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Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1910s  1920s  1930s  - 1940s -  1950s  1960s  1970s
Years: 1939 1940 1941 - 1942 - 1943 1944 1945
1942 by topic:
Subject:      Archaeology - Architecture - Art
Aviation - Film - Literature (Poetry)
Meteorology - Music (Country)
Rail transport - Radio - Science
Sports - Television
Countries:      Australia - Canada - India - Ireland - Malaysia - New Zealand - Norway - Singapore - South Africa - Soviet Union - UK - Zimbabwe
Leaders:    Sovereign states - State leaders
Religious leaders - Law
Categories: Births - Deaths - Works - Introductions
Establishments - Disestablishments - Awards

Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents:

1. Events of 1942
   • -  Jan. ^. Feb. ^. March ^. April
   • -  May ^. June ^. July  ^.  Aug.
   • -  Sept. ^. Oct. ^. Nov. ^.  Dec.
   • -  Undated ^. Ongoing
2. Births
3. Deaths
4. Nobel prizes
5. Ship events
6. See also -  Notes -  External links

Events of 1942

(Below, many events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.)

January

• January 1 - WWII: The United States and Philippines troops fight the Battle of Bataan.
• January 2 - WWII: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
• January 7 - WWII: The siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
• January 10 - WWII: The last German air-raid on Liverpool destroys the home of William Patrick Hitler, Adolf Hitler's nephew. After his house is destroyed, William Hitler goes to the USA and joins the navy to fight against his uncle.
• January 11 - WWII:
  • Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
  • WWII: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
• January 16 - Actress Carole Lombard and her mother are among those killed in a plane crash near Las Vegas, Nevada, while returning from a tour to promote the sale of war bonds.
• January 19 - WWII: Japanese forces invade Burma.
• January 20 - WWII: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide that the "final solution to the Jewish problem" is relocation, and later extermination.
• January 23 - WWII: The Battle of Rabaul begins.
• January 25 - WWII: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
• January 26 - WWII: The first American forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland.
• January 31 - WWII: The last organized Allied forces leave Malaya, ending the 54-day campaign.

February

• February 2 - WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an executive order directing the internment of Japanese Americans and the seizure of their property.
• February 8
  • António Óscar Carmona is elected president of Portugal.
  • WWII: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
  • Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States.
• February 9 - The SS Normandie Ocean Liner catches fire while being converted into the troopship USS Lafayette for World War II.
• February 10 - In the early hours of the morning the SS Normandie capsizes at pier 88 in New York City.
• February 11 - Operation Cerberus A flotilla of Kriegsmarine ships dash from Brest through the English Channel to northern ports; the British fail to sink any one of them.
• February 15 - WWII: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces.
• February 19 - WWII:
  • Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.
  • President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
• February 20 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
• February 22 - WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
• February 23 - The Japanese submarine I-17 fires 17 high-explosive shells toward an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.
• February 24 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
• February 25 - Princess Elizabeth registers for war service.
• February 25 - Battle of Los Angeles: Over 1,400 AA shells are fired at an unidentified, slow-moving object in the skies over Los Angeles. The appearance of the object triggers an immediate wartime blackout over most of Southern California, with thousands of air raid wardens being deployed throughout the city. In total there are 6 deaths. Despite the several hour barrage no planes are downed.
• February 26
  • The worst coal dust explosion to date, in Honkeiko, China, claims 1,549 lives.
  • The 14th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles.
• February 27 - WWII - Battle of the Java Sea: An allied (ABDA) task force under Dutch command, trying to stem a Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea.

March

• March - Construction begins on the Badger Army Ammunition Plant (the largest in the United States during WWII).
• March 9 - WWII: Executive order 9082 (February 28, 1942) reorganizes the United States Army into three major commands: theArmy Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces.
• March 28 - WWII: British Commandos raid St. Nazaire on the coast of Western France.