This is a timeline of events that occurred during World War II in 1942.
January 1: Twenty-six Allied countries signed the Declaration by United Nations during the Arcadia Conference.
2: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. They also take Cavite naval base, and the American and Filipino troops continue the retreat into Bataan.
5: The beginning of a major Red Army offensive under General Zhukov.
6: The British advance continues to El Agheila, on the western edge of Libya.
In his State of the Union speech, President Roosevelt promises more aid to Britain, including planes and troops.
7: The Soviet Winter counter-offensive comes to a halt, after having pushed the exhausted and freezing German Army back 62–155 mi from Moscow. 'Operation Barbarossa' had failed.
Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
Heavy air attacks on Malta; it is estimated that the bomb tonnage dropped on the island is twice that dropped on London.
8: Japanese troops penetrated the outer lines of defense at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.
9: Japanese advances in Borneo met with little opposition.
10: Japan declares war on the Netherlands.
11: Japanese troops capture Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. is torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-6 480 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor Japan invades the Dutch East Indies.
13: The Red Army takes Kirov and Medya, as its counter-offensive continues.
The German U-boat offensive comes closer to the US shores starting the Second Happy Time.
Allied governments-in-exile in London issue a declaration entitled Punishment for War Crimes demanding post-war legal retribution for atrocities in German-occupied Europe.
15: German authorities begin to deport Jews from the Lodz ghettos to the Chelmno Concentration Camp.
19: Japanese forces take large numbers of British troops prisoner, north of Singapore.
20: Nazis at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin decide that the "Final Solution to the Jewish problem" is relocation, and later extermination.
Japanese bomb Singapore as their troops approach the city.
21: Rommel's Afrika Korps begins a surprise counter-offensive at El Agheila; his troops, with new reinforcements and tanks, capture Agedabia, then push north to Beda Fomm.: At the Vilna Ghetto the Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye a Jewish partisan organisation is established, including Aba Kovner.
23: The Battle of Rabaul, on New Britain begins.
24: American troops land in Samoa, as part of a strategy to stop the Japanese advance in the Pacific.
25: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
Japanese troops invade the Solomon Islands.
26: The first American forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
27: The British withdraw all troops back into Singapore.
28: Brazil breaks off relations with the Axis powers.
29: Rommel's Afrika Korps recaptures Benghazi, Libya in his drive east. For the next few months, the two sides will rest and rearm.
30: Hitler speaks at the Berlin Sportpalast and threatens the Jews of the world with annihilation; he also blames the failure of the offensive in The Soviet Union on the weather.
31: The Japanese take the port of Moulamein, Burma; they now threaten Rangoon as well as Singapore.
On the Eastern front, the Germans are in retreat at several points.
The last organised Allied forces leave Malaya, ending the 54-day battle.
February 1: Vidkun Quisling becomes the Nazi-aligned Minister-President of Norway
Rommel's forces reach El Gazala, Libya, near the border with Egypt; during a "Winter lull" he will remain there.
The United States Navy conducts the Marshalls-Gilberts raids attacking Jaluit, Mili, and Makin (Butaritari) islands as well as Kwajalein, Wotje, and Taroa.
United States automobile industry stops production and switches over the coming 12 months to producing war materials
2: General Joseph ("Vinegar Joe") Stilwell is named Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek and Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces in China.
3: Japanese air power conducts airstrikes against Java, especially the naval base at Surabaya.
Port Moresby, New Guinea is bombed by the Japanese, increasing the threat to Australia posed by Japan.
7: Americans continue their defence of Bataan against General Homma's troops.
9: British troops are now in full retreat into Singapore for a final defence.
Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
10: The cruise liner catches fire and capsizes in New York harbour. Although the cause is probably a welder's torch, various conspiracies are imagined in the media.
11: The "Channel Dash" – The German battleships and , with the heavy cruiser , rush out of Brest through the English Channel to northern ports, including Wilhelmshaven, Germany; the British naval units fail to sink any of them.
13: The battle for Bataan continues, Battle of Pasir Panjang is fought (13-14/02), Commonwealth forces lost the strategic ridge.
15: Singapore surrendered to Japanese forces; this is arguably the most devastating loss in British military history.
16: Being discussed in high American government circles are plans for the internment of Japanese-Americans living generally in the western US.
The Japanese commit the Banka Island Massacre in which they open fire on Australian military nurses, killing 21.
17: Orders are given for Rangoon to be evacuated as Japanese forces approach.
19: Japanese aircraft attack Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
A military conscription law is passed in Canada.
20: Japanese troops cross the important Salween River in Burma.
Japanese invade Bali and Timor by a combined use of paratroops and amphibious troops.
21: The American Air Corps is now firmly established at bases in the UK.
22: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur to evacuate the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
25: The internment of Japanese-American citizens in the Western United States begins as fears of invasion increase.
Princess Elizabeth registers for war service.
26: Vivian Bullwinkel, the only survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, is captured and imprisoned by the Japanese.
27: Battle of the Java Sea – Under a Dutch Rear Admiral Karl Doorman, the combined forces lose 2 light cruisers and 3 destroyers.
is attacked by nine Japanese Betty bombers in the Java Sea, damaged and later scuttled to prevent capture.
28: Japanese land forces invade Java.
March 1: A Red Army offensive in the Crimea begins; in the north, the siege of Leningrad continues.
3: Japanese aircraft make a surprising raid on the airfield and harbor at Broome, Western Australia.
4: Japanese naval Operation K occurs, intended as a reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor and disruption of repair and salvage operations.
5: The Japanese capture Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.
New conscription laws in the United Kingdom include women and men up to the age of 45.
6: Malta receives more fighters for its on-going defence.
8: The Japanese land at Lae and Salamaua, on Huon Bay, New Guinea, beginning their move toward Port Moresby, New Guinea, and then Australia.
9: Japanese troops entered Rangoon, Burma, which was abandoned by the British two days earlier. It appears that the Japanese are in control of Java, Burma, and New Guinea.
The Secretary of War reorganizes the General Headquarters (GHQ), United States Army into three major commands – Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, the latter of which is later redesignated Army Service Forces. At the same time, the four Defense commands and all Theaters Of Operations (TOPNS) are subordinated to the War Department General Staff.
11: The Japanese land on Mindanao, the southernmost island in the Philippines.
12: American troops begin to land in Nouméa, New Caledonia; it will become an important staging base for the eventual invasion of Guadalcanal.
13: RAF launches an air raid against Essen, Germany.
14: Japanese land troops in the Solomon Islands, underscoring Australia's dangerous situation, especially if, as it is soon made clear, an airfield is built on Guadalcanal.
The Japanese are now threatening American forces around Manila Bay; the retreat to Corregidor begins.
17: U.S. General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia, after leaving his headquarters in the Philippines.
The United Kingdom institutes rationing of electricity, coal, and gas; the clothing ration is decreased as well.
20: Operation Outward begins, a program to attack Germany by means of free-flying balloons.
22: A fractured convoy reaches Malta, after heavy losses to the Luftwaffe and an Italian sea force. Continued heavy bombing attacks on the island with slight opposition from overtaxed RAF air forces.
25: RAF sends bomber raids against targets in France and Germany.
26: Jews in Berlin must now clearly identify their houses.
28: The RAF sends a raid against Lübeck, destroying over 30% of the city, and 80% of the medieval centre. Hitler is outraged.
British commandos launch Operation Chariot, a raid on the port at Saint Nazaire, France. , filled with explosives on a time-delay fuse, rams the dock gates and commandos destroy other parts of the naval service area. The port is completely destroyed and does not resume service till 1947; however, around two-thirds of the raiding forces are lost.
April 1: The Eastern Sea Frontier, desperately short on suitable escort vessels after the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, institutes an interim arrangement known as the "Bucket Brigaid," wherein vessels outside of protected harbors are placed in anchorages protected by netting after dark, and move only under whatever escort is available during the day. As word of this and similar measures reaches Dönitz, he does not wait to test their effectiveness, but instead shifts his U-boats to the area controlled by the Gulf Sea Frontier, where American anti-submarine measures are not as effective. As a result, in May more ships will be sunk in the Gulf, many of them off the Passes of the Mississippi, than off of the entire Eastern Seaboard.
The Pacific War Council meets for the first time in Washington. Intended to allow the smaller powers involved in fighting the Japanese to have some input into US decisions, its purpose is soon outstripped by events, notably the collapse of the ABDA Command.
2: Over 24,000 sick and starving troops (American and Filipino) are now trapped on the Bataan Peninsula.
Japanese make landings on New Guinea, most importantly at Hollandia.
3: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on United States and Filipino troops in Bataan.
Sustained Japanese air attacks on Mandalay in Burma.
4: Germans plan "Baedeker raids" on touristy or historic British sites, in revenge for the Lübeck bombing.
5: On Bataan, the Japanese overwhelm Mt. Samat, a strong point on Allied defensive line.
The Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon. Royal Navy heavy cruisers and are sunk southwest of the island.
Adolf Hitler issues Directive No. 41, outlining his plans for the coming summer offensive in Russia. The main offensive is directed to seize the Russian oil fields in the Caucasus; a secondary thrust is to capture Stalingrad and protect the flank of the main advance.
RAF bombing raid on Cologne.
6: Japanese naval forces put troops ashore on Manus Island in the Bismarck Archipelago (some sources give a date of 8 April for these landings).
8: Heavy RAF bombing of Hamburg.
American forces are strained for one last offensive on Bataan.
With the withdrawal of from Malta, Force K in Malta comes to a close.