WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO MAY 1942
Find out what all happened February to May 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: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war. (9. February 1942)

World War II: The Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign. (10. May 1942)

World War II: Japan invades Singapore. (8. February 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)

World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. (3. April 1942)

An order-in-council passed under the Defence of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act gives the Canadian federal government the power to intern all "persons of Japanese racial origin". (24. 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: Ten Japanese warplanes raid the town of Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people. (3. March 1942)

World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: in eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later. (12. May 1942)

World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls-Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater. (1. February 1942)

William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published. (11. May 1942)

Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history. (29. May 1942)

World War II: The Battle of Gazala takes place. (26. May 1942)

World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later. (27. May 1942)

The George Cross is awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta – its people and defenders" by King George VI. (15. April 1942)

World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia. (31. May 1942)

World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships. (8. May 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)

World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps. (19. February 1942)