- January 5
- 55 German tanks reach North-Africa. [1]
- Yves Paringaux, French chief of staff, is murdered. [1]
- January 6
- First around world flight (Pan Am "Pacific Clipper"). [1]
- January 7
- US and Filipino forces withdraw to Bataan. [1] [392.36]
- January 10
- Japan invades North-Celebes, Dutch East Indies. [1]
- January 11
- Japanese forces invade the Netherlands East Indies on Borneo. [10]
- Japan conquers Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. [1]
- January 12
- British troops reconquer Sollum. [1]
- Dutch troops on Tarakan surrender. [1]
- January 13
- At Saint James' in London, England, a conference is held of nine occupied countries of Europe. They issue a declaration against acts of vengeance by the general public against acts of violence. A principal war aim of governments of the conference is punishment of war crimes, and justice to those perpetrating crimes and those who ordered them. [921.21]
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- German submarines begin harassing shipping on US east coast. [1] [37]
- Henry Ford patents a method of constructing plastic auto bodies. [1]
- Interallied war trial conference publishes Saint James Declaration. [1]
- The Dutch garrison surrenders Borneo to the Japanese. [10]
- January 14
- Japanese troops land at oil center Balikpapan in Borneo. [1]
- January 16
- Carole Lombard, actress (Bolero), is killed in a plane crash (along with her mother and 20 others) at age 33. [1]
- January 18
- Germans arrest journalists Frans Goedhart and Wiardi Beckman. [1]
- January 19
- Titus Brandsma (Carmelite priest) arrested by German occupiers for speaking out against Nazism as a "lie" and "pagan". [1]
- January 20
- Japanese air raid on Rabaul, New Britain. [1]
- Japanese forces cross the Thai border into Burma, making a major thrust toward Rangoon. [10]
- German officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin deciding on "final solution" calling for extermination of Europe's Jews. [1]
- January 21
- Japanese air raid on Rabaul, New Britain. [1]
- Tito's partisans occupy Foca. [1]
- January 22
- Japanese air raid on Rabaul, New Britain. [1]
- (0300-0400 hours) First surface engagement by US warships since 1898: four US destroyers sink 3 Japanese transports at Balikpapan, Borneo. [830.848]
- January 23
- Japanese troops occupy Rabaul, New Britain. [1]
- Tank battle at Adzjedabia, African corps versus British army. [1]
- January 25
- Siam declares war on the United Kingdom. [10]
- January 26
- First US force in Europe during World War II goes ashore in Northern Ireland. [1] [392.36]
- Italian supreme command demands dismissal of German marshal Erwin Rommel. [1]
- January 27
- -19 degrees F (-27.4 degrees C), Netherlands' coldest day since 1850. [1]
- January 28
- Soviet General Timoshenko's troops move into Ukraine. [1]
- German troops occupy Benghazi, Libya. [1]
- January 29
- German and Italian troops occupy Benghazi. [1]
- Peru and Ecuador sign Protocol of Rio (boundary determination). [1]
- January 30
- Japanese troops land on Ambon. [1]
- January (month)
- 62 German submarines sunk this month (327,000 tons). [1]
- February 1
- Second Norwegian government of Quisling forms. [1]
- February 2
- Los Angeles Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans. [1]
- US auto factories switch from commercial to war production. [1]
- February 3
- First Japanese air raid on Java. [1]
- February 8
- US Congress advises President Franklin Roosevelt that Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort. [1]
- Fritz Todt, German Reichs minister (Organization Todt), dies at age 50. [1]
- (evening) Japanese assault troops cross from Johore and land on Singapore, attacking along an eight-mile stretch. [10]
- February 9
- In New York harbor, the USS Lafayette (formerly Normandie) is accidentally ignited by a welding torch during conversion for troopship use. While fighting the fire, too much water poured into the ship capsizes it, setting it on its side in the harbor. (Salvaging and pumping out water takes 15 months and US$5 miliion.) [260.69,99]
- Japanese troops land near Makassar, South Celebes. [1]
- February 12
- Three German battle cruisers escape via Channel to Brest from Germany. [1]
- February 13
- Adolf Hitler's Operation Seelöwe (invasion of England) is cancelled. [1]
- February 14
- Japanese parachutists land near oil center in Palembang, Sumatra. [1]
- Rotterdam's Maas tunnel opens. [1]
- February 15
- German submarine shells Antillian oil refinery. [1]
- Japanese troops march into Palembang, South Sumatra. [1]
- On Singapore, 130,000 British, Indian, and Australian men surrender to 35,000 Japanese forces, the greatest mass capitulation in British history. Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita accepts surrender of Singapore from British Lieutenant General A.E. Percival. [10]
- February 16
- German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery. [1]
- February 17
- US Army General Douglas MacArthur reaches Australia and takes command of Allied forces. [392.36]
- Japanese troops invade Timor. [985.320]
- February 18
- Japanese troops land on Bali. [1]
- February 19
- Over 100 Japanese planes attack Darwin, Australia, to destroy its usefulness as a reinforcement base for the East Indies. [10]
- Dutch actors protest obligatory membership of Culture Chamber. [1]
- US President Franklin Roosevelt orders detention and internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans. [1]
- Japanese troops land on Timor. [1]
- February 20
- Lieutenant E H O'Hare single-handedly shoots down five Japanese heavy bombers. [1]
- February 23
- Japanese submarine fires on oil refinery in Ellwood, California, USA. [1]
- February 24
- Voice of America shortwave radio service (propaganda tool) begins broadcasting (in German). [1] [457]
- February 26
- German battle cruiser Gneisenau deactivated by bomb. [1]
- Radio Orange calls for March 1 day of prayer in Dutch Indies. [1]
- Werner Heisenberger informs Germans about uranium project "Wunderwaffen". [1]
- February 27
- First transport of French Jews to Germany. [1]
- Battle of Java Sea begins (13 US warships sunk, 2 Japanese). [1]
- J S Hey discovers radio emissions from the Sun. [1]
- Karel WFM Doorman, Dutch Rear Admiral (Java Sea), killed in action at age 52. [1]
- February 28
- First weapon drop on Netherlands. [1]
- Japanese land in Java, last Allied bastion in Dutch East Indies. [1]
- March 1
- Three day Battle of Java Sea ends, US suffers a major naval defeat. [1]
- Japanese troops occupy Kalidjati airport in Java. [1]
- Suriname camp for NSB people opens to save Jews. [1]
- Tito establishes second Proletarit Brigade in Bosnia. [1]
- March 3
- First combat flight for Canada's Avro Lancaster military plane. [1]
- March 5
- Tito establishes third Proletarit Brigade in Bosnia. [1]
- Japanese troops march into Batavia. [1]
- March 7
- Fifteen Mk-VB Spitfires reach Malta. [1]
- March 8
- Rangoon, Burma, falls to Japanese forces. [10]
- KNIL, Dutch colonial army on Java, surrenders to Japanese armies. [1]
- March 9
- Dutch colonial authorities surrender the islands of the Netherlands East Indies. All Allied forces in the Netherlands East Indies surrender unconditionally to Japan. [10]
- March 11
- First deportation train leaves Paris, France for Auschewitz Concentration Camp. [1]
- US General Douglas MacArthur leaves Corregidor (Bataan) for Australia. [1]
- Japanese troops land on North Sumatra. [1]
- March 12
- British troops vacate the Andamanen in Gulf of Bengal. [1]
- March 14
- John Bumstead and Orvan Hess become the first in the world to successfully treat a patient using penicillin. [5]
- March 17
- Belzec Concentration Camp opens-30,000 Lublin Polish Jews transported. [1]
- US General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander. [1]
- March 18
- Illegal Free Netherlands announces boycott of theaters. [1]
- March 20
- Convoy PQ13 departs Reykjavik, Iceland to Russia. [1]
- Major German assault on Malta. [1]
- March 21
- Convoy QP9 departs Great Britain to Murmansk, Russia. [1]
- Heavy German assault on Malta. [1]
- March 22
- Heavy German assault on Malta. [1]
- March 23
- 2,500 Jews of Lublin massacred or deported. [1]
- Japanese forces occupy Andaman Islands in Indian Ocean. [1]
- US moves native-born of Japanese ancestry into detention centers. [1]
- March 25
- 700 Jews of Polish Lvov-district reach Belzec Concentration camp. [1]
- March 26
- First "Eichmann transport" to Auschwitz and Birkenau Camps. [1]
- 20 tons of gelignite kills 21 in a stone quarry in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. [1]
- German offensive in North-Africa under Colonel-General Erwin Rommel. [1]
- March 27
- Japan forces Java to use "Tokyo time" 1.5 hour forward. [1]
- March 28
- A British commando raid by 18 naval craft and 611 men is staged on Saint Nazaire, France. The Normandie dry dock gate is destroyed by HMS Campbeltown, the only dock capable of servicing German battleships on the Atlantic. Only two vessels return to England. 169 British men and over 400 Germans die. [10]
- (evening) 234 British aircraft attack Lübeck, Germany. 12 planes are shot down. One-third of the area is burned, leaving 16,000 homeless. The central power station and several factories are destroyed. This raid is the first to have a major impact on the German homeland. The port is closed for three weeks. A week later Joseph Goebbels writes in his diary: "The damage is enormous. It is horrible." British Deputy Chief of Air Staff Arthur Harris writes of the attack, ". . . the first German city went up in flames". [10]
- March 29
- British cruiser Trinidad torpedoes itself in the Barents Sea. [1]
- British destroyer Campbeltown explodes in St-Nazaire; 400 Germans die. [1]
- German submarine U-585 sinks. [1]
- March 30
- First RSHA-transport from France arrives in camp Birkenau. [1]
- SS murders 200 inmates of Trawniki labor camp. [1]
- April 1
- Allied air raid on harbor city Kupang, Timor. [1]
- México changes from three time zones to two. [1]
- April 5
- The Japanese Combined Fleet of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo attacks Colombo, Ceylon, with 91 bomber and 36 fighter aircraft. They sink armed merchant cruiser Hector and destroyer Tenedoes in the harbor. They damage the submarine depot vessel Lucia and merchant ship Benledi. Nineteen Hawker Hurricanes, six Fairey Swordfish, one Fairey Albacore, and one Consolidated Catalina are destroyed. The Japanese force loses six Aichi D3A1 dive bombers, and one Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero fighter. Fifteen other aircraft are damaged. [10]
- (1340 hours) Near Ceylon, 53 D3A1 planes from Japanese carriers Akagi, Soryu, and Hiryu attack British heavy cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire, sinking both in fifteen minutes. [10]
- April 6
- In Pollen, Norway, a meteorite falls to the ground without causing harm or damage. [521]
- April 7
- Heavy German assault on Malta. [1]
- April 9
- American General Jonathan Wainwright's American and Filipino forces on Bataan, Philippines, surrender to the Japanese. [10] [392.36]
- April 10
- Cigarettes and candy rationed in Holland. [1]
- April 12
- Japan kills about 400 Filipino officers in Bataan. [1]
- April 13
- Henk Sneevliet, leader of Dutch RSAP/Spartacus, executed at age 58. [1]
- April 14
- Destroyer Roper sinks German submarine U-85 off US east coast. [1]
- April 15
- The British George Cross is awarded to the Island Fortress of Malta for their endurance and defiance against enemy forces. [10]
- April 16
- Japanese occupying army on Java installs film censorship. [1]
- April 17
- Operations begin to destroy Sobibor Concentration Camp. [1]
- Pierre Laval becomes head of France Vichy Government. [968.37]
- April 18
- (about 1215 hours) Sixteen American B-25 bombers lead by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle bomb Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe, Japan. The planes were launched from the carrier Hornet 668 miles off Tokyo. 73 of the 80 crew survive as the planes land in China. [10]
- April 20
- German occupiers forbid Dutch access to their beach. [1]
- Heavy German assault on Malta. [1]
- April 23
- Four-day Allied bombing on Rostock begins. [1]
- April 26
- Colliery explosion kills 1,549 at Honkeiko Manchuria. [1]
- (evening) British Bomber Command launches a fourth and final attack on Rostock, Germany. Over the past four nights of attacks, 70% of the city is destroyed. Of 521 sorties in total, only 11 planes are shot down. The Heinkel aircraft factory is hit, but is back in production in a few weeks. Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler agree to retaliatory attacks on British cultural, resort, and civilization centers, to "bring the English to their senses". Goebbels writes in his diary: "They belong to a class of being to whom you can talk only after you have first knocked out their teeth." [10]
- April 27
- Belgium Jews are forced to wear stars. [1]
- Tornado destroys Pryor, Oklahoma, USA killing 100, injuring 300. [1]
- April 28
- "World War II" titled so, as result of Gallup Poll. [1]
- Nightly "dim-out" begins along the US East Coast. [1]
- April 29
- Japanese troops march into Lashio, cut off Burma Road. [1]
- Jews forced to wear a Jewish Star in Netherlands and Vichy-France. [1]
- April 30
- First submarine built on Great Lakes is launched, (Peto), Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA. [1]
- May 1
- Radio Orange calls to defy order to wear "Jewish star". [1]
- May 2
- Japanese troops occupy Mandalay, Burma. [1]
- British cruiser Edinburgh is scuttled following German torpedo raids 150 miles north of Murmansk, Soviet Union, carrying 93 cases of four 28-pound bars of gold, partial payment from the Soviet Union to the USA for weapons and military supplies. [649.27]
- May 3
- Japanese troops attack Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo, Solomon Islands. [1]
- German luftwaffe bombs Exeter, England. [1]
- Germans execute 72 OD'ers in reprisal in Sachsenhausen, Netherlands. [1]
- Germans require Dutch Jews to wear a Jewish star. [1]
- May 4
- Battle of Coral Sea begins (first sea battle fought solely in air). [1]
- Food first rationed in US during war. [1]
- German occupiers imprison 450 prominent Dutch as hostages. [1]
- Pulitzer prize awarded to Ellen Glasgow (In this our Life). [1]
- May 5
- Haile Selassie re-enters Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [1168.213]
- British assault on Diego Suarez, Madagascar. [1]
- US begins rationing sugar. [1]
- May 6
- Corregidor surrenders to the Japanese, putting all of the Philippines under Japanese control. [10]
- May 7
- (1135 hours) Torpedo planes from US carrier Yorktown put five torpedoes into Japanese carrier Shoho, sinking it. [10]
- German decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed. [1]
- May 8
- Battle of Coral Sea ends; American aircraft carrier Lexington sunk by Japanese air attack. [1]
- German General Erich von Manstein's army launches a thrust into the Kerch peninsula of the Crimea, shattering three Russian armies, capturing 169,000 prisoners. [10]
- May 11
- Japanese troops conquer Kalewa. [1]
- May 12
- Extermination of Jews begins at Auschwitz. [10]
- David Ben-Gurion leaves Jewish state in Palestine. [1]
- German submarine sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River. [1]
- Soviet forces occupy Crackow. [1]
- May 15
- German occupiers in Netherlands arrest 2,000 Dutch officers. [1]
- May 16
- First transport of British/Dutch prisoners to South Burma. [1]
- May 17
- Dutch SS vows loyalty to Adolf Hitler. [1]
- May 21
- Great Britain convoy PQ16 departs to Russia. [1]
- May 22
- México declares war on Germany and Japan. [1]
- May 26
- Great Britain and the Soviet Union conclude an alliance for twenty years. [10]
- Belgian Jews are required by Germans to wear a Jewish star. [1]
- Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps versus British army. [1]
- May 27
- Italian army begin siege of French western Fort Bir Hachim. [1]
- Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik, part of a Czechoslovak commando team from England, make an assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. Heydrich is wounded by grenade shrapnel, and later dies of the wound. [10]
- May 28
- 1,800 Czechoslovakians murdered by Germans during attack on Reinhard Heydrich. [1]
- May 29
- Bing Crosby records Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," the best-selling Christmas album in history. [1] [5]
- May 30
- Operation Millennium begins, the first British 1000 bomber attack on a German city. Arthur Harris gambles all available aircraft in his command: front line, reserves, and much of the training organization. 95 fighters and Blenheim bombers begin with attacks on airfields, losing three aircraft in the process. Then 1047 bombers attack Cologne, dropping 915 tons of incendiaries and 840 tons of high explosives. Total loss of British planes is 41 aircraft. Over 600 acres are devastated, including 328 large factories, hundreds more smaller factories, some 2500 fires started, 469 people killed, 12,840 buildings destroyed, and 45,132 made homeless. This is the first bombing/reconnaissance mission of the Mosquito aircraft. [10]
- May 31
- Luftwaffe bombs Canterbury, England. [1]
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