Pacific island advances 1942,
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Japanese Supremacy,

Animated tank

1 January 1942,
Japanese troops entered Manila.

Japanese type 97 20 mm anti-tank rifle
Japanese type 97 20 mm anti-tank rifle

1 January 1942,
Twenty-six nations sign the Declaration of the United Nations.

2 January 1942,
Japanese troops, units of Japanese 48th Division, enter Manila, The Philippines, the Americans and MacArthur's forces withdraw to the peninsula of Bataan to set a defensive line along the route into Bataan Peninsula; some leave for Corregidor.

The Japanese A6M2 Zero

 The A6M2 Zero was known as the most outstanding Japanese fighter of the war, the aircraft had two wing-mounted 20mm cannon, a 7,7mm machine gun, and could carry 1101b bombs.This Zero was used in most carrier squadrons in December 1941.

4 January 1942,
Chinese claim victory over Japanese at Changsha.

7 January 1942,

President Roosevelt proposes a budget which will fund the production of 125.000 aircraft, 75.000 tanks, 35.000 guns and 8 million tons of shipping by the end 1943.

11 January 1942,
Japanese troops invade the Netherland East Indies with advance strategy which will take in Borneo, Sarawak, Sumatra and Bali and Timor. The Japanese plan to move from island to island, knocking out enemy aircraft on the ground and then delivering seaborne troops who will make good the airfield, or build a new one, ready for flights to the next obiective. The landing at Manado in Celebes is reinforced by paratroops and marks the first airborne operation in the Pacific. The US carrier Saratoga is attacked by Japanese submarine Hawaii.
Japanese troops capture Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

11 January 1942,
Operation "Paukenschlag" for the coast of the United States; U-boats sunk 142.373 ships tonnage.

15 January 1942,
Japanese troops (16th Army) invade Burma.
Slim, General Sir William (1891-1970)
Slim served in France, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia during the First World War. He transferred to the Gurkha Rifles in 1920 and became a regular officer. In 1940-41 he led British and Indian troops in Eritrea, Syria, Iraq and Iran. maintaining morale and discipline during the retreat from Rangoon to Imphal. William Slim was sent to take up, maintaining morale and discipline, a corps command in Burma in 1942, where British forces were reeling under the Japanese onslaught. The situation was desperate but Slim conducted a steady withdrawal while in close contact with the enemy. Promoted to army command, commander of the Fourteeth Army in December 1943, Slim concentrated on improving the welfare of his men, reducing disease and building up an adequate supply chain. He cleverly repulsed the last Japanese assaults against Imphal and Kohima in 1944, before going on the offensive himself. Outflanking the Japanese on the Irawaddy River, Slim regained the strategic initiative. The subsequent British advance through central Burma, in which Slim used armor and mechanized formations in extremely difficult terrain, was a masterpiece of military skill, rewarded by the capture of Rangoon and the defeat of the Japanese in Burma. After the war he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1948-52).

17 January 1942,
The isolated German troops falls at Halfaya and more than 5000 German and Italian troops are captured. The first U-boat attack on an Artic convoy by the U454; a destroyer and a merchantman were sunk.

20 January 1942,
"Der Wannsee Conference" is held in Berlin, subject was to coordinate the Final Solution; Reinhard Heydrich, subordinate of Himmler and head of the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt) presides. Eichmann takes official notes at the meeting which survive as evidence, present were too Schöngarth and Freisler.

David ster
Heydrich's list about the numbers of Jews, who must be killed in the
different countries.
Land Number Land Number Land Number
Germany
(before 1938)		 131.800 Albania 200 Spain 6.000
Norway 1.300 Turky 55.000
"Ostmark" 43.700 Bulgaria 48.000 Hungaria 742.800
"Ost-Gebieten" 420.000 Sweden 8.000 Russia 5.000.000
Poland 2.284.000 Finland 2.300 Oekraine 2.994.684
Bialystok
Bohemen/		 400.000 Ireland 4.000 White Russia 446.484
Italy 58.000 ---------------------------------
Moravia 74.200 Portugal 3.000 Total 11.000.000
Estland Judenfrei Kroatia 40.000
Letland 3.500 Netherlands 160.800
Litauen 34.000 Romania 342.000
Belgian 43.000 England 330.000
Denmark 5.600 Suisse 18.000
France occupied 165.000 Servia 10.000
not occupied 69.600 Slowakia 6.000

21 January 1942,
(till september 1942) Africa Corps Germany (Rommel) march from El-Agheila to El-Alamein.

Losses from the begin of the British offensive
on 18-11-1941:
Land Men losses
Germany 13.000
Italy 20.000
Great-Britain 17.000

The Italian P-26/40 tank The Italian P-26/40 tank was designed to serve the Italian Army as a heavy tank and did so with 23 tons and a powerfull 75 mm cannon. It served from 1942 to september 1943, when Italy surrendered. The armor was similar to that of the US Sherman tank.

22 January 1942,
The Netherlands destroys oil refinery at Balikpapan, Borneo.

25 January 1942,
Japanese troops landed in New Britain, Borneo, New Ireland and on the Solomons Islands.
The first American troops arrives at Northen-Ireland.

6 February 1942,
Japanese troops capture Borneo oil fields.
Allies lose Benghazi and halt German advance at the Gazala line.

12 February 1942,
The "Scharnhorst", "Gneisenau" and "Prinz Eugen" escape from Brest through the North-Sea.

Prinz Eugen

15 February 1942,
Singapore (and General Perceival) surrender to the Japanese (General Yamashita). General Percival surrenders Singapore to General Yamashita to bring to an end to a very sorry episode for the British. Britain have lost 138.000 men, Japan nearly 10.000. The British have been left short numbers, equipment and air support.

22 February 1942,
Formation of USA Army Bomber Command, leader General Eaker. President Roosevelt order D.MacArthur to leave Bataan.
Bomber Command's operations;
In the early years of the war, bombing Germany was the only means of striking directly at the enemy's homeland and war production. Plans for a major bombing offensive, known as the strategic air offensive, were ambitious, but limited by technical difficulties in the early stages. The ineffectiveness of Bomber Command's operations up to the end of 1941 exposed the weaknesses of the RAF. Aircraft, bombs and navigational equipment were inadequate and losses in daylight raids caused Bomber Command to switch to night attacks. As night bombing was very inaccurate, from February 1942 Air Marshal Harris started the area bombing of German cities in an attempt to disrupt industrial production and morale. Notable attacks were also made on the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in March 1941, on Lubeck, Rostock and Augsburg a year later and, on 31 May 1942, the first 'thousand bomber raid' was launched against Cologne, to be followed by others, especially against Berlin. In August 1942, American air forces joined the war effort and the RAF introduced its Pathfinder force of expert target-marking crews. By the end of the year, new four-engined heavy bombers, like the Lancaster, were entering service. In 1943 and 1944 the RAF attacked the Ruhr, Hamburg and Berlin. German V-weapons development was set back by a raid on Peenemunde in August 1943. But enemy fighters took a heavy toll and German war production actually increased until July 1944. Bomber Command supported the D-Day landings by effective interdiction of road and rail communications and hindered German reinforcements and supplies reaching the battlefield. German oil production was also successfully attacked. The arrival of long-range escort fighters transformed the Bomber offensive in the last phase of the war. The controversial area bombing policy culminated in the destruction of Dresden in February 1945, causing thousands of civilian deaths. The Bomber offensive was extremely costly, with Bomber Command losing 55,573 aircrew and 1,570 ground staff. ...in a Lancaster bomber over Berlin the air crew coolly perform their duties...

27 February 1942,
(till 1 March).The battle of the Java Sea, Japanese troops, defeat an Allied fleet, with 5 Cruisers and 9 Destroyers, under Dutch command, Rear-Admiral Doorman.

3 March 1942,
During the night of 3 March, the English carried out a treacherous air-raid on the residential quarter of Paris, as a result of which more than 600 were killed and 1000 wounded. The British Government had the nerve to express their sympathy to the families of the victims of their cold blooded murder. The scale of the crime is incredible; entire streets are razed to the ground in the affected workers' quarter'.

7 March 1942,
British citizens and troops are evacuated from Rangoon, Burma.

The burning electricity and generating plan
The electricity and generating plant at the Yenengyaung oil-fields, Burma, was 'scorched' by British engineers as Japanese forces closed in.

9 March 1942,
American, British, and Dutch troops (General ter Poorten) surrender Java to the Japanese.

21 March 1942,
Germans "Arbeitseinsatz" (Saukel); bring in 7.5 million "fremdarbeiter" and 30 million German citizen to work in German factories.

23 March 1942,
Operation 'Ironclad'. Because of Churchill's fear that the island of Madagascar could become something of a 'halfway house'between the Japanese in the Indian Ocean and the Axis powers in the Middle East, he mounts Operation 'Ironclad', aimed at occupying that island.

28 March 1942,
First Jews (Slowakia) arrives at Auschwitz, Birkenau for gassing.
British attack (raid) on the strategically important port of St.Nazaire. Through the pressure of Stalin to start a second front against Germany from Britain in the west, Churchill ordered an attempt to land at St. Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire with the aim of putting the German U-boat base out of action. In addition to high casualties of the British, a destroyer, 9 motor-boats and 4 torpedo boats were destroyed. The U-boat base suffered no damage'.

29 March 1942,
The presence of Tirpitz in Norwegian waters, together with other large German ships, will now begin to exercise the minds of the British Admiralty to a remarkable degree.

2 April 1942,
(till 8 April). Heavy air attacks from the "Luftwaffe" and Italian bombers on Malta, to make the island "free for the storm".

9 April 1942,
Japanese forces capture Bataan, The Philippines. 75.000 men on their march over about 100 km to Camp O'Donnell, the "Death-March", 54.000 arrived.

12 April 1942,
Rear Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten appointed Chief of Combined Operations with a seat on the British Chiefs of Staff Committee.

18 April 1942,
The Doolittle raid, starting from Carrier "Hornet" with North American B-25B Mitchells, on Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan.
After the winter at the Eastern front, German/Russia front for the new offensive.

Relative strenght in April at the Eastern Front
Germany Russia
Soldiers 4.000.000 5.000.000
Tanks 3.000 5.000
Planes 2.500 3.000

29 April 1942,
Persecution of Jews: Order to wear the "Star of David" to all Jews in Europe.
Japanese troops capture Lashio, Birma and cut off "the street of Birma". Begin of the allied air-lift Assam to China.

4 May 1942,
(till 8 May). Japanese and American navies clash in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Japanese lost carrier "Shoho" and heavily damage carrier "Shokaku"; American lost carrier "Lexington", a tanker and a destroyer.

Americans Lexington aircraft-carrier destroyed
In spite of scoring with five torpedoes and several bombs, the Japanese failed to destroy the 'Lexington immediately. But fires set by the attack led to a series of internal explosions. several hours after the action had been broken off, the 'Lexington' had to be abandoned and destroyed.
4 May 1942,
Operation "Ironclad": British troops land in Madagascar. British troops capture the Vichy French-controlled port of Diego Suazez, Madagascar (Africa).

6 May 1942,
End of the American armed resistance (11.574 men) on The Philippines. Japanese troops capture Corregidor.

14 May 1942,
The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created on 14 May 1942. Top priority for assignment of WAACs was to serve at Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) stations. Women served with distinction in the AAF, replacing men who could then be reassigned to combat and other vital duties and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943. About 150.000 American women served in the WAAC and WAC during World War II.
The Women's Army Corps
Women’s Army Corps (WAC), U.S. Army unit created during World War II to enable women to serve in noncombat positions. Never before had women, with the exception of nurses, served within the ranks of the U.S. Army.
Women's Army Corps (WAC) U.S. Army unit. It was established (as the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps) by Congress to enlist women for auxiliary noncombat duty in World War II. Its first head was Oveta C. Hobby. By 1945 nearly 150.000 women had served. Women relieved thousands of men of their clerical assignments, and many performed nontraditional jobs such as radio operator, electrician, and air-traffic controller. After the war the government requested former servicewomen to reenlist to meet the staffing needs of army hospitals and administrative centres. The WAC became part of the regular army with the passage of the 1948 Women's Armed Services Integration Act. The WAC remained a separate unit of the U.S. Army, many years after WWII, male and female forces were integrated.

15 May 1942,
British troops draw back at the border of India.

17 May 1942,
(till 28 May). The Battle of Charkow.

18 May 1942,
Large American Expeditionary Force reaches Northern Ireland.

26 May 1942,
Operation "Theseus"; Capture Tobruk. Africa Corps advance from Bir Hakeim, the turning movement at the battle of Gazala.

Comparative strenght for "Theseus".
Germany Italy Great-Britain
Tank div. 3 1 2
Motor. div. 1 3
Inf. div. 4
Motor. brig. 1
Tanks 333 228
Planes 542 604

27 May 1942,
The attempt on Heydrich. The "Gestapo" execute 1331 Czech. Nazi terror chief Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in an assassination attempt by the resistance of Czech in Prague. He will die on 4 June and reprisals will be launched against the town which has harboured his killers.

27 May 1942,
Heavy losses are suffered by both sides in North Africa where a section of the Afrika Korps engages British 4th Armoured Brigade and 3rd Indian Motorised Brigade, north-east of Bir Hacheim. The Axis forces are now seriously short of fuel and water.
Convoy PQ-16 to Russia is attacked by Ju 88s and Heinkels and loses seven freighters. Worse damage will be prevented by the skill of Russian pilots who drive off attackers as the ships near their destination.

29 May 1942,
Mexico declares war on Germany, Italy, and Japan.

30 May 1942,
The first 1000 bomber raid. A 1047 bombers of the Royal Air Force above Cologne, take off from 52 airfields, dropped 1455 ton bombs; 460 killed and 45.000 homeless. British losses: 40 bombers , 45 heavily damage of which 12 lost by landing.
Canterbury, England attack by the Luftwaffe.


The destruction of Cologne in an Allied bombing raid.
1 June 1942,
RAF airraid, 1036 bombers (31 lost), on the "Ruhr gebiet" and Essen, Germany.
RAF bombed Germany regularly impotant places with long-range bomber; Hampdens, Vickers Wellington, Whitleys, Halifaxs, Lancasters and Stirlings.
The US build-up for Midway includes the positioning of 25 submarines in the area.

The Bomber crew

2 June 1942,
The Germans add their new heavy 'super' artillery, the Karl mortar the 80cm Dora gun, to the bombardment of Sevastopol.

4 June 1942,
(till 8 June) The Battle of Midway. Begin of the 4-day air-naval battle of Midway. In this battle of planes; Japanese lost carriers "Akagi", "Kaga" , "Soryu" and "Hiryu", American lost carrier "Yorktown", sank by a Japanese submarine.

Kaga, Japanese career
armament: 10x 20,1 cm, 16x 12,7 cm, 22x 25 mm anti-aircraft artillery and 90 planes.
armour: 27,9 cm around
displacement: 38.200 ton
depth: 9,15 m
speed: 52 km/u
crew: 2019
lengths: 206,32 m
most width: 32,56 m
The Battle of Midway, 3-7 June.

American Losses:
According to
Japan		 In reality

1.Ships
Sunk 2 carriers of "Enterprise-Class", 1 heavy cruiser of "San-Francisco-Class" damage, 1 destroyer sunk. Sunk carrier "Yorktown" and destroyer "Hammond".

2.Planes
By the attack shot down or destroy on the ground 45 From carriers 109
By attack on USA carriers shot down 15 On the mainland
place planes:
Marine corps: 28
Marine: 6
Leger: 4
By Fighters shot down 90
By anti-aircraft artillery on Japanese ships shot down 29
Total 179
147

Japanese Losses:

1.Ships
Sunk: 4 great carriers "Akagi", "Kaga", "Hiryu"
and "Soryu".
1 heavy cruiser "Mikuma".
Heavily damage: 1 heavy cruiser "Mogami".
Considerable damage: 2 destroyers "Arashio" and "Asashio".
Lightly damage: 1 tanker "Akebono Maru" by airtorpedo.
1 destroyer "Tanikaze".
1 battleship "Haruna".

2.Planes
Loss at the attack on Midway 6
Lost fighters 12
Lost by the attack on USA-carriers 24
Sunk with Japanese carriers 280 (more or less
Rest 10
-----
Total 332

The battle at Midway

4 June 1942,
Japanese offensive against the 12th Chinese Armygroup; result capture of airbase Fuchow.

10 June 1942,
The Liquidation of Lidice in reprisal for the assassination of SS Leader Reinhard Heydrich. All men and boys over age 16 in the village were shot while the women were deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp where most died. Ninety young children were sent to the concentration camp at Gneisenau, with some taken later to Nazi orphanages if they were German looking. The village of Lidice was then destroyed building by building with explosives, then completely leveled until not a trace remained, with grain being planted over the flattened soil. The name was then removed from all German maps.

21 June 1942,
The Nazi German Africa Corps under (just) Field Marshall Erwin Rommel capture Tobruk, about 25.000 British prisoners of war.

25 June 1942,
Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower commander of U.S. forces in Europe.

30 June 1942,
Rommel at El Alamein.
Rommel pass the Egyptian border (24 June). Rommel establish the next destinations: El Alamein-Alexandrië-Nile-delta-Caïro; reach at 30 June!
The German and Italian armies reach El Alamein, within 60 miles of the Nile Delta. The Afrika Korps now has 3 divisions with supporting units, and under Rommel are 3 Italian corps, including elite Italian armoured forces. The Britisch have divisions from South Africa, India, New Zealand and Australia.

1 July 1942,
German and Romanian troops capture Sevastopol, Russia after 8 month siege. General on Manstein is promoted to Field Marshal. The Germans have expended more han 46.000 shells and 20.000 tons of bombs against Sevastopol; the figure is marginally less than the total dropped on the UK during 1941.
In April 1942 the Gustav Gun was emplaced outside the heavily fortified port city of Sebastopol in the Soviet Union. Under fire from Gustav and other heavy artillery, Forts Stalin, Lenin and Maxim Gorki crumbled and fell. One round from Gustav destroyed a Russion ammunition dump 100 feet below Severnaya Bay; a near miss capsized a large ship in the harbor. Gustav fired 300 rounds during the siege wearing out the original barrel in the process.

The Gustav Gun
Hitler admires the Gustav Gun.

1 July 1942,
(till 31 July) German U-boats sunk 93 Allied cargo-boats, 454.535 tons, to the bottom of the Ocean at the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of the USA, North Sea and the Mediterranean.
The Battle of the Atlantic
Britain's survival depended upon the flow of raw materials, food, munitions and men from North America. German submarines, known as U-boats, posed the biggest threat to the supply routes. For much of the war, they successfully hindered merchant shipping in the Atlantic. In the summer of 1940, the U-boats were sinking an average of 250,000 tons of shipping per month. In 1941 the Royal Navy tried to protect merchant ships with stronger convoy escorts and more air cover. But the Germans employed 'wolf-pack' tactics, grouping submarines together to attack convoys on the surface at night, and increased their success. In 1942, after America had entered the war, U-boats were able to attack shipping off the east coast of the United States. 1,006 Allied and neutral ships were sunk in the North Atlantic alone. To overcome the U-boats it was essential to close the 'air gap' in mid-Atlantic where land-based aircraft were unable to provide cover for convoys. This was not possible until 1943 when the battle finally swung in favour of the Allies. Better anti-submarine weapons and detection devices, trained convoy support groups, long-range aircraft and escort carriers all helped to defeat the U-boats.

Luftwaffe planes on raid against a convoy
German planes looking out for and destroying English merchant ships and other boats.

Number of casualities; Losses on the Allied Merchantman and their tonnage (B.R.T).
North
Atlantic		 South
Atlantic		 North Sea/
East-Sea
British Waters		 Total
Numbers B.R.T Numbers B.R.T Numbers B.R.T Numbers B.R.T
3/9/1939-
31/12/1939 57 272 8 49 149 424 214 745
1940 380 1844 9 65 552 1678 941 3587
1941 522 2490 19 136 316 676 857 3302
1942 1017 5519 103 627 74 140 1194 6286
1943 286 1672 67 397 23 37 376 2106
1944 32 177 9 53 68 275 109 505
1/1-2/9/1945 19 116 2 11 62 232 83 359
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Total 2313 12060 217 1338 1244 3462 3774 16890

1 July 1942,
The first heavy bomber from the US 8th Army Air Force, a B-17 Flying Fortress, lands a Prestwick.

7 July 1942,
Over 1.000.000 German troops are diverted to capture the Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus.

15 July 1942,
Camp Westerbork remained a deportation machine. The deportations came to dominate daily life. The first deportation train left Camp Westerbork from the station at Hooghalen on 15th of July.

17 July 1942,
Himmler, on his second visit to Auschwitz, personally witnesses killing procedures using Zyklon B.

22 July 1942,
Destruction Camp Treblinka openend.
Treblinka.
An extermination camp located on the Bug River in Poland, its total Of 700.000 victims made it the second of the Vernichtungslager (extermination camps) after Auschwitz. Situated near a railway junction seventy-five miles from Warsaw. the camp began operations in July 1942 when the first transports arrived from the Warsaw ghetto. By the end of the first few months, escaped prisoners had brought back to the Jews of the ghetto the truth about the camp. From the very first days that truth was charged with horror: there was no industry attached to the camp, no hope of a stay of execution to be gained through slave labour. The sole purpose of Treblinka was extermination. Gassing specialist Christian Wirth had installed thirty gas chambers initially for use with carbon monoxide, and aimed at the destruction of 25.000 people a day. In practical tearms the techniques of 1942 were unable to cope with the immense task of killing that number per day. From July 1942 each daily transport from the Warsaw ghetto carried 5.ooo people. On arrival, the prisoners were stripped and directed (or beaten if they showed reluctance) along the Himmelstrasse, the Heavenly Way, at the end of which the bathhouses fitted with gas nozzles were ready to receive them. In 1987 the trial of John Demjanjuk revealed the appalling sadism of Ivan the Terrible who stood at the bathhouse entrance. Karl Franz, the commandant, regularly set his ferocious Saint Bernard dog to savage the faces of Jews whom he had had hung upside down in his private execution square. Yet the point was made by prisoners that relatively few of the SS guards serving in the camps were sadists. Most - and perhaps this is the more serious accusation - were indifferent to the fate of the men, women and children who passed down the Himmelstrasse. Hoss, the Auschwitz commandant, boasted that few victims in his camp were aware of their fate; at Treblinka, he claimed scornfully, the prisoners usually knew. We know now that this was the result of Jewish efforts to send messages from the camp not only to Warsaw but to the Jewish ghettos. Almost certainly for this reason the Treblinka inmates, the 700-1.000 Jews who worked for the Germans until they in turn were gassed and replaced by others, were willing in 1943 to stake their lives in rebellion. In June 1943 a camp revolt was abandoned when it was discovered that the stolen hand-grenades could not be detonated, but in August a group of prisoners used kerosene to spray buildings instead of disinfectant. Igniting the buildings, they attacked the guards with grenades and armed themselves with guns snatched from them. It was in every sense a hopeless rebellion. No more than fifteen German, Baltic and Ukrainian guards were killed by the group of 700 working prisoners. All but 150 who broke out were killed at once; only twelve managed to get away alive. The rest of the escapees were caught and killed.

22 July 1942,
(till 3 October) Revolt at the Warsaw Gettho; 310.332 Jews on transport to Concentration Camps; Illness,starvation and searching food were rife in the ghetto.

Warsaw ghetto; newspaper stand
A newspaper stand in the Warsaw ghetto.

26 + 27 July 1942,
Mass attack from the RAF on Hamburg (repeat at 28+29 July).

27 July 1942,
Germany capture Rostov-on-Don, Soviet Union.

August 1942,
Field Marshall Sir Harold Alexander is appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Alexander, Field Marshal Sir Harold (1891-1969)
Served as a Battalion Commander in France during the First World War and saw active service on the north-west frontier of India in the inter-war years. He commanded the First Division of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939-45 and was the last officer evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk. In 1942 he was sent to Burma to command the final withdrawal from Rangoon to Assam in the face of overwhelmingly superior Japanese air power. As commander-in-chief in the middle east from August 1942, he directed the advance to Tunis across North Africa. He commanded the Sicily and Anzio landings and his forces penetrated to Rome by June 1944. From 1946-52 he was Governor-General of Canada.

6 August 1942,
German troops reach the Elbruz mountains in the Caucasus. Hitler had hoped to reach the oilfields at Baku. He dismisses Field Marshal List for not advancing fast enough. At 'Werewolf' there are arguments between Hitler and his military advisers who claim that his strategy has stretched out his forces too widely. When General Halder, the chief of the Army general staff warns that the Russians, with growing strength, could soon counter-attack, he too is dismissed and eventually sent to the concentration camp at Dachau. Von Paulus's 6th Anny takes most of Stalingrad and, with control of the air, seems to be on the way to break through the town to the river. But the Russians hold on, their backs to the river, their artillery supporting them from the other bank.

7 August 1942,
U.S. Marines land at Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands. The American begin landings in the Solomons, troops gain footholds on Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Gavutu.
When the Guadalcanal campaign began, it was the first land offensive by the United States against any Axis power. It continued to be the only land offensive by the United States until the major Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942.

Henderson field and Guadalcanal landings
Henderson field and Guadalcanal landings

8-9 August 1942,
Battle of Savo Island. Night surface actions; Japanese cruisers engages an Allied force and destroy 4 Allied cruisers near Salvo Island, Guadalcanal.

9 August 1942,
Gandhi and his chief supporters of committee "Quit India" are jailed in India causing mass riots.
German troops reach Maikop oil-field in Russia.

10 August 1942,
(till 13 August). Operation "Pedestal": Britsh attempt to sail a supply convoy to Malta.

17 August 1942,
Japanese begin operations to reinforce Guadalcanal.
The first serious Air attack from the USA with 12 B-17's (Flying Fortress), from Eighth Air Force, on shunting yards from Rouen, France, escort by British Spitfire. In September the first B-24's Liberators arrived.

Statistics Bombers: Flights Lost %
USA;
17 aug.1942 till 30 dec. 1942 1547 32 2
UK;
3 sept.1939 till 30 dec. 1942 17.501 2859 4

19 August 1942,
British raid on Dieppe. British and Canadian commandos, 4de and 6de brigade of 2de Canadian division (General-major Roberts) with tanks and air support, attempt a raid on Dieppe, France. German forces defeat and capture the commandos.

22 August 1942,
Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy.

23-25 August 1942,
Battle of the Eastern Solomons, air and surface actions.

26 August 1942,
Russian bombers raid on Berlin and other German cities.

28 August 1942,
Russian counter-attack at Leningrad (Lieutenant-general Goworow).
The German reach the Wolga north from Stalingrad.

31 August 1942,
The Battle of Alam Halfa (Egypt), British forces under General Montgomery defeat Rommel's Afrika Korps. Rommel attacks at Alam Halfa, but is repulsed and his armour is considerably weakened. Generals Alexander and Montgomery came, Generals Auchinleck and Ritchie are gone. The Eighth Army receives 300 Sherman tanks in September.

10 September 1942,
British troops occupy Madagascar.

12-13 September 1942,
Battle of Edson's ridge (bloody ridge) successful defense of Henderson airfield.

15 September 1942,
Begin of the Battle of Stalingrad.

22 September 1942,
German troops at the centre of Stalingrad.

29 September 1942,
In the second and final raid of its mission, a Japanese aircraft deployed from a submarine off the coast of Oregon, flies over forests inland to drop incendiary bombs. These were the only bombing raids made on the United States.

4 October 1942,
The Sixth Army of General Paulus is out of ideas, how to break through into the centre of Stalingrad but one more effort is called for. The Germans have more skilled urban fighters in their ranks but they are still struggling to make an impact. The Sovjets plan to force any German breakthrough into zones which they control, and then counter on their terms.

7 October 1942,
The tractory factory in Stalingrad is scene of the most fierce fighting in the city.
On Guadalcanal the US 1st Marine Division breaks out from the beachhead to try to create a larger safety zone around the airstrip Henderson Field.

11 October 1942,
Battle of Cape Esperance. Night surface actions to maintain Guadalcanal supply routes. The American have radar, but use it poorly, the Japanese have better torpedoes. Both sides troopships reach their destinations. The Americans get 3.000 men ashore; the Japanese will land artillery, tanks and other material, but lose more ships.

12 October 1942,
A Coastal Command Liberator sinks U597 in the first success by a single aircraft from this RAF section.

22 October 1942,

100 Lancasters attack the port and city of Genoa. One example of the regular sorties against Mediterranean convoys and their supply ports which are having a major impact on the war in North Africa.

23 October 1942,

23 October 1942 British forces advancing through Burma make their first contact with the Japanese.

24 October 1942,
At 21.40 the begin of the British offensive:"Lightfoot" at El Alamein. Few days later (25) Rommel is back from Rome at the front. A decisive battle in the desert struggle between Rommel's Afrika Korps and the British forces. In August 1942 General Bernard Law Montgomery was appointed to command the Eighth Army. A cautious and methodical commander, Montgomery built up his forces with the aid of massive quantities of US equipment until on 23 October 1942 he was able to attack the German defensive positions with every chance of success. The Afrika Korps withdrawal which began on 2 November would, in effect, continue until there was no longer a German military presence left in North Africa.

El Alamein, Oct. 1942
British tanks of 8th Army go forward at El Alamein.

Relative strength at the begin of the British Offensive at 23 October.
Material Germans/
Italian		 (From that
Italian)		 British and
Confederate
ca. men 96.000 150.000
Inf.div. 7 (5) 3 brigades
Mot.div. 2 (1) 7
Tank div. 4 (2) 4 (+ 7 arm.reg.)
Tanks 500 (280) 1200 (470 heavy)
Air Force 880
Bombers 129
Stuka's 65
Air-fighters 55
Fighters 123
till 12 may '43: 335.000 Germans are prisoners at war.

24-27 October 1942,
Battle of Santa Cruz. Long range naval battle between American and Japanese forces near Santa Cruz island. Japanese heavy losses on Guadalcanal.

5 November 1942,
Operation "Super charge": The break through of the Battle of Alamein, British troops (Bernhard Montgomery) defeat Rommel's Afrika Korps, on the march to Tunis (March 1943).
Admiral Darlan arrives in Algiers.

8 November 1942, USA flag
Operation "Torch": Allied forces (110.000 men) under Dwight D. Eisenhower land in North Africa.
Operation 'Torch'
Three main task forces land in Morocco and Algeria to mark the start of Operation 'Torch'. The Eastern Task Force lands at Algiers with 33.000 troops and 52 warships; the Central Task Force at Oran with 39.000 men and a naval force; the Western Task Force, which has sailed directly from the USA with ground troops under the command of General George Patton, lands at three points on the Moroccan coast. The Algiers landing is successful and the port is quickly taken, but Oran is only taken after fighting and with the loss of two destroyers. Only one of the Western Task Force landings, at Safi, goes well; those at Casablanca and Port Lyautey meeting resistance. The management of the operation is a master­piece of deceptive diplomacy: the Spanish and Portuguese being assured of the British involvement in the operation so as to ensure they do nothing to affect the smooth passage of Allied shipping around their coasts; the French being shown that almost all the assault troops are Americans, ergo the USA is in charge of the affair. The Atlantic U-boat fleet is ordered to deploy in the vicinity of the 'Torch' beachheads.

8 November 1942,
Vichy France breaks-off diplomatic relations with the United States. Germany capture Vichy (South-France).
Hitler declares at the "Löwenbräukeller" te München : "Stalingrad is defeated"!

10 November 1942,
Operation "Anton": German-Italian troops occupy South France and Corsica. The "Wehrmacht code-word" for the occupation of Vichy France. In the event, as a counter-measure to the Anglo-American landings in North Africa, Anton was ordered on 10 November 1942.

12-15 November 1942,
The Air-Sea battle of Guadalcanal
Naval Battles of Guadalcanal; the turning point in the Pacific. The Japanese send 11.000 men to Guadalcanal in 11 transports escorted by destroyers. Another Japanese force of 2 battieships, 2 cruisers and 14 destroyers is sent to bombard Henderson Field. There are also 2 carriers in the area. With just 5 cruisers and 8 destroyers, US Admiral Callaghan moves to locate the ships heading for the position offshore of the airfield. When the 2 fleets engage the Japanese lose 2 cruisers and many of their other ships are damaged; the Americans lose 2 cruisers and 4 destroyers. Although the Americans should have used their superior radar to secure an even greater advantage, the Japanese transports are forced to turn away. On 14 November Admiral Tanaka attempts a new approach for his troops bound for Guadalcanal. The US carrier Enterprise is back on duty and her aircraft join with those from Henderson Field to attack the Japanese ships. 7 transports and 2 warships are lost, but Tanaka sails on, now receiving protection from a new formation consisting of the battleship Kirishima, 4 cruisers and 9 destroyers under the command of Admiral Kondo. The Americans have also reformed their fleet, deploying the battleships Washington and South Dakota and 4 destroyers. In the middle of the night the 2 forces clash. The naval action off Guadalcanal sees South Dakota retiring damaged early on, but Washington sinking Kirishima. Tanaka manages to land 4.000 troops but the hazards of surface approach and landing will see the Japanese resorting to submarine-borne supply in future.
13 November 1942,
British forces recapture Tobruk from the Germans.
Hitler assure Petain not to occupy Toulon.

19 November 1942,
7.30u; Soviet forces begin a counteroffensive to break-out of Stalingrad.The "South West front": about 3 tank-, 2 cav.corps and 21 inf.div., the "Donjetsfront": about 20 inf.div., 6 tankbrig. and 2 motor.brig.

Relative strength at Stalingrad, 19 november 1942.
Sowjet-
Union		 Germany
1."South Westfront" Troops 2 1
Artillery 2 1
Grenade throwers 3,5 1
Tanks 2 1
2."Stalingradfront" Troops 2,5 1
Artillery 3 1
Grenade throwers 3 1
Tanks 3 1
Total at both Armygroups:
Grenade throwers/Artillery 17.031
Tanks 1.140
Planes 2.267

19 November 1942,
The Battle for Stalingrad has sucked in so many German troops and such quantities of materiel that, almost imperceptibly, the army's potential for any positive action elsewhere has been reduced to zero. The Soviets' winter offensive, Operation `Uranus', begins along the Don in fog and heavy snow, and it is now that the Soviet commanders are able to demonstrate their tactical skill in the advance. At their head is Marshal Georgi Zhukov and he can immediately call on half a million men, 900 new T34 tanks, good supplies of artillery and more than 1.000 modern attack aircraft. The battle-weary German infantry has lost many men, is struggling to care for its sick and keep its fit men up to scratch. The first to feel the fresh cutting edge of the Soviet advance will be Roumanian Third Army which has been fighting alongside the Germans. Even in the Caucasus, the German advance has ground to a halt and will be driven back.

20 November 1942,
To the south of Stalingrad the Germans resist Russian pressure but are forced back by superior numbers and equipment. Roumanian Fourth Army is soundly beaten; their horse-drawn Flak guns are no match for the modern armour of their opponents.

21 November 1942,
Field Marshall Von Manstein be in charge of leadership at the Armygroup "Don".Charge: "Stop the Russian attack". The German 6th Army try to defend Stalingrad against the Russian. Fight at fortress Stalingrad.
The massed Soviet forces thrusting from the south of Stalingrad continue to ride roughshod over Roumanian Fourth Army. Some sweep north towards Kalach, while others drive due west and south. To the north-west of Stalingrad an even broader gap is punched through Roumanian Third Army formations. Threatened by the Soviet pincers, German 6 Army's HQ has to move, but more than 250.000 German troops with 10.000 vehicles and 1.800 guns are encircled. Hitler calmly orders Paulus to take up defensive positions and await reinforcements.

23 November 1942,
Soviet forces racing south capture a crossing of the Don at Kalach and then combine with 51st Army troops to begin the encirclement of the Germans remaining in and around Stalingrad. Roumanian Third Army divisions surrender around Raspopinskaya as they too are surrounded. Rather than make a broader advance to the west, Zhukov decides to annihilate the German forces in Stalingrad.

23 November 1942,
In Libya the retreating German forces make a stand at Agedabia but have to give way and fall back to El Agheila. The British advance of 600 miles in two weeks has been delayed by booby-traps and demolitions hut it might still have been expected to prevent so many German troops escaping towards Tunisia.

24 November 1942,
Field Marshal von Manstein has been ordered to take command of the new Army Group Don and bring it to Paulus' rescue. Sixth Army is trapped but Hitler has ordered Paulus to stand fast and not attempt a breakout to the west. Von Manstein has less faith than the Fuhrer in assurance that the Luftwaffe can supply beleaguered Sixth Army from the air.

25 November 1942,
The promised airlift of supplies into Stalingrad begin The heavy, defenceless transport aircraft suffer enormous losses to deliver a fraction of what is required. 22 German divisions captive between Wolga and Don.

27 November 1942,
Operation "Lila", German troops capture Toulon, the French Fleet sunk their own war-ships. The objective of Operation Lila was to capture intact the units of the French fleet at Toulon. On 19 November, the Germans began Operation Lila, with the objective of capturing Toulon and the French fleet, with an execution date of 27 November.

November 1942,
Los Alamos is selected as the site for an Atomic Bomb Laboratory. Robert Oppenheimer is named the Director.

30 November 1942,
Battle of Lunga Point. The continuing efforts of the 'Tokyo Express' to resupply the Japanese on Guadalcanal.

12 December 1942,
(till 23 December).German Armygroup "Hoth", with 2 tankdiv., try to set free the surrounded Germans at Stalingrad.Von Paulus with the permission of Hitler to do a break out of Stalingrad provided that Stalingrad must be hold.

23 December 1942,
The first Japanese troops landed on Wilkes Island, part of the Wake Island.

24 December 1942,
Japanese troops land in the Philippines near Luzon.
Admiral Jean Francois Darlan, Head of French Armed Forces and High Commissioner in French North Africa, is murdered. He is replaced by General Henri Giraud.

28 December 1942,
The Germans Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht give order retreat of the German Armygroup A out of the Kaukasus.

30 December 1942,
The battleship Lutzow, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and 6 destroyers sail from Norway in search of Convoy JW-51B, on his way to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The merchantmen are escorted by 3 separate groups under different commanders.

31 December 1942,
The Battle of the Barents Sea. The larger German warships close on Convoy JW-51B from different directions, but destroyer smoke-screens prohibit full engagement. 1 destroyer is sunk and another damaged, but Hipper is also damaged and a destroyer sunk. Despite an overwhelming numerical superiority, the Germans withdraw from the battle in the Barents Sea north of North Cape, Norway.

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