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What Happened In History Year 1942

Historical Events for the Year 1942

  • 1st January » The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
  • 2nd January » The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convicts 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring.
  • 2nd January » World War II: Manila, Philippines is captured by Japanese forces.
  • 7th January » World War II: The Battle of Bataan or siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
  • 11th January » World War II: The Japanese Battle of Kuala Lumpur or capture Kuala Lumpur.
  • 12th January » World War II: President of the United States e.g President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
  • 13th January » Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.
  • 13th January » World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a Germany called German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
  • 16th January » Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.
  • 19th January » World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma
  • 20th January » World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi Germany named Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question".
  • 23rd January » World War II: The Battle of Rabaul (1942) e.g Battle of Rabaul begins, the first fighting of the New Guinea campaign.
  • 24th January » World War II: The Allies of World War II known as Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.
  • 25th January » World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
  • 26th January » World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
  • 30th January » World War II: Empire of Japan Japanese forces Battle of Ambon invade the island of Ambon Island Ambon in the Dutch East Indies.
  • 31st January » World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.
  • 1st February » World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Prime Minister of Norway Minister President of the Quisling regime National Government.
  • 1st February » World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls-Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II called Pacific Theater.
  • 1st February » Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the Federal government of the United States called United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
  • 6th February » World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Thailand.
  • 8th February » World War II: Empire of Japan or Japan Battle of Singapore or invades Singapore.
  • 9th February » World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
  • 9th February » Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
  • 10th February » The first Music recording sales certification named gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
  • 11th February » World War II: The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.
  • 14th February » Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
  • 15th February » World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Empire of Japan Japanese forces, the United Kingdom British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 British Indian Army Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of wa
  • 18th February » World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the Sook Ching massacre called systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.
  • 19th February » World War II: Nearly 250 Japanese warplanes Bombing of Darwin or attack the northern Australian city of Darwin, Northern Territory called Darwin killing 243 people.
  • 19th February » World War II: President of the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Executive order (United States) executive order Executive Order 9066 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to Japanese American inter
  • 22nd February » World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
  • 23rd February » World War II: Empire of Japan Japanese submarines Bombardment of Ellwood fire artillery shells at the California coastline near Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara.
  • 24th February » The Battle of Los Angeles, one of the largest documented UFO sightings in history; the event lasted into the early hours of February 25.
  • 24th February » An order-in-council passed under the Defence of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act gives the Government of Canada named Canadian federal government the power to Japanese Canadian internment called intern all "persons of Japanese racial origin".
  • 27th February » World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an American-British-Dutch-Australian Command or Allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies.
  • 28th February » The heavy cruiser USS Houston CA-30 6 is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth D29 6 which lost 375 men.
  • 3rd March » World War II: Ten Empire of Japan named Japanese warplanes Attack on Broome named raid the town of Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.
  • 8th March » World War II: The Netherlands called Dutch surrender to Japanese forces on Java (island) or Java.
  • 11th March » World War II: General Douglas MacArthur flees Corregidor.
  • 14th March » Orvan Hess and John Bumstead became the first in the United States successfully to treat a patient, Anne Miller, using penicillin.
  • 16th March » The first V-2 rocket test launch. It exploded at lift-off.
  • 17th March » The Holocaust Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lemberg Ghetto Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec extermination camp Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.
  • 18th March » The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody.
  • 20th March » World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the Battle of the Philippines (1942) named fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".
  • 23rd March » World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Andaman Islands.
  • 26th March » World War II: The first female prisoners arrive at Auschwitz Nazi concentration camps e.g concentration camp in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany called German-occupied Poland.
  • 28th March » World War II: St Nazaire Raid: In occupied France, United Kingdom British naval forces successfully St Nazaire Raid raid the Germany German-occupied port of St. Nazaire.
  • 29th March » The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II is the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.
  • 31st March » World War II: Battle of Christmas Island called Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.
  • 3rd April » World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Philippines or Filipino troops on the Battle of Bataan known as Bataan Peninsula.
  • 5th April » World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches Easter Sunday Raid a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean Raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall 56 6 and HMS Dorsetshire 40
  • 8th April » World War II: Siege of Leningrad Soviet Union called Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to Saint Petersburg called Leningrad.
  • 8th April » World War II: The Empire of Japan or Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
  • 14th April » Malta receives the George Cross for its gallantry. The George Cross was given by King George VI himself and is now an emblem on the Flag of Malta or Maltese national flag.
  • 15th April » The George Cross is awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta its people and defenders" by George VI of the United Kingdom called King George VI.
  • 17th April » French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
  • 18th April » World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
  • 18th April » Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
  • 19th April » World War II: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
  • 23rd April » World War II: Baedeker Blitz Germany or German bombers hit Exeter, Bath, Somerset e.g Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
  • 26th April » Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead.
  • 3rd May » World War II: Empire of Japan called Japanese naval troops Invasion of Tulagi (May 1942) e.g invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces f
  • 4th May » World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown CV-5 6 on Empire of Japan Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had Invasion of T
  • 6th May » World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines Battle of Corregidor called surrender to the Japanese.
  • 7th May » During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Japanese Imperial Navy light aircraft carrier Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō Shōhō. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy
  • 8th May » World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington CV-2 6. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that t
  • 8th May » World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only Commonwealth of Nations called British Commonwealth soldier
  • 9th May » The Holocaust called Holocaust: The SS murders 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast, Ukraine). The Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe called Zoludek Ghetto (in Belarus) is destroyed and all its inhabitants murdered or depor
  • 10th May » World War II: The Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
  • 12th May » World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.
  • 12th May » World War II: The U.S. Tanker (ship) e.g tanker 'List of shipwrecks in May 1942 12 May known as Virginia' is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German U-Boat U-507.
  • 12th May » The Holocaust: 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
  • 19th May » World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor.
  • 22nd May » Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies of World War II known as Allies.
  • 22nd May » The Steel Workers Organizing Committee disbands, and a new trade union, the United Steelworkers, is formed.
  • 22nd May » World War II: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox enlists in the United States Marine Corps as a flight instructor.
  • 26th May » World War II: The Battle of Gazala takes place.
  • 27th May » World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.
  • 28th May » World War II: in retaliation for the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, Nazism e.g Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people.
  • 30th May » World War II: Bombing of Cologne in World War II e.g 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
  • 31st May » World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attack on Sydney Harbour named attacks on Sydney, Australia.
  • 3rd June » World War II: Empire of Japan e.g Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by Battle of Dutch Harbor e.g bombing Unalaska Island.
  • 4th June » World War II: The Battle of Midway begins. The Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese navy.
  • 5th June » World War II: The United States declares war on Kingdom of Bulgaria Bulgaria, Kingdom of Hungary Hungary, and Kingdom of Romania Romania.
  • 6th June » World War II: Battle of Midway. U.S. Navy dive bombers sink the Japanese cruiser Mikuma and four Japanese carriers.
  • 7th June » World War II: The Battle of Midway ends in American victory.
  • 7th June » World War II: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Empire of Japan or Imperial Japanese soldiers begin occupying the American islands of Attu Island named Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
  • 8th June » World War II: The Japanese imperial submarines Japanese submarine I-21 e.g I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle, New South Wales called Newcastle.
  • 10th June » World War II: Nazism called Nazis burn the Czech Republic or Czech village of Lidice in reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich.
  • 11th June » World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
  • 12th June » Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
  • 20th June » The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
  • 21st June » World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces.
  • 21st June » World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens (Oregon) or Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of Attacks on North America during World War II known as attacks by Japan against the
  • 22nd June » Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal (Germany) called Field Marshal after the capture of Tobruk.
  • 23rd June » World War II: The first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz take place on a train full of Jews from Paris.
  • 26th June » The first flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat.
  • 28th June » World War II: Nazi Germany started its strategic summer offensive against the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue
  • 1st July » World War II: First Battle of El Alamein.
  • 1st July » The Australian Federal Government becomes the sole collector of income tax in Australia as State Income Tax is abolished.
  • 4th July » World War II: the 250 day Siege of Sevastopol (1941–42) or Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis powers or Axis forces.
  • 10th July » Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Soviet Union are established.
  • 18th July » World War II: the Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 using its jet engines for the first time.
  • 19th July » World War II: Battle of the Atlantic Kriegsmarine German Grand admiral Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic Ocean Atlantic coast positions in response to the effective American convoy system.
  • 22nd July » The United States government begins compulsory civilian gasoline rationing due to the wartime demands.
  • 22nd July » The Holocaust named Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.
  • 23rd July » The Holocaust: The Treblinka extermination camp called Treblinka extermination camp is opened.
  • 23rd July » World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin.
  • 23rd July » Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad.
  • 25th July » Norwegian Manifesto calls for nonviolent resistance to the Nazism called Nazis.
  • 27th July » World War II: Allies of World War II Allied forces First Battle of El Alamein successfully halt the final Axis powers Axis advance into Egypt.
  • 28th July » World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming Nazi Germany called German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tr
  • 6th August » Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
  • 7th August » World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marine Corps United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo Tulagi in t
  • 9th August » Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement.
  • 9th August » World War II: Battle of Savo Island Allies of World War II known as Allied naval forces protecting their amphibious forces during the initial stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal are surprised and defeated by an Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser force.
  • 11th August » Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.
  • 13th August » Major General Eugene Reybold of the United States Army Corps of Engineers named U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the "Development of Substitute Materials" project, better known as the Manhattan Projec
  • 16th August » World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.
  • 17th August » World War II: United States Marine Corps U.S. Marines Makin Island raid raid the Empire of Japan Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).
  • 19th August » World War II: Dieppe Raid Operation Jubilee: The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious warfare amphibious assault by Allies of World War II allied forces on Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France and fails, many Canadians are killed or captured. The
  • 21st August » World War II: The flag of Nazi Germany is installed atop the Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains e.g Caucasus mountain range.
  • 21st August » World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
  • 22nd August » World War II: Brazil Vargas Era named declares war on Germany and Italy.
  • 23rd August » World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.
  • 24th August » World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier 'Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō Ryūjō' is sunk and US carrier USS Enterprise CV-6 6 heavily damaged.
  • 25th August » World War II: Battle of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.
  • 25th August » World War II: second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. A Empire of Japan called Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned-back by an Allies of World War II known as Allied air attack, losing one destroyer and one transp
  • 26th August » Holocaust in Chortkiav, western Ukraine: At 2.30 am the German Schutzpolizei (Nazi Germany) or Schutzpolizei starts driving Jews out of their houses, divides them into groups of 120, packs them in freight cars and deports 2000 to Belzec extermination camp
  • 30th August » World War II: The Battle of Alam el Halfa begins.
  • 3rd September » World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Łachwa Ghetto Uprising and massacre called Ghetto of Lakhva, in present-day Belarus.
  • 5th September » World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Battle of Milne Bay or Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.
  • 7th September » First flight of the Consolidated Aircraft or Consolidated B-32 Dominator.
  • 7th September » World War II: Australian and US forces inflict a significant defeat upon the Japanese at the Battle of Milne Bay.
  • 9th September » World War II: A Empire of Japan or Japanese floatplane Lookout Air Raids or drops incendiary bombs on Oregon.
  • 10th September » World War II: The British Army carries out an amphibious landing on Madagascar to re-launch Allied offensive operations in the Battle of Madagascar named Madagascar Campaign.
  • 12th September » World War II: RMS Laconia (1921) RMS 'Laconia', carrying civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian Prisoner of war POWs is Laconia incident torpedoed off the coast of West Africa and sinks with a heavy loss of life.
  • 15th September » World War II: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp CV-7 6 is sunk by a Japanese torpedo at Guadalcanal.
  • 20th September » The Holocaust called Holocaust in Letychiv, Ukraine. In the course of two days the German Schutzstaffel e.g SS murders at least 3,000 Jews.
  • 21st September » On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Nazis send over 1,000 Jews of Pidhaytsi (west Ukraine) to Belzec extermination camp.
  • 21st September » In Poland, at the end of Yom Kippur, Germans order Jews to permanently evacuate Konstantynów, Lublin Voivodeship called Konstantynów and move to the Ghetto in Biała Podlaska, established to assemble Jews from seven nearby towns, including Janów Podlaski,
  • 21st September » In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, Nazis murder 2,588 Jews.
  • 21st September » The B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.
  • 23rd September » World War II: The Actions along the Matanikau (September – October 1942) called Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins U.S. Marines attack Japanese units along the Matanikau River.
  • 25th September » World War II: Swiss Police Instruction of September 25, 1942 this instruction denied entry into Switzerland to Jewish refugees.
  • 26th September » The Holocaust: August Frank, a higher official of the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt or SS concentration camp administration department, issues August Frank memorandum or a memorandum containing a great deal of operational detail in how Jews should be
  • 27th September » Last day of the September Actions along the Matanikau (September – October 1942) named Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps troops barely escape after being surrounded by Empire of Japan called Japanese forces near the Matanikau R
  • 1st October » USS Grouper SS-214 6 torpedoes 'Lisbon Maru' not knowing she is carrying British prisoner of war PoWs from Hong Kong
  • 1st October » First flight of the Bell Aircraft called Bell XP-59 "Aircomet".
  • 2nd October » World War II: Ocean Liner RMS Queen Mary accidentally rams and sinks her own escort ship, HMS Curacoa D41 6, off the coast of Ireland.
  • 3rd October » Spaceflight: The first successful launch of a V-2 /V-2 rocket e.g A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. It is the first man-made object to reach space.
  • 6th October » World War II: The October Actions along the Matanikau (September – October 1942) or Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins as United States Marine Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese Army units along the Matanikau River.
  • 7th October » World War II: The October Actions along the Matanikau (September – October 1942) or Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins as United States Marine Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese Army units along the Matanikau River.
  • 9th October » Statute of Westminster 1931 formalises Australian autonomy.
  • 10th October » The Soviet Union establishes diplomatic relations with Australia.
  • 11th October » World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
  • 12th October » World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allies of World War II known as Allied air atta
  • 23rd October » World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein: At El Alamein in northern Egypt, the British Eighth Army (United Kingdom) Eighth Army under Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein Field Marshal Montgomery begins a critical offensive to expel
  • 23rd October » All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for t
  • 23rd October » World War II: The Battle for Henderson Field begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on October 26.
  • 26th October » World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, USS Hornet (CV-8) known as 'Hornet', is sunk and another aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CV-6) called 'Enterprise', is heavily damaged, whi
  • 28th October » The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.
  • 30th October » Lt. Tony Fasson, Able Seaman Colin Grazier and canteen assistant Tommy Brown (GM) Tommy Brown from HMS Petard G56 6 board German submarine U-559 'U-559', retrieving material which would lead to the decryption of the German Enigma code.
  • 1st November » World War II: Matanikau Offensive begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends three days later with an American victory.
  • 3rd November » World War II: The Koli Point action begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on November 12.
  • 4th November » World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.
  • 8th November » World War II: Operation Torch United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
  • 8th November » World War II: French resistance coup in Algiers, in which 400 civilian French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps after 15 hours of fighting, and arrest several Vichyst generals, allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers.
  • 11th November » World War II: Nazi Germany completes its occupation of France.
  • 12th November » World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days and ends with an American victory.
  • 13th November » World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal U.S. and Japanese ships engage in an intense, close-quarters surface naval engagement during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
  • 15th November » World War II: First flight of the Heinkel He 219.
  • 15th November » World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal called Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allies of World War II known as Allied victory.
  • 19th November » Mutesa II of Buganda called Mutesa II is crowned the 35th and last Kabaka of Buganda named Kabaka (king) of Buganda.
  • 21st November » The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (however, the highway is not usable by general vehicles until 1943).
  • 22nd November » World War II: Battle of Stalingrad General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a Telegraphy or telegram saying that the German 6th Army (Wehrmacht) called 6th Army is surrounded.
  • 26th November » World War II: Partisans (Yugoslavia) Yugoslav Partisans convene the first meeting of the AVNOJ Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia at Bihać in northwestern Bosnia (region) Bosnia.
  • 27th November » World War II: At Toulon, the French navy Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon or scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of Nazism known as Nazi hands.
  • 28th November » In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove fire e.g Cocoanut Grove nightclub kills 492 people.
  • 30th November » World War II: Battle of Tassafaronga; A smaller squadron of Japanese destroyers led by Raizō Tanaka defeats a U.S. cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright.
  • 2nd December » World War II: During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the Chicago Pile-1 called first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
  • 12th December » World War II: German troops begin Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encirclement or encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.
  • 15th December » World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
  • 20th December » World War II: Imperial Japanese Air Force Japanese air forces bomb Kolkata Calcutta, British Raj India.
  • 22nd December » World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.
  • 24th December » World War II: France e.g French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria.
  • 27th December » The Union of Pioneers of Yugoslavia is founded.

Historical events for the year 1942 by month