’s most crucial historic sites .

April 6 : Japanese troops land at Bougainville in the Solomon Islands .

April 7 : The air raid sirens on Malta sound for the 2,000th time since the start of the warfare .

April 8 : In one of the most vivid air raid of the state of war , the RAF attacks Hamburg , Germany , with more than 270 wedge .

A new lifeline is opened to China with the inauguration of U.S. Air Ferry Command serving over the Himalayan mess compass .

April 9 : Soviet worldwide Mikhail Yefremov direct his own lifetime rather than suffer the shame of surrendering to the Nazi Germans .

April 10 : Nipponese flock land on Cebu Island , Philippines .

The atrociousness that will become known as theBataan Death Marchbegins with the surrender of more than 78,000 worn out and starving American and Filipino troops in the Bataan Peninsula . In an crusade to get them to the nearest railhead , their Nipponese captors will force - edge the prisoner some 65 miles . Eleven thousand of the captive will be killed or will perish along the direction .

April 11 : The first 8,000 - poundbombis dropped on Essen , Germany , by a Halifax submarine sandwich . It is not know if the bomb gain its objective or what wrong it caused .

Below are more highlights and images that outline the result of World War II , including Japanese bombing in Australia , German bombardment in England , and the American foray on Tokyo .

German shortwave radio broadcasts to North America : This syllabus guide , entitle " Germany Calling , " lists German shortwave radio program to North America for April 13 through April 19 , 1941 . In addition to German interpretation of international tidings , the schedule include such programs asAmerica involve – Germany Answers(purported to be answers to question from American listeners),German Contributions to make America , andFrom the German Heart , as well as comment from the infamous " Lord Haw - hawthorn . "

The Baedeker Raids destroy historic sites : The 15th - century Old Boar ’s Head Inn in Norwich , England , was damaged in an April 1942Luftwafferaid . Nazi Germany fail the picturesque English towns of Exeter , Bath , Norwich , and York . Nazi propagandist Baron Gustav Braun von Sturm hold , " We shall go out and bomb every edifice in Britain stigmatise with three star in the [ German - published ] Baedeker [ travel ] guide . " These Baedeker Raids on England – which included Canterbury and other nonstrategic historical sites – hold living and destroyed holding . However , the intemperate toll on theLuftwafferevealed the German bombers ' limitations .

The Flying Tigers assist in war endeavour : The P-40 Tomahawk fighters were operated by the American Volunteer Group ( AVG ) , more popularly known as the Flying Tigers . command by Claire Chennault , the AVG was make up of American military pilots who had " resigned " from the service in ordination to fly against the Japanese in China . In their first encounter on December 20 , 1941 , the AVG shot down three or peradventure four Japanese bombers . Though their overall impact was limit , the AVG provided some impediment to Japanese airpower over the next several months . The Flying Tigers were incorporated into the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942 .

American Claire Chennault helps Chiang Kai - shek : A native of Louisiana , Claire Chennault learned to fly during World War I and remain in the service of process for two decades afterward . However , he was unpopular in the U.S. armed forces because of his acerbic literary criticism of accepted fighter tactic , and he withdraw in 1937 with the social rank of major . He then was hired by Chiang Kai - shek to vamp the Chinese air force , and he became a womb-to-tomb supporter of the nationalistic full general . After the U.S. inscribe the war , Chennault was promoted to general and given bid of the fourteenth Air Force .

Australia ’s drawing card John Curtin galvanise the nation : John Curtin of the Labor Party became premier curate of Australia in October 1941 . Curtin was a pacificist before the war , and his cabinet was brusque on military experience . Nevertheless , the Pacific state of war enabled him to galvanize the state in 1942 - 1943 . His insistency that the Seventh Division be returned to Australia – and not Burma , as Winston Churchill wanted – proved wise and saved Port Moresby when the Japanese tried to take it by a kingdom assault .

Curtin announced in December 1941 that Australia front to America rather than Britain for documentation . He welcomed the appointment of General Douglas MacArthur as supreme commander of Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area and proved amenable to the American ’s direction . Against his party ’s custom , John Curtin promoted labor and military conscription . He died in place in July 1945 .

Japanese bomb Port Darwin , Australia : On February 19 , 1942 , some 200 Nipponese military plane dropped more bombs than they had on Pearl Harbor in two waves of attack on Port Darwin , Australia . They sank eight ship , devastated structures , and toss off at least 243 mass in a population of about 2,000 . The unprepared Australian government reaffirmed its design to swear on the American military machine rather than the British , and U.S. general Douglas MacArthur promptly instal his home base in Australia .

JamesDoolittle prepares for maraud : A former racing and stunt cowcatcher , Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle had been direct to await into the feasibility of flying intermediate sub off an aircraft carrier to attack Japan . Doolittle make out the takeoff prerequisite , free weight limitations , and necessary fuel , and set up for particular equipment and training for the all - military volunteer force . Eager to get into combat , he volunteered to in person lead the severe charge .

Doolittle Raid affects both Nipponese and American team spirit : This aerial photo , snapped during the Doolittle Raid , reveal ships moored in Tokyo Bay . Most of the B-25s arrived over Tokyo just after noon on April 18 . They targeted an crude tank farm , steel mill , and major power plants . Other bombers hit target in Yokohama and Yokosuku . All the B-25s survived the actual raid , except for one that crash - put down in China after it run out of fuel . Though minimal damage was done to the targets , the harm to Japanese morale was immense . By line , the raid lift American spirits , which had been at downcast ebb following a string of Allied military defeat .

Doolittle raiders take off from aircraft carrier : Army pilots had practiced inadequate takeoff from dry land , but none had ever tried it from a heaving carrier deck . The force for the Doolittle Raid was make up of 16 modify bombers , each carrying five gang extremity , four bomb , and excess fuel . An encounter with a Japanese picket boat forced the Doolittle Raiders to establish earlier than planned . assist by a 50 - miles per hour headwind , all the B-25s got safely into the air , though many hang perilously close to the waves before gaining altitude .

reprisal after the Doolittle Raid : Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai - shek had been reluctant to allow the U.S. hero sandwich to land in China following the Doolittle Raid , fear that harsh Japanese reprisal would ensue . Events proved him correct . Less than a month after the raid , the Japanese ground forces launched the operationSei - Go . Japan intend to seize Chinese airfields within range of the home islands and take vengeance on small town that aid the flyer . As many as 250,000 civilians were killed in the Chekiang and Kiangsu provinces during Sei - Go .

recover out about the major event during the residue of April 1942 on the next page .

World War II Timeline: 9 March 2025-1 December 2024

On April 15 , 1942 , the newest Nazi extermination camp in Poland , Sobibór , open its gate . read about this and the other important World War II case that take place during the month of April 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: April 14-April 29

April 14 : TheU.S. Navy"kills " its firstU - boatwhen U-85 is assail by the ruiner USSRoperin the Atlantic Ocean .

With Japanese force closing in , British troops blowlamp Burma ’s Yenangyaung oil fields to keep them out of Axis hands .

April 15 : Sobibór , the new Nazi extermination encampment in Poland , opens its Bill Gates .

In an effort to minimise textile - industry travail , Britain bans the industry of lace on woman ’s underwear , effective June 1 .

April 16 : Nazi German field marshal Gerd von Rundstedt is appointed commander - in - chief of the Atlantic Wall United States Department of Defense .

Britain presents the strategically critical island of Malta with the George Cross , a medal given for valiant service to the Empire .

April 18 : Japan is blindside by a carrier - basedbombingraid on Tokyo by 16 B-25 hero sandwich from the USSHornet .

April 20 : TheLuftwaffedestroys 30 Spitfire planes on the island of Malta .

April 21 : General Henri Giraud , captured by the Nazis when they occupied his aboriginal France , make a daring escape to confederate soil .

April 24 : Nazi German authorities supply a decree prohibiting Jews from using public deportation of any sort .

April 26 : Adolf Hitler is endow to act outside the laws of the Reich in dealing with his subjects when the Reichstag confer on him the ultimate title of " supreme justice , " among others .

April 29 : Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet to decide how to address internecine edge bickering between Hungary and Romania .

Nazi saboteur are suspect when an burst in a Belgian chemical plant life claims some 250 lives .

A critical link to China is lose when Japan ’s capture of Lashio , Burma , closes the Burma Road .

Below are more details that outline the events of World War II , such as the deportation of Jews to extermination camps .

ally render tanks to soviet : When Germany post its powerful United States Army against the USSR in June 1941 , the Soviet Union dismantled and moved some of its branch factories away from extremely threaten areas . That cut off production , and by downfall the nation was in urgent need of tanks and aircraft . Britain and the U.S. start add Russia with 400 tanks and 500 aircraft per month – number that would rise as the warfare advance .

English pianist MyraHess keep reach the euphony play : When Nazi German air raids closed down British concert Charles Martin Hall , internationally noted English pianist Myra Hess organized 100 of musicians to play lunchtime concerts at London ’s National Gallery . Even while bombs fell on London , Hess herself gave tremendously popular execution of German composer , not simply defy Nazi violence but reminding audiences of the humanity of German acculturation . For her patriotic efforts , Hess was honored with the title Dame Commander of the British Empire ( DBE ) in 1941 .

Jews deported to death camps : In spring 1942 , trains began transporting Jews from ghettos in Germany and its occupy nation to camps . Here , Jews board train for expatriation from the ghetto in Lódz ´ , Poland , to the Chelmno extinction camp in Poland in April 1942 . On July 19 , Heinrich Himmler speed up the program , ordering that all Jews be " resettled " by the end of 1942 – although the deportations would extend far beyond his deadline . In all , some 3,000 geartrain moved about three million multitude . Since this was only about 15 per centum of the full train that the Reich operated each day , the economic effect on Nazi Germany was achievable during the former years of the Holocaust .

Nazi Germans prepare boys for warfare : Wenn die Soldaten durch die Stadt marschieren(When the Soldiers March Through Town ) was a staggeringly popular 1942 Holy Writ of verse line and pictures that portrayed children enthrall by national socialist German soldier . The Nazi regime did more than only romanticize the military in baby ’s optic . Starting in 1936 , planning for military divine service became mandatory for boys . If he was view as sufficiently fit and racially pure , a 10 - year - erstwhile boy began his education and indoctrination in theDeutsches Jungvolk(German Youth ) . He then graduate to the paramilitary organizationHitlerjugend(Hitler Youth ) at years 14 .

Americans entrust to stopping Adolf Hitler : After the national socialist German declaration of warfare on the United States in December 1941 , Americans entrust themselves to stopping the spreadhead of Nazi evil in Europe . Rallies such as the one in New York ’s Times Square on Adolf Hitler ’s birthday , April 20 , 1942 , expressed American sympathies and also boosted the sales agreement of War Bonds , which aid finance the war effort on both front .

keep on on to the next page for detail on the major events of later April and former May 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 28 March 2025-25 January 2025

Nationalist Chinese oecumenical Chiang Kai - shek led his troops in a major offensive against the Nipponese line of work in May 1942 . Learn about this and the other important World War II issue that occurred during 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: April 30-May 11

April 30 : By the remainder of the month , the squalor of the Warsaw Ghetto has arrogate the spirit of most 4,500 Polish Jews .

May 1 : A strategic error by Britain allows the Japanese to take Mandalay by penetrating the Royal Army ’s exposed get out flank .

May 2 : Aid is promise to both Iran and Iraq under the provisions of theU.S. Lend - Lease Act .

May 4 : The USAAF Flying Tigers shift their base of operations to Kunming , China , and out of Japanese - occupy Burma .

May 4 - 8 : The Battle of the Coral Sea , the first carrier - to - aircraft carrier conflict in story , result in a tactical Japanese victory , since they sink a major American mailman . But it marks a strategic Japanese reverse since the Japanese are unable to impound New Guinea and thus isolate Australia .

May 5 : Nationalist Taiwanese oecumenical Chiang Kai - shek leads his scout troop in a major offensive against the Japanese occupation , striking seven key city .

May 6 : After 27 day of artillery barrage fire , the Americans cede to the Japanese at Corregidor in the Philippines .

May 8 : Japan ’s ability to producefuelfrom its beguile rock oil field of battle in the Dutch East Indies is seriously halt when the ship carrying skilled production workers to the fields is settle by an Allied gunslinger .

May 10 : Winston Churchill sternly warns Nazi Germany against engaging inchemical warfareon the Russian front .

May 11 : An Allied personnel shipping ship is struck by a Nazi GermanU - boatthat managed to make its way up Canada ’s St. Lawrence River undetected .

Below are more details that outline the events of World War II , including the Japanese capture of the island of Corregidor .

The Red Cross Blood Bank offers blood : In February 1941 , the American Red Cross begin a blood conferrer service in expectancy of America ’s entering into the war . By September 1945 , the Red Cross had collected 13.4 million pints of blood from 6.6 million presenter . The system for storing blood blood plasma was open up by African American medico Dr. Charles Drew , who was appointed the first director of the Red Cross Blood Bank . He resigned , however , when the organization excluded pitch-black bloodline conferrer . As the warfare progressed , the Red Cross lead off take " black descent " but curtail its use to black Gi .

national socialist German vitamin E - boats patrol English Channel : The Nazi German fast patrol and torpedo - carryingSchnellbootwas dubbed " tocopherol - boat " by the Allies . The MTB and PT sauceboat were the Anglo - U.S. equivalents . E - boats were used extensively in the English Channel and North Sea littoral neighborhood for raids on Allied merchant vessels , unremarkable patrols , clandestine cognitive process , and rescue of downed aircrew . By 1944 about 40 E - boats were operating in the Channel area . One of their most meaning successes was on April 28 , 1944 , when two flotillas attacked a D - twenty-four hour period landing drill in the Channel off Slapton , Devon , sinking two LSTs and killing 749 human of the U.S. Fourth Infantry Division .

Germany ’s premier admiral , Erich Raeder , battle with Nazi leadership : In 1933 Admiral Erich Raeder became the architect of German naval rearmament . A committed Nazi , he plan to provide Nazi Germany with man - class aerofoil and subsurface fleets by 1949 . The outbreak of warfare in 1939 forestalled this aspiration . Nevertheless , he successfully oversaw the mathematical operation of theKriegsmarineas its commanding officer - in - chief until 1943 . That year , his friction with Hermann Göring over airpower precedency , and the increasing variance of his marine insurance policy aspect from those of Adolf Hitler , result in his enforced retreat . recover guilty on three counts at Nuremberg , Raeder was sentenced to life captivity . He was released in 1955 due to ill health .

monolithic warfare at Kharkov , Ukraine : Nazi German troops surrendered to Red Army soldiers near Kharkov , Ukraine , on May 4 , 1942 , following four comparatively uneventful months near the city that the Nazi Germans had enamor the premature October . Much more activity occur in May around Kharkov , which Adolf Hitler had selected for the launch of the Nazi German spring offence . Joseph Stalin arrange a major offensive there by Marshal Timoshenko ’s Southwest Front beginning May 12 . ab initio , Timoshenko ’s regular army struck deep , with two tank corps pushing rapidly to arrogate Kharkov . But then , on May 17 , the national socialist German Sixth and First Panzer armies counterattacked , trammel more than 250,000 Soviet troops and 1,200 tanks by May 28 .

Japan take Corregidor , Philippines : At first , Japan struggled to catch Corregidor . Though supported by potent ordnance , the sure-footed invader landed in disorder on May 5 , 1942 . The treed Americans , include Army and Navy staff office , struggle back fiercely , visit century of fatal accident . The Japanese ran hazardously short of ammunition and landing craft , but the comer of tank and continuous artillery barrage fire finally turn out decisive . On May 6 , General Wainwright look for terms .

Corregidor ’s Malinta Tunnel used as U.S. headquarters : To make full employment of Manila Harbor after the surrender of the American and Philippine troops on Bataan , the Japanese had to first take control of the nearby island of Corregidor , which the U.S. military occupied . Beneath the surface , the U.S. build the Malinta Tunnel , which house headquarters , communication theory , service stave , refugee , and fatal accident . Reinforced concrete wall supply Malinta Tunnel impervious to the onslaught that destroy the island ’s above - earth defenses . However , as conditions worsened outside , crowd , vermin , odor , heat , dust , interference , and lack of pee made conditions oppressive . To protect 1,000 wounded men and other defenceless occupier of the tunnel from slaughter , General Jonathan Wainwright give up .

see about the other key World War II events that took berth during May 1942 in the next section .

World War II Timeline: 19 April 2025-12 February 2025

Fuel rationing begin in May 1942 in 17 cities along the U.S. eastern seaboard . Learn about this and the other crucial World War II issue that occurred during the month of May 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: May 12-May 25

May 12 : Thirteen Nazi German transportplanesgo down in the Mediterranean after an RAF engagement off the coast of North Africa .

Overwhelming monsoon - induced clay brings operation in Southeast Asia to a tie-up .

May 14 : Not wholly trusting British guarantee to return Madagascar to France at war ’s end , General Charles de Gaulle send out troops under his command to force the topic .

Congress establishes the U.S. Women’sArmyAuxiliary Corps .

May 15 : Fuelrationing begins in 17 city along the United States ' easterly seaboard .

­Chinese troops retreat into China and British troops retreat into India , officially completing Japan ’s occupation of Burma .

May 16 : Franklin Roosevelt stay the Soviets by releasing Earl Browder from federalprison . Browder , the leader of the Communist Party in the U.S. , had served 14 months forpassportviolations .

May 20 : Thanks to great work by U.S. intelligence cryptologist , the Allies own advance cognition of a Nipponese approach on Midway Island and a simultaneous diversionary attack on the Aleutians . The U.S. control responds by deploying a defensive military group to Midway .

May 21 : Adolf Hitler delays a design invasion of Malta indefinitely , as he is afraid of passing to airborne troops after the experience on Crete . He choose to centre on the seduction of Egypt .

May 22 : Mexico declares warfare against the Axis .

May 25 : A small Nipponese fleet steam out of Hokkaido en road to Alaska . The Japanese stage an attack on the Aleutians that they go for will take out attention away from the tangible target of Midway Island in the South Pacific .

Below are more point that outline the events of World War II , including the Battle of the Coral Sea .

British troops defend Vichy forces in Madagascar : British troops rush ashore from landing place craft at Madagascar on May 5 , 1942 . ictus of the Vichy French - operate island was prompted by fears that Nipponese long - range submarines might use it as a base to interdict Allied communicating lines and shipping in the Indian Ocean . This was decisive for supply lines to India , the Soviet Union , and the Middle East . Vichy forces , consisting mostly of Madagascan and Senegalese troop , offer more resistance to the surgical procedure than expected . Low - story fighting scuff on until November 5 , when the Vichy commander finally surrender .

struggle of the Coral Sea : A major turn point in the Pacific war , the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 foiled a Nipponese amphibian assault on New Guinea ’s Port Moresby , which could have led to the intrusion of northern Australia . Fought by carrier aircraft , this was the first naval fight in which the surface ships never sight or now burn down on one another . The U.S. lose the carrierLexington , and theYorktownwas badly damaged . The Japanese miss the small carrierShoho , whileShokakuwas sternly damaged . Though a tactical victory for the Japanese , the Allies were the strategical winners because the Nipponese encroachment was abort . It was Japan ’s first real setback of the warfare .

Arthur Travers Harris promotes urban center bombing : Arthur Travers Harris , the head of the RAF Bomber Command , go through expanse bombardment – the indiscriminate destruction of city alternatively of specific military targets . The British adopted this insurance policy in wintertime 1942 - 1943 after learning that their bombers could not run into specific targets . Harris believed that this tactic alone would destroy foe morale and force Nazi Germany to give up . His most controversial activity was the bombing of Dresden on February 13 , 1945 , which stimulate a firestorm that kill tens of thousands of civilians . After the war , Harris uprise bitter that his method were increasingly criticized .

The venomous Mosquito fighter poor boy prove successful : Operational from 1942 , the RAF ’s De Havilland Mosquito paladin bomber is generally see as the most successful and various fight aircraft of the war . With its radical whippersnapper , wood - based construction , the " Mossie " could fly at 408 miles per hour up to 2,206 miles while carry its two - man crew and a total bomb load of 5,000 pound . A Mossie could vanish to Berlin and back twice in one night to deliver its annihilating 4,000 - pound " Blockbuster " bombs . When configured as a paladin bomber , it had four 20 millimetre cannons and four machine guns and could carry 1,000 pounds of bombs or eight rockets .

The next page offers a timeline and point on the major World War II events of former May and former June 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 21 December 2024-27 January 2025

In June 1942 , the Battle of Midway shift the momentum of the Pacific state of war . Learn about this and the other important World War II events that occurred during 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: May 27-June 5

May 27 : The British Eighth Army shows off the American Grant M3 tank , its newest art object of mellow - tech weaponry , against Rommel ’s troops in Libya .

Damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea , the carrier USSYorktownreturns to Pearl Harbor for mending .

May 29 : Effective today , all French Jews must wear the yellow Star of David badge .

Czech zealot sent from England flack thecarcarrying Bohemia and Moravia deputyReichsprotektorReinhard Heydrich , mortally wounding him .

May 30 - 31 : Cologne , Germany is devastated by the first RAF raid to employ more than 1,000bombers .

June : Eight Nazi German secret agent arrive viaU - boatin the U.S. , four in New York and four in Florida . They be after to ruin a cryolite factory in Philadelphia , but two of the members snitch the operation to the FBI .

June 1 : TheLuftwaffeinflicts heavy damage on Canterbury , England .

June 2 : More than 130 Czechoslovakian citizens are murdered to revenge the onslaught on Reinhard Heydrich .

June 4 : Reinhard Heydrich drop dead in Prague of an contagion stemming from his injury at the hand of Czech zealot .

June 4 - 6 : The impulse of the Pacific warfare shift to favour the Allies when they achieve a arresting victory at the Battle of Midway . The Japanese lose 3,500 adult male and four of their six largestaircraftcarriers , permitting the Allies to go on the offensive .

June 5 : Forty - nine civilians die in an inadvertent explosion at an Elmwood , Illinois , ordnance plant .

The United States formally declares war on Axis satellites Bulgaria , Romania , and Hungary , each of whom had declared warfare on the U.S. in December 1941 .

Below are more highlights and images that sketch the events of World War II and show the details and outcome of numerous attempt and battles across the globe .

The bombing of Cologne , Germany : For 90 minutes on the Nox of May 30 - 31 , 1942 , the RAF dropped 1,445 tons of high-pitched explosives and 915 lashings of incendiary on Cologne , Germany , and its one million habitant , killing more than 500 and spite more than 5,000 . The docks and railways were destruct , together with 36 factories and more than 3,000 homes . Some 45,000 people were leave homeless . Of the 1,046 bombers call for , only 40 failed to return . This devastatingly successful raid was inspired by Air Chief Marshal " Bomber " Harris . It was designed to boost British morale , shatter German ego - self-assurance , and impress Britain ’s allies .

Nipponese subs attempt Sydney , Australia , surface area : A shattered Japanese midget submarine is hoisted from the waters of Sydney Harbor following an attack on Allied shipping on the night of May 31 , 1942 . Three of the two - man midget subs , launched from standard submarines , participated in the attack . All were lose . One became tangled in an anti - torpedo net and botch up itself up . The crew members of the 2nd attached suicide after their sub was damaged in a depth - tutelage attack . The third submarine fired two torpedoes , one of which sank a depot ship . Though never found , it too failed to regress to the mother sub . One week later , a Japanese sub attacked the Sydney domain , damage houses but make no serious injuries .

Reinhard Heydrich ’s assassination : In September 1941 , Reinhard Heydrich became the regulator of Nazi German - use up Bohemia and Moravia ( today ’s Czech Republic ) . The overly surefooted governor often rode in an unescorted , loose - roof car . On May 27 , 1942 , two British - trained Czech resistance attack aircraft successfully ambushed him in Prague , wounding him with a grenade . encounter here is the car in which he was attacked . After several days of agony , Heydrich died on June 4 .

The destruction of Lidice , Czechoslovakia : The Nazis ' most notorious retaliation for Reinhard Heydrich ’s character assassination was the destruction of the Czech hamlet of Lidice , suspected by Adolf Hitler of being a hotbed of anti - Nazi resistance . On June 10 , 1942 , Nazi German authority rounded up the town ’s entire universe . All males over 16 years of age – about 172 in number – were shot to death the next Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . Many of Lidice ’s surviving adult female were institutionalize to their destruction at the Ravensbrück concentration camp , while some tiddler considered sufficiently " Aryan " were adopted by German family . All told , about 340 people from Lidice were murdered . The settlement was rebuilt after the war .

Chester Nimitz leads the Pacific Fleet : Chester Nimitz figure the Naval Academy at the age of 15 in 1901 and graduated seventh in his class . President Franklin Roosevelt choose him to exchange take down Admiral Husband Kimmel as air force officer - in - tribal chief of the Pacific Fleet after Japan ’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor . Nimitz ’s first project was to rebuild the Pacific Fleet , a business he accomplished fleetly . Within six month of the attack , Nimitz attain a stunning victory over the Japanese at the Battle of Midway . The U.S. follow that triumph with a string of amphibious attack , one island after another , until the Allies were at the doorsill of Japan in August 1945 .

Battle of Midway turn the tide : Many historians believe the Battle of Midway the most significant naval betrothal of World War II . fight from June 4 to 7 , 1942 , the battle turned back a Nipponese attempt to seize Midway Atoll and put down the U.S. fleet in a decisive confrontation . Armed with fundamental intelligence service on foe plans , outnumbered U.S. forces mauled the Japanese . The Imperial Japanese Navy would never regain the high quality it had relish over the first six months of the state of war .

Hiryu , Japan ’s important aircraft carrier , is attack : The Japanese aircraft carrierHiryutakes evasive action while under fire by U.S. B-17 bombers during the Battle of Midway . commission in 1939 , the 20,250 - ton carrier was call for in the raid on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 as well as in operations in the East Indies and Indian Ocean . At Midway , its planes to a great extent damaged the U.S. carrierYorktownon June 4 . hour later , Hiryuwas attacked by 13 dive - poor boy from Enterprise . Struck by four bomb calorimeter , it was abandoned when monolithic flack could not be take under ascendency . TheHiryuwas subsequently scuttled by torpedoes from the destroyerMakigumo .

Yorktownsinks at Midway after Nipponese gentle wind attack : Smoke billows from the USSYorktownfollowing Japanese air attacks at Midway . The carrier survived three bomb hit and returned to action before come under regenerate attack by enemy hoagie planes . expunge by two torpedoes , the letter carrier lost headway and began listing to port . dread the common carrier was about to turn turtle , the gang was ordered to give up ship . Hours later , with theYorktownstill stubbornly afloat , efforts were underway to scavenge the ship when a Japanese submarine direct two more torpedoes into the carrier . Mortally wounded , Yorktownsank in 3,000 fathoms the following morning .

Japanese frailty admiral Nagumo Chuichi kick downstairs : Japanese vice full admiral Nagumo Chuichi led the blast on Pearl Harbor and gained celebrity during the initial flood tide of Japanese victories in the Pacific . Since Nagumo ’s schooling was in airfoil tactics , many fellow officers had question his appointment as air force officer of the First Carrier Fleet in April 1941 , feeling he miss casualness with the naval air limb . Despite early winner , Nagumo fell out of favour after the loss of four newsboy at Midway . He was eventually demote to a series of less important posts . Assigned to the Marianas , he was trapped by the U.S. encroachment of Saipan and took his life on July 6 , 1944 .

The reliable Dauntless is keystone of U.S. Navy air fleet : Considered disused when warfare broke out , the U.S. Navy Douglas SBD Dauntless was underpowered , dim , noisy , and fatiguing to vaporize over long distances . On the positive side , it handled well , could engage considerable punishment , and was very precise . These attribute transformed the Dauntless into the pillar of the U.S. Navy ’s air fleet from 1941 to 1943 . In fact , it was credit with sinking more Nipponese combat ship than any other U.S. aircraft type . At Midway alone , Dauntless dive - hero sandwich pass four Japanese carriers and damaged two heavy cruisers .

­Learn more about the issue of June 1942 in the timeline on the next Thomas Nelson Page .

World War II Timeline: 22 May 2025-14 February 2025

On June 10 , 1942 , the Czech hamlet of Lidice is tear down as retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich . Learn about this and the other important World War II event that fall out during the month of June 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: June 7-June 20

June 7 : TheChicago Tribunestates that the U.S. Navy had advance noesis of the Midway ten-strike . The article jeopardizes years of intelligence collection and cryptology work .

Japanese personnel occupy the Aleutian island of Attu and Kiska in the warfare ’s only Axis occupation in North America .

June 10 : The entire Czechoslovakian village of Lidice is level in reprisal for the violent death of Reinhard Heydrich . More than 400 residents are driven from their base ; themenare run while thewomenand children are send to concentration camps .

June 11 : The post of SSReichsführerHeinrich Himmler calls for the transference of some 100,000 Jews from occupy France to " relocation " camps .

GermanU - boatslaunch a mine - laying political campaign in easterly U.S. coastal waters .

U.S. officials sign a newLend - Leaseagreement with Soviet embassador Maxim Litvinov .

June 12 : The oil - producing region around Ploesti , Romania , is strafed by U.S. Army Air ForceB-24 bomber .

June 13 : British troops ache a major defeat at the hand of General Erwin Rommel when Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie say an attack against a well - entrenched Nazi German Army in Libya .

June 15 : The tankerRobert C. Tuttleruns aground on Virginia Beach after collide with a Nazi German mine , making it the first American ship lost to enemy mines at home .

June 18 : A six - hour gun battle in a church ends with the death of seven Czech partisans who took part in the Reinhard Heydrich blackwash .

Bernard Robinson becomes the first African American U.S. naval officer ( an ensign in the Reserves ) .

June 20 : Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill agree to move forward with an intrusion of the French colonies in northwesterly Africa .

Below are more highlights and images that outline the details of World War II , such as the involvement of the FBI in the war .

The expanded role of the FBI : The Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) was established in 1908 and chair by J. Edgar Hoover beginning in 1924 . Primarily a crime - fighting agency during its early years , the FBI was authorized to inquire subversive organizations start in 1936 . When war ruin out in Europe in 1939 , the FBI ’s role was expanded to let in sabotage and espionage investigations . With the impart responsibilities come in an increase in agents , from 391 in 1933 to 3,000 in 1942 to 4,886 in 1944 . Hoover publicized the winner of his department , increased the confidence of civilians , and expand the FBI ’s responsibilities well beyond its prewar assignments .

FBI captures Nazi German undercover agent : On August 8 , 1942 , six men , found guilty of espionage , were led individually to an electric chair in a District of Columbia jail . The condemn had been members of two four - man national socialist German squad sent to New York and Florida via pigboat about two months earlier to interrupt the manufacture of war materials . The men had been chosen for the mission because they had lived in the U.S. before . Two of the men divulge the plan to the FBI before any number of sabotage could be carried out , and thus had their death penalties commuted by President Franklin Roosevelt .

Alfred Hitchcock’sSaboteurturns fact into fabrication : Not one case of enemy sabotage occurred in the United States during the warfare – a testament , in part , to FBI vigilance . For the 1942 filmSaboteur , however , theater director Alfred Hitchcock suppose that such a offense did take berth . In the motion picture , an innocent shipyard proletarian becomes a fugitive . Footage of the capsized troopship USSLafayette(formerly the French passenger linerNormandie ) was used by Hitchcock to suggest sabotage . The real destruction of this ship , which occurred at New York ’s Pier 88 on February 9 , 1942 , was traced to a welder ’s twinkle .

Americans ration synthetic rubber , natural gas : The U.S. Office of Price Administration ( OPA ) was created in August 1941 to stabilize prices and ration consumer goods . Rubber was the first detail rationed , abide by later on by gas . Five priority point were created for travel , range from A for pleasance driving to due east for emergency vehicle . Any vehicle with an A sticker received only three to five gal per workweek . The allocated amount increase with each degree . commuter train ( level B ) were encouraged to carpool .

Appeals to nationalism notwithstanding , many Americans elected not to follow Washington ’s program . New or nearly new tire were available to anyone who had the money to pay a black - marketeer . trade wind - in black market gas also was robust .

Office of War Information ( OWI ) promotes warfare via American media : In June 1942 , the U.S. governing created the Office of War Information ( OWI ) to funnel information to the American medium . The OWI soon concentrated on " selling " the state of war by wangle pro - American sentiment and dehumanizing the enemy . For instance , the OWI sent level directive to pulp magazine magazines . In addition , rigid road map restricted what could appear in picture . With the OWI controlling what the American public read , insure , and get word , relevant information about the warfare was lace with propaganda .

See the next subdivision for a look at the major World War II events of belated June and early July 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 20 January 2025-6 March 2025

Dwight Eisenhower was namedU.S. Armychief in Europe on June 25 , 1942 . Learn about this and the other important World War II events that pass off during 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: June 21-July 8

June 21 : Nazi German General Erwin Rommel press east after conquering Tobruk , Libya . His troops capture provision , along with 33,000 prisoner of warfare .

June 22 : Fort Stevens , Oregon , escapes harm when it is shelled by the Japa­nese .

June 23 : runway - ship Parisian Jews are the first to go through the choice process for the Auschwitz gas chambers .

June 25 : Franklin Roosevelt name Dwight Eisenhower to the C. W. Post of U.S. Army chieftain in Europe .

June 26 : The importantU - boatbase of Bremen , Germany , is inflamesfollowing a massive RAF attack .

July 1 : Some 250 alien saboteurs are hold in the U.S. when theFBIuncovers a patch to blow up the Pennsylvania Railroad .

July 4 : After eight months , the Nazi Germans at last hold in the Battle of Sevastopol , the site of the Soviets ' main naval base on the Black Sea . Germany ’s eleventh Army take 90,000 Soviets as prisoners .

American submarine undertake their first independent foray of the war , attacking four Nazi German aura bases in Dutch territory .

July 5 : The Soviet Union yields the Crimea to Germany .

Britain anger Joseph Stalin by bring down a moratorium on convoys to northerly Russia . This follows a devastating national socialist German onrush that sank 23 of 33 Allied ships in a convoy on the Barents Sea .

July 7 : The British send Nazi spies Jose Keys and Alphonse Timmerman to the gallows .

July 8 : U.S. Pacific Fleet commanding officer Admiral Chester Nimitz rank the intrusion of the strategically significant Solomon island of Guadalcanal . His design is to take an field being build by the Japanese , who have seized this island .

Below are more details that outline the issue of World War II , include an American POW Fourth of July celebration in Mindanao , Philippines .

Nazi Germany builds railroad guns : From 1937 , the German manufacturer Krupp contrive and build two enormous railroad guns : " Gustav " and " Dora . " The guns were arguably vulnerable to air attack . However , the existence of Europe ’s extensive railroad arrangement and the ability to utilize poor - quality and apace repaired track by and large validate the railway system gun concept . Eventually , Dora was test - fired in 1942 . It was manned by 1,420 adult male dominate by a brigadier general . later , it was employed to good effect in the Crimea , where it raise 40 seven - ton shells almost 30 miles into Sevastopol in mid-1942 . It later fire 30 round into Warsaw during the 1944 uprising . The Gustav was never used in action mechanism .

Yugoslav partisans show courage : Moments before his expiry by hanging on June 22 , 1942 , Yugoslav partizan fighter Stjepan Filipovic shout his rebelliousness against his country ’s Nazi occupant and his allegiance to the Yugoslavian Communist Party . The Yugoslavian partisans ( officially the People ’s Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia ) brought together an improbable alliance of Balkan cultural group – let in Croats and Serbs – through their committal to communism . The partisans ' craft and courage ( along with their sometimes brutal brutality ) and insistency from the advance Red Army combined to free Yugoslavia from Nazi rule .

The " Mosquito Army " used to talent scout routes in North Africa : The Long Range Desert Group ( primitively the Long Range Patrol Group ) was constitute by Major Ralph Bagnold in 1940 to assist British military efforts in North Africa . Sometimes cry the " Mosquito Army " and the " Libyan Taxi Service , " the mathematical group ’s purpose was to disappear behind enemy pipeline for spotter routes , gather intelligence , and launch raid . member sometimes spent workweek or even calendar month on dangerous foreign mission in oppressive desert heat . LRDG teams were so cute and skillful that , as Bagnold celebrate , raid seemed to arrive from " a fourth dimension , " allow for Nazi German and Italian force baffled and paralytic .

Margaret Bourke - White , Life ’s valiant reporter:“The woman who had been torpedo in the Mediterranean , strafed by theLuftwaffe , stranded on an Arctic island , bomb in Moscow , and force out of the Chesapeake when her chopper crash , " publish biographer Sean Callahan , " was have sex to theLifestaff as ' Maggie the Indestructible . ' " Margaret Bourke - White was a stave photographer forLifemagazine during World War II , and she covered the war from its front lines in Italy , Russia , and Germany . Her bookDear Fatherland , Rest Quietlycaptures the atrocities of warfare , from the battlefield to national socialist death camps .

American prisoner of war keep July 4th : The Nipponese regime in Malaybalay camp in Mindanao , Philippines , seems to have been relatively benignant , but the camp ’s celebration on the Fourth of July in 1942 was against regulations and dangerous . At Malaybalay , rations were far better than at Davao , where by October the U.S. prisoner had been moved . Prisoners of war of all nations essay to keep up a sense of national unity and to find diversions from the boredom and suffering of imprisonment . reciprocal support was crucial to selection .

The next timeline get over major events of World War II in mid - July 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 16 December 2024-18 February 2025

On July 13 , 1942 , President Franklin Roosevelt approved the creation of the Office of Strategic Services ( OSS ) , which would later become theCentral Intelligence Agency . read about this and the other important World War II event that occurred during the month of July 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: July 9-July 23

July 9 : Teenaged journalist Anne Frank goes into hiding along with her fellowship and friends as the Nazis begin to purge Amsterdam of its Judaic universe .

July 10 : In a disturbing new facet of Nazi atrocity , 100 female Auschwitz inmates are selected for medical experimentation .

July 11 : British Royal Air Force ( RAF)bombersfly to Danzig tobombU - boatpens .

July 13 : President Franklin Roosevelt approves the creation of the Office of Strategic Services ( OSS ) , the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency .

July 15 : In the first deportation of Holland ’s Jews , some 2,000 are mail to Auschwitz under the guise of being relocate to a Nazi German toil encampment .

Erwin Rommel must set back his Egyptian offense to assist two Italian division under confederate attack at El Alamein .

July 17 : The United States begins its crusade to convert Britain to launch an invasion of mainland Europe in 1942 . The British will balk , opting to build their strong point for a major invasion at some unspecified future date .

July 19 : The Nazi Germans attempt to specify French partisan ferocity by imposing a practice of law calling for the slaughter and deportation of male family members of bang " terrorist " that evade seizure by Nazi authorities .

July 22 : The Nazis enter the Treblinka death inner circle outside of Warsaw , Poland . Like Belzec , Treblinka ’s mandate is exclusively extermination , not travail and labor .

July 23 : The Nazi German army capture some 240,000 Soviet troop at the free fall of Rostov .

A German U - sauceboat lays mines in the Mississippi River delta .

Below are more highlights and images that outline the detail of World War II , including an example of an American propaganda post-horse .

U.S. begins production of war goods : One of the undertaking facing President Franklin Roosevelt in the early days of the war was to dramatically careen the focus of American manufacturing from domestic to war goods . To supervise that process , the president called for the creation of the War Production Board , whose caper would be to supervise the manufacture of war materials . The first decision of the display panel , which was formed in January 1942 , was to ban the output of all car and light trucks after that calendar month . By the middle of the twelvemonth , production of consumer durable goods decreased by 29 per centum . America ’s shift to a wartime economy had begin .

U.S. materiel aids effort in Tobruk , Libya : When German commander Erwin Rommel seize Tobruk , Libya , on June 21 , 1942 , the United States had barely joined active combat in the westerly hemisphere . Nevertheless , President Franklin Roosevelt immediately learn that the Allies in North Africa needed increased American materiel . With U.S. tank and planes , such as the American - built Glenn Martin torpedo , British - led force out soon turn the lunar time period against Rommel . But for the moment , Rommel ruled the desert .

The Colt pistol at in high spirits demand : The Colt M1911 A1 self-loading handgun was widely used by American staff office in all branch of service during the warfare . The weapon , which could easily be tack together and disassembled , have a powder store that carry seven bullet . Its .45 - caliber round had excellent barricade power at near range . In comparison to pistol used by servicemen of other country , however , the M1911 was quite laborious and bombastic . so as to forgather the requirement for the weapon during the war , nine different producer were ask , which position problems with interchanging parts .

Americans revere national socialist German encroachment : Adolf Hitler was the subject of many propaganda poster , such as the one record above . They often poked fun at his speeches , but underlie this humour position a foot of awe for those Americans who believed it possible for Nazi Germany and Japan to fetch the warfare to North America . Their concern was not groundless . Nazi Germany began to make grow design for an invasion of the United States even before Adolf Hitler ’s declaration of war on the U.S. Some matte up that Nazi Germany ’s invasion of the Soviet Union was just a theatrical production ground for an attack on America .

In our final section , we ’ll shroud the major World War II events that took property at the last of July 1942 .

World War II Timeline: 14 May 2025-7 February 2025

Rationing of sweets andchocolateswas constitute in Great Britain on July 26 , 1942 . Learn about this and the other significant World War II events that pass off during the month of July 1942 below .

World War II Timeline: July 23-July 31

July 23 : Judenratpresident Adam Czerniakow , who is appoint by the Nazis with redeem 6,000 Jews a twenty-four hours for " resettlement " from the Warsaw Ghetto on penalization of the death of his wife and some 100 other Jewish hostage , shoot his own life . A Clarence Day earlier , he was unable to convince the Nazis to give up the ghetto orphan from being sent to Treblinka as part of a mass exile of Jewish children .

July 26 : British minister of nutrient Lord Woolton institutes a sweets and umber rationing program that allows a half British pound sterling for every serviceman , char , and child every four week .

July 27 : Hamburg is once again bombarded by the RAF . This clock time , some 600 aeroplane participate in the approach .

July 28 : grant to President Franklin Roosevelt , no less than four million Americans are serve in themilitary .

July 30 : The First Battle of El Alamein in Egypt , fought mostly between British Commonwealth and national socialist German troops , ends in a stalemate , thereby halt the national socialist German advance .

With the Nazi Germans on the move on two disjoined Russian battlefront , Joseph Stalin come forth a directive prevent retreat .

TheU.S. Navybegins a reservist curriculum for women called the woman Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service , better known as WAVES .

July 31 : The approaches to the harbor at Charleston , South Carolina , are mined by a Nazi GermanU - boat .

American planes bomb Japanese position on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands .

A national socialist " scientific " establishment shout out itself the Institute for Practical Research in Military Science start to collect corpses from the Oranienburg concentration bivouac in an effort to hit the books Jewish skeleton in the cupboard .

Below are more highlight and images that outline the item of World War II , including women in the Soviet air military group and more object lesson of war propaganda .

Hitler ’s bad judgment in the Caucasus : Nazi Germany ’s insatiable want for oil - based products meant that the capture of the oil fields at Maikop , Baku , and Grozny remain a central strategic objective . This strategy was ostensibly sound and could have succeed . However , from mid-1942 Nazi German combat power in the Caucasus was dissipated by Adolf Hitler ’s ill - guess decisions to airt forces to the competing operations at Leningrad , Moscow , and Stalingrad . Thus , the Caucasus cash advance mislay momentum . Characteristically , Adolf Hitler blamed his full general for this failure .

The battle for Sevastopol , Ukraine : The Nazi German campaign in the Crimea ( a Ukrainian peninsula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov ) focused on the capture of the strategically vital fortified city of Sevastopol . In a bid to preclude this , a series of landing by some 40,000 Soviet troop in December 1941 resulted in the temporary ejection of the Nazi Germans from component of the peninsula .

However , the dependable quality and training of General Erich von Manstein ’s personnel eventually direct to national socialist German triumph , and by July the Soviets had been clear up forth by the Nazi Germans . Although the peninsula battles delayed the capitulation of Sevastopol by about six month , it finally fell to a national socialist German rape in July 1942 ( pictured above ) .

The Soviet Union ’s distaff vanish aces : The heavy departure of fender sustained by the Soviet atmosphere violence duringOperation Barbarossawere countervail by the preparation and employing of hundreds of women as combat pilots . Marina Raskova , an already renowned Soviet airman , organized three all - female gentle wind fight whole . Another scrap fly ace was Lilia Litvak , the " White Rose of Stalingrad , " of the 586th Women ’s Fighter Regiment . Then there was Natalya Meklin of the 588th Women ’s Night Bomber Regiment ( recognise to the Nazi Germans as the " Night Witches " ) . Meklin flew more than 800 night - bombing missions and was honored as a " Hero of the Soviet Union . "

Red Army greatly ameliorate in 1942 : By the 2d summertime of the " Great Patriotic War , " the Red Army was in the end experiencing a renaissance after its shameful frustration of 1941 . Previously , years of centralised political command and control had stultified operational effectiveness and emasculated the military officer corps , but now various facet of this policy were more and more loosen up or revised . Some 500,000 battle - turn out , front - line soldier were quickly trained as commandant , while new radio equipment reduce the regular army ’s traditional trust on landline communications . Meanwhile , thousands of new heavy weapon guns , skyrocket - launchers , tanks , trucks , rape guns , and automatic weapons at last began figure service .

post card used as propaganda : Britain , Nazi Germany , Italy , and other nation used postcards as wartime propaganda tools . Some cards vilified the enemy , stirred patriotism , or celebrated victories . In other fount , postal card with forge origins and ikon were drop into enemy country to cause dissension among citizen . The Soviets faked XII of Nazi German postcard with the message that soldiers had been lied to by Adolf Hitler and the onlyLebensraumthey would find in the Soviet Union would be their own grave . This 1942 Soviet postcard glorifies the Soviet victory over national socialist German troop outside Moscow .

Britain ’s alters military training and establishes new " battle schools”:The capitulation of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in June 1940 prompted substantial changes in the organization and training of the British Army and Royal Marines , as Britain fix for a protracted battle . Based on the combat experience gained by many officers in France , naturalistic , imaginative , and physically demanding " battle schools " were established . These schools supplanted the comprehensive but often predictable and inflexible training regime of the prewar time period .

conduce writer : John S. D. Eisenhower , Senator Daniel K. Inouye , Rochard Overy Ph.D. , David J. A. Stone , Wim Coleman , Martin F. Graham , James H. Hallas , Mark Johnston Ph.D. , Christy Nadalin M.A. , Pat Perrin , Peter Stanley PhD