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History on the year of 1942

History
Date Text
01 Jan 1942 WW2 The United States introduced a ban on the purchase of new private cars and trucks in order to conserve steel. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Jean Moulin, the former mayor of Chartes, parachuted into France in an effort to coordinate and unify resistance groups. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied powers announced preliminary plans for punishing enemy war criminals after the war. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Oberstgeneral Ernst Udet, head of the Luftwaffe's Production and Development, committed suicide over his perceived inability to properly perform his mission. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur accepted a payment of US$500,000 from Philippine President Manuel Quezon for his pre-war service. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 General der Artillerie Robert Martinek succeeded Wilhelm Weiß as the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Four Australian Hudson medium bombers attacked Kapingamarangi northeast of Rabaul, Bismarck Islands, causing light damage. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 George Brett was named the Deputy Supreme Commander of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA). 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Kittyhawk fighters saw combat in North Africa for the first time, with 9 No. 3 Squadron RAF Kittyhawk fighters attacking 16 German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers escorted by 6 Bf 109 fighters. The British Kittyhawk fighters would shoot down four Ju 87 and one Bf 109 aircraft. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Chinese troops launched a counterattack at Changsha, Hunan Province, China. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops continued the assault on Kampar, British Malaya; both sides incurred heavy casualties in the morning. Meanwhile, Japanese 11th Regiment landed in the Bernam River 35 miles to the southwest. In London, England, United Kingdom, Winston Churchill complained of the British Royal Navy's inability to disrupt Japanese shipping in Malayan waters. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 American and Filipino forces south of Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands abandoned their positions and joined the defenses north of the city, which would fall back across the Calumpit bridges by the end of the day. Meanwhile, the Japanese sent a message to the mayor of Manila announcing that the Japanese forces would arrive on the following day. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet cruiser Molotov arrived at Sevastopol, Russia with 700 men of the Soviet 386th Infantry Division. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinov, and Chinese Ambassador Song Ziwen (also known as T. V. Soong) signed the Declaration by United Nations during the Arcadia Conference in Washington DC, United States. 
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01 Jan 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, US Atlantic Fleet with the USS Augusta as his flagship. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 At the US Army Air Forces Headquarters Major Jimmy Doolittle began planning an air raid against Japan. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet Army broke through German lines at Rzhev, Russia. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed at Roi, Marshall Islands. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 7,000 Axis troops at Bardia, Libya surrendered to the Allies. Among the prisoners of war was General Artir Schmitt. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable departed Cape Town, South Africa with Sea Hurricane aircraft aboard. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek cabled US President Roosevelt asking the President to nominate a trusted American General to act as Chief of Staff in the China Theatre. The Americans responded by suggesting that the functions of Chief of Staff China Theatre should be combined with Commander of the China-Burma-India Theatre and Supervisor of Lend-Lease material. Brigadier-General John Magruder of the American Military Mission to China was not senior enough (and was already disillusioned with the Chinese) and when Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum turned down the position it was finally offered to Major General Joseph W. Stilwell who reluctantly agreed to go where he was sent. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese and Anglo-Indian troops continued to fight at Kampar Hill in British Malaya and prepared to withdraw southward later in the day. To the south, troops of the Japanese 4th Imperial Guard Regiment sailed down the Perak River to reinforce the Japanese 11th Regiment at Bernam River; Indian 12th Infantry Brigade arrived to reinforce the failing defense at Telok Anson nearby. Far to the south, Japanese aircraft based in Malaya and Borneo attacked Singapore. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-134 sank British ship Waziristan in the Barents Sea at 0648 hours; she was the first Arctic Convoy ships to be sunk. The 47 aboard abandoned ship but were never seen again. Also lost with Waziristan were 3,700 tons of supplies and 410 US-built trucks for the Soviet Union. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Vimiera struck a mine and sank in the Thames estuary in southern England, United Kingdom while escorting a coastal convoy; 96 were killed, 14 survived. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 damaged American ship Algonquin in the Atlantic Ocean. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 attacked British destroyer HMS Kimberley off Tobruk, Libya at 0238 hours, blowing off the stern and killing 3; destroyer HMS Heythrop would tow HMS Kimberley to Alexandria, Egypt. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Unbeaten attacked and sank the already-damaged German submarine U-374 south of Messina, Sicily, Italy at 1030 hours with two torpedoes; 42 were killed, 1 survived. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed from Palau Islands. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Ernest King ordered Chester Nimitz to plan a raid against Japanese positions in the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands in order to establish an offensive momentum in the Pacific War. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-134 sank British freighter Waziristan of Allied convoy PQ-7A; Waziristan was already damaged by German aircraft at the time of this attack; all 47 aboard were killed. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Walter Stettner von Grabenhofen was awarded the Iron Cross in Gold. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort was interviewed by staff members of the Roberts Commission at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii regarding the events leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack; he answered more than 100 questions. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Manila, the capital of the Philippine Islands. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Naval Base Cavite in the Philippine Islands. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured the Clark Field airbase in the Philippine Islands. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convicted 33 members of a German intelligence network headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in US history. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 Submarine Hoe was laid down by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
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02 Jan 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps Supply Center at Barstow, California, United States was organized as Marine Barracks, Marine Corps Depot of Supplies. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 US and Filipino troops fell back to the Guagua-Porac defensive line, 15 miles from the Bataan peninsula on Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Cummings led a counter attack against the Japanese at Kuantan, Malaya, in which all of his men were killed or wounded, and he was bayoneted twice in the stomach. Rallying the remnants of his force under fire, he was wounded again, but succeeded in saving many lives. He was awarded the Victoria Cross. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Pollack fired a torpedo at a Japanese ship off Honshu, Japan; the torpedo missed. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 The Japanese made an amphibious attack at Kuala Selangor in western Malaya, which was repelled by Indian troops. In eastern Malaya, Japanese troops pushed through Indian 9th Division defenses and crossed the Kuantan River, capturing the airfield nearby. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 British Colonel Arthur Cummings, commanding officer of the Indian 12th Frontier Force Regiment, gallantly led a rearguard unit near Kuantan, Malaya as the main body of his division retreated further south, suffering a bayonet wound in his stomach and a gunshot in the arm. He would survive the war and be awarded the Victoria Cross for this action. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 Australian 39th and 53rd Battalions arrived at Port Moresby, New Guinea from Sydney, Australia. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-158 sank Dutch ship Langkoeas off Bawean Island, Dutch East Indies; all 94 aboard escaped on lifeboats. I-158 rammed one of the lifeboats and attacked the others with machine guns, killing many of the survivors. Ultimately, only 3 would survive. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 Five freighters and one tanker departed Messina, Brindisi, and Taranto in Italy to form convoy M.34, carrying 1,200 troops, 54 tanks, artillery pieces, armored cars, 1,000 tons of ammunition, and 5,300 tons of fuel for Tripoli, Libya. A powerful escort force of 4 Italian battleships, 5 cruisers, 19 destroyers, and 5 torpedo boats provided cover from a distance. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese submarine in the Dutch East Indies with four torpedoes and observed two explosions; in actuality no damage was done. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 Major General Tomitaro Horii and Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue met at Truk, Caroline Islands aboard cruiser Kashima to coordinate Army-Navy plans for the invasion of Bismarck Islands. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. In the subsequent days she would receive two depth charge throwers and two depth charge rails at the stern. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku was undocked at Kure, Japan. 
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03 Jan 1942 WW2 The B-25D variant of the B-25 Mitchell aircraft took its first flight; all B-25D aircraft were built at Kansas City, Kansas, United States. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet Army took Kaluga near Moscow, Russia. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 Indian 11th Infantry Division withdrew from Kampar Hill in western Malaya, falling back to a new defensive line at the Slim River. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 Following a heavy bombardment, Japanese Lingayen Force penetrated the US-Filipino Guagua-Porac defensive line at Luzon, Philippine Islands and captured the town of Guagua and the Del Carmen airfield. On the same day, American B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from Australia attacked Japanese shipping at Malalag Bay, Davao, Mindanao, damaging cruiser Myoko. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet cruiser Krasnyi Kavkaz was damaged by German Ju 87 aircraft but was able to reach Novorossiysk, Russia for repairs. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 16 Type 96 G3M bombers of Chitose Air Group of Japanese Navy 24th Air Flotilla, based at Truk in Caroline Islands, were spotted over Tabor 90 miles north of New Britain at 1000 hours. They reached Rabaul, New Britain at 1100 hours, where they were able to attack various military facilities with minimal resistance (only 2 Wirraway fighters scrambled, while anti-aircraft guns were ineffective). Shortly before sundown, 11 Type 97 H6K flying boats of Yokohama Air Group attacked the Vunakanam Airfield on New Britain; Australians failed to open fire with the anti-aircraft guns altogether, while most of the Japanese bombs missed the airfield. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 Chinese troops continued to put pressure on the Japanese offensive on Changsha, Hunan Province, China. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack arrived at Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo and took on fuel. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 A Japanese floatplane flew near Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii in a reconnaissance mission. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 RAF Blenheim bombers from No. 21 and No. 107 Squadrons based in Malta raided the Italian base at Castelvetrano destroying eleven Axis transport aircraft on the ground and thereby hindering the amount of supplies and reinforcements that could be forwarded to North Africa. 
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04 Jan 1942 WW2 Nachi received light shrapnel damage in the searchlight (wounding one officer) in Malalag Bay, Davao Gulf, Philippine Islands from US B-17D bombers. Later in the day, Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi transferred his flag from Myoko to Nachi; Myoko had received a direct hit during the same attack. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet forces launched general offensives on the Leningrad, Moscow, Ukraine, and Crimea fronts. Joseph Stalin, who had taken command, refused to heed his generals who warned against a broad 1,000-mile long front. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 The Soviet attempt to land at Eupatoria (Yevpatoria) was blocked by the Germans. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Georg von Bismarck was assigned as as a staff officer of Panzer Group Africa. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 US Navy Bureau of Navigation granted permission for Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks Rear Admiral Ben Moreell to recruit for a regiment of three construction battalions, soon to be known as "Seabees". 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Pollack damaged Japanese cargo ship Heijo Maru off Honshu, Japan with three of six torpedoes fired; this was claimed as a sinking. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 After sundown, 140 British aircraft attacked the port facilities at Brest, France, dropping 203 tons of high explosive bombs, followed by another wave of 126 aircraft which dropped 186 tons of high explosive bombs and 12,680 incendiary bombs. The primary targets were German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which suffered little damage. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Upholder sank Italian submarine Admiral Saint-Bon, with 155 tons of ammunition and gasoline on board, north of Messina, Sicily at 0542 hours; 82 were killed (many during the explosion), 3 survived. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Italian convoy M.43 arrived at Tripoli, Libya, delivering 54 tanks, armored cars, artillery, ammunition, and fuel. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Proteus sank Italian troop transport Citta Di Palermo 73 miles northwest of Patras, Greece at 0800 hours, killing most of the 600 aboard. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops launched probing attacks at the defenses manned by Indian troops at Trolak, British Malaya; 60 Japanese were killed without achieving success. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-56 sank British freighter Kwantung 60 miles south of Java, Dutch East Indies. 133 survived the sinking, but only 35 would ultimately be rescued; most of those died after the sinking were killed by Japanese ramming and machinegunning. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 George Brett was named the commanding officer of all US forces in Australia. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Hidehiko Ukita stepped down as the commanding officer of the Ryojun Guard District (previously known as Port Arthur; now Lushunkou, Liaoning Province, China), Kwantung Leased Territory in northeastern China. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Four prisoners of war, two Dutch and two British, successfully escaped the Oflag IV-C camp at Colditz Castle in Germany by dressing up as German guards. Lieutenant Airey Neave, one of the escapees among the four, became the first British to escape from Colditz. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell departed India. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi departed with the Carrier Striking Force (Carrier Divisions 1 and 5) from Hashirajima for Iwakuni, Japan. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Kure, Japan for Hiroshima Bay. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 US and Filipino troops in the Philippine Islands were put on half rations. 
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05 Jan 1942 WW2 Benjamin Kelsey was promoted to the war time rank of lieutenant colonel. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 In the face of over 52,000 murders in Kiev, Ukraine, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov denounced German atrocities in the Soviet Union and began to document incidents of atrocities for future actions. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 British aircraft sink Italian freighter Perla off Pantellaria off the Tunisian coast. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft from Truk, Caroline Islands attacked Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 Nine Japanese flying boats attacked Vunakanau Airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, destroying a direction-finding station and damaging a Wirraway fighter, a Hudson bomber, and the runways; one Wirraway fighter was scrambled and reached the flying boats, but it failed to hit the attackers. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft bombed Dutch positions on Ambon, Dutch East Indies for the first time. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 German Navy Großadmiral Erich Raeder inspected battleship Tirpitz at Kiel, Germany. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 German forces successfully evacuated Agedabia, Libya. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 11 British RAF Coastal Command bombers attacked Sola Airfield at Stavanger, Norway in indirect support of the Operation Kitbag naval attack at Florø, Norway.
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 British cruiser HMS Sheffield, destroyer HMS Inglefield, and destroyer HMS Intrepid departed Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom for Operation Kitbag at 0300 hours, reaching Florø, Norway by the evening, sinking a trawler and damaging fish processing facilities. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 Remy Van Lierde was assigned to the No. 609 Squadron RAF. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown departed for San Diego, California, United States to escort transports carrying the US 2nd Marine Brigade to American Samoa. 
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06 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Hammann departed Norfolk, Virginia, United States. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops made probing attacks at the opening of the Bataan peninsula at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Meanwhile, General MacArthur organized his forces into two corps and a rear area service command. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 The Soviet Volkhov Front attempted to force Germans back from Leningrad. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Pollack sank Japanese cargo ship Unkai Maru No. 1 off Japan with one of two torpedoes fired; this was the first confirmed sinking by the Submarine Force of the US Navy Pacific Fleet. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 Franz Halder noted that there was a very brief thought of using chemical weapons against Soviet troops, but discussions never went beyond this idea. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 During a meeting with top German leaders, Adolf Hitler noted his belief that the United States' commercial prowess would not be able to overcome the Axis powers. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt submitted a US$29,000,000,000 budget to the US Congress to fund the construction of 60,000 aircraft, 45,000 tanks, and 8,000,000 tons of shipping. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese tanks wiped out the Indian 11th Division at Slim River, British Malaya early in the morning; by 0930 hours, both the road and railway bridges were secured by Japanese troops. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell inspected troops and defenses in Singapore. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 A Japanese invasion force departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands for Tarakan, Dutch Borneo. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 ShCh-401 attacked an enemy ship with three torpedoes off Helnes, Norway at 0038 hours; all torpedoes missed. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 George Brett was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant general. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 18 Japanese Type 96 G3M bombers were spotted over Tabar en route to Rabaul, New Britain; when they struck Rabaul, they destroyed one Wirraway fighter and one Hudson bomber. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 Naka departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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07 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet Army began an offensive near Lake Ilmen in Russia, with the aim of encircling Demyansk. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops penetrated the outer lines of defense at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, which was about 15 miles north of the capital city. Australian 8th Division began to move forward to replace the nearly-destroyed Indian 11th Division near Kuala Lumpur. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler gave Günther von Kluge the permission to fall back in the Moscow, Russia region. On the same day, the Soviet West Front attacked towards Mozhaysk, Russia west of Moscow, which was defended by troops of German 4th Army. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-56 sank Dutch freighters Van Riebeeck and Van Rees off Cilacap, Java, Dutch East Indies. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-19 launched her seaplane for a reconnaissance mission over Pearl Harbor, Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 British Air Marshal John Baldwin replaced Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse as the chief of the RAF Bomber Command. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell inspected troops and defenses in central British Malaya. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-8 departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi departed Iwakuni, Japan for Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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08 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Hiroshima, Japan for Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 At 1500 hours, the main offensive against Bataan defences at the Philippine Islands began, spearheaded by 6,500 men of the newly arrived and inexperienced 65th Infantry Brigade (which replaced the veteran Japanese 48th Division); the first attacks at the Abucay-Mauban defensive line were repelled by US-Filipino troops. Meanwhile, US Marines from Batteries A and C of 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment who remained on Bataan under naval control were integrated into a naval battalion for ground combat. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable was joined by Australian destroyers Nestor, Nizan, and Napier off Cape Guardafui in eastern Africa. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Pollack sank Japanese freighter Teian Maru at night off Japan with one or two torpedoes fired. A torpedo was also fired at an escorting destroyer, but that torpedo missed. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Vimiera struck a mine and sank in the Thames estuary in southern England, United Kingdom; 96 were killed, 14 survived. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-65 damaged a tanker and sank Dutch freighter Benkoeln in the Java Sea; 101 survived. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-58 sank Dutch ship Camphuijs in the Java Sea. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Triumph struck a mine and sank off Milos, Greece, killing all 59 aboard. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-568 was attacked by a British Sunderland aircraft 70 miles northwest of Mersa Matruh, Egypt and suffered minor damage. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 Dispersed ships of ALlied convoy QP-4 began to arrive in Allied waters. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 An Australian Hudson bomber conducted a reconnaissance mission from Kavieng, New Ireland over Truk, Caroline Islands; it was the longest RAAF flight to date. The crew of the Hudson spotted a large invasion fleet being prepared at Truk. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops began to fall back from Changsha, Hunan Province, China. A section of the evacuation was ambushed by Chinese troops at Luoyang River, causing heavy casualties. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 A transport of 1,005 Jews departed from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia for locations in Eastern Europe. Most of them were sent to Riga, Latvia. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 In Germany, 31 French officers were transferred from the Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle to Oflag IV-D at Elsterhorst. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 I-68 arrived at Kure, Japan and received repairs. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 Kaga departed Iwakuni, Japan. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Davao, Philippine Islands. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 3rd and 4th Shock Armies attacked German defenses south of Demyansk, Russia, making advances but suffering heavy casualties. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 In Leningrad, Russia the Soviet Naval Staff issued orders directing the fleet and shipyards to concentrate their efforts towards overhauling and repairing Soviet submarines (some of which were being employed as power-station generators for the besieged city) in order to prepare for a spring offensive in the Baltic Sea. Submarine crews and other specialists were recalled from the front (where many were fighting ashore) to assist in the preparation of some thirty submarines for the campaign. In Apr 1942 the submarines would be divided up into three groups by Brigade Commander A. M. Stetsenko according to their sea fitness. The first group, consisting of the most experienced Captains, such as Y. P. Afanasev, S. P. Lisin, and G. Ya. Osopov, was expected to have ten submarines ready to sail by the end of May 1942 with another seven nearing completion of their overhauls; the second group was scheduled to be ready by Aug 1942 and the third by the autumn. 
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09 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle completed her refit at Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Japan declared war on the Netherlands. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Royal Navy Fighter School's commanding officer Lieutenant Commander H. P. Bramwell made the first landing of a modified Spitfire fighter aboard carrier Illustrious in the River Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom. The success led to the development of the carrier version of the Spitfire design, Seafire. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Kapitän zur See Friedrich Karl Topp of German battleship Tirpitz declared the ship to be fully operational. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese tanks and infantry attacked the remnants of the Indian 11th Division at Serendah, Malaya, 15 miles north of Kuala Lumpur, which was being evacuated. Out to sea in the Gulf of Siam, Dutch submarine O 19 sank Japanese freighters Akita Maru and Tairyu Maru. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Convoys MS1 and MS2 departed from Australia with Australian troops for Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Stingray sank Japanese cargo ship Harbin Maru 40 miles south of Hainan, China. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-584 sank Soviet submarine M-175 75 miles north of Murmansk, Russia at 0722 hours; all 21 aboard were killed. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 US-Filipino troops held the Abucay-Mauban defensive line on the Bataan peninsula on Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Pickerel sank Japanese gunboat Kanko Maru off Davao Gulf, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 British destroyer Legion and Dutch destroyer Isaac Sweers attacked German submarine U-374 with 43 deptch charges northeast of Sidi Barrani, Egypt between 1700 and 2000 hours; U-374 escaped, but the damage sustained caused her to lose the ability to submerge. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thrasher sank Italian ship Fedora 120 miles west of Patras, Greece. 
0
10 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 29th Army attacked north of Rhzev, Russia while Soviet 39th Army moved northwest of the city, aiming to surround the German 9th Army based in the city. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel wrote a letter to his wife, expressing optimism despite Allied success in Operation Crusader, mentioning General Ludwig Cruewell's bout with jaundice, and the cold nights in the desert of North Africa. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 After sundown, German bombers attacked several cities and towns in England, United Kingdom; oil pipelines were damaged at Ellesmere Port in western England while utility services were interrupted in Liverpool just to the north. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied convoy NA1 departed Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for Londonderry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom with British destroyers HMS Beverley, HMS Hamilton, and HMS Rockingham in escort. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Tarakan, Dutch Borneo. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Wilhelmshaven, Germany was bombed for the first time by main force aircraft of British RAF Bomber Command; the raid would last through the early hours of the next date. Wilhelmshaven would ultimately be bombed on nine occasions, destroying 13% of the city. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 The Roberts Commission completed its investigation work at Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii and departed for Washington DC, United States. 
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10 Jan 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur traveled from Corregidor to Bataan in the Philippine Islands, visiting forward command posts, speaking to officers but generally refusing to speak to enlisted men. When subjected to sporadic Japanese shelling when walking across a small clearing, he was observed to walk confidently without flinching. 
0
10 Jan 1942 WW2 USS San Diego was commissioned into service with Captain Benjamin Perry in command. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops began the campaign against the Dutch East Indies by landing on Tarakan island off Borneo. In the face of superior forces, Dutch commanders at Tarakan decided to destroy the 700 oil wells present on Tarakan to prevent enemy use. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise departed from Pearl Harbor to escort transports of US Marines to American Samoa. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 A Japanese submarine shelled US Navy installations at Pago Pago, American Samoa. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops entered Kuala Lumpur, the capital of British Malaya, unopposed, capturing large amounts of supplies and ammunition left behind by the evacuating British and colonial troops. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 2,500 men of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces landed on two sites on Celebes, Dutch East Indies at 0300 hours. At 0900 hours, 334 Japanese paratroopers captured the Kakas seaplane base and the Menado airfield. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 39th Army moved from northwest of Rzhev, Russia toward the area southwest of the city, further threatening the surround the German 9th Army in the city. A large German supply depot was captured by Soviet troops at Sychevka 50 kilometers to the south. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-577 was damaged by depth charges from a British Swordfish aircraft 30 miles north of Tobruk, Libya. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 After sundown, German coastal guns in France bombarded Dover, England, United Kingdom, causing minor damage to homes. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops on the Menado Peninsula in northern Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for Menado, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 Naka disembarked troops at Tarakan, Dutch Borneo. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Menado, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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11 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
11 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-7b arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese light cruiser Oi hosted Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki as he visited her unit. During the trip, Ugaki expressed disapproval for the use of cruisers as torpedo vessels. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops executed Dutch prisoners of war at Tarakan Island off Borneo as punishment for previous day's sabotage of oil wells. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 George von Küchler replaced Wilhelm von Leeb, who resigned after Adolf Hitler refused his request to withdraw behind the Lovat River to prevent II Corps being cut off. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Saratoga was damaged by a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-6 about 500 miles southwest of US Territory of Hawaii; she returned to Pearl Harbor under own power. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese beheaded 5 American prisoners of war on Wake Island before transporting the remainder to Japan for imprisonment. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Tirpitz departed Kiel, Germany. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 South African 1st Division captured Sollum, Egypt. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Adolphus Andrews received warning that three or four German submarines were entering waters off the east coast of the United States, but he refused to institute a convoy system. Earlier on the same day, German submarine U-123 sank British ship Cyclops off Nova Scotia, Canada at 0149 hours; 87 were killed, 95 survived. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Walther von Reichenau suffered a stroke in Poltava, Ukraine. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops continued to attack the Abucay-Mauban line on Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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12 Jan 1942 WW2 Jiang Dingwen was named the commander of the Chinese 1st War Area with headquarters in the city of Luoyang. 
0
12 Jan 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan at 0715 hours. 
0
12 Jan 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe group I./KG 100, with 28 He 111 bombers, arrived at Focsani, Romania. 
0
12 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-7a arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 Tirpitz passed through the Kiel Canal and arrived at Brunsbüttel at the canal's western end to refuel. She departed for Wilhelmshaven later on the same day. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Lowestoft, Suffolk and Redcar, Yorkshire in England, United Kingdom during daylight hours; minor attacks were also conducted over Aberdeenshire, Scotland and the Shetland Islands. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-130 sank Norwegian ship Frisco off Nova Scotia, Canada at 0116 hours and Panamanian ship Friar Rock at 0948 hours. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied convoy DM1 arrived at Singapore from Durban, South Africa, delivering 9,100 troops, anti-aircraft guns, and 52 Hurricane fighters (with 24 pilots). 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 West of Moscow, Russia, Soviet 11th Army and German 18th Motorised Division clashed at Staraya Russa, while Soviet 29th, 39th Army, and (further away to the southwest) 11th Cavalry Corps attacked German 9th Army at Rhzev. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft struck Ambon, Dutch East Indies. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 A test pilot of the He 280 prototype aircraft encountered icing problems and was forced to use the aircraft's compressed air ejection seat to bail out. This was the first use of such emergency ejection system in the world. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese Naval General Staff arranged a meeting with the Bureau of Naval Construction to discuss the construction of submarines capable of carrying attack aircraft. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-5 departed Murmansk, Russia. 
0
13 Jan 1942 WW2 The Allied conference in London, England, United Kingdom pledged to punish Axis war criminals after the war. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 US President Roosevelt ordered that all aliens must register with the government. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese forces advanced into Burma. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Tirpitz departed Wilhelmshaven, Germany at 2300 hours for Trondheim, Norway; she was escorted by four destroyers. This departure was four days later than originally planned. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 The British government reported that, for the week ending at 0600 hours on 14 Jan 1942, 85 civilians were killed by German bombing while a further 59 were injured. 63 of the deaths occurred at Lowestoft, 12 at Liverpool in England, and 10 at Redcar. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops on bicycles, supported by tanks, crossed the Gemencheh Bridge over the Kelamah River in British Malaya at 1600 hours into an Australian ambush, killing somewhere between 140 and 700 Japanese troops while losing only 1 killed and 6 captured (they would later be executed); the Japanese would return after dark to successfully secure and repair the bridge. Elsewhere, Japanese troops captured Malacca on the west coast. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack arrived at Darwin, Australia, ending her first war patrol. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Hamburg, Germany was bombed for the first time by mainforce aircraft of RAF Bomber Command; this raid conducted by aircraft of No. 207 Squadron would last until the early hours of the next date. Altona railway station and other targets were hit. Hamburg would ultimately be bombed on seventeen occasions, destroying 75% of the city. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Part of the Japanese invasion fleet for Rabaul, New Britain departed from Guam, Mariana Islands. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii detected Japanese carrier activity in the central Pacific area, which might interfere with the planned US carrier strike in the Gilbert Island and the Marshall Islands. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 Irako departed Hashirajima, Japan for a series of stops in the Pacific Ocean (Davao, Philippine Islands; Celebes, Dutch East Indies; Truk, Caroline Islands; Saipan, Mariana Islands) with 500 tons of food supplies aboard. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 The first flight of the Sikorsky XR-4 helicopter prototype was made at Stratford, Connecticut, United States. It would become, as the R-4, the first Allied helicopter ordered into production by the US government. 
0
14 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank Panamanian tanker Norness within sight of (about 60 miles off) Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, United States at 0834 hours; 2 were killed, 39 survived. Much further out in the Atlantic Ocean, 450 miles northwest of Ireland, German submarine U-43 attacked Allied convoy ON 55, sinking Greek ship Maro (all aboard were killed), British ship Empire Surf (45 were killed, 6 survived), and Panamanian ship Chepo (17 were killed, 21 survived). 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 The German Armeegruppe Mitte began to fall back from the Kaluga area, forming a new defensive lines 20 miles to the west. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 Allies formed the ABDA (American, British, Dutch and Australian) command in the Pacific region to counter Japanese advances. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank the ship Dayrose at 0138 hours; 38 were killed, 4 survived. To the south, German submarine U-123 sank British tanker Coimbra off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, United States at 0941 hours; 36 were killed, 10 survived. At 1134 hours, again off New found, U-203 sank Portuguese trawler Catalina, killing all aboard. Near the end of the day at 2317 hours, U-553 blew the bow off of the tanker Diala; 57 were killed, 8 survived; the wreckage of Diala remained afloat. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Brigadier General Henry L. Larson was appointed the first military governor of American Samoa. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 USS S-36 spotted a Japanese destroyer off Dutch Borneo at 0500 hours, but was discovered by the destroyer, which attacked with depth charges, severely damaging the submarine. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 Philippine 51st Division withdrew from the Salian River valley on the eastern side of the Abucay-Mauban defensive line on Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops crossed the Gemencheh Bridge over the Kelamah River in British Malaya at 1000 hours to attack Australian-held positions at Gemas; although the initial attack failed with the loss of six tanks, subsequent attacks and flanking maneuvers forced the Australians to fall back to the Gemas River. Elsewhere, Japanese 4th and 5th Imperial Guard Regiments wiped out forward positions held by elements of the Indian 45th Brigade north of the Muar River. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 Transport Chateau Thierry and converted passenger liner Strathaird departed New York, New York, United States with 3,900 troops of US 34th Division aboard, bound for Britain. This convoy, codenamed AT10, was escorted by 5 US destroyers. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Hesperus rammed German submarine U-93 while the submarine attempted to attack Allied convoy HG78 580 miles west of Gibraltar, followed by gunfire and depth charge attacks, leading to the submarine being abandoned; 6 were killed, 40 survived. HMS Hesperus would reverse course for Gibraltar to receive repairs. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 A British Swordfish aircraft sank German submarine U-577 with depth charges 60 miles north of Sollum, Egypt, killing all 43 aboard. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Wichita collided with US freighter West Nohno and British trawler HMS Ebor Wyke and was grounded near Hrafneyri Lighthouse in poor weather in northern Russia. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 Kaga arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 Chinese troops repulsed the Japanese attack on Changsha, Hunan Province, China. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 The Japanese-controlled Ryojun Guard District (previously known as Port Arthur; now Lushunkou, Liaoning Province, China), Kwantung Leased Territory in northeastern China was decommissioned from service. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 In Poland, German authorities began to deport Jews from the Lodz ghetto to the Chelmno Concentration Camp. 
0
15 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Gar departed San Francisco, California, United States. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-402 attacked British troop transport Llangibby Castle of Allied convoy WS15 north of the Azores islands at 1115 hours, blowing off the rudder and killing 26. Despite follow-up attacks by Fw 200 aircraft, Llangibby Castle would reach Horta, Azores for temporary repairs. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Rabaul, New Britain, destroying fuel stores, bomb stockpiles, and other facilities at Vunakanau Airfield. Two Wirraway fighters were scrambled to intercept, but they failed to reached the Japanese aircraft in time. 6 hours later, several flying boats followed up with an attack with fragmentation bombs. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill, Dudley Pound, and Charles Portal departed Bermuda for Britain by air (Boeing 314 Clipper Flying Boat "Berwick", operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation). 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 The first clash between Japanese and British forces within Burma occurred when a column of the 3rd Battalion of the Japanese 112th Infantry Regiment was engaged by the British 6th Burma Rifles (plus two companies of the 3rd Burma Rifles and elements of the Kohine battalion BFF) at the town of Tavoy (population 30,000 and strategically important as it was the start of a metal road to Rangoon). By the 18th the Japanese had taken the town, having lost 23 dead and 40 wounded, but the morale of the defenders had been badly damaged and the Japanese column was able to move on to Mergui without serious opposition. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Truk, Caroline Islands and took part in Operation R. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii concluded that the Japanese carrier presence in the central Pacific was based at Truk in the Caroline Islands, thus clearing the way for the planned US carrier strike in the Gilbert Island and the Marshall Islands. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese 4th and 5th Imperial Guards Regiments crossed the Muar River in British Malaya before dawn, forcing the Indian 45th Brigade to withdraw from Muar. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Tirpitz arrived at Trondheim, Norway and anchored in Fættenfjord. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese and Filipino-American forces both raced to capture Morong on Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands. Both sides reached the town around the same time, but the Allies had detected the Japanese first. Taking the opportunity for a surprise attack, more than 20 American cavalry troops charged on their horses, dispersing Japanese troops. It was the last combat charge of horse-mounted American cavalry troops. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 3rd Shock captured Andreapol, Russia. 
0
16 Jan 1942 WW2 German bombers sank British minesweeping trawler HMS Irvana off Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom, killing 2. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable departed Port Sudan in British East Africa with 48 RAF Hurricane fighters for Singapore in Operation Opposition. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-87 sank Norwegian tanker Nyholt at 0359 hours with 8 torpedoes and 120 rounds from the deck gun; all 41 aboard survived in two lifeboats, but only one lifeboat would eventually be rescued; of the 23 originally aboard this boat, 2 would die of exposure prior to rescue. Later in the day, at 1121 hours, German submarine U-203 sank Norwegian ship Octavian, killing all 17 aboard. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 A Japanese fleet consisting of four carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Zuikaku, Shokaku), two battleships (Hiei, Kirishima), and several cruisers and destroyers departed Truk, Caroline Islands under the command of Chuichi Nagumo for Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 Kaga departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 5,000 Axis troops at the Halfaya Pass, Egypt surrendered to the South African 6th Infantry Brigade. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor departed La Rochelle, France, for her second raiding cruise. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii detected Japanese carrier Shokaku at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii detected Japanese carrier Zuikaku at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Jupiter forced Japanese submarine I-60 to surface 65 miles west of Krakatoa, Dutch East Indies. I-60 returned fire with her deck gun, killing 3 and wounding 9. I-60 was ultimately sunk by Jupiter; 85 were killed, 2 survived. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru was re-requisitioned by the Japanese Navy and was attached to the Yokosuka Naval District, Japan. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 Indian 45th Brigade withdrew from Bukit Bakri, British Malaya. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Gurkha (Commander C. N. Lentaigne), escorting Allied convoy MW-8B, was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-133 off Sollum, Egypt at 0735 hours; 9 were killed, 240 survived. Gurkha, formerly HMS Larne, was an L-class destroyer which had been paid for by every officer and man of the Gurkha Brigade subscribing a days pay to provide a new ship after the loss of the Tribal-Class HMS Gurkha in Apr 1940. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-454 attacked Allied convoy PQ-8 20 miles off the Kola Inlet in northern Russia at 2221 hours, sinking British Tribal-class destroyer HMS Matabele (under Commander A. C. Stafford; 236 were killed, 2 survived), sinking Soviet trawler RT-68 Enisej, and damaging British merchant ship Harmatris (civilian convoy commodore's flagship). Later in the day, surviving ships of PQ-8 arrived in Murmansk, Russia. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 Walther von Reichenau passed away from either a cerebral hemorrhage or a heartattack near Poltava, Ukraine. 
0
17 Jan 1942 WW2 The Boeing 314 Clipper Flying Boat "Berwick" with Winston Churchill aboard suffered a navigational error and would have flown into France had not been a last minute course correction. When the aircraft approached Britain from the south, the aircraft was initially treated as hostile and six Hurricane fighters were scrambled to intercept; the fighters failed to locate Churchill's transport. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-86 sank Greek ship Dimitrios G. Thermiotis off Newfoundland at 0613 hours, killing all 33 aboard. German submarine U-66 sank US tanker Allan Jackson 30 kilometers northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0833 hours, killing 23 of 35 aboard. Also off North Carolina, just to the southwest, U-123 damaged US tanker Malay, killing 5. At 0644 hours, German submarine U-552 sank US ship Frances Salman, killing all 28 aboard. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 The Dutch began to destroy oil facilities at Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Germany, Japan, and Italy signed a military agreement in Berlin, Germany. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMS Erin and minesweeping trawler HMS Honjo were destroyed by a mysterious explosion in Gibraltar, which also damaged anti-submarine trawler HMS Imperialist. Spanish saboteurs and Italian frogmen were the main suspects. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii intercepted Japanese Navy radio messages that mentioned an invasion or occupation force against a target code named "R", which Rochefort guessed was Rabaul, New Britain. He would pass this information to Chester Nimitz via Edwin Layton. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese battleship Mutsu towed the old Italian-built armored cruiser Nisshin as a target ship during battleship Yamato's gunnery trials off Kurahashi Island, Japan. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Mutsu towed the old Italian-built armored cruiser Nisshin as a target ship for battleship Yamato's gunnery trials off Kurahashi Island, Japan. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Australian troops destroyed 9 Japanese tanks north of Bakri, Malaya at 0645 hours, but by the evening the Japanese were able to get through this area. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Plunger sank Japanese freighter Eizan Maru 23 miles off Honshu, Japan. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 German 11.Armee captured Feodosiya in the Crimea region of Russia, sealing off the Soviet bridgehead near Kerch. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 German II and X Korps were cut off at Demyansk, Russia; the Luftwaffe maintained an aerial supply line to these surrounded troops. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 54th Army broke through German defenses at Pogoste, Russia, 75 kilometers southeast of Leningrad. Further south, Soviet 2nd Shock Army penetrated German lines near Spasskaya Polisk on the Volkhov River. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet troops attacked across the Donets River in southern Russia and eastern Ukraine, hoping to cut off German forces around the Sea of Azov. 
0
18 Jan 1942 WW2 Feldmarschall Fedor von Bock succeeded Walther von Reichenau as the head of German Armeegruppe Süd fighting in Ukraine. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 US Secretary of War Henry Stimson formally asked Chiang Kaishek to approve a US commander for Chinese troops fighting in Burma; Chiang agreed, albeit with ambiguous language. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank Canadian ship Lady Hawkins 150 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0743 hours; 251 were killed, 71 survived. On the same day, German submarine U-123 sank US ship City of Atlanta (43 were killed, 3 survived) and US ship Norvana in the same general area, killing 43 of 46 aboard; US tanker Malay was damaged in the same attack. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured the airfield at Tavoy (now Dawei), Burma. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Jaroslav Krejcí was named the prime minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Robert von Greim was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht radio report. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Pensacola arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Dispersed ships of Allied convoy QP-5 began to arrive in Allied waters. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Sandakan, British North Borneo unopposed at 0700 hours. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 The headquarters of the Indian 45th Brigade in Malaya was destroyed by a Japanese air raid at 1000 hours, wounding General Duncan and killing all of his staff officers. Elsewhere in British Malaya, Australian 8th Division withdrew from Gemas to prevent being cut off by a Japanese flanking maneuver. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 3rd and 4th Shock Armies advanced toward Toropets and Kholm, Russia. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 Seven US airmen set up the VIII Bomber Command at RAF Daws Hill in Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom. 
0
19 Jan 1942 WW2 The US 2nd Marine Brigade (detached from 2nd Marine division) with 8th Marines arrived in American Samoa. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Transports with US Marines arrived at Pago Pago, American Samoa; they were escorted by carriers Enterprise and Yorktown. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich hosted the Wannsee Conference to discuss the Final Solution. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel received Swords to his Knight's Cross medal. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Hawker Hurricane fighters, sent as reinforcements to Singapore, shot down eight Japanese bombers from a force of 27 attacking the city. Ground troops had less success, however, as the Indian and Australian retreat from Bakri, Malaya was cut off by the Japanese. Also on this date, more Japanese troops landed at Endau, Malaya. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 The Japanese advance guard crossed the border into Burma heading for Moulmein. Kawkareik was defended by 16th Indian Brigade under Brigadier J. K. "Jonah" Jones, but was widely dispersed covering the tracks leading to the border 38 miles away. The Japanese first encountered the 1st/7th Gurkha Rifles (who had only arrived on the previous day) near Myawadi. The Gurkhas were quickly outflanked and forced to withdraw. Within forty-eight hours the rest of 16th Infantry Brigade were forced to follow. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 President Roosevelt suggested to a Cabinet meeting that an air freight and alternative land route be considered for the supply of China - this task to be added to Stilwell's already considerable responsibilities. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Major General Commandant Thomas Holcomb became the first lieutenant general in the United States Marine Corps. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 In Russia, Soviet 11th Cavalry Corps attacked from Rzhev towards Vyazma while Soviet 4th Shock Army captured the German supply dumps at Toropets, taking 6 tanks, 723 trucks, artillery pieces with 450,000 shells, small arms with millions of rounds of ammunition, 1,000 drums of fuel, and food. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 USS S-36 became stuck on Taka Bakang Reef in the Makassar Strait between British Borneo and Celebes, Dutch East Indies at 0400 hours. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 American destroyer USS Edsall and Australian minesweeper HMAS Deloraine sank Japanese submarine I-124 with depth charges 60 miles northwest of Darwin, Australia, killing 80. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi provided repair work for destroyer Inazuma at Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi's aircraft carried out strikes against Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku launched strikes against Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese South Seas Force Transport Fleet ships crossed the Equator en route to Rabaul, New Britain at 0500 hours; it was the first Japanese Army force to cross the Equator in history. At 1214 hours, coast watchers at Tabar north of Rabaul spotted 20 Japanese Zero fighters; 109 carrier aircraft reached Rabaul at 1248 hours, destroying 5 of the 8 remaining Wirraway fighters at Rabaul. Shortly after, 27 Type 97 aircraft of carrier Kaga and a number of Type 99 aircraft from carrier Shokaku and Zuikaku attacked, sinking Norwegian freighter Herstein and coal hulk Westralia, losing only one aircraft in combat (a Type 97 piloted by Petty Officer 1st Class Tatsuya Sugihara) and two during recovery. No. 24 Squadron RAAF was effectively wiped out after the attacks on Rabaul on this day. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Truk, Caroline Islands for the invasion of Kavieng, New Ireland. 
0
20 Jan 1942 WW2 U-576 departed Saint-Nazaire, France, starting her third war patrol. 
0
20 Jan 1942 RELIGIOUS At the notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin, German Nazi officials decided on their "final solution," which called for a mass extermination of all the Jews in Europe.
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 German General Erwin Rommel began his counterattack into Cyrenaica from El Agheila, Libya. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 American carriers Enterprise and Yorktown and their task forces set course to raid Marshall and Gilbert Islands. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Edsall and Australian minesweepers attacked and sank Japanese submarine I-22 off Darwin, Australia; I-22 was on a mine-laying mission. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku launched strikes against Lae. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable refueled at Addu Atoll, Maldive Islands and departed for Java. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Following the catastrophe of the previous day, Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighters escorted the bombers to Singapore and shot down five of the defending Hurricane fighters without loss; during the period 30 Dec 1941 to 15 Feb 1942, Singapore would suffer 18 heavy air raids and 25 lesser attacks. Meanwhile, to the north in Malaya, the retreat of Indian and Australian troops from Bakri was blocked at the Parit Sulong bridge at 0930 hours. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Destroyer HMS Opportune (G-80) was launched. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Dutch motor launch Attla embarked the crew of USS S-36, which became stuck on Taka Bakang Reef in the Makassar Strait between British Borneo and Celebes, Dutch East Indies on the prior date. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops penetrated the west side of the Abucay-Mauban defensive line at Mount Natib on Luzon, Philippine Islands and began to cut off supplies to US-Filipino troops on the line. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-66 sank British ship Chak Sang (5 were killed, 61 survived) and Panamanian ship Nord 125 miles southwest of Rangoon, Burma. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-754 sank Norwegian ship Belize off Newfoundland at 1922 hours, killing all 24 aboard. German submarine U-130 sank Norwegian tanker Alexandra Høegh 200 miles east of Rhodes Island, United States at 2221 hours; all 28 aboard survived. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi's aircraft carried out strikes against Kavieng, New Ireland. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Frustrated Australian Chaplain John May at Rabaul, New Britain sent a message to Townsville, Australia containing the Latin phrase "Morituri vos salutamus", or "we who are about to die salute you", referring to the Australian government's abandonment of those deployed to Rabaul. To the east, a Catalina aircraft from Buka Island took off at dawn and spotted a Japanese cruiser force 6 hours later; the aircraft was shot down by fighters; 3 were killed, 5 were captured by cruiser Aoba. Shortly after, 52 carrier aircraft attacked Kavieng, New Ireland. At 1630 hours, RAAF command ordered the No. 24 Squadron to attack any Japanese fleets that might be approaching Rabaul as if it did not know that No. 24 Squadron had effectively been wiped out by Japanese attacks on the previous day; nevertheless, the last surviving Hudson bomber was launched on patrol, and would return after failing to find any Japanese ships. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese Sakaguchi Detachment departed the island of Tarakan for Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. Cruiser USS Boise, cruiser USS Marblehead, and four destroyers departed Koepang, Dutch Timor to intercept; en route, USS Boise hit a rock and USS Marblehead suffered engine trouble, thus the destroyers would sail on by themselves. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 Naka departed Tarakan, Dutch Borneo. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Pollack arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her first war patrol. 
0
21 Jan 1942 WW2 The German Luftwaffe resumed bombing London, England, United Kingdom and a number of southern British ports. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 American carrier Lexington departed to raid Wake Island. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet cruiser Molotov was damaged by a storm, causing her to be out of commission until 18 Feb 1942. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 In the Philippine Islands, an attempted Japanese landing from fishing boats on the west coast of the Bataan Peninsula was wiped out; the Japanese 20th Infantry Regiment would continue to try to gain a foothold. Meanwhile, Douglas MacArthur ordered the Abucay-Mauban defensive line abandoned as the Japanese had penetrated its western end; the troops fell back about 5 miles to the new line from Bagac to Orion. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 The Russians commenced a mass evacuation of civilians from besieged Leningrad across the ice road. By Apr 1942, 440,000 would have been withdrawn from the city. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 The Japanese executed 161 Australian, Indian, and Dutch prisoners at Parit Sulong, Malaya, and then burned the bodies. After the war, the officer responsible was sentenced to life imprisonment by the British for earlier crimes committed in Singapore. But in 1950, while he was being transferred to a Japanese prison, Australian authorities "kidnapped" him, took him to Australia, and hanged him for the Parit Sulong massacre. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Cut off after destroying ten enemy tanks during the Parit Sulong battle in Malaya, South African-born Australian Colonel Charles Anderson took his men to safety through 15 miles of hostile territory. For his leadership he was awarded the Victoria Cross. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank US freighter Norvana off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, killing the entire crew. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Two RAF Albacore aircraft from Singapore attacked the Japanese positions at the Parit Sulong bridge in Malaya in an attempt to relieve the Indian and Australian troops being blocked there; failing to break through the Japanese lines, the Allied troops decided to break up to small groups and take the risk of fleeing through the jungle. Nearby, 110 captured Australian and 40 captured Indian troops were executed by the Japanese by machine gunning, bayoneting, beheading, and burning. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 To avoid being surrounded, German 9th Army launched an attack on the flank of Soviet 29th Army near Rzhev, Russia. To the north, Soviet 3rd Shock Army came in contact with German 218th Infantry Division at Kholm. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Axis forces captured Antelat, Libya. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Italian convoy T18 (transports Ravello, Monviso, Monginevro, Victoria, and Vettor) departed Messina and Taranto in Italy for Tripoli, Libya with 97 tanks, 271 trucks, 11,823 tons of supplies and 1,467 troops aboard; it was escorted by battleship Duilo, 3 cruisers, 14 destroyers, and 2 torpedo boats. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 The Canadian government announced its intention to hold a plebiscite on the question of conscription. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi's aircraft carried out strikes against Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on New Ireland, Bismarck Islands and captured Kavieng. At nearby Rabaul, the last surviving Hudson bomber was used to evacuate the wounded airmen from the hospital on Namanula Hill, taking them to Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua. After sunrise, carrier Akagi and Kaga launched aircraft against Rabaul; they attacked two coastal guns at the cost of 2 Type 99 dive bombers. In the late morning, coast watchers at Watom Island spotted a Japanese fleet, which appears on the horizon for the Rabaul defenders by 1200 hours. In the afternoon, Australian troops began to sabotage airfield facilities to prevent Japanese use after capture; when destroying a bomb store, the resulting explosion was much larger than expected, and it killed several natives and the vibration damaged all nearby radios, thus the last message sent out at 1600 hours would become Rabaul's final radio message. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was medically discharged from a hospital near Berlin, Germany. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy arrived at Agedabia, Libya. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 Returning from an aborted raid on Borkum, northwestern Germany, a Canadian Hudson aircraft of No. 407 Squadron crashed at RAF Donna Nook in Lincolnshire, England, United States with its bombs still on board. The five-man crew were killed on impact and the exploding bombs killed another eleven RAF ground crew and two soldiers from the local defence force. A further 16 men were injured, some badly. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 The overhaul of USS S-28 at Mare Island Navy Yard was completed. 
0
22 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Hammann arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 American oiler USS Neches was torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-72 70 miles southwest of the Hawaiian Islands at 0319 hours, killing 57. Without this source of fuel, USS Lexington and her task force cancelled the Wake Island raid. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 In Yugoslavia, Hungarian troops massacred 2,462 Serbs and 700 Jews over six days in retaliation for partisan activity. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank US collier Venore 5 kilometers off North Carolina, United States, killing 17 of 41 aboard. At 0812 hours, U-109 sank British ship Thirlby 20 miles off Nova Scotia, Canada; 5 were killed, 41 survived. At 1340 hours, U-82 sank Norwegian tanker Leiesten 400 miles east of Newfoundland; 6 were killed, 29 survived. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed with Destroyer Division 23 to escort the invasion fleet for Kavieng, New Ireland, Bismarck Islands. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 The Japanese commenced a determined effort to establish air superiority over Rangoon, Burma. By 29 Jan seventeen Japanese aircraft had been shot down for the loss of two American Volunteer Group and ten Royal Air Force machines, forcing the Japanese temporarily to concede. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion at American Samoa was reinforced by the 2nd Marine Brigade, which was consisted of the 8th Marine Regiment, 10th Marine Regiment, and 2nd Defense Battalion. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 George Marshall told Joseph Stilwell that Stilwell was definitely going to be sent to China. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 3rd Shock Army surrounded 5,500 German troops at Kholm, Russia. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 A British Albacore torpedo bomber attacked Italian convoy T18 in the Gulf of Sirte north of Libya, sinking transport Victoria; 391 were killed, 1,064 survived. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies for the first time. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 The Roberts Commission found Husband Kimmel guilty of dereliction of duty for the Pearl Harbor disaster. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 The Roberts Commission found Walter Short guilty of dereliction of duty for the Pearl Harbor disaster. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 In the evening in Australia, Deputy Prime Minister Francis Forde announced that the government had learned of a Japanese landing at Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, but there were no words on whether Rabaul had been invaded. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 At 0230 hours, Japanese troops began landing on New Britain on three beachheads, two of which were defended, but in general the Japanese had little difficult overcoming the defenses. Carrier aircraft from Akagi and Kaga supported the invasion after dawn, enjoying air superiority thus losing only one pilot (Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Isao Hiraishi) all day. As the troops entered and captured Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands, as reported by Tolai natives later, Japanese troops mutilated corpses of Australian troops with axes and bayonets. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 Tenryu covered transport ships as the transports disembarked troops of No. 2 Maizuru Special Naval Landing Force at Kavieng, New Ireland. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 Australian Catalina aircraft were launched from Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua to attack Rabaul, New Britain on the very first night of Japanese occupation; severe weather in the Solomon Sea forced the aircraft to abandon the mission, however. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 In the Solomon Islands, the Japanese landed at Kieta, Bougainville. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 As the Japanese convoy carrying the Sakaguchi Detachment approached Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo, it was attacked by Dutch forces; Dutch submarine K-18 sank Japanese transport Tsuruga Maru, while nine Dutch B-10 bombers, and 20 Dutch Buffalo fighters sank Japanese transport Nana Maru and damaged Tatsugami Maru. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese Sasebo Combined Special Naval Landing Force set sail from Menado, Celebes, Dutch East Indies for Kendari on the southeastern tip of the island. 
0
23 Jan 1942 WW2 Naka protected transports during the invasion of Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Battle of Makassar Strait: Off Balikpapan, four Japanese transports were sunk as the result of this battle. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Germans retook Sukhinichi, near Kaluga, Russia. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable refueled near the Cocos Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 The 2nd Battalion of the Japanese 20th Infantry Regiment continued to make landing attempts at Quinauan Point, and Longoskawayan Point, Bataan on Luzon of Philippine Islands, increasing the strength of the small beachhead. After sundown, US and Filipino troops began withdrawing from the Abucay-Mauban defensive line to the new Orion-Bagac defensive line. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Rangoon, Burma for the second day in a row. From the Thai-Burmese border, Japanese troops marched in multiple columns toward Moulmein, Burma, looking to capture the nearby airfield. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 American submarine chaser USS PC-460 misidentified US submarine USS S-26 for an enemy submarine in the Gulf of Panama in the darkness, rammed, and sank the submarine, killing 46 of the 49 aboard. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Troop convoy MS2 arrived at Singapore, disembarking an Australian machine gun battalion and 1,900 green conscripts. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank British tanker Empire Gem 20 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0240 hours. Out to sea to the northeast, at 0653 hours, German submarine U-106 sank British ship Empire Wildebeeste 430 miles southeast of Nova Scotia, Canada. In the afternoon at 1525 hours, U-333 sank Norwegian ship Ringstad off Newfoundland. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Swordfish sank Japanese gunboat Myoken Maru off Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 John Curtin, the Australian Premiere, called for an Australian representative to be appointed to the Imperial War Cabinet, and further proposed the establishment of a Pacific Council for joint consultation between all the Allied countries particularly concerned. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Australian Deputy Prime Minister Francis Forde announced in the afternoon that the Japanese had presumably landed at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Thomas McBride Price led the second Australian attempt at attacking Rabaul, New Britain (the first having been abandoned on the previous day due to weather); clouds over Rabaul obscured both the attackers (5 Catalina aircraft) as well as the defenders, thus the only damage caused was minor friendly fire incidents on the Japanese side. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force captured Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies, overcoming the 400 Dutch defenders at the airfield. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Dutch bombers attacked Japanese troop transports off Dutch Borneo as the ships sailed toward Balikpapan. Dutch submarine K-18 damaged Japanese patrol boat P37 and suffered damage from depth charge counterattacks. After sundown, 5,500 Japanese troops landed unopposed at two sites north and east of Balikpapan. Finally, US destroyers USS Paul Jones, USS Parrot, USS Pope, and USS John D. Ford attacked Japanese transports at Borneo, sinking Kuretake Maru, Sumanoura Maru, and Tatsukami Maru, and further damaging patrol boat P37. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Dutch submarine K XVIII fired four torpedoes at Japanese cruiser Naka off Borneo, Dutch East Indies, all of which missed; Naka gave pursue to the submarine unsuccessfully. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 During the night, USS Marblehead screened the withdrawal of a force of Dutch and American warships after those ships had successfully attacked a Japanese convoy off Balikpapan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille departed Berlin, Germany. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
24 Jan 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-6 departed Murmansk, Russia. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 Thailand formally became an ally of Japan and declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States. Ambassador Seni Pramoj in the American capital refused to deliver the declaration of war and defected to the United States; he would later form a Free Thai movement. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 German troops captured Msus, Libya, capturing 30 British Valentine tanks. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Rangoon, Burma for the third day in a row. Meanwhile, Archibald Wavell ordered that the airfield at Moulmein, Burma to be defended, which was being threatened by troops of the Japanese 55th infantry Division. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 Troops of the Japanese Imperial Guard captured Batu Pahat, British Malaya; in response, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival ordered troops in Malaya to withdraw to Singapore. Meanwhile, Allied convoy BM10 from Bombay, India arrived at Singapore, disembarking 4,745 troops of the Indian 44th Infantry Brigade, vehicles, and supplies. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 US and Filipino troops continued to withdraw from the Abucay-Mauban defensive line on Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands toward the Orion-Bagac defensive line. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Ultimatum sank Italian passenger ship Dalmatia L 30 miles south of Messina, Sicily, Italy. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 German destroyer Z8 Bruno Heinemann struck two British naval mines and sank in the Strait of Dover; 98 were killed, 229 survived. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was awarded the German Cross in Gold. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-754 sank Greek ship Mount Kitheron off Newfoundland at 0925 hours. 28 miles southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey at 1002 hours, U-130 sank Norwegian tanker Varanger carrying 12,750 tons of fuel oil from Curacao to New York; all 40 aboard survived. Further south, German submarine U-125 damaged US tanker Olney 10 kilometers off Virginia, United States. Finally, out to sea, U-123 sank British ship Culebra in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 45 aboard, while en route back to her home port. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 Kaga arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 The Japanese conducted a third landing at Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo, capturing the airfield at dawn. Dutch defenders began sabotaging bridges before retreating north, where they were ambushed by a Japanese force. Meanwhile, civilians were evacuated by ship at Pontianak, Dutch Borneo. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 13 P-40E fighters of US 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) arrived at Soerabaja, Java, Dutch East Indies. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy arrived at Antelat, Libya, where it would remain on garrison defense duty for several weeks. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 British merchant ship Harmatris, the civilian convoy commodore's flagship of Allied convoy PQ-8, damaged by German submarine U-454 on 17 Jan 1942, arrived at Kola in northern Russia in tow by two tugs. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet Deputy Navy Commissar Admiral Gordei Levchenko, arrested in Nov 1941 for the loss of the Crimea region of Ukraine to the Germans, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a labor camp. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 The 4,000-strong vanguard of the United States' commitment to the "Germany first" agreement arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 
0
25 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarines I-24 and I-18 bombarded US Marine positions on Sand Island, Midway Atoll. The submarines were driven off by defensive coastal gunfire. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler announced his plan to send 100,000 Jewish men and 50,000 Jewish women to concentration camps for use as forced laborers within the following four weeks. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 The first American troops arrived in the United Kingdom via Allied convoy AT10; the 3,900 troops of US 34th Division would set up camp in Northern Ireland. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-125 sank American ship West Ivis 100 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0556 hours, killing the entire crew of 45. Three hours later at 0842 hours, 325 miles southeast of Nova Scotia, Canada, U-106 sank British ship Traveller, killing all 52 aboard. 200 miles south of Newfoundland, U-582 sank British tanker Refast at 1858 hours; 10 were killed, 32 survived. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Rangoon, Burma for the fourth day in a row. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 British, Indian, and Australian troops began to withdraw from the Batu Pahat-Ayer Hitam-Jemaluang defensive line in British Malaya as ordered by Lieutenant General Arthur Percival on the previous day. On the east coast, 1,500 troops of the British Brigade of the Indian 11th Division were cut off at Rengit. At 1100 hours, Japanese 18th Division landed at Endau, 80 miles north of Singapore. At 1500 hours, RAF biplane aircraft attacked the Endau landing force, causing little damage and losing 5 Vildebeest aircraft. At 1630 hours, destroyers HMS Thanet and HMAS Vampire departed Singapore to attack the Japanese ships at Endau. Finally, at 1730 hours, another air attack was conducted by 9 Vildebeest and 3 Albacore aircraft, escorted by some Hurricane fighters; this attack also achieved little, and 9 aircraft were lost. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 US and Filipino troops completed the phased withdraw from the Abucay-Mauban defensive line at Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, which was done over three nights. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops beheaded Australian prisoner of war Lieutenant Lennox Henry at Rabaul, New Britain. On the same day, Three Australian Catalina aircraft from Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua attacked Rabaul, causing minor damage. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in US Territory of Hawaii reported that there were no radio traffic regarding Japanese carriers in the Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands area, thus concluding that the planned US carrier strike in the two island groups should be able to continue without unexpected threats. 
0
26 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet Deputy Navy Commissar Admiral Gordei Levchenko, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a labor camp for the loss of the Crimea region of Ukraine to the Germans, began to be supported by fellow admirals such as Navy Commissar Nikolai Kuznetsov. Levchenko would eventually be cleared, but he would be demoted to the rank of captain 1st class; he would not return to admiral rank until 1944. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Eamon de Valera, Premier of Ireland, protested the arrival of US troops in Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Submarines of the US Navy Asiatic Fleet withdrew to Fremantle, Australia. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Seawolf delivered 37 tons of .30 caliber ammunition to the US troops at Corregidor in the Philippine Islands. Upon departure, the submarine took on 25 pilots, spare submarine parts, and 16 torpedoes. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Commander Otoji Nakamura of I-68 traveled to Yamato to brief Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on the depth charge attacks his submarine received during the Pearl Harbor attack. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 100 miles off Java, HMS Indomitable launched the 48 RAF Hurricane fighters that she was transporting. These fighters would fly to Java and Dutch Borneo; they were intended to ultimately reach Singapore to bolster defenses there. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Just after 0000 hours, German submarine U-754 sank Greek ship Icarion off Newfoundland, killing 9 of 29 aboard. Off the east coast of the United States, German submarine U-130 sank US tanker Francis E. Powell 35 miles southeast of Ocean City, New Jersey at 0943 hours (killing 4 of 32 aboard) and damaged US tanker Halo with gunfire off North Carolina. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Additional Japanese troops were landed at Point Quinauan in southwestern Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands. Elements of the US 4th Marine Regiment attacked the Japanese beachhead at Longoskawayan Point. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel sent a small column of tanks from Msus, Libya eastward across the desert towards Mechili as a feint to draw out the British 1st Armored Division; meanwhile, his main force moved towards Benghazi. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops overcame Dutch and Indian troops and captured the Singkawang II airfield on Dutch Borneo; the Allied troops retreated to Ledo, 15 miles to the southwest. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 At 0318 hours, destroyers HMS Thanet and HMAS Vampire engaged Japanese cruiser Sendai and six destroyers, which were protecting the troop transports that the two Allied destroyers were aiming to sink, off British Malaya; in the ensuing Battle of Endau, Japanese troop transports Kansai Maru and Kanbera Maru were damaged. At 0400 hours, HMS Thanet was sunk; 38 were killed, 67 survived and were rescued by friendly forces, and 31 survived and were captured by the Japanese. Also in eastern Malaya, British gunboats HMS Dragonfly and HMS Scorpion evacuated 1,500 British troops from Rengit and transported them to Singapore. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 British tanker Harpa struck a mine, which detonated her cargo of aviation fuel, in Singapore Strait; she was destroyed, killing 39 of 40 aboard. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Soviet 11th Cavalry Corps reached Vyazma, Russia but was driven back by elements of the German 9th Army. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops executed Australian prisoner of war Captain Richard Travers at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Akagi returned to Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived in Athens, Greece. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan, arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, and then departed for Yokohama once again. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 US submarine USS Gudgeon detected Japanese submarine I-73 by radar 260 miles west of Midway Atoll. USS Gudgeon fired three torpedoes, which was immediately spotted by I-73's lookouts. I-73 dove shortly after, but the Japanese submarine along with her complement of 68 men would never be seen again. 
0
27 Jan 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill opened a three-day Parliamentary debate in London, England, United Kingdom on the course of the war. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 After gaining 60 miles, Timoshenko's offensive in Ukraine began to slow. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Georgy Zhukov was promoted, with responsibility growing to include the Bryanksk, Kalinin, and West Fronts. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops occupied Rossel Island off southwestern New Guinea. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 British fighter ace Robert Roland Stanford Tuck (27 kills) was shot down and was taken prisoner in Germany. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Münster, Germany was bombed for the first time during the night of 28-29 Jan 1942 by mainforce aircraft of RAF Bomber Command. It would ultimately be bombed on six occasions, destroying 65% of the city. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Mortars and machine guns of the US 4th Marine Regiment were assigned to the 57th Philippine Scout Regiment at Longoskawayan Point, Bataan on Luzon, Philippine Islands, where the combined US-Filipino effort would soon wipe out the Japanese landing attempt. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops outflanked and wiped out Indian 22nd Brigade at Layang Layang, British Malaya. Meanwhile, US B-17 bombers based on Java, Dutch East Indies bombed Kuala Lumpur. After sundown, British gunboats HMS Dragonfly and HMS Scorpion evacuated British troops at Rengit. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 US B-17 bombers based on Java, Dutch East Indies bombed Japanese positions at Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thorn sank Italian tanker Ninuccia one mile off Cape Planka, Yugoslavia at 1121 hours. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Indian troops destroyed port facilities at Benghazi, Libya as German forces approached. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht bulletin by the headquarters of the German Wehrmacht. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Dispersed ships of Allied convoy QP-6 began to arrive in Allied waters. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 US 49th Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, arrived in Australia by ship. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Four Australian Catalina aircraft from Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua attacked Rabaul, New Britain, causing little or no damage. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Pemangkat, Dutch Borneo. At Balikpapan, part of the assault force for Bandjermasin, the capital of Dutch Borneo, departed by transports. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 In Berlin, Germany, fighter ace Adolf Galland was awarded Diamonds to his Knight's Cross by Adolf Hitler for achieving 94 kills. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived in Sicily, Italy. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Chechen rebel leader Khasan Israilov formed the anti-Soviet organization Special Party of Caucasus Brothers. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 RAF Bomber Command's No. 8 (Bomber) Group was disbanded. 
0
28 Jan 1942 WW2 Phil Zampini became Robert Johnson's flight instructor at the Missouri Institute of Aeronautics in Sikeston, Missouri, United States. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-71 attacked and sank US Army 622-ton transport General Royal T. Frank about 2 miles west of Maui, Hawaii in the in the Alenuihaha Channel. All aboard were lost. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 50 German tanks forced the Indian 4th Infantry Division out of the defensive positions at Benghazi, Libya, capturing British vehicles and supplies. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 German Army General Rommel arrived at Benghazi, Libya. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 After invasion by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, Iran joined the Allies, thus allowing US Lend-Lease supplies to reach the Soviet Union overland. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 The US Coast Guard Cutter Alexander Hamilton was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-132 whilst on patrol off the Iceland coast. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler issued a directive that established the SS Sonderkommando Dirlewanger as a volunteer formation of the SS. This formation, which drew its personnel from concentration camps and hardened criminals, would become notorious for its war crimes against civilians in Poland. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi provided repair work for destroyer Hatsuharu at Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 British colonial administrators and civilians departed from Johore Bahru, British Malaya for Singapore. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 The 20th Battalion of the Japanese 16th Division penetrated the US-Filipino Orion-Bagac defensive line at several locations at Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands; the reserve 45th Philippine Scout Division was quickly dispatched to halt the Japanese advance. Meanwhile, troops of the Philippine Scouts continued to assault the Japanese beachheads at Longoskawayan Point and Quinauan Point in southern Bataan. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-431 sank British minesweeping whaler HMS Sotra 25 miles northeast of Bardia, Libya at 2146 hours, killing all 22 aboard. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill won a vote of confidence 464-1 in the House of Commons of the British Parliament; Independent Labour Party leader James Maxton cast the only vote against Churchill. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-164 sank US cargo ship Florence Luckenbach 10 miles off the Indian coast; all 38 aboard survived. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku returned to Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
29 Jan 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Davao, Philippine Islands for Bangka Roads, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 British troops in the southern tip of British Malaya completed the withdraw into Singapore, thus marking the start of the siege. After sundown, British gunboats HMS Dragonfly and HMS Scorpion once again sailed for Rengit to evacuate the last of the enveloped British troops there. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Operation Oiled: 7 British Stirling bombers were launched from RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland 0030 hours, and 8 Halifax bombers were launched from the same location between 0204 and 0234 hours. Their target was the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway. None of them reached their target due to bad weather. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel was promoted to the rank of Generaloberst; at the same time, the Panzergruppe Afrika was renamed the Panzerarmee Afrika. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-106 sank US tanker Rochester 80 kilometers off Norfolk, Virginia, United States at 1805 hours, killing 3 of 35 aboard. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese 55th Infantry Division captured the airfield at Moulmein, Burma. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 800 men of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Force and 4,000 Japanese Army troops landed on the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies, covered from above by carrier aircraft of Hiryu and Soryu. Without air support, the 2,800 Dutch and 1,100 Australian troops withdrew toward Passo, failing to destroy bridges behind them. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 400 Japanese troops landed at Adang Bay and began a 155-mile trek across jungles to assault Bandjermasin, the capital of Dutch Borneo. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 The British 1st Armoured Division in Libya withdrew toward Gazala. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-64 sank Indian freighter Jalatarang 62 miles southeast of Madras, India. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 German bombers heavily damaged British minesweeping trawler HMS Loch Alsh 45 miles east of Grimsby, England, United Kingdom; she would sink as she was being towed to port for repairs. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thunderbolt attacked an Axis convoy with three torpedoes 6 miles west of Lefkada, Greece at 0939 hours; all torpedoes missed; escorting Italian torpedo boat Solferino counterattacked with 29 depth charges without success. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thorn sank Italian submarine Medusa off Pola, Yugoslavia at 1410 hours; 57 were killed, 1 survived. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops executed Australian prisoner of war Captain Herbert Silverman at Rabaul, New Britain. On the same day, Australian Thomas McBride Price led 5 Catalina aircraft on an attack on Rabaul, claiming one bomb hit; Price reported the presence of newly arrived large anti-aircraft weapons. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Yokosuka, Japan to pick up aircraft. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Naka departed Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler spoke at the Berlin Sports Palace, threatening the Jews of the world with annihilation. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived in Benghazi, Libya. 
0
30 Jan 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe group I./KG 100, flying He 111 bombers, was ordered to move from Focsani, Romania to Saky, Ukraine. They were to fly raids against Soviet shipping in the Black Sea and supply columns along the Black Sea coast. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 German SS Einsatzgruppe A reported a tally of 229,052 Jews killed in the Baltic States and in Byelorussia, while Estonia was reported to be free of Jews. Extermination activities had paused in Lithuania, it reported, but would soon be picked up again. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 More than 200,000 Russians had died in Leningrad this month from starvation, disease and illness. Reports began to circulate of cannibalism amongst the besieged population. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 The German support ship Spreewald, disguised as British Royal Mail steamer Brittany, was carrying 200 British seamen captured from sunken merchantmen when German submarine U-333 found her. Believing she was indeed a British ship, Spreewald was torpedoed and sunk off Bordeaux, France. Only 24 crewmen and 58 POWs were rescued. The U-boat captain, Peter Cremer, was exonerated by a Royal Navy inquiry because he identified the ship as the Royal Mail steamer, Brittany, which was precisely what the Spreewald's captain had disguised his ship to resemble. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 Commander Yahachi Tanabe became the commanding officer of I-68. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British tanker San Arcadio 425 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States at 0445 hours; 41 were killed, 9 survived. To the south, U-109 sank British tanker Tacoma Star 200 kilometers east of Virginia, United States. Out to sea, U-333 sank German freighter Spreewald by mistake (Spreewald was under disguise as British Royal Mail transport Brittany); 41 German crew members and 31 British prisoners of war were killed, 25 German crew members and 55 British prisoners of war survived. At 2212 hours, U-82 attacked Allied troop convoy NA-2 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and sank British destroyer HMS Belmont, killing all 138 aboard. At 2331 hours, U-105 attacked Allied convoy SL-98 500 miles southwest of Ireland, sinking British Sloop HMS Culver with 2 torpedoes which detonated the magazine; 126 were killed, 12 survived. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese 55th Infantry Division captured the town of Moulmein, Burma one day after the nearby airfield was captured; Burmese 2nd Infantry Brigade (Brigadier Roger Ekin) retreated across the Salween River during the night after having lost 617 men (mostly missing); Archibald Wavell however, unaware of the true situation, was appalled and angry to hear of the ease with which the Japanese had driven Burmese 2nd Infantry Brigade from the town. On the same day, Slim issued a report summarizing the air situation in Burma, noting the Allies had 35 aircraft in the area to defend against about 150 Japanese aircraft; while a few more Allied aircraft were en route for Burma, by mid-Mar 1942 there would be 400 operational Japanese aircraft in this theater of war. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 USS Finback was commissioned into service, Lieutenant Commander Jesse L. Hull in command. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for Ambon, Dutch East Indies. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Batugong and Passo on Ambon, Dutch East Indies. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 Indian sappers destroyed the main causeway linking Singapore and British Malaya at 0815 hours. Shortly after, Japanese troops captured Johore Bharu, Malaya. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-64 sank Indian merchant ship Jalapalaka 63 miles southeast of Madras, India with the deck gun; 13 were killed, 54 survived. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 15 Type 96 A5M4 fighters of the Japanese Chitose Air Group arrived at Rabaul, New Britain to join the A5M4 fighters of the Tainan Air Group that had arrived days earlier. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 American carrier USS Lexington was ordered to sail south to cover the return of carriers USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown from their Marshall and Gilbert Islands raid. To that end, she set sail for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii with Task Force 11. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe I./KG 4 attacked a depot of transport vehicles at Grodino, central Russia. 
0
31 Jan 1942 WW2 HMS Hermes completed her refit at Simon's Town, South Africa. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Soviet Army began attacking towards Vyazma. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Vidkun Quisling formed his government in Norway. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 PT boats and P-40 aircraft repulsed the Japanese landing attempt on southwest Bataan at the Philippine Islands. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln began four months of repairs and refits in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 The British formed the RAF Regiment to defend airfields as the British Army could not provide such services. This regiment would eventually grow to the size of 50,000 men. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Mitragliero was commissioned into service. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps redesigned Air Detachment, Marine Barracks, Parris Island in South Carolina, United States to the Marine Corps Air Station, Parris Island. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Dutch forces at Passo, Ambon, Dutch East Indies surrendered. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Akagi departed Truk, Caroline Islands in an attempt to catch the enemy carrier force that attacked the Marshall Islands. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga departed Truk, Caroline Islands in search of US carriers near the Marshall Islands. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Lexington supported the air offensive against Marshall and Gilbert Islands indirectly by operation in the vicinity of Christmas Island. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 The United States launched its first air offensive against the Gilbert Islands as aircraft from US carriers USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise struck Japanese bases in the island group. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Grampus arrived at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied convoys PQ-9 and PQ-10 departed Reykjavík, Iceland together. 
0
01 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops reached Singapore, pausing for the following few days to prepare for a landing on the island. Meanwhile, General Arthur Percival announced that "the battle of Malaya has come to an end and the battle of Singapore has started.... Today we stand beleaguered in our island fortress. Our task is to hold this fortress until help can come." 
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01 Feb 1942 WW2 The United States launched its first air offensive against the Marshall Islands as aircraft from US carriers USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise struck Japanese bases in the island group. US cruisers USS Northampton, USS Chester, and USS Salt Lake City also bombarded atolls in the Marshall Islands, sinking gunboat Toyotsu Maru and transport Bordeaux Maru and damaging cruiser Katori, submarine I-23, minelayer Tokiwa, and several others. USS Chester sustained damage from a Japanese dive bomber during the attack; 8 were killed, 21 were wounded. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 The US Congress appropriated US$26.5 billion for the US Navy; between Jun 1940 and this date, American expenditure on the military totalled at US$115 billion. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable, with her escorting Australian destroyers Nizam, Nestor, and Napier, arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-751 damaged Dutch tanker Corilla off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 0746 hours; Corilla was able to return to Halifax for repairs. To the south, German submarine U-103 sank US tanker W. L. Steed 100 kilometers east of Virginia, United States, killing 34 of 38 aboard. On the far side of the Atlantic Ocean, near Pico Island of the Azores islands, British destroyer HMS Westcott sank German submarine U-581 with depth charges; 3 were killed, 37 of the survivors were captured; commanding officer Leutnant zur see Walter Sitek was able to swim 6 kilometers to shore and eventually return to service via Spain. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Lieutenant-General Thomas Hutton, the GOC Burma Army, was injured when the Lysander aircraft in which he was flying to meet with Chiang Kaishek crash landed near Lashio, Burma. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 On Ambon, Dutch East Indies, Australian troops fell back to Amahusu while Japanese troops attacked various pockets of resistance. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese minesweeper W-9 struck a Dutch naval mine and sank in the Bay of Ambon, Dutch East Indies. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 German bombers sank British minesweeping trawlers HMT Cloughton Wyke and HMT Cape Spartel east of England, United Kingdom. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt officially named Joseph Stilwell as the Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 While at sea, USS Lexington received orders to set sail for Canton Island, Phoenix Islands. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga set sail for Palau Islands, Caroline Islands. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Major General Tomitaro Horii ordered Lieutenant Colonel Masao Kuwada of Japanese 3rd Battalion to pursue Australian troops who had previously fled into the jungles of southern Gazelle Peninsula on New Britain; Kuwada delegated the task to Lieutenant Tadaichi Noda. After sundown, six Japanese flying boats were launched from Rabaul to attack Port Moresby in British Territory of Papua; they would arrive over the Seven Mile airfield on the next date. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese warships began to patrol in waters near Java, Duth East Indies paving way for the invasion fleet. Ahead of the warships were Japanese bombers, which attacked Surabaya, Java and other military targets. Meanwhile, cruiser USS Houston, cruiser USS Marblehead, and 7 Dutch and American destroyers departed Surabaya to intercept a detected Japanese troop convoy sailing toward Java. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese minesweeper W-9, W-11, and W-12 were damaged by Dutch mines while minesweeping in the Bay of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies; W-9 would sink shortly after. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Gar departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked naval facilities at Singapore, forcing Allied warships to withdraw for the Dutch East Indies. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine USS Seadragon attacked a Japanese supply convoy north of Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippine Islands and sank transport Tamagawa Maru. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 An assault was mounted by US troops, supported by tanks, against the Japanese beachheads at Quinauan Point, Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands; it achieved little. To the north, on the Orion-Bagac defensive line, a US-Filipino attack wiped out a small pocket of trapped Japanese attackers. 
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02 Feb 1942 WW2 Soviet 3rd Shock Army launched an attack on the German troops trapped in Kholm, Russia. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 German forces counterattacked toward Vyazma, encircling several Soviet divisions. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese naval land attack planes bombed ABDA operating base at Surabaya. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Henry Stimson appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress and successfully convinced the congressmen to approve a US$500,000,000 loan for the Chinese. This was done as a favor for Chiang Kaishek, who was considering to accept an American request for him to launch an offensive into northern Burma. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine Trout delivered 3,500 rounds of 3 inch anti-aircraft ammunition to Corregidor, Philippine Islands. Upon departure, the submarine evacuated 20 tons of Philippine gold and silver. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 The last of the Australian Gull Force on Ambon, Dutch East Indies surrendered the town of Kudamati to the Japanese. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Tadaichi Noda led a group of Japanese troops to the Tol plantation on the southern coast of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain and captured 180 Australian troops hiding there; the Australians were given hot meals, the first they had for several days; the prisoners, however, did not realize that most of them would only have days to live. Hours later, after sundown, Australian Catalina aircraft flew over Rabaul, New Britain and were engaged by Japanese A5M4 fighters; all aircraft on both sides survived this first dogfight over Rabaul since Japanese conquest. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Kavieng, New Ireland and provided support for the landings at nearby Gasmata, New Britain. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Six Japanese flying boats from Rabaul, New Britain bombed the Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua at 0300 hours, killing 1 Australian Army sergeant; the damage done to the airfield was minor. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Burmese 2nd Infantry Brigade and a part of the Indian 17th Division withdrew from Martaban, Burma toward the Bilin River. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Yokosuka, Japan and remained there for the remainder of the month. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 In Libya, British 1st Armoured Division evacuated Mechili while Indian 4th Division evacuated Derna. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe I./KG 4 attacked Soviet rail stations in central Russia during the night. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank Panamanian freighter San Gil 25 kilometers off Virginia, United States, killing 2 of 40 aboard. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 British forces seized the Egyptian royal palace in Cairo to force the abdication of the 22-year old King Farouk who was sympathetic to the Axis Powers. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kwajalein to tend to personnel wounded on an American strike on 1 Feb; departed later on the same day. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 Believing that reinforcements were on their way, the British Authorities in Singapore turned down a Japanese demand for the unconditional surrender. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank US tanker India Arrow 50 kilometers east of Delaware, United States, killing 26 of 38 aboard. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops under Lieutenant Tadaichi Noda executed 130 Australian prisoners of war by bayoneting and machine gunning at the Tol Plantation on the southern coast of Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain; there were only 6 survivors; Noda ordered a message to be posted on the door of Tol noting that Australian Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Scanlan was responsible for these deaths for not having surrendered his command to the Japanese. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 9 Japanese flying boats from Rabaul, New Britain attacked Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua, destroying one house and two commercial buildings. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 The American-Dutch fleet which departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies on the previous day was detected by the Japanese aircraft at 0949 hours in the Bali Sea. The Japanese aircraft, originally flying to bomb Surabaya, attacked the fleet instead, hitting US cruiser USS Marblehead with 2 bombs (killing 15), US cruiser USS Houston with 1 bomb (killing 48), and Dutch destroyer HNLMS De Ruyter (7 killed); 4 Japanese aircraft were lost during the attack. The Allied fleet abandoned its original plans to intercept a Japanese invasion convoy due to the damage suffered. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine USS Sculpin attacked Japanese destroyer Sukukaze at mouth of Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies, causing damaging to the destroyer and killing 9 of her crew. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead suffered two bomb hits and one near miss during the Battle of Makassar Strait, killing 15 men and wounding 84. She suffered a list to starboard, a few fires, and jammed rudder, but survived the battle.  
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Busan, Korea. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine Seadragon evacuated 21 military personnel, 23 torpedoes, spare submarine parts, and radio equipment from Corregidor, Philippine Islands. 
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04 Feb 1942 WW2 US tanks once again attacked the Japanese beachheads at Quinauan Point, Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, nearly successfully in wiping out several positions. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 120 P-40 fighters arrived at Brisbane, Australia from the United States. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 The US Army Far East Air Force was redesignated 5th Air Force; the personnel and aircraft continued to move south to the Dutch East Indies and Australia. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Roi, Marshall Islands. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank US tankers India Arrow at 0153 hours (26 were killed, 12 survived) and China Arrow at 1808 hours (all 37 aboard survived) 20 kilometers southeast of Cape May, New Jersey, United States. German submarine U-136 sank British corvette HMS Arbutus (Lieutenant A. L. W. Warren) in the North Atlantic 330 miles west of Ireland at 2236 hours; 43 were killed, 47 survived. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Lexington crossed the Equator. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Allied shipping off Sumbawa Island and Bali Island in the Dutch East Indies; several P-40 Warhawk fighters of the USAAF 20th Provisional Pursuit Squadron were destroyed at Bali. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Bangka Roads, Celebes, Dutch East Indies to support the landings at Makassar, Celebes. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 60 British RAF Bomber Command aircraft attacked German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Brest, France, causing little damage. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Busan, Korea. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 Axis forces captured Derna and Tmimi, Libya. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops attacked the Pulau Ubin island to the east of Singapore, drawing British troops to move to that region; the actual attack would come from the northwest three days later. Out at sea, passenger liner Empress of Asia, with reinforcement for Singapore aboard and fallen behind from fellow BM12 convoy members, was attacked and sunk by 9 Japanese aircraft; although the loss of life was small (16 killed), all the weapons and equipment aboard her were lost; 1,804 survivors were rescued by Australian sloop HMAS Yarra. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine Shch-421 sank German ship Konsul Schulte in the Porsanger Fjord off Honningsvaag, Norway. 
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05 Feb 1942 WW2 17 radio intelligence personnel were evacuated from the US Navy Station CAST facility at Corregidor island, Philippine Islands. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank US freighter Major Wheeler off the east coast of the United States, killing the entire crew of 35. Off Bermuda, German submarine U-106 sank British ship Opawa. Northeast of the Azores islands, German submarine U-109 sank Panamanian ship Halcyon. Finally, German submarine U-82 attempted to attack convoy OS-18, but was sunk by depth charges in return. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 US Army allocated resources for the construction of the Alaska-Canadian Highway, pending approval of the US President and the US Congress. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed at Roi, Marshall Islands. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 German troops captured Benghazi, Libya, but the westward offensive had been halted at the Gazala Line. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 The United Kingdom declared war on Thailand. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Wavell, still angry at the loss of Moulmein, Burma, ordered 2nd Burma Brigade to "take back all you have lost". It was too late-the Japanese were already bringing more troops (33rd "White Tigers" Division and the Headquarters of 15th Army) across the frontier. Lieutenant-General Hutton insisted on abandoning Moulmein and taking up new positions on the Salween which would be reinforced by the newly committed 46th Indian Brigade who had been brought down from the Shah States. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 The Nazi Germans published new guidelines for the conduct of anti-guerrilla warfare, in which it was spelled out that the war against irregulars (Himmler having earlier ordered that the word "Partisan" was to be replaced with "Bandit" in all correspondence) was to be fought regardless of any conventional legality or morality, "without limitations even against women and children". 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 A Carley float containing a dead body of a HMAS Sydney crewman was spotted off Christmas Island. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 While at sea, USS Lexington received orders to set sail for Fiji. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 An Australian Hudson bomber conducted a reconnaissance mission over Rabaul, New Britain; a Japanese fighter rose to attack and damaged the Australian aircraft, but it would be able to escape and return to Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Six Japanese troop transports, escorted by cruiser Nagara, 11 destroyers, and 2 minesweepers, departed Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies for Makassar on the western coast of the island. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Permit disembarked Admiral Thomas Hart's staff at Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies, ending her third war patrol. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Hermann Göring departed Rome, Italy. Galeazzo Ciano noted in his diary that during this visit, Göring was seen wearing expensive jewelry and furs. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Aimone di Savoia Aosta took command of the 10th MAS Flotilla special forces unit and the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille returned to his unit at Martuba, Libya. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese artillery and aerial bombardment continued against various military and port facilities at Singapore. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese artillery shelled Corregidor from Cavite at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Meanwhile, Filipino troops continued to assert pressure on the nearly-eliminated Japanese beachheads at Quinauan Point, Bataan, Luzon. 
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06 Feb 1942 WW2 The US Navy established the Gulf Sea Frontier (GULFSEAFRON) with headquarters at Key West, Florida, United States. Captain Russell S. Crenshaw was named its first commanding officer. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 King George VI approved the name Ark Royal to be used on a new Audacious-class Carrier which had not yet even been laid down. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 The Japanese infiltrated across the Salween River in Burma cutting the defenders of Martaban River, 3/7th Gurkhas with a company of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry under command, from the 46th Indian Brigade headquarters base at Thaton. The Gurkha's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel H. A. Stevenson, knowing that his position was now untenable led a bayonet charge to clear the road block. The subsequent retreat from Martaban (over difficult terrain with no food) of more than 50 miles in two days was a terrible ordeal and a foretaste of things to come. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 British destroyers HMS Zulu and HMS Lively sank Italian trawler Grongo and small ship Aosta in the Mediterranean Sea near Malta. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-25's floatplane conducted a reconnaissance mission on Sydney, Australia. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, destroying 34 RAF aircraft. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-55 sank Dutch passenger ship Van Cloon 30 miles north of Java; all 187 aboard survived. American yacht USS Isabel and a PBY Catalina aircraft counterattacked in failure. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 USAAF B-17 bombers from Java, Dutch East Indies unsuccessfully attacked Japanese shipping off Balikpapan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 Irako arrived at Hashirajima, Japan and disembarked 80 tons of sugar from Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Wotje, Marshall Islands to tend to personnel wounded on an American strike on 1 Feb. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 German troops halted the Soviet offensive northwest of Leningrad, Russia. 
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07 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-11 departed Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-108 sank British freighter Ocean Venture 50 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 The main Japanese offensive against Singapore began. Australian troops stationed on the northwestern coast of Singapore initially inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese landing, but confusion of battle caused them to retreat prematurely, providing Japanese a beachhead by nightfall. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 The United States Navy acquired the civilian ship Steel Architect, which was still under construction, for military service. She was to be the future escort carrier Copahee. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 Akagi arrived at the Palau Islands, having abandoned the pursuit of the American fleet. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga arrived at Palau Islands, Caroline Islands. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed 50 miles southeast of Bandjarmasin, Dutch Borneo and began marching toward the Martapoera airfield. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 The Japanese invasion fleet arrived off Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. USS S-37 attacked the fleet at 2036 hours, firing four torpedoes at the escorting destroyers, sinking Natsushio (10 killed, 229 survived). 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 In Germany, Albert Speer was appointed the Minister of Armaments and Munitions to succeed Fritz Todt who was killed when his aircraft exploded shortly after take off in Ostpreußen (East Prussia), Germany. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Grampus departed Pearl Harbor, Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 While in landing pattern at Martuba airfield in Libya, Hans-Joachim Marseille in his Bf 109 fighter encountered five Hurricane fighters that tried to jump him; he was able to break off from his landing approach, out-maneuver his attackers, and shot down two of them in return (his 37th and 38th kills). Later in the day, several British Blenheim bombers, escorted by P-40 and Hurricane fighters, attacked Martuba; Marseille shot down two of the fighters, bringing his score to 40 kills. At the end of the day, against orders, he flew over an enemy airfield to drop a note that stated Flight Sergeant Hargreaves (his 37th kill) was captured and uninjured; this personal mission led to Marseille being grounded by his commanding officer Gerhard Homuth. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Wotje, Marshall Islands. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-4 sank Singaporean merchant ship Ban Ho Guan off Java, Dutch East Indies. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 American troops attacked and wiped out a Japanese infiltration force at Quinauan Point, Bataan on the Philippine island of Luzon; 600 Japanese troops were killed while the US-Filipino forces suffered 500 casualties. Meanwhile, General Masaharu Homma called off the first offensive against Bataan and fell back to more defensible positions while waiting for reinforcements. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 Soviet 3rd Shock Army, 4th Shock Army, and 11th Army linked up at Zaluch'e, Russia and encircled 90,000 German troops and 10,000 auxiliaries around Demyansk, Russia. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Grayback departed the East Coast of the United States for the Hawaiian Islands. 
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08 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-69 shelled Sand Island, Midway Atoll, causing minor damage to the radio towers. US Marine Buffalo aircraft of VMF 221 squadron counterattacked and damaged I-69. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Year-round daylight saving time was re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 George Marshall, Henry Arnold, Harold Stark, and Ernest King attended the first formal meeting of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kwajalein, departing later on the same day. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed with Destroyer Division 23 to escort the invasion fleet for Gasmata, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Trout sank Japanese auxiliary gunboat Chuwa Maru 50 miles northeast of Taiwan. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-654 attacked Allied convoy ON-60 in the Atlantic Ocean 450 miles east of Cape Race, Newfoundland just after 0000 hours, damaging Free French corvette Alysse; 36 were killed, 34 survived. At 2020 hours, German submarine U-85 also attacked ON-60, sinking British ship Empire Fusilier; 9 were killed, 38 survived. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 German aircraft damaged British cruiser HMS Cleopatra west of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 German aircraft damaged British destroyer HMS Farndale off Egypt. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops arrived at Gasmata airfield, renamed Surumi airfield by the Japanese, in southern New Britain to expand the existing grass runway built by the RAAF. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga accidentally hit a reef in the Palau Islands, Caroline Islands, damaging her bilges. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese Sasebo Combined Special Naval Landing Force troops landed at Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies at dawn and captured the city. Most Dutch defenders fell back to the fortifications at Tjama. A small number of captured native troops were tied in groups of three and thrown into a river near Makassar to drown. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft damaged British river gunboat HMS Scorpion in the Bangka Strait off Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Italian aircraft bombed Alexandria, Egypt. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 During the day, Japanese troops captured Tengah airfield at Singapore while behind the front 10,000 additional troops arrived at the beachheads. At 2100 hours, the Japanese 4th Imperial Guard Regiment landed at Kranji in northern Singapore, but the attempt was driven off by Australian 27th Brigade's heavy machine gun and mortar fire before the Australians fell back in anticipation of another landing. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 Satoru Anabuki, flying a Ki-27 fighter, shot down a P-40 fighter over Bataan, Philippine Islands, his third victory. 
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09 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Lafayette (former French luxury liner SS Normandie, impounded by the United States in May 1941), amidst conversion into a troop transport, caught fire and capsized at midnight in New York Harbor, United States. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 The United Kingdom transferred 34 Royal Navy anti-submarine vessels and their crews to the United States Navy for anti-submarine patrols in the western Atlantic Ocean. On the same day, German submarine U-564 sank Canadian tanker Victolite 400 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Free French corvette Alysse sank from damage suffered from an attack by German submarine U-654. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 The 2nd Joint Training Force of the US Marine Corps, under Major General Clayton B. Vogel, was redesignated the Amphibious Force of the US Pacific Fleet. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops crossed the Salween River in Burma. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 Rear Admiral Munetaka Sakamaki was named the chief of staff of the Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 USS R-5 fired three torpedoes at an enemy submarine in the Atlantic Ocean; all torpedoes missed. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 Australian Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Scanlan decided to surrender to the Japanese and began to trek toward Rabaul, New Britain from the coast of Wide Bay on the southern coast of the island's Gazelle Peninsula. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy established the 4th Air Group at Rabaul, New Britain under the command of Captain Yoshiyotsu Moritama. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 Yamato's 1.5-month fitting out period completed. Deficiencies found were corrected at Kure, Japan. Her initial AA suite was twelve 127-mm guns (6x2), twenty-four 25-mm guns (8x3 enclosed mounts), and four 13.2-mm machine guns (2x2). 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 Captain Keishi Ishii was named the commanding officer of Settsu. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 Australian 22nd Brigade misunderstood an order and withdrew past the Jurong Road in northern Singapore, thus exposing the flanks of neighboring Indian troops, forcing the entire Allied line to shift further south. Meanwhile, the British Royal Air Force withdrew the small number of aircraft from Singapore to prevent Japanese capture. After sundown, Japanese troops captured the Bukit Timah heights which overlooked Singapore and hosted two reservoirs of fresh water. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 US forces continued the attempt to eliminate the 500 Japanese troops trapped in the "Big Pocket" at Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands. In Tokyo, Japan, the Imperial General Headquarters approved the transfer of the Japanese 4th Division from Shanghai, China to the Philippine Islands to reinforce Masaharu Homma's forces, but it would take weeks for the troops to arrive due to logistical issues. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 German aircraft began flying supply missions to the 100,000 trapped German troops at Demyansk, Russia. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied convoys PQ-9 and PQ-10 arrived at Murmansk, Russia together. 
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10 Feb 1942 WW2 A Japanese submarine fired two rounds at American installations at Midway Atoll and then was chased away by aircraft of Marine Fighter Squadron 221. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 Prinz Eugen departed Brest, France as a part of Operation Cerberus. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 Georg von Bismarck became the deputy commander of the 21st Panzer Division. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-136 attacked Allied convoy SC-67 south of Iceland at 0133 hours, sinking Norwegian ship Heina (all 30 aboard survived) and Canadian corvette HMCS Spikenard (57 were killed, 8 survived). 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 Having crossed the Salween River at Kuzeik, Burma during the night the Japanese II/215th Infantry regiment engaged the raw and inexperienced 7/10th Baluch who were deployed in a semi-circle with their backs to the river without barbed wire or artillery support. After dark the Japanese launched their attack on the Indian positions and after four hours of bitter hand to hand fighting began to get the upper hand. By dawn organized resistance had effectively ceased. The heroic 7/10th Buluch had suffered 289 killed; with the few survivors making off in small parties. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 The US submarine Shark was reported lost, probably sunk by the Japanese destroyer Yamakaze, on patrol east of Manado, Celebes, Sunda Islands, Dutch East Indies. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell fell over a barb-wired seawall at Singapore and was rushed to a hospital. His back was injured and he was incommunicado for four days. 
0
11 Feb 1942 WW2 US forces arrived at the Dutch islands of Curaçao, Bonaire, and Aruba in the Caribbean Sea. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 Three Australian Hudson bombers attacked Surumi airfield near the village of Gasmata, New Britain; Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Satoshi Yoshino shot down the bombers flown by John Lerew and Graham Gibson. Lerew would parachute to safety and return to New Guinea on 21 Feb 1942. Transports Kinryu Maru and Kizui Maru were damaged by the Hudson bombers, killing several men. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen, accompanied by 6 destroyers, departed Brest, France at 2330 hours and began their dash through the English Channel. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 The Japanese invasion fleet for Sumatra, Dutch East Indies departed Cam Ranh Bay, French Indo-China. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 Battle of Bukit Timah: Japanese 5th Division attacked British, Commonwealth, and Chinese (Dalforce irregulars) troops along the Choa Chu Kang Road at Bukit Timah Hill in Singapore. Supported by 50 tanks, Japanese troops halted the Allied counterattacks and took the hill. After the battle, to avenge their casualties, the Japanese troops massacred Chinese civilians living in a nearby village. 
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11 Feb 1942 WW2 In Washington DC, United States, US Congress approved the construction of the Alaska-Canadian Highway; US President Roosevelt immediately signed it. Canada agreed to this construction under the condition that the United States would bear the entire cost of construction, and that portions of the highway in Canadian territory would turn over to Canadian control after the war. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 2 RAF Spitfire fighters on patrol unexpectedly spotted a large German fleet sailing through the English Channel at 1042 hours. British coastal guns at South Foreland, England, United Kingdom fired 33 rounds at the fleet, all of which missed. A number of aircraft were launched to attack, which failed to destroy the fleet, while 37 aircraft were shot down in the process, killing 23 airmen. The only damage sustained by the Germans were by mines; Scharnhorst hit two and Gneisenau hit one. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 The US Army Air Force activated the 10th Air Force for the China-Burma-India theater. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 Sigmund Rascher submitted a report on the effect of nude women on men who had been exposed to extreme cold; this project was ordered by Himmler. Rascher noted that for the most part, warm baths were more effective. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Una sank Italian tanker Lucania in the Gulf of Taranto in southern Italy; Una should not have conducted the attack as Lucania had previously been given safe passage by British command for that she refueled Italian passenger ships transporting Italian civilians from Italian East Africa back to Italy. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 Yamato departed Kure, Japan and arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay. The flag of the Combined Fleet Commander-in-Chief Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was transferred from Nagato to Yamato. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 Eduard Neumann lifted the grounding order against Hans-Joachim Marseille, and Marseille was able to participate in a mission that led to the scoring of four kills northwest of Tobruk, Libya, consisted of 1 Hurricane and 3 P-40 fighters, bringing his score to 44 kills. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 Before dawn, British cruiser HMS Durban, destroyer HMS Stronghold, destroyer HMS Jupiter, transport Empire Star, and transport Gorgon departed Singapore with British Royal Navy personnel for Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies; they would be attacked and damaged by Japanese aircraft en route. Meanwhile, on Singapore island, Japanese troops made conservative probing attacks in western Singapore as the Allies slowly withdrew into the city. 
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12 Feb 1942 WW2 British destroyer Maori was sunk at Malta Harbour during an air raid. Only one man was killed as most of the crew were sleeping in shelters ashore, with only a token crew left aboard. Destroyer HMS Decoy, moored nearby, was damaged by the explosion; 2 were killed. 
0
12 Feb 1942 WW2 The 200 Japanese troops trapped in a beachhead in southern Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands mounted what would be their final counterattack. 
0
12 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-7 departed Murmansk, Russia. 
0
13 Feb 1942 WW2 Prinz Eugen arrived at the Brunsbüttel North Locks of the Kiel Canal, successfully completing Operation Cerberus. One man was killed by British air attack during the operation. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Axis submarines arrived in waters near Aruba. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 In Burma, the British Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Hutton requested Archibald Wavell to appoint a corps commander to take charge of operations and a liaison team to work with the Chinese. He received no reply as Wavell was incapacitated after suffering a fall. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-55 sank British ammunition ship Derrymore 80 miles northwest of Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies at 2100 hours; 9 were killed, 236 survived. Among those rescued was Australian pilot and future prime minister John Gorton. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Gasmata, New Britain. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Bandjarmasin, the capital of Dutch Borneo, unopposed. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 German Navy Admiral Ciliax sent a signal to Admiral Saalwächter in Paris, France in mid-morning: "It is my duty to inform you that Operation Cerberus has been successfully completed." 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Vidkun Quisling arrived in Berlin, Germany. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Italian torpedo boat Circe attacked British submarine HMS Tempest on the surface in the Gulf of Taranto in southern Italy at 0300 hours. Tempest surfaced at 0900 hours after sustaining damage to the battery (which released poisonous chlorine gas) and was abandoned. 39 were killed in the attack; 24 survived and were taken prisoner. Circe attempted to tow Tempest back to port, but the submarine sank en route. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a Hurricane fighter at 0920 hours and another at 0925 hours east of Tobruk, Libya, which were his 45th and 46th kills. He later met his 46th victim, South African pilot Lieutenant Le Roux, after the engagement. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops pushed the 55th Brigade of the British 18th Division out of its position which controlled the last fresh water reservoir in Singapore for the British. Arthur Percival's senior staff members persuaded him to request permission to surrender. At 1830 hours, a large convoy of 44 ships departed Singapore with evacuees; a few of these ships would be attacked and sunk by Japanese aircraft. 
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13 Feb 1942 WW2 All Japanese troops at the Longoskawayan Point and Quinauan Point beachheads at Luzon, Philippine Islands were wiped out. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 RAF Bomber Command began to deploy the new GEE radio navigation device. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise departed from Pearl Harbor for Wake Island. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 The British Royal Navy riverboat HMS Li Wo, evacuating military personnel from Java, ran into part of the Japanese invasion fleet and was blasted to pieces by destroyers. In a last desperate show of defiance, the little boat rammed one of the enemy transports (which would sink on the following day) before going down. Only 13 of the 120 aboard Li Wo survived. The commander, Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson, who went down with his vessel, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross in 1946. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 The British submarine Thrasher survived an attack off Crete with two unexploded bombs lodged in its deck casing. Lieutenant Peter Roberts and Petty Officer Thomas Gould took 40 minutes to remove the explosives, squeezed in the narrow confines knowing the submarine might by forced to dive at any moment, leaving them trapped to drown. They both received the Victoria Cross. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine Sargo delivered 1 million rounds of .30 caliber ammunition to Mindanao, Philippine Islands. Upon departure, the submarine evacuated 24 US Army personnel. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 British Deputy Chief of Air Staff informed the RAF Bomber Command that "the primary object of your operations should be focused on the morale of the enemy civilian population." 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Juneau was commissioned into service. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-23 was lost somewhere south of Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii, to unknown reason. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Swordfish sank Japanese transport Amagisan Maru 91 miles east of Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 British submarine P38 sank Italian ship Ariosto in the Mediterranean Sea without realizing that of the 410 aboard, 294 of them were Allied prisoners of war. 252 survivors of the sinking were rescued by Italian destroyer Premuda and torpedo boat Polluce. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese oiler east of Borneo; both torpedoes missed. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 No. 94 Squadron RAF, flying Kittyhawk fighters, arrived at the front in North Africa. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-576 sank British catapult armed merchant (CAM) ship Empire Spring southeast of Nova Scotia, Canada at 0337 hours, killing all 53 aboard. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 18 G4M1 Type 1 land attack aircraft of the Japanese Takao Air Group arrived at Vunakanau Airfield near Rabaul, New Britain. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Indian 17th Infantry Division was ordered to defend against the Japanese advance toward Rangoon, Burma at the Bilin River. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-166 sank British freighter Kamuning 2 miles east of Ceylon at 0817 hours; 6 were killed, 63 survived. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Hermes arrived at Colombo, Ceylon. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 360 paratroopers of Japanese 1st Airborne Division landed at Pangkalanbenteng airfield near Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies; in response, ABDA command sent 5 cruisers and 11 destroyers to transport troops to Palembang; Dutch destroyer HNLMS Van Ghent in this force ran aground on the next day and would be scuttled. Meanwhile, the British ship Vyner Brooke, escaping from Singapore with 300 on board, was bombed off Sumatra; around 100 survivors, including 22 Australian nurses, reach shore on Banka island; the men were marched away by the Japanese and bayoneted and shot, the wounded were bayoneted where they laid, and the nurses were herded into the sea and machine gunned; one, Sister Vivian Bulwinkel, was wounded but survived to tell of the atrocity; she died in 2000, aged 85. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Despite being wounded, Adnan bin Saidi continued to retire from his forward position in Singapore. When his position was finally taken by Japanese troops, he was tied to a tree and bayoneted to death. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 While Japanese troops penetrated the lines manned by the 1st Malay Brigade at Singapore and reached the Alexandra Barracks Hospital, where 323 hospital staff and patients would soon be brutally massacred, Archibald Wavell rejected Arthur Percival's request to surrender Singapore. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Soviet Union began a national labor conscription. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-11 departed Kirkwall, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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14 Feb 1942 WW2 Submarine Wahoo was launched at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States, sponsored by the wife of William C. Barker, Jr. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Dutch destroyer HNLMS Van Ghent ran aground en route to Palembang, and was scuttled. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank Brazilian ship Buarque 40 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell recovered from his fall at Singapore and was released by the hospital. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-165 sank Danish ship Johanne Justesen off the southern tip of India, killing 1. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Dispersed ships of Allied convoy QP-7 began to arrive in Allied waters. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 An Allied troop convoy consisted of four transports (with Australian and American troops aboard) departed from Darwin, Australia for Timor, escorted by cruiser USS Houston, destroyer USS Peary, sloop HMAS Swan, and sloop HMAS Warrego. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops penetrated Indian 17th Infantry Division positions on the Bilin River north of Rangoon, Burma. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Akagi departed Palau with Kaga, Carrier Division 2, and Cruiser Division 8, screened by Destroyer Squadron 1 for the attacks on Davao and Port Darwin, Australia. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga departed Palau Islands, Caroline Islands. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 100 additional Japanese paratroopers arrived at Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, helping with the securing oil refineries and other facilities. 200 kilometers to the south, British troop transport Ocrades arrives at Oosthaven with 3,400 Australian troops, but the ship would continue on to Java without disembarking the troops. North of Palembang, Japanese troops disembarked at the mouth of the Musi River; the British RAF interfered by attacking the landing with over 50 aircraft, sinking 20 landing craft and killing 100 Japanese. Finally, in the Bangka Strait, Japanese naval gunfire sank British tug HMS Yin Ping; 50 were killed, 25 survived. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 No. 94 Squadron RAF lost four Kittyhawk fighters in combat over Martuba, Egypt. Squadron Leader Ernest M. Mason's aircraft was among the four, shot down and killed by German ace Oberfeldwebel Otto Schulz. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Marcus Island. Before she departed, she took on cryptanalyst and linguist Forrest "Tex" Biard. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Grayback departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 While escorting German bombers over Gambut, Libya, Hans-Joachim Marseille spotted enemy fighters taking off from a nearby airfield to challenge them. He would shoot down two P-40 fighters, Flight Sergeant Frank Reid at 1300 hours as his 47th kill and Flight Officer P. J. Briggs at 1303 hours as his 48th kill. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 With Winston Churchill's permission, Arthur Percival decided to surrender Singapore. A delegation bearing a white flag was dispatched at 1130 hours, but it was turned back by the Japanese, who requested Percival to surrender in person, which Percival complied at 1715 hours. At the Ford Motor Factory at Bukit Timah, Percival signed the surrender document at 2030 hours, making the biggest capitulation in British militay history official. 
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15 Feb 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 Operation Neuland: German submarine U-156 sank two ships and bombarded shore facilities at Aruba, U-502 sank three small tankers in the Gulf of Venezuela, while other German and Italian submarines conducted similar attacks on Allied shipping in the region. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable departed Trincomalee, Ceylon for Aden, escorted by Australian destroyers Napier and Nestor. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 First Lieutenant Peter Roberts risked his life to dislodge an unexploded bomb from the casing of the submarine he served aboard, HMS Thrasher, while in enemy waters off Crete, Greece. He was later awarded the Victoria Cross. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Puffer was laid down. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle made rendezvous with Allied convoy WS 16 toward Gibraltar. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 Six 1st American Volunteer Group pilots departed Kunming, Yunnan Province, China for Calcutta, India aboard a DC-3 passenger aircraft to pick up P-40E fighters being delivered to them, currently in Africa. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 46 Japanese aircraft based in Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies attacked an Allied troop convoy (carrying Australian and American troops) intended for Timor; although the attack was driven off, the convoy was turned back in fear of further attacks. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 The Sook Ching massacre began in Singapore during which somewhere between 5,000 (Japanese estimates) and 100,000 (Singaporean estimates) ethnic Chinese civilians were killed during the following 3 weeks. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Lexington set sail with US Navy Task Force 11 for a raid on Rabaul, New Britain. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 US tanker E. H. Blum struck a US naval mine and at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay just off Virginia, United States; she broke in half but all 40 aboard survived. The two pieces of the wreck would later be recovered and rejoined. 
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16 Feb 1942 WW2 Battleship Alabama was launched at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia, United States, sponsored by Henrietta McCormick Hill, the wife of US Senator J. Lister Hill. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 "Seabees" of the US Navy First Naval Construction Battalion arrived at Bora Bora, Society Islands. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Dutch Marines attempted to disarm an unexploded torpedo at Aruba, launched by German submarine U-156 during the prior day's attack. The torpedo detonated unexpectedly, killing 4. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Albacore was commissioned into service. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 A detachment of the submarine tender USS Canopus, sailors from the Cavite Naval Ammunition Depot, and the majority of the general duty men in the area were transferred to the 4th Marine Regiment based on Corregidor, Philippine Islands. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-136 sank British transport Empire Comet 250 miles south of Iceland at 2217 hours, killing all 46 aboard. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Triton sank Japanese freighter Shinyo Maru No. 5 and damaged another ship off Kyushu island, Japan. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Paul von Kleist was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita, flying an E14Y floatplane from Japanese submarine I-25, flew over Sydney Harbor, Australia at 0430 hours, conducting a reconnaissance mission. He was back aboard I-25 by 0730 hours. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops crossed the Bilin River north of Rangoon, Burma and began to encircle the Indian 17th Infantry Division. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 9 Japanese troop transports departed Ambon for Timor in the Dutch East Indies at 0800 hours. Later in the evening, Japanese transports Sasego Maru and Sagami Maru departed Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies with invasion troops for Bali. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese carrier aircraft from Ryujo sank Dutch destroyer HMNS Van Nes, escorting Dutch troopship Sloet van Beele, in the Bangka Strait; 69 were killed, 60 survived. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese occupation administration at Singapore sent 3,000 British civilians to Changi prison and 50,000 British, Australian, and Indian captured troops to Selarang Barracks. Some of the captured Indian troops were taken to hear Captain Mohan Singh at Farrer Park, who attempted to persuade them to collaborate with the Japanese. 
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17 Feb 1942 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Dili, Portuguese Timor. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank Brazilian tanker Olinda 30 kilometers off Virginia, United States. Elsewhere, German bombers sank British minesweeping trawler HMT Botanic in the North Sea. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 Russian forces under General Timoshenko launched a fresh offensive against the Germans on the central front; the southern front was marked by strong gains by Soviet troops in the Ukraine. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 Burma's Premier U Saw was detained by the British for allegedly being in communication with the Japanese. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 Omar Bradley was promoted to the temporary rank of major general. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 After three days of confused fighting along the Bilin in Burma, Major General "Jackie" Smyth learned that he was threatened with being outflanked to the south by the Japanese 143rd Regiment. He committed his last reserves, 4/12th Frontier Force Regiment who fought a stiff action on 16th Indian Brigade's left but ultimately failed to dislodge the Japanese. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 Free French submarine Surcouf collided with US merchant ship Thomson Lykes 95 miles north of the Panama Canal in the Gulf of Mexico; Surcouf would sink, killing all 130 aboard. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft sank Dutch coastal defense ship Surabaya and Dutch submarine K7 at Surabaya Harbor, Java, Dutch East Indies. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a military convention in Berlin, Germany, laying down "guidelines for common operations against the common enemies." 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Pollack departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her second war patrol. 
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18 Feb 1942 WW2 US destroyer USS Truxton ran aground and broke apart at Ferryland Point, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland in poor weather; 119 were killed, 33 survived. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Vichy government in France tried General Gamelin, Leon Blum, and Paul Reynaud for being responsible for 1940 defeat, but the trial would not be carried through. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, allowing the US military to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 The Canadian Parliament voted for military conscription. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Mandalay, Burma came under aerial attack for the first time. Meanwhile, the Japanese 143rd Regiment, having crossed the Bilin Estuary arrived at Taungzon, effectively bypassing the British and Indian positions along the Bilin River; Lieutenant General Hutton had no option but to permit a withdrawal to the Sittang. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Georg von Bismarck was promoted to the rank of Generalmajor. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Mitsuo Fuchida led the first of two waves of attacks during a raid on Darwin, Australia. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps 9th Defense Battalion arrived at Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba from Norfolk, Virginia, United States via USS Biddle. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese ship east of Borneo; both torpedoes missed. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese carriers launched 152 bombers and 36 fighters at 0845 hours. The attack force reached Darwin, Australia at 0958 hours and attacked the port city for the subsequent 42 minutes, sinking US destroyer USS Peary (93 killed, 49 survived), US transport USAT Meigs, merchant ship Zealandia, US merchant ship Mauna Loa, British freighter Neptuna, British tanker British Motorist, and coal storage hulk Kelat. 7 Japanese aircraft were lost in this first raid, while 7 American P-40 fighters were destroyed (4 in combat, 3 on the ground). Later in the day, 54 land-based bombers based in Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies arrived for a second raid, destroying 6 Australian Hudson light bombers, 1 US B-24 Liberator bomber, and 2 US P-40 fighters. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 US Army 14th Reconnaissance Squadron pilot Major Richard Carmichael, leading a flight of 12 B-17 bombers, arrived at Townsville, Queensland, Australia. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 The Japanese base at Truk, Caroline Islands reported sightings of US destroyers nearby. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands to receive additional anti-aircraft weaponry. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Hermes departed Colombo, Ceylon to receive Swordfish torpedo bombers of 814 Naval Air Squadron in the Indian Ocean. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Denpasar, Bali in the Dutch East Indies unopposed before dawn. At 0700 hours, as the Japanese troops transports departed Bali and began to sail for their home ports, 20 American aircraft attacked the convoy, damaging transport Sagami Maru. At 2200 hours, as the Japanese convoy sailed through the Badung Strait, it was engaged by Dutch cruiser De Ruyter, Dutch cruiser Java, and 3 US and Dutch destroyers; Dutch destroyer Piet Hein was sunk by Japanese torpedoes in the battle, killing 64. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 A Japanese floatplane flew near Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii in a reconnaissance mission. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Yamato departed Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan with Battleship Division 1 for training in the Iyo Nada. She returned later on the same day. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Akagi's aircraft participated in the raid on Port Darwin, Australia and saw 9 ships damaged and 18 aircraft destroyed. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Naka departed Jolo, Philippine Islands. 
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19 Feb 1942 WW2 Major changes were made to the British War Cabinet. Sir Stafford Cripps became Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons. Mr. Clement Atlee became Secretary for the Dominions and Mr. Oliver Lyttleton was appointed Minister of State with special responsibilities for all branches of production. Outgoing Ministers of the Cabinet were Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Kingsley Wood and Mr. Arthur Greenwood. 
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19 Feb 1942 RELIGIOUS Presidential Executive Order 9066 began placing 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry (of which over 2/3 were American-born citizens) into ten "relocation centers" for the duration of WWII. During confinement within the armed, barbed-wire surroundings, however, prayer meetings, Bible studies and worship services were held.
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 The Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki, began a series of war games aboard Yamato to test plans for the second-stage operations. Rear Admiral Shigeru Fukudome (Chief of the 1st Bureau (Plans and Operations) of Naval General Staff), Captain Baron Sadatoshi Tomioka (Naval General Staff), Commander Prince Takamatsu Nobuhito (brother of Emperor Showa), and Army Major Prince Tsunenori Takeda observed the war games. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank US freighter Azalea City 100 kilometers off Virginia, United States, killing the entire crew of 38. German submarine U-129 sank Norwegian ship Nordvangen 30 miles east of Trinidad at 0400 hours, killing all 24 aboard. Finally, Italian submarine Torelli sank British ship Scottish Star 770 miles east of Martinique; 4 were killed, 69 survived. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Kavieng, New Ireland, Bismarck Islands. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 The Japanese attacked the positions of 16th and 46th Indian Brigades at Kyaikto, Burma, delaying the retreat from the Balin to the Sittang Bridge for forty-eight hours, and causing total confusion among the withdrawing columns. To make matters worse the Indians came under friendly air attack from RAF and AVG aircraft. In addition most of the Divisional Headquarters' radio equipment was lost in the confusion. In Rangoon, Hutton's implementation of the second part of the evacuate Europeans caused wide-spread panic with much looting by drunken natives, and the emptying of the cities goals of lunatics and criminals. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered that any Russian who refused to work would be punished with death by hanging. Additionally, Russians working in German-occupied lands had no limit to their work days, and their employers were free to issue corporal punishment. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for eastern Java, Dutch East Indies and was engaged in the Battle of the Java Sea, firing torpedoes on Allied warships. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 damaged US ship Delplata with 3 torpedoes 60 miles west of Martinique at 1131 hours; all 53 survived and abandoned ship. Meanwhile, four Italian submarines operating in the Caribbean Sea commenced an operation that would see the sinking of fourteen merchant vessels over a four day period. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-65 sank British merchant ship Bhima 30 miles north of the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean; all 70 aboard survived. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 For not revealing the whereabouts of his commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Scanlan, Japanese troops executed Australian prisoner of war John R. Gray at Rabaul, New Britain by slashing his chest open and removing his heart while he was still alive. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Oberleutnant Hansgeorg Bätcher, commanding officer of 1. Staffel of I./KG 100 of the German Luftwaffe, flying a He 111 bomber, sank a 2,000-ton Soviet freighter in the Black Sea with supplies for the Soviet garrison of Sevastopol, Russia. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu interrupted her anti-aircraft weaponry refitting at Truk, Caroline Islands to sortie for American raiders. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 At 0130 hours, a fresh ABDA force consisted of a Dutch cruiser and four US destroyers attempted to intercept a Japanese transport fleet in the Badung Strait in the Dutch East Indies for the second time. Dutch cruiser Tromp (10 killed) and American destroyer Stewart were damaged on the Allied side, while Japanese destroyers Asashio (4 killed) and Oshio (7 killed) also suffered damage. At 0220 hours, Japanese destroyers Arashio and Michishio joined in the action; Michishio became the target of all four American destroyers, suffering several hits and 13 killed, but was able to be towed away from battle. Elsewhere, at dawn, Japanese troops landed at Dili, Portuguese Timor and Koepang, Dutch Timor. Portuguese defenders at Dili was overrun and Portugal accepted the Japanese occupation for the duration of the war; Australian defenders at Koepang resisted, however. At 1045 hours, 323 Japanese paratroops were delivered to Koepang airfield, but most of them did not land in the drop zone, and 245 of them were killed by the Australians. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese troops massacred 72 Dutch prisoners of war and 2 Dutch civilians at Balikpapan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies by beheading and gunfire for the destruction of oil facilities prior to Japanese occupation. 
0
20 Feb 1942 WW2 Rensuke Isogai was named the governor of Hong Kong. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 A Japanese H6K flying boat piloted by Lieutenant (jg) Noboru Sakai spotted a US carrier force 460 miles northeast of New Britain; US pilot Jimmy Thatch of USS Lexington shot down Sakai's aircraft at 1112 hours, but not before Sakai had alerted others. At 1202 hours, Burt Stanley and Leon Haynes shot down another H6K aircraft, flown by Warrant Officer Kiyoshi Hayashi, north of Lexington. At 1420 hours, 17 Type 1 bombers of Japanese 4th Air Group, led by Lieutenant Masayoshi Nakagawa, were launched from Rabaul, with the first wave reaching Lexington at 1625 hours. The first wave of 9 bombers were all shot down without causing any damage to Lexington; Nakagawa tried to crash into Lexington as he fell from the sky, but fell short by less than 1 mile). The second wave attacked USS Lexington and USS Minneapolis at 1705 hours, still causing no damage; Edward "Butch" O'Hare shot down 3 and damaged 4 Japanese bombers. Only 2 Japanese bombers arrived back at Rabaul at the end of the day; 100 Japanese bomber crewmen were lost during the attacks, and Japan also lost 20 men with the H6K reconnaissance flights earlier in the morning. O'Hare was given credit for 5 kills, making him an "Ace in a Day" and setting him up for a Medal of Honor award. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 The experimental rocket engine for the BI-1 prototype aircraft exploded during a test in Bilimbay, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, spraying nitric acid fuel all over aircraft engineer Arvid Pallo; mechanics saved him from severe burns by quickly dumping him in a tank full of a sodium carbonate solution kept nearby for the very purpose of neutralizing the acid. Test pilot Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was slightly injured as the head of the rocket engine punched into the cockpit. 
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20 Feb 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Shichiro Higuchi was named the chief of staff of the Taiwan Army. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese Navy Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, commanding officer of Carrier Division 2, distributed copies of his plans for a new offensive against Hawaii beginning in early 1943. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Ernest King presented plans to US President Franklin Roosevelt for conducting the war in the South Pacific for the following 18 months. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 US ship Delplata, fatally damaged on the previous day in the Caribbean Sea by German submarine U-156, was sunk by seaplane tender USS Lapwing after all 53 survivors were rescued. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Italian transports departed Messina, Sicily, Italy and Corfu, Greece; they would rendezvous in the Mediterranean Sea to form convoy K7 with the destination being Tripoli, Libya. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-67 sank Norwegian tanker Kongsgaard 7 miles off Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea at 1532 hours; 38 were killed, 8 survived. 20 miles west of Trinidad, U-161 sank British tanker Circe Shell at 2313 hours; 1 was killed, 57 survived. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank US freighter Azalea City 125 miles southeast of Ocean City, Maryland, United States at 0123 hours, killing all 38 aboard. At 1044 hours, 300 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, U-107 damaged Norwegian tanker Egda; Egda was able to return to port despite the torpedo damage. Finally, German submarine U-504 sank US tanker Republic off Florida, United States, killing 5 of 29 aboard. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 The 2nd Burma Frontier Force, who had been placed north of the Kyaikto track to warn against outflanking, were heavily engaged by the Japanese 215th Regiment and forced to withdraw north-west, crossing the Sittang River by country boats, and proceeding to Pegu. No report of this contact ever reached the divisional commander "Jackie" Smyth who was still hearing rumours of a threatened parachute landing to the west. To the south, British 7th Armored Brigade arrived at Rangoon by sea from Egypt. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Akagi arrived at Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga arrived at Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer, cruiser Prinz Eugen, and 5 destroyers departed Brunsbüttel, Germany for Bergen, Norway. RAF Coastal Command attempted to intercept them, but most of the aircraft failed to find them, and the lone bomber that did was shot down. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Bernard Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Susan Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Friedel Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two P-40 fighters in the Gambut and Fort Acroma area in Libya at 1210 hours and 1218 hours; they were his 49th and 50th kills. 
0
21 Feb 1942 WW2 Robert Johnson married Barbara Morgan in Benton, Missouri, United States. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 Roosevelt personally ordered General MacArthur to leave the Philippine Islands. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 American submarine Swordfish evacuated Philippine President Quezon and his government. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable and escorting Australian destroyers Napier and Nestor arrived at Aden. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Gar fired eight torpedoes at a Japanese ship south of Japan; all torpedoes missed. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 During the early hours, the Sittang Bridge in Burma became blocked when a lorry got stuck across the carriageway. With the Japanese closing in on Pagoda and Buddha Hills overlooking the important crossing, the British divisional commander "Jackie" Smyth had to accept that the bridge must be destroyed, even though a large part of his force was still on the east bank. Lieutenant-General Hutton was informed that he was to be replaced but was to remain in Burma as Alexander's Chief of Staff, a most awkward position which he endured until he was replaced at his own request by Major-General John Winter before returning to India in early April. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-67 sank US tanker J. N. Pew 225 miles west of Aruba in the Caribbean Sea, killing 33; of the 12 survivors, 10 would die before being rescued. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 Arthur Harris was named the new chief of RAF Bomber Command; he would take office on the following day. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was officially awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his score of 50 kills, but the medal would not be presented to him until two days later. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-155 attacked Allied convoy ONS-67 in the North Atlantic and sank British tanker Adellen (36 killed, 12 survived) and Norwegian ship Sama (19 killed, 20 survived) at 0703 hours. U-96 sank Norwegian ship Torungen (all 19 killed) and British tanker Kars (50 killed, 2 survived) 20 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. U-128 sank US tanker Cities Service Empire 10 kilometers off Melbourne, Florida, United States, killing 14 of 50 aboard. Finally, U-504 sank US tanker W. D. Anderson 10 kilometers off Port St. Lucie, Florida, killing 35 of 36 aboard. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Langley and freighter Sea Witch departed Fremantle, Australia with 59 P-40 fighters aboard for Java, Dutch East Indies. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 The US 14th Reconnaissance Squadron (B-17 bombers) was ordered to move from Cloncurry to Townsville in Queensland, Australia. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 US 5th Air Force bombers attacked de Pasar airfield, Bali, Dutch East Indies, destroying a number of Japanese aircraft. On the same day, Japanese bombers attacked Allied airfields on Java, destroying 4 US B-17 bombers on the ground at Pasirian airfield and 1 Liberator bomber at Jogjakarta airfield. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-58 sank Dutch passenger ship Pijnacker Hordikj south of Java, Dutch East Indies. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Permit departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies, starting her fourth war patrol. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her second voyage for the Japanese Navy. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 Albert Kesselring arrived at Martuba airfield, Libya. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer, cruiser Prinz Eugen, and 5 destroyers arrived at Bergen, Norway. British RAF aircraft continued to attack this force, again unsuccessfully, losing 3 Albacore carrier aircraft in the process. The force would depart Bergen after sundown for Trondheim, Norway. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 A Japanese submarine fired two torpedoes at USS Grayback in the Pacific Ocean in the morning, both of which missed. The Japanese submarine would pursue Grayback for the next four days. 
0
22 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-11 arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
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22 Feb 1942 WW2 In Britain, Winston Churchill replaced Secretary of State for War, David Margesson, with Sir Percy Grigg (formerly the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the War Office). 
0
23 Feb 1942 WW2 As the war games conducted by Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki aboard Yamato were completed, Ugaki noted that a simulated attack on British Ceylon had failed. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Air Marshal Arthur T. "Bomber" Harris took command of RAF Bomber Command. 
0
23 Feb 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Trident attacked German cruiser Prinz Eugen with a torpedo, destroying her stern with a hit. Prinz Eugen was able to later reach Trondheim, Norway for temporary repairs. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel was named the commanding officer of Heeresgruppe Afrika. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 The Sittang railway bridge in Burma was blown up to prevent its capture by the Japanese, even though most of General Smyth's command was still on the east bank. Smyth salvaged from the catastrophe 3,484 infantry, 1,420 rifles, 56 Bren guns and 62 Thompson submachine guns. Nearly 5,000 men, 6,000 weapons and everything else was lost. Despite many men making it back across the river without their weapons, 17th Indian was now a spent force. It would take the Japanese a fortnight to bring up bridging equipment which permitted the Europeans in Rangoon to make their escape from the doomed city. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank US freighter Lihue east of Martinique while German submarine U-502 sank Panamanian tanker Thalia and damaged another tanker off Aruba. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was informed taht he was to be awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor of Italy. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Just after 0000 hours, six B-17 bombers of US 14th Reconnaissance Squadron were launched from Garbutt Field at Townsville, Australia to attack Rabaul, New Britain. 5 bombers reached and attacked Rabaul at 0647 hours, causing little damage. Four bombers returned to Townsville safely at 1430 hours; 1 crash landed in the Agaiambo Swamp in New Guinea. 
0
23 Feb 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-213 sank Turkish vessel Çankaya in the Black Sea. 
0
23 Feb 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu gave up her search for American raiders and returned to Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft struck Allied airfields on Java, Dutch East Indies. Meanwhile, Colonel William Leggatt's Australian troops surrendered at Koepang, Dutch West Timor at 0900 hours, while the Australian troops outside of Koepang were bombed by Japanese aircraft at 1000 hours. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 George Brett departed Java, Dutch East Indies for Australia. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle arrived at Gibraltar and was assigned to Force H. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS P38 attempted to attack Italian convoy K7 90 miles east of Tripoli, Libya at 1000 hours, but she was detected by Italian torpedo boat Circe which counterattacked with depth charges, sinking P38 at 1050 hours, killing all 32 aboard. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 The last of the "Nikolai Rychagov conspiracy" arrestees were executed in the Soviet Union. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Turkish troops boarded the disabled passenger ship Struma at Istanbul, Turkey; Struma had departed Romania in Dec 1941 with 769 Romanian Jewish refugees on board and had been at Istanbul for two months. The Turkish troops prepared Struma for towing, and before the day ended she was towed through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, where she was abandoned with all passengers still aboard. 
0
23 Feb 1942 WW2 The American mainland was attacked for the first time in WW2 as Japanese submarine I-17 opened fire on an oil refinery at Ellwood near Santa Barbara, California. 
0
24 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise launched aircraft to attack Wake Island. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown for the New Hebrides for a rendezvous with USS Lexington for a raid on Rabaul in the Bismarck Islands. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Mereyon, Palau Islands. 
0
24 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank British ship Empire Hail in the Atlantic Ocean at 0145 hours, killing all 49 aboard. 
0
24 Feb 1942 WW2 George Brett arrived in Melbourne, Australia and assumed command of US Army Forces in Australia. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 Three Australian Catalina aircraft bombed Rabaul, New Britain; 1 aircraft was lost on this mission. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 9 Japanese Type 1 aircraft of 4th Air Group, escorted by 9 Zero fighters, attacked Seven Mile Airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua, destroying 1 Hudson aircraft and 1 civilian aircraft, destroying many buildings, destroying a few vehicles, and killing 1 person; Australian fighters did not scramble to intercept. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 Passenger ship Struma, powerless with broken-down engines, drifted in the Black Sea after being abandoned by Turkish authorities on the previous day. In the morning, Soviet submarine SC-213 sank Struma with one torpedo, killing 768 of 769 Romanian Jewish refugees aboard. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 At Java, Dutch East Indies, the headquarters of the Allied ABDA Command was relocated with intention of dissolution. On the same day, Japanese aircraft attacked Allied airfields on Java, destroying 3 US B-17 bombers on the ground; the remaining US 5th Air Force aircraft were evacuated to Australia. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies with Cruiser Division 5. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 A Japanese E9W1 seaplane from submarine I-9 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. When the aircraft returned to the submarine, both wings were damaged during the recovery. 
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24 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal by Albert Kesselring at Martuba airfield, Libya. The citation of the award was dated 22 Feb 1942, two days prior. 
0
25 Feb 1942 WW2 A two-day debate in British House of Commons ended with many being critical of the policy of bombing German cities. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Mereyon, Palau Islands. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell arrived in India. 
0
25 Feb 1942 WW2 Major General Smyth requested that Lieutenant General Hutton grant him sick leave but received no reply. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Torelli sank Panamanian tanker Esso Copenhagen 525 miles east of Trinidad; 1 was killed, 38 survived. On the same day, Italian submarine Da Vinci sank Brazilian ship Cadebelo 800 miles east of Guadeloupe; everyone aboard was killed. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable arrived at Port Sudan in British East Africa and received Hurricane fighters and personnel of No. 30 and No. 261 Squadrons. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 sank British tanker La Carriere 70 miles south of Puerto Rico; 15 were killed, 26 survived. 
0
25 Feb 1942 WW2 US Navy transports Ancon and Hugh L. Scott arrived at Brisbane, Australia, delivering ground echelons of 3rd Bombardment Group (Light and 22nd Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Hermes arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon and disembarked Swordfish torpedo bombers of 814 Naval Air Squadron. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Akagi departed Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies with the Striking Force to cover the invasion of Java. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 In the Dutch East Indies, the second of two Japanese invasion fleets for Java departed from Balikpapan, Borneo; the fleet was consisted of 41 troop transports and escorted by 5 cruisers and 16 destroyers. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese carriers departed from Kendari, Celebes to patrol waters off Java and Australia. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-158 attacked Dutch freighter Boeroe off Java, Dutch East Indies at 1015 hours but was driven off by an escort; at 1130 hours, I-158 attacked again, sinking Boeroe with two torpedoes; all 70 aboard survived. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga departed Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Naka departed Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 The first A4 rocket was placed on Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 Rear Admiral Keiichi Onishi was named the chief of staff of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. 
0
25 Feb 1942 WW2 The Soviets began trials for a new submachine gun to succeed the proven PPSh-41 design. 
0
25 Feb 1942 WW2 Battle of Los Angeles: an unidentified flying object over the American city of Los Angeles at 0225 hours caused a black-out order and the order to fire anti-aircraft weapons; stray anti-aircraft fire killed 3 civilians. 
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25 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Hammann departed San Francisco, California, United States as a part of Task Force 17. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank US bulk carrier Marore 20 kilometers off North Carolina, Virginia, United States. To the north, 20 kilometers east of Barnegat, New Jersey, United States, German submarine U-578 sank US tanker R. P. Resor, killing 47 of 49 aboard. Far out to sea, 230 miles east of Florida, United States, U-504 sank Dutch tanker Mamura at 1913 hours, killing all 49 aboard. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 An irritable Churchill took General Auchinleck to task over lack of offensive spirit in North Africa. 
0
26 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied Middle East command decided to transfer the veteran Australian 6th Division from North Africa to Greece. Newly-formed Australian 9th Division was to be sent to North Africa as the replacement. 
0
26 Feb 1942 WW2 Reinhard Heydrich wrote a letter to Martin Luther of the German Foreign Office, enclosing the meeting minutes of the Wannsee Conference and requesting the Foreign Office to engage in discussions on carrying out the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 Major General John "Jock" Campbell VC, GOC 7th Armoured Division, was killed when his jeep overturned in North Africa. 
0
26 Feb 1942 WW2 Lieutenant-General Hutton signaled GHQ(I) recommending that the sick Smyth be removed from command of 17th Indian, and recommending Major General David "Punch" Tennant Cowan as the replacement. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Philip Cabell Evans was named the commanding officer of HMCS Trillium. 
0
26 Feb 1942 WW2 The floatplane from Japanese submarine I-25 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Melbourne, Australia. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 Australian Wing Commander Dick Cohen led several Catalina aircraft in a night attack on Rabaul, New Britain; Cohen used his own Catalina aircraft as a dive bomber. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 Allied ABDA Command warships departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies in search of a detected Japanese invasion fleet; the search would be uneventful. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 49 British RAF bombers attacked Gneisenau in the drydock at Kiel, Germany. A bomb penetrated the armored deck, triggering a detonation in the forward turret which caused great damage to entire bow section of the ship; 112 were killed, 21 were wounded. 
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26 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Grayback shook off the Japanese submarine that had been pursuing her in the Pacific Ocean for the past four days. 
0
26 Feb 1942 WW2 The US Federal Bureau of Investigation began to relocate Japanese-American civilians living in East San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, United States. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 American seaplane tender USS Langley with 32 P-40 fighters aboard, en route to Java, was sunk by Japanese Navy land-based aircraft. On the same day, at the Battle of the Java Sea, Japanese fleet sank Allied 2 cruisers and 3 destroyers without any losses. 
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27 Feb 1942 WW2 Operation Biting: Elements of the newly-formed British 1st Parachute Brigade dropped on Bruneval, near Le Havre, and stole a German radar unit under the noses of the defenders, losing only three men in the process. Escaping by sea the paratroopers brought the equipment back to England where scintists were able to unravel secrets of the radar which had been playing a significant role in the success of night fighters against British bombers. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine S-39 landed on Chebia Island in search for the 40 British refugees from Singapore rumored to be located there; none of them were found. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 Nisshin was commissioned into service. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Manchester completed her repairs at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 A Japanese force landed on northeastern Mindoro in the Philippine Islands. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 Six 1st American Volunteer Group pilots arrived at Accra, Gold Coast, British West Africa by C-53 transport aircraft to pick up newly delivered P-40E fighters for use in China. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 The Spanish Torino motorised division operating in southern Russia beat off massed Soviet infantry and cavalry attacks. The fighting ended with more than 700 Russian dead spread across the battlefield. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable departed Port Sudan, British East Africa, escorted by Australian destroyers Napier and Nestor. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 sank British collier Macgregor with the deck gun 20 miles north of the Dominican Republic at 1035 hours; 1 was killed, 30 survived. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu completed her anti-aircraft weaponry refitting at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle departed Gibraltar with 15 Spitfire fighters on the flight deck to be delivered to Malta. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 Shokaku entered drydock at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two P-40 fighters, his 51st and 52nd kill, near Ain el Gazala, Libya. His victims were Sergeant Roger Jennings and Pilot Officer Richard Hart. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 At the Battle of the Java Sea, Nachi launched scouting missions with her two floatplanes. She was surprised by the Allied Striking Force in the evening, but was able to escape without damage. 
0
27 Feb 1942 WW2 Robert Johnson began basic flying training at Randolph Field, Texas, United States. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-578 attacked destroyer USS Jacob Jones 10 kilometers east of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States, hitting her with two or three torpedoes, sinking her. About 80 of the 110 aboard were killed. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine Permit delivered ammunition to Corregidor, Philippine Islands. Upon departure, the submarine evacuated 31 US Navy personnel. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 San Juan was commissioned into service. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 Franz Halder noted in his diary that the campaign in the Soviet Union had thus far caused 1,005,636 German casualties, 202,251 of which were killed. He also noted that there were 112,627 cases of frostbite. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 Alfred Rosenberg advised Wilhelm Keitel to improve the treatment of Soviet prisoners of war. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 The planned strike on Rabaul, New Britain by the US 14th Reconnaissance Squadron (based in Queensland, Australia) was cancelled as about half of the squadron's men were falling ill with dengue fever. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 7 Japanese Type 1 bombers of the 4th Air Group, escorted by 6 Zero fighters, attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua, destroying 3 Catalina aircraft, damaging 1 Catalina aircraft, and damaging seaplane base facilities. The Japanese lost one fighter to anti-aircraft fire; the downed pilot, Flying Petty Officer 1st Class Katsuaki Nagatomo, was captured. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 General Archibald Wavell, who believed Rangoon, Burma must be held, relieved Thomas Hutton for planning an evacuation. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 In the Dutch East Indies, Allied cruisers USS Houston and HMAS Perth were ordered to sail through Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap, where they would participate in the Battle of Sunda Strait, and USS Houston would sink with the loss of 693 men. Meanwhile, Japanese troops landed at Bantam Bay and Eretan Wetan, west and east of Batavia, respectively; another force landed 100 miles east of Surabaya. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 British cruiser HMS Exeter departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies for Ceylon. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 U-576 arrived at Saint-Nazaire, France, ending her third war patrol. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille arrived in Berlin, Germany for a period of home leave. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-153 sank British freighter City of Manchester south of Java, Dutch East Indies; 3 were killed, 6 were captured by I-153's crew, and 128 were rescued by USS Whippoorwill and USS Lark. 
0
28 Feb 1942 WW2 Garland was refitted at Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Oiler USS Pecos were sunk off Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean by Japanese carrier aircraft. While en route to rescue survivors of Pecos, which included survivors of USS Langley, destroyer USS Edsall was sunk at 1731 hours by gunfire and aircraft; 147 were killed, 6 survived and were captured. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 ABDA naval command was disbanded after the defeats at the Java Sea region. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 The US Navy 3rd Submarine Fleet was established in Brisbane, Australia. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Korvettenkapitän Hellmuth Strobel took command of cruiser Köln. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Kwajalein, Marshall islands. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Perch was depth charged by two Japanese destroyers 30 miles northwest of Surabaya, Java; her starboard motors were damaged and she took on flood waters. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 The US authorities rounded up 112,000 Americans of Japanese descent and moved them to inland camps well away from the Pacific coast. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Martti Aho was awarded the Mannerheim Cross medal. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Legionaro was commissioned into service. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 In the face of defeats in Burma, Archibald Wavell replaced Major General John Smyth with Major General David Cowan and demoted General Thomas Hutton to be the chief of staff of Cowan. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Filipp Golikov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the second time. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese warships sank five Dutch ships (Rooseboom, Pariji, Modjokerto, and two others) between Dutch East Indies and Australia. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-12 departed Reykjavík, Iceland and convoy QP-8 departed Murmansk, Russia. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 The E14Y floatplane of Japanese submarine I-25 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Hobart, Australia. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 The first four of No. 75 Squadron RAAF's Kittyhawk fighters arrived at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. Two of them would see combat later on the same day, with Flight Officer Barry Cox and Flight Officer Wilbur Wackett shooting down one Ki-21 bomber flying a reconnaissance mission over Port Moresby. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Encounter, HMS Exeter, and USS Pope were sunk at the Second Battle of the Java Sea; the ships suffered 7, 54, and 1 killed, respectively. Meanwhile, at the Battle of Sunda Strait, Allied cruisers USS Houston and HMAS Perth intercepted a Japanese invasion force but were both sunk as they attacked; four Japanese transports and a minesweepers were sunk, but two of the transports were later refloated. Also on this date, Japanese troops landed on Java and immediately began marching for Batavia, with the Japanese 2nd Division capturing Serang and the 230th Infantry Regiment capturing Kalidjati airfield at Soebang en route. Finally, Japanese air raids at Surabaya damaged destroyer USS Stewart and Dutch destroyer Witte de With. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 While at Faßberg, Germany, III./KG 4 wa transferred to the German Luftwaffe XI. Fliegerkorps in preparation for a new assignment. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-656 was sunk by a Hudson patrol bomber of US Navy VP-82 squadron 33 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, killing all 45 aboard. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Permit fired three torpedoes at a Japanese destroyer in the Java Sea; all three torpedoes missed. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 At the Battle of the Java Sea, slightly damaged cruiser HMS Exeter, destroyer HMS Encounter, and destroyer USS Pope at 0850 hours. At 1245 hours, Nachi fired once again on HMS Exeter by gunfire. She departed the area at the end of the day with 90 Allied prisoners of war on board. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur requested George Brett to send 3 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to the Philippine Islands for the evacuation of MacArthur, his family, and his staff. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Extermination of Jews at Sobibór Concentration Camp in occupied Poland began. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 No. 97 Squadron RAF was transferred to RAF Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 Benjamin Kelsey was promoted to the war time rank of colonel. 
0
01 Mar 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps established Marine Aircraft Group 22 at Midway Atoll, consisted of Marine Scout-Bomber Squadron 231 and Marine Fighter Squadron 221. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-126 sank Norwegian ship Gunny 370 miles south of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean at 2047 hours; 14 were killed, 12 survived. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Australia declared war on Thailand. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese 33rd and 55th Infantry Divisions crossed Sittang River at Kunzeik and Donzayit, Burma, forcing the British 2nd Battalion Royal Tank Regiment to fall back 20 miles as the Japanese troops captured the village of Waw. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Truk, Caroline Islands with Destroyer Division 23, supporting invasion operations at Lae and Salamaua in New Guinea, northern Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead departed Trincomalee, Ceylon. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops advancing toward Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies were halted by Australian troops at Leuwiliang. At Soebang, 250 Dutch troops with 20 tanks attacked Kalidjati airfield, but the attack was repulsed. East of Batavia, Japanese troops captured the oilfields at Tjepoe (now Cepu). As the Japanese troops approached, the Dutch colonial government relocated to Bandoeng, US personnel began evacuation by aircraft, and the Dutch Navy continued to scuttle destroyers, submarines, minesweepers, and other warships at Surabaya to prevent capture. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Sailfish sank Japanese transport Kamogawa Maru east of Bali in the Lombok Strait in the Dutch East Indies at 2100 hours, killing 326. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka patrolled off Kragan, Java, Dutch East Indies. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort reported that intercepted Japanese Navy radio messages revealed a planned air attack on a location code named AK, which was soon interpreted as Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese cruiser Maya, destroyer Arashi, and destroyer Nowaki sank British destroyer HMS Stronghold in the Indian Ocean at 1900 hours, killing 75. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese cruisers Takao and Atago sank US destroyer USS Pillsbury 500 miles south of Java, Dutch East Indies at 2100 hours, all 173 aboard were killed. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 16 British RAF Wellington bombers from Malta attacked Palermo, Sicily, Italy, destroying ammunition ship Cuma, whose explosion damaged five warships and eight freighters nearby. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese Navy Minister Admiral Shimada removed previously recognized rules of engagements in naval warfare due to "Allied retaliation and hatred". 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Perch surfaced at 0200 hours, only to be forced to dive by Japanese destroyers. Her leaking oil and air made the Japanese destroyer to believe she had already broken up, and the Japanese destroyers departed the area. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese destroyer Ikazuchi rescued 442 survivors of HMS Exeter, HMS Encounter, and USS Pope which had been sunk during the Second Battle of the Java Sea on the previous day. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 US Army General John L. DeWitt, responsible for the defense of the west coast of the United States, issued Public Proclamation No. 1 to create Military Areas 1 and 2 which covered the entire length of the coast. 
0
02 Mar 1942 WW2 US Navy acquired excursion steamer Seeandbee. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Palau. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 After emergency repairs, USS Perch attempted to make a test dive, but it failed without almost disastrous results. As repairs continued, she was discovered by two Japanese cruisers and three Japanese destroyers. Commanding officer David A. Hurt gave the abandon ship order, sinking the ship and giving up himself and his crew, totaling 59 men, to the Japanese. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Unsubstantiated reports were made, mentioning the shelling of Mona island near Puerto Rico by a submarine. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Allied leaders approved the division of Western Pacific into two zones, with Burma and all Southeast Asia west of Java-Sumatra border under the command of British General Archibald Wavell, and areas to the east under the command of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 The Atlantic Amphibious Force, commanded by USMC Major General Holland Smith, received its final redesignation as Amphibious Corps, Atlantic Fleet. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell met with Chiang Kaishek in Lashio, Burma. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese destroyers Arashi and Nowaki sank US gunboat USS Asheville south of Java, Dutch East Indies, killing all 170 aboard. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank US transport Mary 165 miles north of Dutch Suriname in the Atlantic Ocean at 1705 hours; 1 was killed, 33 survived. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, German submarine U-68 sank British ship Helenus 86 miles west of Monrovia, Liberia at 1721 hours; 6 were killed, 76 survived. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Soviet transport Kiev fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 in poor weather. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 In Western Australia, Australia, 9 Japanese Zero fighters from Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies attacked the flying boat anchorage at Roebuck Bay (destroying 15 flying boats) and the airfield at Broome (destroying 5 bombers and 2 transport aircraft; one of the transports shot down at Broome, a DC-3 airliner carrying evacuees from Java, Dutch East Indies, crashed into the jungle 50 miles north of the city, destroying its cargo of £150,000-£300,000 worth of diamonds. Only 1 Japanese Zero fighter was lost during the attack. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 At Rabaul, New Britain, the Japanese South Seas Force began embarking transports Yokohama Maru and China Maru, while the Maizaru 2nd Special Naval Landing Force began embarking transports Kongo Maru, Tenyo Maru, and Kokai Maru for the invasion of Lae and Salamaua in the Australian Territory of New Guinea. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops forced Indian 17th Infantry Division out of Payagyi, Burma. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Australian troops continued to hold against Japanese attacks at Leuwiliang west of Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies. In eastern Java, Japanese captured Bojonegoro. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. She departed for Makassar, Celebes later on the same day. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 RAF bombed the Renault plant in Billancourt, near Paris, France, while the Lancaster bomber made its debut mining the harbor at Brest, France. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 A German report noted that over 5,000 arrests and more than 250 executions were conducted in Vichy France in 1941. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 Two Japanese flying boats from the Marshall Islands, refueled by submarines, attacked the US Territory of Hawaii. The intended target was Pearl Harbor, but during this cloudy night one aircraft dropped its four bombs on Mount Tantalus 6 miles away, while the other aircraft dropped its four bombs in the water. 
0
03 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Grayback fired a torpedo at a Japanese transport in the Philippine Sea off Tinian, Mariana Islands; the torpedo missed. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise launched aircraft against Marcus Island. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 Harold Alexander arrived in Burma. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 Australian sloop HMAS Yarra was sunk by Japanese cruisers 300 miles south of Java, Dutch East Indies at 0800 hours whilst attempting to protect a convoy of vessels withdrawing to Australia; 158 were killed, 13 survived. The other three ships in the small convoy (minesweeper MMS-51, depot ship Anking, and tanker Francol) were sunk during the same attack. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Edinburgh completed her refitting at Tyne, England, United Kingdom. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Grampus sank Japanese tanker Kaijo Maru in the Pacific Ocean, killing all 90 aboard. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Narwhal sank Japanese Army cargo ship Taki Maru 200 miles south of Japan in the Pacific Ocean. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 US 7th Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, was sent to Horn Island off Queensland, Australia. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 In Burma, Japanese troops enveloped Chinese troops at Toungoo while British 7th Queen's Own Hussars regiment clashed with Japanese troops at Pegu. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 All Dutch troops evacuated Batavia and Leuwiliang, Java, Dutch East Indies after sundown for Bandoeng 70 miles to the southeast. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 USS S-4 damaged Japanese fleet oiler Erimo in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, killing 4; Erimo would be beached to prevent sinking. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 At 0000 hours, US radar operators detected two signals approaching Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii; they were two H8K flying boats from Wotje, Marshall Islands via French Frigate Shoals (where they took on fuel from submarines I-15 and I-19). At 0130 hours, five PBY Catalina aircraft were launched, armed with torpedoes, to search for the carriers that the Americans thought where the flying boats must have launched from; at the same time, five US Army fighters were launched to attack the flying boats. At 0210 hours and 0230 hours, the two flying boats dropped their payloads uncontested, although the first bombs fell harmlessly in the mountains 10 miles from Pearl Harbor and the second bombs landed in the water just outside of Pearl Harbor. The two aircraft flew back to Wotje unscathed. 
0
04 Mar 1942 WW2 Sir William Jowitt was appointed Paymaster-General of the United Kingdom with special responsibility for post-war reconstruction. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Ernest King said to US President Franklin Roosevelt "we cannot in honor let Australia and New Zealand down". 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 German battleship Tirpitz, escorted by destroyers, departed for the Arctic Ocean to intercept Allied convoys in Operation Sportpalast. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thorn sank Italian auxiliary patrol vessel AS91/Ottavia with her deck gun off Kefalonia island, Greece. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Uproar sank Italian merchant ship Marin Sanudo 18 miles west of Lampedusa island, Italy; Italian torpedo boats Cigno and Procione counterattacked with depth charges in failure. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 British Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton was appointed Commander-in-Chief Ceylon. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-404 sank US ship Collamer off Nova Scotia, Canada at 1135 hours. At 1533 hours, 50 miles east of the Bahamas, U-128 sank Norwegian tanker O. A. Knudsen. Later that day, U-126 sank US ship Mariana 30 miles north of the Turks and Caicos Islands east of Cuba at 2244 hours, killing all 36 aboard. Finally, at 2307 hours on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean off Sierra Leone, British West Africa, U-505 sank British ship Benmohr; all 56 aboard survived. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 US 8th Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, was sent to Melbourne, Australia. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troop transports Yokohama Maru, China Maru, Kongo Maru, Tenyo Maru, and Kokai Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands for New Guinea; the transports were escorted by six cruisers and eight destroyers. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain and departed for Australian New Guinea island later in the day. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 Hauptmann Hansgeorg Bätcher, commanding officer of 1. Staffel of I./KG 100 of the German Luftwaffe, flying a He 111 bomber, damaged a Soviet submarine with five SD 50 bombs in the Black Sea. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese 2nd Division captured Batavia on the island of Java, the capital of Dutch East Indies. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 Kaga launched aircraft in support of operations in Tjilatjap in central Java, Dutch East Indies. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Torbay sank Italian merchant ship Maddalena G. in the harbor at Corfu, Greece at 0730 hours. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 The British government announced that, according to information shared with the United Kingdom by the Japanese government, there were 5,072 British, 1,689 Canadian, 3,829 Indian, and 357 men of other nationalities currently under captivity in Hong Kong as prisoners of war. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 Shokaku left drydock at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Grayback sank a Japanese transport and an escort vessel in the Philippine Sea off Guam, Mariana Islands, hitting them with 2 of 3 torpedoes. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 Conscription in Britain was extended to include men aged between 41 and 45. 
0
05 Mar 1942 WW2 A change to include a threaded barrel end to accept a big five-port muzzle brake was introduced to the 37 mm Gun M3 anti-tank gun design; the new designation of M3A1 was assigned. The muzzle brakes would be removed when M3A1 guns were deployed to combat areas, however. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Lexington made rendezvous with USS Yorktown and sailed for a raid on Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown made rendezvous with USS Lexington and sailed for a raid on Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Palau. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 Commander Gerald D. Linke was named the commanding officer of USS Helena, relieving Captain Robert Henry English, Jr. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable launched the Hurricane fighters of No. 30 Squadron for Colombo, Ceylon. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-505 sank Norwegian tanker Sydhav off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1131 hours; 12 were killed, 24 survived. Also in that morning, Italian submarine Tazzoli sank Dutch freighter Astrea in the Central Atlantic. Tazzoli struck again at 2215 hours, sinking Norwegian ship Tønsberg Fjord; all 33 aboard survived. At 2306 hours, 150 miles south of Iceland, U-701 sank British fishing trawler Rononia, killing all 11 aboard. Italian submarine Finzi sank French tanker Melpomene; all 49 aboard survived. Finally, 50 miles south of Newfoundland, German submarine U-587 sank Greenland merchant ship Hans Egede, killing all 23 aboard. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 Merchant ship El Occidente and Soviet anti-submarine whaler Stefa fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 in poor weather. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 Anglo-Indian and Japanese troops clashed at various roadblocks near Rangoon, Burma. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies, damaging Dutch minesweeper Jan van Amstel, killing 23. Dutch sailors scuttled minesweepers C and Pieter de Bitter, also at Surabaya, to prevent capture. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 The first conference on the plan to sterilize persons of mixed blood in Germany was held. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii began noticing a target location code named AF appearing in Japanese Navy radio messages, and that this target might be struck within a short time. 
0
06 Mar 1942 WW2 German battleship Tirpitz and 4 destroyers departed Trondheim, Norway to intercept Allied convoys PQ-12 and QP-8, which departed from Reykjavik in Iceland for Murmansk in Russia and from Murmansk in Russia for Hvalfjörður in Iceland, respectively. The British Royal Navy learned of this departure via Ultra decryption and dispatched a fleet centered around battleships HMS Duke of York, HMS King George V, and HMS Renown to attack. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-126 sank US freighters Barbara and Cardonia between Cuba and Haiti. Far to the north, U-155 sank Brazilian ship Arbabutan 50 kilometers off North Carolina, United States. Toward the end of the day, at 2314 hours, U-701 sank Danish fishing trawler Nyggjaberg from the Faroe Islands, killing all 21 aboard. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable launched the Hurricane fighters of No. 261 Squadron for Colombo, Ceylon, then sailed for Aden. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Grenadier attacked Japanese transport Asahisan Maru 82 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan at 1500 hours, hitting her with four torpedoes but only one detonated; Asahisan Maru was damaged but was able to return to Yokohama, Japan for repairs. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle launched 15 Spitfire fighters to reinforce Malta. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 RAAF Hudson aircraft detected Japanese transports 55 miles north of the coast of New Guinea. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 £11,000,000 worth of oil installations of Burmah Oil Company in southern Burma near Rangoon were destroyed as British retreated from the city, preventing Japanese capture; this destruction would result in 20 years of High Court litigation after the war. Also destroyed were 972 unassembled Lend-Lease trucks and 5,000 tires. From Rangoon, 800 civilians departed aboard transports for Calcutta, India. The Anglo-Indian troops in the Rangoon region were held up by a Japanese roadblock at Taukkyan, which was assaulted repeatedly without success. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 British and Indian troops on Christmas Island mistake the latest heavy naval bombardment as a precursor to an invasion and hoisted white flags to indicate surrender. The warships would depart, however, and the troops lowered the white flags and sent British flags back up poles. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops reached Tjilatjap, Java, Dutch East Indies during the day and captured Lembang in the evening, which overlooked Bandoeng. Dutch sailors scuttled minelayer Gouden Leeuw at Surabaya, Java to prevent capture. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 A number of Go 242 glider transports arrived at Faßberg, Germany and joined German Luftwaffe III./KG 4. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
07 Mar 1942 WW2 The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy was transferred from Antelat to Benghazi in Libya for coastal defense duty. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 Construction for the Alaska-Canadian Highway began by the US Army. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 US Army troops relieved the US 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) at Reykjavik, Iceland. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 The first two sections of submarine Puffer was joined together. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 200th Division of the Chinese 5th Army arrived at Taungoo, Burma to assist the British defense. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-701 sank British anti-submarine trawler Notts County 113 miles southwest of Iceland at 0039 hours, killing all 41 aboard. Off the Grand Banks, Newfoundland, U-587 sank British anti-submarine trawler HMS Northern Princess, killing all 38 aboard. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 German battleship Tirpitz and escorting destroyers got as close as 60 miles from Allied convoy PQ-12 but poor weather prevented the Germans from realizing this fact. German destroyer Friedrich Ihn, however, did catch sight of old Russian coal-burning merchant ship Izhora (commanded by Vasily Belov), a straggler of the convoy, and promptly sank her at 1715 hours; only 1 person survived this sinking. In the evening, Admiral Otto Ciliax turned his fleet back toward its home port. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 The first batch of Kittyhawk fighters were transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in Australia. No. 75 Squadron RAAF would be first to receive these aircraft, while No. 76 Squadron and No. 77 Squadron would be similarly equipped in the following few days. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 At dawn, Japanese warships bombarded the invasion beaches at Lae and Salamaua on eastern New Guinea island; the few defending Australian troops of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles fled into the jungle without putting up an opposition to the subsequent troop landing. At 1200 hours, 5 Hudson bombers attacked Japanese shipping in Huon harbor, lightly damaging transport Yokohama Maru. Later on the same day, B-17 bombers from Horn Island at the tip of Queensland, Australia attacked Japanese positions at Lae and Salamaua, damaging two hangars at the airstrip at the latter location. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu provided cover for the landings at Lae and Salamaua, Australian New Guinea. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 A He 111 bomber of German Luftwaffe group I./KG 100 claimed the sinking of a Soviet submarine south of Yalta, Russia. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 Dutch troops at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies surrendered at the Isola Hotel in Lembang at 1000 hours between Dutch General Jacob J. Pesman and Japanese Colonel Toshishige Shoji. In the afternoon, Dutch Governor Tjarda Van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, General Hein Ter Poorten, and Major General Jacob Pesman surrendered all Dutch forces on Java to Japanese General Hitoshi Imamura. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka departed Kragan, Java, Dutch East Indies. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 The British Royal Air Force dispatched 211 bombers to attack Essen, Germany, some equipped with the new GEE navigational system. The results were less than hoped for as only a few homes and a church were destroyed, killing 29 civilians, while the industrial centers, the primary targets, were untouched. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita, flying in a submarine-based (submarine I-25) E14Y aircraft, conducted a photographic reconnaissance mission over Wellington harbor in New Zealand. 
0
08 Mar 1942 WW2 An annoyed Winston Churchill, not satisfied with Cairo's reasons for not attacking at Gazala, summoned the British C-in-C Middle East back to London, England, United Kingdom to "confer with him about the situation". 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 At 0640 hours, British aircraft spotted a German fleet centered around battleship Tirpitz. At 0730 hours, British carrier HMS Victorious launched 12 Albacore aircraft to attack, reaching Tirpitz and destroyer Friedrich Ihn at 0830 hours. The attack caused no damage to the German warships; two Albacore aircraft were lost. Tripitz and her escorts arrived at Bogen near Narvik, Norway later that day. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Ernest King was appointed Chief of Naval Operations; he was to maintain his responsibility as the Commander-in-Chief (CominCh) of the US Navy. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell had dinner with Chiang Kaishek and his family; in a private conversation afterwards, Chiang hinted to Stilwell that he had no intention of sacrificing Chinese troops in the doomed defense of Mandalay, Burma. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops entered undefended Rangoon, Burma, abandoned by British troops two days prior. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 Admiral Harold Stark, formerly the American Chief of Naval Operations, was appointed as Commander of the United States Naval Forces in European waters with his headquarters in London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 British anti-submarine whaler HMS Shera, escorting Allied convoy PQ-12, capsized possibly due to being top-heavy from heavy ice build-up and having low levels of fuel, although the weather was not particularly bad on this date; only 3 of those aboard survived the sinking. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank Brazilian ship Cayrú 100 kilometers east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States at 0225 hours; 53 were killed, 36 survived. At 1317 hours, 10 miles east of Cuba, U-126 sank Panamanian tanker Hanseat; all 39 aboard survived. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, German submarine U-587 sank Greek ship Lily 470 miles east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 1845 hours (all 32 aboard survived the immediate sinking, but only 29 would live to be rescued) and Italian submarine Tazzoli sank Uruguayan ship Montevideo 650 miles east of Florida, United States (14 were killed, 35 survived). In the evening, at 2109 hours, U-96 sank Norwegian ship Tyr 100 miles east of Halifax; all 31 aboard survived the immediate sinking, but 13 of them would never be seen again. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Buka island, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 Akagi returned to Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies after the fall of Java. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 A second British air raid to Essen, Germany, again using the new GEE navigational system, had similar dismal results as the first raid on the previous day, as the haze made the target difficult to spot. 
0
09 Mar 1942 WW2 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto issued orders to the fleet to prepare for Operation C, a raid into the Indian Ocean. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Lexington launched aircraft to attack the Japanese invasion force at New Guinea. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown launched aircraft to attack the Japanese invasion force at New Guinea. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 US Army General MacArthur once again received orders to evacuate Philippine Islands. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-588 sank US tanker Gulftrade 10 kilometers southeast of Toms River, New Jersey, United States at 0632 hours; 18 were killed, 16 survived. At 2310 hours, 400 miles northeast of British Virgin Islands, Italian submarine Finzi sank Norwegian ship Charles Racine; all 41 aboard survived. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-161 sank Canadian passenger ship Lady Nelson (25 were killed, 204 survived) and British freighter Umtata (4 were killed, 169 survived) off Port Castries, Saint Lucia at 0449 hours. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-62 sank British sailing ship Lakshmi Govinda with gunfire 470 miles east of Madras, India. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Clive Caldwell of No. 112 Squadron RAAF made the first 250-pound bomb drop from a Kittybomber. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her second war patrol. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 USAAF B-17, B-24, B-25, and A-20 bombers, escorted by USAAF P-38 fighters, attacked a Japanese convoy unloading supplies near Lae, Australian Territory of New Guinea. In a separate effort, 104 carrier aircraft from USS Lexington and USS Yorktown attacked the Japanese invasion fleet in Huon Gulf to the north of the landing beaches, sinking armed merchant cruiser Kongo Maru, auxiliary minelayer Tenyo Maru, and transport Yokohama Maru while damaging several other ships; one Dauntless dive bomber was lost in the attack, while the Japanese lost 350 troops on the transports alone. On land, Japanese consolidated the beachhead with landings at Finschhafen, while Japanese engineers reported that the airstrips at Lae and Salamaua were now ready for action; later on the same day, aircraft of the Japanese 4th Air Group would begin to arrive at Lae and Salamaua. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 18 Japanese aircraft bombed Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese 55th Infantry Division began pursuing the retreating British troops from Rangoon, Burma. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 After dark and into the next morning, Indian troops on Christmas Island, led by Sikh policemen, mutinied and killed five of their British officers and imprisoned 21 Europeans. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies for Mako, Pescadores Islands, Taiwan. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Overnight, 62 RAF bombers attacked Essen, Germany, damaging railways leading to Krupp factories, killing 6 civilians and wounding 12. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort concluded that the target AF which had appeared in Japanese radio messages in the past few days referred to either Johnston, Palmyra, or Midway, and he promptly sent out warnings to all three locations. Privately, he reported to his superiors that Midway was the likely target. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Twelve US Marine fighters based at Midway Atoll, commanded by Captain Robert M. Haynes, intercepted and shot down a Japanese H6K flying boat. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 USS S-31 began her first defensive patrol off the Panama Canal Zone. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Jonathan Wainright's car was strafed by Japanese fighters on Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands in the morning as he inspected forward areas. At noon, he traveled to Corregidor as requested by Douglas MacArthur, who informed him that President Franklin Roosevelt had ordered MacArthur to depart. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 Soviet transport Kiev and merchant ship El Occidente, both of which fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 several days prior, arrived at Iokanka, Russia. 
0
10 Mar 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps purchased the 132,000-acre Santa Margarita Ranch situated north of San Diego, California, United States for a future base; it would become Camp Pendleton later in the year. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-701 sank British anti-submarine trawler HMS Stella Capella 38 miles east of Iceland at 0211 hours, killing all 33 aboard. German submarine U-94 sank Norwegian ship Hvoslef 2 miles east of Fenwick Island, Delaware, United States at 0316 hours; 6 were killed, 14 survived. At 0800 hours, U-158 sank US ship Caribsea 20 kilometers east of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, United States; 21 were killed, 7 survived. Further south, U-126 sank US freighter Texan within 5 kilometers of the northern coast of Cuba. Italian submarine Tazzoli sank Panamanian ship Cygnet 5 mile east of the Bahamas; all 30 aboard survived. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on Mindanao, the southern-most of the Philippine Islands. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Wake Island. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-565 sank British cruiser HMS Naiad 30 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 2000 hours; 82 were killed, 582 survived. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Chiang Kaishek told Joseph Stilwell that he was now ready to commit three elite Chinese armies (5th, 6th, and 66th) to Burma. Stilwell would soon find out that Chiang had secretly ordered the Chinese commanders to avoid decisive confrontations, thus rendering the Chinese troops useless to Stilwell's command. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Pollack sank Japanese cargo ship Fukushu Maru between Taiwan and the Japanese home islands with one of ten torpedoes fired. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 The 6 survivors of USS Edsall, sunken off Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean on 1 Mar 1942, were executed by their Japanese captors. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-2 attacked British passenger ship Chilka 340 miles west of Padang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies at 1400 hours, killing 7. Chilka signaled surrender at 1425 hours. The captain of I-2 gave the crew some time to abandon ship before proceeding to sink her. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Merchant ship Sevaples fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 in poor weather. Allied convoy QP-8 arrived at Reykjavík, Iceland. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 George Brett dispatched 4 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, with skeleton crew, from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to Batchelor Field near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, via Daly Waters, Northern Territory; these aircraft were meant to be used to evacuate Douglas MacArthur and his family and staff from the Philippine Islands. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Kaga arrived at Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 With sister Zuikaku, Shokaku accompanied Vice Admiral Takasu Shiro's First Fleet (Ise and Hyuga) on a sortie to sweep for enemy believed to approaching Japan. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur, his family, and a small staff departed Corregidor by PT boats; General Jonathan Wainwright remained as commanding officer of US and Filipino forces in the Philippine Islands. 
0
11 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese H8K flying boats attacked Midway Atoll, causing minor damage; one aircraft was shot down in this attack. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-158 sank US tanker John D. Gill off North Carolina, United States, killing 4. To the south, in the Bahamas, U-126 sank US freighters Texan at 0234 hours (9 were killed, 38 survived) and Olga at 0611 hours (1 was killed, 32 survived) and damaged US freighter Colabee. 520 miles northeast of the British Virgin Islands, Italian submarine Morosini sank British freighter Manaqui. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 Troops of US Americal Division occupied French colony of New Caledonia in the South Pacific, where a major base at Nouméa was planned to be built in the near future. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 British authorities evacuated the Andaman Islands. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 Tirpitz arrived at Trondheim, Norway. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 US Army Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell was named the commander of American forces in the CBI theater. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Wake Island. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Pollack attacked a Japanese cargo ship between Taiwan and the Japanese home islands with one torpedo; the torpedo missed. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 Captain Henry Goodwin led a flight of 4 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from Batchelor Field, Darwin, Australia to Mindanao, Philippine Islands to embark Douglas MacArthur. 3 aircraft would be turned back due to mechanical troubles (1 of these 3 would crash on the return trip). The lone aircraft that made it (1st Lieutenant Harl Pease, Jr.) was judged to be in too poor of shape to embark MacArthur, and was sent back to Australia by Brigadier General William Sharp. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 On Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, Japanese troops landed at Sabang at 0235 hours, Koetaradja at 0330 hours, Idi at 0540, and Laboehanroekoe at 0700 hours. They would capture the airfield at Medan in the morning. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 British General Sitwell, Australian Brigadier Blackburn, and US Colonel Searle formally surrendered to Japanese General Maruyama at Bandung, Java, Dutch East Indies at 0730 hours. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 Jonathan Wainwright took over command in the Philippine Islands. 
0
12 Mar 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-12 arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-126 damaged US ship Colabee 10 miles north of Cuba at 0441 hours, forcing her to run aground to prevent sinking; 23 were killed, 14 survived. Two hours later, at 0643 hours, U-404 sank Chilean freighter Tolten within 5 kilometers of Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States, killing 25 of 26 aboard. German submarine U-332 sank US schooner Albert F. Paul 100 kilometers east of the Bahamas at 0720 hours, killing the entire crew of 8. 330 miles off Palm Beach, Florida, United States, Italian Tazzoli sank British ship Daytonian; 1 was killed, 58 survived. At 1747 hours, U-332 struck again, sinking Yugoslavian ship Trepca; 4 were killed, 33 survived. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Gar sank Japanese cargo ship Chichiubu Maru off Mikura Jima 100 miles south of Tokyo Bay, Japan with three of four torpedoes fired. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell met with Harold Alexander. Stilwell's diary entry for the day noted that he was unimpressed with the British general. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-164 sank Norwegian merchant ship Mabella 100 miles northeast of Madras, India. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle completed engine repairs. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 Merchant ship Sevaples and Soviet anti-submarine whaler Stefa, both of which fell out of Allied convoy PQ-12 several days prior, found each other while at sea as Sevaples was being attacked by a German aircraft; Stefa shot down the German attacker. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Permit sank the scuttled PT-32 of US Navy Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 in Philippine waters. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 Five B-17 bombers of the US 40th Reconnaissance Squadron from Australia were launched to attack Rabaul, New Britain; only one arrived over the target to drop the bomb load, which caused little damage. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 Five Japanese Zero fighters strafed military installations at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 Overnight, 135 RAF bombers attacked Köln, Germany, killing 62 and wounding 84. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Michel departed Vlissingen, the Netherlands in the evening, escorted by 9 minesweepers and 5 torpedo boats. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita, flying in a submarine-based (submarine I-25) E14Y aircraft, conducted a photographic reconnaissance mission over Auckland, New Zealand. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 1,200 sick prisoners from the hospital within Auschwitz I camp who were judged as not able to recover were transferred to the BIb sector of Birkenau camp, where they were killed. Their bodies were transported back to Auschwitz I to be cremated. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 In Poland, The Belzec Concentration Camp opened for operation with a transport of 6,000 Jews from Mielec, Poland. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 A major Soviet attack was launched out of Kerch Peninsula in Russia in an attempt to relieve the besieged city of Sevastopol. 
0
13 Mar 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Una sank Italian fishing boat Maria Immacolata with her deck gun 5 miles off Tunisia. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-404 sank US collier Lemuel Burrows 5 kilometers southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States at 0828 hours; 20 were killed, 1 survived. U-124 set British tanker British Resource on fire with a torpedo 260 miles north of Bermuda at 2118 hours; 46 were killed, 5 survived. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Astoria was assigned to Task Force 17. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-67 sank Panamanian tanker Penelope 200 miles west of Dominica at 0200 hours; 2 were killed, 47 survived. In the same general area, U-67 sank Canadian ship Sarniadoc, killing the entire crew of 21. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 6 British motor torpedo boats and 3 motor gunboats unsuccessfully attacked German armed merchant cruiser Michel off Dover, England, United Kingdom at 0300 hours. At dawn, British destroyers HMS Blencathra, HMS Calpe, HMS Fernie, HMS Walpole, and HMS Windsor led motor torpedo boats for another attack; Michel was able to escape once again with slight damage and 1 killed, while HMS Fernie and HMS Walpole were also damaged. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Mocenigo sank French vessel Ste. Marcelle 17 miles east of Gibraltar. Further east, at 1323 hours, British submarine HMS Ultimatum sank Italian submarine Millo off Calabria, Italy with four torpedoes; 55 were killed, 15 survived (14 of whom were captured by HMS Ultimatum). At 1700 hours, German submarine U-133 struck a mine and sank two hours after departing her base at Salamis Island, Greece; all 45 aboard were killed. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 9 Japanese bombers attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua while 5 bombers attacked the airfield on Horn Island, Queensland, Australia. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the German naval and air forces to focus on hitting the Allied Arctic convoys. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 The US Navy transferred the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron to US Army's 19th Bomb Group at Townsville, Queensland, Australia. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka was named the flagship for the Christmas Island invasion force. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 US Air Force 51st Pursuit Squadron, originally destined for Java in the Dutch East Indies, arrived at Karachi, India. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur arrived at Del Monte Airfield in Bukidnon province, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
0
14 Mar 1942 WW2 Submarine Whale was launched at Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, United States, sponsored by the wife of Captain A. D. Denny, the commanding officer of the shipyard. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 US Army General MacArthur departed Philippine Islands by B-17 bomber for Australia. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler predicted a victory over the Soviet Union by the end of the summer of 1942. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 British cruisers HMS Dido and HMS Euryalus bombarded the Greek island of Rhodes. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 British tanker British Resource, fatally damaged by German submarine U-124 on the previous day, sank. After dawn, a PBO-1 Hudson aircraft flying cover for Allied convoy ON-72 sank German submarine U-503 245 miles southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, killing the entire crew of 51. At 0604 hours, U-158 sank US tanker Olean 15 kilometers southeast of Swansboro, North Carolina, United States; 6 were killed, 36 survived. At 0722 hours, U-158 struck again in the same area, sinking US tanker Ario; 7 were killed, 26 survived. Italian submarine Tazzoli sank British ship Athelqueen 270 miles east of Palm Beach, Florida, United States (3 were killed, 46 survived), but would collide with the wreck of Athelqueen, forcing her to end her patrol early for repairs in Bordeaux, France. At about 1200 hours, U-161 sank US Coast Guard lighthouse tender Acacia with her surface guns; all 36 aboard survived and were rescued by destroyer USS Overton. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 Harold Alexander admitted to Joseph Stilwell that the British had only 4,000 well-equipped fighting men in Burma. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-161 sank US Coast Guard lighthouse tender Acacia with her surface guns south of Haiti; all 36 aboard survived. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-210 became missing while operating off Cape Shabla, Bulgaria; she had likely struck a Romanian naval mine. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 US Air Force 67th Pursuit Squadron arrived at New Caledonia, along with a force of 45 P-40 fighters. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 German motor torpedo boats attacked British coastal convoy FS749 20 miles off the English coast in the North Sea, with S-104 sinking British destroyer HMS Vortigern; 110 were killed, 14 survived. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 Nine Japanese bombers attacked Madang, Australian Territory of New Guinea. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Buka island, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 Kaga departed Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 At Auschwitz I Concentration Camp, 28 prisoners died in the hospital. At Auschwitz II-Birkenau, SS guards killed 131 prisoners without reason before noon, and in the afternoon about 250 prisoners (including 103 Soviet prisoners of war) died from wounds sustained during torture. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 The Heito Prisoners of War Camp, also known as Taiwan Prisoners of War Camp No. 3, was closed in southern Taiwan. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Mako, Pescadores Islands, Taiwan. She departed later on the same day. 
0
15 Mar 1942 WW2 German motor torpedo boats attacked British coastal convoy FS749 20 miles off of England, United Kingdom in the North Sea, sinking destroyer HMS Vortigern; 110 were killed, 14 survived. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Morosini sank Dutch tanker Oscilla 145 miles northeast of Antigua; 4 were killed, 51 survived. At 1824 hours, German submarine U-504 sank British ship Stangarth 300 miels north of San Juan, Puerto Rico on her maiden voyage, killing all 46 aboard. German submarine U-332 sank US tanker Australia 20 kilometers off North Carolina, United States at 1955 hours; 4 were killed, 36 survived. To the northeast, U-404 sank British tanker San Demetrio 60 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States. At 2317 hours, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, U-68 sank British ship Baron Newlands 6 miles south of Cape Palmas, Liberia; 18 were killed, 20 survived. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft raided Darwin, Australia. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Begonia was loaned to the US Navy and was renamed USS Impulse. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 A number of US B-26 Marauder bombers were launched from the US Territory of Hawaii for Brisbane, Australia. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 Shokaku returned to Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Permit arrived at Corregidor in the Philippine Islands, delivering ammunition and evacuated 36 US Navy cryptanalysts. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 2 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers (Lieutenant Frank Bostrom and Captain Bill Lewis) flew from Batchelor Field, Darwin, Australia to Mindanao, Philippine Islands to pick up Douglas MacArthur. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 46 radio intelligence personnel were evacuated from the US Navy Station CAST facility at Corregidor island, Philippine Islands. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 Belzec Concentration Camp was established in occupied Poland for the purpose of holding and exterminating Jews from Lublin and Galicia. 
0
16 Mar 1942 WW2 Soviet ambassador in London, England, United Kingdom expressed wish for a second front in Europe. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia. On the same day, the first 3 American Kittyhawk squadrons began operations in Australia. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Britain introduced rationing of fuels and electricity. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-404 sank British ship San Demetrio off the east coast of the United States at 0216 hours; 19 were killed, 32 survived. U-124 sank Greek freighter Kassandra and Honduran freighter Ceiba (44 were killed, 6 survived) at 0226 hours off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States; US tanker Acme was also damaged during this attack. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, U-68 sank British freighters Ile de Batz at 0635 hours (4 were killed, 39 survived), Scottish Prince at 1326 hours (1 was killed, 38 survived), and Allende at 2103 hours (6 were killed, 33 survived) off Liberia and French West Africa. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 The Tutuila airfield in American Samoa was completed. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Three Japanese destroyers depth charged USS Permit in Tayabas Bay in southern Luzon, Philippine Islands, causing minor damage. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Wasp collided with destroyer USS Stack in foggy weather at 0650 hours off the east coast of the United States, causing flooding in the boiler room of the destroyer. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-373 sank Greek ship Mount Lycabettus at 1508 hours, killing all 30 aboard. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-71 sank Norwegian tanker Ranja at 1858 hours, killing all 34 aboard. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 No. 75 Squadron RAAF, flying Kittyhawk fighters, departed Australia for Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Several US B-17 bombers flew from Australia to Port Moresby, Australian Papua in preparation for an attack on Rabaul, New Britain on the following day. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Buka island, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 British submarine Unbeaten sank Italian submarine Guglielmotti between Sicily and Calabria in Italy at 0640 hours, killing 46. Unbeaten surfaced and captured 12 survivors before being driven off by Italian aircraft; Italian torpedo boats rescued another 12 survivors. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Yokosuka, Japan for Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies to join Operation C. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Sasebo, Japan and was detached from Cruiser Division 5. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Grayback sank Japanese collier Ishikari Maru 20 kilometers south of Kikajima island, Ryukyu Islands, Japan. 
0
17 Mar 1942 WW2 In Aktion Reinhard, Jews from Lublin, Poland were sent to the nearby Belzec concentration camp. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 The repair work on light cruiser Voroshilov completed. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank Greek ship Kassandra Louloudis off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0114 hours; all 35 aboard survived. At 0827, U-124 struck again, sinking US tankers US tankers E. M. Clark; 1 was killed, 26 survived. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur officially accepted the position of the Supreme Commander of Southwest Pacific Area while still aboard a train traveling for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 US 9th Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, arrived at Batchelor Field, located 98 kilometers (61 miles) south of Darwin, Australia. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Several US B-17 bombers launched from Port Moresby, Australian Papua to attack Rabaul, New Britain, causing no damage. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Kavieng, New Ireland. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Chinese troops ambushed 200 Japanese reconnaissance troops near Pyu in Battle of Tachiao, killing 30. Meanwhile, aircraft of the 1st American Volunteer Group "Flying Tigers" bombed the Japanese airfield at Moulmein, claiming 16 Japanese aircraft destroyed on the ground. Of the Burmese coast, troops from India reinforced the garrison on Akyab Island. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka was assigned to the Seizure Force for the invasion of Christmas Island. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 The first A4 rocket exploded on Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany during a combustion chamber test. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Upholder sank Italian submarine Tricheco 2 miles off of Brindisi, Italy; 38 were killed, 3 survived (including the commanding officer). 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 US Army engineers arrived at Efate, New Hebrides for the construction of a new airfield. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 Lord Mountbatten was appointed as the British Chief of Combined Operations. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 US President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order for the establishment of the War Relocation Authority, which led to the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW2. 
0
18 Mar 1942 WW2 The keel of Oriskany was laid down at Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 Operations Munich and Bamberg were launched against Soviet partisans, though tactical successes turned out to be counter-productive, encouraging more civilians to join the partisans. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General William Slim was ordered to lead the Burma Corps. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 British censorship on caricatures, obituaries, and football scores led to widespread complaint; Home Secretary Morrison threatened Daily Mirror with shut down order unless the newspaper obeyed the censorship laws. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank US tanker Papoose 25 miles south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States at 0431 hours; 2 were killed, 32 survived. To the northwest, German submarine U-332 sank US freighter Liberator off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina at 0419 hours; 5 were killed, 30 survived. At 0538 hours, U-124 attacked again off Cape Fear, sinking US tanker W. E. Hutton; 13 were killed, 12 survived. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 The advance echelon of US Marine Aircraft Group 13 arrived at the newly-completed airfield at Tutuila, American Samoa. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Pyu, Burma. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 At Bataan Peninsula at Luzon, Philippine Islands, US and Filipino troops were put on quarter rations (1000 calories) as the food supplies dwindled. The supply of quinine, a medicine for malaria, had also depleted. 
0
19 Mar 1942 WW2 German Armeegruppe Nord cut off General Vlasov's Soviet 2nd Shock Army in a salient on the Volkhov River near Novgorod 50 miles southeast of Leningrad, Russia. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown patrolled the Coral Sea. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Lexington set sail for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii after raiding New Guinea. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-71 sank US tanker Oakmar over 200 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States at 2054 hours, killing 6 of 36 aboard. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 South Dakota was commissioned into service. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 The United States and New Zealand completed a discussion which concluded that the US would be responsible for defending the Samoan islands. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 The United States Air Forces in the Philippines was established, replacing the Far East Air Force. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 The keel of US submarine Scorpion was laid down. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 J2M Raiden aircraft took its first flight. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese 143rd Regiment and a cavalry formation of the Japanese 55th Division attacked troops the Cavalry Regiment of the Chinese 5th Army north of the Kan River in Burma. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-652 damaged destroyer HMS Heythrop 40 miles northeast of Bardia, Libya at 1054 hours, killing 15; Heythrop was sailing with 6 other destroyers on an anti-submarine sweep for Allied convoy MW10. At about 1600 hours, after 151 survivors had been taken off by destroyer HMS Eridge, Heythrop sank while under tow. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Major General Brian Horrocks assumed command of the British 9th Armoured Division in place of Major General Brocas Burrows who had been moved to command 11th Armoured Division. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur made the "I came through and I shall return" speech at Terowie, South Australia, Australia while transferring trains. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 The US Navy set up a new radio intelligence station at Melbourne, Australia; many of the staff members of this new station were recently evacuated from station CAST at Corregidor, Philippine Islands. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Port Moresby in Australian Papua while four fighters strafed the nearby Seven Mile airfield. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Michel departed La Pallice, France for the South Atlantic. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Allies in Libya attacked Benghazi and Derna, diverting attention from an important convoy for Malta. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Jonathan Wainwright received the official US War Department order promoting him to the rank of lieutenant general and placing him charge of US troops in the Philippine Islands, replacing Douglas MacArthur, who had been ordered to go to Australia by Franklin Roosevelt. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Gas chambers of Block I of Auschwitz II (Birkenau) Concentration Camp began extermination operations. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 Soviet Army's Kerch offensive in Russia was defeated with heavy losses. To the west, German counter attack at Sevastopol failed, resulting in the loss of the 22nd Division. 
0
20 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Hornet arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 US Army General MacArthur arrived at Kooringa, Australia by train and discovered there would be no army waiting for him to reinforce the Philippine Islands. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 The United Kingdom discussed plans for Indian independence after the war. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler placed Fritz Sauckel in charge of mobilizing forced laborers from occupied territories. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Germany introduced harsh laws against unnecessary rail travel. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 heavily damaged US tanker Esso Nashville 20 kilometers southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, United States at 0608 hours. At 1005 hours, U-124 struck again, damaging US tanker Atlantic Sun. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Submarine Mingo was laid down. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps established the 3rd Marine Brigade at New River, North Carolina, United States; the unit was slated for the defense of Western Samoa. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 British aircraft carriers HMS Argus and HMS Eagle departed Gibraltar, escorted by battleship HMS Malaya, cruiser HMS Hermione, and 9 destroyers, with Spitfire fighters for Malta. Italian submarines Mocenigo and Dandolo attempted to attack the force in failure. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Four US Kittyhawk fighters arrived over Port Moresby, Australian Papua as reinforcement at 1400 hours, but nervous anti-aircraft gunners fired on them, damaging all four. Later in the day, a lone Japanese bomber attacked Port Moresby, and one of the newly arrived Kittyhawks was able to scramble and shoot down the attacker. Later in the day, 14 additional Kittyhawk fighters arrived. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 151 Japanese bombers attacked the British airfield at Magwe in northern Burma, the operating base of the Chinese Air Force 1st American Volunteer Group "Flying Tigers"; 15 Sino-American aircraft were destroyed at the cost of 2 Japanese aircraft. Meanwhile, at Oktwin, forward elements of Japanese 55th Division engaged Chinese troops. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-13, consisted of 19 merchant ships, set sail from Reykjavík, Iceland, with 1 destroyer and 5 trawlers in escort. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Italian submarines Onice and Platino spotted British convoy MW10, which had departed from Alexandria, Egypt, off the Libyan coast. A force consisted of battleship Littorio, 3 cruisers, and 10 destroyers departed from Taranto on mainland Italy and Messina on the island of Sicily to intercept; British submarine P36 spotted this Italian response. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 Jews from the Lublin ghetto in occupied Poland were deported to Belzec, Majdanek, and other concentration camps. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach led a German assault out of the Demyansk, Russia to the northwest. 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 At Fort Benning in Georgia, United States, 276 men of the US 501st Parachute Battalion received their "wings". 
0
21 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Marlin departed New London, Connecticut, United States. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 360 US Army personnel greeted US Army General MacArthur at Melbourne, Australia. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 German Abwehr agent Paul Thümmel was arrested by the SS on recent findings that he was actually a British agent; Wilhelm Canaris requested Thümmel's release, claiming that he was actually a double agent working for him. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-373 sank British ship Thursobank 300 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States at 0509 hours; 33 were killed, 26 survived. U-123 sank US tanker Muskogee in the Atlantic Ocean at 1756 hours; all 34 aboard were killed. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Marlin arrived at Casco Bay, Maine, United States and joined Task Group 27.1 for anti-submarine warfare training. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-73 was damaged by a British RAF Blenheim bomber 50 miles northwest of Derna, Libya at 1150 hours. U-73 would escape the encounter, but was forced to end her patrol early. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 A number of US B-26 Marauder bombers arrived at Archerfield Municipal Airport near Brisbane, Australia; 3 of the Marauder bombers were lost en route from the US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 Nine US Kittyhawk fighters based in Port Moresby, Australian Papua attacked the airfield near Lae on the northern coast of New Guinea. Shortly after, two Hudson bombers conducted a follow-up attack, but all their bombs missed the target. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 American and British airmen abandoned the airfield in Magwe in northern Burma. To the southeast, at dawn, troops of the 600th Regiment of the Chinese 200th ambushed troops of the 122nd Regiment of the Japanese 55th Division near Oktwin, Burma. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 The first four P-40E fighters for the 1st American Volunteer Group arrived in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Tokuyama, Japan and took on fuel. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 Kaga arrived at Sasebo, Japan. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 Italian battleship Littorio, 3 cruisers, and 10 destroyers successfully intercepted Allied convoy MW10 in the Gulf of Sirte between Libya and Malta at 1430 hours, but they were fended off by the smaller British escort force of 4 cruisers and 17 destroyers. As the Second Battle of Sirte ended at 1900 hours, 3 British cruisers and 6 destroyers were damaged (39 killed), while the Italian battleship Littorio was also damaged. After the two forces disengaged, Italian destroyers Lanciere and Scirocco were sunk by a storm, killing 201 and 189, respectively. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft bombed US positions at Bataan and Corregidor, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 Mass exterminations of Jews using Zyklon B gas began at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 German troops outside the Demyansk Pocket attacked Soviet 11th Army and 1st Shock Army at Staraya Russa, Russia, supporting the breakout attempt from the pocket launched on the previous day. 
0
22 Mar 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-9, consisted of 19 merchant ships, departed Murmansk, Russia with cruiser HMS Nigeria, destroyer HMS Offa, and 2 minesweepers in close escort. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 Troops of Japanese 18th Infantry Division landed at Port Blair, Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. The garrison of 300 Sikh militia and 23 British officers did not oppose the invasion. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 American blimp mis-identified and bombed American submarine USS Gato off San Francisco Bay, California, United States. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 Hitler ordered a build up of defenses in coastal areas. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank US tanker Naeco 65 miles southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States at 1023 hours; 24 were killed, 14 survived. In the afternoon, U-754 sank British tanker British Prudence 50 miles south of Newfoundland at 1531 hours; 3 were killed, 47 survived. In the Souther Atlantic, German armed merchant cruiser Thor stopped Greek freighter Pagasitikos, forced the 33 aboard to abandon ship, and sank the freighter with a torpedo. After sundown, Italian submarine Morosini sank British tanker Peder Bogen with torpedoes and gunfire; all 53 aboard survived. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 19 Japanese Type 1 bombers from Rabaul, New Britain attacked Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua at 1330 hours (Kittyhawk fighters failed to scramble in time to intercept the bombers), followed by strafing by four Zero fighters at 1420 hours (one shot down by anti-aircraft fire). 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 Chinese troops held the Japanese attacks in check near Oktwin, Burma, but withdrew toward Taungoo after sundown. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 German aircraft sank British transport Clan Campbell and damaged transport Breconshire of Allied convoy MW10. The remaining two transports, Pampas and Talabot, reached Malta by the end of the day. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 Intelligence experts at US Navy Station CAST at Corregidor, Philippine Islands tentatively linked the Japanese Navy code name AF to Midway Atoll. 
0
23 Mar 1942 WW2 US Secretary of Navy Frank Knox designated the new Marine Corps Training Area at Santa Margarita Ranch in California, United States as Camp Joseph H. Pendleton. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 Admiral Chester Nimitz was appointed the Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Theater. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 Deportation of Slovakian Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp began. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese Navy aircraft began daily bombings of Corregidor in the Philippine Islands. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 The British House of Commons began a two-day debate on the conduct of the war in Germany; bombing of German cities was to be a focal point. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Indomitable joined the British Eastern Fleet. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 British minesweeper HMS Sharpshooter spotted German submarine U-655 on the surface in the Barents Sea and proceeded to ram and sink her; the entire crew of U-655, 45 men, were killed. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-585 was damaged by depth charges from 3 Allied warships in the Barents Sea, but was able to escape. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 British minesweeping whaler HMS Sulla was lost to heavy seas in the Norwegian Sea. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank British tanker Empire Steel with torpedoes and the deck gun 365 miles north of Bermuda at 0300 hours; 39 were killed, 8 survived. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 Minesweeper HMS Sharpshooter, escorting Allied convoy QP-9, spotted German submarine U-655 in a distance; she forced the submarine to surface by depth charges, rammed, and sank her; all 47 aboard U-655 were killed. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese 112th Regiment attacked Taungoo, Burma, overcoming the disorganized Chinese outer defenses. Meanwhile, Japanese 143rd Regiment flanked the Chinese defenses and captured the airfield and rail station 6 miles north of the city. Taungoo would be surrounded on three sides by the end of the day. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Staring Bay at Celebes, Dutch East Indies, joining Zuikaku. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 18 RAF Boston light bombers attacked targets in northern France, targeting power stations, rail marshaling yards, and other targets of military importance. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Malta, damaging British destroyer HMS Legion with near misses. 
0
24 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead arrived at Simon's Town, South Africa to repair damages sustained during the Battle of Makassar Strait. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral King ordered a base to be established at Efate, New Hebrides. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-552 attacked Norwegian tanker Ocana 100 kilometers southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 0413 hours; 53 were killed, 4 survived; Ocana would remain afloat and burning for several days until scuttled by gunfire. At 0609 hours, U-105 sank British tanker Narragansett 400 miles east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States, killing all 49 aboard. Far out to sea, 530 miles east of Newfoundland, U-94 attacked British tanker Imperial Transport, causing the crew to abandon ship, but the men would reboard the ship by 2030 hours and continue the journey. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 The US 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) arrived in New York, United States from Iceland; the unit was disbanded immediately upon arrival. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-9 ran into a storm west of Norway; ice accumulated on British whaler HMS Sulla, causing her to gain too much top weight, eventually capsizing her; all 21 aboard were killed. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 The main Japanese offensive against Taungoo, Burma began at 0800 hours, striking northern, western, and southern sides of the city nearly simultaneously. Fierce house-to-house fighting would continue through the night. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 254 RAF Bomber Command aircraft (192 Wellington, 26 Stirling, 20 Manchester, 9 Hampden, and 7 Lancaster aircraft) attacked Krupp iron works and factories at Essen, Germany; 5 civilians were killed, 11 were wounded. The British lost 5 Manchester, 3 Wellington, and 1 Hampden aircraft. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese Navy message that mentioned a campaign against a location with code name RZP. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Tokuyama, Japan and arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Permit fired three torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Dutch East Indies; all three torpedoes missed. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Grayback fired a torpedo a Japanese patrol vessel in the Philippine Sea off Ryukyu Islands, Japan; the torpedo missed. 
0
25 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Washington departed Casco Bay near Portland, Maine, United States. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 US Navy warships Washington, Wasp, Wichita, Tuscaloosa, and eight destroyers sailed from Portland, Maine for Britain to reinforce the Royal Navy Home Fleet. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill told politicians of the rival Conservative Party 'It now seems very likely that we and our allies cannot lose this war, except through our own fault'. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 All Jewish homes in Germany were ordered to be marked as so on the exterior. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-71 sank US tanker Dixie Arrow 20 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 1459 hours, killing 11 of 33 aboard. Further out to sea, German submarine U-123 sank US Q-ship USS Atik 200 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States at 1937 hours, killing the entire crew of 139; U-123 lost one to USS Atik's machine gun. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Admiral Sir James Somerville, who had commanded the force that had sunk the Bismark in the previous year, took commanded of the British Eastern Fleet, hoisting his flag in the battleship HMS Warspite at Trincomalee, Ceylon. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Chinese and Japanese troops continued to engage in house-to-house fighting in Taungoo, Burma, with heavy losses on both sides. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 During this night and into the first hours of the next day, Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld shot down four British bombers, increasing his victories to 21. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-652 sank British destroyer HMS Jaguar 20 miles off Sidi Barani, Egypt at 0227 hours, which was escorting British tanker Slavol; 193 were killed, 53 survived. At 0510 hours, U-205 followed-up, sinking Slavol; 36 were killed, 20 survived. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Kavieng, New Ireland. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Akagi departed Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies with the Striking Force (less Kaga) together with Battleship Division 3, Cruiser Division 8, and Destroyer Squadron 1 for "Operation C", the raid into the Indian Ocean. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies for Operation C. She was assigned to First Air Fleet, Carrier Division 5, Striking Force, Air Attack Force. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Japanese First Air Fleet, built around a nucleus of five aircraft carriers, sailed from Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies to the west of Timor into the Indian Ocean with the intention of attacking the Royal Navy's bases at Colombo and Trincomalee in Ceylon. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka departed Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 French politician Pierre Laval warned Chief of State Philippe Pétain that it was important to cooperate with the Germans to avoid Berlin from appointing a Nazi Party Gauleiter for Vichy France. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 British bombers (104 Wellington and 11 Stirling) attacked Essen, Germany, destroying two homes and killing six civilians; 11 bombers were lost in this attack. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Lexington arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and prepared for an overhaul in the drydock. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 German aircraft attacked Malta, sinking destroyer HMS Legion (11 killed) and empty freighters Pampas and Talabot in the Grand Harbour, and damaging submarine HMS P39 at Kalkara. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft bombed Corregidor, Philippine Islands, knocking out power for freezers containing 24,000 pounds of carabao meat. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 A transport of 999 female Slovakian Jews from Poprad, Czechoslovakia arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland; they were the first Slovakians sent by Adolf Eichmann's RSHA IVB4 office. Coinciding with the arrival of the Slovakian Jews was the arrival of the first transport of female prisoners from Ravensbrück Concentration Camp in northern Germany, also containing 999 Jews. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 3 British destroyers and 16 smaller vessels departed Falmouth, England, United Kingdom with commandos aboard at 1400 hours for the drydock at Saint-Nazaire, France. 
0
26 Mar 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-14 departed Oban, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 German propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary on this date, regarding the deportation of Jews, "a fairly barbaric process is utilized. Of the Jews themselves, not much remains". 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 Iro Ilk was awarded the German Cross in Gold. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft and artillery bombarded Chinese positions at Taungoo, Burma. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld, having shot down four British bombers during the previous night, was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht bulletin by the headquarters of the German Wehrmacht. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-160 sank Panamanian tanker Equipoise 50 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States at 0238 hours; 41 were killed, 13 survived. Further out to sea, 380 miles east of Virginia, U-150 sank Norwegian tanker MV Svenør at 1340 hours; 8 were killed, 29 survived. Closer to Europe, U-587 unsuccessfully attacked Allied convoy WS-17 and was sank by escorting destroyers; all 42 aboard the German submarine were lost. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral John Wilcox, Jr. drowned after being swept overboard from USS Washington during a storm at about 1030 hours. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 At 2300 hours, in British destroyer HMS Campeltown, with commandos aboard, left her destroyer escorts behind and sailed toward Saint-Nazaire, France with a few small vessels. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Gudgeon sank Japanese merchant ship Nissho Maru in the East China Sea 20 miles off southern Korea. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 Dutch aircraft sank Japanese collier Yubari Maru off Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 The German naval staff requested the Japanese to conduct raids against Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Hammann departed New Caledonia area as a part of Task Force 17. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 The deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp began. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 British aircraft carriers HMS Argus and HMS Eagle departed Gibraltar with battleship HMS Malaya and other warships in escort to deliver 16 Spitfire fighters to Malta. 
0
27 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Kure, Japan and arrived at Kobe, Japan. 
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27 Mar 1942 WW2 Kaga entered the drydocks of Sasebo, Japan to repair the damage caused by striking reefs in the Palau Islands, Caroline Islands on 9 Feb 1942. 
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27 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese transport Kitano Maru struck a Japanese naval mine and sank in Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands. 
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27 Mar 1942 WW2 With freezers failing after a Japanese aerial attack on the previous day, US and Filipino troops attempted to transport the contents, 24,000 pounds of frozen carabao meat, from Corregidor Island to Bataan Peninsula in the Philippine Islands for immediate consumption. Japanese air attacks would prevent this transport, and the meat would soon spoil. 
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27 Mar 1942 WW2 Major General Sir Vernon Kell passed away. Until sacked by Winston Churchill in 1940, Kell had been the head of the British Secret Service (MI5) for thirty years. 
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27 Mar 1942 WW2 Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested members of the Black Dragon Society, a right wing para-military Japanese group, in the San Joaquin Valley region in California, United States. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 Lübeck suffered the first area saturation bombing as 234 bombers dropped incendiaries, destroying over 200 acres of the city. One British bomber equipped with the new GEE navigation system was lost and the GEE captured by the Germans. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 A second Japanese carrier fleet set sail for the Indian Ocean. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 German official Fritz Sauckel was named the Chief of Manpower, with responsibility of expediting the recruitment of slave labor. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Guam. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Gar ended her first war patrol. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion departed for Upolu, Western Samoa while a small Marine detachment was dispatched to Savai'i, Samoa. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 A fresh regiment of the Japanese 56th Division attacked Chinese-defended city of Taungoo, Burma. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Ambon, Dutch East Indies. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 In the morning, German submarine U-209 attacked Polish ship Tobruk of Allied convoy PQ-13 with all torpedoes missing the target; the convoy escorts counterattacked with depth charges with similar dismal results. Later in the day, German aircraft attacked the same convoy and sank British ship Empire Ranger and damaged Panamanian merchant ship Raceland (which would eventually sink at 2230 hours). In the evening, German destroyers Z24, Z25, and Z26 departed Kirkenes in far northern Norway to hunt for ships of the PQ-13; 61 of Empire Ranger's survivors were rescued by German destroyer Z24 at 2245 hours, but many other survivors died in the freezing water. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 British submarine Proteus sank Italian hospital ship Galilea 20 miles west of Greece; 991 were killed, 284 survived. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 RMS Queen Mary arrived at Sydney, Australia and disembarked 8,400 troops. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 Dutch Major General Roelof T. Overakker surrendered his 2,000 troops at Blangkedjeren, marking the end of resistance on Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 Executing Operation Chariot, British destroyer HMS Campbeltown sailed into the Loire River estuary near Saint-Nazaire, France with commandos on board at 0122 hours. She was detected and fired upon by coastal guns. Despite hits, she rammed into the dry dock at 0134 hours and unloaded commandos and other troops, who wrecked the dry dock, suffering 169 killed and 215 captured; 228 escaped via small vessels, leaving the explosives-laden HMS Campbeltown behind, which detonated at noon, killing 360. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Kobe, Japan. 
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28 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Edinburgh arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 The US 4th Marine Defense Battalion and US Marine Fighter Squadron 212 were diverted from their original destination of Tongatapu, Tonga for Port Vila, Efate, New Hebrides. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Hukbalahaps, an armed Filipino communist resistance group, was formed. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Between 2318 hours on the previous date until about 0300 hours on this date, 234 RAF bombers attacked Lübeck, Germany, killing 320, injuring 784, and destroying 30% of the city. The Lübeck Cathedral, among other buildings, were destroyed in the city's historical center.The new "Gee" navigation systems were used by the British bombers on this attack. 12 bombers were shot down by German anti-aircraft defenses. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Guam. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Commander Oliver Middleton Read was named the commanding officer of USS Helena, relieving Commander Gerald D. Linke. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Ambon, Dutch East Indies escorted the Japanese invasion force for western New Guinea, Dutch East Indies. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 German destroyer Z26 sank Panamanian ship Bateau of Allied convoy PQ-13 in the Barents Sea shortly after 0000 hours; 37 were killed, 6 survived. At 0943 hours, British cruiser HMS Trinidad spotted Z26 along with Z24 and Z25, hitting Z26 with gunfire; at 1024 hours, HMS Trinidad was hit by a torpedo that she fired and circled around, killing 31. At 1032 hours, British destroyer HMS Eclipse continued the attack, hitting Z26 with 6 more shells; at 1120 hours, Z24 and Z25 coordinated an attack on HMS Eclipse, hitting her with two shells, killing 23. Shortly after, Z26 sank from the heavy damage; 240 were killed, 96 survived. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle delivered 7 Spitfire fighters to reinforce Malta. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-160 sank US ship City of New York 50 kilometers east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 1936 hours; 24 of 157 aboard were lost during the sinking or subsequently aboard lifeboats. Further north at 2058 hours, German submarine U-571 sank British ship Hertford 350 miles east of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States; 4 were killed, 58 survived. Also on this day, Italian submarine Calvi sank British ship Tredinnick in the Mid-Atlantic, killing all 46 aboard. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 In Australia, the B-26 Marauder bombers that had arrived from the US Territory of Hawaii one week prior were moved from Brisbane to Townsville for combat training. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese penetrated the Chinese defenses at Taungoo, Burma and threatened to trap the Chinese 200th Division in the city. General Dai Anlan issued the order to retreat from the city after sundown, falling back northward. During the withdraw, the Chinese failed to destroy the bridge over the Sittang River. To the west, Japanese captured a main road near Shwedaung, disrupting the Allied withdraw; an Anglo-Indian attack from the south failed to break the roadblock. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka departed Bantam Bay, Java, Dutch East Indies. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 U-576 departed Saint-Nazaire, France, starting her fourth war patrol. 
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29 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 Captain Takayanagi conducted armament trials at a range of 23 miles, observed by Admiral Yamamoto, in the Inland Sea. The trials were judged a failure. Both Takayanagi and his gunnery officer were upbraided because gun aimers manning the main rangefinder misread the horizontal settings. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 The Allies created multiple theaters of the war, with US responsible for the Pacific Ocean, UK for the area between Singapore and the Mediterranean, and both US and UK in the Atlantic Ocean. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff further divided the Pacific Ocean into two sub-theaters, with US Navy in charge of the North and Central Pacific under Nimitz and US Army in charge of the Southwestern Pacific under MacArthur. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 During the night, 32 British Halifax bombers from three bases in Scotland attacked German battleship Tirpitz to little effect. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor attacked British freighter Wellpark in the South Atlantic at 1400 hours, which was later scuttled by demolition charges; 7 were killed, 41 survived. At 2243 hours, U-68 sank British transport Muncaster Castle 200 miles south of Liberia; 24 were killed, 329 survived. To combat such attacks in the South Atlantic, US Army engineers arrived at Ascension Island on this day to began building an airfield; upon completion, it would be named Wideawake Field. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarines U-209 and U-376 attacked British Induna of Allied convoy PQ-13 at 0552 hours (41 survived the sinking, but 11 would die in the freezing water and 2 more would die in the hospital after being rescued); U-209's attack failed, but U-376 would sink Induna at 0807 hours; 38 were killed, 28 survived. At 1035 hours, U-456 and U-435 also attacked the convoy, stopping US transport Effingham; 2 were killed, 41 survived (some of the survivors would die of exposure before being rescued); the transport was scuttled by U-435 at 1219 hours. German submarine U-585, en route to attack PQ-13 as well, struck a German mine and sunk 72 miles north of Murmansk, Russia, killing all 44 aboard. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese 55th Division attacked Taungoo, Burma at dawn, capturing it without resistance as the Chinese 200th Division had evacuated the city overnight. To the west, British 7th Armoured Brigade broke through the Japanese roadblock at Shwedaung, but suffered tank destroyed on the nearby bridge over the Irrawaddy River, blocking traffic. Shortly after, Japanese-sponsored Burma National Army attacked the British troops while the British attempted to maneuver around the disabled tank, killing 350 with as many losses. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 In a broadcast to India, Sir Stafford Cripps said that it was the desire of the British that India should have full self-government and, to that end, India had been requested to send a representative to join the War Cabinet and the Pacific Council of the United Nations. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu provided cover for the landings at Shortland island, Solomon Islands. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Sturgeon sank Japanese transport ship Choko Maru 20 miles southwest of Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked American field hospital No. 1 at Bataan, Philippine Islands at 0730 hours despite the large red crosses painted on the building's roof, killing 15. In the evening, Japanese radio broadcast an apology for this attack. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 French Jews began arriving at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, with the first transport originating from Compiegne. 
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30 Mar 1942 WW2 Soviet fighters shot down two He 111 bombers of 1. Staffel of the III. Gruppe of German Luftwaffe KG 27 over Kerch, Russia. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 USS Colorado completed the overhaul that began in Jun 1941. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 The Indian Congress Party demanded immediate independence from the United Kingdom. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Unhappy with the progress of the interior ministry, Hitler reassigned the task of providing housing to those displaced by Allied bombing to propaganda chief Goebbels. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 German submarine U-754 sank US tug Menominee, barge Allegheny, and barge Barnegat 10 kilometers northeast of Hog Island Lighthouse, Virginia, United States at 0800 hours; 16 were killed, 9 survived. At 2222 hours, 480 miles east of Virginia, U-71 sank British tanker San Gerardo; 51 were killed, 6 survived. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Laffey (Benson-class) was commissioned into service. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Tazzoli arrived at Bordeaux, France. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Eight A-24 Banshee aircraft under US Army Captain Floyd Rogers arrived at Port Moresby, Australian Papua; it was the first US squadron to be based at Port Moresby. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops occupied Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Tenryu provided cover for the landings at Kieta, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 850 Japanese troops landed on Christmas Island unopposed. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Naka supported the landing on Christmas Island as the invasion force's flagship; submarine USS Seawolf attempted a torpedo attack on Naka at 0949 hours but failed to score hits. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Japanese troops occupied Ceram Island, Dutch East Indies. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 USS S-31 completed her first war patrol off the Panama Canal Zone. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Surviving ships of Allied convoy PQ-13 began to arrive at Murmansk, Russia after several attacks by German destroyers, submarines, and aircraft. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Ten Norwegian freighters and tankers, interned by the Swedish at Gothenburg, attempted to break out for Britain. Two of them, transport Lind and tanker B. P. Newton, would make the escape. Six of the remaining eight ships were sunk by mines, German aircraft, and German warships, while the final two were forced to return to Gothenburg. 
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31 Mar 1942 WW2 Light cruiser Fargo, previously ordered but not yet laid down, was reordered by the US Navy as a carrier to be named Crown Point. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 During this month, Captain Kaoru Arima, Chief Equipping Officer of the future battleship Musashi, paid an orientation visit on Yamato with members of Musashi's fitting-out crew. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Buka and Santa Isabel in the Solomon Islands. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Submarine USS Swordfish departed with 40 tons of food and supplies for Corregidor, Philippine Islands, but she would be unable to deliver before the American garrison surrendered at Bata'an. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Saipan, departing later on the same day. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Georg von Bismarck became the commanding officer of the 21st Panzer Division. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Trawler Anticosti was launched. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was assigned to the 1st Air Fleet. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 was damaged by a British Swordfish aircraft 50 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt, causing her to lose the ability to dive. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Urge sank Italian cruiser Bande Nere north of Sicily, Italy at 0900 hours with two torpedo hits. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 German anti-submarine trawler UJ-1203 struck a mine and sank in the Gulf of Finland. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-71 sank British ship Eastmoor 500 miles north of Bermuda at 0403 hours; 16 were killed, 32 survived. About two hours later at 0618 hours, U-754 sank US tanker Tiger 10 miles off Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, killing 1 of 43 aboard. To the southeast, 60 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, U-160 sank British ship Rio Blanco at 1622 hours; 19 were killed, 21 survived. In the far south Atlantic, at 1724 hours, German armed merchant cruiser Thor sank British freighter Willesden with gunfire and a torpedo; 2 were killed. Finally, U-202 sank British ship Loch Don 500 miles north of Bermuda at 2314 hours; 3 were killed, 44 survived. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Truant sank Japanese merchant ships Yae Maru and Shunsei Maru in the Malacca Strait between Malaya and Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was promoted to the rank of Oberleutnant. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 The newly arrived US squadron in Port Moresby, Australian Papua, flying A-24 Banshee aircraft, launched its first attack on Japanese positions. The primary target was Lae on the northern coast of New Guinea, but due to cloud cover, the secondary target of Salamaua was attacked; the attack caused only minor damage. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 The Japanese 25th Air Flotilla was assigned to Rabaul, New Britain under the command of Rear Admiral Sadayoshi Yasuda. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain, refueled, and departed later in the day. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell arrived in Chongqing, China, threatening to resign his post as Chiang's chief of staff over Chinese field commanders' insubordination. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese cruiser Naka was hit by a torpedo from US submarine USS Seawolf (of three fired) off Christmas Island, causing serious damage. She would be towed to Bantam Bay, Java, Dutch East Indies for repairs. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Tomokazu Kasai began basic flight school in Japan. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 As Italian bombers sank British submarines HMS P36 and HMS Pandora in Valetta Harbour, Malta, the island had become one of the most bombed place on earth. Although Malta remained a thorn on the Axis' side, making convoying between Italy and North Africa hazardous, the Luftwaffe told an impatient Hitler that they could not sink an island with bombs. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-404 sank German freighter Michel in the Barents Sea 8 miles north of Kirkenes, Norway. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 In Washington DC, United States, General George Marshall and his General Staff enthusiastically accepted a plan, submitted by Dwight Eisenhower, for an immediate assault across the English Channel into Nazi-occupied France with ten divisions of British and Canadian troops; it was understood that the British and the Canadians would likely see a very high casualty rate from such an invasion. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 Under strict security sixteen modified B-25 bombers were lifted onto the USS Hornet and lashed to the flight deck at Naval Air Station Alameda, California, United States. 
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01 Apr 1942 WW2 General George Marshall and Major General Dwight Eisenhower presented a plan of war to President Franklin Roosevelt. This plan included "Operation Bolero" which would see the immediate preparation of 30 divisions, of which six were to be armoured, and complimentary air-power for movement across the Atlantic Ocean within the period of a year. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 USAAF B-17 bombers attacked the Japanese fleet at the Andaman Islands. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Submarine USS Searaven departed with ammunition for Corregidor, Philippine Islands, but she would be unable to deliver the cargo before the American garrison surrendered. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 The first flight echelon of US Marine Aircraft Group 13 arrived at Tutuila, American Samoa. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Astoria departed from Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-6 sank British ship Clan Ross 350 miles west of India; 11 were killed, 38 survived. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 damaged US tanker Liebre with her deck gun 17 miles off Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States at 0718 hours; 9 were killed, 25 survived. After British motor torpedo boat MTB-332 chased off U-123, Liebre would be towed back to port for repairs. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Three B-17 bombers of US 10th Air Force based in Calcutta, India attacked Japanese shipping in the Andaman Islands, claiming hits on one cruiser and one transport. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Kavieng, New Ireland. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops drove Indian 17th Division out of Prome, Burma. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Natori towed Naka toward Bantam Bay, Java, Dutch East Indies. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Finnish forces occupied the strategic island of Tytärsaari (Russian: Bolshoy Tyuters) in the Gulf of Finland. 
0
02 Apr 1942 WW2 40 British Wellington and 10 Stirling bombers attacked the Ford factory at Poissy, France. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded Axis troop positions Feodossiya, Russia. 
0
02 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Dover and Weymouth, England, United Kingdom. 
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02 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Hornet departed Naval Air Station Alameda near San Francisco, California with James Doolittle and his 16 US Army B-25 bombers on board. 
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03 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank US collier David H. Atwater with her deck gun 10 miles off Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia, United States at 0340 hours; 24 were killed, 3 survived. German submarine U-754 sank US freighter Otho 150 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States, killing 31 of 53 aboard. In the South Atlantic, German raider Thor forced the crew of Norwegian ship Aust to abandon ship and sank her with gunfire. At 2331 hours, U-505 sank US ship West Irmo 200 miles off Ivory Coast, French West Africa; 10 were killed, 90 survived. 
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03 Apr 1942 WW2 Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh began working on Ford's B-24 Liberator production line at Detroit, Michigan, United States as a consultant. 
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03 Apr 1942 WW2 Admiral Chester Nimitz was confirmed as the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Area. 
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03 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-17 sank British ship Glenshiel in the Indian Ocean at 0340 hours; all aboard survived. 
0
03 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet destroyer Shaumian ran aground and was wrecked off Gelendzhik in southern Russia. 
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03 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-702 became missing in the North Sea 100 miles off the Norwegian coast; all 44 aboard were never seen again. 
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03 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-9 arrived at Reykjavik, Iceland without any losses. At Murmansk, Russia, German aircraft sank British merchant ship Empire Starlight, British merchant ship New Westminster City, and Polish merchant ship Tobruk; Soviet ship was also damaged in the attack. 
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03 Apr 1942 WW2 Six B-17 bombers of the US 10th Air Force based in Asansol, India attacked Rangoon, Burma, setting three warehouses on fire; one aircraft was lost in this attack. 
0
03 Apr 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Bantam Bay, Java, Dutch East Indies under tow by Natori. 
0
03 Apr 1942 WW2 Shokaku entered the Indian Ocean. 
0
03 Apr 1942 WW2 The 10th MAS Flotilla special forces unit of the Italian Navy was relocated from La Spezia, Italy to nearby Muggiano. 
0
03 Apr 1942 WW2 After a heavy artillery and aerial bombardment from 0900 to 1500 hours, Japanese troops launched an attack on the Bataan Peninsula in Philippine Islands, penetrating the lines held by the Filipino 41st Infantry Division. 
0
03 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Murmansk, Russia, sinking Polish ship Tobruk and British ships New Westminster City and Empire Starlight in the harbor. 
0
04 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft bombed areas of Mandalay, Burma, killing more than 2,000, most of whom were civilians. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-505 sank Dutch ship Alphacca 200 miles off Ivory Coast, French West Africa at 2329 hours; 15 were killed, 57 survived. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, at 2335 hours, U-154 sank Comol Rico; 3 were killed, 39 survived. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Grampus completed her first war patrol. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 In the morning, Australian pilot John Jackson alone flew over Lae on the northern coast of New Guinea and made a strafing run. In the afternoon, he led a group in attacking the same location, destroying several Japanese aircraft on the ground. 
0
04 Apr 1942 WW2 Gneisenau arrived at Gotenhafen, Germany (now Gdynia, Poland). 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 As Japanese carriers sailed toward Ceylon, the fleet was discovered by a Canadian PBY Catalina aircraft 400 miles south of the island. A Zero fighter from carrier Hiryu shot down the Catalina aircraft (3 killed, several captured) but not until they radioed in the fleet's location. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 Prince Hiroyasu was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite 1st Class. 
0
04 Apr 1942 WW2 Prince Kotohito was awarded Order of the Golden Kite. 
0
04 Apr 1942 WW2 Greek submarine Glavkos was sunk by Axis aircraft at Malta. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur, now relocated to Australia per Franklin Roosevelt's orders, radioed Jonathan Wainwright, saying that "under no conditions should Bataan be surrendered; any action is preferable to capitulation". Meanwhile, at Bataan in the Philippine Islands, Japanese troops moved toward Mount Samat, threatening to take this dominant position. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet destroyer Sovershenny was destroyed by German shelling at Sevastopol, Russia. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 62 Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers and 70 other bombers escorted by 59 Bf 109 fighters attacked Soviet fleet at Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia in the afternoon, damaging battleships October Revolution and Petropavlovsk, cruisers Maxim Gorky and Kirov, and destroyers Silny and Grozyashchi. After dark, He 111 bombers, some of which had participated in the Kronstadt attack in the afternoon, bombed Leningrad. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank US tanker Byron D. Benson 16 kilometers east of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States at 2257 hours local time (recorded in U-552 logs as at 0447 hours on 5 Apr 1942, German time), killing 10 of 38. 
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04 Apr 1942 WW2 President Franklin Roosevelt's special envoy Harry Hopkins and General George Marshall departed Baltimore, Maryland, United States by plane to lay the US strategic war plans, that had already been approved by the President, before the British War Cabinet and Chiefs-of Staff Committee. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered a renewed offensive in the Leningrad, Russia region in the Soviet Union. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Submarine USS Snapper delivered 20 tons of food to Corregidor, Philippine Islands and evacuated 27 personnel. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Tarakan, Borneo. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese and Chinese troops clashed at Yedashe in central Burma. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-154 sank US tanker Catahoula just off the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic at 2318 hours; 7 were killed, 38 survived. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Kavieng, New Ireland. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Seven Japanese Type 1 bombers, escorted by 4 Zero fighters, attacked Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua. Stores of fuel and ammunition were destroyed at the cost of one Zero fighter, which was shot down by Kittyhawk fighters. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Commander Mitsuo Fuchida of Akagi commanded a 125-aircraft raid against Colombo, Ceylon. Akagi's aircraft helped in the sinking of HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire. 
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05 Apr 1942 WW2 263 British bombers (179 Wellington, 44 Hampden, 29 Stirling, and 11 Manchester aircraft) attacked the Humboldt Engineering Works Company at Kalk near Köln, Germany; most of the bombs fell far from the Humboldt factories. The British lost 5 aircraft; one of the aircraft shot down crashed in Köln, killing 16 and wounding 30. 
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05 Apr 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 41, calling for the invasion of the Caucasus region and Stalingrad, both in southern Russia. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Shokaku launched air strikes against Colombo, Ceylon from the Indian Ocean. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 In the morning, Japanese carriers launched 36 D3A2 dive bombers and 53 B5N2 torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 Zero fighters, against the British naval base at Colombo, Ceylon, sinking merchant cruiser HMS Hector, damaging port facilities, while shooting down 25 British aircraft; 7 Japanese aircraft were lost in this attack. Around noon, cruiser Tone's floatplane spotted British cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire 200 miles southwest of Ceylon; 53 carrier aircraft were launched to attack, sinking Dorsetshire at 1350 hours (234 killed) and Cornwall at 1400 hours (190 killed); 1,122 survived from both ships. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese Navy leadership accepted the planned attack on Midway. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan for repairs in the drydock. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Italian aircraft attacked Valetta Harbour, Malta, causing fatal damage to minesweeper HMS Abingdon and destroyer HMS Gallant and also damaging destroyer HMS Lance. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops defeated the Philippine 21st Division at Mount Samat on the Bataan Peninsula, Philippine Islands. Inside the Allied lines, General Jonathan Wainwright doubled rations for front line troops despite being short in food in order to give the troops strength. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Western Luzon Guerrilla Forces fighter Ramón Magsaysay was made a captain of the Philippine Army. 
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05 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Stalin ordered the arrest of Moscow Air Defense Corps (PVO) Brigadier Commissar Kurganov for drunkenness, 745th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment commander Zakharov for drunkenness and failure to report to post during an air raid, and 175th Artillery Regiment political officer Andreev and mechanic Military Technician 2nd Rank Kukin for drunkenness and accidental shooting of Lieutenant Kazanovsky. In the same order, he also fired and demoted PVO Main Directorate Chief Major General of Artillery Aleksei Osipov for drunkenness. 
0
05 Apr 1942 WW2 Milton Miles departed LaGuardia Marine Terminal, Queens, New York, United States by flying boat. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 First men of US 41st Division arrived at Melbourne, Australia. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on Bougainville, Solomon Islands and Lorengau, Admiralty Islands. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-160 damaged US tanker Bidwell 50 kilometers east of Wilmington, North Carolina, United States at 0807 hours, killing 1 of 33 aboard; her crew would manage to repair and bring her back to port for repairs. At 1700 hours, U-571 sank Norwegian tanker Koll 250 miles northwest of Bermuda; 2 were killed, 33 survived (1 of whom would later die of exposure before being rescued). 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-4 sank US freighter Washingtonian off the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean at 1600 hours. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Havock ran aground off Cape Bon, Tunisia and was scuttled by her crew. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 At 0200 hours, B-17 bombers of US 22nd Bomb Group were launched from Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua. One hours later, the faster B-26 bombers were launched. Flying toward Rabaul, New Britain, this was the first B-17 combat mission against that location as well as the first B-26 combat mission. The B-17 bombers struck first (despite the fact that the two were supposed to be attacking at the same time), causing no damage. By the time the B-26 bombers arrived, 7 Japanese A5M fighters were already in the air, although they failed to close in on the B-26 bombers. The B-26 bombers caused very little damage. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Mandalay, Burma. Off Akyab on the western coast of Burma, Japanese aircraft sank Indian sloop HMIS Indus. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 Naka completed her temporary repairs at Bantam Bay, Java, Dutch East Indies and departed for Singapore. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 157 British bombers (110 Wellington, 19 Stirling, 18 Hampden, and 10 Manchester aircraft) attacked Essen, Germany; most of them were turned back by a storm. 5 aircraft were lost in this mission. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese warships sank 16 freighters southeast of India, while carrier aircraft from Ryujo conducted raids against ports Vizagapatam and Cocanada on the eastern coast of India, sinking 3 ships. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 British tug HMS West Cocker was destroyed by Axis aircraft at Malta. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft continued to attack American and Filipino targets at Bataan, Philippine Islands. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe group II./KG 27 flew a supply operation for the German troops trapped in Kholm, Russia. Three He 111 aircraft failed to return; one of which was forced to land within the pocket due to heavy damage. The crew of the downed He 111 aircraft removed the aircraft's radio and used it to help direct further supply runs. 
0
06 Apr 1942 WW2 HMS Edinburgh departed Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
07 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese-Americans began to be relocated from the coastal defense zones in western United States. The American state of Colorado agreed to accept voluntary relocation of enemy aliens; it was the only western state to do so. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 Protestant Christian theologian K. F. Stellbrink and three Roman Catholic priests were arrested by the German government for anti-Nazi activities. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Tarakan, Borneo. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-754 sank Norwegian tanker Kollskegg 370 miles northwest of Bermuda at 0218 hours; 4 were killed, 38 survived. U-552 sank British freighter British Splendour at 0417 hours (12 were killed, 41 survived) and Norwegian whale factory ship Lancing at 1052 hours (1 was killed, 49 survived) off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 In the Soviet Union, a Decree permitted local Authorities to distribute uncultivated land to the populace for food growing allotments. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent sank Italian freighter Rosa M. with 39 rounds from the deck gun 7 miels south of Petrovac, Yogoslavia at 1730 hours. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-6 sank British freighter Bahadur 300 miles west of Bombay, India at 1920 hours. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-453 damaged British hospital ship HMHS Somersetshire with three torpedoes 40 miles North of Sid Barrani, Egypt at 1300 hours; 2 were killed, 180 survived. The survivors reboarded the ship later and was able to sail to Alexandria, Egypt for repairs. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Manus, Admiralty Islands. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Sasebo, Japan. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 British tugs HMS Emily and HMS Hellespont were sunk at Malta by Axis air raids. 
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07 Apr 1942 WW2 A Japanese dive bomber destroyed an ammunition truck near American field hospital No. 1 at Bataan, Philippine Islands at 1000 hours. Shortly after, Japanese aircraft returned to attack the hospital, which had large red crosses painted on the roof, killing 89 and wounding 101; a significant portion of the drug supplies were destroyed in this attack. On the front lines, Japanese assaulted positions held by US and Filipino troops of the US II Corps along the San Vicente River, penetrating the line by noon, forcing the Allies to fall back to the line at the Mamala River in the afternoon, which would also abandoned by 2100 hours for the Alangan River further to the south. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 A US delegation led by Harry Hopkins and George Marshall arrived in Britain to discuss US and British strategy on opening a second front in Europe by invading France. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops based in Rabaul landed in Western New Britain. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops overran Chinese 200th Division and New 22nd Division defensive positions at Yedashe, Burma. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy officially agreed to the German request to conduct submarine raids against Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean, although the submarines were already in position or underway. Later that day, Japanese submarine I-3 sank British collier Fultala 200 miles off the southern tip of India at 0150 hours. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Italian bombers sank British minesweeping whaler HMS Svana and anti-submarine whaler HMS Thorgrim off Alexandria, Egypt. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Ivan Bagramyan was named the chief of staff of the Southwestern Front. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-84 sank Yugoslavian ship Nemanja 300 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States at 0457 hours; 13 were killed, 34 survived. Just 10 miles off St. Simons Island, Georgia, United States, U-123 damaged US tanker Oklahoma (killing 19 of 37) at 0752 hours and US tanker Esso Baton Rouge (killing 3 of 62) at 0844 hours. Far to the south, Italian submarine Calvi sank US tanker Eugene V. R. Thayer with a torpedo and 120 shells from her deck gun 20 miles off the northern coast of Brazil. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Manus, Admiralty Islands. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 A Catalina flying boat spotted a Japanese carrier fleet approaching Trincomalee, Ceylon. On this news, British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire departed Trincomalee in an attempt to escape the impending attack. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 The P-40E fighter saw its first combat and first victory in Asia as Flight Leader Robert Little of 1st Pursuit Squadron shot down a Ki-43 aircraft over Leiyun (Loiwing), Yunnan Province, China. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Balikpapan, Borneo and took on fuel. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 272 RAF bombers (177 Wellington, 41 Hampden, 22 Stirling, 13 Manchester, 12 Halifax, and 7 Lancaster aircraft) conducted a raid on Hamburg, Germany; 4 Wellington and 1 Manchester aircraft were lost in this attack. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to make rendezvous with USS Hornet, which was en route to strike the Japanese home islands. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Pollack arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese Navy message that assigned fleet carrier Kaga to the campaign against a location with code name RZP. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-14 departed Reykjavík, Iceland; it was consisted of 24 merchant ships, escorted by 2 minesweepers and 3 anti-submarine trawlers. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 American submarine Seadragon delivered 20 tons of food to Corregidor in the Philippine Islands; on the return trip, she evacuated the final 21 radio intelligence personnel from the US Navy Station CAST facility. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese bombers and fighters attacked US II Corps positions digging in along the Alangan River at Bataan, Philippine Islands at 1100 hours, but these positions successfully repulsed the first Japanese assault shortly after; the Japanese would return with tank support, however, overrunning the line. The US Commander of the Luzon Force ordered all munition dumps at Mariveles Habor at Bataan destroyed, and medical staff began withdrawing to Corregidor island. 
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08 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet forces opened a railway link into Leningrad in northern Russia. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 German relief attempts toward the Kholm encirclement were met with limited success. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Norwegian Lutheran Bishop Eivind Berggrav was arrested by the German occupation administration in Norway for resistance. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thrasher sank Italian merchant ship Gala 20 miles southwest of Benghazi, Libya. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank US freighter Esparta within 10 kilometers of Cumberland Island, Georgia, United States at 0716 hours, killing 1 of 40 aboard. To the northeast, 20 kilometers off the coast of North Carolina, United States, U-160 sank US freighter Malchace at 0758 hours, killing 1 of 29 aboard. U-552 sank US tanker Atlas, killing 2 of 34 aboard. At 1004 hours, northwest of Iceland, U-252 sank Norwegian ship Fanefjeld, killing all 24 aboard. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Just before 1200 hours, eight B-26 Marauder bombers attacked Simpson Harbor and Vunakanau airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, damaging ships in the harbor, port facilities, and several parked aircraft. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 In the morning, eight Zero fighters attacked Seven Mile airfield new Port Moresby, Australian Papua, damaging one Hudson aircraft and one Kittyhawk aircraft on the ground. In the afternoon, Type 1 bombers escorted by four Zero fighters attacked Seven Mile once again; Australian fighters failed to scramble fighters. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Akagi launched air strikes against Trincomalee, Ceylon from the Indian Ocean. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Shokaku launched air strikes against Trincomalee, Ceylon from the Indian Ocean. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the harbor at Trincomalee, Ceylon at 0700 hours. Two hours later, empty British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire were detected 90 miles further south. At 1035 hours, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked and sank HMS Hermes (307 killed) and HMAS Vampire (9 killed); hospital ship Vita rescued survivors from both warships. At 1207 hours, 20 Japanese carrier dive bombers sank British oiler Athelstane (all aboard survived) and British corvette HMS Hollyhock (48 were killed, 17 survived) in the Indian Ocean. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Irako supplied food to auxiliary gunboat Okuyo Maru at Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Italian aircraft heavily damaged British destroyer HMS Lance at Malta; she would soon be written off as a total loss. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 75,000 US and Filipino troops, remainder of the US II Corps under General Edward King on the Bataan peninsula at Luzon, Philippine Islands, surrendered to the Japanese at 1230 hours; it was the largest American surrender in history. Before doing so, they destroyed fuel dumps, ammunition stores, submarine tender USS Canopus, tug USS Napa, and floating drydock USS Dewey. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Before dawn, Kuma was attacked by US motor torpedo boats PT-34 and PT-41 in the Cebu Strait between Cebu and Bohol in the Philippine Islands but sustained no damage; the only torpedo that hit Kuma failed to detonate. PT-34 would be found and destroyed by aircraft after daybreak, killing 2. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Repeated Soviet attacks on German positions at Kerch, Russia failed to break through. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet light cruiser Voroshilov was damaged by German aircraft at Novorossiysk, Russia. 
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09 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Worthing in southern England, United Kingdom during the day, damaging a hospital and a gasometer and killing 2. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Norwegian Lutheran Bishop Eivind Berggrav, having been arrested by the German occupation administration in Norway for resistance on the previous day, was sent to the Bredtvet Concentration Camp. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-654 sank British ship Empire Prairie in the middle of the North Atlantic at 0220 hours, killing all 49 aboard. 20 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, U-203 sank British tanker San Delfino with 7 torpedoes at 0508 hours; 28 were killed, 22 survived. In the same area, U-552 sank US tanker Tamaulipas at 0627 hours; 2 were killed, 35 survived. In the middle of the South Atlantic, German raider Thor stopped British vessel Kirkpool; Kirkpool's crew suffered no losses during the attack, but 16 would drown as the men abandoned ship; Thor rescued 30 survivors. Finally, Norwegian ship Chr. Knudsen disappeared some time during this day with her crew of 33; she was presumably sunk by German submarine U-85. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 6 of the Fourth Fleet. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Submarine Carbonero was ordered. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 The order to build submarine Becuna was issued. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese and Chinese troops clashed at Szuwa River, Burma. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov received light damage from German Ju 88 aircraft. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Thresher sank a Japanese merchant ship 6 miles north of Oshima Island, Japan. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-14 found itself scattered shortly after dawn after a stormy night; 16 ships decided to return to Iceland while 8 ships sailed on for Russia. On the same day, Allied convoy QP-10 departed Murmansk, Russia; it was consisted of 16 merchant ships, escorted by 5 destroyers, 3 corvettes, 1 minesweeper, and 2 trawlers; QP-10 was almost immediately detected by German aircraft. Far to the west, PQ-15 departed Oban, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Grayback completed her first war patrol. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 254 British bombers (167 Wellington, 43 Hampden, 18 Stirling, 10 Manchester, 8 Halifax, and 8 Lancaster) attacked Essen, Germany; most bombs fell on the nearby residential areas instead, destroying 12 houses, killing 7 civilians, and wounding a further 30. During this attack, an 8,000-pound bomb was used for the first time, dropped by a Halifax bomber of No. 76 Squadron. 7 Wellington, 5 Hampden, 1 Halifax, and 1 Manchester aircraft were lost. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Seletar Naval Base, Singapore. 
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10 Apr 1942 WW2 The Japanese, overwhelmed with 76,000 captives at Bataan on the main Philippine island of Luzon, decided to march the prisoners 25 miles to Balanga for further transport. Without food, water, or medical supplies and facing brutal treatment by the Japanese, the prisoners of war would die in large numbers, and this march would soon be named the Bataan Death March. Just off Luzon, minesweeper USS Finch, damaged by Japanese air attacks on the previous day, was scuttled by her crew. Elsewhere in the Philippine Islands, 12,000 Japanese troops landed on Cebu on three invasion beaches; the 6,500 defenders at Cebu City evacuated the capital and moved inland; Australia-based B-17 bombers attacked the invasion force to little effect. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 Fleet Admiral Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, former Chief of Naval General Staff, paid a call on Yamato. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Trout damaged Japanese tanker Nisshin Maru 5 miles off the southern coast of Japan. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Searaven evacuated 33 Australian Army personnel from Timor Island. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 damaged US tanker Gulfamerica within 5 kilometers of Jacksonville, Florida, United States at 0422 hours, killing 19 of 48 aboard; the burning hulk would finally sink 5 days later. German submarine U-203 damaged US tanker Harry F. Sinclair Jr. 20 kilometers southeast of Swansboro, North Carolina, United States at 1320 hours, killing 10 of 36 aboard; the hulk would later be towed for repairs. 20 kilometers further east, U-160 sank British ship Ulysses; all 290 aboard survived. German submarine U-103 sank Norwegian ship Grenanger in the middle of the Atlantic ocean at 1855 hours; all 36 aboard survived. Finally, off Brazil, Italian submarine Calvi sank Norwegian vessel Balkis. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Makassar, Celebes. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 Grunion was commissioned into service. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMT St. Cathan collided with Dutch freighter Hebe and sank 60 miles southeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 HMS Torbay attacked two Italian schooners with her deck gun northwest of Corfu, Greece, sinking Gesu Crocifisso and forcing Natalina to ground to prevent sinking. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 US A-20 Havoc bombers attacked Japanese shipping in the Gulf of Huon off Lae, Australian New Guinea, damaging transport Taijun Maru. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 German Ju 88 aircraft attacked Allied convoy QP-10, damaging ship Stone Street and sinking British ship Empire Cowper (19 were killed); a heavy snow storm prevented the Germans from launching another air attack on the Arctic convoy. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 Eight B-26 Marauder bombers took off from Port Moresby, Australian Papua at 0900 hours; one of them would return to base due to engine trouble. The remaining seven attacked Vunakanau airfield and Lakunai airfield near Rabaul, New Britain, causing minimal damage. As the bomber crews returned to base, they reported a sighting of a fleet carrier (most likely mis-identified Kasuga Maru), causing the commanders to scramble to prepare a major against the target. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 In Burma, British troops formed a new defensive line, Minhia-Taungdwingyi-Pyinmana, on the Irrawaddy River. After dark, the Japanese reached this line, launching a first attack on the Indian 48th Brigade at Kokkogwa. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Thresher provided a weather report on Tokyo, Japan for the Doolittle Raiders. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Akkeshi Bay, Hokkaido, Japan. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 Axis bombers attacked La Valletta harbor, Malta, wrecking British destroyer HMS Kingston in the dry dock. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 US Army Brigadier General Ralph Royce led 10 B-25 bombers and 3 B-17 bombers from Darwin, Australia to Mindanao, Philippine Islands; they were to be used for bombing Japanese forward positions. On the Bataan peninsula on the island of Luzon, 350 Filipino prisoners of war were killed by the Japanese north of Mount Samat during the Bataan Death March. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 A Soviet landing attempt near Eupatoria (Yevpatoria) near Sevastopol, Russia was halted by the Germans. 
0
11 Apr 1942 WW2 Alexander Novikov stepped down as the First Deputy to the Air Force Commander. 
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11 Apr 1942 WW2 The keel of carrier Crown Point was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey, United States. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 Pandit Nehru, leader of the Congress Party in India, promised resistance to the Axis. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-35 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her first war patrol. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-203 damaged Panamanian tanker Stanvac Melbourne 15 kilometers southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, United States at 0626 hours; 3 were killed, 45 survived. German submarine U-154 sank US freighter Delvalle south of Haiti at 0709 hours after a 9-hour pursuit. At 1921 hours, in U-130 sank US tanker Esso Boston in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean; all 37 aboard survived. Finally, Italian submarine Calvi sank Panamanian tanker Ben Brush off the coast of Brazil; 1 was killed, 34 survived. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 Three B-26 Marauder bombers were launched from Port Moresby, Australian Papua at dawn in search of the reported fleet carrier (most likely the mis-identified Kasuga Maru) at Rabaul, New Britain. At 0930, another group of four B-26 aircraft was launched. The two groups attacked Rabaul, causing little to no damage. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese attacks on Minhia, Thadodan, and Alebo on the Minhia-Taungdwingyi-Pyinmana defensive line in Burma were stopped by Anglo-Indian troops including the British 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. British tankers reported seeing captured British tanks pressed into Japanese service. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 4,000 Japanese troops landed at Manokwari, Dutch New Guinea; 125 Dutch troops fled into the jungle. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 251 British bombers (171 Wellington, 31 Hampden, 27 Stirling, 13 Halifax, and 9 Manchester) attacked Essen, Germany, damaging the Krupp factory and destroying 28 homes; 36 civilians were killed, 36 were injured. The British lost 10 bombers on this attack. 
0
12 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese carrier fleet began to depart from the Indian Ocean after a successful raid. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 The Japanese artillery bombardment of Corregidor island in the Philippine Islands began. Meanwhile, many US and Filipino prisoners of war continued to die while being marched northward during the Bataan Death March from starvation, dehydration, disease, and murders. To the south, on the island of Cebu, US and Filipino troops scuttled torpedo boat PT-35 and withdrew deeper into the mountains. 
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12 Apr 1942 WW2 Lieutenant John Brownewell of US 17th Pursuit Squadron, flying a P-40 fighter, scored the 37th and final confirmed victory by a P-40 fighter over the Philippines. The victory was achieved near Del Monte Airfield in northern Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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13 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank US freighter Leslie 5 kilometers southeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States at 0511 hours, killing 4 of 32 aboard. At 0745 hours, U-123 struck again, sinking Swedish ship Korsholm with her deck gun; 9 were killed, 17 survived. 400 miles south of Newfoundland, U-402 sank British ship Empire Progress at 2326 hours; 12 were killed, 38 survived. Just a short moment before midnight, just off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, US destroyer USS Roper detected U-85 and proceeded to attack; U-85 dove quickly, leaving 29 men in the water. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-154 sank British ship Empire Amethyst 40 miles south of Haiti at 0552 hours; all 47 aboard were killed. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Grayling sank Japanese vessel Ryujin Maru 60 miles south of Japan at 2100 hours. 
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13 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thrasher sank German freighter Atlas 82 miles southwest of Benghazi, Libya at 1012 hours; she was counterattacked with 19 depth charges but she was able to escape without damage. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarines attacked Allied convoy QP-10 150 miles north of Norway; U-436 sank Russian merchant ship Kiev at 1300 hours (6 were killed, 62 survived), and U-435 sank Panamanian ship El Occidente at 1329 hours (20 were killed, 21 survived). 
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13 Apr 1942 WW2 Milton Miles arrived in Brazil. 
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13 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops continued to assault the Minhia-Taungdwingyi-Pyinmana defensive line along the Irrawaddy River in Burma without success. To the northwest, troops of Japanese 56th Infantry Division captured Mauchi from troops of Chinese 6th Army and the nearby tungsten mines. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 Philippe Pétain, under German pressure, decided to reinstate Pierre Laval whom the Germans favored. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Lexington departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii to rendezvous with USS Yorktown for a raid on Rabaul. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: First commanding officer, Capt HF MacComsey USN, assumed command. 
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13 Apr 1942 WW2 US and Filipino prisoners of war began to be marched from Balanga for Orani in Bataan, Philippine Islands. To the south, Japanese artillery continued the bombardment of Corregidor island. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Wasp took on British Spitfire fighters at Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom in preparation for an aircraft ferrying mission to Malta. 
0
13 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Portland and Weymouth, England, United Kingdom during the day, damaging a number of homes. After dark, German bombers attacked Grimsby on the eastern coast of England, lasting until the next date. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 Pierre Laval was named Chief of Government with special powers in Vichy France. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Nimitz ordered USS Yorktown to Tongatapu, Tonga in the South Pacific; she was to support the defense of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. 
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14 Apr 1942 WW2 Just after 0000 hours US destroyer USS Roper sank U-85 with 11 depth charges just off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States; Roper was the first American destroyer to sink a German submarine. German submarine U-203 sank British freighter Empire Thrush 10 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 1515 hours; all 55 aboard survived. German submarine U-66 sank Greek ship Korthion off Barbados at 1636 hours; 14 were killed, 9 survived. Off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States, U-571 sank US freighter Margaret at 2102 hours, killing the entire crew of 29. British sloop HMS Stork and corvette HMS Vetch sank German submarine U-252 with depth charges 650 miles west of Brest, France at 2230 hours, killing all 44 aboard. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 Hudson bombers of No. 139 Squadron RAF attacked the Japanese flying-boat base on the Andaman Islands. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Wasp departed the Clyde Estuary, Scotland, United Kingdom with 52 Spitfire fighters of No. 601 and No. 603 Squadrons RAF on board for Malta; she was escorted by destroyers USS Lang and USS Madison. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Upholder became missing in the Mediterranean Sea somewhere between Italy and Libya; all 33 aboard were never seen again. She was either sunk by German aircraft or by Italian torpedo boat Pegaso. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 A German Fw 200 Condor aircraft located Allied convoy QP-10 at dawn; 20 Ju 88 aircraft attacked at 0600 hours, damaging the rudder of British freighter Harpalion (she would be scuttled shortly after) at the cost of 4 aircraft shot down. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack departed Fremantle, Australia for her third war patrol. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 12 British DB-7 Boston bombers damaged the Mondeville power station in Calvados, France during a daylight raid. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 208 British bombers (142 Wellington, 34 Hampden, 20 Stirling, 8 Halifax, and 4 Manchester) attacked Dortmund, Germany, damaging 6 buildings and killing 4 civilians. 9 bombers were lost in this attack. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the German Luftwaffe to recommence air attacks on United Kingdom with an emphasis of bombing cities with no particular industrial value but of great beauty. The British soon called these raids "Baedeker" raids after the famous German 19th-century tourist guide. 
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14 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-31 began her second war patrol off the Panama Canal Zone. 
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14 Apr 1942 WW2 US and Filipino prisoners of war began to arrive at Orani in Bataan, Philippine Islands from Balanga, where facilities were totally inadequate for the large numbers of prisoners that would ultimately arrive at this location; to combat the issue, the Japanese marched a group of prisoners to Lubao further north and were imprisoned in an abandoned warehouse (en route, many died from heat, starvation, dehydration, and murders by Japanese guards). To the south, Japanese artillery continued the bombardment of Corregidor island. 
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14 Apr 1942 WW2 The German bombing on Grimsby, England, United Kingdom that began before midnight on the previous date ended; it killed 13, injured 28, and destroyed a number of homes. 
0
14 Apr 1942 WW2 In a speech at a meeting with Franklin Roosevelt's representatives in London, England, United Kingdom, General Alan Brooke on behalf of the Chiefs-of-Staff Committee insisted that it must be essential to hold the Japanese and to ensure that there should be no junction between them and the Germans that could gravely threaten Allied oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. 
0
14 Apr 1942 RELIGIOUS Detroit radio priest, Father Charles E. Coughlin was censured for anti-Semitism. Coughlin's broadcasts had railed against "godless capitalists, the Jews, the Communists, international bankers and plutocrats."
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-575 sank US freighter Robin Hood 250 kilometers east of New Jersey, United States at 0338 hours, killing 14 of 38 aboard. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 German headquarters at Arras, France was attacked by members of the French Resistance. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 Orde Wingate returned to Maymyo, Burma from China. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 Wickes was commissioned into service. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 Alexander, Slim, and Stilwell met at Maymyo, Burma. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Lexington was assigned to US Navy Task Force 11. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-14, how down to 6 cargo ships and 2 tankers, was spotted by a German BV 138 flying boat. Later in the day, Fw 200 Condor aircraft relieved the BV 138 aircraft in keeping track of this convoy. They called in several air attacks, but none of them succeeded in sinking any ships. 
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15 Apr 1942 WW2 As Japanese troops began to push through the British Minhia-Taungdwingyi-Pyinmana defensive line along the Irrawaddy River in Burma and approached the oil-producing region of Yenangyaung, William Slim gave the order to destroy 1,000,000 gallons of crude oil to prevent Japanese capture while the British 7th Armoured Division pushed through Japanese road blocks to prepare men on the line to fall back. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 152 British bombers (111 Wellington, 19 Hampden, 15 Stirling, and 7 Manchester) attacked Dortmund, Germany for a second night in a row, destroying 1 home and killing 1 civilian. 4 bombers were lost on this attack. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station commissioned 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Akkeshi Bay, Hokkaido, Japan. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 King George awarded Malta the George Cross for heroism and devotion. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 A tunnel near the James and Morrison coastal gun batteries at Corregidor island, Philippine Islands collapsed from Japanese artillery bombardment, killing 70. To the north, the Japanese continued to transfer US and Filipino prisoners of war from Balanga to Orani and Lubao on the Bataan Peninsula, while the first arrivals at Orani and Lubao were now being marched north for San Fernando; en route, the prisoners continued to die from heat, dehydration, disease, and murders. At the southern island of Mindanao, motor torpedo boat PT-41 was scuttled by her own crew to prevent capture. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead departed Simon's Town, South Africa. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Impulse (Lieutenant Commander M. Lyons) departed Londonderry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom for New York, United States. 
0
15 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Middlesbrough in northeastern England, United Kingdom after dark, lasting until the next date. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 US Navy VF-3 squadron pilot Lieutenant (jg) Edward H. O'Hare was approved for a Medal of Honor for shooting down five Japanese bombers attempting to attack USS Lexington 460 miles northeast of New Britain on 20 Feb 1942. Later analysis showed that he had only shot down three in the engagement, however. 
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16 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank US freighter Alcoa Guide 200 kilometers east of North Carolina, United States, killing 6 of 34 aboard. At 1800 hours, U-572 sank Panamanian ship Desert Light 150 miles east of North Carolina; 1 was killed, 30 survived. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 USS R-1 detected German submarine U-582 on the surface and fired three torpedoes; her commanding officer claimed one of them hit, damaging the target. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops decisively defeated the 1st Burma Division near Yenangyaung, Burma. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 The burning hulk of US tanker Gulfamerica, damaged by German submarine U-123 off Jacksonville, Florida, United States, finally sank. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank Dutch tanker Amsterdam 60 miles west of Grenada at 1745 hours; 2 were killed, 38 survived. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Tambor sank Japanese freighter Kitami Maru 50 miles southeast of Kavieng, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-403 fired 5 torpedoes at Allied convoy PQ-14 and made 2 hits on the civilian commodore's ship Empire Howard 200 miles north of Norway at 1245 hours; 29 were killed, 37 survived. Many of victims were killed by depth charges meant to hit U-403. Captain W. H. Lawrence of merchant ship Briarwood took over the civilian commodore role as his predecessor E. Rees was also killed. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-81 sank French anti-submarine trawler Vikings 23 miles west of Beirut, French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon at 2038 hours; 41 were killed, 16 survived. At 2148 hours, U-81 struck again, sinking British ship Caspia; 27 were killed, 11 survived. At 2250 hours, U-81 attacked yet again, sinking three small Egyptian vessels. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 Saburo Sakai and other pilots of the Japanese Navy Tainan Air Group arrived at Rabaul, New Britain via the transport ship Komaki Maru. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 The 11th Battalion of the British Royal Marines landed on Koufonisi, Greece by destroyers, destroyed a German radio station, captured some documents and equipment, and embarked the ships. The destroyers, HMS Kelvin and HMS Kipling, returned to Alexandria, Egypt by 1830 hours. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent sank Italian transport Delia 3 miles off of Brindisi, Italy at 1751 hours. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy issued Order No. 18 for the capture of Midway and Aleutian Islands. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on Panay and Negros in the Philippine Islands before dawn. On Panay, lloilo City, Capiz, and the copper mines near San Jose were captured without resistance, but they found lloilo City in ruins, sabotaged by the retreating Filipino troops. 
0
16 Apr 1942 WW2 A large group of Polish artists and actors were arrested by the Germans in the Artists' Cafe in Krakow, Poland. 
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16 Apr 1942 WW2 The German bombing on Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom that began before midnight on the previous date ended; it injured 52, damaged some roads and homes, and caused interruptions to public utility services. During the day, the weekly Home Security Situation Report was filed, noting that for the week ending at 0600 hours on 15 Apr 1942, 20 were killed and 33 were seriously injured due to German bombing. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-123 sank US freighter Alcoa Guide with her surface guns 300 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0355 hours; 6 were killed, 27 survived. Elsewhere, U-201 damaged Argentine tanker Victoria 200 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 German government reduced the amount of provisions given to Soviet prisoners of war. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 American submarine Searaven began evacuating Australian troops from Timor, Dutch East Indies. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escaped from his castle prison in the Königstein Fortress. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 Submarine Snook was laid down at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank Panamanian tanker Heinrich von Riedemann 100 miles west of Grenada at 0523 hours; all 44 aboard survived. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet destroyers Sokrushitelny and Gremyashchy were transferred from Allied convoy QP-10 to convoy PQ-14 at 0430 hours. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 German aircraft sank Soviet troopship Svanetiya in the Black Sea; 750 were killed, 193 survived. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 William Slim launched a failed counterattack with the Indian 17th Division near Yenangyaung, Burma; he had wanted the counterattack to open up Japanese lines, to meet with troops of the 113th Regiment of Chinese 38th Division fighting to relieve Yenangyaung, and to allow the remnants of the 1st Burma Division to return to the main Allied lines. To the east, Japanese 56th Infantry Division and Chinese troops clashed at Bawlake and Pyinmana, Burma. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 12 Lancaster bombers from No. 44 Squadron RAF and No. 76 Squadron RAF attempted a low level daylight attack on the MAN diesel engine factory in Augsburg, Germany. 7 of the 12 aircraft were shot down by German fighters, while the remaining 5 accurately dropped the bombs on the target, though the damage caused was smaller than desired. This costly raid reinforced British Air Marshal Arthur Harris' feelings that daylight missions should be avoided. Elsewhere, 173 British bombers (134 Wellington, 23 Stirling, 11 Halifax, and 5 Manchester) attacked Hamburg, Germany; 23 civilians were killed, 66 were wounded; 8 bombers were lost during this attack. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz accepted Joseph Rochefort's hypothesis that Port Moresby, Australian Papua was likely the target of the suspected Japanese Navy operation against the location code named RZP. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 The task force carrying the Doolittle Raiders refueled at about 1,000 miles away from Tokyo, Japan. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 Two column of Japanese troops converged at Dumarao on Panay, Philippine Islands, completing the conquest of the eastern side of the island. 
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17 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Southampton, England, United Kingdom. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Michel stopped British tanker Patella with gunfire 136 miles east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at dawn, killing 3; the remaining crew of 60 were taken off before the ship was scuttled. German submarine U-136 damaged US tanker Axtell J. Byles 5 kilometers off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 General MacArthur was appointed to command the Southwest Pacific Theater. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Lexington ferried US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 and its F2A Buffalo aircraft to Palmyra Atoll, Line Islands. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Makassar, Celebes. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 The US Army Forces Far East became inactive. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Major General Charles F. B. Price arrived at Pago Pago, American Samoa to command the Headquarters Samoan Area Defense Force. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 François Darlan stepped down as the Vichy French Vice Premier as well as the Minister of the Navy. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 Hudson bombers of No. 139 Squadron RAF from Akyab island, Burma attacked Japanese facilities on the Andaman Islands which had been the Squadron's base until it was abandoned in Mar 1942. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 The I Group of the German Jagdgeschwader 27 wing was transferred for combat duties near Gazala, Egypt. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Wasp passed through the Strait of Gibraltar en route to Malta. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Torbay sank German army transport Bellona 60 miles east of Cape Colonna, Italy at 1125 hours. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 B-26 Marauder bombers of US 5th Air Force attacked Simpson Harbor and Lakunai airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago at 1030 hours. Akomaki Maru was sunk (killing 11), as was Komaki Maru as her load of aviation fuel detonated. Lakunai airfield received light damage. After the attack, 80 Australian prisoners of war were executed by the Japanese for having cheered during the attack. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 Although the 113th Regiment of the Chinese 38th Division under General Sun Liren and the British 7th Armoured Brigade had reached near Yenangyaung, Burma, they could not prevent the Japanese troops from capturing the city; the final elements of British troops fleeing out of the city destroyed the power station to prevent Japanese use. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 Pierre Laval became the 123rd Prime Minister of France. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 16 US Army Air Force B-25 bombers launched from USS Hornet attacked Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, and other targets in the Japanese home islands at about 1200 hours. Most of the bombers would fly on to crash land in or bail out over China, while one landed in Russia and the crew were interned by the Soviets, who had a non-aggression treaty in place with Japan. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 Submarine tender Taigei was lightly damaged by US air attack at Yokosuka, Japan; 7 casualties were recorded. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 The 1st Battalion of the 63rd Infantry Regiment of the 61st Philippine Division under Captain Julian Chaves pushed back Japanese troops at Mount Dila-Dila on Panay, Philippine Islands. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Mako, Pescadores Islands. 
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18 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Marlin arrived at New London, Connecticut, United States. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-136 sank US freighter Steel Maker 200 kilometers southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, killing 1 of 45 aboard. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Gar began her second war patrol. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-130 attempted to bombard oil storage tanks near Willemstad on the island of Curaçao but was driven away by coastal defense guns before any damage was done. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 Slim, Wavell, and Alexander met to start discussing plans for a major retreat of Allied personnel out of Burma. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 HMS Edinburgh arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 James Johnson shot down a German Fw 190 fighter. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 US and Filipino prisoners of war were loaded onto cramped freight trains from San Fernando to Camp O'Donnell at Capas, Tarlac, Philippine Islands; many died en route. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Umbra sank Italian ship Assunta de Gregori off Sfax, Tunisia. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 Off Palestine, German submarine U-81 sank a sailing vessel by gunfire at 1651 hours and sank sailing vessel Hefz el Rahman by ramming at 2200 hours. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 ShCh-401 pursued a German convoy with torpedoes off Tanafjord, Norway, targeting tanker Forbach; the submarine was driven off by German mineseepers M 154 and M 251 before the attack was made. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 The 113th Regiment of the Chinese 38th Division under General Sun Liren captured Twingon, Burma then repulsed a Japanese counterattack that saw heavy casualties on both sides. To the east, Japanese 55th Infantry Division captured Pyinmana. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 Chiang Kaishek, Song Meiling, and Joseph Stilwell met at Maymyo, Burma. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 General Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol as his Soviet 33rd Army was on the brink of total destruction at Vyazma, Russia. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 The 7 surviving ships of Allied convoy PQ-14 arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 Less Carrier Division 5, which detached with screen to head for New Guinea for Operation MO, Akagi and the Striking Force departed Mako in high speed attempted pursuit of the carriers that had launched the Doolittle Raiders which had just struck the Tokyo Bay area on the previous day. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Mako, Pescadores Islands to participate in Operation MO in the Coral Sea commencing 20 Apr 1942. 
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19 Apr 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe group III./KG 27 returned to Kherson, Ukraine after operating against the Soviet salient at Izium in northeastern Ukraine. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-654 sank Swedish ship Agra and US freighter Steel Maker off the east coast of the United States. Not too far away, U-572 sank British ship Empire Dryden and U-109 sank British ship Harpagon. 75 miles north of the Turks and Caicos Island east of Cuba, U-154 sank empty Canadian ship Vineland. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 An assassination attempt on the head of French Fascist organization Jacques Doriot took place; it resulted in failure. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Lexington arrived in the South Pacific. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 German Jews were banned from using public transportation. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Kupang, Timor and then departed later on the same day. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Hammann arrived at Tongatapu, Tonga. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 Major General George Brett assumed command of Allied air forces in Australia. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Tongatapu, Tonga. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Taunggyi, Burma, capital of the southern Shan States, along with its large gasoline store. In central Burma, troops of the Japanese 56th Division pushed Chinese troops out of Loikaw, while troops of the Japanese 18th Division clashed with Chinese troops at Kyidaunggan. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Wasp delivered 46 Spitfire fighters to Malta; most of them would be destroyed in combat within days. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Trident sank German freighter Hödur 1.5 miles off the coast near Namsos, Norway at about 1200 hours. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 A Type 96 240mm howitzer was brought to the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon, Philippine Islands by the Japanese for the purpose of bombarding the island of Corregidor. On the same day, on the island of Panay, Japanese Army troops declared the island secure. 
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20 Apr 1942 WW2 German troops broke out of the Demyansk Pocket in Russia through the Ramushevo corridor. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 Large number of Japanese warships were dispatched in search for the carriers that launched the Doolittle Raiders. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 US President Roosevelt ordered the seizure of all patents owned by enemy nations. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Torbay sank German ship Delpa II 12 miles north of Crete, Greece at 1536 hours with her surface guns; Germans counterattacked with coastal guns followed by the dispatch of two torpedo boats, but Torbay would be able to dive and escape. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-84 sank Panamanian ship Chenango 30 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0300 hours; 30 were killed, 2 survived. At 0236 hours, U-201 sank Norwegian ship Bris in the middle of the North Atlantic; 5 were killed, 21 survived. German submarine U-752 sank US freighter West Imboden 150 kilometers east of Boston, Massachusetts, United States; all 35 aboard survived. Meanwhile, German submarine U-459 departed from Germany on a resupplying mission for other submarines; she was the first of such supply submarines in the German Navy. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-576 sank US freighter Pipestone County 450 kilometers east of Virginia, United States at 1854 hours; all 35 aboard survived and were rescued by US Coast Guard cutter Calypso. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft based in Rabaul, New Britain attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese 18th Division captured Kyidaunggan, Burma from Chinese troops. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 20 French civilians were killed by Germans at Saint-Nazaire, France in retaliation of the 28 Mar 1942 raid by British commandos. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese Navy radio message noting that Carrier Division 5 (Shokaku and Zuikaku) were being detached from the Mobile Force for operations with the 4th Fleet in the South Pacific. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-10 arrived at Reykjavík, Iceland. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-35 remained off Paramushiro, Hokkaido, Japan in the Kurile Islands due to heavy fog. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 Axis aircraft sank British anti-submarine trawler HMT Jade at Grand Harbour, Malta. 
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21 Apr 1942 WW2 The newspaper San Francisco News reported that the city government of San Francisco, California, United States was considering the banning the employment of Japanese-Americans. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine M-173 sank German ship Blankenese in the Barents Sea 3 miles off the northeastern tip of Norway. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Sailfish departed with ammunition for the American troops at Corregidor in the Philippine Islands; the island garrison would surrender before this mission was completed. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Ambon, Maluku Islands and then departed later on the same day. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 In order to ensure continuing supplies to China, Assam in India, and Burma, China Ferry Command was established to airlift essential needs over the Himalayan "Hump" route. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-201 sank US freighter San Jacinto 375 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0329 hours, killing 14 of 183 aboard. Hours later, at 0905 hours, U-201 struck again, sinking British ship Derryheen; all 51 aboard survived. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-81 sank four small sailing vessels 20 miles west of Palestine during the course of the day. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Lexington arrived at Tongatapu, Tonga. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 British troops fell back to Meiktila, Burma while Indian 17th Infantry Division fell back from Taungdwingyi to Mahlaing to protect Mandalay. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 Canadian and British troops raided the beaches near Boulogne, France in Operation Abercrombie, which failed to capture any German prisoners for interrogation and failed to destroy searchlight equipment. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 64 British Wellington bombers and 5 Stirling bombers attacked Köln (Cologne), Germany using the new Gee radio transmitter system for blind navigation and bombing. About 15 aircraft were able to bomb accurately, killing 4 civilians and wounding 8, while a few bombers released their bombs as far as 10 miles from Köln. Two Wellington bombers were lost during this raid. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii detected a concentration of Japanese warships at Rabaul, New Britain, including five carriers; while they correctly determined that Shokaku, Zuikaku, and Shoho being at Rabaul, they had mistakenly placed two others (including Kaga) at this location. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 Akagi arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-35 remained off Paramushiro, Hokkaido, Japan in the Kurile Islands due to heavy fog. 
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22 Apr 1942 WW2 German and Italian aircraft attacked Malta. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 In a secret session of the British House of Commons, Churchill delivered a speech declaring that the liberation of Europe was "the main war plan" of Britain and the United States. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 The Kenedy Alien Detention Camp in Texas, United States began receiving Axis prisoners of war. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 South Africa broke diplomatic relations with Vichy France. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 The German government ordered that all boys between the age of 14 and 16 and girls between the age of 16 and 17 to perform mandatory agricultural service. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 Captain Shinshiro Soma was named the commanding officer of submarine tender Taigei. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed Ambon, Dutch East Indies. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-565 sank British ship Kirkland 35 miles northeast of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 0255 hours; 1 was killed, 22 survived. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 Before dawn, German armed merchant cruiser Michel launched torpedo boat LS-4 Esau to attack US tanker Connecticut in the middle of the South Atlantic, which successfully sank the tanker with two torpedoes; 36 were killed, 18 survived. At 2053 hours, German submarine U-125 sank US ship Lammot Du Pont 500 miles southeast of Bermuda; 6 were killed, 48 survived. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-401 attacked a German supply convoy just off Gamvik in northern Norway, sinking Norwegian merchant ship Stensaas (all aboard survived). Later on the same day, ShCh-401 attacked German submarine chaser UJ 1110, but was driven off by UJ 1110's depth charges. ShCh-401 reported in her position in the evening, but it would be the last time she was heard from; she likely ran into a minefield shortly after the report. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 Chinese mercenary troops under Allied command attacked Taunggyi, Burma while Japanese 56th Division captured Loilem. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 No. 1 Squadron of Soviet 95th Fighter Aviation Regiment attacked the German airfield at Luostari, Finland, destroying 17 aircraft (16 of which on the ground). 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 161 RAF aircraft (93 Wellington, 31 Stirling, 19 Whitley, 11 Hampden, 6 Manchester, and 1 Lancaster bombers) conducted a raid on Rostock, Germany; 143 of them attacked the town while 18 attacked the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory, both with extremely poor results. Four bombers were lost during this attack. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-35 was spotted by a Japanese submarine in the Kurile Islands and was subjected to a depth charge attack. 
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23 Apr 1942 WW2 Luftwaffe began attacking "cathedral cities" in Britain, starting with Exeter, England, United Kingdom. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 Jews were prohibited from using public transportation in Germany; exception was made for Jewish forced laborers whose workplace is more than 7 kilometers from their homes, but seats were still off limits to them. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Exeter, England. 
0
24 Apr 1942 WW2 American troops landed in French New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Davao, Philippine Islands. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 At Delhi, India, Orde Wingate noted his preference of a proactive long range penetration strategy for his irregular troops. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was named the acting Chief of Staff as his superior Boris Shaposhnikov had fallen ill. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-136 sank British ship Empire Drum 280 miles southeast of New York, United States at 2348 hours; all 41 aboard survived. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 Zero fighters of the Japanese Navy Tainan Air Group (based in Rabaul, New Britain) attacked Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua, shooting down 3 Kittyhawk fighters in combat and destroying 1 PBY Catalina and 2 B-26 Marauder aircraft on the ground. Later in the day, four B-17E Flying Fortress bombers of US 30th Bomb Squadron arrived at Seven Mile in preparation for a raid on Rabaul, New Britain on the next day. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese 18th Infantry Division captured Yamethin, Burma. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 91 British bombers attacked Rostock, Germany for the second night in a row, causing damage in the town, but the aircraft attacking the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory again failed to do much damage. One Hampden bomber was lost during this attack. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii had intercepted Japanese Navy radio messages mentioning the existence of task forces bearing names such as MO Covering Force, MO Attack Force, RZP Occupation Force, RXB Occupation Force, etc. Rochefort would quickly arrive at the hypothesis that these task forces were organized for an attack in the Port Moresby, Australian Papua region. 
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24 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-35 approached Paramushiro, Hokkaido, Japan in the Kurile Islands. 
0
24 Apr 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille returned to his unit at Martuba, Libya after a period of home leave. 
0
24 Apr 1942 WW2 12 British RAF DB-7 Boston bombers attacked Vlissingen, the Netherlands, damaging docks without any losses. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise arrived at Pearl Harbor after conducting the Doolittle Raid. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor after conducting the Doolittle Raid. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Davao, Philippine Islands. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-108 sank British ship Modesta 110 miles northwest of Bermuda at 0831 hours; 18 were killed, 23 survived. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Spearfish sank Japanese freighter Toba Maru near the mouth of the Lingayen Gulf in the Philippine Islands. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 27 Japanese bombers, escorted by 15 fighters, attacked the airfield near Darwin, Australia; fighters of the US 49th Pursuit Group, flying P-40 Warhawk fighters, shot down 10 bombers and 2 fighters without any losses. 
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25 Apr 1942 WW2 Four B-17E Flying Fortress bombers of US 30th Bomb Squadron were launched from Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua at 0300 hours to attack Rabaul, New Britain; one of them would ran off the runway in the darkness and became stuck in thick mud, while another crashed into Mount Obree. At 0800 hours, Zero fighters attacked Seven Mile and destroyed the stuck bomber. 
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25 Apr 1942 WW2 Alexander, Slim, and Stilwell met at Kyaukse, Burma, 25 miles south of Mandalay. It was decided that all Allied troops were to be pulled out of Burma, but Slim demanded that no British nor Indian units would be withdrawn to China even if the Chinese border was closer to that of India's. Meanwhile, Japanese and Chinese troops clashed at Loilem, central Burma. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Chuichi Hara arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Troops of the Japanese 22nd Infantry Division began to conduct a search in Zhejiang and Jiangxi Provinces on the Chinese coast, burning down and massacring entire villages suspected of assisting the Doolittle Raiders. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 110 British bombers attacked Rostock, Germany for the third night in a row, causing damage in the town and the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Karl von Le Suire was awarded the German Cross in Gold. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Various Italian naval units began departing Italy by road to Vienna, Austria for the ultimate destination the Black Sea via the Danube River. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Captain Taijiro Aoki relieved Captain Hasegawa as the commanding officer of carrier Akagi. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her third voyage for the Japanese Navy. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two fighters north of Ain el Gazala, Libya, first piloted by Squadron Leader Osgood Hanbury (his 53rd kill) and the second piloted by Sergeant Wareham (his 54th kill). 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 The final US-Filipino stronghold on the island of Luzon in the Philippine Islands, Corregidor, while already under daily bombardment for the past two weeks, began to be subjected to night-time bombardment as well. At 2200 hours, two 240-millimeter shells hit the opening of a tunnel leading into the underground command center, killing 15. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 The large group of Polish artists and actors arrested in Krakow, Poland were put on a transport for Auschwitz Concentration Camp. 
0
25 Apr 1942 WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Bath, England, United Kingdom. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 Luftwaffe bombers conducted a raid on Bath, England. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Tautog sank Japanese submarine RO-30. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was promoted to the rank of colonel general. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank US ship Alcoa Partner 80 miles north of Bonaire in the Caribbean Sea at 0830 hours; 10 were killed, 25 survived. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 Destroyer USS Sturtevant departed Key West, Florida, United States at 1520 hours to make rendezvous with a convoy sailing from New Orleans, United States; at about 1720 hours, 18 miles north of Key West, Sturtevant struck three mines previously laid by USS Miantonomah and sank; 20 were killed, 132 survived. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 In Burma, the Indian 17th Division moved from Mahlaing to Meiktila, 20 miles to the south, to assist the Chinese 200th Division in forming a line of defense against the Japanese attack on Mandalay. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 8 Pe-3 bombers of No. 2 Squadron of Soviet 95th Fighter Aviation Regiment attacked the German airfield at Heybukten, Finland, destroying 6 German aircraft; en route home, the Soviet bombers were intercepted by German Bf 109 fighters; 5 Pe-3 bombers were shot down. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 A law passed by the German Reichstag granted Hitler the right to change laws by decree without discussion by the Reichstag. The German dictator had now been given complete despotic power and Germany has ceased to be a state whose structure was based on the rule of law. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 Five prisoners of war escaped from the military hospital at Gnaschwitz, Germany. Four would be recaptured, but the fifth, Belgian Captain Louis Rémy would make it to Algeciras, Spain. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 106 British bombers attacked Rostock, Germany for the fourth and final night in a row, causing damage in the town and the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory. 1 Stirling, 1 Wellington, and 1 Whitley bombers were lost during this attack. At the end of the four-day attack, Rostock suffered 1,765 buildings destroyed, 204 civilians killed, and 89 civilians injured. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-15, consisted of 24 merchant ships, 1 fleet auxiliary oiler, and 2 icebreakers departed Reykjavík, Iceland for Murmansk, Russia with 4 destroyers, 1 corvette, 3 minesweepers, 4 trawlers, 1 catapult aircraft merchantman, and 1 anti-aircraft ship in escort. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 HMS Edinburgh embarked 5 tons of Soviet gold worth about £5,000,000 at Murmansk, Russia; it was meant to be the down payment for US war goods. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 The PPS submachine gun began to be tested. 
0
26 Apr 1942 WW2 US Navy Admirals Nimitz and King met in San Francisco, California to discuss Nimitz's plan in the South Pacific. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Norwich, England, United Kingdom. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown departed for Coral Sea. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Hammann departed Tongatapu, Tonga as a part of Task Force 17. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 While off Attu, US Territory of Alaska in the Aleutian Islands, USS S-35's cook was diagnosed with mumps, forcing the submarine to return to base. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked the airfield near Darwin, Australia; 3 Japanese bombers and 4 escorting fighters were shot down by the US fighters assigned to the airfield, while the Americans lost 4 P-40 fighters. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 9 Japanese Type 1 bombers and 11 Zero fighters attacked Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua, destroying 3 A-24 and 1 B-26 aircraft. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Astoria departed Tongatapu, Tonga to join Task Force 11. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 A major mining disaster in Manchukuo in Japanese-occupied northeastern China resulted in the death of 1,527 miners. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 RAF conducted a 100-bomber raid on Rostock, Germany; it was the fourth consecutive nightly raid on Rostock. Over Köln (Cologne), 97 British bombers (76 Wellington, 19 Stirling, 2 Halifax) dropped bombs and damaged 1,520 homes and killed 11; 7 bombers were lost. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii reported that the Japanese Navy had changed call signs of some major warships, possibly indicating that a major operation was about to take place. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii decrypted a radio message from Nobutake Kondo to Tokyo, Japan requesting navigation charts of the Aleutian Islands area and latest intelligence at AOE and KCN (which was determined to be Dutch Harbor and Kodiak in the Aleutian Islands). 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese Naval General Staff reviewed the preliminary proposal a underwater aircraft carrier. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 31 British Halifax and 12 Lancaster bombers attacked German battleship Tirpitz and other ships at Trondheimsfjord near Trondheim in Norway to little effect. 5 bombers were lost during this attack. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 The first of 127 Polish female political prisoners arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. They were imprisoned in Block 8. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 Troops of the Australian Sparrow Force on Portuguese Timor, now waging a guerrilla war against the Japanese, received supplies by Australian aircraft. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-11, consisted of 13 merchant ships, departed northern Russia. 
0
27 Apr 1942 WW2 At Murmansk, Russia, HMS Edinburgh embarked wounded merchant mariners, British Army personnel (who had trained Soviet counterparts), British Royal Air Force personnel (who also trained their Soviet counterparts), and Czechoslovakians and Polish nationals who had fled German occupation. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Coast Watchers reported that a Japanese flying boat base was being built in the upper Solomon Islands. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel received the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 HMS Edinburgh departed Murmansk, Russia. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-15, which had departed Iceland two days prior, was joined by British battleship HMS King George V, American battleship USS Washington, British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious, 5 cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 4 submarines for its journey toward Murmansk, Russia; the convoy was spotted by German aircraft 200 miles northwest of Tromsø, Norway. On the same day, returning convoy QP-11 departed Kola Inlet in northern Russia; it was consisted of 13 merchant ships and was escorted by 6 destroyers, 4 corvettes, 1 trawler, and 4 minesweepers. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-136 sank Dutch ship Arundo 30 miles southeast of New York, New York, United States at 1535 hours; 6 were killed, 37 survived. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Corallo sank Tunisian fishing boats Dar El Salam and Tunis with the deck gun off Cape Bon, Tunisia after taking off the crews. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-35 sailed west from Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska in response to a reported Japanese invasion fleet in the western Aleutian Islands, starting her second war patrol. 
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28 Apr 1942 WW2 At 1100 hours, Coast Watchers reported incoming Japanese aircraft flying south from the Lae, New Guinea area. Shortly after, 8 Japanese Type 1 bombers and 11 Zero fighters attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. In the ensuing combat, two of the Kittyhawk fighters attempted to engage in dogfights with Zero fighters at a high altitude, which caused their engines to stall, leading to the two fighters' crash. After the attack, Port Moresby personnel discovered one of the Japanese bombers had delivered a bag containing 395 letters written by prisoners of war kept in Rabaul, New Britain; actually two khaki bags of mail were dropped, but one of them fell in the water. 
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28 Apr 1942 WW2 Troops of the Chinese 28th Division arrived at Lashio in northern Burma. To the west, the Indian 17th Division crossed the Irrawaddy River at Sameikkon, Burma on its retreat toward India; Chinese 38th Division and British 7th Armoured Brigade formed a line between Sagaing and Ondaw to guard the retreat. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 The German Reichstag passed the legislation marking Adolf Hitler as the "Supreme Judge of the German People," formalizing his status above the law. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 88 British bombers (62 Wellington, 15 Stirling, 10 Hampden, 1 Halifax) attacked Kiel, Germany, destroying all three main shipyard facilities and killing 15; 6 bombers were destroyed in his mission. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese Naval General Staff's technology sub-committee reviewed the preliminary proposal of a underwater aircraft carrier. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Naka departed Seletar Naval Base, Singapore and arrived at Keppel Harbor, Singapore. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Axis aircraft attacked Malta, sinking British tug HMS West Dean. 
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28 Apr 1942 WW2 21 British Halifax and 12 Lancaster bombers attacked German battleship Tirpitz at Trondheim, Norway; two Halifax bombers were destroyed. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Takao, Taiwan. 
0
28 Apr 1942 WW2 The historic Guildhall in York, England, United Kingdom was destroyed by fire started by a German air raid on the city. 
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28 Apr 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Dragonet was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-108 pursued US tanker Mobiloil from 0900 hours to 1645 hours, finally sinking her 400 kilometers north to Puerto Rico with the sixth torpedo expended in this effort; all 53 aboard survived. 
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29 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force departed Rabaul, New Britain aboard transports for the invasion of the RAAF seaplane base at Tulagi, Solomon Islands. On the same day, other transports at Rabaul embarked equipment necessary to build a new base at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. In Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team intercepted a radio message from Isoroku Yamamoto to Shigeyoshi Inoue regarding Operation MO, in which Yamamoto made mention of northern Australia, thus giving Rochefort confidence regarding the hypothesis that Operation MO's target was Port Moresby. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 The Tenderloo chemical works in Belgium was destroyed by a resistance group, killing over 250 people. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 The rate of German retaliatory executions of Belgians was reported to be 25 to 30 per month. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 Soviet forces launched a counter offensive near Kursk, Russia. 
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29 Apr 1942 WW2 British sailing vessel Terpsithea struck a mine (laid by German submarine U-562 on 13 Apr 1942) in Famagusta Bay, Cyprus in the evening; as British tug Alliance approached the damaged sail for rescue, she also hit a mine at 1945 hours and sank, killing 3. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 Lansdowne was commissioned into service. 
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29 Apr 1942 WW2 Admiral Ernest King established the South Pacific Amphibious Force composed primarily of the 1st Marine Division. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank Panamanian tanker Harry G. Seidel 50 miles west of Grenada; 2 were killed, 48 survived. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 4 minesweepers departed from the close escort force of Allied convoy QP-11 off northern Russia; later on the same day, the convoy was spotted by a German Ju 88 aircraft. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 In the morning, Three US B-28 bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, destroying five Zero fighters on the ground and damaged four more. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
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29 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese 18th Infantry Division captured Kyaukse, Burma just south of Mandalay. To the west, Japanese 33rd Infantry Division pursued the Anglo-Indian withdraw across the Irrawaddy River toward India. To the north, 100 kilometers south of the border with China, Japanese 56th Infantry Division captured Lashio midday. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 88 British bombers (73 Wellington, 9 Hampden, 6 Stirling) attacked the Gnome et Rhône aircraft engine factory near Paris, France; one building was destroyed and three buildings damaged at the cost of 3 bombers destroyed. 
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29 Apr 1942 WW2 Nachi was made the flagship of Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya of the 5th Fleet. She departed Yokosuka, Japan later in the day. 
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29 Apr 1942 WW2 Naka entered the drydock at Keppel Harbor, Singapore. 
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29 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippine Islands. To the north at the island of Luzon, minesweeper USS Finch was damaged by Japanese air attacks. A large scale artillery and aerial bombardment was conducted at the island of Corregidor at the tip of Bataan Peninsula, Luzon. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Norwich, England, United Kingdom. 
0
29 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Wasp arrived at Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, completing Operation Calendar. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed from Truk to support the Port Moresby, New Guinea invasion. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 Zuikaku departed from Truk to support the Port Moresby, New Guinea invasion. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise sailed toward Coral Sea, but would arrive too late to participate in the upcoming battle. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 USS Hornet sailed toward Coral Sea, but would arrive too late to participate in the upcoming battle. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at Berchtesgaden in southern Germany to discuss Mediterranean strategy; priority was given to capturing the Suez Canal and neutralizing Malta. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano noted that Hitler appeared to be very tired. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 Indiana was commissioned into service. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-456 damaged HMS Edinburgh, escorting Allied convoy QP-11, with two torpedoes (one hitting amidships and another ripped off the stern) in the Norwegian Sea 200 miles north of Murmansk, Russia at 1618 hours. She was carrying £5,000,000 worth of Soviet gold meant as down payment for US weapons and other war supplies. HMS Edinburgh sailed for Murmansk at the slow speed of 3 knots, escorted by two British destroyer and two Soviet destroyers. U-456 ran out of torpedoes thus could not make further attacks, but the submarine remained near the convoy to report in the convoy's position. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 24 British DB-7 Boston bombers attacked Flushing in the Netherlands and Abbeville, Morlaix, and Le Havre in France. All aircraft returned safely. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 German submarine U-162 sank British tanker Athelempress 180 miles east of Barbados at 0152 hours; 3 were killed, 19 survived. At 0336 hours, 18 miles south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States, U-402 sank Soviet ship Ashkhabad; all 47 survived. German submarine U-507 sank US tanker Federal 5 miles north of Gibara, Cuba at 1810 hours, killing 5 of 33 aboard. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 Friedrich Paulus began planning for Operation Fridericus, an offensive south of Kharkov, Ukraine. The launch date for this operation was set for 18 May 1942. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 A German Fw 200 Condor aircraft spotted Allied convoy PQ-15 250 miles southwest of Bear Island, Norway. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 Wilhelm was killed in action on the Eastern Front. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 USS S-35 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her first war patrol. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 U-576 sank Norwegian ship Taborfjell about 95 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States at 0737 hours; 17 were killed, 3 survived. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 B-26 Marauder bombers of US 22nd Bomb Group moved from Reid River field near Townsville, Australia to Port Moresby, Australian Papua in preparation of a raid on Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 A group of P-39D Airacobra fighters arrived to reinforce Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 In western Burma, Chinese 38th Division began to move westward to join the Anglo-Indian troops already en route for India. After the tanks of the British 7th Armoured Division had successfully crossed the Ava Bridge over the Irrawaddy River, Chinese troops blew up the bridge to slow the Japanese pursuit. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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30 Apr 1942 WW2 At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort sent Chester Nimitz a report regarding Rochefort's hypothesis that the Japanese might soon be striking at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. Since radio intercepts made mention of multiple targets, he concluded that Tulagi in the Solomon Islands was also a likely target. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 Two PBY Catalina aircraft from Mindanao evacuated 50 personnel (including 20 nurses) from Corregidor, Philippine Islands as the island was again subjected to a large scale artillery and aerial bombardment. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Takao, Taiwan. 
0
30 Apr 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Norwich, England, United Kingdom for the second consecutive day. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Eleven Japanese transports departed Rabaul, New Britain for the invasion of Port Moresby, Australian Papua; they were escorted by seven cruisers and one light carrier; on the same day, Type 1 and Type 6 land attack aircraft of Genzan Air Group arrived at Rabaul for future use with the Port Moresby invasion. On the same day, three B-26 Marauder bombers of US 22nd Bomb Group struck Rabaul, causing minor damage to an airfield. Tulagi in the Solomon Islands, another target of the Japanese offensive operation, was bombed by Japanese aircraft, destroying one Australian PBY Catalina aircraft. Near the New Hebrides islands, US Navy Task Force 11 (containing carrier Lexington) and Task Force 17 (containing carrier Yorktown) made rendezvous. At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort furnished a report for Chester Nimitz and Ernest King that noted Port Moresby as the likely Japanese target, northern Australia was not being targeted for now, and Japanese reconnaissance operations seemed to be targeting Hawaiian Islands and Aleutian Islands. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese code book change, originally set to take place on this date, was delayed. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 HMS King George V, in thick Atlantic fog, accidentally rammed and sank HMS Punjabi 165 miles northeast of Iceland at 1545 hours. HMS Punjabi was broken in half, with the stern sinking, depth charges exploding meanwhile, killing 49. The forward piece remained afloat for some time, allowing 169 people to be taken off. An additional 40 survivors were picked from the sea. HMS King George V suffered a 40-foot gash in the bow, forcing her to leave her convoy escort station to sail for Britain for repairs. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Kapitän zur See Martin Balzer took command of cruiser Köln. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps 8th Defense Battalion arrived at Wallis Island from Tutuila, American Samoa. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 US Task Force 17 was established under command of Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher to operate in the Coral Sea. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Slim met with Alexander at Monywa, Burma. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-752 sank Norwegian ship Bidevind 75 miles southeast of New York, United States at 0543 hours; all 36 aboard survived. 370 miles northeast of Bermuda, U-69 attacked Canadian sailing boat James E. Newsom on the surface with her deck gun at 1728 hours, forcing the crew of 9 to abandon ship. At 2046 hours, U-162 sank Brazilian ship Parnahyba near Trinidad; 7 were killed, 65 survived. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 USS Triton sank Japanese auxiliary transport Calcutta Maru in the western Pacific Ocean east of China at 1645 hours. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 USS Grenadier, mistaking Soviet ship Angarstroy for a Japanese ship, sank her in the Pacific Ocean; 60 survived and were rescued by Japanese ship Kayo Maru. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 A Hudson bomber of British No. 233 Squadron based at Gibraltar damaged German submarine U-573 with depth charges 40 miles northwest of Ténès, Algeria at 1556 hours. The British dispatches destroyers HMS Wishart and HMS Wrestler to finish off the submarine, while the Germans dispatched U-74 and U-375 and the Italians dispatched submarines Emo and Mocenigo to assist. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Four Ju 88 aircraft attacked Allied convoy QP-11 at 0540 hours 150 miles southeast of Bear Island, Norway; all torpedoes missed. At 1345 hours, German destroyers Z7 Hermann Schoemann, Z24, and Z25 were sighted; the first round of the exchange of torpedoes by QP-11 and the Allied escorts at 1407 hours all missed, but a shortly after British destroyer HMS Amazon was hit by gunfire and Russian freighter Tsiolkovsky was sunk by torpedo. Through 1742 hours, the German destroyed attempted to close in five more times, but they were not successful; they broke off after 1742 hours to pursue HMS Edinburgh in the direction of Murmansk, Russia. Elsewhere, six German Ju 88 bombers attacked Allied convoy PQ-15 west of Norway at 2200 hours without success, losing one aircraft in the process. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 USS Washington suffered slight damage northeast of Iceland during the accident which saw HMS King George V ramming HMS Punjabi, detonating Punjabi's depth charges. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Japanese 18th Infantry Division captured Mandalay, Burma. 300 kilometers the northeast, Japanese and Chinese troops clashed at Hsenwi. 50 miles west of Mandalay, Japanese troops blocked the British retreat at Monywa on the Chindwin River and then attacked from the rear by surprise, capturing the headquarters of the 1st Burma Division. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Truk, Caroline Islands with Zuikaku to participate in Operation MO. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 In Berlin, the German High Command recorded that units on the Eastern Front were currently 308,000 men understrength. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Karl von Le Suire was awarded the Eastern Front Medal. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and later in the day arrived at Midway Atoll. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Captain Takayanagi, commanding officer of battleship Yamato, was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. During this month, battleship Yamato would remain in the Inland Sea in Japan to conduct gunnery practice and to host Admiral Yamamoto and other officers for Midway war games. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille received his citation of promotion to the rank of Oberleunant. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 In the Philippine Islands, Corregidor was subjected to heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, while Japanese troops defeated the Filipino 61st Infantry Regiment on the southern island of Mindanao. 
0
01 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Kirun (now Keelung), Taiwan. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Roosevelt extended the Lend-Lease Act to include Iraq and Iran. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Goebbels noted in his diary that the term "Baedecker attacks", named after a popular travel guide and used here to suggest that the German bombers targeted British cultural centers, should be banned by his propaganda ministry. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Already-damaged HMS Edinburgh, carrying £5,000,000 worth of Soviet gold meant as down payment for US weapons and other war supplies, was spotted by German destroyers Z7 Hermann Schoemann, Z24, and Z25 at 0630 hours. In the ensuing engagement, Edinburgh hit Z7 while destroyer HMS Forester was hit by Z7's torpedo and destroyer HMS Foresight was hit by shellfire. Z7 would be scuttled at 0830 hours. HMS Edinburgh suffered a torpedo hit which killed 57. Now structurally unsound, she was scuttled by HMS Harrier and HMS Foresight at 0900 hours. The gold also went to the bottom of the Barents Sea. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-573, seriously damaged by aerial depth charges from a British Hudson aircraft on the previous day, arrived at Cartagena, Spain. The submarine and her crew were interned by the Spanish authorities. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-74, dispatched to rescue the damaged submarine U-573, was attacked and sunk by British destroyers HMS Wishart and HMS Wrestler 60 miles southeast of Cartagena, Spain; all 47 aboard were killed. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 USS Drum sank Japanese seaplane carrier Mizuho 90 miles southeast of Tokyo, Japan at 0416 hours; 101 were killed, 472 survived. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 USS Trout sank Japanese freighter Uzan Maru 134 miles southwest of Tokyo, Japan. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS St Albans and minesweeper HMS Seagull, while escorting Allied convoy PQ-15, attacked an ASDIC contact 200 miles northwest of Tromsø, Norway at 1950 hours. As the target surfaced, she turned out to be Polish submarine Jastrzab, which suffered serious damage and 5 killed. The submarine was written off and scuttled shortly after the 35 survivors were taken off. On the same day, German torpedo bombers attacked PQ-15, sinking freighters Cape Corso, Jutland, and Botavon. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-402 sank US armed yacht Cythera 115 miles east of Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States, killing 69 of 71 aboard; the two survivors were captured by U-402 and taken to Germany as prisoners of war. During the day, the 36 survivors of Norwegian ship Bidevind, sunk by German submarine U-752 on the previous day off New York, United States, reached the US Coast Guard station near Toms River, New Jersey, United States by lifeboat. After sundown, at 2253 hours, U-66 sank Norwegian tanker Sandar 40 miles north of Trinidad; 3 were killed, 34 survived. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 7 B-26 Marauder bombers from Port Moresby, Australian Papua attacked Rabaul, New Britain, causing little damage. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese launched another aerial bombardment against the Australian seaplane base at Tulagi, Solomon Islands. Deducing that an invasion of coming soon, the Australian personnel evacuated the base after sundown. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 1st Burma Division unsuccessfully attacked Japanese 33rd Infantry Division at Monywa, Burma on the Chindwin River. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 USS Pollack departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her third war patrol. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message from Nobutake Kondo's chief of staff regarding the formation of task forces for an offensive operation. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 The powder magazine of gun battery Geary on Corregidor in the Philippine Islands was hit by Japanese artillery at 1627 hours, detonating 1,600 62-pound powder bags; 56 were killed and hundreds were wounded. To the east, in Manila Bay, river gunboat USS Mindanao was scuttled to prevent capture. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Italian Navy units began arriving at Constanta, Romania where they prepared to cross the Black Sea to Yalta, Ukraine. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 The BI-1 rocket-powered prototype aircraft successfully underwent a low-power test at Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, lifting the aircraft about one meter off the ground. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Kirun (now Keelung), Taiwan. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Dr. H. V. Evatt, the Australian representative to the British War Cabinet and the Pacific War Council arrived in the United Kingdom. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Sunfish was launched at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States, sponsored by Mrs. J. W. Fowler. 
0
02 May 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz inspected defenses on Sand Island and Eastern Island of Midway Atoll. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki supported the invasion of Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Junyo was commissioned into service. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler spoke of his habit of keeping an irregular schedule to throw off any potential assassination attempts. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-455 sank British tanker British Workman 120 miles south of Cape race, Newfoundland at 0638 hours; 6 were killed, 47 survived. At 0824 hours, German submarine U-564 sank British ship Ocean Venus 12 miles off Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States; 5 were killed, 42 survived. At 1054 hours, U-109 sank Dutch ship Laertes also off Florida; 18 were killed, 48 survived. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-506 sank Nicaraguan ship Sama 60 miles southwest of Miami, Florida, United States at 0812 hours; all 14 aboard survived. German submarine U-125 sank Dominican ship San Rafael with 1 torpedo and 32 rounds from the deck gun 50 miles west of Jamaica at 1723 hours; 1 was killed, 37 survived. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown was dispatched toward Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Six He 111 aircraft of German Luftwaffe unit I./KG 26 from the airfield at Bardufoss, Norway attacked Allied convoy PQ-15 between North Cape and Bear Island (Bjørnøya), sinking ships Botavon (20 were killed), Jutland, and Cape Corso (all 50 aboard were killed) at 0127 hours; the convoy recorded 3 German aircraft shot down, but KG 26 records showed only 1 loss. At 2230 hours, another air attack came upon PQ-15, damaging the ship Cape Palliser while one Ju 88 aircraft was shot down; the arrival of Soviet Pe-3 aircraft drove off the rest of the German attackers. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Japanese 3rd Kure Special Landing Force captured Tulagi Island and Gavutu Island in the Solomon Islands. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Tenryu provided cover for the landings at Santa Isabel Island, Solomon Islands. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Having fought off the attack by the 1st Burma Division at Monywa, Burma, Japanese 33rd Infantry Division went on the offensive pushing 1st Burma Division back toward Alon. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 81 British bombers (43 Wellington, 20 Halifax, 13 Stirling, 5 Hampden) attacked Hamburg, Germany. The attack killed 77 civilians and wounded 243 at the cost of 5 bombers destroyed. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz departed Midway Atoll and returned to Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Akkeshi, Hokkaido, Japan. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese continued to bombard Corregidor in the Philippine Islands by artillery and aircraft. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 USS Spearfish arrived at Corregidor, Philippine Islands and evacuated 27 military, nursing, and civilian personnel. This would be the last US Navy evacuation mission out of Corregidor before the surrender. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 90 German bombers attacked Exeter, England, United Kingdom. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 USS Wasp departed Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom with 47 Spitfire fighters aboard, embarking on Operation Bowery aiming to resupply Malta. 
0
03 May 1942 WW2 Robert Johnson began advanced flying training at Kelly Field, Texas, United States. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-564 damaged US freighter Delisle just off the coast 10 kilometers south of Port St. Lucie, Florida, United States, killing 2 of 36 aboard. To the south, U-162 sank US ship Eastern Sword 12 miles north of Georgetown, British Guiana at 0943 hours; 16 were killed, 13 survived. Later in the day, U-162 struck again 40 miles northeast of Anna Regina at 1900 hours, stopping British schooner Florence M. Douglas, forcing her crew to abandon ship, and sinking the schooner with the deck gun. At 1904 hours, U-564 struck again, sinking British tanker Eclipse in shallow waters 3 miles off Daytona Beach, Florida; 2 were killed, 45 survived. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 In the late afternoon, German submarine U-507 sank US tankers Norlindo (killing 5 of 28 aboard), Munger T. Ball (killing 30 of 34 aboard), and Joseph M. Cudahy (killing 27 of 37 aboard) off the Florida Keys archipelago about 100 kilometers west of the tip of Florida, United States. At 2220 hours, U-125 sank US ship Tuscaloosa City 200 miles west of Jamaica; all 34 aboard survived. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 USS Gar reported sinking of a Japanese ship in daylight after hitting her with one of two torpedoes fired. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki became the flagship of Destroyer Division 23 upon the loss of destroyer Kikuzuki off Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 USS Trout sank Japanese auxiliary gunboat Kongosan Maru southeast of Japan. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 USS Greenling sank Japanese armed merchant cruiser Kinjosan Maru 100 miles north of Truk, Caroline Islands at 1825 hours, killing all aboard. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 Allied aircraft were launched from Queensland and Horn Island in Australia and from Port Moresby, Australian Papua to detect Japanese naval movements. At 1035 hours, a B-25 Mitchell bomber spotted carrier Shoho and her group. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 Soviet destroyers Sokrushitelny and Gremyashchy made rendezvous with Allied convoy PQ-15. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 6 B-26 Marauder bombers from Port Moresby, Australian Papua struck Vunakanau airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, damaging 5 Japanese bombers on the ground, detonating fuel drums, and destroying 2 gas trucks. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown launched 12 TBD Devastor and 28 SBD Dauntless aircraft at 0700 hours, which reached the new Japanese positions at Tulagi in the Solomon Islands at 0850 hours; the attack damaged minelayer Okinoshima and destroyer Kikuzuki. At 1210 hours, a second attack wave hit Tulagi, sinking minesweepers WA-1 and WA-2 and damaging minesweeper Tama Maru; 87 Japanese personnel were killed during this second attack. USS Yorktown lost 3 aircraft, but all air crew were rescued. The Japanese withdrew from Tulagi temporarily, but would very soon return to complete the construction of a seaplane base. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 USS Hammann rescued two downed fighter pilots on the coast of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Bhamo, Burma. Off the Burmese coast, with increasing malaria cases affecting the garrison's morale, Akyab Island was abandoned. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 Milton Miles arrived in Chongqing, China. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 121 British bombers (69 Wellington, 19 Hampden, 14 Lancaster, 12 Stirling, 7 Halifax) attacked Stuttgart, Germany, targeting the Bosch factory. All bombs missed the factory buildings but killed 13 civilians and wounded 37. One Stirling bomber was lost during the attack. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message from battleship Kirishima to Isoroku Yamamoto's headquarters noting that due to Kirishima's repair work the battleship would not be able to participate in the upcoming campaign. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 Kaga exited the drydocks of Sasebo, Japan and departed for the Inland Sea to join Carrier Division 1. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese bombardment of Corregidor, Philippine Islands heightened to soften the defenses for invasion scheduled on the next day. On the beaches of nearby Bataan Peninsula, 2,000 Japanese troops began boarding 15 barges. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 HMS King George V arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
04 May 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead arrived at New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, United States to repair damages sustained during the Battle of Makassar Strait. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 German government ruled that deaths of concentration camp prisoners no longer had to be reported to the next of kin. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown made rendezvous with USS Lexington south of Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 USS Lexington made rendezvous with USS Yorktown south of Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 British troops invaded French Madagascar in Operation Ironclad, landing in Courrier Bay at 0430 hours and Ambararata Bay shortly after. French and British troops clashed at Antsirane and Diego-Suárez. From the sea, carrier aircraft from HMS Indomitable and HMS Illustrious attacked the airfield and the port of Diego-Suárez, sinking French submarine Bévéziers, armed merchant cruiser Bougainville, and colonial sloop D'Entrecasteaux. British corvette HMS Auricula struck a mine in the entrance to Diego-Suárez Bay, suffering heavy damage. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-108 sank US freighter Afoundria between Cuba and Haiti. Off Bermuda, U-106 sank Canadian passenger ship Lady Drake (12 were killed, 256 survived) and U-103 sank British ship Stanbank. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-125 sank US ship Green Island and British ship Empire Buffalo off the Cayman Islands. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 USS Permit departed Fremantle, Australia, starting her fifth war patrol. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 A B-25 Mitchell bomber spotted Shoho during the day. After dark, 3 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers were brought up from Australia to Port Moresby, Australian Papua and were loaded up with 600-pound bombs for an attack on Shoho. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Deboyne Islands 200 kilometers east of the tip of Australian Papua. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 British bombers attacked Stuttgart, Germany for the second consecutive night. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 After a final bombardment with 16,000 shells, 2,000 Japanese troops landed on the eastern coast of Corregidor, Philippine Islands at about 2345 hours, delivered by 15 barges. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 The German 16th Army broke through to Kholm, Russia, relieving the survivors of Gruppe Scherer which had been surrounded since 23 Jan 1942. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Soviet patrol ship Rubin, Soviet patrol ship Brilliant, British minesweeper Harrier, British minesweeper Niger, and British minesweeper Gossamer set sail from Polyarny, Russia; they made rendezvous with Allied convoy PQ-15 in the Kola Inlet at 2300 hours. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Garland completed her refitting at Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Ira Eaker was made the commanding officer of US Eight Bomber Command in Britain. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz was made the commanding officer of US Eighth Air Force in Britain. 
0
05 May 1942 WW2 Brigadier General Frank Hunter was made the commanding officer of US Eighth Fighter Command in Britain. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank US freighter Alcoa Puritan 60 kilometers south of Mobile, Alabama, United States. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 HMS Auricula (Lieutenant Commander S. L. B. Maybury), having been damaged by a mine in Courier Bay, Madagascar on the previous day, foundered and sank whilst under tow. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein scored his first kill as a nightfighter pilot. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 British corvette HMS Auricula, damaged on the previous day by a mine at the entrance of the Diego-Suárez Bay, Madagascar, sank. Meanwhile, on land, British troops made little progress in eastern Madagascar, held down by French defenders. To gain the momentum, British destroyer HMS Anthony dashed into Diego-Suárez Bay at 2000 hours at the risk of being hit by coastal guns and successfully landed 50 Royal Marines at Antsirane to disrupt French rear. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 US naval auxiliary USS Semmes accidentally rammed and sank British anti-submarine trawler HMS Senateur Duhamel 50 miles east of Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 USS Triton attacked a Japanese convoy off China, sinking freighters Taiei Maru and Taigen Maru. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack sank Japanese freighter Kanan Maru in the South China Sea 50 miles northeast of Cam Rahn Bay, French Indochina, hitting her with one of three torpedoes fired; she attacked another target with another spread of three torpedoes, all of which missed the target. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-333 damaged US tanker Java Arrow (2 were killed, 45 survived), sank US tanker Halsey (5 were killed, 23 survived), and sank Dutch freighter Amazone 5 kilometers east of Port St. Lucie, Florida, United States. Further out to sea, U-108 sank Latvian ship Abgara 15 miles southeast of Great Inagua Island, Bahamas. 
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06 May 1942 WW2 Starting at 0345 hours, B-17 Flying Fortress bombers took off from Port Moresby, Australian Papua to attack Japanese carrier Shoho which was spotted on the previous day; they attacked at about 0800 hours, causing no damage. Meanwhile, US carriers made rendezvous with Australian cruisers to set up an ambush at the Jomard Passage east of Australian Papua on New Guinea island. Later in the day, carrier aircraft from both sides searched for each other without success; at 2000 hours, the two fleets were merely 80 miles from each other, still not detecting the other party. Elsewhere, the new Japanese seaplane base at Tulagi, Solomon Islands was completed. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 British bombers attacked Stuttgart, Germany for the third consecutive night. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message from Kwajalein, Marshall Islands to Yokosuka, Japan noting the need for additional aircraft radio equipment for use with the AK campaign. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Akkeshi, Hokkaido, Japan. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille received temporary command of the squadron 3 Staffel I./JG-27. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 Irako departed Singapore for Yokosuka, Japan with destroyer Hatakaze in escort. 
0
06 May 1942 WW2 Before dawn, US and Filipino defenders in the East Sector of Corregidor, Philippine Islands fought against the Japanese amphibious assault launched just prior to midnight, killing 1,200 men of the 2,000-strong first wave of attack. At 0930 hours, the Japanese began to gain a beachhead and began landing tanks to support the invasion. The US 4th Marine Regiment reserve companies and the US 4th Marine Battalion (reserve) launched an unsuccessful counterattack. Acknowledging the hopelessness of the situation, Major General Jonathan Wainwright ordered his troops to surrender at 1030 hours. To prevent capture, US Marines Colonel S. L. Howard ordered all regimental and national colors of the 4th Marine Regiment burned to prevent capture, while other US and Filipino personnel scuttled gunboats and destroyed ammunition stores. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 The floatplane of Japanese submarine I-30 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Aden, Aden Protectorate. 
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07 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-162 sank Norwegian ship Frank Seamans 30 miles northwest of Paramaribo, Suriname at 0800 hours; all 27 aboard survived. To the north, destroyer USS Dallas attacked and damaged German submarine U-333 off Florida, United States, forcing the submarine to set a course for France for repairs, ending her war patrol early. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank Honduran ship Ontario with the deck gun 100 miles south of Mobile, Alabama, United States at 0335 hours; all 45 aboard survived. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 Kasuga Maru arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 German SS Major General Oberg was placed in charge of police in occupied France. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-11 arrived at Reykjavík, Iceland at 0700 hours. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 British Fleet Air Arm Swordfish aircraft of HMS Illustrious spotted French submarine Le Héros off Courrier Bay, Madagascar at 0500 hours and attacked with depth charges; Le Héros attempted to evade by diving, but ultimately would be forced to surface and would be scuttled by her own crew to prevent capture. 
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07 May 1942 WW2 With British Royal Commandos gaining a foothold at Antsirane and British troops slowly advancing toward Diego-Suárez, Madagascar, French morale became shaken and would soon surrender. The French coastal guns at the Orangia Peninsular continued to fire, however, until British battleship HMS Ramillies fired warning shots at the batteries before noon. British warships entered Diego-Suárez Bay at about 1200 hours. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 General Lord Gort was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in succession to Lieutenant-General Sir William Dobbie. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle, with 17 Spitfire fighters aboard for delivery to Malta, joined the convoy containing USS Wasp off Gibraltar. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 At Coral Sea, Japanese carriers attacked US oiler Neosho and destroyer Sims thinking they were a carrier and cruiser, while US carriers attacked escort carrier Shoho and nearby cruisers and destroyer thinking it was part of the main carrier force. At 1747 hours, 12 Japanese dive bombers and 15 torpedo bombers in search of the US carrier fleet was intercepted by 11 US fighters; 9 Japanese and 3 US aircraft were destroyed during the subsequent engagement. At the end of the day, both sides decided against a night battle and prepared for new attacks at dawn. 
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07 May 1942 WW2 USS Astoria covered USS Yorktown during the Battle of the Coral Sea. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 Shoho sank in the Coral Sea at 1135 hours after an hour-long carrier aircraft attack that saw 13 bomb and 5 torpedo hits; 631 were killed, 203 survived. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 USS SKipjack attacked a Japanese transport in the South China Sea; all three torpedoes missed. 
0
07 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese troops completed the occupation of all the forts on Corregidor, Philippine Islands. Meanwhile, from the capital of Manila, Jonathan Wainwright announced the surrender over the radio, under supervision of a Japanese censor. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 Japanese and US carrier fleets at Coral Sea discovered each other in the morning, each closing in to attack. Japanese carrier Shokaku was damaged by 3 bombs at 1057 hours (223 casualties), while American carrier USS Lexington was hit by two bombs at 1120 hours (191 killed; would soon be lost) and American carrier USS Yorktown was hit by a bomb (66 casualties). Meanwhile at Port Moresby, an Australian cruiser force successfully defended itself against land-based aircraft attack as it blocked the Japanese invasion fleet for Port Moresby, New Guinea. As both sides withdrew due to damage and losses, the Japanese scored a tactical victory, but lost strategic momentum as the Port Moresby must now be delayed. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 The German 11.Armee began its Crimean offensive. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 The US 3rd Marine Brigade convoy arrived off Apia, American Samoa; its commander assumed military control of Western Samoa. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Myitkyina, Burma. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank Norwegian ship Torny in the Gulf of Mexico. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 USS Lexington was damaged by bombs at 1120 hours during the Battle of the Coral Sea, killing 191. At 1247 hours, the leaking gasoline was detonated by fire, killing a further 25. At 1707 hours, the 2,735 survivors abandoned ship, and the carrier was scuttled by 5 torpedoes from destroyer USS Phelps at 1915 hours. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 French submarine Monge attacked British carrier HMS Indomitable off Diego-Suárez, Madagascar at 0756 hours; all torpedoes missed. British destroyers HMS Active and HMS Panther counterattacked and sank Monge. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 USS Grenadier sank Japanese freighter Taiyo Maru 140 miles southwest of Japan. Taiyo Maru was carrying geologists and oil experts to the Dutch East Indies to survey sites for oil production. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Olympus departed Malta ferrying crews of sunken submarines HMS Pandora, HMS P36, and HMS P39, sailing for Gibraltar; HMS Olympus struck a mine and sank later on this date; 89 were killed, 9 survived. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a small Japanese convoy, sinking Japanese transport Bujun Maru and damaging transport Taiyu Maru in the South China Sea 140 miles northeast of Cam Rahn Bay, French Indochina; six torpedoes were expended in this attack, three of which found their targets. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-564 sank US freighter Ohioan 10 kilometers north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, killing 15 of 37 aboard. On the same day, U-136 sank Canadian sailing ship Mildred Pauline with the deck gun off Nova Scotia, Canada. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 193 British bombers (98 Wellington, 27 Stirling, 21 Lancaster, 19 Halifax, 19 Hampden, 9 Manchester) attacked Warnemünde, Rostock, Germany; the primary target was the nearby Heinkel aircraft factory; 19 British bombers were destroyed during this attack. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 British minelayer HMS Welshman, disguised as a French destroyer, departed Gibraltar with RAF personnel and 240 tons of supplies for Malta. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii detected hints that Japanese Navy fleet carriers and battleships were being attached, suggesting a large operation was being planned. 
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08 May 1942 WW2 Between 0907 and 0915 hours, Shokaku was severely damaged by three bomb hits. One tore open the port bow and started a fire in the forecastle. The second struck the end of the flight deck to starboard. The third hit the starboard side of the rear of the island, damaging gun tubs and the mainmast. Large fires broke out. She was able to evade all torpedoes successfully. Escorted by Ushio and Yugure, she was detached and was able to evacuate the battle area at full speed. 108 officers and men were killed by the fires and explosions, and another 40 wounded. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 In the Battle of the Coral Sea, USS Hammann fired on incoming Japanese aircraft and then rescued 500 survivors of the disabled carrier USS Lexington. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded German troop positions near Tash-Alchin, Russia. 
0
08 May 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Norwich, England, United Kingdom. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 Zuikaku was ordered to pursue any American ships remaining in the Coral Sea area. 
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09 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-352 attacked United States Coast Guard Cutter Icarus 50 kilometers east of Wilmington, North Carolina, United States; both torpedoes missed; Icarus' counterattack damaged U-352, forcing her to surface for the crew to scuttle the submarine; 15 were killed, 33 survived. German submarine U-564 attacked Panamanian tanker Lubrafol 3 miles east of Hillsboro Inlet, Florida, United States, detonating the oil she was carrying, though she would burn for two days before sinking; 13 were killed, 31 survived. German submarine U-162 sank Canadian ship Mont Louis 50 miles north of Anna Regina, British Guiana; 13 were killed, 8 survived. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 HMS King George V arrived at the Gladstone Dock in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom to repair the damage caused by the 1 May 1942 collision with HMS Punjabi. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 US Marine Observation Squadron 151 arrived at American Samoa from Norfolk, Virginia, United States. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 By this date, most troops of the Burma Corps had withdrew west of the Chindwin River. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-125 sank Canadian tanker Calgarolite 50 miles west of Grand Cayman island; all 45 aboard survived. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 German minesweepers M-533 and R-45 collided and sank in the English Channel. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese Navy radio message ordering carrier Akagi to make rendezvous with another fleet at Sasebo, Japan on 20 May 1942. 
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09 May 1942 WW2 USS Wasp and HMS Eagle launched 47 and 17 Spitfire fighters, respectively, for Malta; 61 of them would arrive safely to reinforce the island. Meanwhile, to the west, British minelayer HMS Welshman, carrying 240 tons of supplies for Malta and disguised as a French destroyer, encountered Axis aircraft but her disguise kept her safe. 
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09 May 1942 WW2 Shokaku was reassigned to Carrier Division 5, 1st Air Fleet. She was detached to proceed immediately to Japan at top speed, starting a dramatic dash past a cordon of American submarines alerted to intercept the cripple. 
0
09 May 1942 WW2 Troops of the Japanese Kawamura Detachment wiped out American and Filipino troops under Brigadier General William Sharp near Dalig on Mindanao, Philippine Islands. 
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09 May 1942 WW2 Semyon Timoshenko's 28th Army (Lieutenant-General D. I. Ryabyshev), reinforced to 16 infantry and three cavalry divisions supported by six armouired brigades, launched an offensive in the Volchansk sector near Kharkov, Ukraine, but were checked after pushing out a salient of some 20 miles into the enemy lines. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 In response to reports that Germany might use gas weapons against Soviet troops, Churchill promised that the forces of the United Kingdom would retaliate with gas weapons if German launched them first. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 The Thai Phayap Army invaded Shan State, Burma. In western Burma, Gurkha units, rearguard to the British general retreat, held off another Japanese assault throughout the afternoon; they also withdrew westwards after sundown. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 A Japanese invasion force departed Rabaul for Ocean (Banaba) and Nauru Islands. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 A new concentration camp was opened near the village of Maly Trostenets near Minsk, Byelorussia. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Porpoise rescued 5 USAAF pilots near New Guinea. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-506 damaged US tanker Aurora 50 kilometers south of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, killing 1 of 50 aboard; Aurora was later towed to Algiers, Louisiana for repairs. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Commander Koukichi Mori was named the commander officer of destroyer Yuzuki. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 P-51 Mustang fighters saw combat for the first time with RAF pilots in the cockpits. 
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10 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-588 sank British ship Kitty's Brook 35 miles off of Nova Scotia, Canada; 9 were killed, 25 survived. To the south, U-333 sank British ship Clan Skene 300 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States; 9 were killed, 73 survived. 
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10 May 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor stopped Australian cargo and passenger transport Nankin with gunfire 1,500 miles west of Australia at 1430 hours, killing 2; Nankin's crew attempted to scuttle the ship, but the attempt was stopped by a boarding party from Thor which took control of the ship. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 Operation MG2 commenced from Alexandria, Egypt with British destroyers HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal, HMS Jervis, and HMS Lively aiming to intercept an Axis convoy from Italy to Benghazi, Libya. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 Masafumi Arima was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District, Japan. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two South African Hurricane fighters, Captain Cobbledick at 0913 hours and Lieutenant Flesker at 0915 hours, southeast of Martuba, Libya, raising his kill score to 56. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring prematurely announced that Malta had been neutralized. On the same day, British minelayer HMS Welshman, disguised as a French destroyer, arrived at Grand Harbour at Malta with RAF personnel and 240 tons of supplies. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 US Army General William Sharp received orders from General Jonathan Wainwright to surrender all US and Filipino troops on Mindanao, Philippine Islands, which he complied. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 20th Troop Carrier Squadron of US Sixth Air Force Base Command was assigned to Losey Field in Puerto Rico. 
0
10 May 1942 WW2 The German 11th Army pushed through Soviet positions and advanced toward Sevastopol, Russia. Meanwhile, Axis aircraft attacked Soviet vessel Chernomorets evacuating 500 wounded troops from the Crimean Peninsula; all aboard the vessel were killed. 
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11 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese invasion fleet (troopships Kinryu Maru and Takahata Maru, cruiser Tatsuta, destroyers Uzuki and Yuzuki, and minelayers Okinoshima (flagship) and Tsugaru) for Ocean (Banaba) and Nauru Islands set sail from Rabaul, New Britain. At 0452 hours, US submarine S-42 attacked the convoy, damaging Okinoshima 125 miles east of Rabaul; one of the destroyers took Okinoshima in tow while the other escorts counterattacked S-42 for six hours, which would cause severe damage, forcing S-42 to end her war patrol early. At 0640 hours, Okinoshima sank in the St. George's Channel. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown sailed for Tongatapu, Tonga, British Western Pacific Territories for temporary repair for the damage incurred during the Battle of Coral Sea. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise arrived near New Hebrides. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 USS Hornet arrived near New Hebrides. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Amon Göth ordered the Jewish council of Szczebrzeszyn, Poland to pay 2,000 zloty and 3 kilograms of coffee as payment for the cost of the ammunition that would soon be used to execute the local Jewish people. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Upon the loss of minelayer Okinoshima, destroyer Yuzuki temporarily assumed the role of Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shimazui's flagship. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Bailey was commissioned into service. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Australian and American aircraft located the wreck of fleet oiler USS Neosho, damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea and adrift for four days. Destroyer USS Henley arrived at 1300 hours to pick up the survivors and to scuttle Neosho with gunfire. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 US Marine Barracks, Fleet Air Base, Naval Operating Base, Iceland, was established. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 German pilot Eduard Neumann was awarded the German Cross in Gold. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Six Soviet armies supported by various independent rifle, tank, and cavalry units gathered in preparation of an offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine. German intelligence gained knowledge of such an offensive and the Germany military prepared for a defense. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Panamanian tanker Lubrafol, damaged by German submarine U-564 3 miles east of Hillsboro Inlet, Florida, United States two days prior, finally sank after two days of burning. On the same day, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles northeast of Barbuda island, U-502 sank British ship Cape of Good Hope; 37 survived. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 British destroyers HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal, HMS Jervis, and HMS Lively, having been launched out of Alexandria, Egypt on the previous day to intercept an Axis convoy, was detected by German reconnaissance aircraft based out of Crete, Greece at about 1200 hours. At 1430 hours, 14 German Ju 88 aircraft attacked, sinking HMS Lively 120 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 1530 hours (76 were killed). Just before sundown, 7 Ju 88 aircraft attacked again, sinking HMS Kipling (25 were killed) and damaing HMS Jackal (15 were killed) 60 miles north of Sidi Barrani. HMS Jervis rescued 630 survivors and took HMS Jackal, afire, in tow. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 USS S-44 damaged Japanese repair ship Shoei Maru off Rabaul, New Britain, hitting her with two torpedoes at 0957 hours; Shoei Maru would sink at 1440 hours. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe aircraft sank Soviet gunboat Rion and barge Anakriya in the Black Sea, killing 400, most of whom were wounded troops being evacuated from southern Ukraine. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message from Nobutake Kondo noting that the occupation force for the upcoming campaign would proceed to Saipan, Mariana Islands to await the launch of the operation. Rochefort determined that this occupation force was likely to sail east rather than south, and Midway Atoll was a likely target. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy moved to the coast of Gulf of Bomba in Libya in preparation for a planned amphibious operation behind Allied lines, which would never take place. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Newly arrived Spitfire fighters at Malta intercepted an Axis air fleet aiming to bomb Malta, shooting down 47 Axis aircraft at the loss of only 3. 
0
11 May 1942 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded German troop positions near Tash-Alchin, Russia. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 The last US troops in the Philippine Islands surrendered on Mindanao. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 A major Soviet offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine was launched, beginning with an aerial and artillery bombardment between 0630 and 0730 hours, followed by the ground assault. By the end of the day the Soviets penetrated only about 10 kilometers into the German lines, falling far short of the ultimate goal of having the Soviet 6th and 28th Armies converging west of Kharkov to cut off the city and the German defenders. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 The US 8th Air Force began arriving in England. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank US tanker Virginia immediately off the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 27 of 41 aboard. To the south, U-69 sank Norwegian tanker Lise with torpedoes and the deck gun 90 miles north of Bonaire island; 12 were killed, 21 survived. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 2,500 residents of Ivye, Byelorussia were massacred by Germans. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Queen Carola Harbor near Buka, Bougainville, departing later on the same day. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Massachusetts was commissioned into service. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 The monsoon began in Burma, slowing the retreat of Allied troops into India, but it also stopped Japanese attempts to attack the retreating columns from the air. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 USS Pollack sank a Japanese patrol vessel with her surface weapons off Japan. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British catapult armed merchant Empire Dell and British transport Llanover of Allied convoy ONS-92 800 miles west of Ireland at 0200 hours; 2 were killed, 92 survived. At 0340 hours, U-94 also attacked the convoy, sinking Panamanian ship Cocle; 5 were killed, 37 survived. At 0400 hours, U-124 came back for another attack, sinking and Greek ship Mount Parnes and British ship Cristales; 115 were killed. On the North American coast, 50 miles southwest of Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada, U-553 sank Dutch ship Leto and British ship Nicoya. Finally, at 0540 hours, U-558 sank British anti-submarine trawler HMS Bedfordshire 35 miles south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States, killing all 37 aboard. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 The fire on British destroyer HMS Jackal, damaged by German bombers yesterday and undertow by HMS Jervis, became uncontrollable. Jervis broke the tow and scuttled Jackal by torpedoes north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt and set sail for Alexandria, Egypt. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine K-23 attacked a German convoy off Nordkyn, Norway but was in turn counterattacked by German escort vessels with depth charges, which sank K-23 with all hands lost. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Italian frogmen raided Alexandria harbor, Egypt, but failed to damage their target, HMS Queen Elizabeth. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz, based in Pearl Harbor in US Territory of Hawaii, received orders from Ernest King to withdraw William Halsey's carrier task force from areas near Japanese land-based aircraft, but Halsey was to remain in South Pacific region. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Italian 1st Air Force Paratroop Unit was formed at Tarquinia, Italy under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edvino Dalmas. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Akkeshi, Hokkaido, Japan. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Shokaku made rendezvous with Kuroshio, Oyashio, and Hayashio in the Philippine Sea; Ushio and Yugure were released as her escorts. Shokaku avoided more US submarines during her final leg home. However, with the high speeds and gashed bow, the ship took on so much water that she nearly capsized en route. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Soviet troops began to withdraw from the Kerch peninsula in Russia, freeing some German resources for the offensive near Kharkov, Ukraine to the north. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 About 60 survivors of HMS Edinburgh embarked HMS Trinidad at Murmansk, Russia. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 The PPS submachine gun's testing completed. 
0
12 May 1942 WW2 Naval leaders in Washington DC, United States disagreed with Joseph Rochefort's conclusion that the Japanese was planning on an attack on Midway. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 The British Chiefs of Staff approved a major raid against the French port of Dieppe. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-69 damaged American cargo ship Norlantic with two torpedoes at 0338 hours and deck gun at 0347 hours en route between Pensacola, Florida, United States and Venezuela; Norlantic's crew signaled for a ceasefire so the crew could board lifeboats, but U-69 continued to fire sinking the ship at 0411 hours; 12 men were killed during this attack. South of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, U-507 damaged US tanker Gulfprince while U-506 sank US tanker Gulfpenn (killing 13 of 38 aboard). 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Ocean and Nauru Islands area. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Lardner was commissioned into service. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS Astoria departed Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 King George VI of the United Kingdom became Commander-in-Chief of the Home Guard. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack sank a Japanese ship in the South China Sea, hitting her with one of four torpedoes fired. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Stier, escorted by torpedo boats Iltis, Kondor, Falke, and Seeadler, attempted to break out into the Atlantic Ocean by running the English Channel. The British attacked with motor torpedo boats, sinking Iltis (115 were killed) and Seeadler (85 were killed) with the loss of MTB 219), but they were not able to stop Stier from reaching Boulogne, France. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-94 sank Swedish ship Tolken and British Batna of Allied convoy ONS-92 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, U-128 sank British ship Denpark of Allied convoy SL-109; 21 were killed, 25 survived. 200 miles east of Barbados, U-162 sank US tanker Esso Houston and U-156 sank British ship City of Melbourne and Dutch ship Koenjit. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS Drum sank Japanese cargo ship Shonan Maru 20 miles south of Japan. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 HMS Trinidad departed Murmansk, Russia after receiving temporary repairs. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler gave Erich Raeder the permission to continue with the construction of Graf Zeppelin. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz, based in Pearl Harbor in US Territory of Hawaii, informed Ernest King that the next Japanese offensive would likely be aimed at Nauru and Ocean Islands, but it was also possible that the following offensive might be targeting the Hawaiian Islands or even the west coast of the United States, thus King should allow the two carriers currently in the South Pacific to move to the Central Pacific. In the evening, he secretly ordered William Halsey to conduct a show of force with his carrier force in the Tulagi, Solomon Islands area to deter the Japanese from moving against Nauru and Ocean Islands. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message of Japanese warships requesting navigation charts of the Oahu, Hawaii area. Some time later, the team intercepted a message ordering aircraft transport ship Goshu Maru to embark the seaplane unit at Emidj island, Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands and sail to Saipan, Mariana Islands to join the AF campaign. Realizing that AF must already have a seaplane base or was a good location for a future seaplane base, Rochefort further confirmed that AF was Midway Atoll. Later in the evening, he sent this report to Chester Nimitz and the naval leadership in Washington DC, United States. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Isoroku Yamamoto was granted audience with Emperor Showa, who congratulated him on the success in the Battle of Coral Sea. Knowing that the tactical victory was not as glorious as it appeared, Yamamoto was notedly ambiguous on his responses to the emperor. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Australian P-40 fighters, Sergeant Colin McDiarmid at 1010 hours and Flying Officer H. G. Pace at 1015 hours, near Ain el Gazala, Libya, raising his kill score to 58. Marseille's aircraft was damaged during this engagement, but he was able to fly his fighter back to base, overheated (from loss of engine oil) and with unbalanced propeller. His fighter would be out of action for two days for repairs. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 USS S-31 completed her second defensive patrol off the Panama Canal Zone. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 HMS Trinidad departed Murmansk, Russia, escorted by 4 destroyers. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 Soviet troops advanced 10 kilometers toward Kharkov, Ukraine. 
0
13 May 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe III./KG 55, flying He 111 bombers, departed from Sarabuz Russkiy Airfield in Krym, Russia for Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. The transfer was in response to the Soviet counter-offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 USS Tangier arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia with flying boats, thus freeing fleet carriers from scouting duty. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 The US Congress established the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-564 sank Mexican tanker Potrero del Llano off Florida, United States; 13 were killed, 22 survived. German submarine U-106 sank Mexican tanker Faja de Oro off Key West, Florida, killing 3. South of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, U-506 seriously damaged US tanker David McKelvy, killing 17 of 36 aboard; she would later be written off. 50 miles west of Grenada, U-155 sank Belgian ship Brabant. 14 miles southwest by of Grand Cayman island, U-125 sank Honduran ship Comayagua. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 HMS Vetch attacked and sank the German submarine U-252 in the Atlantic Ocean. 90 miles northeast of Barbados, U-162 sank British tanker British Colony with 6 torpedoes; 4 were killed, 43 survived. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 USS Tuna sank Japanese transport Toyoharu Maru 65 miles off Sohuksando, Korea. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 British RAF aircraft sank German minesweepers M26 and M256 off Cherbourg, France at 1400 hours. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 German minesweeping trawler M-1307 struck a friendly mine and sank in the North Sea. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent sank small Italian vessel San Giusto with her deck gun off Ras el Hilal, Libya at 2100 hours; San Giusto exploded as her cargo of 161 tons of gasoline was detonated. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 Admiral Ernest King finally agreed to allow Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews to organize cutters and other small armed vessels to protect shipping on the US Atlantic coast. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 British cruiser HMS Trinidad was damaged by German aircraft, killing 63 in the Barents Sea north of Norway. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 A German Fw 200 Condor aircraft discovered Trinidad off northern Russia at 0730 hours; at 1852 hours, two BV 138 aircraft relieved the Fw 200 aircraft in shadowing the cruiser; at 2200 hours, a wave of aircraft attacked and damaged the cruiser. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Aleksey Khlobystov, commanding officer of Soviet 20th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, rammed his Kittyhawk fighter against a German Bf 109 fighter, bringing both aircraft down; this was his third time attacking German aircraft in this manner. He survived the parachute descent, albeit with serious wounds; he would return to combat in Dec 1943. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 An Allied convoy ran into a minefield laid by German submarine U-561 5 miles off of Port Said, Egypt on 14 Apr 1942; Greek ship Mount Olympus sank while Greek ship Fred and Norwegian ship Hav were damaged by explosions; the fire aboard Hav would grow out of control and she would later be written off. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort presented his Midway Atoll theory to Chester Nimitz's war plans officer Lynde McCormick. McCormick spent hours at Rochefort's office at the basement of the main navy building in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and was convinced that Rochefort's theory was likely correct. McCormick would return to Nimitz and would convince Nimitz to agree to this theory. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 Soviet destroyer Dzerzhinski struck a mine and sank near Sevastopol, Russia. 
0
14 May 1942 WW2 Newly arrived German aircraft in the Kharkov region in Ukraine overcame Soviet aircraft and halted the northern pincer of the Soviet attack. On the ground, General Ewald von Kleist prepared his German 1st Panzergruppe for a counterattack ordered by Adolf Hitler. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru was detected by American submarine USS Tautog before dawn south of Truk; as the sun rose, USS Tautog noted the hospital ship markings and abandoned her attack. Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk later that day. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Davao, Philippine Islands. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 The retreating Allied columns reached Assam in northeastern India. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 sank Norwegian ship Siljestad 420 miles northeast of Barbados at 0254 hours (2 were killed, 31 survived); several hours later, as Yugoslavian ship Kupa responded to the distress call and arrived to pick up survivors, she was attacked and sunk by U-156 at 2100 hours (2 were killed, 39 survived). 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Damaged British cruiser HMS Trinidad was scuttled by 3 torpedoes from HMS Matchless 170 miles north of Norway after her crew was taken off by destroyers HMS Matchless, HMS Foresight, and HMS Forester. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Ernest King allowed Chester Nimitz to move the two carriers currently in the South Pacific to move up to the Central Pacific area, but King noted that he was still not convinced that Midway Atoll was the primary target of the suspected Japanese offensive. Later in the same day, Nimitz responded to the message, stressing that he believed the Japanese was likely to launch a three-prong attack against Midway Atoll, Aleutian Islands, and, likely at a two-to-three-week delay, Port Moresby in Australian Papua. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Damaged by German aircraft two hours prior on the previous date, the abandon ship order was given by the captain of HMS Trinidad at 0000 hours; at 0120 hours, she was scuttled by a torpedo from HMS Matchless north of Russia. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Lützow departed Kiel, Germany for Ofotfjord in northern Norway. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Serviced Patrol Squadron 44 (VP-44), gasoline and oil 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 British General Harold Alexander arrived at Imphal, India. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell arrived in India. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Irako arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Aichi received a request to design the world's first propose-built submarine-borne attack aircraft. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan for a scheduled refit. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 The Australian Sparrow Force conducted a raid on Japanese barracks at Dili, Portuguese Timor. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Soviet test pilot Grigory Bakhchivandzhi made the first powered flight in the experimental Berezniak-Isaev BI-1 rocket-powered interceptor at Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, reaching an altitude of 840 meters and reaching the speed of 400 kilometers per hour. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe group I./KG 100 attacked Taman harbor, Russia with the heavy 1,800-kilogram SC 1800 bombs, causing heavy damage. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Soviet troops attempted a renewed offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine, but failing to regain momentum. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo was commissioned into service with Marvin Kennedy in command. 
0
15 May 1942 WW2 Oveta Hobby was made the Director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise received orders to return to Pearl Harbor. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 USS Hornet received orders to return to Pearl Harbor. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-751 sank US freighter Nicarao 50 kilometers east of the Bahamas at 0415 hours; 8 were killed, 31 survived. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank Honduran ship Amapala in the Gulf of Mexico at 0000 hours; 1 was killed, 56 survived. German submarine U-506 damaged US tankers Sun and William C. McTarnahan (killing 18 of 38 aboard) and sank US tanker Gulfoil (killing 21 of 40 aboard) 50 kilometers south of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Ocean and Nauru Islands area for Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Corsaro was commissioned into service. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 The first operational use of "Kittybombers" in the western desert (P-40 Kittyhawk fighters equipped with a bomb rack for a 500-lb bomb) occured when six aircraft of No. 112 squadron RAF attacked an enemy camp east of the main road near Bomba, Libya. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 USS Tautog damaged Japanese cargo ship Goyo Maru in the Caroline Islands, forcing her to beach to prevent sinking. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Pressured by the United States, the French Navy placed Émile Bertin out of service at Fort-de-France, Martinique. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 No. 112 Squadron RAAF was declared operational in North Africa. It would the Allied Desert Air Force's first Kittybomber unit. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 U-576 arrived at Saint-Nazaire, France, ending her fourth war patrol. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese radio message containing Chuichi Nagumo's request for weather reports to be submitted to him at a location 50 miles northwest of AF starting from three hours prior to the pre-determined time of attack. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Japanese bombers attacked Imphal, India. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Australian P-40 fighters, Sergeant T. V. Teede at 1805 hours and Pilot Officer Dudley Parker at 1815 hours, near Ain el Gazala, Libya, raising his kill score to 60. When Parker's fighter went down, it crashed into another fighter piloted by W. J. Metherall, causing Metherall to crash and become killed; this was not witnessed by the Germans and thus did not count toward Marseille's score. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Prinz Eugen departed Trondheim, Norway for Kiel, Germany to receive further repairs. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 German troops captured the city of Kerch and the namesake peninsula in Russia; Soviet troops in the area began a 5-day evacuation under heavy fire. 
0
16 May 1942 WW2 Near Kharkov, Ukraine, the Soviet 28th Army's offensive was halted. To the south, Soviet 6th Guards Cavalry Corps reached Krasnograd, but their support tanks were 15 miles behind the front lines and could not arrive at the front fast enough to maintain the forward momentum. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 USS Gar reported damaging a Japanese decoy ship in daylight with one of two torpedoes fired. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 USS Pollack damaged a small boat with her deck gun off Kyushu, Japan. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack sank Japanese ship Tazan Maru off French Indochina. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 The British RAF launched two strikes against German cruiser Prinz Eugen while she was sailing toward Kiel, Germany. The first wave of 18 aircraft reached the ship but scored no hits; 3 aircraft were shot down. The second wave of 30 aircraft was intercepted by German fighters mid-way; 4 British bombers and 3 German Bf 109 fighters were shot down in action. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank US ship Ruth Lykes with her deck gun 200 miles south of the Grand Cayman island at 0044 hours; 6 were killed, 26 survived. Off Grenada, U-155 sank British tanker San Victorio at 0217 hours; 52 were killed, 1 survived). 75 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River in southern United States, U-506 sank US tanker Gulfoil at 0534 hours; 21 were killed, 19 survived. At 0952 hours, U-155 struck again, sinking US ship Challenger; 8 were killed, 56 survived. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-135 sank British ship Fort Qu'Appelle 480 miles east of Long Island, New York, United States; 14 were killed, 11 survived. Further south, also in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, U-653 sank British ship Peisander; all 65 aboard survived. Still further south in the Central Atlantic, German submarine U-156 sank British ship Barrdale at 0904 hours; 1 was killed, 52 survived. Finally, U-432 sank small US trawler Foam (1 was killed, 20 survived) and U-588 sank Norwegian ship Skottland (1 was killed, 23 survived) 85 miles south of Nova Scotia, Canada at about 1800 hours. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 USS Triton sank Japanese submarine I-64 south of Japan, killing all 81 aboard. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 USS Tautog attacked Japanese submarines I-22 and I-24 70 miles south of Truk, Caroline Islands at 0648 hours; all torpedoes missed. At 1107 hours, she discovered I-28 and attacked again, this time sinking the target, killing all 88 aboard. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle launched 17 Spitfire and 6 Albacore aircraft for Malta; the Spitfire fighters successfully reached Malta, but the Albacore torpedo bombers returned due to engine trouble. Later in the day, 6 Italian SM.79 torpedo bombers attacked her, but all torpedoes missed. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 Saburo Sakai, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, and Toshio Ohta performed daring aerial stunts over an Allied airfield; they were later scolded by their commanding officer Lieutenant (jg) Junichi Sasai. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 Shokaku, having evaded no less than eight submarines, returned to Kure, Japan for repairs. She was immediately placed in the Reserve Unit of the Mobile Force. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 Japanese Naval General Staff approved the plans for what was to become the I-400-class submarine design. An order for the construction of 18 examples would be issued within weeks. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Davao, Philippine Islands. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 German troops began capturing large numbers of artillery pieces and munitions around Kerch, Russia, which they would later use against Sevastopol. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 In Operation Fridericus, German 1st Panzer Army attacked Soviet troops at Izium, Ukraine, breaching the Soviet lines and capturing Barvenkovo. The spearhead of the Soviet offensive continued toward Kharkov, however, despite the actions behind it. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 From Washington DC, United States, Ernest King sent Chester Nimitz a message noting that King was now in agreement with the theory that Midway Atoll was likely one of the primary targets in the upcoming Japanese offensive. Later in the day, King messaged Harold Stark in London, England, United Kingdom, ordering him to relay the explanation for the US Navy removing two carriers from the South Pacific to British liaison officers. Also on this day, the US Office of Naval Intelligence also voiced its agreement in a report to King that the Japanese Navy code name AF was likely Midway Atoll. 
0
17 May 1942 WW2 Submarine Gunnel was launched at Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by the wife of US Navy Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks Ben Morell. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 The Royal Navy rejected American request for one of the three British carriers in the Indian Ocean to serve in the Southwest Pacific. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 Most of the retreating troops of BURCORPS reached India. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-162 sank Norwegian tanker Beth (sailing in service of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary force) off Barbados at 0210 hours. U-558 sank Dutch ship Fauna 25 miles northwest of British North Caicos island at 0615 hours. German submarine U-156 sank American ship Quaker City 460 miles east of Martinique at 1018 hours; 10 were killed, 29 survived. At 1852 hours, U-156 fired what would be the first of four torpedoes at British tanker San Eliseo between this evening and the next morning as she unsuccessfully chased the tanker. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-125 sank US tanker Mercury Sun in the Caribbean Sea at 0606 hours. At 2150 hours, U-125 struck again, sinking US ship William J. Salman. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-205 sank Turkish ship Duatepe with torpedoes and schooner Kaynardzha with the deck gun 10 miles off Bulgaria; these ships were suspected of smuggling weapons to southern Ukraine for German forces. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent arrived in the Gulf of Sirte north of Libya in the early hours of the day. At 0510 hours, 50 miles northwest of Benghazi, she spotted and sank Italian ship Bolsena. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 Sydir Kovpak was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the first time. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 Australian 14th Militia Brigade arrived at Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua on New Guinea island. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 RAF bombers conducted a raid on Mannheim, Germany. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 Prinz Eugen arrived at Kiel, Germany to receive a new stern, which was destroyed on 23 Feb by a torpedo from HMS Trident. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 USS Hornet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Edwin Layton informed Joseph Rochefort that while Chester Nimitz would like to receive further evidence that Midway Atoll was indeed the next Japanese target. Meanwhile, Chester Nimitz ordered William Halsey to bring his carrier group back to the Hawaiian Islands as a precaution. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 Nikita Khrushchev phoned Joseph Stalin at Moscow, Russia, requesting Stalin to pause the Kharkov offensive in Ukraine in order to focus on other more important campaigns; Stalin rejected the request. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 14th and 16th Panzer Divisions of the German 1st Panzer Army destroyed 130 Soviet tanks in combat in Ukraine, forcing Soviet forces to evacuate forward airfields at Izium and Petrovskaia. Semyon Timoshenko requested for permission to fall back from his positions near Kharkov, Ukraine due to this latest German counteroffensive; Joseph Stalin refused to grant his permission, ordering Timoshenko to continue the westward offensive. 
0
18 May 1942 WW2 The newspaper New York Times published an article in an inside page that Germans had killed 100,000 Jews in the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland, and 200,000 in Russia. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-506 sank US freighter Heredia 100 kilometers southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at 0856 hours, killing 36 of 62 aboard. Between Jamaica and Haiti at 1040 hours, U-751 sank US ship Isabela, killing 3 of 36 aboard. 200 kilometers southeast of New Orleans and 200 kilometers west of Havana, Cuba, U-103 sank US freighter Ogontz, killing 19 of 41 aboard. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Manila, Philippine Islands. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Cappellini sank Swedish ship Tisnaren 600 miles north of Natal, Brazil at 0030 hours; all 40 aboard survived. Sweden was a neutral nation, and Tisnaren had large Swedish flags painted on both sides of the ship. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thrasher sank Italian merchant ship Penelope 20 miles east of Bari, Italy at 1153 hours. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine-based seaplanes conducted a scouting mission over Fiji and Zanzibar. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 All but 40 of the Polish prisoners at Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany were transferred to another camp. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 198 British bombers (105 Wellington, 31 Stirling, 29 Halifax, 15 Hampden, 13 Lancaster, and 4 Manchester aircraft) attacked Mannheim, Germany; most bombs would miss the target. 11 bombers were lost on this attack. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 US Navy intelligence officer Lieutenant Commander Jasper Holmes arrived at the idea that Midway Atoll could send out a fake message regarding the water distiller breaking down, thus the base desperately needed a supply of fresh water. Holmes' superior Joseph Rochefort gave him the permission to execute this idea in the hopes that the Japanese would pick up this message and provide Rochefort's team a clue on whether the Japanese Navy's reference of AF pointed at Midway Atoll. Rochefort's team also began to find the mention of a new code name, MI, in Japanese messages starting on this date; Rochefort quickly determined it to be the operational code name for the strike on Midway Atoll. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 Yamato departed Kure, Japan for battle training. The new light carrier Junyo, under Captain Shizue Ishii, almost sidewiped Yamato. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a P-40 fighter piloted by Australian Flight Sergeant Ivan Young at 0720 hours near Fort Acroma, Libya and damaged another P-40 fighter. The kill he scored might had actually been scored by his wingman Reiner Pöttgen. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 A surprise German pincer movement threatened to trap a large contingent of Soviet troops at Izium near Kharkov, Ukraine. Joseph Stalin belatedly granted permission for the troops to withdraw. 
0
19 May 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Hull, England, United Kingdom. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Japanese troops completed the conquest of Burma. All Allied troops previously under the command of William Slim (who was transferred to Indian XV Corps) were reassigned to the British IV Corps, thus dissolving the Burma Corps. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 US Navy Rear Admiral John S. McCain was named Commander, Air, South Pacific; in this position he directed operations of tender-based and land-based aircraft in the South Pacific. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 American submarine USS S-39 conducted a reconnaissance mission at the Deboyne Islands north of New Guinea. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Manila, Philippine Islands. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-68 was renamed I-168. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-155 damaged Panamanian freighter Sylvan Arrow (of the Standard Oil and Transportation Company) 40 miles southwest of Grenada, killing 1 of 44 aboard; there would be an attempt to tow her back to port, but she would ultimately sink before she reached port. 60 kilometers west of Havana, Cuba, German submarine U-753 sank American liberty ship George Calvert with three torpedoes; 10 of 61 aboard were killed during the attack, and 3 survivors were killed while being captured by the Germans; the survivors of George Calvert were freed after interrogation and sent to Cuba on lifeboats. Also on this date in the Gulf of Mexico, U-506 sank US tanker Halo 50 kilometers south of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, killing 21 of 42 aboard; all but 3 of the survivors would not live before being rescued. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps airfield Cunningham Field was commissioned into service in North Carolina, United States. It would later be known as Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 USS Pollack sank two small boats with her deck gun off Kyushu, Japan. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was assigned toe the Main Body Air Force of the 1st Fleet. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-108 sank Norwegian tanker Norland 500 miles east of Bermuda; all 48 aboard survived. Also in the middle of the North Atlantic, U-158 sank British tanker Darina, killing 6 of 56 aboard. In the South Atlantic, German armed merchant cruiser Michel stopped Norwegian ship Kattegat at 1845 hours, captured the crew of 32, and sank the ship. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Admiral Henry Harwood succeeded Sir Andrew Cunningham as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-431 sank British ship Eocene 10 miles off Sollum, Egypt; all 43 aboard survived. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese, having intercepted the fake message regarding Midway Atoll's water distiller breaking down, reported to the invasion fleet the news and advised the fleet to take on additional supplies of fresh water. This message was intercepted by the US Navy radio intelligence team at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, and it allowed the US to confirm that the target of the next Japanese offensive was indeed Midway Atoll. In response, US Navy and Marine Corps dispatched reinforcements to Midway Atoll and the Aleutian Islands in expectation of an assault. On the same day, US Navy intelligence also intercepted a Japanese message containing the order of battle for the Midway Atoll and Aleutian Islands assaults; this message would be decrypted over the next several days. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi was drydocked at Kure, Japan. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Captain Hisagoro Shimamoto was named the commanding officer of Settsu. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 German 6th Army and 1st Panzer Army captured Protopopovka, Ukraine, further threatening the Soviet troops at Izium with encirclement. The Soviets continued to make break out attempts, but they were frustrated by German aircraft. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Minister for Foreign Affairs, met with Winston Churchill in London, England, United Kingdom and demanded to be told the date of the Second Front when British troops would again land in Europe. Churchill tried to explain that the time was not appropriate for an attack against fortress Europe (Dunkirk was still fresh in his mind and he had no desire to repeat the performance) until Britain was strong enough in arm, men and assault craft for such an ambitious operation. Angrily Molotov declared that he was not satisfied with Churchill's excuses and threatened to come to terms with the Germans unless the Allies came to the assistance of the Soviet Union immediately. 
0
20 May 1942 WW2 USS S-28 departed San Diego, California, United States. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 The US Navy established the North Pacific force, initially with 2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 4 destroyers, 9 destroyer escorts, 5 submarines, and 107 aircraft. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter took flight for the first time. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 USS Pollack fired four torpedoes at a Japanese carrier off Kyushu, Japan; all torpedoes missed. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank US ships Clare at 0348 hours (all 40 aboard survived) and Elizabeth at 0415 hours (6 were killed, 36 survived) 40 miles west of Cuba. A few minutes later, at 0421 hours, U-106 sank Mexican tanker Faja de Oro to the north; 10 were killed, 27 survived. German submarine U-69 sank Canadian ship Torondoc 60 miles northwest of Martinique at 0753 hours; all 21 aboard survived as observed by the Germans, but none would be seen again. 40 miles northwest of Jamaica, U-558 sank Canadian ship Troisdoc by the deck gun at 1917 hours; all 18 aboard survived. U-156 sank Dominican ship Presidente Trujillo off Fort de France, Martinique at 1829 hours; 24 were killed, 15 survived. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-159 sank British ship New Brunswick (3 were killed, 59 survived) and damaged British fleet oiler Montenol (3 were killed, 61 survived) of Allied convoy OS-28 140 miles east of the Azores islands at 0323 hours. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-12 departed Murmansk, Russia; it was consisted of 17 merchant ships, escorted by 1 catapult aircraft merchantman, 6 destroyers, 4 trawlers, and 1 anti-aircraft vessel. From the other end of the Arctic convoy route, PQ-16 departed Reykjavík, Iceland with 35 merchant ships, 1 minesweeper, and 4 trawlers. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 The US Navy cryptanalytic team in Melbourne, Australia belatedly voiced its agreement that the Japanese Navy was likely targeting Midway Atoll. In Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort furnished the official report noting that Midway Atoll was confirmed as the Japanese target. Chester Nimitz, who had already began to prepare for such an attack, ordered his carriers to exercise radio silence to prevent the Japanese from learning of his attempt to gather Pacific Fleet carriers at Pearl Harbor. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Kure, Japan. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 Raizo Tanaka led the 2nd Destroyer Squadron, consisted of light cruiser Jintsu and 10 destroyers, out of Kure, Japan to escort the invasion fleet of the Midway operation. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 Japanese troops occupied Leyte and Samar in the Philippine Islands unopposed. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 German 6th Army and 1st Panzer Army continued to threaten the Soviet troops near Izium, Ukraine with encirclement. 
0
21 May 1942 WW2 George Marshall and Henry Stimson met in Washington DC, United States, concluding that there was a risk that the Japanese fleet suspected of sailing for Midway Atoll could actually be planning on conducting a major air raid against cities on the west coast of the United States. 
0
22 May 1942 WW2 Five Japanese I-class submarines, carrying 4 midget submarines and 1 aircraft, departed for Sydney, Australia. 
0
22 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-588 sank US freighter Plow City 150 kilometers east of New Jersey, United States at 2010 hours, killing 1 of 30 aboard. U-158 sank Canadian ship Frank B. Baird with the deck gun 465 miles southeast of Bermuda; all 23 aboard survived. 
0
22 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-753 stopped British schooner E. P. Theriault with the deck gun 90 miles north of Cuba at 0730 hours and damaged her with depth charges during a failed scuttling attempt; the wreck would float and beach at Cuba, where she would later be repaired and pressed into Cuban service. 
0
22 May 1942 WW2 Japanese merchant ship Naruto Maru arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
22 May 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan and departed for Kure, Japan later that day. 
0
22 May 1942 WW2 In Ukraine, German 14th Division and 16th Panzer Division occupied Chepel and Bayrak, while 3rd Panzer Division and 23rd Panzer Division reached Chervonyi Donets and Krasnaia Gusarovka, closing the gap on the Soviet forces near Izium. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 The British Commander-in-Chief of the Home Forces ordered an end to "blood-lust inculcation" in battle training. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 The United Stats Marine Corps established the Training Center, Fleet Marine Force at Marine Barracks, New River, North Carolina, United States. It was to include all Fleet Marine Force units and replacements except the 1st Marine Division. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 Japanese and Chinese troops clashed along the Hsipaw-Mogok road in northern Burma. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank British ship Zurichmoor 150 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States just after 0000 hours, killing all 45 aboard. At 2200 hours, in the same general area, U-588 sank British ship Margot; 1 was killed, 44 survived. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank US tanker Samuel Q. Brown 100 miles east of Cozumel, Mexico at 0926 hours; 2 were killed, 53 survived. U-155 sank Panamanian ship Watsonville just off Saint Vincent island in the Lesser Antilles islands. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-205 sank Turkish merchant ship Safak off Burgas, Bulgaria; Safak was suspected of bringing arms for German troops fighting in Ukraine. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 US Navy intelligence officers determined that the Japanese fleet targeting Midway Atoll would likely depart on 26 May 1942. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 The close escort force for Allied convoy PQ-16 was reinforced by 4 corvettes, 2 submarines, and 1 anti-aircraft vessel. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 Yamato arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 I-168 departed Kure, Japan on her second war patrol in the Midway area. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Maizuru, Japan. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Baltimore bombers over Tobruk, Libya at 0720 and 0730 hours. 
0
23 May 1942 WW2 German 14th Division and 16th Panzer Division, moving northward, and German 3rd Panzer Division and 23rd Panzer Division, moving southward, linked up, thus completing the encirclement of the Soviet 6th Army and 57th Army at Izium, Ukraine. In the same area, German troops captured Chepel to prevent the Soviet 38th Army from attacking the eastern side of the newly formed encirclement. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 German forces launched Operation Hannover to clear the Bryanks-Vyazma rail line of partisans. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 The first battalion of Spanish volunteers who fought under the German banner returned to Spain after completing a tour in Russia; up until this point, only the wounded were sent back to Spain from the Eastern Front. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-502 sank Brazilian ship Gonçalves Dias 100 miles south of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic; 6 were killed, 39 survived. U-103 sank Dutch ship Hetor 60 miles northwest of Grand Cayman island at 1640 hours; 2 were killed, 29 survived. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 British trawler HMS Retriever broke away from Allied convoy PQ-16 and returned for Iceland. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 The floatplane of Japanese submarine I-9 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Kiska and Amchitka Islands in the US Territory of Alaska. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 3 US B-26 Marauder bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, destroying the Genzan Air Group headquarters building and destroying four land-attack aircraft on the ground; 2 of the US bombers were damaged during this attack. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi exited the drydock at Kure, Japan. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 Warrant Officer Susumo Ito, flying in a submarine-based (submarine I-21) E14Y aircraft, conducted a photographic reconnaissance mission over Auckland, New Zealand. The Auckland airport controllers mistook the Japanese aircraft for a friendly one and turned on the landing lights. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 All American warships in the Coral Sea area were recalled to Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii in anticipation of the Japanese attack on Midway Atoll. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 USS Pompano sank Japanese fishing vessel Kotoku Maru with the deck gun 20 miles northeast of Taiwan. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 Soviet troops at Izium, Ukraine were completed surrounded by German troops. 
0
24 May 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked the Royal Navy seaplane training center at Poole in southern England, United Kingdom. 
0
25 May 1942 WW2 USS S-28 arrived at Port Angeles, Washington, United States. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 German He 111 torpedo bombers and Ju 88 bombers attacked Allied convoy PQ-16 475 miles northeast of Iceland; one He 111 was shot down by a British Hurricane fighter. To the east, German Fw 200, Bv 138, and two Ju 88 aircraft successively shadowed QP-12 starting at 1400 hours; British catapult aircraft merchantman Empire Moon launched her Hurricane fighter which shot down a Ju 88 aircraft but Flying Officer John Kendal would die when his parachute failed to open in time after he bailed out. At 1910 hours, 6 German Ju 88 and 7 He 111 aircraft attacked QP-12, damaging US freighter City of Joliet. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 USS Drum sank Japanese merchant ship Kitakata Maru 125 miles southwest of Tokyo, Japan. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 USS Pompano sank Japanese tanker Tokyo Maru 50 miles west of Okinawa, Japan. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 USS Tautog sank Japanese merchant ship Shoka Maru 440 miles southwest of Ulithi, Caroline Islands. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-9 launched her floatplane for a reconnaissance mission over Adak and Kanaga islands in the Aleutian Islands; on the same day, the Japanese Northern Area Fleet under Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya departed Japan for the conquest of nearby Attu and Kiska islands. On the US side, the Japanese radio message intercepted on 20 May 1942 was partially decrypted, giving the Americans a good idea of the scale of the Midway attack; the Americans missed one critical component, however, as the part regarding the battleship fleet, with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's personal participation aboard battleship Yamato, was not decrypted. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 1942-05-25 German submarine-558 sank US ship Beatrice 50 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica at 0134 hours; 1 was killed, 30 survived. At 1552 hours, U-156 damaged destroyer USS Blakeley off Martinique, blowing away 60 feet of bow with a torpedo (6 were killed, 116 survived); Blakeley would be able to make it to Port de France, Martinique for temporary repairs. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Engineers and staff officers of the Japanese 25th Air Flotilla and 8th Base Force departed Rabaul, New Britain by flying boat to inspect prospective airfield building sites on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. She was assigned to Destroyer Division 29 of Destroyer Squadron 6 of the Fourth Fleet. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Chinese 38th Infantry Division began to cross the border from Burma into India. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Captain Jojima was relieved by Captain Masafumi Arima as the commanding officer of Shokaku. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 USS Permit fired four torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Makassar Strait; all four torpedoes missed. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Soviet troops trapped at Izium, Ukraine made a major attempt to break the encirclement in failure, and the continued German pressured reduced the Soviet pocket to an area roughly 10 miles wide and 2 miles deep. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-593 sank Panamanian tanker Persephone 10 miles off New Jersey, United States at 2053 hours; 9 were killed, 28 survived. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Andrew Higgins' landing craft competed with US Navy's standard landing craft in choppy waters at Norfolk, Virginia, United States; Higgins' boat defeated the US Navy boat in all categories. 
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25 May 1942 WW2 Companies C and D of the 2nd Raider Battalion and the 37mm battery of the 3rd Defense Battalion of the United States Marine Corps arrived at Midway via USS St. Louis. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 US Navy Vice Admiral Halsey fell ill. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 US Navy Rear Admiral Spruance took over the responsibilities of Vice Admiral Halsey. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank US tanker Alcoa Carrier between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands at 0416 hours; all 35 aboard survived. At 1100 hours, U-106 sank US tanker Carrabulle 150 miles south of Louisiana, United States; 22 were killed, 18 survived. Beginning at 2000 hours, U-106 pursued US ship Atenas on the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, exchanging gunfire; Atenas would ultimately be able to escape, though suffering some damage. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy Carrier Striking Force, composed of four carriers and an escort of battleships and lesser ships, sortied from the Inland Sea of Japan for Midway Atoll. In the Aleutian Islands in northern Pacific Ocean, Japanese submarine I-9 launched her floatplane for a reconnaissance mission over Kiska. In Japan, the naval leadership instructed the various fleets and bases to prepare for a new radio encryption scheme that would be deployed very soon. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-703 attacked Allied convoy PQ-16 780 miles northeast of Iceland at 0259 hours, sinking US merchant ship Syros (two torpedo hits, detonating cargo of ammunition); 9 were killed, 30 survived (but 2 of the survivors would later die from exposure). 8 German He 111 and 3 Ju 88 aircraft also attacked PQ-16, but they failed to cause any damage. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 Japanese merchant ship Naruto Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain for Yokohama, Japan. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 US pilot Major Felix Hardison flew a lone B-17E bomber to attack Rabaul, New Britain at night time. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 Milton Miles and his group departed Chongqing, China by trucks toward the coast. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 USS Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Sasebo, Japan. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan as the flagship of Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya, providing support for the convoy carrying troops of the Aleutian Islands invasion force. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 A feint was launched by German General Ludwig Crüwell at the center of the Gazala Line in Libya, drawing Allied troops away from the main offensive to be launched on the next day. All available Axis tanks were assigned to the main offensive, and Crüwell's men mounted unused aircraft engines on trucks to create dust clouds similar to those caused by tank movements. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 In Libya, Erwin Rommel released 620 Indian prisoners of war originally from the Indian 3rd Motor Brigade. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 Soviet troops in the pocket at Izium, Ukraine captured Lozovenka to the east during their breakout attempt, but overall German pressure caused the pocket to shrink to the size of about 15 square kilometers. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in London, England, United Kingdom, with terms including the agreement that neither party would seek a separate peace with Germany, a 20-year alliance, the refusal to join any treaty against one another, and the pledge not to interfere in each other's internal affairs. 
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26 May 1942 WW2 USS Kitty Hawk delivered to Midway Atoll the 3-inch anti-aircraft group of 3rd Defense Battalion, 5 light tanks of a light tank platoon for mobile reserve, 16 SBD-2 aircraft, and 7 F4F-3 aircraft, all of which were of the United States Marine Corps. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Yamato was deemed operational. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Fighter Squadron 212 began operations from Efate, New Hebrides. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Thai forces captured Kengtung, Burma. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 From Saipan and Guam in the Mariana Islands, an invasion fleet carrying 5,000 Japanese troops departed for Midway Atoll under Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka. In the northern Pacific Ocean, Japanese submarine I-25 launched her floatplane for a reconnaissance mission over Kodiak Island, US Territory of Alaska, which spotted a US cruiser and two destroyers. To the west, still in the Aleutian Islands, I-19 was preparing to launch her floatplane when lookouts spotted an American aircraft; the submarine dove for cover, destroying the floatplane in the process. In Japan, the naval leadership affected a radio encryption coding change for all fleets and bases. At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Finnegan and Wesley Wright, two intelligence officers working under Joseph Rochefort, broke the Japanese encryption used to secure operational dates after working on it for the entire previous night; with this new knowledge they determined that the Japanese were going to raid Dutch Harbor in Alaska on 3 Jun 1942 and to attack Midway Atoll on 4 Jun 1942. Finally, Rochefort visited Chester Nimitz's office to help him convince other admirals and generals of their belief that Midway was soon to be a Japanese target. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-578 sank Dutch ship Polyphemus 340 miles north of Bermuda just after 0000 hours; 15 were killed (all of Chinese ethnicity), 60 survived. German submarine U-172 sank British tanker Athelknight 1,260 miles northwest of Saint Barthélemy island at 0319 hours; 9 were killed, 25 survived. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-558 sank US Army transport Jack 100 miles southwest of Port Salut, Haiti at 1051 hours; 37 were killed, 23 survived. German submarine U-753 sank Norwegian tanker Hamlet in the Gulf of Mexico at 1103 hours; all 36 aboard survived. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 British minesweeper HMS Fitzroy hit a British mine and sank in the North Sea 43 miles east of Great Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom; 12 were killed. On the same day, a German Ju 87 Stuka aircraft sank British anti-submarine trawler HMT Arctic Pioneer off Portsmouth Harbour, England; 18 were killed, 16 survived. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe unit I./KG 26 and Ju 88 dive bombers of KG 30 attacked Allied convoy PQ-16 southeast of Bear Island (Bjørnøya), Norway in multiple waves. The first attack arrived over PQ-16 at 0320 hours, causing no damage. At 1100 hours, US freighter City of Joliet suffered a near miss. At 1310 hours, US freighter Alamar was hit by two bombs and was abandoned 20 minutes after with all aboard surviving. At 1315 hours, US ship Mormacsul was sunk by 1 bomb hit and 3 near misses; 3 were killed, 45 survived. At 1410 hours, British catapult aircraft merchantman Empire Lawrence was sunk after receiving 5 hits; 25 were killed. In the afternoon, Russian ship Stari Bolshevik, British ship Empire Baffin, and Polish destroyer Garland were damaged by German attacks, followed by US ship City of Joliet being damaged after being struck by a crashing German dive bomber (she would be abandoned at the end of the day). At 1945 hours, British merchant ship Empire Purcell was hit by 2 bombs and was abandoned. Finally, at 1950 hours, British merchant ship Lowther Castle was hit by a torpedo from a I./KG26 He 111 bomber and sank. I./KG 26 recorded the loss of two crews on this day. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Engineers and staff officers of the Japanese 25th Air Flotilla and 8th Base Force arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands by flying boat to inspect prospective airfield building sites. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich departed his home in Panenské Brežany for his office at the Prague Castle in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the morning without his usual escort. British-trained Czech soldier Jozef Gabcík and others attacked his car at Liben, seriously wounding Heydrich with a grenade. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 The 152 members of a student group that openly displayed anti-Nazi posters in Berlin, Germany were executed. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii at 1420 hours. 1,400 dock workers were assigned to attempt to repair her, damaged from Battle of the Coral Sea, in time for the impending Midway battle. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Groups from USS Hornet (Yorktown-class) and USS Yorktown (Yorktown-class) serviced. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 USS Hammann arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Akagi departed Hashirajima, Japan at 0600 hours for Battle of Midway as flagship of Vice Admiral Nagumo's Carrier Striking Force (Carrier Divisions 1 and 2). 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Kaga departed Hashirajima in Hiroshima Bay, Japan for Midway Atoll. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 The main offensive against the Gazala Line in Libya, which was a mobile tank assault around the southern end of the line, was launched by Axis armor divisions. Several Allied supply bases were overrun, including those guarded by men of the Indian 3rd Motor Brigade, but the French-held fort at Bir Hakeim, Libya would prove to be troublesome for the Axis forces for many days. While the left side of the offensive paused at Bir Hakeim, the right side reached El Adem by mid-morning, capturing the headquarters element of the British 7th Armored Division, including the commanding officer General Frank Messervy. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 168 prisoners, all Polish artists and actors arrested in the previous month, were shot at the execution wall in the courtyard of Block 11 in Auschwitz I in occupied Poland. They were killed in retaliation of the death of the German Luftwaffe commanding officer in Krakow, where the victims came from. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov delivered troops of the Russian 9th Naval Infantry Brigade to Sevastopol, Russia, suffering damage by German air attack but also claiming two He 111 aircraft shot down. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe commenced Operation Froschlaich which mined waters in the vicinity of Kronstadt and Leningrad, Russia; the operation would last nearly three weeks. 
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27 May 1942 WW2 German troops captured Lozovenka near Kharkov, Ukraine. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Japanese Navy changed code books. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 American freighter Sylvan Arrow (of the Standard Oil and Transportation Company), damaged by German submarine U-155 on 20 May 1942, sank in the Caribbean Sea while under tow. On the same day, U-103 sank US tanker New Jersey 90 miles southwest of Grand Cayman island (41 survived) in the Caribbean Sea, U-502 sank US ship Alcoa Pilgrim (31 were killed, 9 survived) in the Caribbean Sea, and U-106 sank British ship Mentor (4 were killed, 82 survived) in the Gulf of Mexico. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 A force of about 500 US Army troops moved from Efate to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides to build an airfield in support of the proposed Solomon Islands landings. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-16 encountered heavy fog but managed to remain with each other by keeping eyes on fog buoys towed by the ship immediately in front of each trailing ship. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-155 sank Dutch ship Poseidon 150 miles east of Martinique; all 32 aboard survived. Far to the northeast, U-506 sank British ship Yorkmoor with 55 round from her deck gun; all 45 aboard survived. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 USS Salmon sank Japanese passenger-cargo ship Ganges Maru in the South China Sea. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Seaplane tender USS Tangier conducted a small raid on Tulagi in the Solomon Islands; during the attack, she transmitted radio messages that were purposefully composed as if she was a fleet carrier, thus giving the Japanese a false impression that the US was still operating fleet carriers in the South Pacific when in actuality all fleet carriers had been shifted back to the Hawaiian Islands. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown moved into Dry Dock No. 1 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii at 0645 hours. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 USS Hornet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Sasebo, Japan for a scheduled overhaul. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed Kure, Japan in support of the Midway invasion as a member of the Supply Group. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 The Allies began counterattacks two days after the Axis offensive began in Libya, forming the "Cauldron" that attempted to envelope Axis forces on three sides. British General Neil Ritchie still believed that the feint that the Axis forces launched on 26 May 1942 near the coast to be the main attack, however, thus refusing to send additional tanks to the southern end of the Gazala Line. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Semyon Timoshenko ordered all offensives in the Kharkov, Ukraine region to cease, thus effectively conceding the Second Battle of Kharkov and granting victory to the German Unternehmen Fridericus I. When all actions were wrapped up, the Germans would count over 200,000 prisoners of war, 1,200 tanks, and 2,000 artillery pieces captured. 
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28 May 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill despatched Lord Louis Mountbatten, the British Chief of Combined Operations, to Washington DC, United States to persuade the Americans that an invasion across the English Channel into occupied France would, at this time, only lead to disaster. As an alternative he proposed an Anglo-American landing in French North Africa later in the year. Mountbatten was authorised to tell the Americans that Great Britain would only agree to a 1942 attack across the Channel if the Soviets were to be in immediate danger of surrendering. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 The Main Body of the Japanese Midway invasion fleet set sail; it was consisted of Battleship Division 1 (Yamato, Nagato, Mutsu), light carrier Hosho, seaplane/submarine tenders Chiyoda and Nisshin, light cruiser Sendai of Destroyer Squadron 3, nine destroyers, and Supply Group No. 1; the Main Body remained 600 miles behind the Carrier Striking Force. Meanwhile, the transport fleet set sail from Saipan in the Mariana Islands; it was consisted of 15 transports. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 The Commonwealth CA-12 Boomerang fighter made its maiden flight, only fourteen weeks after its design had been approved and an initial order for 105 machines placed. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 A lifeboat containing survivors of Dutch ship Polyphemus, which was sunk by German submarine U-578 on 27 May, was stopped by U-566; after some questioning, the German crew provided the survivors some water and pointed them toward the east coast of the United States. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 sank British ship Norman Prince 60 miles west of Saint Lucia, Lesser Antilles islands at 0103 hours; 16 were killed, 32 survived. At 0217 hours, U-107 sank British ship Western Head 10 miles south of Rio Seco, Cuba; 24 were killed, 6 survived. Finally, U-50 sank British ship Allister 54 miles south of Grand Cayman island at 2337 hours; 15 were killed, 8 survived. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-21 launched her floatplane for a reconnaissance mission over Sydney, Australia. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 British destroyers HMS Hero, HMS Eridge, and HMS Hurworth forced German submarine U-568 to surface and be scuttled 40 miles northeast of Tobruk, Libya with a depth charging that lasted 16 hours; all 47 aboard survived. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent fired four torpedoes at an Italian convoy 135 miles northwest of Benghazi, Libya at 0700 hours; one torpedo struck and sank Capo Arma, while another circled back over the submarine and then proceed to strike and sink destroyer Emmanuele Pessagno. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 USS Swordfish sank Japanese transport Tatsufuku Maru, already damaged by USS Seal on the previous day, between Dutch Borneo and the Philippine Islands. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-12 arrived at Reykjavík, Iceland. To the east, PQ-16 sailed in the opposite direction. As PQ-16 neared Murmansk, Russia, they were joined by Soviet destroyers Grozny, Sokrushitelny, and Kuibyshev at 1150 hours and then 6 British destroyers several hours later. At 2200 hours, the convoy broke into two groups, one sailing for Murmansk and another sailing for Arkhangelsk further east. At 2330 hours, the Murmansk group came under attack by 18 German aircraft and the Arkhangelsk group by 15 German aircraft; no ships were sunk, and several aircraft on both sides were shot down, including one piloted by Double Hero of the Soviet Union Boris Safonov, killing him. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 A Free French Bren Carrier patrol led by Captain Lamaze and accompanied, in person, by Colonel Mitakvari of the Foreign Legion, was surprised while patrolling in the open desert by a section of Italian M13 tanks which managed to get between the patrol and its perimeter defences. They were only rescued by the timely intervention of Captain Messmer (9th company 3/13th battalion) who would later become the Minister of Defence in the Charles de Gaulle regime in the 1960s. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine A-3 sank Romanian vessel Sulina in the Black Sea. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-214 sank Turkish vessel Hudarvendigar in the Black Sea. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Long range Catalina flying boats of No. 11 and No. 20 squadrons RAAF made their first raid against the Solomon Islands base at Tulagi, which had already been attacked by US carrier aircraft earlier in the month. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 77 British aircraft (31 Wellington, 20 Halifax, 14 Lancaster, 9 Stirling, 3 Hampden) attacked the Gnome et Rhône aircraft engine factory at Gennevilliers northwest of Paris, France, causing little damage; 34 French civilians were killed, 167 were injured; 5 bombers were lost in this mission. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 USS Finback arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown was refloated and moved out of Dry Dock No. 1 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii. She received fuel and a new air complement from nearby Naval Air Station Kaneohe. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Yamato departed Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan at 0600 hours for Operation MI. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho departed Hashirajima, Japan for the Midway invasion. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 An Italian supply convoy got through the British minefield and reached the Axis forces in the "Cauldron" south of Tobruk, Libya, which British General Neil Ritchie still failed to realize was the main assault force. To the north near the coast, the Storch observation aircraft which General Ludwig Crüwell was aboard was shot down, leading to his capture. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 En route to the Aleutian Islands, USS S-28 received new orders due to a potential Japanese attack at Midway, thus starting her first war patrol. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 USS Permit fired two torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Makassar Strait; both torpedoes missed. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 Soviet resistance in the Izium, Ukraine ceased. 
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29 May 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Grimsby, England, United Kingdom. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 The Japanese intercepted, but could not decode, a report by USS Cuttlefish returning from patrol near Saipan, Mariana Islands. Around midnight, the Japanese Navy 6th (Submarine) Fleet at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands also reported monitoring messages exchanged by two American task groups located 170 miles north-northeast of Midway Atoll, moving westwards. Aboard battleship Yamato, Admiral Yamamoto suggested that the information be relayed to the First Air Fleet flagship carrier Akagi, but senior staff officer Captain Kuroshima cautioned not to break radio silence. Elsewhere, the transport fleet of the Japanese Aleutian invasion fleet set sail from the main island of Honshu of the Japanese home islands; it was consisted of 8 transports. In the northern Pacific Ocean, Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced for the launching of her floatplane for a reconnaissance missiong over Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands; an American cruiser sailed near by luck but failed to spot the submarine; I-25 would continue with the reconnaissance mission after a short while. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 British Royal Air Force Flying Officer Leslie Manser, from 50 Squadron at Skellingthorpe, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for remaining with his doomed Manchester bomber while his crew parachute to safety. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-155 sank Norwegian ship Baghdad in the center of the Atlantic Ocean at 0651 hours; 9 were killed, 21 survived. At 1024 hours, U-404 sank US freighter Alcoa Shipper further north, killing 7 of 32 aboard. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Escort carrier Activity was launched. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 The Chinese 38th Division completed its move to India. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Proteus sank Italian ship Bravo 70 miles west of Benghazi, Libya. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 USS Pompano sank Japanese troop transport Atsuta Maru 80 miles east of Okinawa, Japan. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 USS S-35 reached the western Aleutian Islands and began patrolling the area. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Stalin finally approved the establishment of a Central Staff for Partisan Warfare under the direction of Byelorussian Communist Party Secretary Panteleimon Ponomarenko. The irregulars would now be organized along military lines with Red Army Commanders and NKVD officials to run them. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 By adding 367 training aircraft, British Air Marshal Harris managed to mount the first thousand-plane raid against Germany (the actual count was 1,046), Operation Millennium. Originally targeted for Hamburg, it was switched to Köln due to weather. Over 1,400 tons of explosives were dropped on that city during the night of 30-31 May 1942, killing 500, injuring 5,000, and making nearly 60,000 homeless. 40 British bombers failed to return. The German government estimated that Köln received 900 tons of high explosive and 110,000 incendiary bombs, and about 400 were killed. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Paul von Kleist was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Alexander Löhr was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown, having received rushed repairs from 1,400 dock workers, departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 USS Hammann departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Axis forces attacked westward in Libya, the direction the offensive originated from, in order to consolidate territories recently taken. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down the RAF P-40 fighter piloted by Australian Flight Sergeant George Buckland at 0605 hours over El Adem, Libya, which was his 65th kill. After the mission, he drove to the site of the crash after hearing from his comrades that his victim bailed but the parachute did not open; he found the remains, retrieved identification papers, and made a flight over a British airfield to let the British know what happened to Buckland. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Before dawn, the floatplane of Japanese submarine I-10 conducted a reconnaissance mission over Diego-Suárez harbor, Madagascar, spotting British battleship HMS Ramillies, a tanker, a freighter, and an ammunition ship. At 1740 hours, I-16 and I-20 launched midget submarines M-16b and M-20b 10 miles from Diego-Suárez. M-20b fired her torpedo at 2025 hours, damaging HMS Ramillies and putting her out of action for a year. At 2120 hours, corvettes HMS Genista and HMS Thyme counterattacked with depth charges but failed to hit the Japanese midget submarines. Shortly after, M-20b fired her second torpedo, sinking British tanker British Loyalty. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 21 ships of the Allied convoy PQ-16 arrived in the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia at 1600 hours. 
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30 May 1942 WW2 Submarine Runner was launched at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States, sponsored by the wife of John H. Newton. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 USS Colorado patrolled 650 miles west of San Francisco, California, United States. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 British airfield RAF Bassingbourn's station log noted that from this date, when there were missions, "all personnel, officers, NCOs, and airmen to be served in the future in the airmen's mess." 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Unyo was commissioned into service. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Lord Gort stepped down as the Governor of Gibraltar. 
0
31 May 1942 WW2 USS Pollack damaged a small boat with her deck gun off Kyushu, Japan. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank Canadian ship Liverpool Packet off Nova Scotia, Canada at 0140 hours; 2 were killed, 19 survived. At 0252 hours, U-506 sank British ship Fred W. Green with gunfire 200 miles southeast of Bermuda; 5 were killed, 36 survived. In the South Atlantic, Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini sank British Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Dinsdale, hitting her with 4 of 6 torpedoes fired; 5 were killed. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Proteus sank Italian merchant ship Gino Allegri 90 miles west of Benghazi, Libya. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Japanese submarines I-22, I-24, and I-27 launched three midget submarines 7 miles off of Sydney, Australia. At 2235 hours, one was caught in torpedo nets and was scuttled by her own crew of two (both were killed in the process). The two others continued into Sydney Harbor. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-214 sank Turkish ship Mahbubdihan in the Black Sea; Mahbubdihan was suspected of carrying supplies for German troops. 
0
31 May 1942 WW2 USS Finback departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for the anticipated Japanese attack on Midway Atoll. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message noting that carrier Zuikaku's air group was being transferred out of the carrier, which provided a strong hint that Zuikaku was not going to participate in the upcoming offensive. Later on the same day, Chester Nimitz informed his carrier task forces commanders that the Japanese attack would likely take place on 3 Jun 1942, and the Japanese would be operating four fleet carriers. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 50 trucks reached Bir Hakeim in Libya, bringing badly-needed fresh water and evacuating Indian troops and Italian prisoners of war. After sundown, Axis tanks attacked westward from within the Cauldron on the southern end of the Gazala Line, assaulting positions held by British 150th Brigade. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down the P-40 fighter piloted by Major Andre Duncan at 0726 hours near Fort Acroma, Libya. Two minutes later, he shot down his first victim's wingman. At 0734 hours, he scored his third kill of the day. His score stood at 68 by the end of this date. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 launched her floatplane for a reconnaissance mission over Diego-Suárez harbor, Madagascar to evaluate damage caused by the midget submarine attack that had taken place during the previous night. 
0
31 May 1942 WW2 I-168 arrived in the Midway Atoll vicinity. 
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31 May 1942 WW2 Monowitz labor camp, later to become Auschwitz III, opened on this date, housing forced laborers charged with building the Buna-Works for the German chemical firm I. G. Farben. 
0
31 May 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Canterbury, England, United Kingdom. 
0
31 May 1942 WW2 USS Maryland patrolled 650 miles west of San Francisco, California, United States. 
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31 May 1942 RELIGIOUS German warplanes bombed Canterbury, England, causing severe damage to the Canterbury Cathedral (seat of Anglicanism), in retaliation for Britain's assault on Cologne, Germany.
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 French, Dutch, Belgian, Croatian, Slovakian, and Romanian Jews were ordered to wear yellow stars. 
0
01 Jun 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler was placed in charge of Luftschutz, or Air Raid Protection, in Germany. 
0
01 Jun 1942 WW2 Hitler traveled to Poltava to confer with Feldmarschall von Bock on the next offensive. 
0
01 Jun 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy changed its operational code. 
0
01 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-404 sank US freighter West Notus with gunfire 400 kilometers east of North Carolina, United States, killing 4 of 40 aboard. Further east in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, U-566 sank British ship Westmoreland; 3 were killed, 65 survived. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank Panamanian ship Bushranger west of Cuba at 0354 hours; 17 were killed, 26 survived. At 1140 hours, U-106 sank US freighter Hampton Roads 150 kilometers west of Havana, Cuba; 7 were killed, 23 survived. At the end of the day at 2351 hours, U-156 sank Brazilian ship Alegrete between Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent in the Antilles islands; all 64 aboard survived. 
0
01 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-28 suffered a fire in her port main motor, but it was extinguished with minor damage. 
0
01 Jun 1942 WW2 Mexico declared war on Germany. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps began recruiting African-Americans. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 Rear Admiral Sadayoshi Yamada asked Vice Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara for the authorization to build an airfield on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 Two Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney Harbor in Australia in the final hours of the previous day. One of them, M-24, was able to fired two torpedoes at cruiser USS Chicago just after 0000 hours; missing the American cruiser, one of the torpedoes hit the breakwater, sinking nearby barracks ship HMAS Kuttabul (21 were killed, 10 were wounded). M-24 would be able to escape the harbor; her crew abandoned the midget submarine 13 miles north of Sydney but was never seen again. The other midget submarine was depth charged and destroyed by Australian auxiliary patrol boats HMAS Steady Hour, HMAS Sea Mist, and HMAS Yarroma at 0500 hours, killing both men aboard. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 956 British bombers (545 Wellington, 127 Halifax, 77 Stirling, 74 Lancaster, 71 Hampden, 33 Manchester, 29 Whitley) attacked Essen, Germany, causing little damage; 31 bombers were lost on this attack. This attack was billed as a 1,000-bomber raid. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii reported signs that their counterparts in Japan were monitoring carrier radio traffic in the Hawaiian Islands; Rochefort warned Nimitz of this fact, but the US carrier groups would not change their behavior. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis tanks broke through positions held by British 150th Brigade at Sidi Muftah, killing Brigadier Clive Haydon, which caused 3,000 British troops to surrender. This cut off the last remaining supply line into Bir Hakeim. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down the P-40 fighter piloted by British Pilot Officer Collet over Gadd el Ahmar, Libya; it was his 69th kill. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 The Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland began operation. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 8 ships of the Allied convoy PQ-16 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia. On the same day, German Ju 88 bombers attacked the harbor at Archangelsk, sinking the ship Steel Worker and damaging Soviet submarine ShCh-404. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 The keel of carrier Colossus was laid down. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Saratoga departed San Diego, California for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 
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01 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Whale was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander John Azer in command. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 Vichy French government granted Germany the use of the port of Bizerta, Tunisia to bring in food, clothing, and other supplies not directly related to the military. Troops, military equipment, and ammunition were explicitly forbidden. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 Remy Van Lierde, flying a Spitfire Mk.Vb fighter, damaged a German Do 217 bomber over Skegness, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho launched aircraft to search for light cruiser Sendai and destroyer Isonami which had fallen out of formation due to heavy fog. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-159 sank US ship Illinois 450 miles southeast of Bermuda at 0253 hours; 32 were killed, 6 survived. In the same general area at 0255 hours, U-558 sank Dutch ship Triton with the deck gun; 6 were killed, 30 survived. Several hours later, U-553 sank British ship Mattawin off northeastern United States at 0718 hours; all aboard survived. Between 0332 and 0705 hours, U-213 gave chase to Norwegian ship Berganger, which evaded all 5 torpedo attacks, but at 2027 hours she would fall prey to U-578 southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States; 4 were killed, 43 survived. Finally, 85 miles south of Freetown, British West Africa, Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci sank Panamanian schooner Reine Marie Stewart. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-158 sank US ship Knoxville west of Cuba at 0257 hours; 2 were killed, 55 survived. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 British Baltimore aircraft of No. 815 Naval Air Squadron attacked German submarine U-652 12 miles northeast of Bardia, Libya; the crew of U-652 abandoned the submarine after sustaining heavy damage; all 46 aboard were later rescued by U-81. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 About 50 German Jews from Berlin arrived at Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. They were the first German Jews to arrive at this camp. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 195 British bombers (97 Wellington, 38 Halifax, 27 Lancaster, 21 Stirling, 12 Hampden) attacked Essen, Germany, causig little damage; 14 bombers were lost on this attack. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Paramushiro (Paramushir) Kurile Islands. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 Troops of German 90th Light Division and Italian Trieste Division mounted a new attack on the French-held fort of Bir Hakeim, Libya; French General Kœnig refused to surrender. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka exited the drydock at Keppel Harbor, Singapore. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown made rendezvous with USS Enterprise and USS Hornet 350 miles northeast of Midway. Rear Admiral Fletcher took overall tactical command of this fleet. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise made rendezvous with USS Yorktown and USS Hornet 350 miles northeast of Midway. Rear Admiral Fletcher took overall tactical command of this fleet. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Hornet made rendezvous with USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise 350 miles northeast of Midway. Rear Admiral Fletcher took overall tactical command of this fleet. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 US Navy deployed 25 submarines west of Midway in an attempt to detect the incoming Japanese fleet, while Midway-based US Army B-17 bombers attacked Japanese transports 600 miles west of the atoll, inflicting no damage. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 Australian auxiliary patrol boat HMAS Kuru arrived at Portuguese East Timor from Australia, delivering supplies to the Sparrow Force. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 German forces began a 5-day bombardment of Sevastopol, Russia. One the ground, large weapons such as the 600mm Mörser Karl mortars and the 800mm "Gustav" railway gun were used. From the air, hundreds of sorties delivered 500 tons of high explosives, damaging port facilities, fuel tanks, and water pumps at the cost of only one Ju 87 dive bomber. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Canterbury, England, United Kingdom. 
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02 Jun 1942 WW2 I-168 observed Sand Island, Midway Atoll with her periscope, reporting heavy aircraft activity. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 sank British schooner Lillian with her deck gun; 3 were killed, 22 survived. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 German General Rommel sent French General Kœnig a hand-written note, urging the surrender of Bir Hakeim in Libya to avoid needless bloodshed: "To the troops of Bir Hakeim. Further resistance will only lead to pointless loss of life. You will suffer the same fate as the two Brigades which were at Got el Ualeg and which were exterminated the day before yesterday - we will cease fighting as soon as you show the white flag and come towards us unarmed". Kœnig ignored the request. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Rear Admiral James L. Kauffman was named the commanding officer of the US Navy Gulf Sea Frontier. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 A new British government plan for the coal industry was submitted to parliament in a White Paper, and Major Gwilym Lloyd George was appointed Minister of fuel, light and power. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle launched 31 Spitfire fighters for Malta. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-172 sank US ship City of Alma 400 miles northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico at 0410 hours; 29 were killed, 10 survived. At 1000 hours, U-404 sank Swedish ship Anna 245 miles northwest of Bermuda after 5 hours of pursuit; all 17 aboard survived. 40 miles west of Nova Scotia, Canada, U-432 forced the occupants of two small US fishing boats to abandon the vessels before sinking them with her deck gun at 2100 hours. To the south, German submarine U-126 gave Norwegian tanker Høegh Giant east of Guyana. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-24 attacked Australian coastal freighter Age with her deck gun and a torpedo 35 miles east of Sydney, Australia at dusk; Age was able to escape. 90 minutes later, I-24 came across Australian ship Iron Chiefton and sank her with a torpedo; 12 were killed. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-35 spotted Japanese aircraft en route to raid Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell arrived in Chongqing, China. Later on the same day, Stilwell met with Chiang Kaishek who urged for more Lend-Lease supplies; in the same meeting, Stilwell asked Chiang to purge the Chinese officer corps of those responsible for the recent poor performance in Burma. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 170 British bombers attacked Bremen, Germany, killing 83 at the cost of 11 bombers lost. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Tenryu entered drydock No. 3 at Maizuru Naval Arsenal, Japan for the installation of additional anti-aircraft weaponry and armor. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Paramushiro (Paramushir) Kurile Islands. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille engaged in the longest single aerial battle of his career over Bir Hacheim, Libya, shooting down six P-40 fighters (at 1222 hours, 1225 hours, 1227 hours, 1228 hours, 1229 hours, and 1233 hours), pushing his score up to 75. He used up only 12 cannon rounds and about 360 machine gun rounds in this fight. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka departed Singapore. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 In the morning, US PBY Catalina aircraft discovered the location of the Japanese transports west of Midway Atoll. At 1230 hours, nine Midway-based B-17 bombers launched from Midway, reaching and attacking Japanese transports 660 miles to west at 1830 hours, inflicting no damage; meanwhile, US Navy Task Forces 16 and 17 changed course in an attempt to gain a more favorable battle for the upcoming battle. On the Japanese side, submarines arrived to form a cordon to detect American warship movements from the Hawaii Islands toward Midway Atoll; they did not realize that the American carriers had already passed. Far to the north, aircraft from Japanese carriers Ryujo and Junyo bombed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska; one of the Zero fighters sustained damage and unsuccessfully crash-landed on Akutan Island. In response, US Navy dispatched a task force of 5 cruisers and 4 destroyers to counter the Japanese attacks in the Aleutian Islands. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho sailed ahead of the Southern Force into the Midway area. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 German aircraft continued to attack Sevastopol, Russia. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Poole, England, United Kingdom. 
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03 Jun 1942 WW2 I-168 circled Midway Atoll to provide weather data and other observations to the headquarters of the Combined Fleet. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Hitler traveled to Finland to meet with Marshal Mannerheim. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Michio Kobayashi passed away. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Reinhard Heydrich passed away. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 French troops at Bir Hakeim, Libya repulsed another Axis attack. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Mitsuo Fuchida was injured after being thrown by an explosion aboard Akagi, breaking both ankles. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Shortly after midnight the Italian submarine Luigi Torelli bound for a patrol area off Puerto Rico was attacked by Squadron Leader Jeaff Greswell's (No. 172 Squadron RAF) Leigh Light equipped Wellington bomber. The attack (the first to be made using a Leigh light) caused extensive damage to the Italian submarine, which was forced to abort her mission and return to port for repairs. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Astoria became the temporary flagship of Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher as USS Yorktown was hit by Japanese aircraft. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-126 sank Norwegian tanker Høegh Giant 400 miles east of Guyana at 0140 hours; all 39 aboard survived. Just after dawn, German armed merchant cruiser Stier stopped British ship Gemstone, took off the crew, and sank her with a torpedo 750 miles northeast of Natal, Brazil. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-159 sank Norwegian ship Nidarnes 20 miles west of Cuba at 0400 hours; 13 were killed, 11 survived. 150 miles northwest of Trinidad, U-502 sank US tanker MF Elliott at 2156 hours; 13 were killed, 29 survived. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Trusty sank Japanese cargo ship Toyohashi Maru 20 miles south of Phuket, Thailand. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-27 attacked Australian coastal freighter Barwon off Gabo Island 260 miles south of Sydney, Australia at 0535 hours, failing to sink her. At 1645 hours, I-27 struck again, sinking Australian cargo ship Iron Crown; 37 were killed, 5 survived. An Australian Hudson bomber dropped two 250-pound bombs on I-27 but failed to do any damage. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille originally received orders that he was to be sent back to Germany to be awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, but on this date Albert Kesselring would personally arrive in Libya to deliver the citation (without the physical award). On the same day, he was ordered to prepare to become commanding officer of the squadron 3 Staffel I./JG-27. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Akagi launched strikes against Midway Atoll. She was subsequently attacked by numerous enemy land and carrier-based aircraft. At 1026 hours, she was attacked by three aircraft from USS Enterprise, suffering one direct hit amidships in the vicinity of the island, starting a fire in the hangars. A second hit ripped through the fantail and exploded under the port quarter. The third bomb released at her was a near-miss port-side forward. Although normally the damage would had been moderate, the vessel was currently engaged in preparing a strike, with the result that the single bomb hit induced explosions among armed and fueled aircraft within hangars and start a raging aviation gasoline fire. Since she was in a maximum turn at the time, Akagi's rudder was damaged, and soon jammed at 20 degrees to port, leaving her going in wide circles. Unable to command the fleet from her now, at 1046 hours Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo transferred flag first to Nowaki, then to Nagara. Akagi's engines worked erratically, with the ship starting and stopping, but she went dead in the water for good at 1350 hours. By 1600 all non-essential personnel had left the ship, though Captain Aoki and a damage control party remained aboard. The vessel burned through the evening and next night, but remained afloat. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho's aircraft located the burning wreck of carrier Hiryu off Midway Atoll. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Kaga was struck by at least four bombs during the Battle of Midway and suffered a great fire. She was scuttled at 1925 hours by two torpedoes from destroyer Hagikaze. 814 were killed in her loss. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Starting at 0700 hours, US carriers launched torpedo bombers and dive bombers against the Japanese fleet in the Midway region. Japanese carriers wiped out the first few waves of US air attacks, but at about 1030 hours dive bombers were able to hit Soryu, Kaga, and Akagi. USS Yorktown was hit by Japanese dive bombers at about 1200 hours and by torpedo bombers at 1440 hours, forcing Rear Admiral Fletcher to transfer his flag to cruiser Astoria. At 1703 hours, the last undamaged Japanese carrier Hiryu was hit by a dive bomber. Soryu would sink at 1913 hours (711 were killed, 392 survived), and Kaga would be scuttled at 1925 hours (811 were killed, 900 survived). 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 In the Battle of Midway, USS Hammann shot down two Japanese aircraft attacking USS Yorktown, but nevertheless Yorktown would be disabled by the Japanese. Hammann rescued about 500 survivors from Yorktown. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese carriers launched 72 bombers and 36 fighters against the airfield at Midway Atoll at 0430 hours, hitting the atoll at 0620 hour and doing limited damage. 
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04 Jun 1942 WW2 I-168 observed the first Japanese attack on Midway Atoll through the periscope. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Kurt Daluege was named Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 The Nazi SS organization reported that 97,000 people had been killed in mobile gas vans. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 US President Roosevelt threatened the use of poison gas against Japan if Japanese troops were to deploy poison gas in China. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 US Navy Task Force 1 with 6 battleships and carrier Long Island made rendezvous west of San Francisco, California. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Unternehmen Vogellied (Operation Birdsong): In the Roslavl and Bryansk region in Russia, 5,000 German security troops tracked down a destroyed a 2,500-strong partisan group. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 United States declared war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Joichi Tomonaga passed away. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Tamon Yamaguchi went down with the sinking carrier Hiryu. He was promoted to the rank of vice admiral posthumously. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Ryusaku Yanagimoto passed away. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Tomeo Kaku passed away. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-172 sank US ship Delfina 120 miles north of Puerto Rico at 0608 hours; 4 were killed, 27 survived. At 2210 hours, U-94 sank Portuguese sailing ship Maria da Glória with her deck gun 650 miles east of St. John's Newfoundland; 2 were killed, 42 survived, but only 8 of the survivors would be rescued. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-158 sank US ship Velma Lykes 15 miles off Cancún, Mexico at 0332 hours; 15 were killed, 17 survived. 85 miles south of the Dominican Republic, U-159 sank Brazilian sail Paracury with her deck gun at 0527 hours. At 2010 hours, U-159 attacked again in the same area, sinking Honduran sailing vessel Sally with her deck. At 2049 hours, U-68 sank US tanker LJ Drake with 3 torpedoes off the Dominican Republic; all 40 aboard were killed. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Free French submarine Rubis laid mines in the Bay of Biscay; they would later sink Vichy French ship Quand Meme, German minesweeper M-4212, and German minesweeper M-4448 in the weeks to come. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Clarence Tinker led a group of B-24 Liberator bombers from Hawaii Islands to Midway Atoll. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese merchant raiders Aikoku Maru and Hokoku Maru sank British passenger liner Elysia 350 miles off Durban, South Africa. To the north on the same day, off Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique, Japanese submarine I-10 sank Panamanian ship Atlantic Gulf at 0231 hours, I-10 sank US freighter Melvin H Baker at 1044 hours, and I-20 sank Panamanian ship Johnstown. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Captain Shinpei Asano was named the commanding officer of Tenryu while the ship was undergoing upgrades at Maizuro Naval Arsenal, Japan. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 British troops mounted a large counter offensive south of Tobruk, Libya in Operation Aberdeen; it was met with initial success, but it was halted after German tanks penetrated into the area between British divisional field headquarters and disrupted communications. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 Akagi was scuttled by direct order of Combined Fleet chief Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. At 0520 hours, she sank bow first after two or three torpedo hits out of four fired into her starboard side by Arashio, Hagikaze, Maikaze and Nowaki. She sank in position 30-30 N, 178-40 W. More than 1,070 survivors were rescued, including her skipper Taijiro Aoki, who had replaced Hasegawa in the spring, though he had to be ordered off the ship. Only 263 petty officers and men were lost. Survivors were subsequently transferred from destroyers to Mutsu, one of the battleships in Yamamoto's Main Body. Akagi became the first Japanese capital ship to be scuttled by own ships in the Pacific War. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 At 0015 hours, Yamamoto ordered the night engagement at Midway to be canceled; at 0255 hours, he ordered the entire Operation MI to be canceled. In the battle zone, heavily damaged Japanese carriers Akagi and Hiryu were scuttled. To the west, heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma suffered a collision as they attempted to avoid submarine USS Tambor; Mogami suffered 92 killed and heavy damage in the collision. Far to the north, in the Aleutian Islands, aircraft from Japanese carriers Ryujo and Junyo attacked Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska as Japanese troops occupied Attu. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 German troops continued the aerial and artillery bombardment of Sevastopol, Russia, using weapons including the 800mm railway gun Schwerer Gustav. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Bluefish was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
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05 Jun 1942 WW2 I-168 surfaced 1,100 yards southwest of Midway at 1024 hours and fired 6 shots with her 10-centimeter deck gun, inflicting no damage. When she was caught by American searchlights, she submerged and evaded American return-fire. She survived two subsequent attacks, one by a patrol vessel and another by PBY Catalina aircraft, incurring no damage. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 In North Africa the RAF deployed its "secret" Hurricane IID Tank Buster Squadron which had been training to deliver low-level attacks on enemy tank formations using Hurricane fighters fitted with dual 40mm cannon. Within ten days the squadron would make 37 sorties, damaging 31 enemy tanks (although very few were completely destroyed). 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 John Winant spoke to a group of British coal miners in Durham, England, United Kingdom and persuaded them from striking. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 General Lewis Brereton, commander of the US 10th Air Force in the China-Burma-India theater, was transferred to Egypt. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 Speedboat Esau from German armed merchant cruiser Michel damaged US liberty ship George Clymer with a torpedo in the South Atlantic at 0200 hours. Near the Equator in the Central Atlantic, German armed merchant cruiser Stier sank Panamanian tanker Stanvac Calcutta with gunfire (12 were killed, 36 survived and were captured); Stier suffered two hits when Stanvac Calcutta returned fire with her 4-inch gun. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-68 sank Panamanian tanker C. O. Stillman 60 miles southwest of Puerto Rico at 0307 hours; 3 were killed, 55 survived. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Attu, Aleutian Islands. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 233 British bombers (124 Wellington, 40 Stirling, 27 Halifax, 20 Lancaster, 15 Hampden, 7 Manchester) attacked Emden, Germany, destroying 300 houses, killing 17 civilians, and wounding 49; 9 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-16 sank Yugoslavian freighter Susak with her deck gun just off the coast of Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis troops routed 3 Indian infantry battalions and 4 artillery regiments that failed to flee as the Operation Aberdeen offensive was called off on the previous day in Libya. With victory secured at this battle, Erwin Rommel moved the German 90th Light Division to reinforce the siege on Free French-held fort of Bir Hakeim. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 In Libya, Kittybombers repeatedly attacked Axis armor formations near the Knightsbridge box during the Battle of Gazala. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 Aircraft from USS Enterprise and USS Hornet attacked, damaging destroyer Arashio (37 were killed), destroyer Asashio (22 were killed), and cruiser Mogami (81 killed) and causing fatal damage to cruiser Mikuma, which would sink later in the day (650 killed, 240 survived). As US Navy Task Force 16 sailed eastward to refuel, thus breaking contact with the Japanese fleet, the Battle of Midway drew to a close. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-168 successfully navigated past American destroyers at 0430 hours north of Midway Atoll and closed in on the damaged carrier USS Yorktown at 1331 hours, firing 4 torpedoes. Destroyer USS Hammann was struck, sinking her immediately (84 were killed, 104 survived). Yorktown was also hit, but it would remain afloat despite the additional damage. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 While assisting damage control efforts aboard USS Yorktown, USS Hammann was struck by a torpedo from I-168, breaking her in half. She sank very quickly, then suffered a underwater explosion, most likely from her own depth charges, which killed many survivors in the water. 80 men were killed in the sinking. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 German troops continued the bombardment of Sevastopol, Russia with large caliber weapons. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Canterbury, England, United Kingdom. 
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06 Jun 1942 WW2 Clarence Tinker led a flight of B-24 Liberator bombers from Midway Atoll. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese troops occupied Kiska, Aleutian Islands, US Territory of Alaska. On the same day, the American newspaper Chicago Tribune reported the Battle of Midway victory, hinting that the US Navy had knowledge of Japanese strengths prior to the engagement; this would later, in Aug 1942, trigger a Federal investigation. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Saratoga transferred aircraft to Enterprise and Hornet so that they could sail north to reinforce the Aleutian Islands. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 All Jews over the age of six were forced to wear the Star of David in occupied France. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 The B-24 Liberator bomber flown by Clarence Tinker plunged into the Pacific Ocean; no rescue mission was launched, and Tinker and eight other aboard were presumed lost. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-26 sank US freighter Coast Trader 35 miles west of Washington, United States; 1 was killed, 55 survived. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank Honduran ship Castilla 75 miles south of the western tip of Cuba at 0408 hours; 24 were killed, 35 survived. 50 miles north of the western tip of Cuba, U-158 sank Panamanian ship Hermis; 1 was killed, 46 survived. At 2224 hours, U-159 sank US ship Edith 200 miles southeast of Jamaica; 2 were killed, 29 survived. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-653 sank destroyer USS Gannet 240 miles north of Bermuda at 0742 hours; 14 were killed, 62 survived. US liberty ship George Clymer, damaged on the previous day by speedboat Esau launched by German armed merchant cruiser Michel, was scuttled by British armed merchant cruiser HMS Alcantara in the South Atlantic; Michel approached to attack HMS Alcantara during the rescue operation, but would arrive far too late. 700 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa, Italian submarine Da Vinci sank Danish ship Chile; 5 were killed, 39 survived. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 British PBY Catalina flying boats sank Italian submarine Veniero off Palma, Majorca, Spain. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Charles Conway Hartigan Jr. was made the commanding officer of the suvivors of sunken USS Hammann. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 German engineers penetrated the minefield outside of Bir Hakeim, Libya, but the attack was repulsed by Free French fighters with British air support. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down the P-40 fighter piloted by South African Lieutenant Frewen over El Adem, Libya at 1610 hours. Three minutes later, he shot down the P-40 fighter piloted by South African Lieutenant Leonard James Peter Berragé. These were his 76th and 77th kills. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 I-168 successfully evaded the hunt by American submarines and escaped the Midway area on only two engines to conserve fuel. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Yorktown, having already been abandoned for hours, slowly rolled over to her side and sank north of Midway Atoll at 0458 hours. Destroyers that remained near her wreck lowered her flags to half mast as she sank beneath the sea. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 Troops of German 11th Army began a 2-pronged assault on the city of Sevastopol in Russia, capturing Belbek at 1715 hours but also suffering 2,357 casualties. 
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07 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Torelli was damaged by radar-equiped British aircraft in the Bay of Biscay. Her captain beached her in northern Spain to prevent sinking, and the crew performed enough repairs for her to get on her way again, but only to be discovered and attacked by British aircraft again (1 was killed, 2 wounded). She was beached again (near Santander, Spain), and this time the temporary repairs would take until 14 Jun 1942. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Gar arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her second war patrol. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur proposed to the Army Chief of Staff a limited offensive to regain positions in the Bismarck Archipelago. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Astoria was relieved of her duty as Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher's flagship. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank US ship Suwied 100 miles east of Cozumel, Mexico at 0119 hours; 6 were killed, 27 survived. At 0500 hours, U-172 sank US ship Sicilien 10 miles south of Cape Beata, Dominican Republic; 44 were killed, 31 survived. At 0700 hours, U-504 sank Huondran ship Tela with two torpedoes 100 miles southeast of Cozumel; 11 were killed, 43 survived. At 1800 hours, U-504 struck again, sinking British ship Rosenborg with her deck gun; 4 were killed, 23 survived. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-135 sank Norwegian ship Pleasantville 225 miles northwest of Bermuda at 0316 hours; 2 were killed, 45 survived. German submarine U-128 sank Norwegian tanker South Africa 400 miles east of Trinidad at 1419 hours; 6 were killed, 36 survived. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-83 sank Egyptian ship Said with her deck gun 15 miles southwest of Jaffa, British Palestine at 0511 hours; 5 were killed, 9 survived. At 2330 hours, U-83 struck again, sinking Palestinian sail boat Esther with her deck gun 10 miles off Sidon, Syria-Lebanon. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Alagi sank Italian destroyer Antoniotto Usodimare with a torpedo 100 miles north of Cape Bon, Tunisia in a case of mis-identification. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-24 fired 10 shells at the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Sydney, Australia shortly after 0000 hours, scoring no hits on the bridge but destroyed one house nearby. At 0215 hours, I-21 surfaced near Newcastle, Australia and fired 34 shells, damaging a house near the BHP steelworks; as the coastal guns at Fort Scratchley fired at I-21 (which caused no damage), this became the only time where Australian land-based guns would fire at a Japanese ship in the war. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Men of the Japanese Kure No. 3 Special Naval Landing Force raided Simberi, New Ireland in search of coast watcher Cornelius Page; Page went into hiding. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 170 British bombers (92 Wellington, 42 Halifax, 14 Stirling, 13 Lancaster, 9 Hampden) attacked Essen, Germany, killing 13 and wounding 42; 19 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 sank British ship King Lud in the Mozambique Channel at 0953 hours with torpedoes, killing all aboard. In the same area, I-16 sank Greek ship Aghios Georgios IV with her deck gun and I-18 sank Norwegian ship Wilford with her deck gun. In the middle of the Indian Ocean, I-20 sank Greek ship Christos Markettos. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Thick fog allowed an Allied supply convoy to supply French troops at Bir Hakeim, Libya; meanwhile, the same fog also allowed the Axis build-up to be completed without being detected, which led to the start of what would be the final assault on the fort; this final assault would be personally led by Erwin Rommel. In the evening, French General Pierre Kœnig decided the fort would be abandoned on 11 Jun 1942. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille became the permanent commanding officer of the squadron 3 Staffel I./JG-27. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 2 battleships, 1 escort carrier, and 2 heavy cruisers broke off from the retiring Japanese Navy Midway invasion fleet to reinforce the Aleutian Islands. 
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08 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Mako, Pescaore islands. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 The Chief of Staff of the First Air Fleet Rear Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka and staff officers Captain Tamotsu Oishi and Commander Minoru Genda arrived aboard Yamato from light cruiser Nagara. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich's funeral took place on this date. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 USAAF claimed part of the credit for the American victory at Midway despite that no land-based aircraft hit any Japanese warship. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle launched 32 Spitfire fighters for Malta. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 attacked Allied convoy ONS-100 in the middle of the North Atlantic at 0410 hours, sinking Free French corvette Mimosa with 2 torpedoes; 65 were killed, 4 survived. U-432 attacked Allied convoy BX-23A 100 miles southwest of Pubnico, Nova Scotia, Canada at 1300 hours, damaging British ship Malayan Prince and Norwegian ship Kronprinsen (1 killed); Kronprinsen was beached to prevent sinking. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-502 attacked Allied convoy TO-5 35 miles northeast of Cape Blanco, Venezuela, sinking Belgian ship Bruxelles and US tanker Franklin K Lane (4 were killed, 37 survived). 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 A British Catalina aircraft sank Italian submarine Zaffiro south of Palma, Majorca, Spain, killing all 47 aboard. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 United States Navy reorganized the facilities on Kodiak Island, Aleutian Islands into a Naval Operating Base in response to recent Japanese activity in the region. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 At Pucheng, Fujian Province, China, US Navy Captain Milton Miles and Chinese Army Dai Li agreed to form a 50,000-strong US Navy-trained Chinese guerrilla force. Having learned that General Dai was present at Pucheng, the Japanese launched four air raids, slightly injuring Miles. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-83 sank Palestinian sailing ship Typhoon with her deck gun 4 miles southwest of Sidon, Syria-Lebanon at 1115 hours. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Finback arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 German 15th Panzer Division launched an attack on the Free French troops at Bir Hakeim, Libya at 1300 hours, supported by artillery pieces and dive bombers. The French Legionaires (now reduced to half a cup of water per man per day) were cut off from the rest of the brigade, but by dusk the tenacious defenders were still hanging on desperately to their positions. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 All organized resistance against the Japanese invasion ceased in the Philippine Islands. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 Failing to break Soviet defensive lines, the German offensive at Sevastopol, Russia that began two days prior was temporarily paused, instead letting aircraft and artillery pieces soften up the defensive positions further. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka departed Mako, Pescaore islands. 
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09 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish arrived at Midway Atoll for refitting. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 After sunset, an unidentified submarine fired two torpedoes at Yamato about 100 miles north-northeast of Minami-Torishima (Marcus Island). Yamato and the other ships in the Main Body turn to port and both torpedoes miss. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 A massive German 33-division offensive was launched from the Kharkov region of Ukraine. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 US patrol aircraft discovered the presence of Japanese troops on Kiska and Attu in the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific. In Japan, the Information Bureau announced that during the Battle of Midway, one Japanese carrier and two US carriers were sunk; one Japanese carrier returned to Japan with some damage. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 German Stuka dive bombers preceded another assault on the French-held fort at Bir Hakeim, Libya, but the defense repulsed another infantry attack. By the end of the day, the French troops had practically run out of ammunition; at 2300 hours, Kœnig began the process to evacuate from the fort. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 The US Army attached the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment to the 101st Airborne Division. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank US ship Merrimack 60 miles south of Cozumel, Mexico at about 0520 hours; 43 were killed, 10 survived. In the Caribbean Sea, U-68 sank British ship Ardenvohr at 0520 hours (1 was killed, 70 survived), British ship Surrey also at about 0520 hours (12 were killed, 55 survived), and British ship port Montreal shortly before 2359 hours (all 88 aboard survived, but 2 would die before being rescued). 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-81 attacked Allied convoy AT-49 7 miles off the Egyptian coast 50 miles west of Alexandria, sinking British ship Havre at 0218 hours; 20 were killed, 30 survived). At 0456 hours, U-559 also attacked the same convoy, damaging Norwegian tanker Athene (detonating her store of aviation fuel which would lead to her sinking on 12 Jun 1942; 14 were killed, 17 survived) and damaging Royal Fleet Auxiliary oiler Brambleleaf (7 were killed, 53 survived). 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine D-3 became missing in the Barents Sea, probably lost in the Bantos-A minefield off Rybachy Peninsula near Murmansk, Russia or the Schpeer III minefield off Berlevog, Norway. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 HMS Dianthus rescued 32 survivors of British merchant ship Empire Clough in the Atlantic Ocean. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Charles Conway Hartigan Jr. stepped down as the commanding officer of the suvivors of sunken USS Hammann. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-157 sank US tanker Hagan just off the northern coast of Cuba, killing 6 of 44 aboard. German submarine U-94 attacked Allied convoy ONS-100 880 miles east of Newfoundland, at 0340 hours, sinking British ship Empire Clough (5 were killed, 44 survived) and British ship Ramsay (40 were killed, 7 survived). At the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River several kilometers off Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada, U-553 sank British freighter Nicoya and then several hours later Dutch freighter Leto. In the evening, U-129 sank Norwegian ship LA Christensen 340 miles south of Bermuda at 2006 hours; all 31 aboard survived. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 Czechoslovakian towns of Lidice and Lezáky, incorrectedly linked to the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, were wiped out per personal orders of Adolf Hitler; all males were murdered; all females were deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, and all buildings were leveled to the ground. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 The Italian Air Force formed the "Loreto" combat engineers battalion at Cameri airfield near Novara, Italy. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 Over Mteifel Chebir, Libya, Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down three P-40 fighters at 0735 hours, 0741 hours, and 0745 hours. At 0750 hours, at the far range of 500 feet, he shot down the Hurricane II fighter piloted by Pilot Officer A. J. Hancock. His score now stood at 81. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 US Navy Task Force 18 was formed with carrier Wasp, battleship North Carolina, cruisers Quincy and San Juan, and 6 destroyers near the Panama Canal Zone. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 At Auschwitz Concentration Camp, about 50 Polish prisoners in the penal company attempted to escape while working at a drainage ditch in Birkenau; it was the first mass escape in the history of the camp. 9 were able to escape successfully. In response, the SS guards executed 20 prisoners by firing squad and sent 300 prisoners from the penal company in the gas chamber. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 German dive bombers sank Soviet destroyer Svobodnyy and transport Abkhaziya in port at Sevastopol, Russia. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet 2nd Shock Army, largely surrounded by German forces on the Volkhov River near Leningrad, Russia since mid-Jan 1942, began to extract itself from its disadvantageous position by using using grounds that were firming up due to the warmer weather. 
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10 Jun 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Escolar was laid down by William Cramp and Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 Troops of the 2nd Canadian Division conducted practice for the raid on Dieppe. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 Several American PBY Catalina aircraft from seaplane tender Gillis in Nazan Bay, Atka Island began a two-day raid on Japanese ships and positions on Kiska, Aleutian Islands, but ultimately would fail to drive the Japanese from the island. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 Adolf Eichmann met with representatives from France, Belgium, and Holland to coordinate the deportation of Jews. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 Robert Saundby was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-159 attacked a small Allied convoy off Panama in the Caribbean Sea, sinking British ship Fort Good Hope; 2 were killed, 45 survived. U-504 sank Norwegian passenger liner Crijnssen (1 was killed, 92 survived) and US ship American (4 were killed, 34 survived) 50 miles southwest of Grand Cayman Island. To the north, in the Gulf of Mexico, U-158 sank Panamanian tanker Sheherazade south of Louisiana, United States; 1 was killed, 58 survived. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 Armidale was commissioned into service. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 5 miles north of Cuba, German submarine U-157 sank US tanker Hagan 5 miles off northern Cuba at 1010 hours; 6 were killed, 38 survived. German submarines U-569 and U-94 sank British ship Pontypridd 500 miles east of Newfoundland; 2 were killed, 46 survived). U-455 sank British tanker Geo H Jones 500 miles northeast of the Azores islands; 2 were killed, 40 survived. German armed merchant cruiser Michel shelled British freighter Lylepark in the South Atlantic; 20 were killed, 21 survived and were captured, 4 survived and escaped capture. Also on this day, on the US coast, U-373 and U-701 laid mines just at the mouth of the Delaware Bay and off Virginia Beach, respectively, which would cause sinkings in the days to come. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 Arthur Coningham was Mentioned in Despatches. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Permit completed her fifth war patrol. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-35 received orders to return to Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska to replenish supplies. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 French troops evacuated Bir Hakeim, Libya after 16 days of stubborn defense that incurred 3,330 casualties on the Axis side; the French suffered 1,084 casualties while defending this fort; 500 seriously wounded troops were left behind in the fort. During the evacuation, heavy German artillery bombardment caused a panic and caused several French vehicles to drive off of the cleared path into surrounding minefields, detonating several in the process. The retreating forces made contact with British forces at 0400 hours. With Bir Hakeim secured, the Germans pushed toward El Adem later in the day and Knightsbridge in the evening. After 1900 hours, a few long range shots were exchanged between British and German tanks, but Erwin Rommel chose not to engaged in full combat that night. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 In the El Adem, Libya area, Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two British Hurricane fighters, Flight Sergeant Graves at 1625 hours and Australian Pilot Officer Charles William Parry Persse at 1635 hours. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 Two convoys trying to reach Malta were attacked by aircraft, warships and submarines. Twelve British warships and merchantmen were sunk and eleven were damaged. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 The German Luftwaffe flew 1,044 sorties over Sevastopol, Russia, dropping 954 tons of bombs. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California for a scheduled overhaul. 
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11 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish completed refitting at Midway Atoll and departed for Japanese waters. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-158 sank US tanker Cities Service Toledo 40 kilometers south of Abbeville, Louisiana, United States, killing 15 of 45 aboard. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 US B-17 and B-24 bombers raided Kiska, Aleutian Islands, damaging Japanese destroyer Hibiki. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday. "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support", she wrote in her first entry. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Shad was commissioned into service. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 German minesweeper M-4212 struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay; the mine was deployed by Free French submarine Rubis on 5 Jun 1942. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 sank British ship Dartford 550 miles east of Newfoundland; 30 were killed, 17 survived. U-129 sank British ship Hardwicke Grange 400 miles north of Puerto Rico; 3 were killed, 75 survived. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Swordfish sank Japanese transport Burma Maru in the Gulf of Thailand. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Greek submarine Papanikolis sank two Italian sailing vessels Catina and Aghia Aikaterini in the Aegean Sea. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank British destroyer HMS Grove 25 miles off Bardia, Libya at 0537 hours; 110 were killed, 60 survived. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-21 fired 4 torpedoes at an Allied convoy 40 miles off Sydney, Australia at 0114 hours, sinking collier Guatemala (all aboard survived). 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-28 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska to receive fuel and provisions. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 11 ships departed Haifa, Palestine and Port Said, Egypt in Operation Vigorous escorted by battleship HMS Centurion (unarmed, serving as a deterrent only), 8 cruisers, 26 destroyers, and 9 submarines, also sailing for Malta; the Vigorous convoy was attacked by German Ju 88 bombers south of Crete, Greece, damaging freighter City Of Calcutta, forcing her to sail for Tobruk, Libya for repairs. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 5 British freighters and 1 tanker departed Gibraltar in Operation Harpoon with 43,000 tons of cargo for Malta, escorted by battleship HMS Malaya, carrier HMS Argus, carrier HMS Eagle, 4 cruisers, 17 destroyers, 4 minesweepers, 1 minelayer, and 6 motor gunboats. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-16 sank Yugoslavian ship Supetar in the Mozambique Channel. In the same area, I-20 sank Panamanian ship Hellenic Trader and British ship Clifton Hall. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters issued the Great Army Instruction No. 1 for a study on the possibility of an over-land invasion of Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis forces pushed British troops back toward Tobruk, Libya, destroying many tanks; meanwhile, an attack on nearby El Adem was repulsed by Indian troops. The Allied defense line at Gazala was now in danger of being cut off. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille flew a mission in Libya, providing support for ground troops. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 During the morning roll call at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, 60 Polish prisoners were called out. They were shot at the Death Wall in the courtyard of Block 11 in retaliation of clandestine resistance organizations in Silesia region. The victims were transferred to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1942 from Sosnowiec, Katowice, and Krakow. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 13 US B-24 bombers from RAF Fayid, Egypt bombed oil fields at Ploesti, Romania, causing minimal damage; 4 aircraft made emergency landings in Turkey and were interned. 
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12 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet cruiser Molotov delivered 2,998 men from the Soviet 138th Infantry Brigade to Sevastopol, Russia. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 The United States established the Office of War Information and the Office of Strategic Services. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 United States Coast Guard Cutter Thetis attacked German submarine U-157 southwest of Key West, Florida, United States on the surface; after U-157 dove, Thetis dropped depth charge attack, and after several minutes reported debris and oil on floating to the surface from the destroyed U-157. Off Panama, in the Caribbean Sea, U-159 sank US passenger linker Sixaola at 0412 hours; 29 were killed, 201 survived. At 1938 hours, U-159 struck again, sinking US ship Solon; all 53 aboard survived. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Da Vinci sank British collier SS Clan MacQuarrie 650 miles south of Cape Verde Islands; 1 was killed, 89 survived. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-83 sank British Q-ship HMS Farouk off Chekka, Syria-Lebanon at 1110 hours; 9 were killed. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-405 was lost in the Tiger minefield off Seskar Island, Russia (taken from Finland in 1940) in the Baltic Sea; all 38 aboard were killed. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 27 aircraft of Japanese 23rd Air Flotilla from Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies attacked Darwin, Australia. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 A Soviet torpedo boat attacked and sank Italian midget submarine CB-5 in the Black Sea off Yalta, Ukraine. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian torpedo boat MTSM-210 damaged a Soviet ferry in the Black Sea; German aircraft arrived shortly after to sink the damaged ship. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 The first launch of an A4 rocket was achieved at Peenemünde, Germany, but after only 54 seconds the motor cut out and the missile fell into the sea less than a mile from its launch pad. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 General Eduard Wagner, Quartermaster General and head of the supply section of the German High Command informed Adolf Hitler that there was a real risk of supplies drying up by mid-September, 1942. Hitler refused to heed the warning which proved to be optimistic - By late July whole units on the Eastern Front were immobilised for days by lack of fuel. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Greek submarines Papanicolis and Triton delivered British Commandos on Crete, Greece; while this new group of arrivals failed to achieve their objectives, a group landed on 10 Jun reached parked German aircraft on this date and destroyed 20 Ju 88 bombers at Heraklion. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group from USS Hornet (Yorktown-class) arrived 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Tenryu exited drydock No. 3 at Maizuru Naval Arsenal, Japan. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 German 21st Panzer Division, 15th Panzer Division, and 90th Light Division surrounded British troops in the Knightsbridge box near Tobruk, Libya, eventually forcing the British to fall back after sundown. The heavy fighting and the resulting heavy casualties caused the British troops to name this day "Black Saturday". 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down four P-40 fighters in the El Adem-Gazala area in Libya between 1810 and 1815 hours. Three of his victims were Flight Sergeant Bill Halliday, Flight Sergeant Roy Stone, and Pilot Officer Osborne. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 Troops of 16.Regiment of German 22.Luftlande Division attacked Fort Stalin at Sevastopol, Russia at 0300 hours, capturing it by 0530 hours; Germans suffered 32 killed and 126 wounded, and the Soviets 100 killed and 20 captured. In the harbor, German aircraft sank transport Gruzyia, transport TSch-27, patrol boat SKA-092, motor boat SP-40, 5 barges, and a floating crane. 
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13 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-202 landed 4 saboteurs at Amagansett, Long Island, New York, United States in Operation Pastorius. 
0
14 Jun 1942 WW2 British Air Marshal Harris was knighted in honor of his success with 1,000-plane raids. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 The first echelon of 5th Regiment of the US 1st Marine Division arrived at Wellington, New Zealand. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 British General Auchinleck authorized the abandonment of the Gazala Line in Libya. 
0
14 Jun 1942 WW2 Roma was commissioned into service. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine M-95 departed Moshchny Island, Russia (Lavansaari Island, Finland). 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 German Admiral Otto Schniewind issued the order to commence Operation Rösselsprung ("Knight's Move"); in turn German warships Tirpitz, Admiral Hipper, Lützow, and 12 destroyers departed from their home ports toward the Barents Sea. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-35 approached Kiska, US Territory of Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-172 sank US ship Lebore in the Caribbean Sea at 0854 hours; 1 was killed, 94 survived. At 1912 hours, U-504 sank Latvian ship Regent 200 miles southwest of the Cayman Islands; 11 were killed, 14 survived. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi provided repair work for cruiser Mogami at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 In response to the British Commando raid at Heraklion, Crete, Greece on the previous day which saw the destruction of 20 Ju 88 bombers, 50 civilians of Heraklion were executed in retaliation. 
0
14 Jun 1942 WW2 Yamato arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan at 1900 hours from the failed Midway attack. 
0
14 Jun 1942 WW2 Mutsu arrived in Japan after the Midway operation. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho arrived at Hashirajima, Japan. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 During the day, Italian SM.79 torpedo bombers attacked the Allied Harpoon convoy, sailing for Malta, south of Sardinia, Italy, sinking Dutch transport Tanimbar (5 were killed) and disabling British cruiser Liverpool (15 were killed, 22 were wounded; Liverpool was towed back to Gibraltar by destroyer HMS Antelope). In the evening, most of the warships escorting the Harpoon convoy were ordered back to Gibraltar. From other other side of the Mediterranean Sea, the Allied Vigorous convoy sailed westward for Malta. Dutch freighter Aagtekerk of the Vigorous convoy developed mechanical troubles and was diverted by Tobruk, Libya for repairs with two corvettes in escort; 40 German Ju 87 and Ju 88 aircraft attacked them, sinking Aagtekerk (3 were killed) and damaging corvette HMS Primula. In the late afternoon, German Ju 88 bombers from Crete, Greece attacked the Vigorous convoy, sinking the ship Bhutan (1 was killed) and damaging freighter Potaro. Meanwhile, a powerful Italian fleet including two battleships and four cruisers departed Taranto, Italy in an attempt to intercept the Vigorous convoy. After sundown, German motor torpedo boats from Derna, Libya attacked the Vigorous convoy, with S-55 sinking British destroyer HMS Hasty (13 were killed) and S-56 damaging cruiser HMS Newcastle (forced to return to Alexandria, Egypt for repairs). 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Torelli, damaged by British aircraft on 7 Jun 1942 and had since been under repair by her own crew on a beach near Santander, Spain, completed the temporary repair and set off for Bordeaux, France. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 The King, Queen, and Princesses of the United Kingdom and the heads of a number of Allied countries attended a United Nations Day ceremony. The flags of 22 states were honoured during a march past Buckingham Palace in London, England, United Kingdom by representatives of the British armed forces, civil defence organisations and war workers. 
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14 Jun 1942 WW2 German saboteur George Dasch defected to the United States with a telephone call to the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-28 crossed the International Date Line. 
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15 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Copahee was commissioned into service at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, United States with Commander J. G. Farrell in command. She was the first of 10 Bogue-class escort carriers converted from hulls of merchant ships. 
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15 Jun 1942 WW2 British Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Weeks was appointed Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff. 
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15 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-552 attacked Allied convoy HG-84 400 miles west of Brest, France between 0000 and 0500 hours, sinking four British freighters and Norwegian tanker Slemdal. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Allied convoy KN-109 sailed into a minefield 5 miles off Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, which was laid by U-701 four days prior; British anti-submarine trawler HMT Kingston Ceylonite (33 were killed, 18 survived) and US tanker Robert C. Tuttle (1 was killed, 46 survived) were sunk, US tanker Esso Augusta and destroyer USS Bainbridge were damaged. 
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15 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-502 sank 2 US ships and 1 Panamanian ship 90 miles west of Grenada. On the same day, U-172 sank Norwegian ship Bennestvet 50 miles off Costa Rica. 20 miles off Colombia, U-68 sank Vichy French tanker Frimaire in a case of mis-identification; all 60 aboard were killed. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine M-95 struck and was damaged by a German naval mine in the Gulf of Finland near Hogland Island (Finnish: Suursaari Island); shortly after, she was spotted by Finnish aircraft, which sank her, killing all 19 aboard. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 The British 8th Army withdrew from Libya and fell back to Egypt. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian midget submarine CB-3 sank Soviet submarine S-32 in the Black Sea off Yalta, Ukraine. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort was made the temporary chief of the Intelligence Center of Pacific Ocean Areas, a new intelligence branch in the US Navy Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka was named a special reserve vessel; she departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Maizuru, Japan. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down four P-40 fighters over El Adem, Libya between 1801 and 1806 hours, increasing his score to 91 kills. 
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15 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian cruisers attacked the Allied Harpoon convoy in the Strait of Sicily at 0539 hours, damaging British cruiser HMS Cairo (2 were killed), damaging destroyer HMS Partridge, and disabling destroyer HMS Bedouin (under the command of Commander B. G. Scurfield; 28 were killed, 213 captured; later sunk by Italian aircraft); British return fire damaged Italian destroyer Vivaldi. In concert, German aircraft attacked freighters of the Harpoon convoy, seriously damaging freighter Burdwan, freighter Chant, and tanker Kentucky (all three abandoned and later sunk by Italian warships). The Harpoon convoy reached Malta after sundown, but the ships ran into a new minefield in the Grand Harbour, sinking Polish destroyer Kujawiak (13 were killed, 20 were wounded), damaging British destroyer Badsworth (9 were killed), damaging destroyer HMS Matchless, and damaging freighter Orari. From the other side of the Mediterranean Sea, the Allied Vigorous convoy also sailed for Malta. At dawn, British Beaufort torpedo bombers from Malta attacked the Italian fleet moving to intercept the convoy, disabling Italian cruiser Trento at 0515 hours; she would be sunk by submarine HMS Umbra at 0910 hours, over 360 were killed. The detection of this Italian fleet turned back the entire Vigorous convoy. En route back to Alexandria, Egypt, Axis aircraft sank British destroyer HMS Airedale (44 were killed, 133 survived) and damaged British cruiser HMS Birmingham and Australian destroyer HMAS Nestor. In Germany, Adolf Hitler postponed Operation Herkules, the planned invasion of Malta. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru took on 500 wounded survivors from the Battle of Midway. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Nagara transferred 500 wounded survivors of the Battle of Midway to hospital ship Hikawa Maru. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Seawolf sank Japanese auxiliary gunboat Nampo Maru 10 miles north of Lubang Island and west of the opening of Manila Bay in the Philippine Islands. 
0
15 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet cruiser Molotov and destroyer Bezuprechny landed 3,855 troops at Sevastopol, Russia and then embarked 2,908 wounded personnel for evacuation; meanwhile, their guns bombarded German positions. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 The US Congress authorized the funding to increase the US Navy blimp fleet to 200 blimps. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Jaluit, Marshall islands, and departed for and arrived at Emidji on the same day. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 The Royal Canadian Air Force began operating Ventura aircraft. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-87 attacked Allied convoy XB-25 25 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States at 0417 hours, sinking British ship Port Nicholson (2 were killed, 85 survived) and US passenger liner Cherokee (86 were killed, 83 survived). 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-126 sank US ship Arkansan at 0230 hours (4 were killed, 36 survived) and US ship Kahuku at 0320 hours (17 were killed, 46 survived) 70 miles west of Grenada. At 0400 hours, U-67 sank Nicaraguan ship Managua 50 miles north of Matanzas, Cuba; all 25 aboard survived. Elsewhere in the Caribbean Sea, U-161 stopped Dominican sailing boat Nueva Altagracia at 1410 hours, capturing her crew of 8 and her cargo of fruit, and scuttled the boat with charges. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese Imperial Palace envoys visited Isoroku Yamamoto aboard battleship Yamato, bringing him the news that Emperor Showa understood losses (in regards to the devastation suffered at the Battle of Midway) were expected at a time of war and that the emperor was not overly concerned. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 ShCh-317 sank Finnish merchant ship Argo east of Stockholm, Sweden. Later on the same day, ShCh-317 attacked Swedish merchant ship Ulla (carrying survivors of Argo) but failed to cause any damage. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 ShCh-320 fired two torpedoes at German minesweeper depot ship MRS 12 west of Porkkala, Finland; both torpedoes missed. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 U-576 departed Saint-Nazaire, France, starting her fifth war patrol. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 An Australia PBY Catalina aircraft arrived at Simberi, New Ireland to pick up coast watcher Cornelius Page, not knowing that Page had gone into hiding eight days prior in response to a Japanese raid. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 106 British bombers (40 Wellington, 39 Halifax, 15 Lancaster, and 12 Stirling) were launched to bomb Germany; 16 attacked Essen, 45 attacked Bonn, and others attacked other targets; 8 British bombers were lost on this night. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Pollack arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her third war patrol. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 Shokaku entered drydock for battle damage repairs. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki completed her overhaul at Sasebo, Japan and departed for Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis troops attacked El Adem and Sidi Rezegh near Tobruk, Libya. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down four P-40 fighters over El Adem, Libya between 1802 and 1813 hours, increasing his score to 95 kills. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-205 sank British cruiser HMS Hermione, returning to Egypt from her duty escorting the Allied Vigorous convoy, 115 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 0019 hours; 87 were killed, 440 survived. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 German aircraft and artillery pieces bombarded Fort Maxim Gorky at Sevastopol, Russia, silencing the fort's 12-inch guns. 
0
16 Jun 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill departed England, United Kingdom aboard a transport aircraft for the United States. 
0
17 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-202 delivered four German agents to Jacksonville, Florida. 
0
17 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Emidji. 
0
17 Jun 1942 WW2 The US War Department advised the Army to discontinue the recruitment of Nisei, American citizens of Japanese parentage, all of whom were to be re-classified As "IV-C": unacceptable for service because of ancestry. 
0
17 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish damaged a Japanese tanker in the Pacific Ocean with 2 of 7 torpedoes fired. 
0
17 Jun 1942 WW2 12 German Ju 88 bombers attacked British destroyer HMS Wild Swan and a group of Spanish trawlers 225 miles west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom; HMS Wild Swan shot down 6 aircraft, but sank after colliding with a Spanish trawler during the battle; 31 British sailers were killed in the sinking and 133 survived; 11 Spanish fishermen were killed. US ship Santore struck a mine and sank in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States; 3 were killed, 43 survived; the mine was laid by German submarine U-701 on 11 Jun 1942. 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-161 stopped Dominican sailing boat Ciudad Trujillo in the Caribbean Sea, capturing her cargo of fruit, and released the boat along with 8 prisoners captured from sailing boat Nueva Altagracia on the previous day. In the Gulf of Mexico, 280 miles south of Galveston, Texas, United States, U-158 sank Panamanian ship San Blas at 0450 hours (30 were killed, 14 survived) and Norwegian tanker Moira at 1300 hours (1 was killed, 18 survived). At 2300 hours, U-129 sank US ship Millinocket 10 miles north of Cuba; 11 were killed, 24 survived. 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-28 sighted Kiska, US Territory of Alaska 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle arrived at Gibraltar. 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis troops surrounded Tobruk, Libya; to the east, Axis troops pursued the Allied forces falling back toward Egypt. 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 In Libya, Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down 3 Hurricane fighters and three P-40 fighters between 1202 and 1212 hours over Gambut, Libya, increasing his score to 101 kills. 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet defense lines north of Sevastopol, Russia began to collapse as German troops captured Fort Maxim Gorky, Fort Molotov, Fort Schishkova, Fort Volga, and Fort Siberia. 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 The US Navy Gulf Sea Frontier (GULFSEAFRON) headquarters was moved from Key West to Miami, both of which were in Florida, United States. 
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17 Jun 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill and Alan Brooke arrived in Washington DC, United States to finalise the Anglo-American strategy for 1942-1943. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 American bombers raided Japanese shipping in Kiska harbor in the Aleutian Islands, sinking fleet tanker Nissan Maru. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Taroa, Marshall Islands. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-28 fired on a Japanese destroyer but it failed to hit the target. She was attacked by the destroyer with depth charges but it caused no damage. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 Robie Ellis Palmer was named the commanding officer of USS Pollack. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-124 attacked Allied convoy ONS-102 with 6 torpedoes 500 miles east of Newfoundland at 0622 hours, seriously damaging US ship Seattle Spirit (4 were killed, 51 survived), which was later scuttled by Canadian corvette HMCS Agassiz with gunfire. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-159 sank Dutch ship Flora 12 miles off Colombia at 0245 hours; all 37 aboard survived, but one of them would die before reaching land. At 0500 hours, U-172 sank British tanker Motorex with gunfire 80 miles off Panama in the Caribbean Sea; 1 was killed, 20 survived. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Albrighton, gun boat SGB 7, and gun boat SGB 8 attacked a German convoy in the Baie de la Seine off France; SGB 7 sank one German supply ship with a torpedo, but was destroyed by a counterattack (4 were killed; 7 were survivors captured). 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian midget submarine CB-2 sank a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea; according to Soviet sources, the victim was ShCh-213, but according to Italian sources, the victim was ShCh-306. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 The first Allied air photographic reconnaissance mission over Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands was conducted by US 435th Bombardment Squadron. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis troops captured the supply road between Bardia and Tobruk in Libya; to the west, Axis troops captured RAF Gambut 40 miles west of Tobruk. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille boarded a Ju 52 aircraft at Benghazi, Libya for Naples, Italy, where he was to transfer to Rome, Italy for his final destination of Berlin, Germany. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 German 132nd Infantry Division attacked Soviet Coastal Battery No. 12 near Sevastopol, Russia at 1100 hours, capturing it by 1900 hours. Nearby, German 24th Infantry Division overran Soviet defenses at Bartenyevka. At the docks, Italian torpedo boats performed a raid, damaging landing craft. Out at sea, destroyer leader Kharkov was damaged by German aircraft. 
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18 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-584 landed four German saboteurs at Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville, Florida, United States; the four men would soon board trains for Chicago, Illinois and Cincinnati, Ohio. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-701 sank American patrol craft USS YP-389 5 miles off the North Carolina, United States coast at 0245 hours with her 88-millimeter and 20-millimeter guns, 4 were killed, 21 survived; the engagement was dubbed Battle off Diamond Shoals. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 After a staff officer from 23.Panzer Division was shot down carrying complete plans for an offensive in the Caucasus, the commander and chief of staff of German XL Korps were imprisoned on Adolf Hitler's order. The offensive would be launched with no changes to the plan. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 US Navy Vice Admiral Ghormley assumed command of the South Pacific Area at Auckland, New Zealand. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 US PBY Catalina aircraft discovered 35 survivors from the sunken Japanese carrier Hiryu; USS Ballard was dispatched to rescue them. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-107 attacked US sailing vessel Cheerio with gunfire 20 miles west of Puerto Rico at 1102 hours; she was driven off by a US patrol aircraft, but Cheerio would soon sink from the damage; all 9 aboard survived. At 1730 hours, U-159 sank Yugoslavian ship Ante Matkovic with gunfire 20 miles north of Colombia; 6 were killed, 23 survived. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-27 ran aground off Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands at 0043 hours. The crew of 42 destroyed equipment on the submarine and burned classified papers departing the submarine at 1600 hours. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor captured Norwegian tanker Herborg off the western coast of Australia. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 ShCh-317 damaged Danish merchant ship Orion northeast of Gotland, Sweden; Orion would be able to be towed to Visby, Gotland for repairs. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian torpedo boat MAS-571 sank Soviet submarine ShCh-214 in the Black Sea south of Yalta, Ukraine. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue inspected prospective sites for airfield construction on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 194 British bombers (112 Wellington, 37 Halifax, 25 Stirling, 11 Hampden, and 9 Lancaster) attacked Emden and Osnabrück in Germany; 9 bombers were lost. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 I-168 arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, took on fuel, and departed for Kure, Japan. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 German troops gave chase to retreating British forces in Libya throughout the day. After sundown, the Germans reversed direction and moved westward, intending on striking Tobruk, Libya by surprise on the next day. 
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19 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet 138th Naval Infantry Brigade launched a failed counterattack against German 22nd Division on the shore of Severnaya Bay near Sevastopol, Russia. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Captain Teijiro Yamazumi was named the commanding officer of battleship Mutsu. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was assigned to the 1st Air Fleet; she disembarked all her aircraft. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-67 damaged Norwegian tanker Nortind with a torpedo 90 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at 1125 hours, killing 1. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese troops aboard Seki Maru No. 3 found and captured coast watcher Cornelius Page on Simberi, New Ireland. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-26 bombarded the Estevan Point lighthouse and the radio direction finding facility on the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 About 1,000 Austrian Jews arrived at Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia; they were the first Austrian Jews to arrive at this camp. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 185 British bombers attacked Emden, Germany, causing little damage; 7 bombers were lost. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis troops launched what would be the final attack on Tobruk, Libya, preceded by a heavy artillery and air bombardment at 0530 hours. At 0700 hours, 100 German and Italian tanks rushed through a gap in Tobruk's southeastern lines. The port facilities were captured by 1900 hours, and British troops destroyed stocks of fuel and supplies to prevent capture. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Taroa, Marshall Islands and arrived at Wotje, Marshall Islands. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Polish prisoners of Auschwitz Concentration Camp Kazimierz Piechowski, Stanislaw Gustaw Jaster, Józef Lempart, and Eugeniusz Bendera broke into a SS store room and stole uniforms and weapons and then made their escape from the concentration camp in disguise. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 German 24th Infantry Division attacked Fort Lenin and Fort North (held against German attacks for the whole day) near Sevastopol, Russia starting at 0900 hours; while Fort Lenin was captured with minimal resistance, Soviet troops at Fort North held their ground, repulsing German attacks all day. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill arrived at Franklin Roosevelt's home at Hyde Park, New York, United States to discuss US-UK cooperation. The two leaders agreed to give the crossing of the English Channel a priority, and that the two nations would assist each other in atomic weapons research. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 Acting on information given by defected saboteur George Dasch, United States Federal Bureau of Investigation agents captured three German saboteurs in New York, New York, United States. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 The US Navy Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington DC, United States proposed to take over Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, which currently reported to the US Navy Office of Naval Communications. 
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20 Jun 1942 WW2 The American newspaper New York Times published the report from the World Jewish Congress that the Germans had, to date, killed 1,000,000 Jews in "vast slaughterhouse for the Jews" located in Eastern Europe. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-27, which had run aground two days prior off Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands, was discovered filled with chlorine gas, thus she was now regarded as officially abandoned. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 56 British RAF Bomber Command aircraft deployed naval mines in the Bay of Biscay west of France. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian destroyer Strale was damaged by British Fleet Air Arm Swordfish torpedo bombers off Cape Bon, Tunisia; she ran aground to prevent sinking. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Canadian minesweeper HMCS Georgia attacked a unidentified submarine by ramming off Newfoundland at 0300 hours, sinking what turned out to be British submarine HMS P-514, killing all 29 aboard. At 0400 hours, German submaine U-128 sank US ship West Ira 120 miles east of Barbados; all 49 aboard survived but 1 of them would die before being rescued.  
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Captured coast watcher Cornelius Page was transferred to Kavieng, New Ireland. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-44 sank Japanese gunboat Keijo Maru off Gavutu Island east of Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 The "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of the Italian Navy formed the "Mazzuchelli" battalion; it would soon be renamed "N" (swimmer) battalion. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Hashirajima, Japan. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Maizuru, Japan. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 At dawn, Allied troops attempted a breakout from Tobruk, Libya, but was met with failure. At 0645 hours, South African minesweeping whalder HMSAS Parktown was disabled by four Italian MAS torpedo boats just outside the harbor, killing many; Parktown would be scuttled after all survivors were rescued. At 0800 hours, the 35,000-strong Allied garrison (19,000 British, 13,400 South African, and 2,500 Indian) surrendered. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 An US PBY Catalina aircraft rescued two airmen who had lost their TBD Devastator torpedo bomber during the Battle of Midway. They were the last survivors to be rescued from the battle. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler reluctantly decided to delay his summer offensive due to the heavy Soviet defense of Sevastopol, Russia. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 50 German Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Southampton, England, United Kingdom. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-25 bombarded Fort Stevens, Oregon in northwestern United States at about 2330 hours, causing no damage. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel was promoted to the rank of Generalfeldmarshall. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Norwegian tanker Nortind, damaged by German submarine U-67 in the Gulf of Mexico two days prior, arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, United States for repairs. German submarine U-159 disabled US tanker E. J. Sadler with gunfire 175 miles south of Puerto Rico at 2035 hours; all 36 aboard escaped via 4 lifeboats. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-202 sank Argentinian ship Rio Tercero 120 miles southeast of New York, New York, United States at 1234 hours; 5 were killed, 37 survived. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 9 Beaufort aircraft of British No. 217 Squadron and 6 Beaufighter aircraft of No. 235 Squadron were launched from Malta to attack an Axis convoy sailing from Naples, Italy to Tripoli, Libya; German freighter Reichenfels was sunk while 3 Beaufort aircraft were shot down (7 were killed). 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Swordfish torpedo bombers of 830 Squadron of British Fleet Air Arm were launched from Malta to attack Italian destroyer Strale, forcing Strale to run aground near Cape Bon, Tunisia to prevent sinking. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 In a message to Admiral Ernest King, Vice Admiral Russell Wilson recommended against the proposal to award the Distinguished Service Medal to Joseph Rochefort; this fact was not known to Rochefort. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Grayback arrived at Fremantle, Australia. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Montevideo Maru boarded 845 prisoners of war (mostly Australian) and 208 civilian internees at Rabaul, New Britain and set sail for southern China without escort. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 227 British RAF aircraft (144 Wellington, 38 Stirling, 26 Halifax, 11 Lancaster, and 8 Hampden) attacked Emden, Germany, destroying 50 houses, damaging harbor facilities, and killing 6 civilians (further 40 were injured); 6 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Saratoga departed Pearl Harbor. US Territory of Hawaii to ferry aircraft to Midway Atoll. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis troops reached Bardia, Libya, 10 miles west of the border with Egypt. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Wotje, Marshall Islands. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet lines east and south of Sevastopol, Russia began to falter. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-317 sank Swedish ship Ada Thorthon 5 miles west of Gotland island in the Baltic Sea; 14 were killed, 8 survived. 
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22 Jun 1942 WW2 German forces launched Operation Fridericus II near Kharkov, Ukraine in preparation for Unternehmen Blau. A He 111 bomber of 9. Staffel of KG 55 scored a lucky hit with a 1,000-kg bomb on a bridge over the River Oskol at Kupiansk about 100 kilometers (about 50 miles) southeast of Kharkov, causing serious logistics problems for the Soviets. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Kwajalein, Marshall islands. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Anxious to learn the secrets of the Luftwaffe's new Focke-Wulf 190 fighter, the British was planning a Commando-type raid to steal one from a French airfield. They were saved the trouble when disorientated German pilot Lieutenant Arnim Faber of 111/JG2 landed his Fw 190A-3 fighter at RAF Pembrey in South Wales, United Kingdom, mistaking it for an airfield in France. The captured aircraft was taken to the Air Fighting Development Unit at Duxford, England, United Kingdom where it was discovered, during trials, that the Fw 190A was superior in all respects except turning circle to the Spitfire VB then equipping most of RAF Fighter Command. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-159 sent a boarding to US tanker E. J. Sadler 175 miles south of Puerto Rico just after 0000 hours to scuttle the tanker which she had disabled at 2035 hours on the previous day. German submarine U-158 sank US Army transport Major General Henry Gibbins 400 miles west of Key West, Florida, United States; the entire crew of 47 and all 21 gunners survived, to be rescued on the following day. 40 miles south of South Pass, Louisiana, United States, U-67 sank US tanker Rawleigh Warner, killing all 33 aboard. In the Caribbean Sea, U-68 sank Panamanian tanker Arriaga 100 miles west of Aruba; 1 was killed, 24 survived. 200 miles east of Nicaragua, U-172 sank Colombian sailing boat Resolute with gunfire and hand grenades; 6 were killed, 4 survived. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Commander Ryokichi Sugama was named the commanding officer of destroyer Yukikaze. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-84 sank Norwegian tanker Torvanger 540 miles west of the Azores islands; 4 were killed, 33 survived. 100 miles east of Grenada in the Antilles islands, U-128 sank a Norwegian tanker; all 38 aboard survived. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thrasher sank Italian merchant vessel Sant Antonio in the Gulf of Sirte off Libya; Italian torpedo boat Perseo attempted a counterattack which failed to damage Thrasher. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis forces crossed the Libyan-Egyptian border and marched toward the Allied defensive positions at Mersa Matruh, Egypt 100 miles to the east, engaging units of the British 7th Armoured Division en route at Sollum. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 At Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort received a message from Admiral Ernest King to congratulate him on a job well done. There were no mention of any award of medals or other forms of recognition. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 USAAF B-24D bombers of Halverson Provisional Detachment, temporarily based in Egypt while being prepared to transfer to China, attacked Axis positions at Benghazi, Libya. 
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23 Jun 1942 WW2 Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, acting on information provided by defected saboteur George Dasch, located and arrested two German saboeurs in New York, New York, United States. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis air forces commenced an offensive against Yugoslavian partisans. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Birmingham, England. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Perch was struck from the Naval Vessel Register of the US Navy. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 sank British ship Willimantic with gunfire 700 miles southeast of Bermuda at 0904 hours; 6 were killed, 32 survived. At 0937 hours, 30 miles off Cape Fear, North Carolina, United States, U-404 sank Yugoslavian ship Ljubica Matkovic; all 30 aboard survived. At the mouth of the Delaware Bay on the US coast, US rescue tug vessel John R. Williams struck a mine and sank at 2005 hours; 14 were killed, 4 survived; the mine was laid by U-373 on 11 Jun. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell, with Song Meiling in his support, convinced Chiang Kaishek to agree to sending Chinese troops to India for training. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 A PBY Catalina piloted by Lieutenant (jg) Julius Raven discovered and rescued 15 survivors of USS S-27 off Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 Australian 39th Battalion and the British colonial Papua Infantry Battalion were deployed to defend the Kokoda Track, a rough jungle path that linked northeastern coast of the island of New Guinea with Port Moresby. On the same day, other Australian units departed from Port Moresby aboard Dutch ship Karsik and Bontekoe to construct new airfields on the coast of Milne Bay to the east. 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 Five German Ju 88 bombers attacked Allied shipping at anchor in the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia starting at 0908 hours, sinking British minesweeper HMS Gossamer at 0921 hours (23 were killed, 12 were wounded). 
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24 Jun 1942 WW2 Joseph Stalin signed the order that widened the range of crimes which would also result in the arrest of family members of the convicted. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Sir Arthur Harris of the RAF Bomber Command launched the third Thousand Bomber Raid, this time sending 1,067 aircraft (including some aircraft from Coastal Command and Army Cooperation Command) to attack Bremen, Germany; only 696 reported successfully reaching the city. The RAF Bomber Command lost 48 aircraft, half of which had inexperienced crews recruited from training squadrons flying worn out aircraft; the RAF Coastal Command lost 5 aircraft. 572 houses were destroyed, 6,108 were damaged. 85 were killed, while 497 were wounded and 2,378 were made homeless. An assembly shop at the Focke-Wulf factory was destroyed, while the Bremer Vulkan shipyard and nearby docks and warehouses were also damaged. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Claude Auchinleck assumed personal command of the British Eighth Army. Meanwhile, Arthur Coningham launched around-the-clock bombing of Erwin Rommel's advancing army in North Africa. The Luftwaffe, weakened by operations at Bir Hakeim and Tobruk, could only put up 50% of their available aircraft to counter the Allied attacks. This allowed the 8th Army to successfully occupy positions at El Alamein positions, whilst the German and Italians were left short of fuel and supplies. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Ernest King ordered the preparation for an offensive in the lower Solomon Islands; Santa Cruz, Tulagi, and other nearby islands were to be assaulted by US Marines. To that end, US PBY Catalina aircraft bombed Tulagi. US Army also began to form occupation garrisons for the occupation of these islands. The planned launch date for the offensive was set for 1 Aug 1942. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Dong Zhao was named the deputy commanding officer of the 34th Army. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Three PBY Catalina aircraft rescued survivors of USS S-27 off Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-404 attacked an Allied convoy 75 miles off Cape Lookout, North Carolina, United States at 0116 hours, sinking Panamanian SS Nordal (all 32 aboard survived) and damaging US ship Manuela (2 were killed, 40 survived). Before dawn, German submarine U-153 sank British ship Anglo-Canadian 720 miles northeast of Saint Kitts; 1 was killed, 49 survived; the crew of U-153 gave survivors drinking water and cigarettes before leaving the scene of the attack. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie was fired by Claude Auchinleck following the loss of Tobruk, Libya. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Finback departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort officially assumed the role of the temporary chief of the Intelligence Center of Pacific Ocean Areas of the US Navy Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Nautilus sank Japanese destroyer Yamakaze with 2 torpedoes 60 miles south of Tokyo Bay, Japan; all 226 aboard were killed. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Soviet 2nd Shock Army, trapped on the Volkhov River near Leningrad, Russia since 30 May 1942, was defeated; General Vlasov ordered the 180,000 survivors to break up into small groups to attempt to escape back to Soviet lines to the east; only 120,000 men would succeed. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived in London, England, United Kingdom and was appointed the Commander of US Forces in Europe. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 At the conclusion of the Second Washington Conference, Roosevelt and Churchill decided to combine the atomic bomb research efforts of US and UK, among other topics of discussion. As Tobruk in North Africa fell under Axis control, Churchill headed back to Britain, pondering a shift in command in North Africa in order for him to maintain his political power in London. 
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25 Jun 1942 WW2 Saratoga delivered 25 P-40 Warhawk fighters and 18 SBD Dauntless dive bombers to Midway Atoll. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 German troops crossed the Oskel River to take Kupyansk in Ukraine, which was to be used as a jump-off point for their summer offensive. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian troops of Brescia Division and Trento Division reached Mersa Matruh, Egypt in the afternoon, engaging in fighting against the Indian 10th Infantry Division. To the south, German tanks and infantry moved toward Minqar Qaim. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 The Grumman XF6F-3 Hellcat prototype made its maiden flight. It went on to be, arguably, the most significant Allied carrier fighter of the war. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Major General Alexander Vandegrift received word that Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings in the Solomon Islands were being planned. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was named the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet armed forces. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 Vichy French ship Quand Meme struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay; the mine was deployed by Free French submarine Rubis on 5 Jun 1942 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-203 sank British ship Putney Hill with a torpedo and her deck gun 450 miles northeast of Puerto Rico at 0544 hours; 3 were killed, 35 survived. US ship Manuela, damaged by German submarine U-153 on the previous day, foundered and sank in the morning while under tow by US Coast Guard ship CG-252. At 0913 hours, U-107 damaged Dutch ship Jagersfontein with a torpedo 500 miles west of Bermuda; Jagersfontein would sink at 1215 hours; all 220 aboard survived. At 2317 hours, U-203 struck again, sinking Brazillian ship Pedrinhas with a torpedo and her deck gun 300 miles northeast of Puerto Rico; all 48 aboard survived. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 Returning from a raid an Australian Catalina flying-boat of No. 11 Squadron RAAF was shot at by a US Navy Wildcat fighter whilst approaching Havannah Harbour at Efate, Espiritu Santo. The American pilot had been alerted to lookout for an unidentified aircraft and had mistaken the red centres of the RAAF roundels for the markings on Japanese aircraft. Fortunately the Catalina aircraft was not badly damaged in the attack and alighted safely. This incident led to the RAAF replainting their roundels with white centres on all aircraft. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian midget submarine CB-4 recorded attacking and sinking Soviet submarine ShCh-207 in the Black Sea off Yalta, Ukraine; Soviet records revealed that the only submarine lost in the region that day was ShCh-203. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 The Italians were able to step up their air attacks on Malta by transferring aircraft from Libya to Sicily, Italy. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Kure, Japan for her fourth voyage for the Japanese Navy. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 I-168 arrived at Sasebo, Japan for repairs. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka entered drydock at Maizuru, Japan. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 German troops reached the northern shore of Severnaya Bay near Sevastopol, Russia. To the east of the city, positions held by troops of Soviet 386th Rifle Division were bombarded by German aircraft. As defeat appeared to be imminent, Soviet submarines D-6 and A-1 were scuttled in the harbor of Sevastopol to prevent capture. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 German Ju 88 dive bombers sank Soviet destroyer Bezuprechny (320 were killed) and submarine S-32 (all 45 aboard were killed) 30 miles southeast of Sevastopol, Russia. 
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26 Jun 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Norwich, England, United Kingdom. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 Dr. Heinisch, the German administrator in the Przemysl area in occupied Poland, declared that anyone interfering with the deportation, looting Jewish homes, or helping Jews hide would be shot. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-17 under Commodore J. C. K. Dowding sailed from Hvalfjord, north of Reykjavik, Iceland, where it had assembled. One ship grounded on leaving harbour and another was damaged by ice in the Denmark Strait, so the convoy that set course for Arkhangelsk, Russia comprised 33 ships plus a tanker, escorted by six destroyers, two anti-aircraft ships, four corvettes, three minesweepers, four trawlers and two submarines; which it was hoped would discourage enemy attacks. On the same date, convoy QP-13 set sail from Arkhangelsk, Russia; it was consisted of 35 merchant ships and was escorted by 3 destroyers, 1 minesweeper, 4 corvettes, 1 anti-aircraft vessel, and 2 trawlers. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-404 sank Norwegian ship Moldanger 300 miles southeast of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; 14 were killed, 30 survived. 650 miles east of the Virgin Islands, U-153 sank US ship Potlatch; 8 were killed, 47 survived; Potlatch was carrying a cargo of tanks, trucks, and supplies for the British forces fighting in Egypt. 250 miles east of Trinidad, U-128 sank US ship Polybius; 10 were killed, 34 survived. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank Mexican tanker Tuxpam with torpedoes (1 of 2 hit) and her deck gun 50 miles north of Veracruz, Mexico; 8 were killed, 31 survived. 20 miles west of Barbados, U-126 sank Norwegian tanker Leiv Eiriksson at 1055 hours; 4 were killed, 40 survived (2 of the survivors would die of their wounds at a hospital at Barbados). At 1525 hours, U-129 struck again, sinking Mexican tanker Las Choapas with a torpedo also about 50 miles north of Veracruz, Mexico; 4 were killed, 28 survived. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Nautilus sank Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Musashi Maru 60 miles south of Tokyo Bay, Japan. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 Two Australian Catalina flying-boats, on a night mission over the Lae-Salamaua area of Australian New Guinea lasting four hours, dropped eight 500-pound bombs, twenty 20-pound fragmentation bombs and four dozen empty beer bottles. The beer bottles falling through the air made a screeching sound which helped to terrorise the enemy and spoil his sleep. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 German 90th Light Division cut off the Allied forces at Mersa Matruh, Egypt as its troops reached Ras Hawala at 1900 hours. British commander Claude Auchinleck ordered his forces to fall back to Fuka 48 kilometers to the east; the withdraw was conducted with much confusion. German 21st Panzer Division surrounded New Zealand 2nd Infantry Division at Minqar Qaim, Egypt before sundown, but the New Zealand troops would be able to break out of the envelopment after dark with a bayonet charge. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 144 British bombers (55 Wellington, 39 Halifax, 26 Stirling, 24 Lancaster) attacked Bremen, Germany, damaging the Atlas Werke and the Korff refinery, killing 7, and wounding 80; 9 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 The first two of many US Army instructors for the newly established Ramgarh Training Center in India arrived. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 Shokaku left drydock. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 German Bf 109 fighters misidentified and shot down two friendly He 111 bombers of 8. Staffel of KG 55 over Volchansk, Kharkov Oblast, Ukraine. 
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27 Jun 1942 WW2 Acting on information given by defected saboteur George Dasch, United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents captured two German saboteurs in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The FBI would soon announce to the public the capture of eight German saboteurs. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Unternehmen Blau, the German summer offensive, began; 3 armies and 11 armored divisions began driving towards the Caucasus Mountains. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis forces captured Fuka and Mersa Matruh, Egypt. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 The STAVKA relieved Ivan Bagramyan as the chief of staff of the Southwestern Front after the defeat in the Second Battle of Kharkov in Ukraine. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-332 sank US ship Raphael Semmes 1,000 miles east of Florida, United States at 1030 hours; 19 were killed, 18 survived. U-203 sank US ship Sam Houston 100 miles northeast of the Virgin Islands at 1538 hours; 8 were killed, 38 survived. U-701 sank US tanker William Rockefeller 50 miles off the coast of North Carolina, United States at 1816 hours; all 50 aboard survived. U-505 sank US ship Sea Thrush 300 miles northeast of the Virgin Islands at 1855 hours; all 66 aboard survived. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-154 sank US ship Tillie Lykes 100 miles south of the Dominican Republic at 0350 hours; all 33 aboard were killed.  
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-97 attacked a 3-ship Allied convoy 14 miles southwest of Haifa, Palestine, sinking British ship Zealand (14 were killed, 19 survived) and Greek ship Memas (8 were killed, 17 survived). 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Stingray attacked a Japanese convoy in the Philippine Sea and sank gunboat Saikyo Maru. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 B-17 bombers of US 5th Air Force, based in Australia, attack Rabaul, New Britain and Lae, New Guinea. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-28 arrived at Dutch Habor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her first war patrol. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 German bombers damaged Soviet destroyer leader Tashkent in the Black Sea; Tashkent was able to sail to Novorossisk, Russia to receive repairs. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 PBY aircraft of US Navy squadron VP-14 attacked Tulagi, Soloman Islands. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille received Swords for his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal from Adolf Hitler at Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany. He also received Oak Leaves for his Knight's Cross, an award he had won earlier in this month. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group from USS Hornet (Yorktown-class) departed 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 sank British merchant ship Queen Victoria in the Mozambique Channel. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan to cover a convoy bound for Kiska, Aleutian Islands. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Before dawn, Italian torpedo boats staged a fake landing at Cape Fiolent south of Sevastopol, Russia as a diversion from the preparations for a major offensive north of the city. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Gruppe von Weichs of the German Army attacked on a 90-mile front in Russia with its left south of Orel and its right on Oboyan. Colonel-General Maximilian von Weichs sent in his own 2nd Army, the 4th Panzerarmee (Colonel-General Hermann Hoth), and the Hungarian 2nd Army (Colonel-General Gusztáv Jany), in all 23 divisions, including three Panzer and two motorised. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 The British Royal Navy Home Fleet (carrier HMS Victorious, battleship HMS Duke of York, with cruisers and destroyers), reinforced by US battleship USS Washington, departed from Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom to provide distant cover for Allied convoy PQ-17 sailing from Iceland to Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Weston-super-Mare in southwestern England, United Kingdom, killing 102 and wounding 400; German intelligence had incorrectly determined that Winston Churchill was at Weston-super-Mare this night. 
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28 Jun 1942 WW2 Robert Johnson completed advanced flying training at Kelly Field, Texas, United States. 
0
29 Jun 1942 WW2 Manchukuo transferred destroyer Haiwei to Japan. The ship was reclassified as an auxiliary escort and was renamed Kari. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-67 sank British tanker Empire Mica southwest of Cape St. George, Florida, United States at 0750 hours; 33 were killed, 14 survived. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thrasher sank Italian freighter Diana 100 miles north of Tobruk, Libya at 1445 hours; Italian motor torpedo boats counterattacked with 17 depth charges, causing no damage to Thrasher. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army threatened to surround the Soviet 40th Army as the Germans advanced toward Voronezh in southern Russia; 1,000 Soviet tanks were released from the reserves to reinforce the defense. 
0
29 Jun 1942 WW2 George Marshall asked Douglas MacArthur for thoughts on replacing George Brett with Frank Andrews, not knowing that Andrews would reject a transfer to Australia. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-13 was spotted by a German Fw 200 aircraft. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-35 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her second war patrol. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-126 attacked Canadian sailing vessel Mona Marie 50 miles southwest of Barbados at 0125 hours, forcing the crew of 8 to abandon ship. At 0610 hours, U-754 sank British merchant ship Waiwera 400 miles northwest of the Azores islands; 8 were killed, 97 survived. U-153 sank American merchant vessel Ruth with a torpedo 320 miles northeast of Barbuda; 35 were killed, 4 survived. At 1355 hours, U-505 sank American merchant ship Thomas McKean with two torpedoes, 350 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. At 1745 hours, U-158 sank Latvian merchant ship Everalda 360 miles southwest of Bermuda; all 36 aboard survived.  
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Truk, Caroline Islands, escorting a convoy transporting airfield construction crews to Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi provided repair work for destroyer Asashio at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 German 90th Light Division reached Sidi Abdel Rahman, Egypt. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 British cruiser HMS Dido, 7 destroyers, and submarine depot ship HMS Medway were evacuated out of Alexandria, Egypt as Axis troops advanced toward El Alamein, Egypt; the ships sailed for Haifa, Palestine. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 253 British bombers (108 Wellington, 64 Lancaster, 47 Stirling, and 34 Halifax) attacked Bremen, Germany, damaging the Focke-Wulf aircraft factory and the A. G. Weser submarine shipyard; 11 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii after ferrying aircraft to Midway Atoll. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 Benito Mussolini flew to Libya, with his white horse, to prepare for a victory parade through Cairo, Egypt. 
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29 Jun 1942 WW2 Troops of German 16th Infantry Regiment and 65th Infantry Regiment crossed Severnaya Bay north of Sevastopol, Russia in 130 rubber boats, landing behind Soviet defenses at 0100 hours, establishing a bridgehead. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 A US Navy PBM Mariner aircraft sank German submarine U-158 70 kilometers west of Bermuda, killing all 54 aboard. 550 miles west of Ireland, German submarine U-458 sank Norwegian merchant ship Morsfruit; all 36 aboard survived. 650 miles northeast of the island of Saint Martin, Italian submarine Morosini sank Dutch merchant ship Tysa; all aboard survived. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 German government decreed that no foreign workers was to receive higher wages or enjoy better working conditions than the poorest German workers. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 Axis troops reached El Alamein, Egypt. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 Commander Kinzo Tonozuka became the commanding officer of I-168. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 In Egypt, Allied defenses east of Mersa Matruh fell back to El Alamein. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 Submarine Tunny was launched, sponsored by Mrs. Frederick G. Crisp. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps reported an active duty strength of 7,138 officers and 135,475 enlisted men for a total of 142,413 personnel. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Sturgeon detected Japanese passenger ship Montevideo Maru off northern Philippine Islands and began to give chase. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 The Soviet 40th Army was trapped by German 4th Panzer Army and German 6th Army in southern Russia. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 USS Plunger sank Japanese ship Unkai Maru No. 5 70 miles southeast of Shanghai, China. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 sank US ship Express in the Mozambique Channel, killing 13. In the same area, I-20 sank British tanker Steaua Romana. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 German submarine U-372 sank British submarine depot ship HMS Medway 62 miles northwest of Alexandria, Egypt at 0824 hours; 30 were killed, 1,105 survived. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 All Jewish schools in Germany were forced to close. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 Georg von Küchler was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 Brigadier General Frederick McCabe arrived at Ramgarh Training Center, India. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. 
0
30 Jun 1942 WW2 Auschwitz Concentration Camp's Bunker II, the second gas chamber, became operational. 
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30 Jun 1942 WW2 At a meeting headed by Ernest King and George Marshall, US military leadership finally settled their inter-service rivalry by moving the boundary of SOWESPAC (South West Pacific Command) and SOPAC (South Pacific Command) by 1 degree, or 60 miles, in order to facilitate the planned assault on Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. 
0
01 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Davao, Philippine Islands. 
0
01 Jul 1942 WW2 Jews were massacred in Byelorussian cities of Minsk, Lida, and Slonim. 
0
01 Jul 1942 WW2 General Montgomery informed General Paget that Operation Rutter, the attack on Dieppe, was to take place on 4 Jul. 
0
01 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Robert Ghormley relinquished his command army troops as US Army Major General Millard Harmon arrived to the theater. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 Chiang Kaishek formally submitted his "Three Demands" to Joseph Stilwell to forward on to Washington DC, United States. This request included 5,000 tons of supplies, 500 war planes, and 3 US divisions for the Chinese theater of war. US President Franklin Roosevelt would superficially agree to the demands, but would stall the delivery indefinitely. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish attacked a Japanese transport off Taiwan; all 3 torpedoes fired missed. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Sturgeon sank Japanese passenger ship Montevideo Maru off northern Philippine Islands before dawn; 1,124 were killed, 17 survived. The crew of Sturgeon did not realize that most of those aboard were Australian prisoners of war, which constituted 1,053 of the 1,124 killed. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-202 sank US passenger-cargo ship City of Birmingham 250 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0127 hours; 9 were killed, 374 survived. At 1831 hours, U-126 sank US ship Warrior 125 miles east of Trinidad; 7 were killed, 49 survived; the 10,080 tons of Lend-Lease supplies bound for the Soviet Union via Iran were lost. Also on this date, Allied convoy departed Liverpool, Englad, United Kingdom with 41 merchant ships in its midst. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank Norwegian ship Cadmus in the Gulf of Mexico at 1744 hours; 2 were killed, 20 survived. US Navy cargo ship USS Luckenbach struck two US mines and sank 10 miles south of the Florida Keys, Florida, United States; lost with the ship was a very large supply of tungsten, prompting the Americans to later launch an operation to salvage it. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army advanced toward Voronezh, Russia. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-16 sank Swedish ship Eknaren in the Mozambique Channel. In the same area, I-18 sank Dutch ship De Weert. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-97 sank British ship Marilyse Moller 66 miles east of Port Said, Egypt at 1343 hours; 35 were killed, 4 survived; British anti-submarine trawler HMS Burra counterattacked with three depth charges, causing no damage. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-456 and a German Bv 138 aircraft spotted Allied convoy PQ-17 in the Barents Sea and began shadowing it. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 Yasunori Yoshioka stepped down as the chief of staff of Japanese 44th Army, also known as the Kwangtung Defense Army, based in Xinjing, northeastern China. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 German 90th Light Division began to advance for El Alamein, Egypt at 0300 hours; meanwhile, German and Italian tanks covered the southern flank. Allied troops in the area were a mix of British, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, and South African nationalities. Axis forces suffered heavy casualties on this first day of assault. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 As the German bridgehead north of Sevastopol, Russia appeared to be too strong to be eliminated, Joseph Stalin ordered top Soviet leaders to evacuate the city by submarine. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 HMS King George V arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 B-17E Flying Fortress bomber "Jarring Jenny" landed at Prestwick, Scotland, United Kingdom having flown the 3,000 miles from Maine, United States via Greenland and Iceland. It was the first of hundreds of sister aircraft to be flown to Great Britain to form the US Eighth Air Force. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 Wasp departed San Diego, California for Tonga Islands, escorting transports carrying men of the US 5th Marine Regiment. 
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01 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Seahorse was laid down at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 A German BV 138 seaplane shadowed Allied convoy PQ-17 in the Barents Sea from a distance, reporting in the convoy's position throughout the day. Seven He 115 seaplanes made a unsuccessful torpedo attack on the convoy, while German battleship Tirpitz, cruiser Admiral Hipper, four destroyers, and two torpedo boats departed Trondheim, Norway to intercept (Operation Rösselsprung). The German ships were spotted by Soviet submarine K21, which attacked and reported a hit, but in actuality the torpedo had missed. 
0
02 Jul 1942 WW2 US Joint Chiefs issued the Joint Directives for Offensive Operation in Southwest Pacific Area, calling for invasions of the general New Britain-New Ireland-New Guinea region; invasions for Santa Cruz and Tulagi were scheduled to be on 1 Aug 1942. 
0
02 Jul 1942 WW2 Churchill easily passed a "no confidence" vote in the House of Commons; there were 475 votes in his favor compared to 25 against. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 Large numbers of Soviet units were surrounded in the link-up of 4.Panzerarmee and 2.Armee near the city of Stary Oskol in Russia, but many of them manage to escape across the Don River. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 Generaloberst Alexander Löhr was named the commanding officer of the German 12th Army. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 The US 1st Marine Division's intelligence officer departed Wellington, New Zealand for Australia as part of the preparation efforts for the upcoming Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings in the Solomon Islands. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 Benito Mussolini cabled Adolf Hitler in regards to the future administration of Egypt, in which he recommended Erwin Rommel as the military governor and a yet-unnamed Italian as the civilian administrator. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank Norwegian ship Gundersen in the Gulf of Mexico at 0617 hours; 1 was killed, 25 survived. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Plunger sank Japanese transport ship Unyo Maru No. 3 80 miles east of Shanghai, China. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 6 German aircraft attacked Allied convoy PQ-17 but was driven off without causing any damage. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 A group of Jews from Berlin, Germany were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel abandoned the southward tank sweep to have the tanks assist on the direct assault of El Alamein, Egypt, but not until the southern drive had already lost 2,000 men and 30 field guns. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 German aircraft sank Soviet destroyers Bditelny and Tashkent and damaged cruiser Komintern and two other destroyers at Novorossiysk, Russia. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 325 British bombers (175 Wellington, 53 Lancaster, 35 Halifax, 34 Stirling, and 28 Hampden) attacked Bremen, Germany, damaging 1,000 houses and 4 small industrial facilities, damaging 3 cranes in the port area, damaging 7 ships, and sinking transport ship Marieborg. The Germans suffered 5 deaths and 4 wounded while the British lost 13 bombers. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 Submarine S-7 departed Moshchny Island near Leningrad, Russia. 
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02 Jul 1942 WW2 The New York Times reported via the London Daily Telegraph that over 1,000,000 Jews had already been killed by Nazis. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-215 sank US ship Alexander Macomb 150 kilometers east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States at 1230 hours; 10 were killed, 57 survived; Alexander Macomb sunk with 9,000 tons of war goods for the Soviet Union. British armed anti-submarine warfare trawler HMS Le Tiger counterattacked and sank U-215 with depth charges, killing all 48 aboard. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Davao, Philippine Islands. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese leadership officially canceled the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese reinforced Kiska of the Aleutian Islands with 1,200 men, 24 aircraft, and 6 mini-submarines. Meanwhile, American B-24 aircraft bombed and damaged Japanese seaplane carrier Kamikawa Maru, seaplane carrier Kimikawa Maru, and oiler Fujisan off Agattu, and American submarines attacked four Japanese destroyers in the area, sinking three of them with torpedoes. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Gar began her third war patrol. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 German pocket battleship Lützow, pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, and six destroyers departed from Narvik, Norway to intercept Allied convoy PQ-17 in the Barents Sea; en route, Lützow and three destroyers ran aground. The group was detected by the British and the Soviets, leading to the dispatching of 9 British and 7 Soviet submarines to intercept the German fleet; en route, Soviet submarines D-3 and M-176 hit German naval mines and sank. 
0
03 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish damaged a Japanese destroyer off Taiwan, hitting her with 1 of 2 torpedoes fired. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-161 sank Panamanian ship San Pablo in the harbor of Puerto Limón, Costa Rica at 0400 hours, killing most aboard and killing 23 stevedores. 50 miles north of Trinidad, U-126 damaged US tanker Gulfbelle, killing 2. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-132 arrived in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence off Quebec, Canada. 
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03 Jul 1942 WW2 German 15th Panzer Division, German 21st Panzer Divisions, and Italian XX Motorized Corps attacked Ruweisat Ridge near El Alamein, Egypt, making little progress. British aircraft flew 780 sorties on this day against the Axis offensive. 
0
03 Jul 1942 WW2 German troops captured Sevastopol, Russia. 
0
03 Jul 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army crossed the Don River near Voronezh, Russia. 
0
03 Jul 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler arrived at Poltava, Ukraine to meet with Fedor von Bock to discuss the offensive in southern Russia. 
0
03 Jul 1942 WW2 Robert Johnson was commissioned a second lieutenant at Kelly Field, Texas, United States. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Menado, Celebes. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 Allied reconnaissance reported that the Japanese had begun building an airfield on Guadalcanal. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 The raid on Dieppe was postponed due to weather. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank Soviet tanker Tuapse in the Caribbean Sea; 8 were killed, 36 survived. On the same day, U-575 sank US ship Norlandia also in the Caribbean Sea; 9 were killed, 21 survived. 
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04 Jul 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor stopped and captured empty Norwegian tanker Madrono 1,500 miles east of Madagascar; a prize crew sailed the renamed tanker Rossbach for Japan. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Triton sank Japanese destroyer Nenohi 5 miles south of Agattu, Aleutian Islands; 188 were killed, 38 survived. 
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04 Jul 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-17 was attacked by 24 He 111 aircraft of German Luftwaffe unit I./KG 26 about 60 miles north of Bear Island (Bjørnøya), Norway, fatally damaging US freighter Christopher Newport which would later be scuttled by a British submarine (3 were killed, 47 survived); at 1930 hours, another attack wave came upon the convoy, causing no damage; at 2020 hours, the convoy was attacked by 25 aircraft, sinking British freighter Navarino, sinking US freighter William Hooper (3 were killed, 55 survived), and damaging Soviet tanker Azerbaijan; at 2100 hours, believing that German battleships might be in the area, PQ-17 was ordered to scatter and the convoy escorts were withdrawn. Sailing in the opposite direction, QP-13 broke up to two convoys, one of which ran into a minefield; several ships struck mines and sank (British minesweeper HMS Niger (149 were killed), freighter Hybert, freighter Heffron, freighter Massmar (17 were killed), and Soviet passenger ship Rodina (several family members of Soviet diplomats were killed)), and several others were damaged (civilian commodore's ship American Robin, freighter Exterminator, and freighter John Randolph); HMS Hussar was able to lead the survivors out of the minefield. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 The American Volunteer Group of the China Air Force was disbanded. Its P-40E and Tomahawk fighters were transferred to USAAF 23rd Fighter Group, which was the AVG's successor. 
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04 Jul 1942 WW2 Axis tanks continued the attack on Ruweisat Ridge near El Alamein, Egypt, making little progress; British aircraft flew 900 sorties on this day against the Axis offensive. The Allies, believing the Axis forces had lost their initial momentum, launched a limited offensive with elements of the South African 1st Division and New Zealand 2nd Division toward the Ruweisat Ridge. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 British RAF's third 1,000-plane raid targeted Bremen, Germany, causing considerable damage to the city and the Focke-Wulf plant. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 The USAAF launched its first Britain-based mission when US A-20 bombers flew with British RAF A-20 bombers against German airfields in the Netherlands. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland began mass gassings. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 While the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army was moved to Voronezh, Russia to aid the city's defense, Adolf Hilter diverted the German 6th Army toward Stalingrad. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 Garland completed her temporary repairs at Murmansk, Russia and departed for Troon, Scotland, United Kingdom with convoy QP-13. 
0
04 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Navy Pacific Fleet established an advance base for submarines at Midway Atoll. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Menado, Celebes. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 Operation Rösselsprung was canceled and battleship Tirpitz reversed course for Bogen near Narvik, Norway. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 Units of the German 4.Panzerarmee reached the Don River above and below Voronezh, Russia. In Ukraine, Soviet resistance in the Crimea region ended. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Finback attacked two Japanese destroyers in the Central Pacific, firing six torpedoes and claimed one hit. She was counterattacked with depth charges. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 The scattered Allied convoy PQ-17 was hunted down by German submarines and aircraft piecemeal throughout the day; British freighter Empire Byron (by U-703 at 0827 hours; 7 were killed, 63 survived), civilian commodore J. C. K. Dowding's ship River Afton (by U-703 at 2102 hours; 26 were killed, 38 survived)), British ship Earlston (by U-334 at 1747 hours; all 52 aboard survived), Washington, Bolton Castle, Paulus Potter, Pan Kraft, US ship Carlton (by U-88 at 1015 hours; 3 were killed, 42 survived), Fairfield City, Daniel Morgan (by U-88 at 2252 hours; 3 were killed, 51 survived), Peter Kerr, British fleet oiler Aldersdale (fatally damaged by aircraft and abandoned), British rescue ship Zaafaran, and Honomu (by U-456 at 1431 hours; 13 were killed, 28 survived) were all destroyed. Meanwhile, Allied convoy QP-13 was sailing in the opposite direction; British minesweeper HMS Niger, in escort, entered a British minefield due to navigation error, struck a mine, and sank 10 miles north of Iceland at 2240 hours, killing 149; the 36 merchant ships of the convoy, following Niger's lead, also entered the minefield; 5 merchant ships would sink, 1 would sustain damage. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Growler attacked Japanese destroyers in Kiska Harbor, Kiska, Aleutian Islands, damaging Kasumi (10 were killed), damaging Shiranui (3 were killed), and sinking Arare (104 were killed, 42 survived). 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-320 sank German coastal freighter Anna Katrin Fritzen off Memelland, Germany (Memel, occupied Latvia) at 1151 hours. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 The battlefields near El Alamein, Egypt entered a period of relative lull as Axis forces halted due to lack of supplies and the Allied forces planned for a counter offensive. 
0
05 Jul 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii decrypted an intercepted Japanese Navy radio message noting that engineering units were en route to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands to construct an airfield. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kendari, Celebes. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Tirpitz arrived at Bogen near Narvik, Norway. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 The British RAF Coastal Command scored its first enemy vessel sunk with the newly equipped Wellington bombers. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-154 sank Panamanian fishing boat Lalita with shellfire 20 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico at 1837 hours. U-67 sank Norwegian ship Bayard 45 miles south of Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States at 1857 hours; 11 were killed, 21 survived. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 sank Greek merchant ship Nymphe in the Mozambique Channel at 1615 hours. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-255 sank US ship John Witherspoon; 1 was killed, 49 survived. German aircraft sank US ship Pan Atlantic. Both ships were of Allied convoy PQ-17, traveling in the Barents Sea. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-375 sank Norwegian ship Hero 20 miles southwest of Haifa, Palestine at 0526 hours; 31 were killed, 13 survived. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 George Marshall asked Douglas MacArthur whether he would like to have George Kenney assigned to him to lead the air forces based in Australia. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-201 sank British ship Avila Star 90 miles east of the Azores islands at 0036 hours; 84 were killed, 112 survived. German submarine U-502 was sunk on the surface by a British RAF Wellington bomber with depth charges 250 miles west of France before dawn; all 52 aboard were killed. German submarine U-132 attacked Allied convoy QS-15 at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, sinking Belgian ship Hainaut (at 0521 hours; 1 was killed, 44 survived), sinking Greek ship Anastassios Pateras (at 0521 hours; 3 were killed, 26 survived), and fatally damaging British ship Dinaric (at 0646 hours; 4 were killed); Canadian minesweeper HMCS Drummondville rammed (and missed) U-132 and dropped depth charges, causing minor damage to U-132. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese merchant ship Naruto Maru took on Australian nurses and 60 prisoners of war and departed Rabaul, New Britain, sailing for Yokohama, Japan. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Kinryu Maru, another transport, and five destroyers arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands from Truk, Caroline Islands, disembarking Japanese 11th Establishment Unit, 13th Establishment Unit, 100 trucks, 4 heavy tractors, 6 steam rollers, 2 generators, 2 locomotives with cars, and other equipment necessary for building an airfield. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Tenryu escorted a convoy (containing an engineering battalion tasked with setting up an airfield) to Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 Naka exited drydock at Maizuru, Japan. 
0
06 Jul 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army reached the outskirts of Voronezh, Russia and German 6th Army reached Ostrogozhsky 70 miles south of Voronezh, making the Soviets realize that the Germans were heading Caucasus region to the south rather than Moscow to the north. Joseph Stalin ordered Voronezh to be held at all costs in order to main control of the rail network linking the Caucasus region with the areas to the north. Stalin also allowed Semyon Timoshenko to withdraw east of the Don River. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-571 sank British ship Umtata, in tow by US tug Edmund J. Moran, 10 miles off Miami, Florida, United States at 0900 hours; all 92 aboard survived. US Army Hudson aircraft sank German submarine U-701 with 3 depth charges (2 hits) 20 kilometers southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 1500 hours; 29 were killed, 17 survived. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Kendari, Celebes. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 Weather caused further postponement of Dieppe raid. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 As units of the German 4.Panzerarmee entered Voronezh, Russia, the Soviet Stavka created the Voronezh Front under General Konstantin Rokossovsky to fill the gap between the Southwest Front and the Bryansk Front. Elsewhere, the German Armeegruppe A began its drive to the Donets Basin in eastern Ukraine. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 Saratoga departed Pearl Harbor for the South Pacific. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 In an effort to make more new B-29 bombers available for operational use for the US Army, the US Navy canceled its orders for such aircraft for research purposes. Instead, the US Navy will received a number of existing B-24, B-25, and B-34 aircraft from the US Army. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 British Royal Navy Commander Anthony C.C. Miers was awarded the Victoria Cross for valour when commanding HM submarine Torbay in a daring and successful raid on shipping in an enemy harbour in Greece. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 Norwegian tanker Herborg, captured by German armed merchant cruiser Thor off the western coast of Australia on 19 Jun 1942 and renamed Hohenfriedberg, arrived at Japan with a prize crew. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-457 sank abandoned British fleet oiler RFA Alderdale of Allied convoy PQ-17 with her deck gun in the Barents Sea. In the same area, U-355 sank British ship Hartlebury (8 were killed, 52 survived, but only 20 would remain alive before being rescued) also of PQ-17. U-255 also attacked PQ-17 ships, sinking US ship Alcoa Ranger (all 40 aboard survived). Finally, Allied convoy QP-13 arrived at Reykjavík, Iceland. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-31 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her third war patrol. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler authorized sterilization experiments to take place at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group from USS Saratoga arrived 
0
07 Jul 1942 WW2 Captain Ryuji Nakazato was named the commanding officer of Naka while the ship was at Maizuru, Japan. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Ambon, Molucca Islands. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 In southern Russia and Ukraine, 4.Panzearmee began to push down the Don River, attempting to meet with 6.Armee coming from Kharkov; meanwhile, 1.Panzerarmee crossed the Donets River. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill urged Franklin Roosevelt to agree to Operation Gymnast, a plan to jointly invade North Africa, since "o responsible British general, admiral, or air marshal is prepared to recommend as a practicable operation in 1942." 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese carrier task force withdrew from Alaskan waters after the completion of the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian islands. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 British General Claude Auchinleck ordered an attack on Tel el Eisa and Tel el Makh Khad near El Alamein, Egypt. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz issued the final plan for the lower Solomon Islands offensive scheduled to be launhed in Aug 1942. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Survivors of German submarine U-701, sunk by a US Hudson aircraft on the previous day off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, spotted American aircraft and ships in search of them. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-10 sank British ship Hartismere in the Mozambique Channel at 0748 hours; all aboard survived. I-10 struck again at 1800 hours, sinking Dutch freighter Alchiba in the same area, killing 5. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-37 sank Japanese transport Tenzan Maru 20 miles northwest of Rabaul, New Britain. 
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08 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-255 sank US ship Olopana of Allied convoy PQ-17 at 0100 hours; 7 were killed, 34 survived). 
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08 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-43 departed Brisbane, Australia with RAAF Flight Officer Cecil John Trevelyan Mason aboard for New Ireland. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Before dawn, 30 Soviet patrol boats and torpedo boats disembarked troops on the island of Someri, Finland, immediately engaging the Finnish garrison on the island. After daybreak, Finnish gunboats and torpedo boats arrived, sinking three Soviet torpedo boats. 
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08 Jul 1942 WW2 285 British bombers (137 Wellington, 52 Lancaster, 38 Halifax, 34 Stirling, 24 Hampden) attacked the docks at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, causing little or no damage to the docks, killing 25 civilians, and wounding 170; 5 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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08 Jul 1942 WW2 Axis convoy Siena departed Suda Bay, Crete, Greece; it was consisted of 5 freighters, Italian destroyer Mitragliere, German destroyer ZG-3, Italian torpedo boat Sirio, Italian torpedo boat Cassiopea, German submarine chaser UJ-2104, and German submarine chaser UJ-2107. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Valetta harbor, Malta was attacked by air. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-317 sank German ship Otto Cords 10 miles off of the Swedish coast. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 The eight German saboteurs captured in the United States during the past several weeks were placed on trial before a special military commission at the Department of Justice in Washington DC, United States. 
0
08 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-571 damaged US tanker J. A. Moffett, Jr. 4 miles off of the Florida Keys, Florida, United States at 0616 hours, killing 1 of 42 aboard; the tanker ran aground to prevent sinking, but she would later be declared a total loss. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Ambon, Molucca Islands. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln departed for Oslo, Norway, laying mines en route. 
0
09 Jul 1942 WW2 The submarine that would later be named USS Blenny was ordered. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 U-575 sank British ship Empire Explorer 100 kilometers east of Grenada at 0247 hours; 3 were killed, 75 survived. U-571 sank Honduran ship Nicholas Cuneo with her deck gun 50 miles north of Havana, Cuba at 1601 hours; 1 was killed, 19 survived. Again 100 kilometers east of Grenada, at 2305 hours, U-203 sank British ship Cape Verde; 2 were killed, 40 survived. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Perla attacked British corvette HMS Hyacinth with torpedoes off Beirut, Lebanon. After all torpedoes missed, Hyacinth counterattacked with depth charges, forcing Perla to dive, but mechanical failures forced the submarine to surface and become captured. Perla would later be pressed into British and then Greek service. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army captured Voronezh, Russia while German 6th Army reached Rossosh 100 miles to the south. Iin Ukraine, German 1st Panzer Army crossed the Donets River. The German advances made in the past few days forced Joseph Stalin to allow the Soviet Southwest and Southern Fronts to fall back. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine S-7 attacked Swedish coastal freighter Noreg 10 miles off Sweden in the Baltic Sea at 1617 hours; all torpedoes missed. At 1958 hours, she attacked and sank Swedish coastal freighter Margareta in the same area, killing 14. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 German Ju 88 bombers attacked Allied convoy PQ-17 in the Barents Sea at 2000 hours, damaging Panamanian freighter El Capitan (all 67 aboard survived), US freighter Hoosier (all 53 aboard survived), US Liberty Ship Samuel Chase, and rescue ship Zamalck; 4 German aircraft were shot down in the attack. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 Seven German torpedo boats attacked Allied convoy WP-183 south of Lyme Bay, England, United Kingdom at 0100 hours. S67 sank British tanker Pomella; S48, S109, and S70 sank Norwegian freighters Kongshaug (8 were killed), Røsten (5 were killed), and Bokn (12 were killed); S50 sank Dutch ship Reggestrom; and S63 sank British armed trawler HMT Manor (19 were killed, 1 survived). German bombers arrived to conduct a follow-up attack, sinking British ship Gripfast (7 were killed). 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 Submarine S-7 attacked Swedish transport Noreg east of Arkösund, Sweden at 1617 hours; the torpedo missed. At 1958 hours, she sank Swedish transport margareta in the same area. 
0
09 Jul 1942 WW2 Finnish forces attacked the Soviet beachhead on the island of Someri, Finland, while Finnish and German vessels sank four Soviet torpedo boats off the coast. At about noon time, after suffering 126 deaths, the remaining 149 Soviet troops surrendered. 
0
09 Jul 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Junjiro Ihara was named the chief of staff of the Japanese Chosen Army in occupied Korea. 
0
09 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Thresher sank Japanese torpedo recovery vessel Shinsho Maru off Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. 
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09 Jul 1942 WW2 Survivors of German submarine U-701, sunk by a US Hudson aircraft two days prior off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, were rescued by a US Navy flying boat; they were delivered to the naval hospital at Portsmouth, Virginia, United States for treatment. In the North Atlantic, U-172 sank US ship Santa Rita at 1624 hours; 4 were killed, 59 survived. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between Florida, United States and Morocco, U-66 sank Yugoslavian ship Triglav at 2042 hours; 24 were killed, 19 survived. 
0
09 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Navy issued an order for the future submarine Spot. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 German 4.Panzerarmee and 6.Armee met near Kalach-na-Donu, southern Russia. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 German 17.Armee and 1.Panzerarmee continue to advance to Rostov, northeast of Moscow, Russia. 
0
10 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Joint Chiefs of Staff issued the order to attack and occupy Tulagi and Guadalcanal. 
0
10 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki was assigned to the 2nd Surface Escort Division of the Fourth Fleet. Lieutenant Shoichi Oyamada relieved Lieutenant Commander Koukichi Mori as the commanding officer of Yuzuki. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 German minesweeper M-4448 struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay; the mine was deployed by Free French submarine Rubis on 5 Jun 1942. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-251 sank Panamanian freighter El Capitan and German submarine U-376 sank US ship Hoosier, both of Allied convoy PQ-17, in the Barents Sea. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-67 heavily destroyed US tanker Benjamin Brewster 60 miles south of Louisiana, United States at 0619 hours; 25 were killed, 15 survived; the wreck would burn for 9 days, melting much of the ship. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 German minesweepers M-4401 and M-4457 struck British naval mines and sank in the Bay of Biscay by accident while performing minesweeping duty. 
0
10 Jul 1942 WW2 The crew of ShCh-317 transmitted what was to become the final radio report from the submarine off the southern tip of Öland, Sweden, indicating that the submarine was returning to base. 
0
10 Jul 1942 WW2 An American PBY Catalina crew spotted the wreck of a Japanese aircraft on Akutan Island, US Territory of Alaska. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 Near El Alamein, Egypt, Australian 26th Brigade captured Tel el Eisa ridge and South African troops captured Tel el Makh Khad. Elements of the German 15th Panzer Division counterattacked the Australian positions in the afternoon without success. 
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10 Jul 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army and 6th Army advanced swiftly southward between the Donets River and the Don River in southern Russia while German 1st Panzer Army advanced toward Rostov-on-Don. 
0
10 Jul 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps established Marine Corps Air Station, El Centro, California, United States. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kupang, Timor and departed later on the same day. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Marines headquarters unit arrived in New Zealand. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 US military personnel studied the "Akutan Zero", a Zero fighter that had crashed in the Aleutian Islands. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese leadership abandoned the plans to capture New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-203 sank Panamanian tanker Stanvac Palembang 50 miles northeast of Trinidad at 0352 hours; 5 were killed, 45 survived. American pilots John Haggin and Wynant Farr of the Civil Air Patrol based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States reported the sinking of an enemy submarine 25 miles east of Absecon, New Jersey; this sinking was not confirmed by the US Navy. 325 miles west of Madeira archipelago, Free French destroyer Léopard, British frigate HMS Spey, and sloop HMS Pelican sank German submarine U-136 with four depth charges (all 45 aboard were killed) as the three warships escorted Allied convoy OS-33. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-17, after losing 24 of the 33 vessels, finally arrived in ports in northern Russia, delivering 64,000 tons of war goods; it was the worst convoy loss of the war, with some 430 tanks, 210 aircraft, 3,350 lorries and jeeps and 100,000 tons of materials lost at the hands of repeated German attacks. Joseph Stalin, suspicious of the western powers, believed that the British were unwilling to provide the Soviets with large amounts of goods and had made up the heavy losses. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine S-7 sank Swedish coastal freighter Luleå 10 miles off the eastern coast of Sweden. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-166 sank Dominican sailing vessel Carmen with the deck gun 8 miles off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic at 1900 hours; 1 was killed, 7 survived. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 German troops captured Soviet 2nd Shock Army commanding office Andrei Vlasov. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Finback conducted a reconnaissance mission in Vega Bay, Kiska, US Territory of Alaska. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 Submarine S-7 sank Swedish transport Swedish transport Lulea east of Västervik, Sweden. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 24 British Lancaster bombers (of 44 launched for this mission) bombed the German submarine yards at Danzig, Germany, losing two aircraft in the attack; this was the longest mission by British bombers to date. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 Australian 26th Brigade infantry and British tanks attacked Point 24 near El Alamein, Egypt, capturing it in the early afternoon, and then went on to successfully defend against Axis counterattacks. Meanwhile, a column of Allied tanks and motorized infantry raided Deir el Abyad, capturing about 1,000 Italian troops. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Yokosuka, Japan to escort transport Nankai Maru to Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. 
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11 Jul 1942 WW2 South African armed whaler HMSAS Protea, South African armed whaler HMSAS Southern Maid, and a British Fleet Air Arm Walrus aircraft sank Italian submarine Ondina with depth charges 60 miles off Beirut, Syria-Lebanon. 
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12 Jul 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln arrived at Oslo, Norway. 
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12 Jul 1942 WW2 The Volkov pocket was eliminated by the German troops, with over 30,000 prisoners taken, including General Andrey Vlasov. 
0
12 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank US ship Tachirá 50 miles southwest of Grand Cayman island; 5 were killed, 33 survived. 
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12 Jul 1942 WW2 Allied convoy OS-33 was attacked by a German submarine wolfpack 500 kilometers west of Madeira archipelago, with U-116 sinking British ship Cortona (0022 hours; 31 were killed, 23 survived) and British ship Shaftesbury (0945 hours; all 45 aboard survived), U-201 sinking British ship Cortona (shard credit with U-116) and British ship Siris (0413 hours; 3 were killed, 52 survived), and U-582 sinking New Zealand patrol craft HMNZS ML-1090 and British ship Port Hunter (0147 hours; 88 were killed, 3 survived). 
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12 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Seadragon sank Japanese transport Himaya Maru off Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina. 
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12 Jul 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Alagi sank Turkish vessel Antares in the Mediterranean Sea. 
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12 Jul 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Safari sank Italian sailing ship Adda in the Gulf of Orosei, Sardinia, Italy. 
0
12 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Permit began her sixth war patrol. 
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12 Jul 1942 WW2 German 104th Infantry Regiment attacked Allied troops in the Tel el Eisa ridge region near El Alamein, Egypt; the German attack was driven off after it suffered 600 casualties. 
0
12 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese armed merchant cruisers Aikoku Maru and Hokoku Maru sank New Zealand freighter Hauraki in the Mozambique Channel. 
0
12 Jul 1942 WW2 The Soviet high command STAVKA formed the Stalingrad Front out of the Southwest Front; it was placed under the command of Marshal Timoshenko. 
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13 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer USS Landsdowne sank German submarine U-153 in the Caribbean Sea 50 kilometers northwest of the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal; all 52 aboard were killed. 20 miles north of Cárdenas, Cuba, German submarine U-84 sank US ship Andrew Jackson; 3 were killed, 46 survived. 2 miles east of Cuba, U-166 sank US ship Oneida; 6 were killed, 23 survived. 80 miles south of Mississippi, United States, U-67 sank US tanker R. W. Gallagher; 10 were killed, 42 survived. 
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13 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Makassar, Celebes. 
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13 Jul 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln departed Oslo, Norway for northern Norway. 
0
13 Jul 1942 WW2 Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, commanding officer of German Army Group South, was fired from his command by Wilhelm Keitel for moving two Panzer divisions to assist the embattled 9th Panzer without Hitler's direct authority. 
0
13 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-255 sank the already wrecked Dutch ship Paulus Potter of Allied convoy PQ-17 in the Barents Sea after concluding that the ship was beyond repair. 
0
13 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-201 sank British ship Sithonia of Allied convoy OS-33 490 miles west of Canary Islands; 7 were killed, 21 survived. 
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13 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Seadragon sank Japanese transport Shinyo Maru off Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina. 
0
13 Jul 1942 WW2 Kapitänleutnant Hans-Dieter Heinicke of U-576 sent a radio message back to base, noting that his submarine sustained light damage and would soon head back to Saint-Nazaire, France. 
0
13 Jul 1942 WW2 Tanks of German 21st Panzer Division attacked Allied troops in the Tel el Eisa ridge region near El Alamein, Egypt and at a nearby South African position, driving Australian troops out of Point 24 at a heavy cost. 
0
13 Jul 1942 WW2 194 British bombers (139 Wellington, 33 Halifax, 13 Lancaster, and 9 Stirling aircraft) attacked Duisburg, Germany, destroying 11 houses and killing 17 without causing damage to the intended industrial targets; 6 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
13 Jul 1942 WW2 12 Italian frogmen swam 5 kilometers from Algeciras, Spain to Gibraltar and planted limpet mines on British merchant ships; the resulting explosions would sink the ships Meta, Shuma, and Baron Dougla and would damage the ship Empire Snipe. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Yamato remained in Battleship Division 1 while two others transferred to Battleship Division 2. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Nagato was transferred to Combined Fleet Battleship Division 2. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Mutsu was transferred to Combined Fleet Battleship Division 2. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln began a minelaying operation in the North Sea. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Hiroaki Abe became the commanding officer of Japanese Navy Battleship Division 11. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Charles de Gaulle renamed the Free French to the Fighting French. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMS Flint and mooring vessel HMS Moorfly were launched. 
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14 Jul 1942 WW2 British sloop HMS Lulworth forced Italian submarine Pietro Calvi to surface south of the Azores islands with depth charges and proceeded to damage her with gunfire. The Italian crew scuttled the submarine. Elsewhere, German submarine U-562 fired four torpedoes at a small Allied convoy at the distance of 2,800 meters, but all torpedoes missed; she would continue to follow the convoy and conduct further attacks on the next day. In the North Sea, the survivors of American freighter Carlton, sunk on 5 Jul 1942, was discovered by German submarine U-376; he survivors refused German medical assistance, accepting only rations, blankets, and cigarettes. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 For the assassination of German Gestapo chief SS Major Helm, the Germans killed 700 people in reprisal in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-7 sank US freighter Arcata east of Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, and proceeded to machine gun survivors in lifeboats; despite the attacks, 25 of the 29 aboard survived. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 US President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the Joint Chiefs of Staff to abandon major offensive operations in the Pacific Theater and instead direct planning efforts on the invasion of North Africa. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of destroyer Bearss was laid down. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of destroyer escort Pope was laid down. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy after Brazilian ships were sunk by German submarines over the past several days. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The Marine Corps Air Station, Edenton, North Carolina, United States was designed the Marine Corps Glider Base, and it was placed under the control of the US Navy 5th Naval District. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Army Air Force established the China Air Task Force with Claire Chennault in command; it was to be a part of the 10th Air Force. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet was reorganized to contain four air flotillas, a destroyer division, and 3 transports. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was assigned to the 3rd Fleet. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 10 of the 3rd Fleet. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 In Operation Pinpoint, HMS Eagle departed Gibraltar to deliver 32 Spitfire fighters to Malta; she was escorted by cruiser HMS Cairo, cruiser HMS Charybdis, and five destroyers. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Chuichi Nagumo was named the commanding officer of the Third Fleet. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Calvi and German submarine U-130 attacked Allied convoy SL 115 at 2230 hours 575 miles west of Tenerife, Canary Islands; British sloop HMS Lulworth attacked Calvi and forced her crew to scuttle the submarine (42 were killed in the action, 35 survived). 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 German patrol boats damaged Soviet submarine ShCh-317 in the "Nashorn" minefield in the Baltic Sea; Finnish minelayer Ruotsinsalmi and patrol boat VMV-6 followed the oil slick from ShCh-317 and sank the damaged submarine with depth charges, killing all 38 aboard. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The deportation of Dutch Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp began. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-35 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her third war patrol. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Submarine S-7 attacked a Swedish convoy north of Kalmar Strait in the Baltic Sea; both torpedoes missed. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Some German Jews were deported from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia to Minsk, Byelorussia and other locations in Eastern Europe. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The First Battle of Ruweisat Ridge began at 2300 hours, under cover of darkness. It began well with the Indian (5th Brigade) and New Zealand infantry (4th Brigade and 5th Brigade) overrunning two Italian divisions, but unbeknown to them had inadvertently bypassed a group of German tanks as well as a few German infantry positions. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Reinhard Gehlen and Heinz Herre presented to General Franz Halder intelligence on the Soviet difficulty in recruitment and the redirection of Lend-Lease war goods to Egypt. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 12 Italian frogmen attacked Gibraltar harbor in Operation GG1; they damaged four cargo ships. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 The Intelligence Center of Pacific Ocean Areas of the US Navy Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii officially began its operations; its first chief, in a temporary capacity, was Joseph Rochefort. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Shokaku was reassigned to Striking Force, 3rd Fleet, Carrier Division 1. In Hashirajima-Kure area in Japan. 
0
14 Jul 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Yokosuka, Japan for refitting. She was assigned to Cruiser Division 21 of the 5th Fleet. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Makassar, Celebes. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln completed a minelaying operation in the North Sea. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 German troops captured Millerovo and Boguchar in southern Russia. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise departed Pearl Harbor for the South Pacific. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 In the western desert in Egypt, New Zealand Sergeant Keith Elliott won the Victoria Cross for leading an attack which captured four machine gun positions, an anti-tank gun and fifty prisoners despite being seriously wounded in the chest. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-201 attacked British ship Yeoman of Allied convoy OS-33 with torpedoes and gunfire 400 miles southwest of the Canary Islands at 0146 hours; 43 were killed, 10 survived and were rescued by Spanish tanker Castillo Almenara. In the same area, German submarine U-582 sank British ship Empire Attendant, also of Allied convoy OS-33, at 0330 hours; 59 were killed. In the South Atlantic, 1225 miles west of Portuguese Angola, German armed merchant cruiser Michel sank British transport Gloucester Castle with gunfire at 1900 hours; 93 were killed, 61 survived. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-571 disabled tanker Pennsylvania Sun 200 kilometers west of Key West, Florida, United States at 0749 hours; 2 were killed, 59 survived on 3 lifeboats. The tanker would later be repaired and would return to service. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Bombardiere was commissioned into service. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer HMS Relentless was launched. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of British frigate Musk was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-529 was launched. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-746 was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-861 was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-467 was commissioned into service. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Finnish minelayer Ruotsinsalmi and patrol boat VMV 16 sank Soviet submarine Shtsh 317 with depth charges near the lightship Kallbådagrund. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham, wounded during the fighting at Ruweisat Ridge in Egypt, refused to be evacuated and chose to lead his men in combat until he was unable to move. He would survive the battle and would become the only man in WW2 to be awarded the Victoria Cross and Bar decoration. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 After sundown, US Army B-24 bombers attacked Benghazi harbor. Libya. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Minesweeper HMAS Wallaroo was commissioned into service. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first discussion on recapturing Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Tug HMCS Lakeville was assigned to St. John's, Newfoundland. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 The Canadian military established its first photographic interpretation unit for the Pacific Theater. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Canadian frigate Swansea was laid down Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of American destroyer escort Stewart was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of American destroyer escort Sturtevant was laid down. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Corvette USS Might was launched. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer USS Thompson was launched. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 British No. 892 Squadron Fleet Air Arm took delivery of new Martlet IV fighters (a lend-lease version of the American F4F-4 Wildcat fighter). The squadron subsequently embarked of the light escort carriers HMS Archer and HMS Battler. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 A heavy anti-aircraft battery and an automatic weapons battery of the US 4th Marine Defense Battalion arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 In Operation Pinpoint, HMS Eagle launched 32 Spitfire fighters for Malta; 1 was lost en route. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-28 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her second war patrol. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 A salvage crew arrived at Akutan Island, US Territory of Alaska to recover a A6M2 Zero fighter that had crashed there during the Japanese attack in the prior month. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Grunion attacked the Japanese anchorage at Kiska, Aleutian Islands, sinking submarine chaser Ch-25 (all 68 aboard were killed), sinking submarine chaser Ch-27 (all 68 aboard were killed), and damaging submarine chaser Ch-26. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi provided repair work for destroyer Arashio at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 New Zealand 4th Brigade and 5th Brigade captured the western end of Ruweisat Ridge near El Alamein, Egypt before dawn; without tank support, however, they suffered heavy casualties as German tanks repeatedly attacked, overrunning several positions by dusk and capturing 730 prisoners. At the eastern end of the ridge, Indian 5th Infantry Brigade, with British tank support, captured several Axis positions. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 Wing Commander and ace Paddy Finucane (32 victories) failed to return from a fighter offensive sweep over northern France. Twenty-six of his kills had taken place during the 1940 Battle of Britain. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Sunfish was commissioned into service at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States with Commander R. W. Peterson in command. 
0
15 Jul 1942 WW2 At 2025 hours, U-576 attacked Allied convoy KS-520 with four torpedoes 30 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States, sinking Nicaraguan ship Bluefields, damaging US ship Chilore, and damaging Panamanian ship J. A. Mowinckel; two US Navy Kingfisher aircraft counterattacked with depth charges as well as motor vessel Unicoi with deck guns, sinking U-576, killing all 45 aboard. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 In the Western Desert in North Africa, British Sergeant Keith Elliott win the Victoria Cross for leading an attack which captures four machine gun positions, an anti-tank gun and 50 prisoners despite being seriously wounded in the chest. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 British escort carrier Ravager was launched. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 British destroyer Rapid was launched. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 British minesweeping trawler Neave was launched. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 The German Navy issued orders for the construction of 10 submarines; these submarines would later be commissioned as U-323, U-324, U-325, U-326, U-327, U-328, U-903, U-904, U-1171, and U-1172. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-631 was commissioned into service. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Vice Admiral Frank Fletcher the commanding officer of the Solomons Expeditionary Force. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes the commanding officer of carrier air groups for the upcoming operations in the Solomon Islands. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Rear Admiral John McCain the commanding officer of land-based air groups for the upcoming operations in the Solomon Islands. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley named Rear Admiral Richmond Turner the commanding officer of the Amphibious Force for the upcoming operations in the Solomon Islands. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 Corvette HMCS Kitchener arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-160 fatally damaged tanker Beaconlight with 2 torpedoes 10 miles northwest of Galera Point, Trinidad at 0934 hours; 1 was killed, 40 survived in 3 lifeboats; British tug HMS Roode Zee sank the wreck to prevent it from becoming a hazard. German submarine U-166 stopped small trawler Gertrude 30 miles northeast of Havana, Cuba; Gertrude was sunk by gunfire after the crew of 3 abandoned ship as ordered. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-161 attacked Allied convoy AS-4 500 miles north of Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands at 1543 hours; the Germans observed two hits, both of which were made on US transport Fairport, which sank with all 123 aboard surviving in two lifeboats and five rafts. In the South Atlantic, German armed merchant cruiser Michel, after shadowing the targets since morning, sank US tanker William F. Humphrey with 3 torpedoes and gunfire at 2100 hours (8 were killed, 40 survived); at the same time, Michel's speedboat Essau damaged the other ship, Norwegian tanker Aramis, with 2 torpedoes. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 ShCh-320 fired two torpedoes at German merchant ship Gudron off the German coast; both torpedoes missed. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 The Japanese began the construction of an airfield on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 Australian 24th Battalion attacked Point 24 near El Alamein, Egypt in failure, suffering 50% casualties. Meanwhile, German tanks attacked along the Ruweisat Ridge, unable to break the lines held by Indian 5th Infantry Brigade, British 2nd Armoured Brigade, and British 22nd Armoured Brigade. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 9,000 French policemen conducted a round-up, gathering 12,887 Parisian Jews born outside of France. 6,000 of them were sent to Drancy Concentration Camp Camp located just outside the city, while the other 6,000 were detained at the Vélodrome d'Hiver stadium where they had to share one water tap and ten toilets. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Seadragon sank Japanese transport Hakodate Maru 70 miles north of Cam Ranh Bay, 2 miles off the coast of French Indochina. After the sinking, Seadragon set sail for Fremantle, Australia. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 German aircraft damaged Soviet destroyer Bodry and minelaying cruiser Komintern at Poti, Georgia. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 Ju 290 aircraft took its first flight. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 8 (of 21 launched) British Stirling bombers attacked Lübeck, Germany at dusk; 2 were lost on this mission. Elsewhere, small groups of bombers attacked various targets in the Ruhr region in Germany. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 The Ju 290 aircraft took its first flight. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet forces evacuated Boguchar in Voronezh Oblast and Milerovo in Rostov Oblast in southern Russia as German troops advanced toward Stalingrad. 
0
16 Jul 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler arrived at his Wehrwolf headquarters at Vinnytsia, Ukraine. 
0
17 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Long Island resumed carrier pilot training operations. 
0
17 Jul 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill warned Joseph Stalin that, in the aftermath of the convoy PQ-17 disaster, no further convoy missions were in the plans for northern Russia in the foreseeable future. 
0
17 Jul 1942 WW2 In Libya, US Army Middle East Air Force launched B-24 bombers to attack Benghazi and B-17 bombers to attack Tobruk. 
0
17 Jul 1942 WW2 USAAF B-17 bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Minesweeper HMAS Castlemaine was commissioned into service. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 US 11th Air Force bombers attacked Japanese positions at Kiska, Aleutian Islands. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 American submarine Hake was launched. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Whitley aircraft of No. 61 Squadron RAF and Lancaster aircraft of No. 502 Squadron RAF sank German submarine U-751 northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain, killing all 48 aboard. 1,000 miles West of Angola, German armed merchant cruiser Michel, having pursued since the previous evening, caught up and sank Norwegian tanker Aramis at dusk; 20 were killed, 23 survived and were captured. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 American destroyer Satterlee was launched. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 British minesweeping trawlers Bardsey and Rosevean and frigates Bentley, Keats, and Kempthorne were launched. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Dutch submarine Zwaardvisch was launched. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Minesweeper HMS Aries was commissioned into service. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-747 was commissioned into service. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-880 was laid down. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-478 was launched. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-903 was launched. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Francisco Franco made his annual Civil War anniversary speech. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 In Italy, about 280 American bombers attacked the rail marshalling yard at Naples while RAF bombers attacked Reggio di Calabria. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 German occupation forces conducted an anti-patisan operation at Trifolo near Katerini, Greece, rounding up suspected resistance fighters and executing the suspects en masse. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 German tanks stopped the Soviet advance north and west of Orel, Russia. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 US Army, US Navy, and New Zealand Air Force aircraft attacked various Japanese bases and shiping in the northern Solomon Islands and New Guinea. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Troops of the Australian 3rd Division and US 41st Division marched from Nassau Bay toward Salamaua, New Guinea. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of American destroyer escort Swenning was laid down. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of American destroyer escort Willis was laid down. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 American light cruiser Vincennes was launched. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Anti-aircraft cruiser USS Oakland was commissioned into service. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of Canadian frigate Longueil was laid down at Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Canadian frigate Valleyfield was launched at Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of British minesweeper Providence was laid down at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 A B-17 aircraft of US 435th Bombardment Squadron conducted a photograph reconnaissance mission over Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. USMC Lieutenant Colonel Merrill Twining and Major William McKean were on board the aircraft; upon seeing the Japanese progress on the Guadalcanal airfield, he noted "I hope they build a good one. We are going to use it." 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Australian 24th Brigade and British 44th Royal Tank Regiment, supported by RAF fighters, attacked Miteirya Ridge (also known as Ruin Ridge to Australians) between Tel el Eisa and Ruweisat near El Alamein, Egypt; the offensive initially overran the line held by Italian Trento Division and Italian Trieste Division, but would ultimately be driven back by German tanks and Italian Trento Division. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Chinese 38th Division under Sun Liren arrived at Ramgarh Training Center, India. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-178 sank transport City of Canton northeast of Beira, Mozambique at 0031 hours; 8 were killed, 76 survived (one of whom was taken prisoner by the Germans). 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 B-17 bombers of the USAAF VIII Bomber Command planned attacks on Hannover and Hamburg, Germany, but both missions were recalled after launch due to poor weather. 33 of the bombers attacked targets of opportunity after receiving the recall order; 21 of them attempted to attack the Fokker factory at Amsterdam, the Netherlands but accidentally dropped bombs on civilian quarters, killing 150. On the same day, B-26 bombers of US VIII Air Support Command attacked Cayeux, France as a diversion to draw German fighters away from the primary targets in Germany. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler visited Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland for two days to inspect the construction of crematoriums, inspect the expansion of prisoner barracks, and observe the extermination of two trainloads of Dutch Jews. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 German 1st Panzer Army reached Voroshilovgrad (now Luhansk), Russia. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe unit II./KG 55, with the new Lotfe 7D bombsights, flew tactical missions in support of German 5th Panzer Army near Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, destroying the key bridge across the lower Don River. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler traveled from the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia, Germany to the headquarters in Vinnitsa, Ukraine. 
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17 Jul 1942 WW2 A detachment consisted of 225 men and 4 officers of the US Navy 5th Construction Battalion arrived at Midway Atoll. The remainder of the battalion would arrive during the following month. They were to build an airfield and an underground hospital on Sand Island. 
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17 Jul 1942 RELIGIOUS New Tribes Mission was organized by founder Paul W. Fleming. Thisinterdenominational missions agency supports over 1,000 staff members in countries aroundthe world.
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy Rear Admiral Richmond Turner took command of the Amphibious Forces South Pacific at Wellington, New Zealand. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Frank Fletcher was promoted to the rank of vice admiral. He broke his flag aboard USS Saratoga. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-28 conducted a reconnaissance mission on the island of Semisopochnoi, Aleutian Islands. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Rudolf Höss was promoted to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Prince Alexander of Belgium was born in Brussels, Belgium. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 British vessel Barfoil was launched. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 British escort carrier Pursuer was launched. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-384 was commissioned into service. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-666 was commissioned into service. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet Pacific Fleet submarine Shch-138 suffered an accidental detonation of her own torpedoes at Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk Krai, far eastern Russia and was lost with 17 men. Shch-118 was also damaged in this incident. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 A USAAF Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, with two US Marine Corps observers aboard, flew a reconnaissance mission over Gavutu, Guadalcanal, and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Australian rescue tug Reserve was launched. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 A B-17 Flying Fortress bomber of USAAF 11th Air Force crashed on Umnak, Aleutian Islands during a weather and photo reconnaissance mission in the Kiska Island region. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of British escort carrier Ameer was laid down. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of American destroyer escort Pillsbury was laid down. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 American destroyer Kalk was launched. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 American destroyer Hall was launched. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 American destroyer Conner was launched. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-575 damaged British tanker San Gaspar (12 were killed, 40 survived) 50 miles east of Trinidad at 0625 hours; several hours later, 100 miles further east, U-575 struck again, sinking sailing vessels Glacier and Comrade with her deck gun. German submarine U-160 attacked Panamanian transport Carmona with multiple torpedoes southeast of Trinidad between 1633 and about 1715 hours, sinking her; 4 were killed, 31 survived). 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack departed Fremantle, Australia for her fourth war patrol. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-43 disembarked RAAF Flight Officer Cecil John Trevelyan Mason on New Ireland for Mason to check in with coast watchers. She would embark Mason before the end of the day and set sail. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Wasp arrived at Tongatapu, Tonga. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Prototype jet fighter Me 262 V3 Schwalbe took its maiden flight with Fritz Wendel in the cockpit over Leipheim, Germany. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Unbroken departed Gibraltar for Malta. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Wolfgang Falck departed Venice, Italy after advising the Italians on nightfighting tactics. In a subsequent report he filed for Erhard Milch, Falck noted that the Italian nightfighting organization was extremely poor. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 German supply ship Regensburg arrived at Yokohama, Japan, disembarking prisoners captured by German merchant raiders that Regensburg supported. When inspecting captured mail that was also given to the Japanese, it was discovered that the Americans had broken the current Japanese Navy code, leading to a change in codes. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Petre Dumitrescu was promoted to the rank of general. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-138 suffered an accidental torpedo detonation while in port at Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, destroying the submarine and killing 17. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-118 was damaged in port at Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia when neighboring ShCh-138 suffered an accidental torpedo detonation. 
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18 Jul 1942 WW2 German troops captured Voroshilovgrad (now Luhansk) in eastern Ukraine. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler ordered "Aktion Reinhard", the deportation of Jews in the General Government, was to be completed by 31 Dec 1942. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-31 was ordered to move toward the Japanese-occupied Aleutian island of Kiska. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell devised the X-Y Plan for 20 to 30 Chinese divisions to invade northern Burma with the ultimate goal being Rangoon in the south. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 US Middle East Air Force launched B-24 bombers to attack Benghazi, Libya; at the same time, B-17 bombers of the same air force struck Tobruk. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 Off Accra, British West Africa (now Ghana), USS Ranger launched 72 P-40F fighters for transfer to nearby airfields; they were destined to reinforce the 10th Air Force in India. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-564 attacked Allied convoy OS-34 200 miles north of the Azores islands at 0230 hours, sinking British ship Lavington Court (7 were killed, 41 survived) and Empire Hawksbill (all 47 aboard were killed). German submarine U-332 attacked transport Leonidas M. south of Newfoundland at 1655 hours, but the torpedo missed; at 1711 hours she opened fire with her deck gun, followed by another torpedo at 1725 hours and another at 1742 hours; Leonidas M. was hit by the third torpedo, sinking her (all 31 aboard survived and 2 were captured). 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-84 sank Honduran ship Baja California off the Florida Keys archipelago; 3 were killed, 34 survived. In the same area at 1912 hours, U-129 sank Norwegian ship Port Antonio; 13 were killed, 11 survived. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 German torpedo bombers damaged British convoy escort vessel Maline off Port Said, Egypt; Maline beached to prevent sinking but would not be repaired later. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 Seaplane tender USS Casco arrived at Nazan Bay, Atka Island, US Territory of Alaska in the Aleutian Islands to establish a seaplane base. Meanwhile, US 11th Air Force conducted reconnaissance missions over Attu and Agattu elsewhere in the Aleutian Islands. Finally, cruisers of US Navy Task Force 8 bombarded Kiska. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 While on a reconnaissance mission, a US B-17 bomber spotted a Japanese convoy departing Rabaul, New Britain toward the island of New Guinea. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Surabaya, Java. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 British cruisers HMS Dido and HMS Euryalus and four destroyers bombarded Mersa Matruh, Egypt. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 99 British bombers (40 Halifax, 31 Stirling, and 28 Lancaster) were launched to attack the Vulkan submarine yard at Vegesack district of Bremen, Germany; most bombs missed the shipyard; 3 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Navy opened the Intelligence Center/Pacific Ocean Area at Pearl Harbor in the Territory of Hawaii with 190 men in its staff to analyze captured documents, to interrogate prisoners of war, and to conduct other naval intelligence related activities. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 An Australian cruiser squadron, sailing as US Navy Task Force 44 and under British Royal Navy Rear-Admiral Victor A. C. Crutchley's command, arrived at Wellington, New Zealand. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 A He 112 fighter of Romanian Escadrila 51 Vanatoare squadron flew the very first night fighter mission in Romanian history. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 The Soviet 66th Naval Rifle Brigade arrived at Stalingrad, Russia and was assigned to the Soviet 64th Army. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 US destroyer Saufley was launched. 
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19 Jul 1942 WW2 Robert Johnson joined the USAAF 61st Fighter Squadron at Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States, flying P-47B Thunderbolt aircraft. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 US Marines sailed from New Zealand for exercises at Fiji. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-28 received orders to patrol the area surrounding Sirius Point, Aleutian Islands. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 The US submarine Scorpion was launched, sponsored by Ms. Elizabeth T. Monagle. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Wilhelm Keitel entertained with the idea of branding Soviet prisoners of war/slave laborers on the buttocks similar to how one would treat cattle. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 US 1st Marine Division issued the Operation Watchtower plans for the invasion of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 William Leahy retired from the US Navy. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-11 sank Greek ship G. S. Livanos 75 miles south of Sydney, Australia. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 3 B-17 bombers of US 11th Air Force attacked Kiska, Aleutian Islands. At Adak Island, seaplane tender USS Gillis was attacked by Japanese H6K flying boats, received one hit, but sustained no damage as the bomb failed to explode. Finally, on Unalaska Island, the US Navy established Naval Air Facility Dutch Harbor and Naval Operating Base Dutch Harbor. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur departed Melbourne, Australia. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain for Buna, Australian Papua. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 24 Japanese G4M bombers and 15 A6M fighters attacked Port Moresby, Papua on the island of New Guinea. Meanwhile, at Rabaul, New Britain, 5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force of the Japanese Navy and Yokoyama Detachment of the Japanese 17th Army departed on three transports. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-132 damaged transport Frederika Lensen of Allied convoy QS-19 off Anticosti Island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Canada at 1839 hours; 4 were killed, 36 survived. Frederika Lensen would be beached to prevent sinking although she would ultimately be declared a total loss due to extensive damage. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle departed Gibraltar with 31 Spitfire fighters and 4 Swordfish torpedo bombers for Malta in Operation Insect. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Thor sank British ship Indus 1,950 miles west of Australia; 22 were killed, 49 survived. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Benito Mussolini arrived in Rome, Italy. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Suzanne Walker became the first enlisted member of the Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet troops retook the German bridgehead at Voronezh, Russia. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 USS R-1 arrived at New London, Connecticut, United States. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 The US Army officially activated the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, United States. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 The first members of the US Women's Army Auxiliary Corps began training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, United States. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of US destroyer escort Moore was laid down. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of US destroyer Prichett was laid down. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of US submarine Ray was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States. 
0
20 Jul 1942 WW2 US minesweeper Chickadee was launched. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 US submarines Scamp was launched. 
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20 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer USS Chevalier was commissioned into service. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 American submarines sank three Japanese destroyers near Kiska, Aleutian Islands. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel for the future USS Cod was laid down. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki supported the invasion of Buna, New Guinea. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps 1st Base Depot established an advanced echelon at Wellington, New Zealand. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 After a four-hour pursuit, German submarine U-160 sank British transport Donovania 5 miles off Grand Matelot Point, Trinidad at 1029 hours, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired; 5 were killed, 45 survived. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of British destroyer Zest was laid down. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 The keel of German submarine U-846 was laid down. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 Malta-based British aircraft attacked Italian transport Rosolino Pilo, which was escorted by two destroyers and two smaller vessels, after she had departed from Brindisi, Italy; they would fail to destroy the transport. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 Four B-24 bombers of US 11th Air Force were launched to attack Kiska, Aleutian Islands, but the attack was turned back due to weather. US Navy Task Force 8, dispatched to attack in conjunction, however, continued on, receiving additional fuel from oiler USS Guadalupe en route. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt recalled US Ambassador to France William Leahy to serve as Roosevelt's military chief of staff. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-84 damaged US Liberty Ship William Cullen Bryant of Allied convoy TAW-4J 40 miles southwest of Key West archipelago, Florida, United States at 0908 hours; all 54 aboard survived. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-11 sank American ship Coast Farmer 90 miles south of Sydney, Australia; 1 was killed, 40 survived. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa of the Japanese 8th Fleet based at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago issued a request for more destroyers. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-43 disembarked RAAF Flight Officer Cecil John Trevelyan Mason on Anir island near New Ireland to check in with coast watchers. Mason would be captured without knowledge of USS S-43's crew. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 2,000 Japanese Army troops, Special Naval Landing Forces troops, and laborers, along with field guns and horses, landed at Gona on the northern coast of New Guinea. 10 kilometers to the east, another group of 1,000 Japanese landed at Buna. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 Tenryu provided cover for the landings at Buna, Australian Papua. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 Canadian corvette HMCS Matapedia completed her refit Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 New Zealand 6th Brigade launched an offensive south of Ruweisat Ridge near El Alamein, Egypt at 1630 hours, gaining several key positions early in the attack, but the British tanks failed to follow up as planned, thus leaving the forward units vulnerable to the counterattacks that would arrive on the next day. 
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21 Jul 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle launched 29 Spitfire fighters and 4 Swordfish torpedo bombers for Malta in Operation Inspect; 1 Spitfire fighter would be lost en route from a leaky fuel tank. 
0
21 Jul 1942 WW2 German 1st Panzer Army and 17th Army established positions west, north, and east of Rostov-on-Don, Russia. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 Germans who attempted to liquidate the Nieswiez ghetto in western Byelorussia encountered armed resistance. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 Two transports with the final elements of the US 1st Marine Division departed from Pearl Harbor for New Zealand aboard 12 ships. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 In the western desert in Egypt, Australian Private Arthur Gurney won a posthumous Victoria Cross for taking two enemy positions despite being blown up by a grenade. During an attack on a third position he was cut down and killed. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 General der Artillerie Robert Martinek succeeded August Krakau as the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-505 sank Colombian sail boat Urious with her deck gun 100 miles east of Nicaragua at 1335 hours; 13 were killed. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-582 sank US ship Honolulan 500 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa at 2012 hours; all 39 aboard survived. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-11 torpedoed US Liberty Ship William Dawes 185 south of Sydney, Australia 5 miles from the coast line at 0530 hours, killing 5; William Dawes would finally sink at 1630 hours along with her full cargo of military vehicles and explosives. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank Greek sailboat Vassiliki with her deck gun in the eastern Mediterranean Sea at 0453 hours; all aboard survived. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 Deportation of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp began. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 American B-17, B-25, and B-26 bombers attacked Japanese shipping off Buna, New Guinea, damaging transport Ayatosan Maru and killing 16 men aboard destroyer Uzuki. After dark, Australian Lieutenant John Chalk led a small contingent of natives in small engagements with Japanese soldiers before falling back. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Surabaya, Java. 
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22 Jul 1942 WW2 German tanks counterattacked the positions gained by the latest Allied offensive in Egypt, inflicting heavy losses among New Zealand troops. By the time the British 23rd Armoured Brigade arrived, it was bogged down by a minefield as it engaged in battle with German tanks; when the engagement ended, the brigade was practically wiped out. 
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22 Jul 1942 WW2 The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters agreed to the study of a follow-up to the conquest of Burma with an invasion of Assam, India to be called Operation 21. The plan involved two divisions moving through the Hukawng valley in northern Burma, two taking Imphal, and a fifth capturing Chittagong. The plan was dropped, however, after opposition from Generals Renya Mutaguchi (18th Division), Yanagida Motozo (33rd Division) and Shojiro Iidas (55th Division). 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 Jews of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland were deported to Belzec and Treblinka Concentration Camps; Treblinka had just been opened on this date. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 German 6th Army reached the great bend in the Don River near Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
22 Jul 1942 WW2 German 1st Panzer Army and 17th Army attacked Rostov-on-Don, Russia; among the attacking division was the Czechoslovakian Mobile Slovak Division. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 General Maximilian von Weichs was appointed to command Armeegruppe B, relieving General Fedor von Bock. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Adam Czerniaków passed away. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Indian troops launched an attack on Deir el Shein near El Alamein, Egypt in failure. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Martin Bormann relayed Adolf Hitler's orders to Alfred Rosenberg, noting that the Slavic population in occupied Eastern Europe were to be nothing more than laborers of Germany, thus they did not need to be fed more food than absolutely necessary, and they were not to be educated. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Italian transport Rosolino Pilo, escorted by two destroyers and two smaller vessels, safely arrived at Benghazi, Libya after a three-day trip from Brindisi, Italy. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank US ship Onondaga 5 miles north of Cayo Guillermo, Cuba at 2222 hours; 20 were killed, 14 survived. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-752 sank British ship Garmula 200 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa; 21 were killed, 67 survived. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur arrived at Brisbane, Australia. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa of the Japanese 8th Fleet based at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago repeated his 21 Jul 1942 request for more destroyers. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese troops engaged troops of the Papuan Infantry Battalion at Awala, Australian Papua on the Kokoda Trail. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: First movies for all personnel, in mess hall. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland began mass extermination by gassing; 700,000 would be killed within the following one year. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Führer Directive Number 45 was issued, ordering Operation Brunswick, the capture of the Caucasus region; Armeegruppe A would move through Maikop and Grozny to the Black Sea and Armeegruppe B would take Stalingrad on the drive to Astrakhan. Meanwhile, in southern Russia, German 13th Panzer Division, German 22nd Panzer Division, and Czechoslovakian Mobile Slovak Division captured the Kommolomny Bridge over the Don River at Rostov-on-Don. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was named a representative of the Soviet Stavka at Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
23 Jul 1942 WW2 The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Washington DC, United States, fearful that the completion of the Japanese airfield on Guadacanal in the Solomon Islands might signal a renewed enemy advance in the South Pacific that could threaten US aid to New Zealand and Australia, agreed to Marine deployments to secure the lines of communication (Operation Watchtower). 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 Oppenhheimer was selected to head the atomic bomb research efforts. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 With the US High Command threatening to withdraw entirely from the European theatre of war, President Franklin Roosevelt interceded and informed Prime Minister Winston Churchill that he now accepted the British point of view regarding delaying the opening of a Second Front in North West Europe until 1943 or 1944. At the same time he agreed to a proposed Anglo-American landing in French North Africa later in the year. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 The repair work on light cruiser Voroshilov completed. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Croix sank German submarine U-90 560 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland; all 44 aboard were killed. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank Syrian sailboat Toufic El Rahman with her deck gun 30 miles east of Cape Greco, Cyprus at 1817 hours; all aboard survived. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-43 departed Anir island near New Ireland after failing to make contact with RAAF Flight Officer Cecil John Trevelyan Mason for the past three days (S-43's crew did not realize that Mason had been captured by the Japanese); she set sail for Brisbane, Australia. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 Company B of Australian 39th Battalion ambushed 500 Japanese troops at Gorari Creek along the Kokoda Trail in Australian Papua; after killing 15, the company fell back two miles to Oivi. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Narwhal sank Japanese guard boat Shinsei Maru No. 83, merchant ship Nissho Maru, and merchant ship Kofuji Maru with her deck gun between Hokkaido and Kurile Islands in northern Japan. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 Nachi entered the drydock at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 German SS Wiking Division captured the airfield near Rostov-on-Don, Russia while German 125th Infantry Division entered the city center. 
0
24 Jul 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-17 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia. Also arriving Arkhangelsk were destroyers HMS Marne, HMS Martin, HMS Middleton, and HMS Blankney, carrying ammunition and other war supplies. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Singapore. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 The German 1.Panzerarmee captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Meanwhile, Soviet Marshal Semyon Budyonny's North Caucasus Front absorbed the remains of General Rodion Malinovsky's shattered South Front, launching what was called the Tikhoretsk-Stavropol Defensive Operation. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-160 sank Dutch ship Telamon 75 miles southeast of Trinidad at 0144 hours; 23 were killed, 14 survived. At 0352 hours, U-552 attacked Allied convoy ON-113 580 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland, damaging British tanker British Meriton (1 was killed) and British ship Broompark (4 were killed). At 0955 hours, U-89 sank Canadian fishing boat Lucille M. with her deck gun 75 miles south of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada; all 11 aboard survived. At 1653 hours, U-130 sank Norwegian tanker Tankexpress 900 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa; all 39 aboard survived. Finally, at 2305 hours, U-201 sank British minesweeping trawler HMS Laertes 185 miles southwest of Freetown; 19 were killed. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-169 sank Dutch ship Tjinegara 74 miles southwest of Nouméa, New Caledonia at 2330 hours; all 36 aboard survived but the 477 horses aboard would all drown. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese leadership paused the advance along the Kokoda Trail in Australian Papua as they overestimated the strength of defending Allied forces. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 US B-17 bombers attacked Tobruk, Libya. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom, damaging buildings in the city center. 
0
25 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her first war patrol. 
0
26 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Singapore. 
0
26 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese ship off the Philippine Islands; the torpedo missed. 
0
26 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank Brazilian ship Tamandaré 12 miles east of Tobago at 0815 hours; 4 were killed, 50 survived. At 0945 hours, U-171 sank Mexican ship Oaxaca off Corpus Christi, Texas, United States; 6 were killed, 39 survived. 
0
26 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarines U-607 and U-704 sank British ship Empire Rainbow of Allied convoy ON-113 475 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland at 0811 hours; all 37 aboard survived. 
0
26 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese troops attacked Oivi, Australian Papua at 1500 hours, capturing Captain Sam Templeton of the Papuan Infantry Battalion at about 1700 hours. The surviving forces at Oivi fell back into the jungle along the Kokoda Trail after dark. Earlier in the day, Japanese transports delivered 1,020 troops from Rabaul, New Britain to the northern coast of Australian Papua. 
0
26 Jul 1942 WW2 After dark, Operation Manhood was launched by the British 8th Army in attempt to decisively defeat the Axis offensive in Egypt by striking at Miteirya Ridge. 
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26 Jul 1942 WW2 403 British bombers (181 Wellington, 77 Lancaster, 73 Halifax, 39 Stirling, and 33 Hampden) attacked Hamburg, Germany, destroying 823 houses, damaging 5,000 houses, killing 337, wounding 1,027, and making 14,000 homeless; 14 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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26 Jul 1942 WW2 German 6th Army broke through the lines held by Soviet 62nd Army and 64th Army west of Stalingrad, Russia. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Gar detected Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru and allowed her to pass. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 In southern Russia, German troops captured Bataysk, while the 6th Army attempted to destroy the Soviet bridgehead near Kalach. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Boise departed Pearl Harbor for Japan; it was to generate radio traffic to deceive the Japanese of a large invasion force. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki escorted a troop convoy from Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands to Buna, New Guinea. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-582 sank US ship Stella Lykes 820 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa at 0847 hours; 1 was killed, 49 survived, 2 of whom were captured. At 1414 hours, U-752 sank Norwegian ship Leikanger 450 miles southwest of Freetown; 18 were killed, 13 survived. At 1740 hours, U-130 sank British ship Elmwood 670 miles west of Freetown; all 51 aboard survived. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 Australian troops began preparing defenses at the Kokoda airfield in Australian Papua. Two transport aircraft carrying reinforcements for the airfield circled the airfield and headed back to Port Moresby without landing the troops, fearing that the airfield was about to be captured. Meanwhile, Australian Captain Sam Templeton, the commanding officer of the Papuan Infantry Battalion who had been captured on the previous day at Oivi, Australian Papua, was executed by sword. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 Submarine S-7 damaged German transport Ellen Larsen south of Venspils, Latvia with her deck gun after a failed torpedo attack. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 The initial hours of the Allies Operation Manhood offensive in Egypt near El Alamein was successful, but British tanks failed to follow up, thus the subsequent Axis counterattack at dawn inflicted heavy casualties on the exposed forward positions at Deir el Dhib and at Ruin Ridge. This marked the end of the First Battle of El Alamein, which saw 13,250 casualties on the Allied side and 17,000 on the Axis side. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 Scirè departed Italy for Operation SL 1 against British shipping in the harbor of Haifa, Palestine. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 The Italian plan to land at Malta (Operation C3) was canceled. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 Nobuo Fujita was summoned to the Navy Ministry at Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, Japan, where he would be personally ordered by Prince Nobuhito of Takamatsu to bomb a major target in the United States using a submarine-borne attack aircraft. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-601 bombarded the Soviet polar station Malye Karmakuly near Belushya Bay in the Novaya Zemlya islands, Russia. Several buildings and one seaplane were destroyed. 
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27 Jul 1942 WW2 Before dawn, German bombers attacked Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. After daybreak, a single German bomber attacked Manchester, England, killing 3 and wounding 7 in the Palmerston Street-Hillkirk Street-Russell Street area. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler received a report from the railroad industry that, since 22 Jul 1942, 5,000 Jews arrived from Warsaw, Poland each day for each of Treblinka Concentration Camp and 5,000 Jews arrived from Przemysl each week for Belzec Concentration Camp. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 The construction of the American fighter strip at Espiritu Santo was completed. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 American PBY Catalina aircraft bombed Tulagi. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy and Marines began a four-day amphibious landing exercise. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 The American airfield at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides became operational. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 The Soviet North Caucasus Front was formed under Marshal Semyon Budyonny to counter the German advance into the Caucasus region of southern Russia. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 227, ordering "Ni Shagu Nazad!" ("Not a step back!"). Unit commanders were told to form special units to enforce this order by detaining or executing violators. In parallel, penal battalions (shtrafnye batal'ony) were established for officers detained for violating this order; officers running these battalions would soon gain the authority to execute members for any reason. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank British ship Weirbank 130 miles east of Tobago at 0040 hours; 1 was killed, 66 survived. At 0715 hours, U-115 sank Brazilian ship Barbacena 350 miles east of Tobago; 6 were killed, 56 survived. At 0800 hours, U-754 sank US fishing boat Ebb with her deck gun 60 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; 5 were killed, 12 survived. At 2230 hours, U-155 struck again, sinking Brazilian tanker Piave 350 miles east of Tobago; 1 was killed, 34 survived. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-175 sank French ship Cagou in the Coral Sea. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 George Kenney arrived in Brisbane, Australia and met with Richard Sutherland. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Saigon, Indochina. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 256 British bombers (161 Wellington, 71 Stirling, and 24 Whitley) were launched to attack Hamburg, Germany, but bad weather forced most of them to turn back before reaching the city; the 68 aircraft that reached Hamburg killed 13 and wounded 48 at the cost of about 30 bombers shot down. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 Max Merten was transferred to the Recruitment and Discharge Office for Military Administration Personnel at Marburg in central Germany. 
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28 Jul 1942 WW2 A transport of 1,010 Jews (542 men and 468 women) arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland from Westerbork camp in the Netherlands; after the selection, 473 men and 315 women were registered; the remaining 222 were killed in the gas chambers. 
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28 Jul 1942 RELIGIOUS Death of W.M. Flinders Petrie, 89, English archaeologist. He was regarded bycolleague William Foxwell Albright as 'the greatest genius among biblical archaeologists.'
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29 Jul 1942 WW2 Proletarskaya was captured by German troops as they formed a bridgehead over the Manych River in the Caucasus in southern Russia. 
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29 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-160 sank Canadian ship Prescodoc 100 miles southeast of Trinidad at 1019 hours; 16 were killed, 5 survived. At 2000 hours, U-155 sank Norwegian ship Bill 400 miles east of Trinidad; 1 was killed, 24 survived but 1 of them would be taken prisoner. 
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29 Jul 1942 WW2 George Kenney met with George Brett (whom Kenney was replacing) and then with Douglas MacArthur in Brisbane, Australia. He spent the latter part of the day inspecting airfields in the region. 
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29 Jul 1942 WW2 200 Japanese troops supported by a Type 92 light howitzer attacked Kokoda airfield in Australian Papua at 0230 hours; after suffering 7 killed, the remaining 70 Australian defenders fell back toward Deniki; the Japanese suffered 12 killed and 26 wounded in this engagement. To the north, a Japanese convoy landed troops at Buna; at 1445 hours, 8 US Dauntless dive bombers escorted by P-39 fighters from Port Moresby attacked the convoy at Buna, damaging troop ship Kotoku Maru. 
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29 Jul 1942 WW2 291 British bombers attacked Saarbrücken, Germany, destroying 396 buildings, damaging 324 buildings, and killing 155 civilians; 9 bombers were lost on this attack. 
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29 Jul 1942 WW2 The Soviet Union established the Order of Suvorov for leading successful offensive campaigns, Order of Kutuzov for leading successful defensive campaigns, and Order of Nevsky for personal courage. 
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29 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Columbia was commission into service with Captain William A. Heard in command. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy established the WAVES program. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 USS S-28 received orders to patrol the area surrounding Kiska, Aleutian Islands. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Hans-Günther Kuhlmann passed away. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-166 sank American freighter Robert E. Lee 50 kilometers southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at 2230 hours; 25 were killed, 379 survived. Escorting patrol chaser USS PC-556 counterattacked with depth charges and sank the German submarine, although the sinking was not confirmed until after the war; all 52 aboard U-166 were lost. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki rescued survivors of sunken transport Kottoku Maru. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-132 attacked Allied convoy ON-113 100 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 0110 hours, sinking British ship Pacific Pioneer; all 71 aboard survived. At 1958 hours, German submarine U-155 sank US ship Cranford 250 miles east of Barbados; 11 were killed, 36 survived. At 2048 hours, German submarine U-130 sank British ship Danmark 550 miles south of the Cape Verde Islands; all 46 aboard survived. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Grenadier attacked Japanese oiler San Clemente Maru with two torpedoes 40 miles southwest of Truk, Caroline Islands; both torpedoes hit the ship but both failed to detonate. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 fired three torpedoes at a British warship east of Cyprus at 1216 hours, missing with all three, but one of them would strike and sink Egyptian sail boat Fany; all 10 aboard survived. 110 miles south of Cyprus at about the same time, U-375 stopped Egyptian sail boats Amina and Ikbal, forced the crews to abandon ship, and sank them with the deck gun. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 George Kenney arrived at Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, Australian Papua by a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber at 0700 hours. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on Aru, Babar, Kai, and Tanimbar islands in the Moluccan Islands, Dutch East Indies; light Dutch resistance at Kai and Tanimbar opposed the landings, killing a small number of Japanese troops. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Saigon, Indochina. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan with 60 Allied internees including Ambassador Sir Robert Craigie and British embassy staff from Tokyo, Yokohama, and Kobe, Belgian Ambassador and Mrs. M. Fortholme, Greek Minister M. Politis, Egyptian Minister M. Samaika, Australian diplomat Keith Officer, Norwegian diplomat and Mrs. M. Kolstadt, Dutch diplomat and Mrs. M. Reuchlin, Czechoslovakian Minister Mr. Havlicek and consular officials from Yokohama and Kobe, and other British and foreign nationals. It was the first Japanese-British diplomatic exchange. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Nachi exited the drydock at Yokosuka, Japan. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine S-7 sank German ship Kathe 1 mile off Pavilosta, Latvia. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 Soviet troops launched an offensive near Rzhev, Russia, aiming to surround six German divisions. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 German Armeegruppe B attacked the Soviet bridgehead at Kalach-na-Donu in southern Russia, west of Stalingrad. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Runner was commissioned into service with Commander Frank W. Fenno, Jr. in command. 
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30 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Whale began her shakedown training. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 US Navy and Marines ended a four-day amphibious landing exercise. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 Hiyo was commissioned into service. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 USS Grunion damaged Japanese transport Kashima Maru 10 miles north if Kiska, US Territory of Alaska at 0547 hours; Kashima Maru fought back with her 80-millimeter gun, sinking USS Grunion, killing all 70 aboard. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein shot down three Allied aircraft, increasing his total victories to 17. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 US aircraft located and attacked a Japanese convoy bringing reinforcements from Rabaul, New Britain to Buna, Australian Papua; the convoy was forced to return to Rabaul by this attack. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 Canadian Hudson aircraft (Squadron Leader Norville Small) sank German submarine U-754 on the surface 120 miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; all 43 aboard were killed. 760 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland, German submarines U-164, U-210, U-217, U-511, U-553, and U-588 attacked Allied convoy ON-115 without success; Canadian corvette HMCS Wetaskiwin and destroyer HMCS Skeena counterattacked and sank U-588 with depth charges, killing all 46 Germans aboard. 150 miles east of the Azores islands, U-213 attacked Allied convoy OS-35 but was sunk by British sloops HMS Erne, HMS Rochester, and HMS Sandwich; all 50 aboard were killed. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 George Kenney arrived at Townsville, Australia. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 USAAF began a 7-day bombardment against Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, the Allied invasion force (75 warships and transports with 16,000 men on aboard) for Guadalcanal departed from Fiji. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 1,000 Jews from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia were taken to Baranowitsche Concentration Camp in Poland and gassed in vans. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 30 men of Australian Plover Force attempted to land on Tanimbar, Moluccan Islands, Dutch East Indies; they were driven off by Japanese gunfire. The Japanese would secure the island before the end of the day. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 630 British bombers (308 Wellington, 113 Lancaster, 70 Halifax, 61 Stirling, 54 Hampden, and 24 Whitley) attacked Düsseldorf, Germany with 900 tons of bombs, destroying 453 buildings, damaging 15,000 buildings, killing 276 civilians, and wounding 1,018 civilians; 29 bombers were lost on this attack. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 Kaname Harada was recalled from quarantine into service. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler reversed his order of 23 Jul 1942 which detached the 4th Panzer Army from the assault on Stalingrad, Russia; the 4th Panzer Army began moving north toward Stalingrad, which caused some logistical issues as other German units moved south along the same roads in the invasion of the Caucasus region. 
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31 Jul 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Hull, England, United Kingdom with 46 tons of bombs between 0215 hours and 0325 hours, damaging Victoria Dock facilities and destroying several homes on Grindell Street. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 The United States Navy Task Force 1, consisted of 7 battleships and 10 destroyers, set sail for the Hawaiian Islands, where it would remain to patrol the area during the Guadalcanal invasion. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 The United States Navy Bureau of Ordnance admitted problems with torpedoes, but only that they were running 10 feet to deep, refusing to address the detonator failure issue. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 The British Army Air Corps and Glider Pilot Regiment were established. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Chiang Kaishek accepted Joseph Stilwell's X-Y Plan for an offensive into Burma on the conditions that British generals fully cooperate with the campaign and that the Allies would support the offensive from the air. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Captain Bunjiro Yamaguchi was assigned the commanding officer of light carrier Hosho. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 American born fighter pilot Dominic S. "Don" Gentile of No. 133 squadron RAF, flying a Spitfire fighter, shot down both a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and a Junkers Ju 88 aircraft in the space of 10 minutes. This would earn him the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank Egyptian sail boat St. Simon 35 miles northwest of Beirut, French Syria-Lebanon at 1335 hours; all aboard survived. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-155 sank Dutch ship Kentar at 0220 hours (17 were killed, 62 survived) and British ship Clan MacNaughton at 1800 hours (5 were killed, 77 survived) southeast of Barbados. 100 miles east of Trinidad, Italian submarine Tazzoli sank Greek ship Kastor; 4 were killed, 31 survived. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-601 sank Soviet collier Krest'janin 30 miles south of Belushya Guba, Novaya Zemlya islands, Russia in the eastern Barents Sea at 0023 hours; 7 were killed, 38 survived. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-601 received orders to go into the Kara Sea as a part of Operation Wunderland. En route, she would sink Soviet transport Krestyanin with one torpedo, killing 7. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 George Kenney inspected Mareeba airfield in Queensland, Australia. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Yukio Kasahara was named the chief of staff of Kenkichi Ueda (Japanese Kwantung Army in northeastern China). 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Wilhelm Beck was named the commanding officer of German cruiser Prinz Eugen. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Preparation of site, including filling and grading, usably complete. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Narwhal sank Japanese freighter Meiwa Maru and tanker Koan Maru in the Tsugaru Strait between Hokkaido Prefecture and Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Crown Prince Yi Un was attached to Japanese 1st Air Army. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of Unryu was laid down at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Marshal Andrey Yeryomenko was appointed the commanding officer of the Soviet Southeastern Front, charged with planning the defense of Stalingrad in southern Russia. Meanwhile, German 4th Panzer Army attacked Kotelnikovo located 100 miles southwest of Stalingrad, surprising Soviet defenders. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 German 1st Panzer Army captured Salsk, Russia. 
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01 Aug 1942 WW2 Georgy Zhukov launched a feint attack at Yukhnov, Russia, drawing German attention away from Rzhev where the main attack by 20th, 29th, 30th, and 31st Armies would soon commence. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Manila, Philippine Islands. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 Italian torpedo boats and German He 111 torpedo bombers attacked Soviet cruiser Molotov off Feodossiya, Ukraine, scoring one hit, killing 18, and put the ship out of commission until 31 Jul 1943. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Long Island departed from Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii with aircraft for the Solomon Islands. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 Aircraft of US Marine Observation Squadron 251 began to arrive at the newly completed airfield at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-510 misidentified Uruguay ship Maldonado and sank her 250 miles southeast of Bermuda at 0545 hours; all 49 board survived but the captain would be taken prisoner. At 0927 hours, U-254 sank British ship Flora II 145 miles southeast of Reykjavik, Iceland; all 30 aboard survived. At 1818 hours, U-160 sank British ship Treminnard 200 miles east of Trinidad; all 39 aboard sur4vived but the captain would be taken prisoner. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 Dutch submarine O 23 attacked a Japanese convoy 55 miles west of Penang, British Malaya at 0842 hours, fatally damaging Japanese Army transport ship Zenyo Maru (27 were killed) and sinking freighter Ohio Maru. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 George Kenney arrived at Townsville, Australia and immediately departed for Brisbane by air. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 5 B-17 bombers attacked Japanese shipping near Buna, Australian Papua; 9 Zero fighters of the Tainan Air Group intercepted the attackers, forcing the bombers to release their bombs before reaching their targets; 1 bomber was lost on this mission. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army captured Kotelnikovo, Russia. 
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02 Aug 1942 WW2 US Navy approved the new name Wolverine for the fresh water aircraft carrier recently converted from excursion steamer Seeandbee. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Gudgeon sank Japanese passenger/cargo ship Naniwa Maru 80 miles west of Truk, Caroline Islands at 0400 hours; 31 were killed. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer USS Tucker struck a friendly mine near Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides at 2145 hours; 6 were killed, 152 survived. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-552 detected Allied convoy ON-115 330 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland, and submarines U-71, U-217, U-597, U-553, and U-704 moved in to attack in coordination; ships of the convoy became disarrayed as the convoy attempted to change course to evade the attack; U-552 sank British ship Lochkatrine (9 were killed, 81 survived) and damaged British tanker G. S. Walden (1 was killed) at 0305 hours; at 0401 hours, U-553 damaged Belgian ship Belgian Soldier. Further out in the North Atlantic, U-605 sank British trawler Bombay 190 miles southeast of Reykjavik, Iceland at 1654 hours, killing all 13 aboard. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Saracen sank German submarine U-335 300 kilometers northwest of Bergen, Norway at 2130 hours (43 were killed, 1 survived and captured by Saracen); 6 torpedoes were expended on this attack. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-175 damaged Australian trawler Dureenbee with her deck gun and machine gun 20 miles off Moruya, Australia; 3 were killed and 9 survivors abandoned the burning wreck. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 George Brett was awarded the Silver Star medal by Douglas MacArthur in Australia. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 Saburo Sakai, along with the others of Japanese Navy Tainan Air Group, was relocated to Rabaul, New Britain. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 The Japanese discovered that a new US airfield was being built on the coast of Milne Bay in Australian Papua. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 The first training course, an artillery class, began at Ramgarh Training Center, India. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 German 1st Panzer Army captured Stavropol in southern Russia. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 Italian torpedo boats raided Sevastopol, Russia, damaging Soviet destroyer Kharkov. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 A German Do 217 medium bomber attacked Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom at 1308 hours, damaging the railway station, killing 8 civilians, and wounding 56. 
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03 Aug 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Major General Clayton Vogel was made the commanding general of the Fleet Marine Force, San Diego Area in the US Navy 11th Naval District in southwestern United States. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 Deportation of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp began. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 The first P-38 Lightning kill in the Pacific Theatre occurred when a pair of Kawanishi flying-boats were shot down off the Aleutian Islands. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer USS Tucker, damaged from hitting a mine on the previous day, sank while under tow near Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-160 sank Norwegian tanker Havsten 200 miles east of Trinidad at 0159 hours; 2 were killed, 31 survived but 2 were captured by U-160. At 0229 hours, German submarine U-607 sank already-damaged Belgian ship Belgian Soldier of Allied convoy ON-115 330 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland; 21 were killed, 39 survived. At 1558 hours, U-176 sank British ship Richmond Castle 1,100 miles southeast of Newfoundland; 14 were killed, 50 survived. At 1615 hours, U-155 sank British ship Empire Arnold 600 miles east of Trinidad; 9 were killed, 48 survived but the captain was captured by U-155. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-372 was detected by a British Wellington bomber 50 miles southwest of Haifa, Palestine; while British destroyers HMS Sikh, HMS Zulu, HMS Croome, and HMS Tetcott closed in on the location, the bomber's depth charges forced U-372 to surface, and the crew abandoned the submarine before the destroyers arrived; the entire crew of 48 survived and were captured by the destroyers. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 George Brett departed Australia for the United States aboard B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft "Swoose". 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 General George C. Kenney assumed command of Southwest Pacific Air Force in Australia. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill arrived at Cairo, Egypt. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 The first infantry training course began at Ramgarh Training Center, India. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 Elements of German 4.Panzerarmee crossed the Aksay River en route to Stalingrad, Russia. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet 20th Army and 31st Army attacked Rzhev, Russia from the south while 29th Army and 30th Army attacked from the north. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 At the Department of Justice Building in Washington DC, United States, a special military commission sentenced the 8 German saboteurs captured during the failed Operation Pastorius to death by electric chair, including George Dasch, the defector who contributed to the capture of the 7 others. 
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04 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Whale departed San Francisco, California, United States. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Manila, Philippine Islands. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Smolensk, Russia fell under German control with the surrender of Soviet Sixteenth and Twentieth Armies; 300,000 Soviet troops became prisoners of war. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 HMS Milfoil was launched. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Edward Brooks was promoted to the rank of major general. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Submarine ShCh-205 attacked German tanker Le Progrès northeast of Constanta, Romania; all three torpedoes missed. 
0
05 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Greenling sank Japanese troopship Brasil Maru (more than 200 of the 600 aboard were killed) and freighter Palau Maru 450 miles southwest of Guam, Mariana Islands. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-155 forced the 16 crewmen of Dutch freighter Draco to abandon ship and then sank her with gunfire 325 miles east of Barbados at 1145 hours. At 1613 hours, U-458 sank British ship Arletta of Allied convoy ON-115 170 miles south of Newfoundland; 36 were killed, 5 survived. At 1848 hours, U-593 sank Dutch ship Spar of Allied convoy SC-94 500 miles east of Newfoundland; 3 were killed, 36 survived. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 George Kenney visited Mareeba airfield in Queensland, Australia. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Truk Caroline Islands to escort cruiser Mogami and repair ship Akashi to Japan. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Shanghai, China and embarked interned Allied personnel; she would depart later on the same day. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill and Claude Auchinleck inspected the front lines at El Alamein, Egypt. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 In France, the ration on wine was decreased to two liters per person, per week. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-30 arrived at Lorient, France, disembarking 3,300 pounds of mica, 1,452 pounds of shellac, and blueprints of the Type 91 aerial torpedo. 
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05 Aug 1942 WW2 Battleship Musashi was commissioned into service at Nagasaki, Japan; she was assigned to Combined Fleet Battleship Division 1. 
0
05 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine S-7 sank Finnish freighter Pohjanlahti with her deck gun 10 miles off Pavilosta, Latvia; the captain was captured, and charts of German and Finnish minefields in the Baltic region were acquired by the Soviets. 
0
05 Aug 1942 WW2 The Soviet STAVKA used elements of the Stalingrad Front to form a new Southwest Front. 
0
05 Aug 1942 WW2 Troops of the German 1.Panzerarmee captured Voroshilovgrad, Ukraine. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln arrived at Narvik, Norway. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 The British section of the World Jewish Congress claimed that 1,000,000 Jews were already dead in occupied Europe. 
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06 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands, escorting a troop convoy to Buna, New Guinea. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 Michael Calvert wrote to Orde Wingate from Delhi, India warning that fellow British officers generally considered Wingate "not fit to command." 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 Hermann Göring again ordered the plunder of Soviet industries. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarines U-71, U-210, U-379, U-454, U-593, U-595, U-597, U-607, and U-704 attacked Allied convoy SC-94 520 miles southeast of the southern tip of Greenland; U-454 and U-595 were seriously damaged by convoy escorts and turned for home ports, while U-210 was sunk by Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine by gunfire and ramming (6 were killed, 37 survived). At 1719 hours, U-66 sank small Polish freighter Rozewie 180 miles east of Tobago in the Central Atlantic; 3 were killed, 16 survived but the captain was captured by U-66. At 1908 hours, U-86 sank US schooner Wawaloam with 3 torpedoes (all missed) and deck gun 525 miles southeast of Nova Scotia, Canada; all 7 aboard survived. 
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06 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine RO-33 attacked Australian passenger-cargo ship Mamutu with her deck gun in the Gulf of Papua and machine gunned those who jumped into the water; 114 were killed, 27 survived. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-612 sank after colliding with U-444 in the Baltic Sea off Gotenhafen, Germany; 2 were killed, 43 survived. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank Egyptian sailboat Ezzet and damaged Egyptian sailboat Adnan 85 miles east of Cape Greco, Cyprus at 0700 hours. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille received a telegram informing him that he was to travel to Rome, Italy to receive the Gold Medal of Military Valor (Medaglia d'oro al Valore Militare) from Benito Mussolini. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese transport Yawata Maru delivered 15 A6M3 Zero fighters and 16 Type 99 D3A carrier bombers to Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 In the afternoon, 16 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers were moved from Mareeba airfield near Cairns, Australia to Port Moresby, Australian Papua for a planned attack on Rabaul, New Britain on the following day. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 While in Egypt, Winston Churchill decided to replace Claude Auchinleck with William Gott as the head of the British 8th Army and with Harold Alexander as the Commander-in-Chief Middle East. Churchill also separated Iraq and Iran from Middle East into a new command area; when offered command of Iraq-Iran, Auchinleck refused. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-578 departed Saint-Nazaire, France. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 216 British bombers attacked Duisburg, Germany, destroying 18 buildings and killing 24 civilians; 5 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 German 17th Army captured Tikhoretsk in southern Russia while 1st Panzer Army crossed the Kuban River en route toward Armavir to the southeast. Soviet troops in the region launched the Armavir-Maikop Defensive Operation. 
0
06 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet fighter pilot Mikhail Baranov of the 183rd Air Regiment leading a flight of four Yak-1 aircraft over Stalingrad, Russia ran headlong into a formation of 25 Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and took them on, shooting down three before running out of ammunition. Then skilfully manoeuvring his aircraft on to the tail of a fourth Bf 109 fighter, he closed in and cut off the fin of the enemy fighter with his propeller, afterwards making a successful forced landing. 
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06 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Whale arrived at San Diego, California, United States. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 US Marines landed on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands with the aim of safeguarding the sea supply lines between Australia and America and to form the first of the island "stepping stones" which would carry the Americans across the Pacific to Japan; the airfield on the island provided the Marines with a vital facility. Just across the water to the north, Brigadier General William H. Rupertus, Deputy Commander of the US 1st Marine Division, led an assault on Tulagi. Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson's 1st Raider Battalion landed first, followed by Lieutenant Colonel Harold E. Rosecran's 2nd Battalion 5th Marines. The Japanese defenders put up a much stiffer resistance than their comrades on Guadalcanal but by nightfall Edsons's Marines had reached the former British residency overlooking Tulagi's harbour and dug in for the night on a hill overlooking the Japanese final positions. At the same time the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines had fought their way through to the north shore clearing the sector of enemy positions, after which they moved into support of the Raiders. The days fighting had cost the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines 56 men killed and wounded, whilst the 1st Raiders had suffered 99 casualties. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 The Australian merchant ship Mamutu, sailing from Port Moresby in New Guinea for Australia and carrying 32 crew and 82 passengers, including 28 children, was shelled and sunk by a Japanese submarine which then machine gunned the survivors in the water. Only one person was rescued. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki was recalled back to Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands as a response to the Allied attack on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps established Marine Aircraft Wings, Pacific. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-108 sank Norwegian ship Breñas in the South Atlantic at 0133 hours; 1 was killed, 33 survived but the captain was captured by U-108. At 0225 hours, U-572 sank Dutch ship Delfshaven 800 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa; 1 was killed, 38 survived. At 2147 hours, U-109 sank Norwegian tanker Arthur W. Sewall 1,400 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa; all 36 aboard survived. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank a sailboat 85 miles east of Cape Greco, Cyprus at 0700 hours. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Proteus sank German freighter Wachtfels 100 miles south of Athens, Greece. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Thorn attempted to attack an Italian convoy 50 miles southwest of Crete, Greece at 1255 hours, but was instead sunk by a counterattack by Italian torpedo boat Pegaso at 1345 hours; all 61 aboard were killed. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 American cruisers bombarded Japanese-positions at Kiska, US Territory of Alaska. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-31 bombarded Kiska, US Territory of Alaska. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-35 reported weather conditions near Kiska, US Territory of Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 George Kenney requested for the authorization from George Marshall to create an all-American numbered air force in Australia. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 At 0730 hours, 13 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers took off from Port Moresby, Australian Papua to attack Rabaul, New Britain. Between 0950 and 1045 hours, prior to the arrival of the US attack, 17 Zero fighters of the Japanese Tainan Air Group, 27 Type 1 G4M aircraft of 4th Air Group, and 9 Type 99 D3A aircraft of 2nd Air Group were launched from Rabaul area airfields to join the battle in the Guadalcanal area in the Solomon Islands. The US attack caused minimal damage to runways and minor damage to 12 defending Zero fighters. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Kavieng, New Ireland with five other cruisers for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; the force was spotted by USS S-38, but the submarine could not gain a favorable attack position. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell departed Chongqing, China for Delhi, India via Assam in northeastern India. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 William Gott, Winston Churchill's choice to replace Claude Auchinleck as the head of the British 8th Army, was killed when his aircraft was shot down by German Bf 109 fighters while traveling from Borg el-Arab to Cairo in Egypt. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Tambor sank Japanese auxiliary net layer Shofuku Maru off Wotje, Marshall Islands. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Grayback fired two torpedoes at a Japanese trawler in the South China Sea; both torpedoes missed. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 Elements of German 6.Armee crossed the Don River near Kalach-na-Donu, southern Russia, west of Stalingrad. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet cruiser Krasny Krym and destroyer Nezamozhnik evacuated troops from Novorossiysk, Russia as German 17th Army neared. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Mako, Pescadores. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 In response to newspaper Chicago Tribune's 7 Jun 1942 issue hinting the US Navy had knowledge of the Japanese order of battle prior to the engagement, the US government ordered an investigation by a Federal Grand Jury. This investigation would later find that Chicago Tribune correspondent Stanley Johnston had stolen a report containing this information while he reported aboard USS Barnett days prior to the battle. 
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07 Aug 1942 WW2 Excursion steamer Greater Buffalo was acquired by the US Navy. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 In the morning, 7 Japanese cruisers and 1 destroyer under Gunichi Mikawa departed Kavieng, New Ireland and Rabaul, New Britain, sailing south without being detected; after sundown, the force caught the Allied warships by surprise off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands; the Battle of Savo Island would result in the sinking of 3 US cruisers, 1 Australian cruiser, and 1 US destroyer; 1,077 US personnel were killed in this battle. Also on this date, US Marines captured the unfinished Japanese airfield at Guadalcanal at 1600 hours, which would later come to be known as Henderson Field. The US Marines also captured Tulagi (307 Japanese killed, 3 Japanese captured, 45 Americans killed), Gavutu, and Tanambogo (476 Japanese killed, 20 Japanese and Koreans captured, 70 Americans killed) islands in the afternoon. Finally, 26 Japanese G4M bombers and 12 Zero fighters based in Rabaul, New Britain attacked US ships off Guadalcanal at 1200 hours, damaging troop transport USS George F. Elliot and destroyer USS Jarvis (14 were killed); 18 G4M and 2 Zero aircraft were lost on this mission. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-98 mined waters off Jacksonville, Florida, United States. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarines U-379 and U-176 attacked Allied convoy SC-94 485 miles southeast of the southern tip of Greenland in the afternoon; at 1325 hours, U-379 fatally damaged British merchant ship Anneberg and sank US merchant ship Kaimoku (50 survived); at 1518 hours, U-176 sank British merchant ship Kelso (3 were killed, 40 survived), sank British merchant ship Trehata (23 were killed, 25 survived), and disabled Greek merchant ship Mount Kassion (47 survived). British corvette HMS Dianthus counterattacked U-379 by ramming and depth charges, sinking the German submarine; 40 were killed, 5 survived. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 The Soviet Army launched a counter-offensive of Voronezh under Marshal Timoshenko. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 The Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee passed the Quite India resolution, and Mahatma Gandhi gave the Quit India speech at Gowalia Tank park in central Bombay. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 The Republic XP-47B prototype aircraft crashed during flight trials. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent destroyed the hulk of Italian destroyer Strale, which had run aground intentionally on 21 Jun 1942, after being attacked by British torpedo bombers, to prevent sinking. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Proteus sank Greek sailing vessel Firesia in the Aegean Sea south of Naxos island, Greece. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Morosini became missing in the Bay of Biscay west of France. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Silversides sank Japanese freighter Nikkei Maru off southern Honshu island, Japan. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-38 sank Japanese troop transport Meiyo Maru 14 miles west of Cape Staint George, New Ireland at 2000 hours; 353 were killed. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-601 entered the Kara Sea as a part of Operation Wunderland. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-31 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her third war patrol. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 At Australian Papua, 3 companies of Australian 39th Battalion departed Deniki separately shortly after dawn to attack the Kokoda Track; Company A would recapture the airfield in the morning, but the other two companies' attacks would be repulsed. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 Saburo Sakai, flying an A6M Zero fighter, shot down a F4F Wildcat fighter flown by James Southerland. His fighter was subsequently hit by gunner Harold Jones in a SBD-3 Dauntless dive bomber, blowing away the canopy, causing a gashing wound on his head that blinded him in one eye. He was able to fly his fighter back to Rabaul, New Britain, collapsing only after having successfully landed. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Narwhal sank Japanese fishing boat Bifuku Maru 5 miles off the northeastern tip of Honshu island, Japan. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Mako, Pescadores. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 Dwight Eisenhower established his headquarter in England, United Kingdom. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 Six of the eight captured Nazi German saboteurs were executed in Washington DC, United States. The other two, George Dasch and Ernst Burger, were granted special treatment (30 years imprisonment and life imprisonment, respectively) by US President Franklin Roosevelt for their earlier cooperation that led to the capture of the other six. 
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08 Aug 1942 WW2 The Federal Grand Jury investigation on newspaper Chicago Tribune revealing classified military intelligence information made headlines on major US newspapers. Inadvertently this might have led to, though not proven, the changing of Japanese Navy radio communications encryption on 14 Aug 1942. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Hornet patrolled waters near US Territory of Hawaii. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 Armed resistance was met by the Germans during the liquidation of the Mir ghetto in western Byelorussia. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 Mahatma Gandhi was arrested in Bombay, India by British forces for launching the Quit India Movement. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Richmond Turner put the HQ 2nd Marines ashore on Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. Unfortunately the rest of the regiment was on Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. To make matters worse the Marines then forgot all about them until the 29 Oct 1942 when a boat was sent to collect them. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 The United States Navy retreated from the Guadalcanal area due to Japanese air attacks without being able to unload all supplies for the Marines on shore. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 Mutsu was assigned to Japanese Navy Second Fleet. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-155 sank British tanker San Emiliano 450 miles east of Trinidad at 0324 hours; 40 were killed, 8 survived. At 0649 hours, U-176 sank the already-abandoned British merchant ship Radchurch of Allied convoy SC-94 485 hours southeast of the southern tip of Greenland. German submarine U-752 sank Dutch ship Mendanau 400 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa at 2113 hours; 69 were killed, 16 survived. At 2237 hours, 750 miles west of Free town, U-130 sank Norwegian tanker Malmanger; 2 were killed, 32 survived but 2 were taken prisoner. ALso on this day, German armed merchant cruiser Stier attacked British freighter Dalhousie with gunfire; all 37 aboard were captured before Stier scuttled Dalhousie with torpedoes. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Astoria was sunk at 1216 hours from damage sustained during the Battle of Savo Island. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 James Johnson shot down a German Bf 109 fighter. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 In the Solomon Islands, damaged US destroyer USS Jarvis was sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers from Rabaul, New Britain at 1300 hours; all 233 aboard were killed. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 George Marshall gave George Kenney his permission to create an all-American numbered air force in Australia. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 6 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, causing little damage; 2 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese troops recaptured Kokoda airfield in Australian Papua from Australian troops. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Saigon, Indochina and embarked interned Allied personnel. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 192 British bombers (91 Wellington, 42 Lancaster, 40 Stirling, and 19 Halifax) attacked Osnabrück, Germany, destroying 206 houses, killing 62, and wounding 107; 6 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 Irako transited the Bungo Strait between Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 German tanker Rossbach, formerly Norwegian tanker Madrono captured by German armed merchant cruiser Thor in the Indian Ocean on 4 Jul 1942, arrived in Japan. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 Troops of the German 17.Armee captured Krasnodar on the Kuban River in southern Russia. Nearby, troops of the 1.Panzerarmee reached the Maikop oil fields, though most of the fuel stores were burned before capture. Meanwhile, Soviet cruiser Krasny Krym and destroyer Nezamozhnik evacuated troops from Novorossiysk, Russia. 
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09 Aug 1942 WW2 German 4.Panzerarmee reached the eastern shore of the Don River bend west of Stalingrad, Russia, threatening to envelope Soviet 62nd Army and 64th Army on the western shore. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Jews of Lvov Ghetto in Ukraine started to be deported to concentration camps; 40,000 were deported within the following 12 days. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Stranded, US Marines prepared artillery and defensive positions at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, in Japan, radio broadcast announced that Japanese air attacks had thus far sunk 28 Allied ships in the Guadalcanal area. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 A Mark X emergency identification flare exploded aboard USS S-1, seriously injuring her commanding officer. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Kaga was removed from the Japanese Navy list. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-578 disappeared in the Bay of Biscay north of Cape Ortegal, Spain, probably sunk by a Czechoslovakian aircraft when it attacked U-135; all 49 aboard were lost. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-510 damaged British motor tanker Alexia with 3 torpedoes 50 miles east of Antigua at 0215 hours. German submarines U-660 and U-438 attacked Allied convoy SC-94 500 miles west of Ireland; at 1220 hours, U-438 damaged Greek merchant ship Condylis; at 1221 hours, U-660 sank Condylis, sank British merchant ship Empire Reindeer (all 65 aboard survived), British merchant ship Cape Race (all 63 aboard survived), and fatally damaged British merchant ship Oregon (2 were killed, 36 survived); at 1629 hours, U-438 sank the already-abandoned Oregon. At 1850 hours, U-155 sank Dutch merchant ship Strabo with her deck gun northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname; all 13 aboard survived. At 2130 hours, U-600 stopped British sailing vessel Vivian P. Smith with a warning shot from her deck gun 140 miles east of Turks and Caicos Islands; after the crew of 11 abandoned ship, Vivian P. Smith was scuttled by U-600's deck gun. Also on this day, Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani sank British merchant ship Medon with her deck gun 1,500 miles east of Trinidad; all 64 aboard survived. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese cruiser Kako was struck by three torpedoes from USS S-44 90 miles east of Kavieng, New Ireland at 0710 and sank at about 0715 hours; 34 were killed, 582 survived. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank Palestinian sailing vessel Kharouf with her deck gun off Palestine at 0120 hours. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 British anti-submarine trawler HMS Isley sank Italian submarine Scirè with depth charges 7 miles off Haifa, Palestine; 55 were killed. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 HMS Dianthus rescued survivors of British merchant ships Cape Race, Empire Reindeer, and Oregon in the Atlantic Ocean. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, accompanied by Generals Archibald Wavell and Alan Brooke, flew to Moscow, Russia to inform the Soviets of the Anglo-American decision to abandon Operation Sledgehammer in favour of Operation Torch. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 The Pedestal convoy, 13 merchantmen and the tanker Ohio (escorted by fifty-nine warships), departed from Gibraltar for Malta. Lying in wait were twenty-one Axis submarines and some 800 aircraft. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Max Merten arrived in Thessaloniki for service with the German occupation administration in Thessaloniki, Greece. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Police in Bombay, India opened fire on a mob rioting following the arrest, on the previous day, of Mohandas Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and Dr. Maulana Azad, and all the members of the Indian Congress Party who attended the 5 August 1942 Bombay meeting. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 At Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan, Admiral Yamamoto convened a meeting aboard Yamato with Vice Admiral Nagumo of First Air Fleet, Vice Admiral Kondo of Second Fleet, and other top Combined Fleet staff officers. Yamamoto discussed his desire to exploit Mikawa's success and the need to protect convoys carrying troops to recapture Guadalcanal. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 Troops of the German 6.Armee crossed the Don River in southern Russia, reaching the suburbs of Stalingrad. 
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10 Aug 1942 WW2 German troops reached the Krasnodar-Pyatigorsk-Maikop line in southern Russia. Over Novorossiysk, five He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe group KG 55 were attacked by Soviet LaGG-3 fighters; Soviet pilots claimed 3 bombers destroyed, one of which by deliberate ramming. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 The German 250th Infantry Division, consisted of Spanish volunteers, was redeployed on the Volkhov River near Leningrad, Russia. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 US Marines, using captured Japanese bulldozer and various equipment, continued the construction of an airfield that was to be named Henderson Field. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 US Marine Observation Squadron 251 was set up at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides with 16 F4F-3 Wildcat fighters modified for long-range photographic missions. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-73 sank British carrier HMS Eagle 130 kilometers south of Cape Salinas on the Spanish island of Majorca in the Mediterranean Sea; 131 were killed, 929 survived. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-130 sank Norwegian ship Mirlo 870 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa at 1427 hours; all 37 aboard survived. At 1913 hours, U-109 sank British tanker Vimeira 1,050 miles west of Freetown; 17 were killed, 37 survived. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 In the Mediterranean Sea, British aircraft carrier HMS Furious launched 37 Spitfire fighters to Malta and then reversed course for Gibraltar. 
0
11 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Finback conducted a survey mission in Tanaga Bay, Tanaga, US Territory of Alaska. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 Vojtech Tuka ordered the deportation of Slovakian Jews to German-occupied Poland to halt. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 154 British bombers (68 Wellington, 33 Lancaster, 28 Stirling, and 25 Halifax) attacked Mainz, Germany, killing 162 and destroying many buildings in the city center; 6 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Sasebo, Japan. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 Mutsu departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Kure, Japan. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 The first Axis air attacks from Sardinia, Italy, against the Pedestal convoy to Malta were beaten off. 
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11 Aug 1942 WW2 The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Wolverine rammed and sank the Italian submarine Dagabur as she attempted to torpedo the aircraft carrier HMS Furious, which was returning to Gibraltar. 
0
11 Aug 1942 WW2 German 6th Army captured Kalach in southern Russia and linked up with German 4th Panzer Army. 
0
11 Aug 1942 WW2 Several Soviet ships were scuttled at Novorossiysk, Russia to prevent capture. 
0
11 Aug 1942 WW2 Submarine S-7 arrived at Moshchny Island near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 The responsibility for maintaining law and order in German-occupied Belgium, Denmark, Holland, and Norway was given to Himmler and the SS organization. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 A Catalina PBY aircraft made a trial landing on the future Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. To the west, US Marine Lieutenant Colonel Frank Goettge's 25-man reconnaissance patrol was attacked by Japanese troops west of Matanikau River; only 3 survived. Meanwhile, Admiral Ghormley ordered US Navy Task Force 63 to devote full effort to transport supplies and personnel to Guadalcanal. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Cleveland performed a test with 5-inch anti-aircraft shells equipped with new proximity fuses in the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the United States. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki bombarded Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 In India, Joseph Stilwell departed Delhi for Karachi. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 British carrier HMS Indomitable was disabled south of Sardinia, Italy. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Erich von Manstein was transferred from the Caucasus area of southern Russia to the Leningrad area of northern Russia. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Sturgeon sank German merchant ship Boltenhagen 20 miles off southern Norway. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Unshaken sank German merchant ship Georg L. M. Russ 20 miles off southern Norway. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 Italian submarine Dagabur attempted to attack British carrier HMS Furious in the eastern Mediterranean Sea 50 miles northwest of Algier, French Algeria, but was detected by escorting British destroyer HMS Wolverine, which rammed and sank Dagabur. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 Major General John D'Arcy assumed command of the British 9th Armoured Division in place of Major General Brian Burrows who had been moved to command British XIII Corps in North Africa. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was awarded the Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Finback arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her first war patrol. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 8 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, damaging transport Matsumoto Maru in Simpson Harbor. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese troops marched along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua toward the Australian base at Deniki. Behind the front lines, three Japanese transports arrived after dark and disembarked troops at Buna. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery arrived in Cairo, Egypt. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 138 British bombers attacked Mainz, Germany, hitting the rail station, industrial areas (at least 40 were killed), and the nearby villages of Kempten (130 houses were damaged) and Gaulsheim (97 houses were damaged); 5 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Kure, Japan. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 In Yokosuka, Japan, Saburo Sakai underwent surgery for the wound sustained during combat over Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands on 8 Aug 1942. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Porpoise laid mines just off Tobruk, Libya. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 At 1200 hours, British carrier HMS Indomitable of Allied Pedestal convoy was hit by two 500-pound bombs, rendering the flight deck unusable. 10 miles off Bizerte, Tunisia, British destroyers HMS Ithuriel and HMS Pathfinder, escorting the convoy, forced Italian submarine Cobalto to the surface with depth charges, and Ithuriel proceeded to ram and sink Colbalto (2 Italians and 2 British were killed; 41 Italians captured). At 2000 hours, Italian submarine Axum attacked the convoy, sinking British cruiser HMS Cairo (24 were killed, 320 survived), damaging cruiser HMS Nigeria (52 were killed), and damaging tanker Ohio. At 2130 hours, Italian torpedo bombers sank destroyer HMS Foresight (4 were killed). During the night, the Pedestal convoy rounded Cape Bon in confusion; as the Italians continued to attack, three merchant ships were sunk and merchant ship Brisbane Star was heavily damaged. Earlier in the day, 6 Italian cruisers and 17 destroyers set sail from Messina, Sicily, Italy to intercept the convoy. 
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12 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Grayback fired three torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the South China Sea; all torpedoes missed. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill arrived at Moscow, Russia at 1700 hours. At 1900 hours, he met with Joseph Stalin for the first time at the Kremlin, among other things convincing him there would be no second front at least until 1943 as the Western Allies would soon be invading French North Africa. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 Troops of the German Armeegruppe A captured Elista, the capital of Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in southern Russia. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 The Heito Prisoners of War Camp, also known as Taiwan Prisoners of War Camp No. 3, was opened in southern Taiwan. Within weeks it would be populated with captured American and Filipino troops. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-508 sank Cuban freighters Santiago de Cuba (10 were killed, 19 survived) and Manzanillo (23 were killed) 10 miles south of Key West, Florida, United States at 1355 hours. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Wolverine was commissioned into service with Commander George Richardson Fairlamb, Jr. in command. 
0
12 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo departed Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake of the Japanese Seventeenth Army based at Rabaul, New Britain was ordered to take command of ground forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze began a period of training in the Inland Sea in Japan. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-752 sank US ship Cripple Creek 400 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa at 0740 hours; 1 was killed, 51 survived. Also on this day, Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani sank US ship California 1,400 miles west of Freetown; 1 was killed, 35 survived. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Unbroken damaged cruisers Bolzano and Muzio Attendolo 21 miles north of Capo d'Orlando, Sicily, Italy. 
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13 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-658 sank Dutch ship Medea of Allied convoy WAT-13 between Cuba and Haiti at 0507 hours; 5 were killed, 23 survived. German submarine U-171 sank US tanker R. M. Parker, Jr. with two torpedoes and her deck gun 25 miles off Louisiana, United States at 0750 hours; all 44 aboard survived. At 0948 hours, U-600 attacked Allied convoy TAW-12 between Cuba and Haiti, sinking Latvian ship Everlza (23 were killed, 14 survived) and US passenger-cargo ship Delmundo (8 were killed, 50 survived). 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese Army troops attacked Australian positions at Deniki, Australian Papua. Behind the front lines, Japanese transports landed additional troops at Buna after dark. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 Bernard Law Montgomery officially took command of the British Eighth Army in North Africa after the original choice commander, William Gott, was killed. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 In the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, 7 German and 8 Italian torpedo boats attacked the Allied Pedestal convoy, sinking freighters Wairangi, Glenorchy, Almeria Lykes, and Santa Elisa shortly after midnight. At 0100 hours, Italian torpedo boats MAS16 and MAS22 fatally damaged British cruiser HMS Manchester 4 miles off Kellibia, Tunisia, kiling 10. At dawn, German dive bombers sank freighters Waimarama (80 were killed) and Dorset. Later in the morning, already-damaged tanker Ohio was disabled by further bomb hits; she would be abandoned after nightfall. Finally, British fighters from Malta arrived, allowing three Pedestal convoy freighters to sail into Malta between 1730 and 1830 hours; the successful RAF fighter coverage which drove away German air attacks would also force the 6 Italian cruisers and 17 destroyers which had sailed from Messina, Sicily, Italy on the previous day to abandon their mission to intercept the Pedestal convoy. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Tuscaloosa, USS Rodman, USS Emmons, and HMS Onslaught departed Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom with ammunition, aircraft parts, and other war goods for the Soviet Union. 
0
13 Aug 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps established the Marine Corps Air Station, Santa Barbara, California, United States; it was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Livingston B. Stedman, Jr. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Singapore and departed later on the same day; she now carried almost 1,000 interned Allied personnel. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 The first P-38 Lightning kill in the European Theatre occurred when the 33rd Fighter Squadron flying from Iceland destroyed a marauding Fw 200 maritime patrol bomber. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was assigned to the Mobile Force Stand By Force. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy changed its radio code. It was suspected, but not proven, that the code was changed in response to suspicions that the Americans had broken the previous code scheme. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-598 attacked Allied convoy TAW-12 50 miles northeast of Pueto Padre, Cuba at 1155 hours, sinking British freighter Michael Jebsen (7 were killed, 40 survived), sinking British tanker Empire Corporal (6 were killed, 49 survived), and damaging British tanker Standella (6 were killed, 52 survived). At 1930 hours, Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani sank British ship Sylvia de Larrinaga 700 miles southwest of Cape Verde Islands; 3 were killed. South of Saint Helena island, German armed merchant cruiser Michel sank British freighter Arabistan with gunfire; 66 were killed. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Seawolf sank Japanese passenger-cargo ship Hachigen Maru in the Sibitu Passage between Borneo and Sulu, Philippine Islands. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-39 ran aground and became stuck off Rossel Island of the Louisiade Archipelago 200 kilometers southeast of Australian Papua. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese radio broadcast announced that Japanese air attacks had thus far sunk 29 Allied warships, 11 transports in the Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands area at a mere cost of 21 aircraft; in actuality, the Allied had only lost 6 ships. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 Edmund Herring was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant general and was given command of Australian II Corps at Esk, Queensland, Australia. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 The B-17E Flying Fortress aircraft "Chief Seattle from the Pacific North West" was launched from Port Moresby, Australian Papua for a reconnaissance mission over Rabaul, New Britain, but the aircraft became missing shortly after launch and was never found. This aircraft was paid for by donations from civilians of the state of Washington in northwestern United States. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 Australian 39th Battalion fell back 4 miles from Deniki to Isurava in Australian Papua after learning Japanese troops had infiltrated its rear, which turned out to be faulty intelligence. To the north, 3,000 Japanese troops of the 14th Naval Construction Unit and 15th Naval Construction Unit arrived at Buna, tasked with building major naval facilities. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 7,000 "stateless" Jews were arrested in France by German authorities. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Penn, destroyer HMS Bramham, destroyer HMS Ledbury, and minesweeper HMS Rye began towing the previously abandoned tanker Ohio of Allied convoy Pedestal, still carrying her cargo of fuel. Later on the same day, heavily damaged British freighter Brisbane Star reached Malta at 1615 hours. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 In the Caucasus region of southern Russia, German troops crossed the Kuban River near Krasnodar. 
0
14 Aug 1942 WW2 Troops of German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army set fire to wooded areas west of the Don River in southern Russia in an attempt to drive out the remnants of the surrounded Soviet 62nd Army. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 US 83rd Infantry Division was activated. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 Submarine Snook was launched, sponsored by the wife of Navy Cross winner Lieutenant James C. Dempsey. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Submarine Pompon was launched, sponsored by Miss Katherine Mary Wolleson. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-705 attacked Allied convoy SC-95 570 miles west of Ireland at 0358 hours, sinking US ship Balladier; 13 were killed, 32 survived. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Porpoise sank Italian merchant ship Lerici 140 miles west of Crete, Greece. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 German aircraft detected an Allied westbound convoy in the Kara Sea. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 Finnish patrol boat VMV 5 sank Soviet submarine M-97 with depth charges 3 miles off of the Estonian coast in the Gulf of Finland. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyers USS Colhoun, USS Gregory, USS Little, and USS McKean made the first supply mission for US Marines at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 131 British bombers attacked Düsseldorf, Germany in poor weather; one stray 4,000-pound bomb hit the town of Neuss, killing 1 civiliand and wounding 13; 4 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 Tanker Ohio, under tow by three British destroyers and one British minesweeper, arrived at Malta at 0700 hours; she would later sink in Valetta Harbour, Malta from her damage after her cargo of fuel was unloaded. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 German troops attacked Grozny, the capital of Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in southern Russia; it was defended by troops of Soviet 9th Army and 37th Army. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Troops of German 6th Army attacked the remnants of Soviet 4th Tank Army on the west bank of the Don River bend at 0430 hours. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 United States Marine Corps established the Air, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific at San Diego, California, United States. It was to organize personnel and supplies for the 1st and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wings and the 4th Marine Base Defense Battalion. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Hackleback was laid down by William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 The 82nd Infantry Division became the US Army's first airborne division, and it was redesignated as the 82nd Airborne Division. 
0
15 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish departed Midway Atoll for her second war patrol. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Argonaut departed with 121 US Marines, "Carlson's Raiders", for Makin Island. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 American submarine USS Nautilus departed US Marines, "Carlson's Raiders", for Makin Island; she would remain there to provide gunfire support. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 The captured airfield at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands was renamed Henderson Field by the Americans. Far to the north in the Caroline Islands, Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki and 916 men departed Truk aboard 6 destroyers for Guadalcanal to take back the airfield; the remainder of the 28th Infantry Regiment embarked on slower transports, aiming to arrive a few days later. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 German troops reached the Kadar Gorge in southern Russia. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank Brazilian passenger ship Baependy at 0012 hours (270 were killed, 36 survived), merchant ship Araraquara at 0203 hours (131 were killed, 11 survivied), and ship Annibal Benévolo at 0913 hours (150 were killed, 4 survived) off Aracaju, Brazil. At 0745 hours, 620 miles west of Ireland, German submarine U-596 stopped Swedish merchant ship Suecia, forced the crew of 35 and 12 passengers to abandon ship (1 would drown in the process and 1 lifeboat containing 8 men would never be found), and sank the ship along with its cargo of American steel bound for Britain with a torpedo. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-77 sank small Palestinian sailing vessel Daniel with her deck gun off Palestine at 2334 hours. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Turbulent damaged Italian transport Nino Bixio 40 miles off the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece; unknown to the crew of HMS Turbulent, the Italian ship was carrying 3,200 Allied prisoners of war, which would make up most of the 336 killed during the attack. Nino Bixio would remain afloat and was towed to shore for repairs. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 Three Japanese transports arrived at Buna, Australian Papua and landed reinforcements. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 British carrier HMS Furious departed Gibraltar with 32 Spitfire fighters on board for delivery to Malta; she was escorted by cruiser HMS Charybdis, destroyer HMS Antelope, destroyer HMS Bicester, destroyer HMS Derwent, destroyer HMS Eskimo, destroyer HMS Keppel, destroyer HMS Laforey, destroyer HMS Lookout, destroyer HMS destroyer HMS Lightning, destroyer HMS Malcolm, destroyer HMS Somali, destroyer HMS Venomous, and destroyer HMS Wishart. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 In India, Joseph Stilwell departed Delhi for Ramgarh, the Chinese troops training site. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 Benito Mussolini presented Hans-Joachim Marseille the Gold Medal of Military Valor (Medaglia d'oro al Valore Militare) in Rome, Italy. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 Shokaku was assigned to Main Body, Striking Force, 3rd Fleet, Carrier Division 1. She departed Kure, Japan for Phase 2 of the Eastern Solomons battle. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 Admiral Scheer departed Ofotfjord near Narvik, Norway at 1500 hours, embarking on Operation Wunderland to raid Soviet merchant shipping. A Russian-speaking radio intelligence team was brought on board to help decipher intercepted messages. Admiral Scheer was escorted by destroyer Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, destroyer Z15 Erich Steinbrink, and destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen. 
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16 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet ocean tug Komsomelets, ocean tug Nord departed Chabarovo on the shore of Yugorsky peninsula in northern Russia, with barge P4 (328 people on board, most of whom were penal construction workers), lighter Sh-500, and tug Komiles in tow. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe conducted its first major bombing raid on Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Alabama was commissioned into service with Captain George B. Wilson in command. 
0
16 Aug 1942 WW2 The US 101st "Screaming Eagles" Airborne Division was activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, United States under the command of Major General William C. Lee. 
0
16 Aug 1942 RELIGIOUS Birth of Don Wyrtzen, contemporary Christian songwriter. Among his most enduring sacred compositions are "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" and "Worthy is the Lamb."
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17 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands, escorting a troop convoy to Buna, New Guinea. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 Ira Eaker personally participated in the first American B-17 bombing mission against a continental European target, Rouen, France. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese transport in the Dutch East Indies; both torpedo missed. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 sank Brazilian ship Itagiba off Brazil at 1549 hours (36 were killed, 145 survived); later at 1803 hours, as Brazilian ship Arará approached to rescue survivors, U-507 sank her as well (20 were killed, 16 survived). Meanwhile, at 1756 hours, German submarine U-566 sank Norwegian merchant ship Triton 200 miles northeast of the Azores islands; all 43 aboard survived. At 2244 hours, after a 6-hour pursuit, German submarine U-108 sank US tanker Louisiana 200 miles off French Guiana; all 49 aboard were killed. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-658 attacked Allied convoy PG-6 between Cuba and Haiti at 0619 hours, sinking Egyptian ship Samir, sinking British ship Fort la Reine (3 were killed, 41 survived), and damaging British merchant ship Laguna (all aboard survived). 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Safari sank Italian sailing vessel Ausonia with her deck gun 10 miles south of Sardinia, Italy. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-83 sank Canadian troopship Princess Marguerite 50 miles north of Port Said, Egypt at 1408 hours; 49 were killed, 1,083 survived. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-209 attacked a Soviet convoy with her deck gun off Matveev Island in northwestern Russia in Pechora Sea between 0526 and 0920 hours, sinking tug Komsomolec, tug Komiles, barge P-4 (305 were killed, 23 survived), and barge Sh-500. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill arrived at Cairo, Egypt. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 The US Eighth Air Force launched its first "All-American" air raid over Europe with 12 B-17E Flying Fortress bombers escorted by four squadrons of Spitfire fighters attacking rail marshalling yards at Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France. Interruption by German fighters caused the damage to be minimal. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 139 British bombers attacked Osnabrück, Germany, destroying 77 houses and 4 military buildings, killing 7 people, and wounding 15 people; 5 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 211 men of the US 2nd Raider Battalion attacked Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands; it was the first amphibious assault ever launched from submarines (USS Nautilus and USS Argonaut). 9 of the raiders would be left behind by mistake; they were captured, were brought to Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, and were executed. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Hornet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for the South Pacific. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 Yamato departed Kure, Japan for Truk, Caroline Islands escorted by escort carrier Kasuga Maru (later renamed Taiyo), Akebono, Ushio, and Sazanami. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 In Operation Baritone, British carrier HMS Furious launched 32 Spitfire fighters for Malta; 2 of them were lost during takeoff. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-209 spotted Soviet ocean tug Komsomelets and ocean tug Nord at 0700 hours east of the Yugorsky Peninsula in northern Russia; the two tugs were towing barge P4, lighter Sh-500, and tug Komiles. U-209 immediately shelled Komsomelets and fired a torpedo at P4, which missed. At 0800 hours, U-209 shelled Komiles, forcing her crew to abandon ship. At 0810, U-209 shelled and sank Sh-500. Shortly after, U-209 fired another torpedo at P4; 305 were killed (most of whom were penal construction workers), 23 survived. 
0
17 Aug 1942 WW2 The Karenko Prisoners of War Camp in Karenko (now Hualien) in eastern Taiwan was opened. It would hold high-ranking prisoners of war such as Jonathan Wainwright and Arthur Percival. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 The US Navy ordered the transfer of two battleships from the Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific Fleet. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 31 bombers of the British Path Finder Force conducted their first combat operation since the unit's formation on 15 Aug, dropping flares over Flensburg in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany for the 87 bombers following behind them; most of the bombers targeting Flensburg missed and hit the towns of Sønderborg and Abenra to the north, destroying 26 houses, damaging 660 houses, and wounding 4 Danish civilians; 4 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler issued the Commando Order that all Allied commandos encountered by German forces in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately, even if in uniform or if they attempted to surrender. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Cabrilla was laid down. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine wolfpack Blücher consisted of U-214, U-333, U-406, U-566, U-590, U-594, and U-653 attacked Allied convoy SL-118 565 miles west of Portugal; at 1852 hours, a spread of torpedoes fired by U-214 sank Dutch merchant ship Balingkar (2 were killed, 91 survived), sank British merchant ship Hatarana (all 108 aboard survived), and damaged British armed merchant cruiser Cheshire (all aboard survived); U-653 was detected by a British Liberator aircraft of No. 120 Squadron RAF, and was forced to return to Brest, France after sustaining heavy damage. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-553 attacked Allied convoy TAW-13 close to the coast of southeastern Cuba, sinking British merchant ship Emipre Bede at 0559 hours (2 were killed, 43 survived), US merchant ship John Hancock at 0913 hours (all 49 aboard survived), and Swedish merchant ship Blankaholm at 0913 hours (5 were killed, 23 survived). 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine L-3 attacked a convoy and sank Swedish ship C. F. Liljevalch off Västervik, Sweden; 33 were killed, 7 survived. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS United attacked an Axis convoy 45 miles south of Pantellaria island, Italy and sank Italian transport Rosolino Pilo; the resulting explosion caused HMS United to become damaged. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine Safari sank Italian freighter Perseo 10 miles south of Sardinia, Italy. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer, destroyer Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, destroyer Z15 Erich Steinbrink, and destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen entered Kara Sea. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-28 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her second war patrol. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Basabua, Australian New Guinea. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 Two Japanese transports arrived at Buna, Australian Papua and disembarked reinforcements. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 Six Japanese destroyers delivered 916 troops to Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; about 400 of them were of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Japanese Infantry Regiment who landed at Taivu Point, while the other about 500 were of the Yokosuka 5th Special Naval Landing Force who landed at Kokumbona; this was the first Japanese reinforcement of Guadalcanal by warships. On the same day, Henderson Field was declared completed. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
18 Aug 1942 WW2 German troops assaulted Novorossiysk and Tuapse on the Black Sea coast in southern Russia. 100 kilometers to the northeast, German 1st Panzer Army captured Krasnodar. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet troops in the Caucasus region of southern Russia launched the Novorossiysk Defensive Operation. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-507 stopped Brazilian sailing vessel Jacyra at 0530 hours, forced her crew of 6 to abandon ship, and scuttled her at 0800 hours with charges. At 0907 hours, U-510 sank British merchant ship Cressington Court 200 miles off French Guiana; 8 were killed, 36 survived. German submarine U-406 attacked Allied convoy SL-118 450 miles west of Portugal at 1622 hours, fatally damaging British ship City of Manila; 1 was killed, 95 survived. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-162 attacked an Allied convoy 40 miles west of Grenada, sinking US ship West Celina at 0437 hours (1 was killed, 43 survived); at 1007 hours, U-564 joined in on the attack, sinking British ship Empire Cloud (3 were killed, 51 survived) and British tanker British Consul (2 were killed, 40 survived). German submarine U-217 sank British sailing vessel Sea Gull D. 75 miles southeast of Bonaire island in the southern Caribbean Sea at 2112 hours; 3 were killed, 71 survived. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese destroyers Kagero, Kagikaze, Maikaze, Urakaze, Isokaze, and Hamakaze landed 916 men at Taivu Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands at 0100 hours; men of Company L, US 5th Marine Regiment attacked a Japanese construction battalion west of the Matanikau River at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands at midday; on the same day, Company I of the same regiment conducted an amphibious raid further west at Kokumbona. Out at sea, Japanese destroyer Hagikaze was damaged by a bomb during an attack by US B-17 bombers; 33 were killed, 13 were wounded. At Henderson Field, the forward echelon of Marine Aircraft Group 23 (19 F4F fighters and 12 SBD-3 dive bombers) arrived. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 5,000 Canadian troops, 1,000 British Commandos, 50 US Rangers, and 58 British Churchill tanks landed at Dieppe, France at 0500 hours in Operation Jubilee via 9 landing ships, covered by 8 destroyers, many smaller warships, and many aircraft. British and Americans were successful in destroying a German battery near Varengeville, but British and Canadian troops on a nearby beach were pinned down, suffering 1,179 killed before the mission's end. As German aircraft counterattacked, British destroyer HMS Berkeley and several smaller ships were sunk. The operation was called off by 1100 hours in dismal failure. 2,190 Allied troops were captured along with all of the tanks and heavy equipment. The British RAF lost 106 aircraft. The Germans suffered only 311 killed and 48 aircraft shot down in the defense. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 James Johnson flew a mission over Dieppe, France, covering the amphibious operation. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 At Dieppe, France, Corporal Franklin Koons, 1st Ranger Battalion, becomes the first US infantryman to kill a German soldier in combat during WW2; at nearby Berneval, Lieutenant Edwin.D. Loustalot, 1st Ranger Battalion became the first Ranger and US infantry officer to be killed in action in Europe during WW2 as he fell while leading a charge against an enemy gun post. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 Despite being wounded three times, Captain Pat Porteous, liaison officer with British No. 4 Commando, led a text book bayonet charge through a hail of machine-gun fire to eliminate (with deadly hand-to-hand combat) the Varengeville-sur-Mer battery in France which threatened the safety of the ships laying off the coast 0f Dieppe. For this gallant action, Captain Porteous would be awarded the Victoria Cross. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 Pilot Officer Hollis H. Hills, an American volunteer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, was credited with the first air-to-air victory with the North American Mustang (P-51) fighter when he shot down a Fw 190 fighter over Dieppe, France. Californian Hills would later serve in the US Navy flying F6F Hellcat fighters. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 Walter Grabmann stepped down as the commanding officer of the Zerstörerschule 2 training unit based in Memmingen, Germany and was named the chief of all fighter units based in the Netherlands. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviets launched the Sinyavino Offensive in the Leningrad region in northern Russia, with troops of the Leningrad Front capturing several bridgeheads across the Neva River. The Volkhov Front, however, failed to launch its offensive in concert. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-209 attempted to approach Belushya Guba in the Novaya Zemlya islands in northern Russia, but was spotted by Soviet motor boat Poliarny, minesweeper T-39, and minesweeper T-58, which drove off U-209. 
0
19 Aug 1942 WW2 Submarine Harder was launched at Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by Miss Helen M. Shaforth. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Copahee was reclassified an auxiliary aircraft carrier with hull number ACV-12. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 Mutsu sortied to hunt for USS Long Island which was delivering aircraft for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, but failed to make contact. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze completed a period of training in the Inland Sea in Japan. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 British ship City of Manila, damaged by German submarine U-406 on the previous day, sank 450 miles west of Portugal. A PBY Catalina aircraft of US Navy squadron VP-73 attacked German submarine U-464 with depth charges 250 miles west of the Faroe Islands between Britain and Iceland at 0530 hours, killing 2 men and damaging the submarine; U-464 was scuttled at 0815 hours after the 51 survivors abandoned ship; all survivors were captured by the British. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Tuscaloosa, USS Rodman, USS Emmons, and HMS Onslaught, carrying war goods for the Soviet Union, were spotted by German aircraft. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 770 Japanese troops under Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki reached within a few miles of Henderson Field at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands by 0430 hours. During the day, Henderson Field received 31 US Marine fighter aircraft (19 Wildcat fighters and 12 Dauntless dive bombers) from USS Long Island, allowing air supply and evacuation of wounded to begin between Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal; the small air fleet at Henderson Field was dubbed "Cactus Air Force". In the evening, Ichiki gave the order to move foward, running into the US Marines defensive perimeter at Tenaru River by surprise around midnight. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-464 was sunk by US Navy pilot Lieutenant (jg) Robert Hopgood in Skerjafjord near Reykjavik, Iceland; 53 German crew members survived. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 Saburo Kurusu arrived in Japan. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 Kichisaburo Nomura arrived in Japan. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 The German 6.Armee began to attack Stalingrad, Russia, crossing the Don River by inflatable boats. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom. 
0
20 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Gunnel was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander John S. McCain, Jr. in command. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 Kiyono Ichiki passed away. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Gar ended her third war patrol. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was awarded the German Cross in Gold. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-506 sank British ship City of Wellington 100 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa at 2243 hours; 7 were killed, 66 survived. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Tambor sank Japanese collier Shinsei Maru No. 6 off Ponape, Senyavin Islands, Caroline Islands. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 14 Zero fighters of Japanese 6th Air Group arrived at Lakunai airfield near Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese 41st Infantry Regiment landed at Buna, Australian Papua; to the southeast, Australian 18th Infantry Brigade landed on the coast of Milne Bay. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 The first major assault by Japanese troops on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands by Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki and his 770 men commenced at about 0000 hours with poor intelligence that led him to severely underestimate American strength. At 0130 hours, a wave of 100 Japanese troops rushed across the river, supported by machine guns and mortar fire, only to be mowed down at the line manned by 2,500 Marines. At 0230 hours, another wave of 150 to 200 Japanese rushed again, suffering similar fates. A third wave attacked at 0500 hours, again suffering near 100% casualty rate. At 0700 hours, US 1st Marine Regiment counterattacked supported by light tanks and aircraft, enveloping and destroying the remnants of 2nd Battalion of Japanese 28th Infantry Regiment. The Battle of the Tenaru (Ilu) River ended with the Japanese suffering 740 killed (including Ichiki) and 15 captured; the Americans suffered 44 killed. During the day, men of the 2nd Battalion of the US 5th Regiment arrived at Guadalcanal from Tulagi as reinforcements. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo began a period of training at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
21 Aug 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille departed Rome, Italy for Libya. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 The work week for foreign workers in Germany was increased to 54 hours. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Haddock sank Japanese transport ship Tatsuho Maru 25 miles north of Taiwan at 1310 hours; 36 were killed and the cargo of 10,000 gallons of aviation fuel was lost. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps established the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing at Ewa, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy. The official statement said: "In the face of acts of war against our sovereignty we recognise that a state of war exists between Brazil and the aggressor nations, Germany and Italy". 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 New Zealand troop transport HMNZS Awatea rammed US destroyer USS Buck in heavy fog 225 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; HMNZS Awatea suffered damage from depth charge detonations, USS Buck suffered damage and suffered 7 killed, and destroyer USS Ingraham collided with oiler USS Chemung during the rescue effort, causing more accidental depth charge detonations that would kill 218 and sink USS Ingraham (only 11 survived Ingraham's sinking). Elsewhere, German submarine U-507 sank Swedish merchant ship Hammaren 12 miles off the coast of Brazil at 0950 hours; 6 were killed, 25 survived. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 A Panama Canal Zone-based B-18 Bolo bomber of US 45th Bombardment Squadron sank German submarine U-654 with depth charges 185 miles north of the Panama Canal in the afternoon, killing all 44 aboard. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine M-3 became missing in the Black Sea near Odessa, Ukraine, presumably having struck a German naval mine and sank. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 US and Japanese supplying destroyers made contact in the Savo Sound off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; Japanese destroyer Kawakaze disabling destroyer USS Blue by torpedo at 0359 hours (killing 9; she would be scuttled on the following day). During the day, 5 P-400 aircraft of the USAAF 67th Fighter Squadron joined the Cactus Air Force at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-30 departed Lorient, France with 50 T-Enigma coding machines (which would enable communications between Japanese Navy and German Navy), blueprint of air-defense radar, 5 G7a torpedoes, and 3 G7e electric torpedoes, and other technologies on board. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 Italian torpedo boat Generale Antonio Cantore struck a mine and sank 5 miles west of Tobruk, Libya; the mine was laid by British submarine HMS Porpoise on 12 Aug 1942. 
0
22 Aug 1942 WW2 German 16th Panzer Division began to cross the Don River toward Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 In what amounted to little more than a publicity stunt, the German 1.Gebirgsjäger Division soldiers hoisted the Reichskriegsfahne flag on Mount Elbrus, which was the highest point in the Caucasus Mountains. 
1
23 Aug 1942 WW2 Dwight Eisenhower submitted an appraisal of the current situation to the Combined Chiefs stating that in his opinion an invasion of northwestern Africa would not be possible before 10 Nov 1942. A full month later than the date proposed by the Combined Chiefs. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Long Island arrived at Efate, New Hebrides. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack damaged a Japanese oiler in the Dutch East Indies, hitting her with one of four torpedoes fired. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine M-36 sank German tug Ankara 40 miles off the Danube Delta, Romania. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-506 sank British ship Hamla 150 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa at 2337 hours; all 40 aboard were killed. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 The remainder of Japanese 28th Infantry Regiment (1,411 troops) and several hundred Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops departed Truk, Caroline Islands aboard 3 transports for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; they were escorted by a powerful fleet of cruisers and destroyers up close and an even larger force, including fleet carriers and battleships, from a distance; at 0950 hours, the convoy was spotted by a US PBY Catalina aircraft north of Guadalcanal, but the resulting carrier strike launched at 1410 hours failed to locate the convoy. After dark, Japanese destroyer Kagero bombarded Henderson Field from nearby Savo Sound, causing little damage. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese and American aircraft engaged in combat over Darwin, Australia between 1200 and 1245 hours; 7 Japanese bombers, 8 Japanese Zero fighters were shot down by P-40 Warhawk fighters of US 49th Fighter Group. This was to be the last Japanese attempt to raid Darwin. 
-1
23 Aug 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
-1
23 Aug 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille returned to his unit at Sanyet El Qutaifiya, Egypt. 
1
23 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Finback arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 The attack on Stalingrad in southern Russia opened with massive air raid lasting 48 hours involving more than 4,000 sorties while German ground units continued to reach the Volga River north and south of the city. At Chebotarevskiy 115 miles to the northeast, 700 Italian horse-mounted cavalry troops overran a Soviet artillery position by surprise, capturing 500 troops, 4 guns, 10 mortars, and 50 machine guns. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Tuscaloosa, USS Rodman, USS Emmons, and HMS Onslaught arrived at Vaenga Bay near Murmansk, Russia; they disembarked personnel of two RAF Bomber Command squadrons, torpedoes, ammunition, and medical supplies. 
0
23 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet ice breaker Alexander Sibiryakov departed a port in northern Russia with 350 tons of supplies for the weather station in the Severnaya Zemlya islands on the eastern edge of the Kara Sea. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet Volkhov Front launched an offensive near Leningrad in northern Russia. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Major John L. Smith's VMF-223 Squadron based on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands accompanied by five USAAF P-39 fighters intercepted twenty-seven Japanese aircraft, shooting down ten bombers and fighters. Captain Marion E. Carl, who was to become the first USMC ace of the war, scored three of the kills. His Commanding Officer Major Smith would become the third Wildcat pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honour. Three Wildcat fighters were lost in the engagement. On the same day, 11 US Navy dive bombers arrived at Henderson Field as reinforcements. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 The US Army assumed command of the Amphibious Corps of the Atlantic Fleet, which was previously under the command of the US Marine Corps. The previous commanding officer, USMC Major General Holland Smith, was named the chief of the Amphibious Training Staff of the Fleet Marine Force and was relocated to Quantico, Virginia, United States. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 809 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops departed Rabaul, New Britain at 0700 hours aboard transports Nankai Maru and Kinai Maru, sailing for Milne Bay, Australian Papua. At about the same time, 450 Japanese Army troops departed Buna, Australian Papua aboard 7 barges, sailing for Goodenough Bay to support the Milne Bay invasion. The latter convoy was attacked by 12 Australian Kittyhawk fighters while stopped at Goodenough Island and all barges were destroyed. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Guardfish sank Japanese passenger-cargo ship Seikai Maru off Sendai, Japan. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-162 sank Dutch ship Moena 100 miles east of Barbados at 1113 hours; 4 were killed, 83 survived. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-601 sank Soviet ship Kujbyshev in the Kara Sea 55 miles west of Dikson Island in northern Russia at 1409 hours; at 1442 hours, U-601 struck again, sinking tug Medvezhonok; all aboard both ships were killed. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet torpedo boat Burya and minesweeper T-204 struck mines and sank in the Gulf of Finland while attempting to sweep a German minefield. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 Shokaku suffered light damage from bomb fragments during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 A Japanese force centered around carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku sailed down into the Solomon Islands with light carrier Ryujo near the spearhead as bait to draw out US carriers known to be in the general area. In the ensuing Battle of the Eastern Solomons, Ryujo was promptly discovered and fatally damaged by several 1,000-pound bombs, but this in turn allowed aircraft from Shokaku and Zuikaku to locate USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise. Enterprise would suffer heavy damage by three bomb hits (70 were killed, 70 were injured). Japanese warships attempted to engage the US fleet after dark, but the force failed to locate the American fleet, and discontinued the search at 2330 hours. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 Mutsu escorted carriers during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Hagikaze at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
24 Aug 1942 WW2 226 British bombers (104 Wellington, 61 Lancaster, 53 Stirling, and 8 Halifax) attacked Frankfurt, Germany; most bombs missed their targets and fell on the villages of Schwalbach and Eschborn; 16 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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24 Aug 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille met South African prisoner of war Corporal Mathew Letulu, whom the Germans called Mathias. Letulu would soon grow close to Marseille as his servant and friend. 
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24 Aug 1942 WW2 Marshal Georgy Zhukov was sent to Stalingrad, Russia to take over the defense. 
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24 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Tuscaloosa, USS Rodman, USS Emmons, and HMS Onslaught departed Murmansk, Russia. HMS Marne, HMS Martin, HMS Middleton, and HMS Blankney departed Arkhangelsk, Russia. Both groups of Allied warships were sailing for Iceland; some of them carried Soviet diplomats and survivors of various sunken or damaged merchant ships. At 2002 hours, German minelayer Ulm, which had departed Narvik, Norway at 0400 hours earlier on the same day, was attacked by HMS Onslaught, HMS Marne, and HMS Martin; Marne was hit twice in the engagement (4 were killed), but the British ships were able to sink Ulm at 2235 hours; 132 were killed, 54 survived (30 to 40 of whom were captured by the British). 
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24 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Cero was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
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24 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of destroyer Luce was laid down at Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, New York, United States. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 The Duke of Kent, younger brother of King George VI of the United Kingdom, was killed when the flying boat in which he was travelling crashed near Wick. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Santee was commissioned into service. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 US Navy SBD Dauntless dive bombers damaged light cruiser Jintsu and destroyer Uzuki off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese troops captured Ocean and Nauru Islands. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 German troops captured Mozdok, Russia, 50 miles west of Grozny. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarines attacked Allied convoy ONS-122 in the middle of the North Atlantic, with U-605 sinking British ship Katvaldis (3 were killed, 40 survived) and British ship Sheaf Mount (31 were killed, 20 survived) at 0145 hours, U-176 sinking British ship Empire Breeze at 0200 hours (1 was killed, 48 survived), and U-438 sinking Norwegian ship Trolla at 0205 hours; convoy escorts counterattacked with depth charges, lightly damaging 6 submarines and seriously damaging U-174 and U-256. After a 12-hour chase, U-604 sank Dutch merchant ship Abbekerk 15 miles to the southeast of ONS-122 at 0348 hours; 2 were killed, 62 survived. German submarine U-130 sank British ship Viking Star 160 miles south of Freetown, British West Africa at 1944 hours; 7 were killed, 54 survived. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarines U-164 and U-558 attacked Allied convoy WAT-15 between Jamaica and Haiti, sinking Dutch ship Stad Amsterdam (3 were killed, 35 survived) and British ship Amakura (13 were killed, 31 survived). 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Seawolf sank Japanese transport Showa Maru 50 miles east of Borneo, Dutch East Indies. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 British destroyers HMS Marne, HMS Martin, and HMS Onslaught sank German minelayer Ulm 250 miles north of Norway at 2200 hours; 80 were killed, 101 survived (61 of whom would be rescued by the British destroyers before German aircraft arrived to drive away the ships). 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Admiral Scheer spotted Soviet ice breaker Alexander Sibiyakov in the Kara Sea at 1100 hours. At 1500 hours, Admiral Scheer sank Alexander Sibiyakov, killing 80; the Soviet ship was able to send out a distress signal before her sinking. At 1545 hours, Admiral Scheer intercepted a radio message from the Soviet Western Sector Command Headquarters of Northern Sea Route Main Directorate, informing Soviet ships of her presence. Out of precaution, Admiral Scheer turned to the northwest, away from known Soviet bases. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Raizo Tanaka was wounded during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons while aboard light cruiser Jintsu. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 809 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops and 2 Type 95 Ha-Go tanks landed at Waga Waga, Australian Papua on Milne Bay at 2230 hours. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu covered the landing of 1,200 troops of the Kure No. 5 Special Naval Landing Force at Milne Bay, Australian Papua. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Before dawn, Japanese destroyers Kagero, Isokaze, Kawakaze, Mutsuki, and Yayoi bombarded Henderson Field, Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, causing little damage. At 0600 hours, six SBD dive bombers from Henderson Field attacked a Japanese convoy 64 miles northeast of Santa Isabel Island, sinking troop transport Kinryu Maru and damaging cruiser Jintsu (24 were killed). Four US Army B-17 bombers arrived shortly after, sinking Japanese destroyer Mutsuki (41 were killed, 11 were injured) as Mutsuki rescued survivors from the Kinryu Maru sinking. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-165 sank British ship Harmonides 250 miles south of Ceylon; 14 were killed. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Joseph Stalin declared Stalingrad, Russia to be in a state of siege, but ordered all heavy factories to remain in position to supply combat vehicles directly to front line units. Meanwhile, German 6th Army continued the attempt to break into the city from the north, but making little advance. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 Nine German-trained saboteurs arrived in Chechya to aid anti-Soviet rebel forces. 
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25 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Growler sank Japanese auxiliary gunboat Senyo Maru 20 miles southwest of Taiwan. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 Junichi Sasai passed away. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 Sawfish was commissioned into service. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 Oberstleutnant Benno Kosch stepped down as the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-162 sank Norwegian tanker Thelma 60 miles east of Barbados at 0423 hours; 2 were killed, 31 survived. German submarine U-130 sank British ship Beechwood 160 miles south of Freetown, British West Africa at 1124 hours; 1 was killed, 43 survived (the captain was taken prisoner). 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-375 damaged British ship Empire Kumari with a torpedo 14 miles west of Gaza, Palestine at 1840 hours; 3 were killed, 89 survived; Empire Kumari was towed to Haifa, Palestine. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Haddock sank Japanese freighter Teishun Maru 85 miles north of Taiwan at 0813 hours. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-31 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her fourth war patrol. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops that had landed at Waga Waga, Australian Papua late on the previous day began making contact with positions held by troops of Australian 25th Infantry Militia Battalion and 61st Infantry Militia Battalion. Behind them, Allied aircraft discovered the Waga Waga landing site and destroyed landing barges and other equipment. Japanese warships entered Milne Bay for support. Inland, 2,500 Japanese troops marched onto the Kokoda Track from Buna, along with a mountain gun and several mortars. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Ocean and Nauru Islands area. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 7,000 Jews were arrested in Vichy France. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 The official General Order No. 1 establishing Ramgarh Training Center in India was issued, although courses had already began on 3 Aug 1942. 
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26 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine K-2 became missing in the Barents Sea, probably lost to a German naval mine near Tanafjord, Norway. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa (now Maputo, Mozambique). The nearly 1,000 interned Allied personnel aboard were exchanged with the British for Japanese diplomats and supplies. She also took on 48,818 Red Cross parcels meant for Allied prisoners of war currently in Japanese custody. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 9 USAAF P-40 fighters arrived at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 Walter Krupinski received the German Cross in Gold medal. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 Oberstleutnant Ernst K¸hl was named the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 British ship Empire Kumari, damaged by German submarine U-375 on the previous day, sank in Haifa Bay, Palestine. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 sank British ship Clan MacWhirter 190 miles north of Madeira island at 0100 hours; 12 were killed, 74 survived. At 1348 hours, U-517 sank US passenger ship Chatham off Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada; 14 were killed, 548 survived. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-511 attacked Allied convoy TAW-15 with two torpedoes 15 miles east of Haiti at 0629 hours, sinking British tanker San Fabian (26 were killed, 33 survived), sinking Dutch tanker Rotterdam (10 were killed, 37 survived), and damaging US tanker Esso Aruba; Esso Aruba was beached at Guantanamo Bay to prevent sinking but she would later be repaired. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 HMS Umbra sank Italian transport Manfredo Campiero 30 miles west of Crete, Greece. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 8 Japanese dive bombers escorted by 12 Zero fighters attacked the Gili Gili airfield at Milne Bay, escorted by 12 Zero fighters, causing minimal damage; 1 Japanese aircraft was shot down by Australian Kittyhawk fighters. At 2000 hours, Japanese attacked Australian troops at Gama River on the Milne Bay coast, killing 43 and driving the Australians back. In land, along the Kokoda Track, Japanese troops made advances at Isurava and Australian 2/16th Battalion was dispatched from reserve to reinforce the defenses. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 A tractor factory in France, previously owned by French Jew Robert Rothschild, was turned over to German firm Friedrich Krupp AG. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 306 British bombers attacked Kassel, Germany, destroying 144 buildings, damaging 3 Henschel aircraft factories, killing 28 military personnel and 15 civilians, and wounding 64 military personnel and 187 civilians; 31 bombers were lost on this mission. On the same day, SOviet bombers attacked Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia). 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps squadron VMF-214 took delivery of 12 F4F-3 Wildcat fighters while at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa in the US Territory of Hawaii. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 9 British Lancaster bombers attacked Graf Zeppelin at Gotenhafen, Germany (now Gdynia, Poland) with 5,550-pound bombs, causing no damage. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 In addition to being responsible for the defense of Stalingrad in southern Russia, Georgy Zhukov was appointed as Stalin's First Deputy Commissar for Defense. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 German 16th Panzer Division, out of fuel to move further, dug in north of Stalingrad, Russia to wait for the German 6th Army to catch up to reinforce its position. 16 miles south of Stalingrad, German 4th Panzer Division made slow progress due to heavy resistance near Lake Sarpa. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 As Soviet Volkhov Front attacked toward Leningrad Russia, Soviet 8th Army attacked outwards from within the city, briefly opening a small corridor. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 Admiral Scheer approached Port Dikson in northern Russia at 0105 hours, intending to attack the command center of the Soviet Northern Sea Route with a 180-man landing party, not knowing the port was well-defended with 50 NKVD troops, 300 militia, 2 anti-tank guns, 1 anti-aircraft gun, 1 750mm howitzer, and large caliber coastal guns. As Admiral Scheer approached to bombard, Soviet flagship Dezhnev was disabled at 0145 hours (7 were killed), followed by Soviet ship Revolutionary. To Admiral Scheer's surprise, 152mm coastal guns opened fire; although the Soviet coastal gun crews could not see through the thick smoke from Dezhnev and Revolutionary and could only fire in Admiral Scheer's general direction, it was enough to force Admiral Scheer to break off the attack. At the end of the engagement, Port Dikson saw its radio station, oil depot, coal storage, and power station damaged or destroyed. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 At Morozovskaya Airfield in southern Russia, Oberstleutnant Ernst Kühl took command of German Luftwaffe group KG 55, replacing Oberst Benno Kosch. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Leeds, England, United Kingdom in the late hours of the day, lasting until the next day. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of carrier Glory was laid down by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 Battleship Iowa was launched in Brooklyn, New York, United States, sponsored by Ilo Wallace, wife of Vice President Henry Wallace. 
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27 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Dorado was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-94 attacked Allied convoy TAW-15 off Haiti. American PBY Catalina aircraft, Canadian corvette HMCS Halifax, Canadian corvette HMCS Snowberry, and Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville counterattacked, forcing the submarine to the surface. HMCS Oakville then rammed U-94 twice, leaving it dead in the water. A Canadian boarding party captured the submarine, killing two in the process. It was soon realized that the Germans had already scuttled the ship, and the boarding party successful returned to HMCS Oakville. U-94 sank with 19 of her crew; 26 survived. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the US 7th Marine Regiment departed from Pago Pago, Tutuila, Samoa aboard transports President Adams and President Hayes. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarines U-165 and U-517 attacked Allied convoy SG-6 in the Strait of Belle Isle just outside of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada at 1432 hours, with U-165 damaging US ship Arlyn and US fleet oiler Laramie (4 were killed, 103 survived), and U-517 finishing Arlyn off (12 were killed, 37 survived. At 1908 hours, U-566 attacked Allied convoy SL-119 with three torpedoes 390 miles west of Porto, Portugal, damaging Dutch ship Zuiderkerk (all 68 aboard survived; ship later scuttled by British sloop HMS Erne) and damaging British ship City of Cardiff (21 were killed, 63 survived). 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 US destroyer USS Gamble attacked Japanese submarine I-123 60 miles east of Savo Island, Solomon Islands at 0800 and attacked with depth charges, sinking I-123 at 1147 hours; all aboard were killed. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 Admiral Scheer made rendezvous with German destroyers near Bear Island, Norway. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain, departing for Milne Bay, Australian Papua later in the day. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 At dawn, Japanese troops attacked across the unfinished Turnbull airstrip near the coast of Milne Bay, Australian Papua, exposed to strafing by Australian Kittyhawk fighters and small arms fire, suffering heavy casualties that led to the attack being called off. Deeper in land, Japanese 144th Regiment surprised Australian 39th Battalion at Isurava, forcing the Australian troops back one mile to regroup. To the north, 769 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops departed Rabaul, New Britain to reinforce the operations on Milne Bay. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 General Harukichi Hyakutake attempted to reinforce Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands with 3,500 men, but the convoy was detected, attacked by Henderson Field-based US aircraft at 1805 hours, and turned back. Japanese destroyer Asagiri was sunk (122 were killed, 270 survived), and destroyers Shirakumo (2 were wounded) and Yugiri (32 were killed) were damaged; US Marine Corps lost only one aircraft in the engagement. As another Japanese fleet successfully landed troops at Taivu Point at night, it would convince the Japanese to shift strategy to reinforce only at night; these night time supply runs would later be nicknamed "Tokyo Express" by the Americans. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 Near Truk, Caroline Islands, Yamato was attacked by USS Flying Fish. Flying Fish's Lieutenant Commander Glynn Donaho mis-identified Yamato as a Kongo-class battleship as US Navy was unaware of the existence of Yamato-class at the time. Two of the four Mark 14 steam torpedoes missed, while the other two detonated prematurely. The latter two detonations led to Donaho's conclusion that he scored two hits. Yamato launched at least one E13A1 floatplane to join the depth charge attack already started by Yamato's four escorts, which failed to destroy USS Flying Fish. Later in the day, Yamato arrived at Truk; she would remain the headquarters and flagship of the Combined Fleet. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing seaplane tender Chitose and light cruiser Jintsu at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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28 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish detected Japanese battleship Yamato on the horizon in the Caroline Islands and attacked in failure; she fired 4 torpedoes and recorded 2 hits, but Japanese records revealed that all torpedoes missed. She also fired 3 torpedoes at a destroyer, all of which missed. She endured three rounds of counterattacks for the remainder of the day. 
0
28 Aug 1942 WW2 159 British RAF bombers attacked Nürnberg, Germany; another group of 113 bombers attacked Saarbrücken, Germany. 
0
28 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Kure, Japan for her 5th voyage with the Japanese Navy. 
0
28 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet 8th Army pushed forward another mile against lines held by troops of German 223rd Infantry Division near Leningrad, Russia; behind the German lines, German 18th Army moved into position to launch a counterattack. 
0
28 Aug 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Bristol, England, United Kingdom; 2 buses were hit by bombs in the center of the city, killing 44. Elsewhere, St Ives in England and Cardiff in Wales were also attacked. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 The Red Cross announced that the Japanese refused to allow safe passage for ships bearing supplies for Allied prisoners of war. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Hornet arrived in the South Pacific, replacing damaged USS Enterprise. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 Saufley was commissioned into service. 
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29 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank US ship Topa Topa 660 miles west of Trinidad at 0237 hours; 25 were killed, 35 survived. British ship City of Cardiff, damaged by German submarine U-566 on 28 Aug 1942, sank from her damage 390 miles west of Porto, Portugal. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine RO-33 damaged Australian troopship Marita in the Gulf of Papua south of Australian Papua at 1200 hours; Australian destroyer HMAS Arunta counterattacked and sank RO-33, killing all 42 aboard. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 8 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked the Vunakanau airfield near Rabaul, New Britain. Later on the same day, troops of the Japanese 81st Naval Garrison executed six Australians at Rabaul. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 During the day, Japanese 144th Regiment attacked Australian troops at Isurava along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua. To the east, 769 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops landed at Waga Waga on the coast of Milne Bay; the Japanese cruiser and nine destroyers that covered the landing bombarded the Australian airfield at Gili Gili before returning to Rabaul, New Britain, causing little damage. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 Australian Private Bruce Kingsbury armed with a Bren-Gun and grenades, seeing Japanese troops were preparing a fresh attack on the Kokoda Trail in Australian Papua, charged through intensive machine-gun fire to eliminate the enemy's positions, but was then killed by a hidden Japanese sniper as the rest of his patrol (having gained 100 yards of track) were setting up a holding position. For his heroism Private Kingsbury would be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. 
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29 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Milne Bay, Australian Papua. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish successfully escaped Japanese destroyers that had detected her presence on the previous day in Caroline Islands area. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 British destroyers HMS Eridge and HMS Aldenham attacked the Axis airfield at El Daba, Egypt. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 An Italian torpedo boat badly damaged British destroyer HMS Eridge 2 miles off the Egyptian coast, kiling 5. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 In Germany, 100 Soviet Pe-8, Il-4, and Yer-2 bombers attacked Berlin while 7 Pe-8 bombers attacked Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 German 4th Panzer Army broke through Soviet lines 15 miles south of Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet 4th Guards Rifle Corps joined the Soviet 8th Army in the offensive near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 Before dawn, German bombers attacked the village of Blackhall Colliery in County Durham, England, United Kingdom. On the same day, Swindon and Brighton were also attacked. 
0
29 Aug 1942 WW2 HMS Howe was commissioned into service. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 US troops landed on Adak Island, Alaska. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Luxembourg was formally annexed into German borders, leading to a general strike. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Most of the Soviet 62nd and 64th Armies broke out of their encirclement by the German 48.Panzer Korps and escaped across the Chervlennaya River in the Caucasus region of southern Soviet Union. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Douglas MacArthur sent a radio message to Washington DC, United States, urging a response to counter the Japanese attacks on the Allied New Guinea Force. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 USS S-1's batteries began to produce poisonous chlorine gas, but it was detected and quickly eliminated before causing casualties. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell met with Archibald Wavell in Delhi, India, then had dinner with Lord Linlithgow. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-564 sank Norwegian tanker Vardaas 10 miles north of Tobago island at 0612 hours; all 41 aboard survived. 50 miles to the northeast, U-162 sank US ship Star of Oregon at 0828 hours; 1 was killed, 52 survived. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-66 sank Panamanian ship Sir Huon 375 miles east of Trinidad at 0926 hours; all 46 aboard survived. At 1930 hours, U-66 struck again, sinking US ship West Lashaway; all 56 aboard survived but some would die before being rescued. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese 144th Regiment attacked Australians at Isurava along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua; after holding the position for the past few days and sustaining 99 killed and 111 wounded, the Australians finally gave up Isurava and fell back toward Eora; the Japanese suffered 140 killed and 231 wounded during the Isurava engagement. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft attacked and sank destroyer transport USS Colhoun in the Savo Sea north of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands at 1400 hours; 51 were killed, 95 survived. Meanwhile, the rear echelon of US Marine Aircraft Group 23 arrived at Henderson Field. Overnight, Japanese destroyer transports landed 1,000 troops on Guadalcanal. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Axis forces launched a new offensive toward El Alamein, Egypt, immediately meeting resistance from the air by the Desert Air Force. On the other side of the lines, British leaders already knew of the general German direction, learned from successful "Ultra" cryptanalysis. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Rorqual deployed 50 mines off Corfu, Greece; later in the day, she damaged Italian ship Monstella, forcing her to beach to prevent sinking. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Permit arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her sixth war patrol. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Over 20,000 British and Australian prisoners of war at the Selarang prisoner of war camp in Singapore refused to sign a pledge promising they would not attempt to escape. The Japanese rounded up these uncooperative prisoners of war, placed them in the central plaza, and denied them food, water, and medical treatment. Four prisoners who had previously attempted to escape were executed in front of the group to set an example. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Admiral Scheer arrived at Schemenfjord near Narvik, Norway. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 Soviet ship Revolutionary, damaged by Admiral Scheer at Dikson, Russia three days prior, was repaired and put back into service. 
0
30 Aug 1942 WW2 HMS Howe was assigned to the British Navy Home Fleet. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Georg von Bismarck was killed by mortar fire during the Battle of Alam el Halfa. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-26 damaged USS Saratoga by torpedo 240 miles east of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, leaving her dead in the water. There were no casualties from this attack. She would be out of action for next three months for repairs. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Before dawn, the newly arrived 1,000 fresh troops (delivered by 8 destroyers before the previous midnight) began organizing an attack toward Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. During the day, the USMC 1st Raider Battalion and the USMC 1st Parachute Battalion arrived at Guadalcanal from Tulagi as reinforcements. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Ocean and Nauru Islands area. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered Wilhelm List to launch a major offensive to gain the Caucasus region in southern Russia. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Kasuga Maru was renamed Taiyo. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-516 sank US tanker Jack Carnes 200 miles north of the Azores islands at 0154 hours; all 56 aboard survived but 28 of them would become missing. At 1004 hours, U-609 attacked Allied convoy SC-97 300 miles southeast of Greenland and sank Panamanian ship Capira (5 were killed, 33 survived) and Norwegian ship Bronxville (all 39 aboard survived). At 1417 hours, U-66 sank British tanker Winamac 390 miles east of Trinidad; 30 were killed, 21 survived. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Two US PBY Catalina floatplanes damaged Japanese submarine RO-61 with depth charges off Adak, Aleutian Islands, US Territory of Alaska. Destroyer USS Reid followed up and attacked with more depth charges, forced RO-61 to surface, and sank her with gunfire; 60 were killed, 5 survived. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Hurricane fighters during the morning sortie over El Alamein, Egypt at 1003 and 1004 hours. In the afternoon sortie, he shot down a Spitfire fighter over Alam Halfa, Libya at 1825 hours. His score by the end of the day stood at 104. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 During the day, Australian troops attacked from the unfinished Turnbull airstrip near the coast of Milne Bay, Australian Papua, pushing the Japanese back to the KB Mission; at dusk, the Australians captured KB Mission with a bayonet charge, killing 60 Japanese; overnight, a Japanese raid killed 90 Australians. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 US Army Air Force A-20 Havoc bombers participated on their first offensive operation, attacking Japanese positions north of Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 German and British tanks engaged in combat near Alam el Halfa, Egypt, reaching no conclusion by nightfall as the British refused to fight in open terrain as the Germans wanted. German tanks broke off the attack at sundown after losing 22 tanks; the British lost 21 tanks in the day's battle. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Repairs to I-168 was finished and she departed Sasebo, Japan. Lieutenant Commander Katsuji Watanabe became the commanding officer of the submarine. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 Tanks of the German 4th Panzer Army reached the Stalingrad-Morozovsk railway on the outskirts of Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
31 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Growler sank Japanese ship Eifuku Maru 35 miles north of Taiwan. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Tunny was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander Elton Watters Grenfell in command. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 USAAF B-17 bombers damaged Japanese flying boat support ship Akitsushima. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Having taken over responsibility for building the Wildcat fighter from Grumman's Bethpage factory (which was now going over to building the F6F-3 Hellcat for the US Navy), the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors completed and flew its first FM-1 Wildcat fighter. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-759 was spotted near Allied Convoy SC-97 500 miles east of the southern tip of Greeland in the North Atlantic; U-759 avoided the ramming attempt by Canadian corvette HMCS Morden but would succumb to depth charging by Morden; all 43 aboard were killed in U-759's sinking. 50 miles to the east, U-91 was damaged by a Catalina PBY aircraft of US Navy VP-73 squadron. 15 miles east of Cape Coast, Gold Coast, British West Africa, U-125 sank British ship Ilorin at 2206 hours; 33 were killed, 4 survived. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Me 410 fighter took flight for the first time. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Captured coast watchers Alan Kyle and Gregory Benham were executed by the Japanese on Mago Island near New Ireland. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 130 troops of the Japanese 5th Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Forces departed Rabaul, New Britain for Milne Bay, Australian Papua. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian troops attacked from the KB Mission on the coast of Milne Bay in Australian Papua, pushing Japanese troops back toward Waga Waga. Further inland, Japanese 41st Regiment clashed with Australian 2/14th and 2/16th Battalions at Eora along the Kokoda Track, penetrating the Australian lines after sundown. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 US 6th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands aboard USS Betelgeuse; the unit was tasked to improve and expand Henderson Field. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 US B-17 bombers damaged Japanese flying boat support ship Akitsushima and destroyer Akikaze off Buka Island in the Solomon Islands. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Yugiri at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Before dawn, British Wellington bombers attacked German supply lines between Benghazi and Tobruk, Libya. The negative impact of such attacks was felt during the day, as only some of the Axis tanks was able to attack Allied lines at Alam el Halfa, Egypt due to inadequate fuel. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 231 British bombers launched to attack Saarbrücken, Germany but instead hit Saarlouis 13 miles to the northwest by mistake, killing 52 civilians; 4 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Shokaku was assigned to Support Force, Striking Force Main Body (3rd Fleet, Carier Division 1). 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille flew three sorties and shot down a total of 17 enemy aircraft (two Hurricane and two Spitfire fighters between 0826 and 0839 hours while escorting Stuka dive bombers to El Taqua in Libya, seven P-40 fighters between 1055 and 1103 hours near Alam Halfa, and five Hurricane fighters between 1747 and 1753 hours while escorting bombers toward El Imayid). His score at the end of the day stood at 121. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 German 1.Panzerarmee established a bridgehead across the Terek River near Mozdok in southern Russia. Soviet troops launched the Mozdok-Malgobek Defensive Operation in response. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 German aircraft sank Soviet torpedo boat Purga on Lake Ladoga near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet General Andrey Yeremenko pulled Soviet 62nd Army and 64th Army back near Stalingrad, Russia to avoid encirclement. 
0
01 Sep 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Lydd in southeastern England, United Kingdom. After sundown and lasting until the next date, Doncaster was attacked. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru departed Lorenco Marques, Portuguese East Africa. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 G1 and T1 Patrols of the British Long Range Desert Group departed from Faiyum, Egypt for a raiding mission against the Italian base at Barce, Libya. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 The first Hawker Tempest Mk V (HM595) aircraft flew for the first time. One of the fastest fighters of the war, the Tempest entered service in Apr 1944. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 A British Sunderland aircraft attacked Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani on the surface in the Bay of Biscay west of France at 1244 hours, damaging the submarine; 2 were killed. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 On the coast of Milne Bay in Australian Papua, Australian troops halted their attack on the Japanese beachhead near Waga Waga. Further inland, Australians 2/14th and 2/16th Battalions fell back from Eora along the Kokoda Track. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 US B-17 bombers damaged Japanese minelayer Tsugaru in the northern Solomon Islands; 14 were killed. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish attacked a Japanese ship off Truk, Caroline Islands; both torpedoes fired hit the target, but none detonated. She was damaged during the counterattack. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 German training submarine U-222 sank in Danzig Bay north of Danzig, Germany after colliding with training submarine U-626; 42 were killed, 3 survived. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Armored cars of 4/8th Hussars of British 4th Armoured Brigade penetrated Axis lines near Alam el Halfa, Egypt, destroying 57 German supply trucks near Himeimat. Erwin Rommel decided that he would withdraw since he could not gain initiative in battle. 
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02 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down a Hurricane fighter (Pilot Officer G. R. Dibbs) and two P-40 fighters (US 1st Lieutenant M. McMarrel serving in South African Air Force and British Lieutenant Stuart) in his morning sortie between 0916 and 0924 hours over El Alamein, Egypt. In the afternoon sortie, he shot down two more P-40 fighters (Lieutenant E. H. D. Carman and Lieutenant J. Lindbergh) over El Imayid, Egypt. At the end of the day his score stood at 126. Also on this date, his superiors nominated him for Diamonds to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 200 British bombers attacked Karlsruhe, Germany, destroying many buildings and killing 73 civilians; 8 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-29 sank British ship Gazcon in the mouth of the Gulf of Aden; killing 12. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Guardfish sank Japanese freighter Teikyu Maru 13 miles off of Hokkaido, Japan at 0844 hours. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Saipan, Mariana Islands to escort carrier Unyo to Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 German 46th Infantry Division crossed Strait of Kerch and landed on the Taman Peninsula in southern Russia via 24 landing barges and other small boats. Meanwhile, German 17th Army moved toward Novorossiysk. As the Soviets evacuated from nearby ports, Italian and German surface vessels intercepted some of the convoys, sinking Soviet gunboats Oktybar and Rostov-Don. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Flagship of Soviet Northern Sea Route Dezhnev, disabled by Admiral Scheer at Dikson, Russia six days prior, was repaired and put back into service. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Teignmouth, England, United Kingdom. In London, England, the British War Cabinet received the Home Security Situation Report for the week, which noted that in the week ending at 0600 hours on 2 Sep 1942, 92 British civilians were killed by German bombing while a further 91 were seriously wounded. 
0
02 Sep 1942 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-18 departed Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom; it was supported by two tankers and one rescue ship and was escorted by two anti-aircraft vessels, three destroyers, four corvettes, and four trawlers. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 Armed resistance was met during the German liquidation of Lahava ghetto, western Byelorussia. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 An attempt by Soviet forces in Leningrad, Russia to break out of the encirclement to meet relief forces failed. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 British destroyers HMS Vimy, HMS Pathfinder, and HMS Quentin sank German submarine U-162 northeast of Trinidad with depth charges, killing 2 in the process. 49 survivors were captured and sent to the United States as prisoners of war. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Brigadier General Roy Geiger arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands along with the command echelon of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 After a 30-hour pursuit, German submarine U-109 sank British ship Ocean Might 200 miles south of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, French West Africa at 0050 hours; 4 were killed, 50 survived. At 0557 hours, U-107 attacked a group of British ships 5 miles off the coast of Portugal, sinking Penrose (2 were killed, 42 survived) and Hollinside (3 were killed, 48 survived). German submarine U-517 sank Canadian ship Donald Stewart in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada at 0756 hours; 3 were killed, 17 survived. German submarine U-162 attacked British destroyers HMS Vimy, HMS Pathfinder, and HMS Quentin without success 60 miles southeast of Barbados at 1805 hours; the British destroyers counterattacked with depth charges and ramming (by HMS Vimy); 2 of the 51 aboard were killed in U-162's sinking and the remainder were captured. Also on this day, British Whitley aircraft attacked U-660 and U-705 in the Bay of Biscay 400 west of Saint-Nazaire, France; U-705 was sunk with all 45 aboard killed. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 US Coast Guard troop transport Wakefield suffered an accidental fire 350 miles east of Boston, Massachusetts, United States at 1830 hours; as she was abandoned, cruiser USS Brooklyn, destroyer USS Mayo, and destroyer USS Madison took off all 1,590 aboard. Wakefield would later be towed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to be rebuilt. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 The US 5th Air Force was activated at Brisbane, Australia. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian 2/9th Battalion attacked Japanese positions on the Milne Bay coast in Australian Papua while Australian 2/14th and 2/16th Battalions fell back to Myola Ridge on the Kokoda Trail. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish sank a Japanese patrol craft off Truk, Caroline Islands, hitting her with 1 of 2 torpedoes fired. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 Allied forces counterattacked in Egypt partially successfully, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Bernard Montgomery decided to call off the counterattack at 2230 hours, thus allowing Axis forces to withdraw. During the night, a group of British Valentine tanks became lost in a minefield; 12 of them were destroyed by mines while trying to get out. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down three fighters (British Sergeant M. Powers, Flight Lieutenant Canham, and Pilot Officer Bicksler) in his morning sortie between 0720 and 0728 hours over Egypt. In the afternoon sortie, he shot down two P-40 fighters (British Warrant Officer Stan Bernier and South African Lieutenant Ryneke) and a Spitfire fighter between 1508 and 1542 hours. At the end of the day, his score stood at 132. In Germany, Adolf Hitler reviewed and approved the nomination for Marseille to receive Diamonds to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross medal; Hitler decided to personally award Marseille with this decoration before the end of the year. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-375 attacked a Palestinian convoy 5 miles north of Tartus, Syria-Lebanon at 1342 hours, sinking all three boats, sinking sailing vessel Miriam, sailing vessel Salina, an unidentified sailing vessel, and merchant ship Arnon. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 Roscoe Hillenkoetter was made the first permanent chief of the Intelligence Center of the Pacific Ocean Areas in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, replacing temporary chief Joseph Rochefort. The ICPOA was a part of the US Navy Pacific Fleet. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. 
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03 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo arrived at her patrol area west of Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
03 Sep 1942 WW2 The German 6.Armee and 4.Panzerarmee finally linked up near Stalingrad in southern Russia, but were rebuffed in their attempts to enter the city. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-171 sank empty Mexican tanker Amatlan 15 miles off of the coast of Northern Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico at 0430 hours; 10 were killed, 24 survived; 10 torpedoes were expended on this attack. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Pompano sank Japanese guardship No. 27 Nanshin Maru off Japan. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Growler sank Japanese ammunition ship Kashino off Taiwan. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her fourth war patrol. 
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04 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese defenses halted Australian 2/9th Battalion's attack at Goroni on the coast of Milne Bay, Australian Papua. Further inland, Japanese troops penetrated the lines set up by Australian 2/16th and 2/14th Battalions at Myola Ridge on the Kokoda Track. After dark, Japanese ships evacuated the surviving men of the failed 8 Aug 1942 amphibious attack at Milne Bay. 
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04 Sep 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps 1st Raider Battalion conducted a reconnaissance mission on Savo Island near Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, reporting it to be free of Japanese troops. Meanwhile, Japanese barges attempting to bring artillery and heavy equipment to Guadalcanal were sunk off Santa Isabel Island by US aircraft based in Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. After dark, Japanese destroyers Yudachi, Hatsuyuki, and Murakumo delivered 1,000 Japanese troops at Taivu, Guadalcanal. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for seaplane tender Chitose at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish attacked a Japanese patrol craft off Truk, Caroline Islands with a torpedo, which missed; she sustained a depth charge attack. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 New Zealand 5th Brigade and British 132nd Brigade harrassed retreating German troops in Egypt. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 251 British bombers (98 Wellington, 76 Lancaster, 41 Halifax, and 36 Stirling) attacked Bremen, Germany, damaging or destroying 71 industrial buildings and 1,821 houses; 12 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
04 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Guardfish attacked a Japanese convoy off Kuji, Japan, sinking freighter Kaimei Maru and passenger-cargo ship Tenyu Maru. Guardfish continued to pursue the convoy, sinking freighter Chita Maru with a torpedo inside of Kuji harbor. 
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04 Sep 1942 WW2 After seeing several comrades die from dysentery without medical attention, the commanding officer of the protesting prisoners of war at Selarang prisoner of war camp in Singapore gave the order to abandon the protest against the Japanese demand that they pledge to not make any attempts to escape their imprisonment. 
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05 Sep 1942 WW2 Captain J. A. L. Timpson, commander of the G1 Patrol of the British Long Range Desert Group, was injured in an accident en route to raid Barce, Libya; Sergeant Jack Dennis would assume of the role of acting commanding officer for the duration of the raid as Timpson was evacuated for treatment. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Admiral Chester Nimitz requested the Marine Aircraft Wings, Pacific to be relocated from San Diego, California, United States to Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 US 8th Air Force bombers attacked the Rouen marshalling yards in France, but bombs dropped wide by the inexperienced American crews caused the deaths of 140 French civilians. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-506 sank British merchant ship Myrmidon 200 miles south of Cape Palmas, Liberia at 0233 hours; all 245 aboard survived. German submarine U-513 sank British ship Saganaga (30 were killed, 14 survived) and Canadian ship Lord Strathcona (all 44 aboard survived) at Wabana, Bell Island, Newfoundland at 1615 hours. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Traveller sank Italian freighter Albachiara 25 miles off Derna, Libya. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian 2/16th and 2/14th Battalions fell back to Efogi along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua on the southern side of the Owen Stanley Gap. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu embarked surviving Special Naval Landing Force troops at Milne Bay, Australian Papua. 
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05 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese destroyers Yudachi, Hatsuyuki, and Murakumo, having just disembarked 1,000 troops at Taivu, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands before midnight on the previous day, shelled Henderson Field. As a US Navy PBY Catalina aircraft dropped flares to illuminate the battlefield, Yudachi took advantage of the lighting, spotted destroyer-transports USS Gregory and USS Little in Save Sound, and prompty sank both of them with gunfire off Lunga Point; 22 were killed aboard USS Gregory, 62 were killed aboard USS Little. Afer dawn, US aircraft based in Henderson Field sank Japanese barges attempting to bring heavy equipment onto Guadalcanal. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Axis troops returned to the positions west of El Alamein, Egypt from which they began the failed offensive on 30 Aug. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 15 commandos of "N" (swimmer) battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment destroyed a section of rail behind British lines at El Alamein, Egypt; all commandos would be captured after the mission. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Seal damaged Japanese passenger-cargo ship Kanju Maru 20 miles off the coast of French Indochina in the South China Sea. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Hurricane fighters and two Spitfire fighters between Ruweisat and El Taqua in Libya. His score stood at 136 kills. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet 24th Army and 66th Army organized a counter attack against German XIV Panzer Corps at Stalingrad, Russia. Launched in the morning, it was called off around noon time; 30 of the 120 tanks committed to this attack were destroyed, nearly all of which to German Luftwaffe aircraft. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 The front lines of the Soviet Volkhov Front offensive reached within 3.5 miles from the Leningrad Front on the other side, nearly breaking the German siege on Leningrad, Russia, but the offensive would soon peter out. 
0
05 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Copahee departed Alameda, California, United States. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-164 sank Canadian ship John A. Holloway 150 miles northwest of Aruba at 2227 hours; 1 was killed, 23 survived. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-514 sank British sailing vessel Helen Forsey by gunfire 500 miles east of Bermuda at 1100 hours; 2 were killed, 4 survived. At 2323 hours, U-109 sank British passenger-cargo ship Tuscan Star 300 miles southwest of Cape Palmas, Liberia, 51 were killed, 63 survived but 1 of them would be taken prisoner. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 U-375 sank Egyptian sailing vessel Turkian with her deck gun 20 miles off of Khan Yunis, Palestine at 1008 hours, in range of British coastal guns (which failed to hit the submarine); all 19 aboard survived. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down five P-40 fighters and one Spitfire fighter over El Alamein, Egypt, bringing his score up to 142 kills. In the evening, he received personal congratulations on being awarded Diamonds to his Knight's Cross medal from Albert Kesselring, Erwin Rommel, Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Joseph Goebbels, and Erhard Milch, but his spirits remained low because he had lost fellow pilot Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt, whom he considered a close friend, in combat in the afternoon. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian troops attacked the Japanese beachhead at Waga Waga on the coast of Milne Bay, Australian Papua, which the Japanese had already been evacuating. Further inland, Australian 2/27th Battalion arrived at Efogi along the Kokoda Track to reinforce the two battered battalions that had fled to this position recently; meanwhile, US aircraft bombed Japanese positions near Efogi. After dark, Japanese cruiser Tatsuta bombarded Gili Gili on the coast of Milne Bay, sinking Australian merchant ship Anshun. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu embarked surviving Special Naval Landing Force troops at Milne Bay, Australian Papua. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 B-17E bombers of US Eighth Air Force attacked an aircraft factory near Méaulte, France, without fighter escort because the fighters had failed to make the rendezvous. The raid caused no damage on the French aircraft production ; two US bombers were shot down. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-261 departed Kiel, Germany. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell departed Delhi, India for Chongqing, China. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo attacked an unescorted Japanese freighter in the Pacific Ocean; all three torpedoes missed. The freighter turned around; fearing a ramming attempt, Wahoo dove and withdrew. 
0
06 Sep 1942 WW2 The German 4.Gebirgsjäger Division of 17.Armee captured the naval base at Novorossiysk on the Black Sea in southern Russia. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt asked the United States Congress for the power to control prices of various goods in the civilian market, adding that, if not given the authority by the lawmakers by 1 Oct 1942, he would do so anyway. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-517 attacked Allied convoy QS-33 at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, Canada at 2300 hours, sinking Greek ship Mount Pindus (2 were killed, 35 survived), Greek ship Mount Taygetus (2 were killed, 26 survived), and Canadian collier Oakton (3 were killed, 17 survived). 40 miles south of Iceland, U-617 sank Faroese trawler Tor II; 18 were killed, 3 survived. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 Troops of 3rd Battalion of Japanese 144th Regiment, supported by 6 mountain guns, attacked Australian positions at Efogi along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua, causing heavy casualties among the Australian 2/27th Battalion; after sundown, 2nd Battalion of the same regiment infiltrated into the jungle in an attempt to flank the Australians. Under the cover of darkness, a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer bombarded Australian positions at Gili Gili on the coast of Milne Bay. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell arrived in Chongqing, China; later on the same day he met with Song Meiling. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two P-40 fighters over El Alamein, Egypt. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe ace Hans-Arnold "Fifi" Stahlschmidt, a close friend of Hans-Joachim Marseille was reported as missing in action after being bounced by a formation of Spitfire fighters south-east of El Alamein, Egypt. At the time of his loss he had recorded 59 kills and earned the Knight's Cross. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 The German 6.Armee units began advancing through Stalingrad, Russia to the Volga shores. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 The Takao Prisoners of War Camp near Takao (now Kaohsiung), Taiwan was opened. 
0
07 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Growler sank Japanese freighter Kashino Taika Maru 25 miles northwest of Keelung, Taiwan. 
0
08 Sep 1942 WW2 A German aircraft detected Allied arctic convoy PQ-18 late in the day, but it would lose track of the convoy due to heavy fog. 
0
08 Sep 1942 WW2 Troops of the 2nd Battalion of Japanese 144th Regiment flanked Australian positions near Efogi on the Kokoda Track, Australian Papua, surrounding 3 battalions; after holding their positions through the day, the Australians escaped through the Japanese lines after sundown after suffering 87 killed and inflicting 60 killed on the Japanese side. 
0
08 Sep 1942 WW2 At Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, Japanese troops began marching toward the US positions at Lunga. 813 men of the US Marine Corps 1st Raider Battalion landed at Taivu, destroying or capturing food, ammunition, medical supplies, documents, and a radio to disrupt the Japanese advance. After dark, Japanese cruiser Sendai and eight destroyers bombarded the US naval base on nearby Tulagi Island. 
0
08 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Hagikaze at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
08 Sep 1942 WW2 249 British bombers attacked Frankfurt, Germany; most bombs missed and fell in Rüsselsheim 15 miles southwest of the city; 7 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Field Marshal Wilhelm List was sacked, and Adolf Hitler took over command of Armeegruppe A which had been meeting heavy resistance in the Caucasus in southern Russia. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Mutsu was assigned to the Guadalcanal Operation Force based at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Montpelier was commissioned into service. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 German intelligence reported in error that the Soviet Union had used up all reserves. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-584 made contact with Allied convoy ON-127 in the middle of the North Atlantic and relayed the finding to 11 fellow wolfpack mates. At 1516 hours, U-755 sank US Navy weather ship USS Muskeget 590 miles northeast of St. John's, Newfoundland; all 121 aboard were killed. At 1528 hours, U-66 sank Swedish ship Peiping 875 miles north of Antigua island; 3 were killed, 31 survived. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 British RAF torpedo bombers sank Italian hospital ship Arno 85 miles northeast of Tobruk, Libya. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 The escort force of Allied convoy PQ-18 was joined by Rear Admiral Robert Burnett's force including escort carrier HMS Avenger and several small warships. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian troops fell back 2 miles from Efogi to Menari on the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua while US aircraft from Port Moresby area airfields momentarily paused the Japnaese advance. At Port Moresby, Australian 25th Infantry Brigade arrived from Australia. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet aircraft destroyed two Italian torpedo boats in the Black Sea off Yalta, Ukraine. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 In the Caroline Islands, the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet transferred main units at Truk atoll to a new anchorage south of Summer (Dublon) Island. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Shirakumo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Two British, one Australian, and three Dutch prisoners of Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany made their escape, five disguised as Polish workers and the sixth as the German guard. Four of them would eventually be captured, but Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Hedley Fowler and Royal Dutch Navy Lieutenant Damiaem van Doorninck would make it to Switzerland. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 Burning of bodies in open-air pits began at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Additionally, a decision was made to dig up 107,000 already-buried bodies and burn them in pits; this decision was made to prevent the large number of bodies contaminating ground water. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 The Lookout Air Raid: After some time waiting submerged off Oregon, United States, Japanese submarine I-25 launched her E14Y aircraft, flown by Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and crewman Petty Officer Shoji Okuda, shortly after dawn. The aircraft was spotted by the Americans as it crossed the coast. It dropped two incendiary bombs in a forest near Brookings, Oregon at 0600 hours; this attack was the only aerial bombing against the United States during WW2. En route back to the submarine, the aircraft spotted two merchant ships. After recovering Fujita and Okuda, I-25 attempted to give chase to the two merchant ships, but US aircraft would force I-25 to abandon the attack and submerge. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Whale completed her training which took place between San Francisco and San Diego in California, United States. 
0
09 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Permit began a scheduled overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Cruiser Köln, with Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper, moved to the Alta Fjord to attack Allied Convoy PQ18, but the attack was aborted due to a British submarine attack. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Another attempt by the Soviet forces to break out of Leningrad, Russia failed. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-30 returned to Japan from Lorient, France. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Yekaterina Budanova was assigned to the Soviet 437th Fighter Regiment. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein shot down three Allied aircraft, increasing his total victories to 21. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 John Redman was made the US Navy Pacific Fleet's chief communications officer. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Michel sank US freighter American Leader 850 miles west of Capetown, South Africa before dawn; 11 were killed, 47 survived and were captured by Michel. German submarine U-96 attacked Allied convoy ON-127 765 miles west of Ireland at 1631 hours, sinking Belgian ship Elisabeth van Belgie (1 was killed, 55 survived), sinking Norwegian tanker Steve (all 39 aboard survived), and damaging British tanker F. J. Wolfe (all aboard survived). At 2110 hours, a wolfpack of 12 German submarines approached ON-127; U-659 disabled British tanker Empire Oil with 2 torpedoes (all 53 aboard survived). 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 British 29th and 22nd Infantry Brigades captured Majunga, Madagascar. Meanwhile, South African 7th Motor Brigade began advancing south from Diego-Suárez toward Tamatave. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Matome Ugaki arrived at Rabaul, New Britain to meet with officers of the Japanese Navy 8th Fleet, Japanese Navy 11st Air Fleet, and Japanese Army 17th Army. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese destroyers Isokaze and Yayoi departed Rabaul, New Britain for Goodenough Island, Australian Papua with intention of evacuating the 353 troops of the Japanese 5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force there. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-29 sank British cargo ship Haresfield at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, killing 12. 
0
10 Sep 1942 WW2 German 29th Motorized Infantry Division cut off Soviet 64th Army south of Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Rabaul, arriving at Kavieng later on the same day. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 During the day, USS Saratoga delivered aircraft to Henderson Field at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Japanese destroyers landed troops at Guadalcanal; in the past two weeks, 6,000 men were successfully delivered to the island. Meanwhile, Japanese aircraft attacked Henderson Field. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-514 sank Canadian ship Cornwallis off Bridgetown, Barbados at 2237 hours in shallow waters. She would later be raised, put back into service, and lost again to another German submarine. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 US B-17 and B-25 bombers sank Japanese destroyer Yayoi (68 were killed, 83 survived) and damaged destroyer Isokaze 8 miles northwest of Vakuta, Trobriand Islands 120 miles north of Milne Bay, Australian Papua, where they intended to reach to evacuate the 353 troops of the Japanese 5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force stranded on Goodenough Island. Isokaze would turn back to Rabaul, New Britain, abandoning the evacuation mission. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 The British and Japanese completed a diplomatic personnel exchange at Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa (now Maputo, Mozambique); Japanese passenger ship Kamakura Maru departed with 870 diplomats on board while British passenger ship El Nil departed with 400 diplomats on board. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine S-13 sank Finnish collier Hera in the southern end of the Gulf of Bothnia near the Åland Islands; S-13 would later fire upon and sink a lifeboat full of survivors. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 The US airfield at Adak Island, Aleutian Islands was completed. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-404 attacked Allied convoy ON-127 800 miles west of Ireland, damaging Norwegian tanker Marit II at 0016 hours; 2 were killed. At 0135 hours, U-218 also attacked the same convoy, damaging Norwegian tanker Fjordaas. At 0147 hours, U-584 sank British tanker Empire Oil 765 miles west of Ireland, which was a member of ON-127 that was already disabled by U-659 on the previous date and already abandoned. Elsewhere, U-96 sank Portuguese sailing vessel Delães at 1150 hours, U-517 sank corvette HMCS Charlottetown in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in northeastern Canada at 1300 hours (9 were killed, 55 survived), and U-584 sank Norwegian merchant ship Hindanger at 1925 hours (1 was killed, 40 survived). 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain in search of survivors of sunken destroyer Yayoi; she would fail to locate any. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Saury sank Japanese auxiliary aircraft transport Kanto Maru with 3 torpedoes in the Makassar Strait in the Dutch East Indies at 2100 hours, killing 39. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 479 British bombers (242 Wellington, 89 Lancaster, 59 Halifax, 47 Stirling, 28 Hampden, and 14 Whitley) attacked Düsseldorf and Neuss in Germany, damaging or destroying 52 industrial targets and 2,417 houses; 148 civilians were killed; 33 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 German armed merchant cruiser Michel attacked British merchant ship Empire Dawn in the Indian Ocean. Empire Dawn attempted to signal that the crew would abandon ship, but Michel continued to shell the British ship. 22 of Empire Dawn's crew were killed during the sinking; 22 survived and were captured by Michel. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two Hurricane fighters while escorting bombers to El Imayid, Libya between 0740 and 0742 hours, bringing his score up to 144 kills. 
0
11 Sep 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Vasiliy Chuikov took command of the newly formed Soviet 62nd Army located on the east bank of the Volga River at Stalingrad in southern Russia. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Kavieng. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 The 7th Marine Regiment and elements of the 5th Defense Battalion arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides from Samoa. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 German troops in the Caucasus region of southern Russia reported the first snow of the winter. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 Captain Matsuro Eguchi was named the commanding officer of repair ship Akashi. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 Major General Allan Adair assumed command of the British Guards Armoured Division, which he would command throughout the remainder of the war. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 German aircraft re-established contact with Allied convoy PQ-18 at 1320 hours. At 2100 hours, German submarine U-88 attacked PQ-18 400 miles north of Norway; U-18 was instead counterattacked and sunk by depth charges from British destroyer HMS Faulknor, killing all 46 aboard. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine S-13 sank Finnish ship Jussi in the southern end of the Gulf of Bothnia near the Åland Islands at 0348 hours; 6 survived. Also in the Gulf of Bothnia, Soviet submarine ShCh-309 sank Finnish ship Bonden. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Sahib sank Italian fishing boat Ina S. with gunfire 8 miles off Sardinia, Italy. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarines attacked Allied convoy ON-127 750 miles east of Newfoundland; U-211 damaged British whale factory ship Hektoria (1 was killed) and British ship Empire Moonbeam (3 were killed) at 0105 hours; U-608 sank Hektoria at 0351 hours and sank Empire Moonbeam at 0459 hours; U-404 damaged Norwegian tanker Daghild at 0617 hours; counterattacks by escorting vessels damaged U-218 and U-380, forcing them to return to France for repairs. In the South Atlantic, U-68 sank British merchant ship Trevilley 750 miles southwest of Gold Coast, British West Africa at 0332 hours; 2 were killed, 53 survived. U-515 sank Panamanian tanker Stanvac Melbourne (at 1000 hours; 1 was killed, 48 survived) and Dutch tanker Woensdrecht (at 1041 hours; 1 was killed, 73 survived) 40 miles east of Trinidad. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 At 2207 hours, U-156 sank British troopship Laconia 290 miles northeast of Ascension Island; U-156 surfaced and rescued 200 of the 2,741 aboard, most of whom were Italian prisoners of war, which was a surprise for U-156's commanding officer Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartenstein. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 Matome Ugaki observed activities of the personnel of the headquarters of the Japanese 11th Air Fleet at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 During the day, USS Wasp delivered aircraft to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. After dark, the three-day Battle of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal began as 6,200 Japanese troops attacked positions held by 12,500 Americans; faulty Japanese intelligence reported that the American strength was only about 2,000. The Japanese attack was supported in the air by aircraft and from the sea by cruiser Sentai and three destroyers. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise departed Tongatapu, Tonga for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
12 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet 62nd Army at Stalingrad, Russia had been reduced to 90 tanks, 700 mortars and 20,000 men. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 Allied troops conducted an amphibious landing near Tobruk, Libya for a raiding mission. Meanwhile, about 50 kilometers to the northeast, raiders of the British Long Range Desert Group began to launch the raid against Barce, Libya. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 At a meeting of the S-1 Section Executive Committee of the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), a decision was reached to build a laboratory to study fast neutrons. This study was to be codenamed Project Y. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-515 sank British ship Ocean Vanguard at 0227 hours (11 were killed, 40 survived) and Panamanian ship Nimba at 0634 hours (20 were killed, 12 survived) 45 miles east of Trinidad. At 0622 hours, U-558 fired 3 torpedoes at Allied convoy TAG-5, sinking Dutch ship Suriname (13 were killed, 69 survived) and British ship Empire Lugard (all 47 aboard survived) 100 miles west of Grenada. 
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13 Sep 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-14 departed Arkhangelsk, Russia with 15 merchant ships and two rescue ships under the civilian commodore J. C. K. Dowding; it was escorted by two anti-aircraft vessels, two destroyers, four corvettes, three minesweepers, and three trawlers under British Royal Navy Captain J. F. Crombie. Elsewhere, Allied convoy PQ-18 sailed in the opposite direction; PQ-18 would be subjected to repeated attacks all day. The first casualty occurred at 0855 hours when U-408 and U-589 sank Soviet freighter Stalingrad (hit by three torpedoes; 21 were killed) and US tanker Oliver Ellsworth 150 miles northwest of Bear Island (Bjørnøya), Norway; these two ships were on the outside starboard column of PQ-18. At 1500 hours, 6 Ju 88 aircraft attacked without success. At 1530 hours, 30 Ju 88 dive bombers of German Luftwaffe unit III./KG 26 and 55 He 111 bombers of I./KG 26 attacked, sinking the ships Wacosta (scoring a direct hit with a torpedo before the torpedo entered water), Empire Stevenson, Macbeth, Gregonian (US ship; 28 were killed, 27 survived), Sukhona (Russian ship), Afrikaner (Panamanian ship), Empire Beaumont, and John Penn at the cost of only 5 aircraft. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 At 0058 hours, U-506 sank Swedish merchant ship Lina 150 miles off Liberia; 3 were killed, 30 survived. At 0135 hours, U-512 sank US tanker Patrick J. Hurley with gunfire 950 miles northeast of Barbados; 17 were killed, 22 survived. U-594 sank Panamanian ship Stone Street (13 were killed, 39 survived but 1 was captured) 600 miles east of Newfoundland at 1436 hours; Stone Street was a straggler of Allied convoy ON-127. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-156 rescued survivors of British troopship Laconia 290 miles northeast of Ascension Island; at 0125 hours, Korvettenkapitän Werner Hartenstein of U-156 radioed his German superiors for additional ships to help with the rescue; at 0600 hours, Hartenstein radioed, in English, for all ships in the area to help with the rescue. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 Failing to break lines held by the US Marines near Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands overnight, the Japanese attack was called off at 0550 hours. The Japanese attack resumed after sundown, penetrating the American lines before being driven back by artillery fire coming from nearby Hill 123; 500 Japanese were killed in the night's attack while the US suffered 80 killed. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 446 British bombers attacked Bremen, Germany, damaging Lloyd dynamo works, Focke-Wulf factory, 7 historical buildings, 6 schools, and 2 hospitals; 70 civilians were killed; 21 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 The George Cross medal was awarded to the island of Malta. It was officially presented to the people of Malta by Lord Gort, the Governor and Commander-in-Chief. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division engaged in heavy fighting at Mamayev Kurgan and Railway Station No. 1 at Stalingrad, Russia; it would lose a third of its strength in the fighting. 
0
13 Sep 1942 WW2 Lydia Litvyak shot down a German Ju 88 bomber and the Bf 109G-2 fighter piloted by Oberfeldwebel Erwin Meier over Stalingrad, Russia while flying a Yak-1 fighter. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 The Allied raid on Tobruk, Libya resulted in failure; 746 Allied personnel were killed, wounded, or captured; the Axis suffered 66 casualties. However, the raid on Barce, Libya was successful, destroying 16 aircraft on the ground; on the way out, the Barce raiders were strafed by Italian aircraft and lost several vehicles. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 US 7th Marine Division departed Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 HMS Zulu (Commander R. T. White), badly damaged by German aircraft, sank whilst being towed back to Alexandria, Egypt. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 The 3rd Marine Regiment arrived at Tutuila, Samoa. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley requested General George Kenney to use the US 5th Air Force based in Brisbane, Australia to put greater pressure on the Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-515 sank British ship Harborough 40 miles east of Trinidad at 1410 hours; 5 were killed, 45 survived. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-91 sank Canadian destroyer HMCS Ottawa 440 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland at 0205 hours; 109 were killed, 65 survived; HMCS Ottawa was escorting Allied convoy ON-127. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 British aircraft sank Italian submarine Alabastro in the Gulf of Stora off French Algeria. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 US fighters (including 14 P-39D and P-39F fighters of 54th Fighter Group) and bombers from the newly-completed airfield at Adak, Aleutian Islands attacked Japanese positions on Kiska, damaging Japanese submarines RO-63 and RO-64, sinking an ammunition ship, and downing two floatplanes. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-457 attacked Allied convoy PQ-18 20 miles south of Spitzbergen, Svalbard, Norway; destroyer HMS Impulsive detected U-457's approach, but she failed to deter the attack; U-457 fatally damaged British tanker Atheltemplar at 0400 hours (3 were killed, 58 survived but 16 would die of wounds later; the floating burning wreck would be sunk by U-408 at 1430 hours). Shortly after, U-589 attempted to attack, but was sunk by destroyer HMS Onslow and a Swordfish aircraft from escort carrier HMS Avenger (all 44 aboard were killed). At 1235 hours, about 20 German He 111 torpedo bombers of I./KG 26 attacked in failure with 11 of them shot down. Shortly after, 12 Ju 88 attacked, again losing 11 aircraft without scoring any hits. A third round of 25 aircraft (He 111 of I./KG 26 and Ju 88 of III./KG 26) attacked, sinking US ship Mary Luckenbach (189 were killed, 1 survived; detonation of her cargo of ammunition on board damaged nearby US ship Nathanael Greene and US ship Wacosta) at the cost of 9 aircraft lost. Finally, at 1430 hours, the final wave of 20 German aircraft attacked, scoring no hits and losing one aircraft. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 290 miles northeast of Ascension Island, U-156 remained on the surface and attempted to help the hundreds of survivors of British troopship Laconia as they awaited the arrival of rescue ships. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 The Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain suffered an accidental ammunition explosion at about 1300 hours. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese troops attacked the Australian line at Ioribaiwa Ridge along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua; the ridge was 25 miles north of Port Moresby. To the east, the Gili Gili airfield on the coast of Milne Bay was renamed Gurney Field in memorial of RAAF Squadron Leader C. R. Gurney. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 US 7th Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, arrived at 14-Mile Airfield at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 The Japanese continued to attack the defensive line held by the US Marines near Henderson Field at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands without success. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 202 British bombers attacked Wilhelmshaven, Germany; 77 civilians were killed. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 In Operation GG 2, Italian auxiliary ship Olterra launched three frogmen against Gibraltar, sinking cargo ship Ravens Point. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 HMS Sikh (Captain St. J. A. Micklethwait) was sunk by shore batteries during the raid on Tobruk, Libya. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet 62nd Army launched a counterattack in Stalingrad, Russia at dawn, but it would ultimately be turned back by German troops, with the Soviets hemming themselves into a narrow strip along the Volga River. From the other side of the river, Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division crossed on barges amidst aerial and artillery bombardment to prevent German 71st Division and 76th Division from penetrating Soviet 62nd Army lines and reaching the Volga River. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 Yekaterina Budanova claimed her first aerial kill, a Bf 109 fighter, over Stalingrad, Russia; the kill was shared with fellow pilot Lydia Litvyak. 
0
14 Sep 1942 WW2 Lydia Litvyak shot down a German Bf 109 fighter over Stalingrad, Russia while flying a Yak-1 fighter. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-19 sank USS Wasp (3 torpedo hits; 194 were killed, 1,969 survived) in the Coral Sea at 1444 hours; USS North Carolina and USS O'Brien were also damaged in the attack. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Allied forces attacked Jalo, Libya after sun down; the Germans, who had learned of this attack, repulse the initial attack with ease. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese battleships bombarded American positions on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Pringle was commissioned into service. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet destroyers Gremyashchy, Sokrushitelny, Uritsky, and Kuibyshev joined Allied convoy PQ-18. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-514 sank British ship Kioto near the coast of Tobago island at 1517 hours; 20 were killed, 54 survived. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 US bombers from the newly-completed airfield at Adak, Aleutian Islands attacked Japanese positions on Kiska. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-68 sank Dutch ship Breedijk 450 miles northeast of Ascension Island at 0058 hours; 2 were killed, 37 survived. At 0714 hours, U-515 sank Norwegian merchant ship Sørholt 100 miles east of Trinidad; 7 were killed, 31 survived. At 1833 hours, U-517 attacked Allied convoy SQ-36 with 4 torpedoes at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, Canada, sinking Norwegian ship Inger Elisabeth (3 were killed, 23 survived) and Dutch ship Saturnus (1 was killed, 35 survived. German submarine U-261 was attacked and sunk by a British Whitley bomber 100 miles southwest of the Faroe Islands; all aboard were killed. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 At 1130 hours, U-506, U-507, and Italian submarine Cappellini arrived in waters 290 miles northeast of Ascension Island to help U-156 in the rescue of survivors of British troopship Laconia. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, causing little damage. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Both the Japanese and the Australians brought up reserve units in the engagement at Ioribaiwa Ridge along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua, 25 miles north of Port Moresby. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Helena rescued nearly 400 survivors of sunken USS Wasp in the Solomon Islands. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down four P-40 fighters and three Hurricane fighters between 1651 and 1702 hours southwest of El Alamein, Egypt, bringing his score up to 151 kills. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 12 British Boston bombers attacked Cherbourg, France, sinking whaling factory ship Solglint in the harbor. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Italian frogmen entered Gibraltar harbor and attached limpet mines on British ship Ravens Point, causing her to sink in shallow water shortly after. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 General Order No. 4 issued at Ramgarh Training Center in India established a headquarters, a headquarters detachment, an infantry section, an artillery section, and a Chinese language section. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Eiji Goto was named the commanding officer of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 French submarine Junon landed 10 British commandos and 2 Norwegian soldiers at the village of Glomfjord, Norway at 2115 hours. 
0
15 Sep 1942 WW2 German infantry made repeated assaults at the Mamayev Kurgan hill in Stalingrad, Russia without success; heavy fighting caused heavy casualties on both sides. Elsewhere in the city, German infantry advanced down the Tsaritsa River gorge toward the Volga River. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Impulsive (escorting Allied convoy PQ-18) sank U-457 with depth charges 200 miels northeast of Murmansk, Russia, killing all 45 aboard. Later in the day, some of the warships escorting PQ-18 transferred to convoy sailing in the opposite direction QP-14. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 Jürgen Stroop was promoted to the rank of SS-Brigadeführer. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 USS S-28 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her third war patrol. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 US bombers from the newly-completed airfield at Adak, Aleutian Islands attacked Japanese positions on Kiska, damaging Japanese transport Nojima Maru at 0437 hours. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-558 sank US ship Commercial Trader 75 miles east of Trinidad at 1100 hours; 10 were killed, 28 survived. British tanker F. J. Wolfe and British ship Empire Soldier, members of Allied convoy ON-127, collided 25 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland; Empire Soldier would sink from damages sustained in this collision. At 1200 hours, U-165 attacked Allied convoy SQ-36 at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River 10 miles northwest of Cap-Chat, Canada, sinking Greek ship Joannis, damaging British ship Essex Lance (1 was killed), and damaging British ship Pan York. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 At 1125 hours, a US B-24 Liberator bomber based in Ascension Island spotted the 4 Axis submarines rescuing survivors of British troopship Laconia; despite the crew's observation of red cross flags, US Captain Robert Richardson III ordered the bomber to attack the submarines; the attack commenced at 1232 hours, and the submarines were forced to abandon the lifeboats they were towing and dive under the surface. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, causing little damage. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian troops pulled back from the Ioribaiwa Ridge along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua, 25 miles north of Port Moresby in preparation for a counterattack. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 USAAF 57th Fighter Group, flying P-40 fighters, began arriving at the Landing Ground 174 airfield east of El Alamein, Egypt. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 369 British bombers attacked the Ruhr industrial region of Germany, damaging buildings in Essen (damaging a Krupp factory in Essen; 47 civilians killed), Bochum, Wuppertal, Heme, and Cochem; 39 bombers were lost during this night. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Permanent Officer-of-the-Day watch established 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-29 sank British ship Ocean Honour in the mouth of the Gulf of Aden; 20 were killed, 33 survived. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 Eduard Neumann informed Hans-Joachim Marseille that he had submitted the paperwork to promote him to the rank of Hauptmann. Later in the day, Erwin Rommel personally congratulated Marseille over the phone for having become the youngest Luftwaffe Hauptmann; Rommel also invited him to join him for dinner. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 The Soviet NKVD rifle battalion stationed on Mamayev Kurgan hill in Stalingrad, Russia continued to fight off German attempts to take this high point. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 German 502nd Tank Battalion, stationed near Leningrad, Russia, received the first batch of Tiger I tanks. 
0
16 Sep 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps established the 3rd Marine Division at Camp Elliott, California, United States. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Singapore. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 The American beachhead on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands was by this date 5 miles wide and 2.5 miles deep. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Gar began her fourth war patrol. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 Submarine Hoe was launched, sponsored by Miss Helen Hess. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS United sank Italian salvage vessel Rostro and Italian auxiliary submarine chaser V39/Giovanna off Misrata, Libya. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 At 0625 hours, German submarine U-515 sank US ship Mae 41 miles north of Georgetown, Guyana; 1 was killed, 40 survived. At 1314 hours, U-109 sank British collier Peterton 200 miles northwest of the Cape Verde Islands; 9 were killed, 34 survived but 1 (the captain) was captured. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 The same Ascension Island-based US B-24 Liberator bomber that had attacked German submarines rescued survivors of sunken British troopship Laconia on the previous day attacked the submarines again, forcing U-506 to dive while 142 survivors were still on the deck; later in the day, French cruiser Gloire, sloop Annamite, and sloop Dumont d'Urville arrived to take on 415 Italian and 668 Allied survivors from the German submarines. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian troops fell back from Ioribaiwa Ridge to Imita Ridge along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua, 25 miles from Port Moresby; the Australians were surprised that the Japanese did not pursue in force. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 German Navy Admiral Karl Dönitz, who had previously supported rescuing survivors of submarine targets, ordered his submarine commanders to cease such actions in light of the Laconia incident on the previous day where an American bomber attacked a German submarine, full of survivors, flying a large red cross flag. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell ordered Noel Irwin to prepare an offensive from India into the Arakan Peninsula in Burma. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 In Stalingrad, Russia, German and Soviet troops engaged in heavy fighting at the Mamayev Kurgan hill, the Central Station, the grain elevator, and the apartment building soon to be named Pavlov's House. Also in the city, German troops advanced along the Tsaritsa River toward the banks of the Volga River where Soviet reinforcements were arriving from the other side. 
0
17 Sep 1942 WW2 Leslie Groves was given charge of overseeing the Manhattan Project. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Orders from Heinrich Himmler: The SS was to have full judicial control over Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, and Roma prisoners; all prisoners of the German justice system capable of work were to be transferred to concentration camps for forced labor; food rations for Jews in Germany were to be reduced. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Monsignor Montini, future Pope Paul VI, sent a letter to Pope Pius XII, noting that "the massacres of the Jews reach frightening proportions and forms". 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet troops launched an offensive from the Voronezh Front in Russia. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 4,180 men of US 7th Marine Regiment arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. The American beachhead strength was now at 22,500 men. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps 1st Parachute Battalion departed for Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-175 sank Canadian ship Norfolk 25 miles off British Guyana at 0152 hours; 6 were killed, 13 survived. At 0921 hours, U-380 sank Norwegian merchant ship Olaf Fostenes 1,100 miles east of Nova Scotia, Canada; all 38 aboard survived. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 British 29th Infantry Brigade landed at Tamatave, Madagascar. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, causing little damage. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese troops began retreating back along the Kokoda Track across the Owen Stanley Range in Australian Papua. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia surpassed its maximum capacity; 58,491 prisoners now resided in the camp. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet 1st Guards Army and 24th Army attacked German VIII Army Corps at Kotluban 40 kilometers north of Stalingrad, Russia; German Stuka dive bombers hampered the attack by destroying 41 of the 106 Soviet tanks committed, while escorting Bf 109 fighters destroyed 77 Soviet aircraft in the immediate area. In the city, heavy house-to-house fighting continued. 
0
18 Sep 1942 WW2 12 German He 111 torpedo bombers attacked Allied convoy PQ-18 at the entrance of the Kola Inlet, Russia, sinking US ship Kentucky (all aboard survived) at the cost of 3 aircraft shot down. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 The Allied attack on Jalo, Libya was called off. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps Air Station, Eagle Mountain Lake was established at Fort Worth, Texas, United States under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Harold Leo. It was to function as a glider training base. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-552 sank British anti-submarine trawler HMS Alouette 50 miles southwest of Lisbon, Portugal at 0300 hours; 17 were killed, 27 survived. At 0648 hours, U-516 sank US merchant ship Wichita 300 miles northeast of Barbados; all 50 aboard were killed. At 1546 hours, U-156 sank British ship Quebec City 500 miles southwest of Liberia; 5 were killed, 41 survived. At 1937 hours, U-512 sank Spanish merchant ship Monte Gorbea 60 miles east of Martinique; 52 were killed, 27 survived. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Amberjack damaged Japanese transport Shirogane Maru in the Bougainville Strait off Australian Papua at 1000 hours; 3 were killed. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 118 British bombers (72 Wellington, 41 Halifax, 5 Stirling) attacked Saarbrücken, Germany, generally missing military targets and instead destroying 13 houses and killing 1 civilian; 5 bombers were lost on this mission. 68 Lancaster bombers and 21 Stirling bombers attacked München, Germany; 6 bombers were lost on this mission. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 The 28 surviving merchant ships of Allied convoy PQ-18 reached the Dvina River near Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet 24th Army, 66th Army, and 1st Guards Army attempted another counterattack north of Stalingrad, Russia near Kotluban, but it was repulsed by German XIV Panzer Corps. 
0
19 Sep 1942 WW2 Excursion steamer Greater Buffalo was renamed Sable. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 As of this date, American Liberty ship production exceeded the rate of sinkings. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 Some of Mutsu's anti-aircraft personnel were disembarked to train ground-based anti-aircraft personnel at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 US Navy Pacific Fleet's chief communications officer John Redman recommended the relief of radio intelligence officer Joseph Rochefort. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-515 sank British ship Reedpool 120 miles northeast of Georgetown, British Guyana at 0815 hours; 5 were killed, 53 survived but 1, the captain, was captured. At 1517 hours, U-596 attacked Allied convoy SC-100 300 miles southeast of Iceland, sinking British ship Empire Hartebeeste (all 46 aboard survived). 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-435 sank British minesweeper HMS Leda of Allied convoy QP-14 180 miles west of Spitsbergen, Norway at 0631 hours; 14 were killed, 66 survived. At 1815 hours, U-255 sank US freighter Silver Sword of QP-14; 1 was killed, 63 survived. At about 1900 hours, escort carrier HMS Avenger and cruiser HMS Scylla were detached from QP-14 to head back to base. At 1955 hours, U-703 damaged British destroyer HMS Somali also of QP-14; 47 were killed, 67 survivors were taken off, and 80 survivors remained aboard as she was taken in tow by destroyer HMS Ashanti. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo attacked a Japanese freighter and her escort southeast of Namonuito Atoll, Caroline Islands, hitting the freighter with 1 of 4 torpedoes. She claimed to have sunk the freighter, but the study of Japanese records after the war showed no ships lost on this date in the area. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 In Stalingrad, Russia, Soviet and German troops engaged in heavy fighting at the Mamayev Kurgan hill, in the Central Station, and the grain elevator. 
0
20 Sep 1942 WW2 German Army Group A captured Terek, Russia. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 RAF bombers conducted a raid on München, Germany. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 The inter-Allies information committee estimated that the Germans had thus far executed 207,373 people in occupied Europe. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 US Navy torpedoes began to be equipped with a new depth control device; the predecessor device was found to be running the torpedoes 10 feet too deep. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Grouper sank Japanese merchant ship Tone Maru 85 miles east of Shanghai, China. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Trout sank Japanese auxiliary net layer Koei Maru 55 miles south of Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-606 approached Allied convoy QP-14 between Greenland and Jan Mayen Island, Norway at 1114 hours but was driven off by a Norwegian-piloted British Catalina aircraft; U-606 fought back and shot down the aircraft. To the east, convoy PQ-18 arrived at Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-175 sank Yugoslavian ship Predsednik Kopajtic 20 miles off British Guyana at 0640 hours; 3 were killed, 25 survived. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Unruffled sank Italian auxiliary minesweeper Aquila with the deck gun and and Vichy French merchant Liberia with torpedoes 8 miles off Mehedia, Tunisia at 0105 hours. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian 16th Infantry Brigade arrived at Port Moresby, Australian Papua. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 British forces began their first land counter-offensive against the Japanese in the Arakan region of Burma. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu embarked 56 Type 3 Model 1 naval mines as cargo while at Truk, Caroline Islands; these mines were mine for Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell had dinner with the Chiang household and shared photographs of the Chinese troop training at Ramgarh, India. In Stilwell's diary entry for the day, he noted that he was able to converse with Chiang Kaishek entirely in Chinese for the first time without the help of Song Meiling who usually helped in the role of translator. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 German training submarine U-446 struck a mine and sank in the Gulf of Danzig, Germany. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 British rescue tug HMS St. Olaves ran around off Duncansby Head, Scotland, United Kingdom and was declared a total loss. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 Garland completed her permanent repairs at Troon, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 The keel of the future US Navy submarine Corvina was laid down at the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
0
21 Sep 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral William Purnell, after speaking with OSS chief William Donovan, made Milton Miles the head of OSS operations in China. Miles, however, was not informed of this. 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 Tony Stein enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-435 attacked Allied convoy QP-14 50 miles west of Jan Mayen Island, Norway at 0718 hours, sinking US merchant ship Bellingham (all 75 aboard survived), British merchant ship Ocean Voice (civilian commodore J. C. K. Dowding's ship; all 89 aboard survived), and British fleet oiler RFA Grey Ranger (6 were killed, 33 survived). 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Unruffled sank Italian merchant ship Leonardo Palomba 25 miles east of Sousse, Tunisia. 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager departed Darwin, Australia with 400 men of Australian 2/4th Independent Company, sailing for the island of Timor to evacuate troops of Australian 2/2nd Independent Company and Portuguese civilians. 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi performed repair work for destroyer Kagero at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-29 sank US freighter Paul Luckenbach 800 miles west of Kochi, India. 
0
22 Sep 1942 WW2 The Soviet 62nd Army was split in half by the German advance down the Taritsa River gorge in Stalingrad in southern Russia, and the German troops now held nearly the entire southern half of the city. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Armed resistance was met by the Germans during the liquidation of the Tutzin ghetto in western Ukraine. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Leslie Groves was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 US Marines began to move toward Matanikau River on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 In northern Germany, 83 British Lancaster bombers attacked Wismar (4 were lost), 28 Halifax bombers attacked Flensburg (5 were lost), and 24 Stirling bombers attacked Vegesack (1 was lost). 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 East African 22nd Infantry Brigade captured Tananarive (now Antananarivo), Madagascar. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-617 attacked Allied convoy SC-100 200 miles east of the southern tip of Greenland just after the start of the day, sinking British tanker Athelsultan at 0019 hours (51 were killed, 10 survived) and British merchant ship Tennessee at 0142 hours (15 were killed, 20 survived. At 0026 hours, U-211 sank US tanker Esso Williamsburg 500 miles south of Greenland; most of the 60 aboard were killed, and the few survivors never reached land. 580 miles southeast of Newfoundland, U-582 sank Norwegian merchant ship Vibran; all 48 aboard were killed. At 0615 hours, U-515 sank Norwegian ship Lindvangen off British Guyana; 15 were killed, 8 survived. At 1103 hours, U-515 struck again in the same area, damaging US ship Antinous. British aircraft attacked German submarine U-177 on the surface off the Faroe Islands at 1330 hours, causing no damage but killed one. At 2334 hours, U-125 sank British ship Bruyère 380 miles southwest of Freetown, British West Africa after an 8-hour pursuit; all 55 aboard survived. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel departed North Africa for a six-week rest in Germany to recover from sinusitis, high blood pressure, and other ailments linked to the North African environment. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine M-60 struck a mine and sank in the Black Sea off Odessa, Ukraine. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Finback departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her second war patrol. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager ran aground at Betano Bay, East Timor at 1830 hours as she attempted to disembark Australian 2/4th Independent Company. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet 284th Rifle Division arrived in Stalingrad, Russia and was ferried across the Volga River to join the front lines as German troops attacked the landing site. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 Tiger I tanks saw combat for the first time, operated by German 502nd Tank Battalion near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
23 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Whale departed San Francisco, California, United States. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 The planned submarine Senorita was renamed Trepang. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler sacked General Franz Halder as Chief of Staff, replacing him with General Kurt Zeitzler. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 The planned submarine Blanquillo was renamed Caiman. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 The plan for future submarine Bocaccio was renamed submarine Charr. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on Maiana, Gilbert Islands. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 USAAF B-17 bombers damaged Japanese seaplane carrier Sanuki Maru off Shortlands Island, Solomon Islands. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 HMS Somali (Lieutenant Commander C. D. Maud) broke apart and sank while under tow by HMS Ashanti 185 miles north of Iceland; 77 were killed, 35 survived. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 The planned submarine Bonaci was renamed Chub. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank US ship Penmar 400 miles east of southern Greenland at 0144 hours; 2 were killed, 59 survived. In the same general area, U-617 sank Belgium ship Roumanie at 0158 hours; 42 were killed, 1 survived. At 0924 hours, U-175 sank US ship West Chetac 100 miles north of Georgetown, British Guyana; 31 were killed, 19 survived. At 1825 hours, U-512 sank US merchant ship Antinous (under two by British rescue tug HMS Zwatre Zee) also north of British Guyana. At 1910 hours, U-619 sank US ship John Winthrop 450 miles southeast of Greenland; all 52 aboard were killed. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 Greek submarine Nereus sank Italian freighter Fiume 7 miles southwest of Rhodes, Greece. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 German submarine U-561 sank Egyptian sailing vessel Sphinx with the deck gun miles southwest of Tiros, Syria-Lebanon at 2335 hours. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 British destroyer HMS Nizam sank a Vichy French merchant ship southwest of Madagascar. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 Dauntless dive bombers of US Marine Corps VMSB-231 squadron and US Navy VS-3 squadron from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands attacked Japanese destroyers Umikaze and Kawakaze in the western Solomon Islands; they heavily damaged Umikaze (8 were killed) and forced the convoy to turn back. On the same day, US Army B-17 bombers attacked the Japanese Navy base on Shortland island, damaging seaplane carrier Sanuki Maru. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 The northern crew and the southern crew of the Alaska-Canadian Highway met at the British Columbia-Yukon border in Canada and began to connect the two portions. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-165 sank US freighter Losmar 220 miles west of the southern tip of India; 3 were killed, 14 survived. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 A Japanese fighter detected Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager in Betano Bay, East Timor at 1330 hours, which ran aground on the previous day. At 1600 hours, a wave of Japanese bombers attacked, heavily damaging the ship. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 The German Armeegruppe A launched an assault against Tuapse on the Black Sea. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 German 94th Infantry Division and 24th Panzer Division effectively wiped out all Soviet units in the southern pocket in Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Hastings, England, United Kingdom; 19 were killed, 17 were seriously injured. Seaford in southeastern England was also attacked. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 Leslie Groves purchased 210 square kilometers (52,000 acres) of land in Tennessee, United States. Also known as Site X, it would soon become the Oak Ridge site of the Manhattan Project. 
0
24 Sep 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps established the Marine Corps Air Station Mojave in California, United States under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Holmsberg. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 RAF Mosquito aircraft conducted a daring low-level raid on the Gestapo Headquarters in Oslo, Norway. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on Beru, Gilbert Islands. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese ships ferried 100 fighters and 80 bombers to Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 Hitler dismissed the Chief of the Army General Staff, Colonel-General Halder, and appointed General Zeitzler to succeed him. At the same time responsibility for the employment of General Staff Corps personnel was taken away from the Chief of the General Staff and given to the Army Personnel Office, which was directly subordinate to Hitler. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 Captain Gilbert Corwin Hoover was named the commanding officer of USS Helena, relieving Commander Oliver Middleton. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 Akagi was removed from the Japanese Navy List. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 In England, United Kingdom, RAF Wickenby, recently completed from land requisitioned by the Air Ministry in 1941, became operational with the arrival from Binbrook of No. 12 Squadron of 1 Group Bomber Command. Initially flying Wellington bombers, the squadron would convert to Lancaster bombers in Nov 1942. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 After sundown, German aircraft attacked Penzance, southwestern England, United Kingdom. 
0
25 Sep 1942 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the US Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California, United States. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 The Nazi SS organization began to confiscate possessions of Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps prisoners. Currency, gold, and jewelry were sent to the SS Headquarters of the Economic Administration. Watches, clocks, and pens were sent to the troops on the front lines. Finally, clothing was distributed to German families in need. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 US Marines attacked Japanese positions at the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in failure. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 The Manhattan Project was given permission to use the highest wartime priority rating by the United States War Production Board. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet troops launched the Tuapse Defensive Operation in the Caucasus region of southern Russia. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down one Hurricane fighter and three Spitfire fighters near El Daba, Egypt between 0910 and 0916 hours. In his second sortie of the day, escorting Stuka dive bombers to El Hammam, Egypt, he shot down four enemy fighters between 1656 and 1710 hours. His score stood at 158 kills by the end of the day. When he returned to base, he was observed to be extremely exhausted, and his hands trembled uncontrollably. His superior Eduard Neumann grounded him for some days to give him a chance to rest. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi performed repair work for destroyer Urakaze at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her 6th voyage with the Japanese Navy. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 The German troops begin another "final" attack in Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 British No. 12 Squadron of 1 Group Bomber Command, having arrived at the newly completed RAF Wickenby in England, United Kingdom just the previous day, conducted its first operation with Wellington bombers. 
0
26 Sep 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-14 arrived at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 Japanese troops landed on Kuria, Gilbert Islands. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 German auxiliary cruiser Stier sank American liberty ship Stephen Hopkins in the Caribbean Sea at about 1000 hours, but sustained damage in the engagement. Later on the same day, dead in the water, Stier's crew scuttled the ship just before noon. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell received orders to plan for an offensive into northern Burma to open the Ledo Road and Burma Road. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 US Coast Guard Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro, in charge of twenty-four Higgins boats, was killed during a mission to rescue nearly five hundred US Marines beleaguered by Japanese forces at Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. By placing his own boat as a shield to protect the evacuating Marines he undoubtedly saved many lives. For his devotion to duty he would later be granted a posthumous Medal of Honor by President Franklin Roosevelt. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Whale arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 Lydia Litvyak shot down a German Ju 88A-4 bomber and shared the credit for downing the Bf 109G-2 fighter piloted by Horst Loose over Stalingrad, Russia while flying a Yak-1 fighter. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe unit III./KG 4 (flying He 111 bombers) flew its last bombing sortie over Stalingrad, Russia. The unit would soon be transported out of its base in Morozovsk, Russia for Germany to undergo glider towing training. 
0
27 Sep 1942 WW2 The Taichu Prisoners of War Camp near Taichu (now Taichung), Taiwan was opened. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Copahee arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Sculpin hit Japanese seaplane carrier Nisshin with torpedoes east of Kokoda Island, Bismarck Archipelago. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 Chester Nimitz arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia, which was his first stop in a front-line inspection tour of the Solomon Islands area. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was telephoned by Erwin Rommel, who wanted him to accompany him to Berlin, Germany for a speech at the Berlin Sportpalast. Marseille rejected the offer, citing his wish to save his leave time to marry Hanne-Lies Küpper later in the year. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 USS S-31 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her fourth war patrol. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 Irako transited the Bungo Strait between Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 In Stalingrad, Russia, Sergeant Jacob Pavlov and three others assaulted the much shelled apartment block facing Solechnaya street, expelling the incumbent Germans with hand-grenades. In the cellar they found several badly wounded Soviet soldiers still holding out. "Pavlov's House" would become a boundary fortification, and a symbol of resistance. The handful of men defended the outpost for 58 days, against infantry, artillery and tank assaults. 
0
28 Sep 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Colchester and Broadstairs, England, United Kingdom. 
0
29 Sep 1942 WW2 HMS Activity was commissioned into service. 
0
29 Sep 1942 WW2 Three British Royal Air Force Squadrons (Nos. 71, 121 and 133) were transferred to the United States Army and redesignated as the 334, 335 and 336th Fighter Squadrons. These units had previously been established under British commanding officers with American pilots who, prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, were among the 9,000 Americans who had crossed the border into Canada to volunteer to join the Royal Canadian Air Force at the start of the war in Europe. 
0
29 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing escort carrier Taiyo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
29 Sep 1942 WW2 Max Merten was informed that, as of 1 Oct 1942, he would be the head of the Administrative and Economic Department of the German occupation administration in Thessaloniki, Greece. 
0
29 Sep 1942 WW2 A lone German bomber attacked the rural town of Petworth in Sussex County, England, United Kingdom in the morning, destroying a boys' school; 23 were killed (20 of whom were children), 30 were seriously injured (24 of whom were children). Somerton, Somerset County; Shrewton, Wiltshire County; and Betteshanger Collthbourne, Kent County were also attacked. 
0
29 Sep 1942 WW2 Seaplane from Japanese submarine I-25 dropped incendiary bombs on a forest in Oregon, United States. No fire was reported. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler publicly repeated his forecast of the destruction of the Jewry. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 Soviet troops crossed the Volga River near Moscow, Russia. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Shirakumo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 After a dive bomber escorting mission, the engine of Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille's Bf 109G-6 fighter caught fire southeast of El Imayid, Egypt. Unable to make it back to his airfield due to black smoke entering the cockpit, the 22-year-old "Star of Africa" attempted to bail out, but while doing so he struck the vertical stabilizer across his chest and hip. He fell to his death 7 kilometers south of Sidi Abdel Rahman, Egypt at 1142 hours. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan in search of a nearby US task force (which was faulty intelligence). 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 Commandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp Rudolf Höss forbade his SS guards to consume raw fruits, raw vegetables, and raw milk due to the typhus epidemic in the camp. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 A transport containing 610 Jews arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp from the Westerbork camp in the Netherlands; 37 men and 118 women were registered into the camp, and the remaining 454 were gassed. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 German bombers attacked Lancing and Colchester, England, United Kingdom. 
0
30 Sep 1942 WW2 Battleships of US Navy Task Force 1 arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 The British Royal Corp of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was established. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 Waller was commissioned into service. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Scorpion was commissioned into service, Lieutenant Commander William Wylie in command. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld was named the commanding officer of the 1st Group of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 wing. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 ShCh-320 departed on her final war patrol and never returned, possibly having struck a naval mine in the Gulf of Finland. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 Tenryu disembarked her cargo of 56 Type 3 Model 1 naval mines at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Sewage and drainage system usably complete 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 Captain Banjiro Takagi was named the commanding officer of Naka while the ship was at Maizuru, Japan. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 Captain Mitsuru Nagai was named the commanding officer of Settsu. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was buried at the Heroes Cemetery in Derna, Libya. Albert Kesselring and Eduard Neumann each delivered an eulogy. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo arrived in waters off Ulul Island, Namonuito Atoll, Caroline Islands. 
0
01 Oct 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps disbanded the Amphibious Training Staff, Fleet Marine Force in San Diego, California, United States; its personnel were reassigned to the headquarters of the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet. On the same day, Major General Holland Smith relieved Major General Clayton Vogel as the commanding officer of the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet with the title of Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, San Diego area. Vogel was transferred to the newly established I Marine Amphibious Corps as its commanding officer. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 US Marine 5th Defense Battalion occupied Funafuti, Ellice Islands. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Grampus began her fourth war patrol. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 ShCh-307 attacked Finnish merchant ship Wanda in the Sea of Åland; both torpedoes missed. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 The troopship Queen Mary collided with (and sank) one of her escorts, the light cruiser HMS Curacoa, off the Irish coast with the loss of 239 lives. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of 19th Bomb Group of US 5th Air Force from Port Moresby, Australian Papua attacked Rabaul, New Britain between 0440 and 0510 hours, damaging Japanese light cruiser Tenryu with a hit at the stern, killing 22 and wounding 26. Auxiliary repair ship Hakkai Maru would provide Tenryu with temporary repairs. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for light cruiser Jintsu and destroyer Yugiri at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 Yekaterina Budanova shot down a Ju 88 bomber and a Bf 109 fighter over Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
02 Oct 1942 WW2 Bell P-59 Airacomet jet fighter took flight for the first time at Muroc Dry Lake, California, United States. The test pilot was Robert Stanley. The first turbojet-driven aircraft to be built in the USA, the P-59 fighter proved unacceptable as a stable gun platform and was quickly relegated to a training role where it would provide the USAAF with a nucleus of trained jet pilots for later aircraft. 
0
03 Oct 1942 WW2 American SBD and TBF aircraft from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands attacked and damaged seaplane carrier Nisshin. 
0
03 Oct 1942 WW2 The US Army established the War Dog Reception and Training Center at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, United States. 
0
03 Oct 1942 WW2 Kiyoshi Ito's fighter crashed into the water in the Solomon Islands due to fuel system issues; he drifted in the ocean for five to six hours before being rescued by a destroyer. 
0
03 Oct 1942 WW2 Heavy losses were incurred on both sides as the German 6.Armee pushed the Soviet 62nd Army back to the Volga River at Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
03 Oct 1942 WW2 Boris Shaposhnikov was awarded his second Order of Lenin. 
0
04 Oct 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps 9th Defense Battalion departed Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for the Panama Canal Zone. 
0
04 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for escort carrier Taiyo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
04 Oct 1942 WW2 The British commando raid on Sark in the Channel Islands resulted in one prisoner. 
0
04 Oct 1942 WW2 The Headquarters Squadron, Marine Aircraft Wing, Pacific of the United States Marine Corps arrived at Ewa Marine Corps Air Station near Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
04 Oct 1942 WW2 German XIV Panzer Korps attacked the Stalingrad Tractor Factory in Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
04 Oct 1942 WW2 Ivan Isakov was seriously injured by German air raid in Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, which resulted in the amputation of his foot. 
0
05 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Hornet launched an attack on Bougainville, Solomon Islands. 
0
05 Oct 1942 WW2 George Kenney ordered Kenneth Walker to stop personally participating on missions. This order would be disobeyed. 
0
05 Oct 1942 WW2 6 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of US 30th Bomb Squadron from Port Moresby, Australian Papua attacked Vunakanau airfield at Rabaul, New Britain. Simultaneously, 8 B-17 bombers of 28th Bomb Squadron attacked nearby Lakunai airfield. The attacks caused very minor damage. 
0
05 Oct 1942 WW2 Heinrich Himmler ordered that all Jews in concentration camps in Germany were to be transferred to Auschwitz or Majdanek concentration camps. 
0
05 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo sighted a Japanese carrier and mis-identified her to be Ryujo. Lieutenant Commander Marvin Kennedy took a conservative attack approach that ultimately failed to intercept the carrier. 
0
05 Oct 1942 WW2 The Soviet STAVKA arrested Major General Ivan Rukhle, recent deputy chief of the headquarters of the Stalingrad Front, and falsely charged him with treason. Rukhle would be kept at the Lubyanka prison near Moscow, Russia until 1952. 
0
06 Oct 1942 WW2 German III.Panzer Korps captured Malgobek on the Terek River in the Caucasus in southern Russia. Far to the west, German troops also captured Novorossiysk. 
0
06 Oct 1942 WW2 British corvette HMS Crocus spotted German submarine U-333 running on the surface 60 miles off Freetown, South Africa and attacked by ramming and gunfire, heavily damaging U-333. U-333 was able to dive and eventually escape after sundown. 
0
06 Oct 1942 WW2 Yekaterina Budanova shot down a Ju 88 bomber over Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
06 Oct 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe unit I./KG 100 (flying He 111 bombers) was transferred from Morozovskaya, Russia to Saki, Russia to support the Caucasus offensive. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Copahee departed Nouméa, New Caledonia with 20 US Marine Corps aircraft for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 Franklin Roosevelt announced his intentions to try the "ringleaders responsible for the organized murder", referring to the Holocaust, as war criminals. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 Units from US 2nd, 5th, and 7th Marine Regiment crossed the Matanikau River in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands to raid Japanese positions. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was presented the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by General Josef Kammhuber. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands and met with the staff of the Combined Fleet. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 USAAF 57th Fighter Group, flying P-40 fighters and located at Landing Ground 174 airfield east of El Alamein in Egypt, gained full operational status. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 A group of seven British and Canadian commandos (captured at Glomfjord, Norway) were transferred to Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany. Later, they would all be executed at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp per Adolf Hitler's Commando Order. 
0
07 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo departed Caroline Islands waters. 
0
08 Oct 1942 WW2 Trawler Anticosti was commissioned into service. 
0
08 Oct 1942 WW2 A Nazi radio announcement stated that from midday (German time) officers and men captured at Dieppe, France had been manacled as a retaliation for the alleged tying of prisoners during a small-scale raid on Sark on 3 October 1942. The British War Office replied that German prisoners brought back from Dieppe had not had their hands tied and had been treaty humanely. It was further threatened that unless the Germans immediately unshackle their captives, then German prisoners of war in Canada would be put into chains from noon 10 October 1942. 
0
08 Oct 1942 WW2 Troops of the Japanese 81st Naval Garrison executed Allied prisoners of war airman Harl Pease, airman Chester Czechowski, airman Harold Massie, coast watcher Cecil John Trevelyan Mason, coast watcher Arthur King, and coast watcher Ray Woodroffe at Rabaul, New Britain. They were executed by either rifle fire or bayonet. A Japanese Army doctor was seen dissecting at least one of the six men after the execution. 
0
08 Oct 1942 WW2 36 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers moved from Mareeba airfield in Queensland, Australia to Port Moresby, Australian Papua. Before the end of the day, they took off for Rabaul, New Britain for an attack early on the next day. 4 Australian PBY Catalina aircraft dropped bombs on Rabaul to start fires for the B-17 bombers that would arrive in a few hours. 
0
08 Oct 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
08 Oct 1942 WW2 Hans-Erich Voß was named the commanding officer of German cruiser Prinz Eugen. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 Alois Brunner declared Vienna, Austria Judenfrei, "Free of Jews". 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 The Soviet Union eliminated the Political Commissar position from the army, leaving only one military commander in each of its units. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 US 164th Infantry Regiment set sail from Nouméa, New Caledonia for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 US Marine Fighter Squadron 121 and the rear echelon of the 2nd Marine Regiment of the US 2nd Marine Division arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 Galeazzo Ciano noted in his diary that Italian intelligence had learned that the Allies were planning on invading North Africa, and it concerned him as a successful Allied campaign there would put Italy in danger. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain at 0400 hours, causing little damage. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 USAAF 57th Fighter Group achieved its first aerial victory when six P-40F fighters of 64th Fighter Squadron, escorting 18 Boston bombers en route to El Daba, Egypt, was attacked by German Bf 109 fighters, and one of the German fighters was shot down by 1st Lieutenant William J. Mount. 
0
09 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Whale departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, starting her first war patrol. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Unique (Lieutenant Robert Evelyn Boddington) disappeared while on patrol in the Bay of Biscay west of France. Her loss would be officially announced by the Admiralty on 6 Dec 1942. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-28 detected an unidentified target which was presumed to be Japanese. As she prepared for an attack, a ground in her fire control circuits caused an accidental firing from the No. 1 tube, thus prematurely ending the attack. She arrived in Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska that afternoon and then departed for San Diego, California, United States. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 7 Australian PBY Catalina aircraft attacked Rabaul, New Britain at 0330 hours. At 0400 hours, 18 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul's Simpson harbor while 3 B-17 bombers attacked nearby Lakunai airfield. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Minegumo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 From Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany, Sigmund Rascher reported his findings from experiments involving putting concentration camp prisoners in full flight suits and placing them in freezing conditions, concluding that the warming of the subjects' heads and necks were vital for the subjects' survival. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 German government increased rations by 10% for all foreign workers. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Pollack departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
10 Oct 1942 WW2 The major Axis air offensive against Malta began. 
0
11 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Copahee launched its cargo of 20 US Marine Corps aircraft for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
11 Oct 1942 WW2 Battle of Cape Esperance off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands brought an overnight victory to the US Navy. 
0
11 Oct 1942 WW2 ShCh-307 attacked an Axis convoy south of the Åland Islands in the Gulf of Finland; both torpedoes missed. 
0
11 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Helena assumed position west of Savo Island, Solomon Islands in darkness, awaiting an incoming Japanese task force. 
0
11 Oct 1942 WW2 Shokaku departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Guadalcanal operations. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 George Kenney met with Kenneth Walker at Brisbane, Australia. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese cruiser Furutaka maneuvered herself in between flagship Aoba and American ships during Battle of Cape Esperance, saving the flagship but causing her own demise. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze conducted a reconnaissance mission to Ndeni, Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Helena assisted in the sinking of Japanese heavy cruiser Furutaka and destroyer Fubuki. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 While in China, Milton Miles received a cable from Washington DC, United States informing him of his assignment to the OSS. The cable contained very little detail on what this assignment entailed. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 Pile driving for Dock No. 4 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii, began. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 Winston Churchill was presented at Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom with the Freedom of the City. 
0
12 Oct 1942 WW2 The Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Policy) distributed a memorandum formally announcing the British Cabinet's decision to conduct unrestricted air warfare against Germany, Italy and Japan. 
0
13 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-31 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska for her fifth war patrol. 
0
13 Oct 1942 WW2 The 164th Infantry Regiment became the first US Army unit on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. On the same date, Japanese battleships Haruna and Kongo bombarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, destroying more than 40 American aircraft on the ground; they retired up the "Slot" at 29 knots. In the United States, the American public was made aware of the losses at the Battle of Savo Island. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 U-530 was commissioned into service under the command of Kapitänleutnant Kurt Lange and was assigned to the 4. Unterseebootflottille (4th Submarine Flotilla). 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 Before dawn, six Japanese destroyers landed 1,000 troops on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 Chiang Kaishek agreed to fully commit to a campaign in Burma if the United Kingdom did the same and that the Allies had naval and air superiority in the Bay of Bengal. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Finback attacked a Japanese convoy of four transports and a patrol vessel east of Taiwan, damaging one transport with 2 of 4 torpedoes fired. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack sank Japanese ship Shunko Maru south of the Palau Islands, hitting her with both torpedoes fired. She fired an additional torpedo at another Japanese ship; the torpedo missed the target. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 British Lieutenant Commander William Stephens and three pals escaped the notorious Colditz Castle in Saxony, Germany, prompted by signals from an orchestra conducted by legless RAF ace Douglas Bader, and with fake identifications fled Germany by trains and on foot. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 Canadian Flying Officer Hank Wardle and British officers Major Ronnie Littledale, Captain Pat Reid, and Lieutenant-Commander Billie Stephens escaped from Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany. All four would make it to Switzerland. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 The German assault on the Stalingrad Tractor Factory in Stalingrad, Russia was aided by more than 2,000 sorties by aircraft of Luftflotte 4. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 The German offensive in the Caucasus region of southern Russia was suspended with the exception of 17th Army's attacks near Tuapse on the coast of the Black Sea. 
0
14 Oct 1942 WW2 The Soviet GKO ordered all males between the ages of 15 and 55 living in the Soviet Union who were ethnic Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians to be rounded up and employed as slave laborers. Ethnic Germans in Soviet territory had already been subjected to this persecution. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Commander Sakae Nakajima became the commanding officer of I-168. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 After a naval bombardment, 3,000 to 4,000 men of Japanese 230th and 16th Infantry Regiments landed at Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Despite interference from US Marine Corps SBD aircraft, 80% of the men and supplies successfully made to shore. With the arrival of these reinforcements, General Hyakutake ordered a new offensive against Henderson Field to take place on 18 Oct. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 Robert Oppenheimer was appointed, by Leslie Groves, to coordinate the scientific research of the Manhattan Project at Site Y, a location yet to be finalized. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 Aircraft from carrier Shokaku and Zuikaku sank destroyer USS Meredith off San Cristobal, Solomon Islands. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 Alfred Jodl suggested to Adolf Hitler to order Vichy France to strengthen its defenses in North Africa as intelligence indicated a possible Allied attack; Hitler rejected the suggestion as he thought the Italians would object to any moves that strengthened France. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese ship south of the Palau Islands; both torpedoes missed. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 The Soviet submarine ShCh-311 was attacked and sunk off Porkkala Peninsula in Kirkkonummi, Finland by Finnish patrol boats VMW-13 and VMW-15. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 George Kenney and Kenneth Walker awarded US servicemen at Townsville and Mareeba in Australia. After the ceremonies, Kenney ordered Walker to use instantaneous fuses on aerials bombs, not delayed fuses that Walker had preferred. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell departed Chongqing, China or Delhi, India. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 German Stuka dive bombers of Luftflotte 4 flew 900 individual sorties against Soviet positions at the Stalingrad Tractor Factory in Stalingrad, Russia, wiping out several Soviet regiments. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe unit I./KG 100 (flying He 111 bombers) briefly returned to Stalino (now Donetsk), Ukraine to conduct three bombing raids on Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
15 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Marble completed her repairs New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, United States and departed for South America. 
0
16 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese cruisers bombarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. During the day, US Marine Aircraft Group 14 under Lieutenant Colonel Albert Cooley relieved Marine Aircraft Group 23 as the unit in charge of maintaining Henderson Field. 
0
16 Oct 1942 WW2 Denver was commissioned into service. 
0
16 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Minegumo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
16 Oct 1942 WW2 Sun Du was named the deputy commanding officer of the 1st Army. 
0
16 Oct 1942 WW2 US Navy radio intelligence officer Joseph Rochefort, serving in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, received a telegraph from his wife noting that Rochefort's father had passed away in California, United States. 
0
16 Oct 1942 WW2 The entire staff of the Soviet 339th Infantry Regiment was wiped out by German air attacks at Stalingrad, Russia. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 Battleships Yamato and Mutsu transferred 4,500 tons of fuel oil to empty oiler Kenyo Maru to refuel other ships. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese cruisers bombarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell arrived in Delhi, India. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 Oberst Ernst Kühl, commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 Kaname Harada was shot down in combat over Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, but he would survive his injuries and the trek through the jungle to reach a Japanese submarine base on the coast. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 94 British Lancaster bombers attacked the Schneider armament factory at Le Creusot in central France in daylight; 1 bomber was lost on this mission. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her first war patrol. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 All daylight air raids on Malta were abandoned by the Axis following heavy losses and bombing was now restricted to night-time operations only. The Axis had lost 270 aircraft this year over Malta. 
0
17 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Grayback fired four torpedoes at a Japanese transport off New Ireland; all torpedoes missed. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 During the night, Japanese warships again shelled Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 US Navy Vice Admiral William F. Halsey was designated the commander of the South Pacific Area, and was made directly responsible for the campaign in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler issued his Kommando Befehl, ordering that any captured Soviet commandos be shot. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 Norwegian commandos parachuted near Telemark, Norway, to conduct reconnaissance. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Finback damaged a large Japanese freighter east of Taiwan, hitting her with 2 of torpedoes fired. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 US Navy Pacific Fleet's chief communications officer John Redman sent Joseph Wenger a message noting Redman's wish to relieve radio intelligence officer Joseph Rochefort. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 The German Ministry of Justice transferred the responsibility for Jews and citizens of Eastern European countries within Germany to the Gestapo. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 French troops attempted a counter offensive at Andriamanalina, Madagascar, but it was soundly repulsed by British and Commonwealth troops. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 Submarine S-7 departed Moshchny Island near Leningrad, Russia. 
0
18 Oct 1942 WW2 British Captain Pat Reid and Canadian Flying Officer Hank Wardle, having escaped from Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany on 14 Oct 1942, successfully made it to Switzerland. 
0
19 Oct 1942 WW2 The British King's African Rifles regiment captured 800 Vichy French troops in Madagascar without incurring a single casualty of their own. 
0
19 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Gar laid 32 naval mines off Bangkok, Thailand. 
0
19 Oct 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell convinced Archibald Wavell to commit to an offensive in Burma in cooperation with the Sino-American forces. 
0
19 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Gunnel started her first war patrol. 
0
19 Oct 1942 WW2 British officers Major Ronnie Littledale and Lieutenant-Commander Billie Stephens, having escaped from Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany on 14 Oct 1942, successfully made it to Switzerland. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-31 arrived in the Kurile Islands region. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-176 attacked and damaged USS Chester in the Solomon Islands area. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese Lieutenant General Maruyama delayed the planned assault on Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands until 22 Oct 1942. Also on this date, a Japanese combat patrol, supported by two tanks, was driven back by men of the 3rd Battalion of the US 1st Marine Regiment west of the Matanikau River. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Finback attacked a Japanese convoy off China, firing 9 torpedoes and claiming 3 hits and claiming two sinkings. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 Submarine tender Taigei was assigned to the Japanese Navy Maizuru Naval District as Reserve Ship No. 1. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was assigned to the Mobile Force Training Force. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-35 arrived at Unalaska, US Territory of Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 The USAAF conducted a photo reconnaissance mission over Rabaul, New Britain, revealing a concentration of about 70 ships. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 Hakkai Maru completed temporary repairs for Tenryu at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
20 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Helena observed incoming Japanese torpedoes while on patrol between Espiritu Santo of New Hebrides and San Cristobal island in the Solomon Islands; all torpedoes missed. 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 Captain and Surgeon Masato Honma became the new commanding officer of hospital ship Hikawa Maru. 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 Prime Minister of South Africa Jan Smuts delivered a speech to both houses of the British Parliament: "The stage is set for the last, for the offensive". 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 Iro Ilk was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 US Major General Mark Clark, aboard British submarine HMS Seraph (which was under disguise as an American submarine), began negotiations with Vichy French commanders in North Africa in preparation of Operation Torch. 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Ernest King notified commanders in the Pacific area commanders that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had agreed to strengthen the air forces in the South Pacific by 1 Jan 1943. 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 ShCh-307 attacked an Axis convoy in the Gulf of Finland; both torpedoes missed. 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 Tenryu conducted post-repair trials off Rabaul, New Britain. Upon returning to port, a damaged 8-centimeter anti-aircraft gun mount was replaced. 
0
21 Oct 1942 WW2 Finnish submarine Vesihiisi sank Soviet submarine S-7 southwest of Aland Islands, Finland with one torpedo at 2041 hours; 44 were killed, 4 survived. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 The conscription age in Britain was lowered to age 18 by Royal Proclamation. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-31 patrolled the waters off Paramushiro Island, Kurile Islands. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 Australian troops from Milne Bay, New Guinea made a night landing at Mud Bay on Goodenough Island. The Japanese garrison would pull out on 26 Oct 1942. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 The USAAF conducted a photo reconnaissance mission over Rabaul, New Britain, revealing a concentration of about 70 ships. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 The seven British and Canadian commandos transferred to Oflag IV-C prisoners of war camp at Colditz Castle in Germany earlier in the month were transferred out to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp near Berlin, Germany, where they would soon face execution. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 US Navy Pacific Fleet's chief communications officer John Redman ordered radio intelligence officer Joseph Rochefort to travel to Washington DC, United States for a temporary assignment. Rochefort would quickly note that it was likely to be the first step in his removal from his current command at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her 7th voyage with the Japanese Navy. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Grayback sank a Japanese transport off New Ireland, hitting her with 2 of 4 torpedoes. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 The Davao Penal Colony on Mindanao, Philippine Islands took in its first group of American and Filipino prisoners, numbered at about 1,000. 
0
22 Oct 1942 WW2 Most of the Red October and Barricade factories in northern Stalingrad, Russia were taken by German troops. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 Tirpitz departed Bogen near Narvik, Norway for refitting at Fættenfjord/Lofjord near Trondheim. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 Operation Lightfoot was launched by the British in Egypt, attempting to penetrate the extensive Axis minefield with a major offensive. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 Allied convoy UCF 1, containing troops and equipment for the invasion of French North Africa, departed Chesapeake Bay, United States. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise and USS South Dakota arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 Amidst heavy mortar and artillery barrages, Japanese tanks attempted to cross the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; while some successfully crossed, all were eventually driven back by US Marines. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 German submarine U-333 arrived at La Pallice, France. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 7 US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers launched from Port Moresby, Australian Papua at 0145 hours, followed by another 7 shortly after. As they reached Rabaul, New Britain, ,most of them conducted conventional bombing against Simpson Harbor while 3 of them skip-bombed; the skip-bombing damaged 2 submarine chasers. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 Auschwitz-bound prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany staged a revolt that resulted in failure. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 RAF bombers attacked Genoa and Turin, Italy. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt arrived in London, England, United Kingdom for a three-week visit as guest of King George VI. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-28 arrived at San Diego, California, United States. 
0
23 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Pollack arrived at Midway Atoll, refueled, and departed for her fourth war patrol in the Truk, Caroline Islands area. 
0
24 Oct 1942 WW2 Norwegian police were ordered to arrest Jews over the age of 15 and seize their property; the arrests were to be carried out beginning 26 Oct 1942. 
0
24 Oct 1942 WW2 In Egypt outside of El Alamein, British aircraft dropped 122 tons of bombs on Axis airfields and tank concentrations as Allied troops continued to engage in heavy combat. 
0
24 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-31 departed from waters off Paramushiro Island, Kurile Islands. 
0
24 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Snook was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander C. O. Triebel in command. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 British XXX Corps moved north, with Australian 26th Brigade at the spearhead, attacked Point 29 southwest of Tel el Eisa, Egypt. This was meant to draw Axis reserves to the area. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-31 patrolled the Onekotan Strait between Paramushiro and Onekotan in the Kurile Islands. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 American SBD aircraft seriously damaged Japanese light cruiser Yura. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 American troop transport President Coolidge hit mines and sank near Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides; all troops aboard survived the sinking, but large amounts of equipment and supplies were lost. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 Before dawn, the Japanese launched an offensive on the southern flank of the American defensive line at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, aiming to capture Henderson Field; US Marines repeatedly drove back the waves of attacks. After nightfall, Japanese destroyers attacked American shipping in the Sealark Channel between the Florida Islands and Taivu Point of Guadalcanal. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 Soviet troops launched the Nalckik-Ordzhonikidze Defensive Operation in the Caucasus region of southern Russia. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Finback attacked a Japanese transport with three torpedoes east of Taiwan; all torpedoes missed. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 With discipline declined, equipment abandoned and diarrhea and dysentery reaching epidemic proportions, the 2nd Battalion of US 126th Infantry Regiment arrived at Jaure, Australian Papua along the Kapa Kapa Trail in the Owen Stanley mountain range. The march had been so arduous that some men had wandered into the jungle never to be seen again. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 1st Lieutenant Lyman Middleditch, Jr. of USAAF 57th Fighter Group, flying a P-40F fighter, shot down one German Bf 109 fighter during an attack on the German fighter base Landing Ground 20 in Egypt. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", shot down a P-40 fighter over an area of India now Bangladesh, his fourth victory. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel visited Rome, Italy to press for more supplies for the war in North Africa. He arrived in Egypt to assume command of all Axis units in North Africa by the evening. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Whale arrived in waters south of the Kii Channel between the islands of Shikoku and Honshu, Japan and began to lay mines. 
0
25 Oct 1942 WW2 Friedrich Paulus reported to Adolf Hitler that Stalingrad, Russia would be taken by 10 Nov 1942. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-28 began performing training missions for the West Coast Sound School and for the Amphibious Forces Training Group. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 850 Jews were arrested in Norway. Meanwhile, in Nürnberg, Germany, 95 scientists gathered to review the result of Dr. Sigmund Rascher's freezing experiments using concentration camp prisoners as subjects. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 British Private Percy Gratwick used grenades, rifle, and bayonet to take enemy positions at El Alamein, Egypt but was then shot and killed. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 In the morning, Rommel committed much of his reserves to the Point 29 region in Egypt. Meanwhile, noting that Rommel had taken the bait, Montgomery planned to pin down Axis troops around Point 29 while launching a new offensive to the southwest. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 Allied convoy UCF 1, containing troops and equipment for the invasion of French North Africa, was met by a covering force of battleships and cruisers which had sailed from Casco Bay, Maine, United States. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-31 stalked Japanese cargo ship Keizan Maru starting at 0825 hours in Otomae Wan, Paramushiro, Kurile Islands. At 0922 hours, she fired two torpedoes, both scoring and sinking the cargo ship. While withdrawing after the attack, S-31 ran aground on reef multiple times, finally reaching deep waters at 1000 hours. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 At the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, US forces achieved victory but saw USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, USS South Dakota, and USS San Juan damaged. On the Japanese side, carriers Shokaku and Zuiho were damaged by dive bombers from USS Hornet and USS Enterprise, respectively. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 US Navy Ensign George L. Wrenn of VF-72 from the USS Hornet engaged Japanese aircraft attacking the US fleet. He shot down five Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers during the sortie. The Hornet was sunk during the battle and Wrenn had to be recovered aboard the USS Enterprise. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 Men of the 1st Battalion of US 164th Infantry Division repulsed a Japanese attack on the southern flank of the Lunga Perimeter at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, another attack against Hill 67, initially penetrating into the American line, was eventually driven back by US Marines. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell announced his intention to establish his forward base at Ledo, India for the planned offensive into Burma. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 ShCh-307 sank Finnish merchant ship Betty H. south of the Åland Islands in the Gulf of Finland. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-35 departed Unalaska, US Territory of Alaska for her fourth war patrol. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 Tenryu evacuated 260 Sasebo No. 5 Special Naval Landing Force troops from Welle Island (now Sanaroa), D'Entrecasteaux Islands, Australian Papua. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 Shokaku was heavily damaged by bombs during the Battle of Santa Cruz. Four to six bombs struck the flight deck; one struck aft of the island and the rest were grouped around the amidships and aft elevators. Large fires were started, and the flight deck was completely buckled by the blasts. Though sixty officers and men were killed, since no aircraft were aboard, no fuel was active and damage control was able to extinguish the fires and save the ship. Admiral Nagumo transferred his flag to destroyer Arashi. Then, with the damaged light carrier Zuiho, Shokaku was detached and ordered home to Truk escorted by Hatsukaze and Maikaze. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Whale sank a Japanese freighter south of the Kii Channel between the islands of Shikoku and Honshu, Japan, hitting her with 2 of 5 torpedoes fired. Shortly after, she damaged two other freighters, hitting them with 2 of the 6 additional torpedoes fired. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 In light of the positive report from Friedrich Paulus from Stalingrad, Russia, Adolf Hitler, from his Wehrwolf headquarters near of Vinnytsia in Ukraine, ordered some of the German units in that region to prepare to move north once Stalingrad was conquered. 
0
26 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Sunfish departed San Francisco, California, United States. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Hornet was lost during the naval Battle of Santa Cruz. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 Himmler ordered the destruction of the last major Ukrainian ghetto in Pinsk. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 A second conference on the sterilization of undesirable peoples took place in Germany. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 Heavy fighting was observed at "Woodcock" and "Snipe" positions in Egypt. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 USS S-31 patrolled the waters off Paramushiro Island, Kurile Islands. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 9 Chinese A-29 Hudson light bombers attacked Japanese positions at Yungcheng, Shanxi, China; the 12 escorting Chinese P-43 fighters destroyed one Japanese aircraft on the ground. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her third war patrol. 
0
27 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Whale patrolled the waters south of Bungo Channel between the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 The construction of the Alaska-Canadian Highway was completed; it would not be dedicated until 20 Nov 1942. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 Allied convoy UCF 1, containing troops and equipment for the invasion of French North Africa, was met by carriers Ranger, Sangamon, Suwannee, Chenango, and Santee which had sailed from Bermuda. Task Force 34 now contained the full invasion force of 102 ships, carrying 35,000 American troops; the force sailed for Casablanca. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 Australian troops captured Kokoda airfield in New Guinea. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands for emergency repairs. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing carrier Shokaku at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 From his headquarters in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Chester Nimitz sent Ernest King a message protesting Joseph Rochefort's removal. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Whale patrolled the waters south of Bungo Channel between the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan. 
0
28 Oct 1942 WW2 The first transport from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in occupied Czechoslovakia arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 Britain advised Italy that Italy would continue to be bombed by the RAF until they stepped out of the war. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 German troops were now only 50 miles from the oil fields in Grozny as they captured Nalchik in southern Russia. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Grenadier deployed naval mines in the Tonkin Gulf. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 Leading British religious and political figures held a public meeting to voice their outrage at the Nazi German treatment of Jews. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent a message to the meeting, denouncing the German "vile crimes". 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 Walter Krupinski was awarded the Knight's Cross medal. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese oiler off the Palau Islands; all three torpedoes missed. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi performed repair work for destroyer Teruzuki at Truk, Caroline Islands. She also began the repair work for cruiser Chikuma. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 US freighter Richard H. Alvey and British freighter Empire Galliard departed Iceland in Operation FB. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Whale patrolled the waters south of Bungo Channel between the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 16,000 Ukrainian Jews of Pinsk Ghetto in Poland (now in Belarus) were massacred two days after Heinrich Himmler ordered the liquidation of this ghetto. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Copahee arrived at San Diego, California, United States and began an overhaul. 
0
29 Oct 1942 WW2 Submarine Cisco was laid down at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, United States. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 Operation Title: British attempted to attack German battleship Tirpitz with human torpedoes. The mission was aborted. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 Axis forces at El Alamein, Egypt were now down to about 320 operational tanks with little fuel, while the Allies had about 800 tanks. After sun down, Montgomery launched a diversionary attack at the Point 29 region to pin down Axis forces before he was ready to launch his main offensive elsewhere. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 For Günther von Kluge's birthday, Adolf Hitler gave him a gift of 250,000 Reichsmarks, half of which was for a renovation of his estate. Accompanying the gift was a special permit which allowed him to embark on such a renovation during war time. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 In Belgium, German Gestapo officers rounded up 100 Jewish children and their carers from a children's home in Brussels and moved them to a transit camp in Mechelen; protests, including one from the secretary-general of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, forced the Germans to return the children to the home. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Kuroshio at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 Russian freighter Dekabrist, US freighter John Walker, and British freighter Empire Gilbert departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland in Operation FB. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Whale fired two torpedoes at a Japanese convoy 19 kilometers off Ichie Saki, Wakayama, Japan, scoring one hit. She was given chase by a torpedo boat for the next 17 hours and suffered serious damage. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 All Jewish prisoners of Auschwitz I Concentration Camp were brought out for a roll call; 800 were chosen to be sent to the newly created Buna sub-camp in Monowice to supply workers for the nearly I.G. Farben chemical plant; a number of prisoners too weak to work were sent to the gas chambers. 
0
30 Oct 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Flier was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 The Chilean ambassador to Italy Ramon Briones Luco reported to Chile that Heinrich Himmler had just visited Rome and spoke to Mussolini. According to the ambassador's sources, Himmler requested Mussolini to turn over all Polish, Czech, and Yugoslav Jews in Italy. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 German 21st Panzer Division launched four successive strikes against Australian troops at Point 29 in Egypt, causing heavy casualties on both sides. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 US Marine Scout-Bomber Squadron 132 and US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 began to arrive in sections at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Samidare at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 Having earlier silenced a machine gun post and taken 12 prisoners, Sergeant William Kibby was leading an Australian advance near Alamein, Egypt taking enemy positions with grenades when he was cut down by machine gun fire. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 As Adolf Hitler was confident that Stalingrad, Russia would soon be under German control, he departed the Wehrwolf headquarters near of Vinnytsia, Ukraine and moved to the Wolfsschanze headquarters in Rastenburg, Germany (now Ketrzyn, Poland). 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Daily train service to and from Honolulu established (Oahu Railway & Land Co.) 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 US freighter John H. B. Latrobe and British freighter Chulmleigh departed Iceland in Operation FB. 
0
31 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Grayback sank a Japanese transport off New Ireland, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Aboard Yamato, a festive dinner was held for all captains stationed at Truk to celebrate the victory at the Battle of Santa Cruz. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 German III.Panzer Korps captured Alagir on the Terek River in the Caucasus in southern Russia. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Hiroaki Abe was promoted to the rank of vice admiral. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Rommel began to devise a plan to withdraw his forces at El Alamein, Egypt westward to Fuka, but he would not activate the plan yet. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 After sundown, men of the 2nd Battalion of US 7th Marine Regiment advanced east across the base of Koli Point to the Metapona River on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands to investigate reported Japanese activity. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Captain Yoshio Kamei was named the commanding officer of submarine tender Taigei. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese Navy air units received new numbered designations; for example, the Tainan Air Group was renamed Air Group 251. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 US 8th Pursuit Squadron saw its first combat mission over New Guinea island, shooting down two Japanese Zero fighters while losing one P-40 fighter. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Kittyhawk fighters of No. 112 Squadron RAF spotted 30 German Stuka dive bombers with Bf 109 fighters in escort in North Africa. In the ensuing engagement, 7 Stuka aircraft were shot down by surprise before Bf 109 fighters would react; only 1 Kittyhawk fighter was lost in this attack. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Shortland Island, Solomon Islands. Later in the day, reassigned to a supply unit, she embarked food, ammunition, and troops of Japanese 38th Infantry Division. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for cruiser Chikuma at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Sunfish arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 US freighter Hugh Williamson and British freighter Empire Sky departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland in Operation FB. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 The first tents were erected in what was to become the "Tent City" to augment the barracks at Ramgarh Training Center. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Grayback fired two torpedoes at a Japanese destroyer in the Solomon Sea; both torpedoes missed. 
0
01 Nov 1942 WW2 About 600 Dutch Jews and 977 German Jews from Berlin were gassed at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 Operation Supercharge was launched at El Alamein, Egypt, destroying many Axis tanks and guns. Axis tanks counterattacked at 1100 hours, which failed to stop the Allied advances. During the night, Rommel requested permission from Hitler to fall back, which was denied on the next day. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 USS S-31 departed the Kurile Islands waters and sailed for the Aleutian Islands. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 Two 155mm gun batteries, one of the US Army and the other US Marine Corps, landed in the Lunga Perimeter on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 German submarine U-586 sank British freighter Empire Gilbert of Operation FB southwest of Jan Mayen island, Norway at 0118 hours; 60 were killed, 3 survived. In Iceland, US Liberty ship William Clark and British freighter Empire Scott departed; they were also of Operation FB. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 US 503rd Parachute Battalion was redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, 509th infantry Regiment prior to participating in Operation Torch. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 13.Panzer of German III Panzer Korps reached what will be the farthest point to the southeast reached by the German military when it was halted by Soviet forces 5 miles outside Ordshonikidze, Azerbaijan. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Shortland Island, Solomon Islands and arrived at Tassafaronga Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. She disembarked food, ammunition, and troops of Japanese 38th Infantry Division. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 Shokaku depart Truk, Caroline Islands screened by Destroyer Division 4 with the damaged Zuiho and Chikuma, for Japan for permanent repairs. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for carrier Shokaku at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
02 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo completed her scheduled overhaul at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. During the overhaul, a 4-inch (100-millimeter) gun and two 20-millimeter guns were installed. She immediately began a 3-day training period. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 British Ventura aircraft flew their first combat mission against a factory in Hengelo in the Netherlands. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 US government demanded Finland to cease hostilities against the Soviet Union. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 After sun down, Allies launched renewed attacks at the weakened Axis defensive positions near El Alamein, Egypt. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 Three US Marine battalions attacked Japanese positions west of Point Cruz on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 Chiang Kaishek met with Joseph Stilwell regarding the planned offensive into Burma, pledging 15 divisions by 15 Feb 1943. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Finback sank a small vessel east of Taiwan with gunfire. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Plunger attacked Tenryu off Santa Isabel Island, Solomon Islands; both torpedoes missed. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Shortland Island, Solomon Islands. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 British freighter Daldorch departed Iceland in Operation FB. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 Irako sailed south from Fukajima, Japan with minelayer Nasami in escort. 
0
03 Nov 1942 WW2 Polish political prisoner Heinz Radomski was caught while attempting to escape from sector BIb of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp. He was later executed on 24 Jul 1943 in the washroom of Block 11. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 Axis forces slowly fell back to the west toward Fuka, Egypt, but the rear guard continued to cause heavy casualties against the pursuing Allied troops. Seeing victory was now impossible, Rommel disobeyed Hitler's orders and gave the orders for a general withdraw toward the Egyptian-Libyan border. 
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04 Nov 1942 WW2 The Americans divided the areas of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands under their control into two sectors, with US Marine Corps Brigadier General William Rupertus overseeing the East Sector and US Army Brigadier General Edmund Sebree overseeing the West Sector. On the same day, US Army 164th Infantry Regiment and US Marine 2nd Raider Battalion marched toward Koli Point to reinforce the 7th Marine Regiment. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 All German offensive operations in the Caucasus region of southern Russia was suspended. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 German submarine U-354 damaged US Liberty ship William Clark of Operation FB off Jan Mayen island, Norway at 1333 hours; at 1400 hours, U-354 struck again and sank William Clark (31 were killed, 61 survived). Russian freighter Dekabrist, also of Operation FB, was attacked by German Ju 88 aircraft, suffering fatal damage (she would sink shortly after east of Spitzbergen, Norway). During the day, British freighter Briarwood departed Iceland in Operation FB. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese troops executed Australian aviator Allan Norman and his crew by decapitation at the Tavurvur crater near Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Shortland Islands, Solomon Islands with supplies for troops fighting on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 Workers at Dock No. 4 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii began cutting piles using an underwater circular saw. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Grayback damaged a Japanese transport in the Solomon Sea, hitting her with 1 of 2 torpedoes. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 A transport of 954 Jewish men, women, and children from Westerbork Concentration Camp in occupied Netherlands arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. 50 women were registered in the camp and 904 people were killed in the gas chambers. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps established the Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California, United States under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Millard. 
0
04 Nov 1942 WW2 The United States Congress officially approved the award of a Medal of Honor to aviator Harl Pease. 
0
05 Nov 1942 WW2 German government ordered that all Jews in concentration camps within Germany were to be deported to Auschwitz and Majdanek camps. 
0
05 Nov 1942 WW2 British tanks attempted, in failure, to out-flank the retreating Axis forces in Egypt. 
0
05 Nov 1942 WW2 The US 8th Marine Regiment and the 1st Battalion of US 10th Marine Regiment arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. US Navy Construction Battalion personnel arrived at Aola Bay, about 40 miles east of the Lunga River, to begin construction of a new airfield; they were guarded by two US Army battalions and a number of US Marine raiders. Finally, also on the same date, US Marine Major General Vandegrift ordered the US Marine 2nd Raider Battalion to move toward Koli Point in an attempt to cut off any Japanese fleeing east. 
0
05 Nov 1942 WW2 German intelligence reported that a large Allied fleet had departed Gibraltar. 
0
05 Nov 1942 WW2 British freighter Chulmleigh of Operation FB got stuck on a reef off Norway at 2300 hours. 
0
05 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands and disembarked supplies. 
0
05 Nov 1942 WW2 Vichy French forces on Madagascar surrendered. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 Joseph Stalin spoke to the Congress of Soviet Deputies, warning the US and UK that a failure to open a second front might well end badly for all freedom-loving countries. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 The US 7th Marine Regiment crossed the Nalimbiu River near Koli Point on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, attacking eastward. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Commander Neil Israel was named the commanding officer of HMS Dianthus. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 British freighter Chulmleigh of Operation FB, stuck on a reef off Norway, was abandoned by her crew at 0400 hours; at 1558 hours, German submarine U-625 found Chulmleigh and destroyed her with gunfire. At 2224 hours, U-625 found British freighter Empire Sky, also of Operation FB, and sank her south of Spitzbergen, Norway at 2224 hours, killing all 60 aboard. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Gunnel conducted reconnaissance in Fedhala Roads off French North Africa. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 About 600 British prisoners of war arrived at Kokopo, New Britain as slave laborers. Most of them would soon be sent to Ballale island in the Solomon Islands to build an airfield. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Shortland Island, Solomon Islands. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Dwight Eisenhower flew from London, England, United Kingdom to his headquarters in Gibraltar from where he would direct Operation Torch. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Yokosuka, Japan and entered the navy yard immediately for a long period of extensive repairs and refit. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Ominato Guard District, Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 The Davao Penal Colony on Mindanao, Philippine Islands took in its second group of American and Filipino prisoners, numbered at about 1,000. 
0
06 Nov 1942 WW2 Groves and Oppenheimer visited Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States and agreed that it was suitable as the location for Site Y for the Manhattan Project. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 In the morning, British 7th Armoured Division clashed with the German 21st Panzer Division about 24 kilometers southwest of Sidi Haneish, Egypt. British tanks won the engagement, destroying many tanks and guns, but failed to prevent the Germans from withdrawing to Mersa Matruh. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 Vichy French General Antoine Béthouart attempted a failed coup d'etat in North Africa, which alarmed defenses. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Gar ended her fourth war patrol. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps chief Major General Thomas Holcomb approved the establishment of a women's reserve. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps Brigadier General Louis Woods relieved US Marine Corps Brigadier General Roy Geiger as the commander of air operations at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 German destroyer Z27 sank Soviet ship Donbass; 49 were kiled, 16 survived and captured by the Germans. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Shortland Island, Solomon Islands with supplies for troops fighting on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler departed the Wolfsschanze headquarters at Rastenburg, Ostpreußen, Germany (now Ketrzyn, Poland) for München, traveling aboard his private train Amerika. 
0
07 Nov 1942 WW2 A transport of 465 Jews arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland from the Westerbork Concentration Camp in the Netherlands. During the selection all of them were said to be unable to work, thus were all sent for one of the two provisional gas chambers. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied forces attacked French ports of Casablanca, Oran, and Algeria in North Africa during Operation Torch. The French garrison at Safi, near Casablanca, surrendered to the Americans; meanwhile, Algiers surrendered at 1800 hours. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 Axis defenses in Egypt fell back to Sidi Barrani. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 US 152nd Infantry Regiment departed Nouméa, New Caledonia for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 William Halsey inspected Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Staying overnight, he personally experienced a Japanese naval bombardment which he later admitted filled him with fright. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 The 164th Infantry Regiment and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the US 7th Marine Regiment moved east toward Koli Point on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in an attempt to envelope the Japanese forces in that area. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 The first combat victory by the new Seafire naval fighter occurred when a New Zealander, Sub-Lieutenant A. S. Long, shot down a Vichy French Martin 167 bomber over Mers-el-Kébir harbour in French Algeria. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Gunnel used infra-red signals to guide ships to a invasion beach in Operation Torch. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 USS S-31 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her fifth war patrol. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Tassafaronga Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands and disembarked supplies. On her return voyage to Shortland Island, Solomon Islands, she was attacked by US motor torpedo boats PT-37, PT-39, and PT-61, but they failed to cause any damage. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group 11 came on board 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her second war patrol. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Grayback attacked a Japanese convoy in the Solomon Sea; all torpedoes missed. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 25 Jewish professional watchmakers were transferred from Majdanek Concentration Camp to Auschwitz Concentration Camp; they were later transferred to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp where they would work in a workshop to sort and repair watches stolen from killed Jews for use by German troops. 
0
08 Nov 1942 WW2 Many units of the German Luftflotte 4 were transferred from Stalingrad, Russia to North Africa. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 Vichy French government broke off diplomatic relations with the United States. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 American troops continued to attack the French fort of Kasbah, French Morocco. Meanwhile, in French Algeria, the French garrison at Oran surrendered in the face of overwhelming British naval power and American airborne attack in its rear. French Admiral Darlan signed an armistice with American General Dwight Eisenhower, but fighting would continue for two more days. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied troops captured Sidi Barrani, Egypt. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Kenneth Anderson was named the commanding officer of the British First Army in North Africa. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 HMS Gardenia (Lieutenant M. M. Firth) sank in a collision with the minesweeping trawler HMS Fluellen off Oran, Algeria. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 The US 7th Marine Regiment and the 2nd Brigade of the US Army 164th Infantry Regiment began an attack on the Japanese troops at Gavaga Creek, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler informed Italy, via Galeazzo Ciano, that he intended to occupy Vichy France soon. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Shortland Island, Solomon Islands. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Ariake at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 Workers at Dock No. 4 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii began placing rocks, mostly 3-inch quarry waste, at the bottom of the dock. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe combat aircraft consisting of 27 Bf 109G fighters from 1/JG53 and 24 Ju 87D Stuka dive bombers of II.StG 3 were transferred to Tunisia from Sicily, Italy. The Tunis airfields were found to be in good condition with concrete runways and revetments. Once a ground organisation had been created, relays of Ju 52/3m aircraft would commence the movement of ground troops into the region. On the front lines, Axis troops under Walter Nehring attacked Vichy French positions as Vichy French forces in North Africa were apparently switching sides to aide the Allies. 
0
09 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Columbia departed Norfolk, Virginia, United States. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Buin, Bougainville. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 French submarine Le Tonnant attacked USS Ranger off French Morocco at 1000 hours; all four torpedoes missed, and the American counterattack was equally ineffective. On land, American troops captured the French fort of Kasbah, which led to the fall of Port Lyautey. At Casablanca, American ships sortied to respond to an attack by French sloops only to be surprised by an operational Jean Bart; aircraft from USS Ranger was launched to sink Jean Bart in shallow water by bombing. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied forces in French Algeria pushed into Tunisia. In response, Axis transport aircraft were being prepared to bring in reinforcements. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 British Prime Minister Churchill said, in a speech, "ow this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 The US Marine Corps established the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point, North Carolina, United States under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Calvin Freeman. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 The US 2nd Marine Regiment, US 8th Marine Regiment, and the US Army 164th Regiment attacked unsuccessfully westward from Point Cruz toward Kokumbona on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 As Pierre Laval visited Adolf Hitler in Germany, Hitler told the French Prime Minister that Germany intended on moving its forces into Vichy France and Tunisia; Hitler did not share the timetable and gave no indication that it was to happen soon. Laval did not protest. At 2030 hours, Hitler gave the order to launch the occupation on the following day. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 Admiral Soemu Toyoda stepped down as the commanding officer of Kure Naval District, Japan. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 77th P-40F fighters of USAAF 33rd Fighter Group launched from USS Chenango and proceeded to the French airfield at Port Lyantey, French Morocco. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Whale began a period of repair at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii. 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Mail service (guard) by plane established between Kaneohe, Pearl Harbor, and Barber's Point 
0
10 Nov 1942 WW2 USAAF 12th Bombardment Squadron ceased anti-submarine operations from St. Croix Airfield in the US Virgin Islands. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Buin, Bougainville. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Germany withdrew 25 submarines from the North Atlantic to attack the Allied shipping off North Africa; on the same day, submarine U-173 damaged destroyer USS Hambleton, oiler USS Winooski and troopship USS Joseph Hewes near Casablanca, French Morocco, sinking Joseph Hewes and killing 100. On land, the French garrison at Casablanca officially surrendered to the Americans. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 German 13.Panzer Division managed to avoid encirclement near Ordshonikidse, Ukraine. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied troops pushed all Axis troops out of Egypt. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 British 36th Infantry Brigade landed at Bougie, Algeria unopposed. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Bernard Montgomery was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Enterprise departed Nouméa, New Caledonia with welders still working aboard. 
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11 Nov 1942 WW2 The Japanese force at Gavaga Creek, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, under a combined US Marine and US Army attack since 9 Nov, began to fall back toaward the Metapona River to avoid envelopment. Meanwhile, the US Army 182nd Infantry Regiment (less the 3rd Batalion) arrived at Guadalcanal. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack attacked a Japanese transport off the Palau Islands; all four torpedoes missed. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Chuichi Nagumo was named the commanding officer of the Sasebo Naval District. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 USS S-31 departed Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Helena made rendezvous with a convoy of transports off San Cristobal, Solomon Islands and escorted the convoy to Guadalcanal. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Vichy France became occupied by German and Italian troops in order to defend against a potential Allied invasion. The American embassy in Vichy was seized by German troops by force. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Italian naval infantry landed on Corsica, France in Operation C2. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 Captain Takahiko Kiyota, commanding officer of Nachi, was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in preparation for assignment as a cruiser division commander. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 German 6.Armee succeeded in reaching the Volga River in Stalingrad, Russia, with a 600-yard frontage near the Red October steel factory. In Germany, Hitler announced during Beer Hall Putsch celebration that Stalingrad, Russia was almost in German hands, but that he did not want to keep the city just because of its name. 
0
11 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Alabama began her shakedown cruise in the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the United States. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Rabaul. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 German submarine U-130 sank troopships USS Tasker H. Bliss, USS Hugh L. Scott, and USS Edward Rutledge with torpedoes, killing 74. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 British 3rd Parachute Battalion conducted an airborne attack on Bone, Algeria, capturing the airfield. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 6,000 American troops landed on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 US Marine Corps ace Joseph Foss destroyed two Japanese Army G4M medium bombers and a Reisen fighter bringing his tally to 22 enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 The Japanese 38th Division departed the Shortland Islands in the Solomon Islands for Guadalcanal. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 US Marine Aircraft Group 11 completed its transfer to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze engaged with USS Cushing and USS Laffey during the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, and then escorted the crippled battleship Hiei. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 The US 9th Air Force was established in the Middle East. 
0
12 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Helena fired on attacking Japanese aircraft at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 USS S-28 began an overhaul, during which she would receive a fathometer, a Kleinschmidt distilling unit, and SJ radar. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Norman Scott passed away. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Daniel Callahan passed away. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied troops captured Tobruk, Libya. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 In Algeria, men of British No. 6 Commando captured the harbor of Bone, while other troops captured Djedjelli. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Damaged in the naval battle before dawn, Hiei struggled to return to base. After persistent attacks by aircraft attacks, it was decided that she was to be scuttled. After all men were taken off, she was scuttled by torpedoes north of Savo Island in the Solomon Islands. She became the first Japanese battleship to be lost in combat. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 The First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ended before dawn with the US Navy task force under Rear Admiral Daniel Callahan driving off a Japanese naval bombardment group. After dark, Japanese cruisers challenged the US naval forces again by coming close to sure and bombarding Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 US Navy pilot Lieutenant H. S. Blake detected Vichy French submarine Le Conquerant 700 miles off Casablanca, French Morocco, which refused to answer recognition signals when challenged. Blake attacked, blowing off the conning tower, and sank the submarine with all aboard lost. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler promised France that Germany would leave the French fleet at Toulon, France alone. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Hauptmann Wilhelm Antrup and Oberleutnant Albert Koller of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese troops arrived at Munda Point, New Georgia, to construct an airfield. Detecting this movement, three squadrons of US B-24 bombers flew to Iron Range airfield in northern Queensland, Australia to stage an attack on the future airfield. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Shortland Island, Solomon Islands. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Helena detected Japanese warships with her radar off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands at 0124 hours, but poor communications and general confusion caused a lack of proper action from the task force. The First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was joined after the two sides sighted each other. USS Helena assisted in the sinking of destroyer Akatsuki and seriously damaged destroyer Amatsukaze. Captain Gilbert Hoover, commanding officer of USS Helena and the senior surviving US officer, gave the order for all Americans to disengage from battle after 40 minutes of fighting. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Carrier Crown Point, still under construction at Camden, New Jersey, United States, was renamed Langley. 
0
13 Nov 1942 WW2 Carrier Oriskany was renamed Wasp while still under construction at Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. 
0
14 Nov 1942 WW2 After dark, the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal began with Japanese ships wiping out the American destroyer screen. 
0
14 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish attacked a Japanese cruiser in the Pacific Ocean; all six torpedoes fired missed. 
0
14 Nov 1942 WW2 Three squadrons of US B-24 bombers moved from Iron Range airfield in northern Queensland, Australia to Port Moresby, Australian Papua and prepared for a strike on the under-construction airfield at Munda Point, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. 
0
14 Nov 1942 WW2 Tadashi Kaneko was shot down and killed in the Solomon Islands. 
0
14 Nov 1942 WW2 Two transports containing a total of 2,500 Jews from Ciechanow ghettos, Poland arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp; 633 men and 135 were registered into the camp, and the remaining 1,732 were killed in gas chambers. On the same day, 1,500 Jews from Bialystok District 2 in Poland arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp; 82 men and 379 women were registered into the came, and the remaining 839 were killed in gas chambers. Finally, the SS doctors of Auschwitz Concentration Camp sent 110 prisoners from the Auschwitz I hospital to Birkenau Concentration Camp to be killed in the gas chambers. 
0
14 Nov 1942 WW2 The Taihoku Prisoners of War Camp No. 6 near Taihoku (now Taipei) was opened; on the same day, British prisoners of war from Singapore arrived on Taiwan via Kirun (now Keelung), destined for this camp. 
0
14 Nov 1942 WW2 The Kinkaseki Prisoners of War Camp in northeastern Taiwan was opened. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 The Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ended in the early hours of the day, with the Americans fighting off the Japanese attack with effective use of radar; four surviving Japanese transports were able to accomplish their missions by delivering 2,000 troops to Guadalcanal, albeit without most of their heavy equipment. During the day, Henderson Field a Marine Corps Air Base and was placed under the command of Colonel William Fox. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied forces captured Derna, Libya, along with the nearby Martuba airfield, which immediately became the new forward base for conducting air operations. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 British troops captured Tebarka, Tunisia and American paratroopers captured Youks-les-Bains, Algeria. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 Captain Katsuji Hattori was named the commanding officer of light carrier Hosho. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 US B-24 bombers attacked the Buin-Faisi anchorage near the under-construction Japanese airfield at Munda Point, Bougainville, Solomon Islands; the attack resulted in minimal damage to the Japanese while two US aircraft were lost (1 to battle damage, another in an emergency landing on a beach). 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Shortland Island, Solomon Islands. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 The US battleship Washington sank by gunfire the Japanese battleship Kirishima off Savo Island in the Solomon Islands. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 Gabriel Auphan attempted, in failure, to convince Jean de Laborde to sail the French fleet out of Toulon, France. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 In Britain, church bells pealed for the first time since Jun 1940 to celebrate Montgomery's British 8th Army's victory at El Alamein, Egypt. 
0
15 Nov 1942 WW2 The TDN assault drone took its first flight. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 Georg von Bismarck was promoted to the rank of Generalleutnant posthumously. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 American destroyers sank German submarine U-173 off Casablanca, French Morocco. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 The first US Marine night fighter squadron, VMF(N)-531, was commissioned at Cherry Point, North Carolina, United States under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Frank Schwable. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 Oberfeldwebel Karl Lipp of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 Two or three US B-24 bombers were destroyed while a further two were damaged during an accident during a takeoff at the Iron Range airfield in Queensland, Australia. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Kuroshio at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 The Italian Air Force merged its "Loreto" combat engineers battalion and the 1st Air Force Paratroop Unit to form the 1st Air Force Assault Regiment "Amedeo d'Aosta" at Marsala, Sicily, Italy. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 Captain Akira Sone was named the commanding officer of Nachi. 
0
16 Nov 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort was transferred to the US Navy Office of the Chief of Naval Operations based in Washington DC, United States. Later in the day, he wrote a personal letter to his former subordinates in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, noting that his relief was the result of politics, and asking them to be loyal to his successor William Goggins, who was not part of the bureaucratic in-fighting. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 American troops captured Gafsa, Tunisia and British 36th Brigade engaged German forces at Djebel Abiod, Tunisia. German General Walter Nehring arrived in Tunis, Tunisia to lead a counterattack against the Allies. The Italians formally absorbed the French Protectorate of Tunisia into the borders of Italian North Africa. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 British Admiral Sir Max Horton was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of Western Approaches Command. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell gave up the amphibious component to the planned assault on Arakan Peninsula, Burma (largely due to the lack of landing craft, the majority of which were assigned to Operation Torch in North Africa and to the Pacific Theater), and told Noel Irwin to focus on ground assault through Mayu Hills only. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 The Americans launched ten bombers to attack Rabaul, New Britain, but due to stormy weather only five of them arrived over the Japanese base, and only one was successful in dropping its payload, hitting nothing. One of the ten airfield failed to return after the mission, having disappeared en route. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied troops advanced in Australian Papua towards Buna and Gona. Meanwhile, the 3rd Battalion of Japanese 229th Infantry Regiment and 300 reinforcements landed near Gona. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Ikazuchi at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 The Stoneage convoy departed Alexandria, Egypt for Malta. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 Chuichi Nagumo was granted audience with Emperor Showa. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 Allied convoy QP-15 departed Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. It was consisted of 28 freighters and was escorted by one anti-aircraft vessel, five minesweepers, four corvettes, and two destroyers. 
0
17 Nov 1942 WW2 British Admiral Max Horton was appointed Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches Command with his Headquarters at Northways, North London, England, United Kingdom. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 Men of the US Army and US Marine attacked Japanese positions near Kokumbona and the Poha River at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 Marshal Philippe Pétain signed a constitutional document permitting Prime Minister Pierre Laval to make laws and issue decrees on his own signature only. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 William Halsey was promoted to the rank of admiral. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 After an arduous march over rugged mountainous terrain, during which the Commanding Officer had suffered a heart attack, 2nd Battalion of US 126th Infantry Regiment reached Pongani, southeast of Buna, Australian Papua. Less than half the battalion were still fit for action. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyers Murasame, Amatsukaze, and Asagumo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 Gabriel Auphan resigned from his position as the head of the French Navy. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 I-168 arrived at Kure, Japan and entered drydock for repairs. 
0
18 Nov 1942 WW2 About 1,000 Jews from ghettos of Grodno, Byelorussia arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland; 165 men and 65 women were registered, and about 770 were gassed. 
0
19 Nov 1942 WW2 A raid on the German heavy water plant at Telemark, Norway, came to grief when the gliders carrying 34 commandos crashed. After torturous interrogations, all survivors were shot by the Germans. 
0
19 Nov 1942 WW2 Axis forces under General Walter Nehring attacked and penetrated the Vichy-French defense line at Majaz al Bab, Tunisia. 
0
19 Nov 1942 WW2 Adolf Galland was promoted to the rank of Generalmajor. 
0
19 Nov 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell announced that British involvement in the planned upcoming offensive into Burma would be scaled back to a ground invasion of Akyab island only. 
0
19 Nov 1942 WW2 Kenneth Walker unsuccessfully attempted to convince George Kenney to use delayed fuses for aerial bombs; Kenney preferred instantaneous fuses. 
0
19 Nov 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan at 1745 hours. 
0
19 Nov 1942 WW2 Having fought the Germans to a standstill, the Soviets launched a surprise counter-attack north and south of Stalingrad, Russia designed to encircle Friedrich Paulus's German 6th Army bogged down in the city. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler relinquished personal command of Armeegruppe A to General Ewald von Kleist. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 British troops entered the city of Benghazi, Libya, and found ports and facilities destroyed by Germans before their withdrawal. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 The Alaska-Canadian Highway was dedicated. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 British government scientist Dr. R. V. Jones warned Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) of possible new German weapons, ie. rockets, that could threaten Britain. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 HMAS Warramunga (I44) was commissioned into service with Commander E. F. V. Dechaineux in command. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 Soviet destroyer Sokrushitelny was damaged and Soviet destroyer Baku capsized in very heavy weather while escorting Allied convoy QP-15. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing light cruiser Isuzu at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Finback arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 Nachi departed Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan at 0840 hours. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 One day after the first Soviet offensive was launched at Stalingrad, Russia, a second one was launched south of the city against positions held by Romanian 4th Army Corps. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 Six He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe group KG 55 flew an armed reconnaissance mission from their base at Morozovskaya, Russia over Stalingrad, Russia; two aircraft failed to return. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi was named the commanding officer of the Mako Guard District at Pescadores islands, Taiwan, which was elevated from its previous position as a third tier naval port. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy began arriving in Tunisia from Corsica, France. 
0
20 Nov 1942 WW2 German paratroop Engineer Battalion "Witzig" and Itlaian 1st Paratroop Battalion were deployed together at Djebel Abjod, Tunisia. 
0
21 Nov 1942 WW2 Colonel General Eberhard von Mackensen replaced Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist as the commander of the German 1.Panzerarmee. 
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21 Nov 1942 WW2 Philip was commissioned into service. 
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21 Nov 1942 WW2 Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura met with the staff of the Combined Fleet at Truk, Caroline Islands and decided to give up Buna, Australian Papua. 
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21 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
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21 Nov 1942 WW2 German Paratroop Engineer Battalion "Witzig" and Italian 1st Paratroop Battalion attacked British troops near Djebel Abjod, Tunisia; initially successful, they suffered heavy casualties when the British counterattacked later in the day. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 The Japanese halted a combined US Army and US Marine attack at the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 While escorting Allied convoy QP-15, Soviet destroyer Sokrushitelny foundered after sustaining damage in heavy weather. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 Paul von Kleist was made the commanding officer of German Army Group A. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Shortland Island, Solomon Islands. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Ikazuchi at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 USS S-35 set sail for the Aleutian Islands. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 The encirclement of the German 6th Army around Stalingrad, Russia was completed when Soviet 4th Mechanized Corps and 4th Tank Corps met at Kalach-na-Donu after smashing through positions held by Romanian troops. 
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22 Nov 1942 WW2 Submarine Puffer was launched, sponsored by Mrs. Ruth B. Lyons, who was the granddaughter of the oldest employee of the submarine's builder, Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Christopher Jacobson, Sr. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 Doris Miller of Pearl Harbor fame began a war bond tour in the United States. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 The vital French West African port of Dakar came under Allied control when the Vichy governor changed sides. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 Axis forces evacuated Agedabia, Libya. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 German submarine U-625 sank British freighter Goolistan at 0145 hours; shortly after, U-601 sank Russian merchant ship Kuznets Lesov; all 82 people aboard the two ships were killed. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 Captain Charles Purcell Cecil was named the commanding officer of USS Helena, relieving Captain Gilbert Corwin Hoover. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Grampus arrived at Australia, ending her fourth war patrol. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 Tenryu arrived at Rabaul, New Britain and was named the flagship of Cruiser Division 18 under Rear Admiral Mitsuharu Matsuyama. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 Major General Tomitaro Horii, his chief of staff, and another staff officer died when the canoe on which they traveled aboard capsized in the Kumusi River in Australian Papua. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Sunfish departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: First dental office. Equipment: one portable field outfit. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 The "Riverside" tent area was set up 5 miles west of Ramgarh Training Center in India to house the inflow of troops. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Kakumabetsu, Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands at 0620 hours and departed at 1400 hours. 
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23 Nov 1942 WW2 The 1219C2 fighting utility knife was adopted by the United States Marine Corps. 
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24 Nov 1942 WW2 During the night, Japanese bombers struck Darwin, Australia. 
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24 Nov 1942 WW2 US Marines advanced to Poho, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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24 Nov 1942 WW2 The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy completed its transfer from Corsica, France to Tunisia. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 Chuyo was commissioned into service. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 Over the course of the past 3 days, aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron, US Navy Patrol Squadron 12, US Army 12th, 68th, and 70th Fighter Squadrons, and US Army 69th Bombardment Squadron arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered the seizure of the French fleet at Toulon, France. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Utmost (Lieutenant John Walter David Coombe) was depth charged and sunk by the Italian gunboat Groppo off Sicily, Italy. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 USS S-35 arrived at Dutch Harbor, US Territory of Alaska, ending her fourth war patrol. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 Ramgarh Trainin Center in India established a special units section; it was to absorb the previously established Chinese language section. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 The first deportation of Norwegian Jews to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland took place. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 He 111 aircraft from Tatsinskaya Airfield and Morozovskaya Airfield in Rostov Oblast, Russia flew 75 tons of supplies, mostly fuel, into Stalingrad, Russia. 
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25 Nov 1942 WW2 The American newspaper New York Times published an announcement on page ten by Rabbi Wise about the slaughter of two million Jews. 
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26 Nov 1942 WW2 Yugoslavian Partisans convened the first meeting of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia at Bihac in northwestern Bosnia. 
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26 Nov 1942 WW2 British 36th Brigade reached Jefna, Tunisia and ran into a German ambush, suffering heavy casualties. Meanwhile, British 11th Brigade captured Majaz al Bab unopposed. The 1st Battalion of US 1st Armored Regiment boldly raided the Axis airfield at Djedeida, shooting up 23 Ju 87 dive bombers and 14 Bf 109 fighters. 
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26 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Asagumo at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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26 Nov 1942 WW2 German government ordered that all Jewish forced laborers in the armament industry in Germany were to be deported to Auschwitz and Majdanek camps. 
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26 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Skipjack arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her fifth war patrol. 
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26 Nov 1942 WW2 Low cloud ceiling of 200 meters and periodic snow showers hindered German ability to supply troops in Stalingrad, Russia on this day. 
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26 Nov 1942 WW2 While stationed at Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States, Robert Johnson and fellow members of the USAAF 61st Fighter Squadron received orders for overseas duty. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Axis forces stiffened resistance on the approaches to Tunis, Tunisia. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 German forces in Tunisia counterattacked, capturing 286 men from the British 11th Brigade. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Arthur Coningham was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Germans occupied naval base at Toulon; French Navy scuttled warships to avoid German capture. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 André Marquis was captured by the Germans. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Dupleix received extensive damage as her own crew set off demolition charges to prevent German capture as the Germans entered Toulon, France. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Jean de Vienne was scuttled at Toulon, France. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Marseillaise was scuttled by her own crew at Toulon, France. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Foch was scuttled at Toulon, France. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Colbert was scuttled at Toulon, France to prevent German capture. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Algérie was scuttled at Toulon, France. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 Commanded by General Erich von Manstein, the German Armeegruppe Don was formed in southern Russia in order to relieve the trapped German 6th Army at Stalingrad, Russia. 
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27 Nov 1942 WW2 USS S-31 arrived at San Diego, California, United States to provide submarine training services at the West Coast Sound School. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 Infantry of British 11th Brigade and tanks of US 1st Armored Division attacked Djedeida, Tunisia unsuccessfully, losing 19 tanks in the process. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Gar began her fifth war patrol. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Ariake at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 Nachi arrived at Kakumabetsu, Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands in the morning and departed at 1200 hours. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 About 1,000 Jews from Ciechanów ghettos in Poland arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp; after the selection 325 men and 169 women were registered in the camp, and the remaining about 506 people were gassed. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 Air Marshal Trafford L. Leigh-Mallory took over RAF Fighter Command from Sholto Douglas. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 Joseph Rochefort arrived at the Federal Building in San Francisco, California, United States and reported to the headquarters of the Western Sea Frontier. He would soon be asked to establish and command a naval intelligence center that covered the entire Alaska-California coastline. 
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28 Nov 1942 WW2 In the United States, Rabbi Stephen Wise held a press conference on the Nazi extermination of European Jews. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 Air Vice Marshal J. O. Andrews became the commanding officer of the No. 12 Group RAF. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 The United States began to ration coffee. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 Despite serious wounds, RAF Pilot Officer Ron Middleton flew his Stirling bomber back from Turin allowing four crewmen to bale out over Kent before he ran out of fuel. Knowing he could not land and anxious to avoid civilian casualties, he turned the aircraft towards the coast and went into the English Channel with two seriously wounded crewmen still on board. Their bodies were recovered on the next day but Middleton's was not found until it is washed up on the coast in the following February. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 The Soviet Transcaucasus Front launched an offensive against the Germans along the Terek River in the Caucasus region in southern Russia; it was to be halted within days. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 Top American leadership in Washington DC agreed to relieve the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands with the US Army 25th Infantry Division. After sundown, off Tassafaronga Point, US Navy vessels turned back a small group of Japanese destroyers attempting to supply the Japanese garrison. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Murasame at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Pollack arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her fourth war patrol. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan for her 8th voyage with the Japanese Navy. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded German troop positions near Feodonisi, Russia and was damaged by German naval mines. 
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29 Nov 1942 WW2 British 2nd Parachute Battalion was dropped near Depienne airfield, Tunisia. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 Near Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, US cruisers ambushed a night time fast destroyer convoy led personally by Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka. Tanaka's quick thinking led to a Japanese victory in the Battle of Tassafaronga. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 HMCS Iroquois (G89) was commissioned into service with Commander W. B. L. Holms in command. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 Submarine Mingo was launched, sponsored by Mrs. Henry L. Pence. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 Submarine tender Taigei completed her conversion work and was recommissioned into service as light aircraft carrier Ryuho with Captain Nobishiro Soma in command. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 Angry at the slow progress in Australian Papua, General Douglas MacArthur dismissed the commander of US 32nd Infantry Division, Major General Harding, and replaced him with his corps commander, Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger, who he instructed "to take Buna or not come back alive". 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 Irako transited the Bungo Strait between Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo attacked a Japanese freighter with one escorting destroyer; all torpedoes missed. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 German Luftwaffe VIII. Fliegerkorps was relieved of all its combat duties. Instead, its aircraft stationed across Rostov Oblast, Russia were ordered to focus on flying supplies into Stalingrad, Russia. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 British 2nd Parachute Battalion reached high ground at Prise de L'Eau in Tunisia one day after having been dropped into the country. 
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30 Nov 1942 WW2 Ships of Allied convoy QP-15 began to arrive at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 Germany established the Camp for the custody of Polish youth in Lodz (Polen-Jugendverwahrlager Litzmannstadt), Poland. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 US Army Lieutenant General Eichelberger was ordered to Papau, New Guinea, to capture Buna. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 USS Arizona was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 Armidale was decommissioned from service. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 Stuart was decommissioned from service. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 The US 1st Marine Aviation Engineer Battalion relieved the US 6th Naval Construction Battalion on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was named the commanding officer of IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 5. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 Walter Stettner von Grabenhofen was named the commanding officer of 1st Mountain Division. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 Soviet Navy Commissar Nikolai Kuznetsov wrote to the Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet demanding a report on why so many servicemen were being arrested on false charges. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 German 10th Panzer Division launched a counterattack in Tunisia, pushing back British 11th Brigade. Meanwhile, British 2nd Parachute Brigade crossed Miliane River south of Oudna airfield and continued northwest toward El Fedja. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 The "Grado" Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy was attached to German Army units in Tunisia. 
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01 Dec 1942 WW2 Ira Eaker was named the commanding officer of the US Eighth Air Force in Britain, replacing Carl Spaatz. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 British Army Major Herbert Le Patourel won the Victoria Cross for single-handedly taking an enemy position near Tunis in which he was seriously wounded. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 US Air Transport Command began flying "the Hump" into China. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 General Hitoshi Imamura arrived in Rabaul, New Britain to take command of the Japanese South Pacific Area and the Seventeenth Army. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 Georgios Tsolakoglou was removed as the Prime Minister of the German puppet Hellenic State. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 Two transports arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp on this date. The first transport from Westerbork Concentration Camp in the Netherlands arrived with 826 Jews; 77 of them were registered into the camp, and the remaining 749 were gassed. The second transport from Grodno ghetto arrived with 1,000 Jews; 178 men and 60 women were registered into the camp, and the remaining 762 were gassed. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 British 2nd Parachute Battalion engaged elements of 3rd Battalion of German 5th Parachute Regiment at El Fedja, Tunisia. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 Enrico Fermi's atomic reactor Chicago Pile-1 at the University of Chicago, Illinois, United States initiated the world's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. 
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02 Dec 1942 WW2 USS Harder was commissioned into service with Commander Samuel Dealey in command. 
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03 Dec 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler approved the plan to convert the captured and incomplete French cruiser De Grasse into a light aircraft carrier. 
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03 Dec 1942 WW2 Approximately 300 Jewish prisoners from the Sonderkommando who dug up and burned the 107,000 bodies buried in mass graves were taken from Auschwitz II-Birkenau to the main camp by SS guards. They were led to the gas chamber in Crematorium I and killed. 
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03 Dec 1942 WW2 In southern Russia, German Armeegruppe Don received several divisions from Western Europe in preparation for the relief operation against Stalingrad, Russia, Operation Winter Tempest. 
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03 Dec 1942 WW2 British 2nd Parachute Battalion reached Ksar Tyr, Tunisia. 
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03 Dec 1942 WW2 All remaining ships of Allied convoy QP-15 arrived at Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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