Important Events in 1942
- Jan 2 World War II: the 28 nations at war with Axis powers pledge to make no separate peace deals
- Jan 20 Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin to organize the "final solution", the extermination of Europe's Jews
- Feb 13 Hitler's Operation Sealion, the invasion of England, is cancelled
- Feb 19 About 150 Japanese warplanes attack the Australian city of Darwin
- Mar 17 Bełżec Concentration Camp opens with the transport of 30,000 Lublin Polish Jews
- Mar 26 First "Eichmann transport" to Auschwitz & Birkenau concentration camps
- Jun 12 Anne Frank gets her diary as a birthday present in Amsterdam
- Jul 22 Warsaw Ghetto Jews (300,000) are sent to Treblinka Extermination Camp
- Aug 4 1st train with Jews departs Mechelen Belgium to Auschwitz
- Aug 9 Mahatma Gandhi and 50 others arrested in Bombay after passing of a "quit India" motion and campaign by the All-India Congress
- Aug 13 The 'Manhattan Project' commences, under the direction of US General Leslie Groves: its aim - to deliver an atomic bomb
- Aug 19 World War II: Over 4,000 Canadian and British soldiers killed, wounded or captured raiding Dieppe, France
- Aug 23 Battle of Stalingrad: 600 Luftwaffe planes bomb Stalingrad (40,000 die)
- Oct 23 During WWII, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt
- Nov 12 WWII Naval Battle of Guadalcanal begins between Allied and Japanese forces in Solomon Islands
- Nov 19 Operation Uranus: Soviet offensive begins during Battle of Stalingrad, 1 million Soviet soldiers encircle the German Sixth Army
More Historical Events
1942 in Film & TV
- May 29 Bing Crosby records "White Christmas", world's best-selling single (estimated 100 million copies sold)
- May 29 "Yankee Doodle Dandy", based on life of George M. Cohan, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring James Cagney and Joan Lesley, premieres in NYC (Academy Awards Best Actor 1943)
- Jun 4 "Mrs Miniver" based on the novel by Jan Struther, directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon is released in the US (Best Picture 1943)
- Aug 21 Walt Disney's animated movie "Bambi", based on the book by Felix Salten, is released
1942 in Music
- Feb 10 Glenn Miller awarded 1st Ever Gold Record for selling 1 million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo"
1942 in Sport
- Mar 18 2 black players, Jackie Robinson & Nate Moreland, request a tryout with the Chicago White Sox, they are allowed to work out
Did You Know?
Did You Know?World War II: last cavalry charge in history takes place at Isbushenskij, Russia; the Italian Savoia Cavalleria charges Soviet infantry
On August 23, 1942
Barbra Streisand
Jimi Hendrix
Joe Biden
Kim Jong-il
Muhammad Ali
Paul McCartneyFamous People in 1942
Greer Garson
Oscar for Best Actress- James Cagney
Oscar for Best Actor - Joseph Stalin
Time Person
of the Year
Greer Garson
James Cagney
Joseph StalinWorld Leaders in 1942
- Adolf Hitler
Dictator of Nazi Germany - Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd US President - Joseph Stalin
Soviet General Secretary - Winston Churchill
Soldier, Author and British Prime Minister
Adolf Hitler
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston ChurchillWould You Believe?
Chinese steward Poon Lim begins 133 days adrift after British ship SS Benlomond torpedoed by german U-boat and he is the sole survivor
On November 23, 1942
Famous Weddings in 1942
- Jan 10 Actress Ava Gardner (19) weds actor Mickey Rooney (21) in Ballard, California
- Jan 22 Novelist Anthony Burgess (25) weds Llewela Jones
- Mar 26 Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi (25) weds politician and journalist Feroze Gandhi (29) at Anand Bhavan
Famous Divorces in 1942
- Jul 21 Actress Mae West (48) divorces vaudeville performer Frank Wallace after 31 years of marriage
- Oct 2 Jazz musician Louis Armstrong (41) divorces Alpha Smith after 4 years of marriage
- Dec 15 Actress Mary Astor (36) divorces film editor Manuel del Campo (29) after more than 4 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces
Albert Kahn
François Darlan
George M. Cohan
J. B. M. Hertzog
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Reinhard Heydrich1942 in Articles and Photos
Wannsee Conference
Adolf Eichmann's infamous list with estimates of the number of Jews in European countries as presented at the Wannsee Conference
January 20, 19421st Ever Gold Record
The 1st ever gold record was awarded to "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by the Glenn Miller Orchestra - this one was presented to the group's drummer, Tex Beneke
February 10, 1942Battle of Los Angeles
Anti-aircraft guns and spotlights comb the sky above Los Angeles during the rumored Japanese attack
February 24, 1942'I Shall Return'
A statue in the Philippines commemorating the promised return of American commander Douglas MacArthur in World War II
March 20, 1942Anne Frank – A Light of Inspiration in the Nazi Darkness
Anne Frank received her famous diary on this day – a beacon of hope and love from a young girl in a world beset by cruelty, horror and death.
June 12, 1942Manhattan Project
'Calutron Girls' monitoring a mass spectrometer during the Manhattan Project. Gladys Owens, in the foreground, did not know what she was involved with until seeing this picture on a tour fifty years later.
August 13, 1942
