1: The Germans continue their successful advance toward Stalingrad.3: A convoy to Malta is decimated by the Luftwaffe and U-boats.5: The U.S. planning team for
Operation Torch, which includes
George S. Patton;
Jimmy Doolittle;
Kent Lambert; and
Hoyt S. Vandenberg, meets in
Washington, D.C. to join the combined planning team from London, England.
: Henrik Hersch Goldschmidt aka
Janusz Korczak and almost 200 children of his orphanage, along with his staff, are led to
the Treblinka II death camp, and killed there that day, probably with gas.
[2]7:
Operation Watchtower begins the
Guadalcanal Campaign as American forces invade
Gavutu,
Guadalcanal,
Tulagi và
Tanambogo in the
Solomon Islands.8: Six of the eight German would-be saboteurs involved in
Operation Pastorius are executed in
Washington, D.C.The naval
Battle of Savo Island, near Guadalcanal; the Americans lose three cruisers, the Australians one.9: Numerous riots in favour of independence in India;
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested.10: Rommel begins an attack around El Alamein, but by September he is back to his original lines.11: The
HMS Eagle, a carrier on convoy duty to Malta, is torpedoed and sinks with heavy loss of life.12: At a conference in Moscow, Churchill informs Stalin that there will not be a "second front" in 1942.American forces establish bases in the
New Hebrides islands.Fighting increases as the Germans approach Stalingrad.13: General
Bernard Montgomery appointed commander of British Eighth Army in North Africa; Churchill is anxious to see more offensive action on the part of the British.Disastrous end to the Malta convoy, but one tanker and four merchant ships get through.15: Malta is supplied via
Operation Pedestal.17: First
US Army Air Forces B-17 heavy bomber raid in Europe, targeting the Sotteville railroad yards at Rouen, France.18: Japanese reinforce New Guinea; Australians land troops at Port Moresby. Meanwhile, American planes have destroyed Japanese air power at Wewak, New Guinea.19:
Operation Jubilee, a raid by British and Canadian forces on
Dieppe, France, ends in disaster; they come under heavy gunfire and eventually most are killed or captured by the German defenders.20:
Henderson Field on Guadalcanal receives its first American fighter planes.21: Japanese counter-attack at Henderson Field; in another foray at the
Tenaru (or Ilu) River, many Japanese are killed in a banzai charge.22:
Brazil declares war on the Axis countries, partly in response to numerous riots by a populace angry at the sinking of Brazilian ships.
:
Stanislau "reprisal" aktion. - After many repeated organized killings, the current head of the Judenrat, Goldstein is publicly hanged along with 20 of the Jewish police. Jewish girls are raped before being shot at the Gestapo headquarters, and 1,000 Jews are shot and killed.
[3]23: Massive German air raid on Stalingrad.24: The naval battle of the Eastern Solomons; the USS Enterprise is badly damaged and the Japanese lose one light carrier, the Ryujo.26:
Battle of Milne Bay begins: Japanese forces land and launch a full-scale assault on Australian base near the eastern tip of
New Guinea.27: Marshal Georgii Zhukov is appointed to the command of the Stalingrad defence; the Luftwaffe is now delivering heavy strikes on the city.28: Incendiary bombs dropped by a Japanese seaplane cause a forest fire in
Oregon.30: The
Battle of Alam Halfa, Egypt, a few miles south of El Alamein begins. This will be Rommel's last attempt to break through the British lines; RAF air superiority plays a large role.
Luxembourg is formally annexed to the German Reich.31: Start of the
1942 Luxembourgish general strike against conscription
