WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO JULY 1942
Find out what all happened January to July 1942

World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be immediately executed. (28. July 1942)

World War II: The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore. (11. February 1942)

World War II: Nazis burn the Czech village of Lidice in reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich. (10. June 1942)

During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Japanese Imperial Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships. (7. May 1942)

Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies. (22. May 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)

World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed. (18. April 1942)

Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland. (17. March 1942)

World War II: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox enlists in the United States Marine Corps as a flight instructor. (22. May 1942)

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean Raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island. (5. April 1942)

World War II: in the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law. (15. May 1942)

World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma (19. January 1942)

Holocaust: the systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins. (22. July 1942)

The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations. (1. January 1942)

The Australian Federal Government becomes the sole collector of income tax in Australia as the State Income Tax is abolished. (1. July 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)

World War II: The Japanese imperial submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle. (8. June 1942)

Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal after the capture of Tobruk. (22. June 1942)

World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable. (22. February 1942)

World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. (15. February 1942)