WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO APRIL 1942
Find out what all happened January to April 1942

World War II: The first female prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. (26. March 1942)

World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines. (8. April 1942)

World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies. (27. February 1942)

Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace. (20. February 1942)

World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid the town of Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people. (3. March 1942)

The first V-2 rocket test launch. It exploded at lift-off. (16. March 1942)

World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board. (12. January 1942)

World War II: Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. (30. January 1942)

World War II: The Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March – United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the island's east coast. (9. April 1942)

World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". (20. January 1942)

World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the California coastline near Santa Barbara. (23. February 1942)

World War II: Manila, Philippines is captured by Japanese forces. (2. January 1942)

French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein. (17. April 1942)

World War II: General Douglas MacArthur leaves Corregidor. (11. March 1942)

The Battle of Los Angeles, one of the largest documented UFO sightings in history; the event lasted into the early hours of February 25. (24. February 1942)

Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers. (1. February 1942)

World War II: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp. (19. April 1942)

World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom. (24. January 1942)

Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead. (26. April 1942)

World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return". (20. March 1942)