Major Events
- Jan 2 World War II: The 28 nations at war with the Axis powers pledge to make no separate peace deals
- Jan 20 Nazi officials hold the notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin to organize the "final solution", the extermination of Europe's Jews
- Feb 13 Operation Sealion, Nazi Germany’s invasion of England, is cancelled by Adolf Hitler
- Feb 19 An estimated 150 Japanese warplanes attack the Australian city of Darwin
- Feb 24 The "Battle of Los Angeles" takes place, a series of anti-aircraft engagements over the city in response to a rumored but false Japanese attack. It would last until the morning of the following day.
- Mar 17 Bełżec Concentration Camp opens with the transport of 30,000 Lublin Polish Jews
- Mar 26 First "Eichmann transport" to Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps
- Jun 12 Anne Frank gets her diary as a birthday present in Amsterdam
- Jul 22 Warsaw Ghetto Jews (300,000) are sent to Treblinka Extermination Camp
- Aug 4 1st train with Jews departs Mechelen Belgium to Auschwitz
- Aug 9 Mahatma Gandhi and 50 others arrested in Bombay after passing of a "quit India" motion and campaign by the All-India Congress
- Aug 13 The 'Manhattan Project' commences, under the direction of US General Leslie Groves: its aim - to deliver an atomic bomb
- Aug 19 World War II: Over 4,000 Canadian and British soldiers killed, wounded or captured raiding Dieppe, France
- Aug 23 Battle of Stalingrad: 600 Luftwaffe planes bomb Stalingrad (40,000 die)
- Oct 23 During WWII, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt
- Nov 12 WWII Naval Battle of Guadalcanal begins between Allied and Japanese forces in Solomon Islands
- Nov 19 Operation Uranus: Soviet offensive begins during Battle of Stalingrad, 1 million Soviet soldiers encircle the German Sixth Army
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1942 in Film & TV
- May 29 "Yankee Doodle Dandy", based on life of George M. Cohan, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring James Cagney and Joan Lesley, premieres in NYC (Academy Awards Best Actor 1943)
- Jun 4 "Mrs Miniver" based on the novel by Jan Struther, directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon is released in the US (Best Picture 1943)
- Aug 21 Walt Disney's animated movie "Bambi", based on the book by Felix Salten, is released
- Oct 22 "Now, Voyager" film directed by Irving Rapper, and starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains, premieres in New York; wins 3 Academy Awards
- Nov 26 "Casablanca" directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman premieres at Hollywood Theater, NYC (Academy Awards Best Picture 1943)
1942 in Music
- Feb 10 Glenn Miller and his Orchestra awarded the 1st ever gold record for selling 1 million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo"
- May 29 Bing Crosby records Irving Berlin's song "White Christmas", with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers, in just 18 minutes; becomes world's best-selling single (estimated 100 million copies sold)
1942 in Sport
- Mar 18 2 black players, Jackie Robinson & Nate Moreland, request a tryout with the Chicago White Sox, they are allowed to work out
Did You Know?
World War II: last cavalry charge in history takes place at Isbushenskij, Russia; the Italian Savoia Cavalleria charges Soviet infantry
More People Born in 1942
Fun Fact About 1942
Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to complete a flight around the world; the plane "California Clipper" was re-christened "Pacific Clipper" after the feat
More 1942 Deaths
Articles About 1942
Wannsee Conference
Adolf Eichmann's infamous list with estimates of the number of Jews in European countries as presented at the Wannsee ConferenceJanuary 201st Ever Gold Record
The 1st ever gold record was awarded to "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by the Glenn Miller Orchestra - this one was presented to the group's drummer, Tex BenekeFebruary 10Battle of Los Angeles
Anti-aircraft guns and spotlights comb the sky above Los Angeles during the rumored Japanese attackFebruary 24'I Shall Return'
A statue in the Philippines commemorating the promised return of American commander Douglas MacArthur in World War IIMarch 20Anne Frank – A Light of Inspiration in the Nazi Darkness
Anne Frank received her famous diary on this day – a beacon of hope and love from a young girl in a world beset by cruelty, horror and death.June 12Manhattan Project
'Calutron Girls' monitoring a mass spectrometer during the Manhattan Project. Gladys Owens, in the foreground, did not know what she was involved with until seeing this picture on a tour fifty years later.August 13
Famous Weddings in 1942
- Jan 10 Actress Ava Gardner (19) weds actor Mickey Rooney (21) in Ballard, California
- Jan 22 Novelist Anthony Burgess (25) weds Llewela Jones
- Mar 15 Former actress and talent agent Sue Carol marries her client and actor Alan Ladd
Famous Divorces in 1942
- Jul 21 Actress Mae West (48) divorces vaudeville performer Frank Wallace after 31 years of marriage
- Oct 2 Jazz musician Louis Armstrong (41) divorces Alpha Smith after 4 years of marriage
- Dec 15 Actress Mary Astor (36) divorces film editor Manuel del Campo (29) after more than 4 years of marriage
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