References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 April 30.

1942 January 1 Jaroslav Jezek composer, dies at 35. [1] In Washington, D.C., representatives of 26 countries sign the Declaration of United Nations. [10] Japanese forces enter Manila in the Philippines. [10] January 2 The 28 nations at war with the Axis pledge no separate peace. [1] [37] German troops in Bardia surrender. [1] Japanese troops occupy Manila Philippines. [1] January 3 American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command forms. [1] Pauline Beersmans [PLJM van Cuyck], Flemish actress, dies at 70. [1] January 4 Leon Jessel composer, dies at 70. [1] Premier Churchill and General Marshall fly to Florida. [1] January 5 55 German tanks reach North-Africa. [1] Yves Paringaux French chief of staff, murdered. [1] January 6 First around world flight (Pan Am "Pacific Clipper"). [1] Bob Feller, enlists in Navy and reports for duty to Norfolk Virginia. [1] January 7 Henry Count of Baillet-Latour, president of International Olympic Committee (1925-42), dies at 63. [1] WWII siege of Bataan starts. [1] January 8 Arvo Hannikainen composer, dies at 44. [1] January 9 US Joint Chiefs of Staff created. [1] January 10 Japan invades North-Celebes, Dutch East Indies. [1] January 11 -23 degrees F (-31 degrees C), Kingston RI (state record). [1] 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] National War Labor Board created. [1] January 13 Allied Conference for war trials. [1] 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 15 Chicago Cubs, drop plans to install lights at Wrigley due to WWII. [1] January 16 Barbara Lynn [Ozen], US singer (You'll Lose a Good Thing), dies. [1] Carole Lombard actress, (Bolero), killed in plane crash (along with her mother and 20 others) at 32. [1] William Knudsen becomes first civilian appointed a General in US army. [1] January 17 Frederick Jerome Work composer, dies at 61. [1] January 18 Nazis arrest journalists Frans Goedhart and Wiardi Beckman. [1] January 19 Japanese forces invade Burma. [1] 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] Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin deciding on "final solution" calling for extermination of Europe's Jews. [1] January 21 Bronx magistrate rules all pinball machines illegal. [1] Count Basie records "One O'Clock Jump". [1] Henryk Opienski Polish composer/musicologist/conductor, dies at 72. [1] Japanese air raid on Rabaul New Britain. [1] Tito's partisans occupy Foca. [1] January 22 Japanese air raid on Rabaul, New Britain. [1] Reimond Tollenaere leader Flemish National Front, dies at 81. [1] Sietze de Groot wins 8th Dutch 11 city skate (8 44 06). [1] Walter Richard Sickert British painter (Free House!), dies at 81. [1] January 23 Japanese troops occupy Rabaul New Britain. [1] Tank battle at Adzjedabia, African corps vs British army. [1] January 24 Musical "Star and Garter" premieres in New York City, New York. [1] January 25 Eugene Samuel-Holeman composer, dies at 78. [1] Siam declares war on the United Kingdom. [10] January 26 First US force in Europe during WWII goes ashore in Northern Ireland. [1] Gerard L F Philips Dutch manufacturer (Philips), dies at 83. [1] Italian supreme command demands dismissal of German marshal Rommel. [1] January 27 -19 degrees F (-27.4 degrees C), Netherlands' coldest day since 1850. [1] January 28 General Timoshenko's troops move into Ukraine. [1] German troops occupy Benghazi Libya. [1] Pablo Luna y Carne composer, dies at 61. [1] January 29 First broadcast of Roy Plomley's "Desert Island Discs" on BBC. [1] German and Italian troops occupy Benghazi. [1] Ladislao Joseph Philip Paul Zavrtal composer, dies at 92. [1] Peru and Ecuador sign Protocol of Rio (boundary determination). [1] January 30 Japanese troops land on Ambon. [1] Vasily Pavovlich Kalafati composer, dies at 72. [1] January 31 62 U boats sunk this month (327,000 ton). [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 4 Clinton Pierce becomes first US General wounded in action in WWII. [1] February 5 "Woman of the Year", starring Hepburn and Tracy, opens at Radio City. [1] February 6 Wobbe de Vries Dutch linguist, dies at 78. [1] February 7 First indoor 15' pole vault (Cornelius Warmerdam 15' 3/8"). [1] February 8 US Congress advises 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 50. [1] Stravinsky's "Danses Concertantes" premieres in Los Angeles. [1] (evening) Japanese assault troops cross from Johore and land on Singapore, attacking along an eight-mile stretch. [10] February 9 Daylight Savings War Time goes into effect in US. [1] Japanese troops land near Makassar, South Celebes. [1] February 11 "Archie" comic book debuts. [1] February 12 Three German battle cruisers escape via Channel to Brest N Germany. [1] Grant Wood US painter (American Gothic), dies at 49. [1] February 13 Hitler's Operation Seelöwe (invasion of England) cancelled. [1] February 14 Japanese parachutists land near oil center Palembang Sumatra. [1] Rotterdam's Maas tunnel opens. [1] February 15 German U-boat shells at Antillian oil refinery. [1] Guido Adler Austrian musicologist, dies at 91. [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] Stanislav Binicki composer, dies at 69. [1] February 16 German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery. [1] February 18 Japanese troop 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] Franklin Roosevelt orders detention and internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans. [1] Japanese troop land on Timor. [1] Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded "I'll Take Tallulah". [1] February 20 Guido Gasperini composer, dies at 76. [1] 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. [1] Stefan Zweig Austrian writer (Die Welt von Gestern), dies at 60. [1] February 24 Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German). [1] February 25 Leo Ascher composer, dies at 61. [1] February 26 German battle cruiser Gneisenau deactivated by bomb. [1] Radio Orange calls for March 1 day of prayer in Dutch Indies. [1] WWII Navy flier Don Mason sends message "Sighted sub sank same". [1] Werner Heisenberger informs Nazis about uranium project "Wunderwaffen". [1] February 27 First transport of French Jews to Nazi-Germany. [1] Battle of Java Sea began 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), KIA at 52. [1] February 28 First weapon drop on Netherlands. [1] Japanese land in Java, last Allied bastion in Dutch East Indies. [1] Race riot, Sojourner Truth Homes, Detroit. [1] March 1 Three day Battle of Java Sea ends, US suffers a major naval defeat. [1] J Milton Cage Jr's "Imaginary Landscape No 3" premieres in Chicago. [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 2 14th Academy Awards: "How Green was My Valley", Gary Cooper and Joan Fontaine win. [1] Admiral Helfrich departs Java for Ceylon. [1] March 3 First combat flight for Canada's Avro Lancaster military plane. [1] Amedeo Duke of Aosta, viceroy (Ethiopia), dies at 43. [1] March 4 Yuliya Lazarevna Veysberg composer, dies at 62. [1] March 5 Bosnia Tito establishes third Proletarit Brigade in Bosnia. [1] Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th Symphony, premieres in Siberia. [1] Japanese troop march into Batavia. [1] March 7 Fifteen Mk-VB Spitfires reach Malta. [1] First cadets graduated from flying school at Tuskegee. [1] March 8 Rangoon, Burma, falls to Japanese forces. [10] José R Capablanca Cuban chess player (world champion 1927), dies at 53. [1] 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] Construction of the Alaska Highway began. [1] March 11 First deportation train leaves Paris France for Auschewitz Concentration Camp. [1] General MacArthur leaves Corregidor (Bataan) for Australia. [1] Japanese troop land on North-Sumatra. [1] March 12 British troops vacate the Andamanen in Gulf of Bengal. [1] Enrique Morera composer, dies at 76. [1] March 13 Julia Flikke, Nurse Corps, becomes first woman colonel in US army. [1] March 14 John Bumstead and Orvan Hess become the first in the world to successfully treat a patient using penicillin. [5] March 15 Alexander van Zemlinsky Austrian/US composer (African Dance), dies at 70. [1] March 16 Alexander van Zemlinsky Austrian composer (African Dance), dies at 69. [1] March 17 Belzec Concentration Camp opens-30,000 Lublin Polish Jews transported. [1] General Doug MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander. [1] March 18 Illegal Free Netherlands announces boycott of theaters. [1] March 19 Franklin Roosevelt orders men between 45 and 64 to register for non military duty. [1] Thoroughbred Racing Association of US formed in Chicago. [1] March 20 Convoy PQ13 departs Reykjavik Iceland to Russia. [1] General MacArthur vows, "I shall return". [1] Major German assault on Malta. [1] Theodoro Valcarcel composer, dies at 41. [1] March 21 Captain Morávec Czechoslovakian resistance fighter, commit suicide. [1] Convoy QP9 departs Great Britain to Murmansk. [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 move 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] First 700 Jews from Polish Lvov-district reach concentration camp Belzec. [1] 20 tons of gelignite kills 21 in a stone quarry in Easton Pennsylvania. [1] German offensive in North-Africa under Colonel-General Rommel. [1] March 27 A British commando raid is staged on St. Nazaire, France. A huge dry dock is destroyed, the only one capable of servicing German battleships on the Atlantic. [10] Japan forces Java to use "Tokyo time" 1.5 hour forward. [1] March 28 Herman A van Karnebeek Dutch foreign minister (1918-27), dies at 67. [1] Miguel Hernadez Gilabert Spanish poet (Viento del Pueblo), dies at 31. [1] (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] Alfred Coville French historian (Lesson premier Valois), dies at 81. [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 2. [1] April 3 Albert Siklos composer, dies at 63. [1] Paul Gilson composer, dies at 76. [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 7 Heavy German assault on Malta. [1] April 8 A Schoenberg and Tudor's ballet "Pillar of Fire", premieres in New York City. [1] Alfred Mombert writer, dies. [1] April 9 American General Jonathan Wainwright's American and Filipino forces on Bataan, Philippines, surrender to the Japanese. [10] April 10 Cigarettes and candy rationed in Holland. [1] April 11 Distinguished Service Medal for Merchant Marines authorized. [1] April 12 Japan kills about 400 Filipino officers in Bataan. [1] Johannes E Akkeringa Dutch painter/etcher, dies at 80. [1] April 13 Henk Sneevliet leader of Dutch RSAP/Spartacus, executed at 58. [1] April 14 Destroyer Roper sinks German U-85 of 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] Robert Musil Austrian writer (Mann ohne Eigenschaften), dies at 61. [1] April 16 Japanese occupying army on Java installs film censorship. [1] King George VI awards George Cross to Island of Malta. [1] April 17 Twelve Lancasters bombs MAN-factory in Augsburg. [1] Operations begin to destroy Sobibor Concentration Camp. [1] April 18 "Stars and Stripes" paper for US armed forces starts. [1] (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 4-day allied bombing on Rostock begins. [1] Luftwaffe bombs Exeter. [1] Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear President of Argentina (1922-28), dies at 73. [1] April 24 Luftwaffe bombs Exeter. [1] April 25 Luftwaffe bombs Bath. [1] Paul Kornfeld writer, dies at 52. [1] April 26 Colliery explosion kills 1,549 at Honkeiko Manchuria. [1] Luftwaffe bombs Bath. [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 killing 100, injuring 300. [1] April 28 "WWII" titled so, as result of Gallup Poll. [1] Nightly "dim-out" begins along the 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 launched, (Peto), Manitowoc Wisconsin. [1] Catherine Murphy Urner composer, dies at 51. [1] J van Hoddis writer, dies at 54. [1] May 1 Radio Orange calls to defy order to wear "Jewish star". [1] May 2 Japanese troops occupy Mandalay Burma. [1] May 3 Japanese troop attack Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo, Solomon Islands. [1] Johan H Westerveld Lieutenant-Colonel/leader Order Service, executed. [1] Luftwaffe bombs Exeter. [1] Nazis execute 72 OD'ers in reprisial in Sachsenhausen, Netherlands. [1] Nazis require Dutch Jews to wear a Jewish star. [1] May 4 Battle of Coral Sea begun (first sea battle fought solely in air). [1] Food first rationed in US. [1] German occupiers imprison 450 prominent Dutch as hostages. [1] Pulitzer prize awarded to Ellen Glasgow (In this our Life). [1] May 5 British assault on Diego Suarez Madagascar. [1] US begins rationing sugar during WWII. [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] Felix Paul von Weingartner Austria conductor/composer, dies at 79. [1] Nazi decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed. [1] May 8 Battle of Coral Sea ends; 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 10 Joseph M Weber comedian/singer (Weber and Lewis Fields), dies at 74. [1] 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] Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River. [1] Russia occupies Crackow, until August 23, 1943. [1] May 13 Helicopter makes its first cross-country flight. [1] Hyam Greenbaum composer, dies at 41. [1] May 14 US Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is founded. [1] May 15 Gasoline first rationed in US (17 Eastern States). [1] Nazi occupiers in Netherlands arrests 2,000 Dutch officers. [1] May 16 First transport of British/Dutch prisoners to South Burma. [1] Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski anthropologist, dies. [1] May 17 Dutch SS vows loyalty to Hitler. [1] May 19 [Nicoline] Magdalene Anchor-Roll Norwegian author (Enken), dies at 69. [1] May 20 US Navy first permitted black recruits to serve. [1] May 21 Great-Britain convoy PQ16 departs to Russia. [1] May 22 México declares war on Nazi-Germany and Japan. [1] May 26 Great Britain and the Soviet Union conclude an alliance for twenty years. [10] Belgian Jews are required by Nazis to wear a Jewish star. [1] Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps vs British army. [1] May 27 Dorie Miller, awarded navy cross for deeds at Pearl Harbor. [1] 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 Nazis during attack on Heydrich. [1] Jean F van Royen German secretary PTT (Camp Amersfoort), dies. [1] May 29 Bing Crosby records "White Christmas" greatest selling record to date. [1] John Barrymore US actor (Beloved Rogue, Dinner at 8), dies at 60. [1] 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] Reichsführer Himmler arrives in Prague. [1] US aircraft carrier Yorktown leaves Pearl Harbor. [1] May 31 Luftwaffe bombs Canterbury. [1]