Winter, 1942
Chapter 15
The War Expands
January - March
With the end of the second full year of war, the conflict had officially expanded around the globe. Essentially all of mainland Europe was now firmly under the control of the Axis powers, with the German Reich stretching from Norway to the Balkans and from the French Atlantic coast to deep into Soviet Russia. The sudden intervention of Japan has brought the long running war in China into the global war as well, and has also finally drawn in the United States.
Europe: The Eastern Front
Soviet paratroopers near one of their transports
On the vast frozen expanse of the Eastern Front, the Germans maintained their siege of Leningrad in the north, but the Red Army had managed to inflict upon the Germans their first major defeat on land by driving them from the gates of Moscow earlier in the winter. The German lines had stiffened as the Soviets advanced on Rhzev, and heavy fighting raged in the area. For the first time in the war, the Wehrmacht faced enemy paratroopers in strength here, as the Red Army dropped parachutists behind the German lines at Vyazma. The operation was very costly to the VDV (Soviet Airborne), but managed to secure a small salient in the German lines.
Further north, the Soviets continued their desperate resupply of the besieged Leningrad over the ice roads on Lake Ladoga, while the Red Army mounted what attacks they could, in compliance with an order from Stalin for attacks along the entire front. Despite encircling a German unit at one point, these were unable to break the German siege. Meanwhile, to the north, Soviet and Finnish troops fought a bitter battle on the ice of the Gulf of Finland, eventually defeating the Soviets and forcing them to withdraw back toward the coast.
Finally, in the south the city of Sevastopol in the Crimea likewise remained besieged. This city found some reprieve, however, as the Germans were forced to deal with the Soviet landings around Kerch on the eastern end of the Crimea. They were slowly pushing the Red Army back into the Sea of Azov, but fighting remained intense. Further north, in Soviet Ukraine, no major German movements took place after the defeat at Rostov on Don in late 1941.
Europe: North Africa
Rommel confers with his officers
German Federal Archives
Far removed from the icy steppes of the Eastern Front, the war in the scorching sands of the Sahara Desert continued as well. A British counteroffensive had pushed the Germans back to El Agheila, and in the early days of 1942 several isolated pockets of German and Italian troops were caught in local counterattacks and destroyed, including notable points at Barida and Halfaya Pass. At Barida, the Germans had set up a POW camp, and the surrender of the garrison there resulted in the liberation of the prisoners there.
Meanwhile, at Halfaya Pass, the forces surrounded there under the command of Italian general Fedele di Giorgis surrendered over 6,000 men, leaving to a total of almost a third of the Axis forces in North Africa being lost since the arrival of the Afrika Korps.
A Afrika Korps Panzer III tank advances in North Africa
German Federal Archives
Major reinforcements were on the way though, bolstered by the Italians’ seizure of naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. By 21 January Rommel was ready to launch his offensive, quickly forcing the British back to their own line at Galaza and retaking Benghazi. The British Indian troops stationed in the Libyan city fought on for some time after being surrounded, but were eventually overrun by the Germans. On the same day, Rommel received word from Mussolini to hurry up and take the city, eliciting a curt response from the German commander.
With the halt on the Galaza Line, the Afrika Korps had retaken in two weeks all that the British had conquered in Operation Crusader, over the course of almost a month.
Europe: The War at Sea
U124 returns from a patrol
German Federal Archives
The entry of the United States into the war in December of 1941 meant that the proverbial gloves were off for the Kriegsmarine’s U-boats across the Atlantic. A major campaign was launched; dubbed Operation Drumbeat. This would see large, new German Type IX U-Boats deployed just off the American East Coast, with five of these arriving on 11 January, with the German commanders using the brightly lit cities to silhouette the merchantmen leaving the continent, leading to significant losses. During the first three months of the year, the Germans incurred no losses for their efforts, and soon additional U-boats began to operate in the Caribbean. seriously disrupting shipping from the Gulf of Mexico, including large quantities of oil.
The German battleship Scharnhorst
Back on the other side of the ocean, the Germans hatched a plan to relocate their remaining capitol ships in France, namely the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen (companion of the ill-fated Bismarck the year before) to German ports. This operation, codenamed Cerberus, involved the ships leaving the port of Brest and forcing their way to Germany directly through the English Channel, with the cover of a massive screen of Luftwaffe fighter aircraft.
Despite a lack of available fighters, the German ships were able to make it through the channel despite the best efforts of the RAF, which attacked with bombers and torpedo planes. The coastal batteries at Dover also attempted to engage the Germans, but were unable to fire accurately due to low visibility. Royal Navy torpedo boats were also unable to arrive in the area quickly enough to prevent the movement. The German ships had all received varying degrees of damage, and the RAF would soon strike at their new port, with the Gneisenau being placed out of action by air raids on Kiel on 26 February. Prinz Eugen would also be damaged, this time by a Royal Navy torpedo, and forced to return to port for repairs.
Europe: The Air War
The Cathedral in the German city of Lubeck burns after a firestorm ignited by RAF bombers
German Federal Archives
In the skies over Europe, the RAF commenced a concentrated campaign to devastate the German homeland by night in mid February, spearheaded by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, the head of RAF Bomber Command. The first major raid would take place on the night of 28 March, when 200 Wellington bombers stuck the old Hanseatic City of Lubeck in northern Germany. The raid was mostly incendiary, and the resulting firestorm consumed a substantial portion of the city, even melting the bells of St. Mary’s Church. Hundreds were killed, and tens of thousands left homeless in the aftermath. In the words of Harris regarding the launch of such attacks:
“The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naïve theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.”
Europe: Occupied Europe
Vidkun Quisling, accompanied by German occupation officials, reviews a parade of his “National Salvation” party forces
Norwegian National Archives
In the occupied lands of mainland Europe, the Nazis continued to tighten their grip. The partisans in Yugoslavia continued to mount fierce resistance against the occupation, with some towns changing hands between the occupation forces and the resistance across the country. The Germans launched viscous reprisal attacks on the civilian population of these areas whenever they pushed the partisans out.
Further north, in Norway, Vidkun Quisling, the local pro-fascist leader who had declared a coup against the government the day the Germans invaded in 1940, finally managed to secure the blessing of Berlin to form a puppet government. His new regime would exist in tandem with the German occupation authorities, and would never be seen as legitimate by any but a small group of party loyalists.
In France, the Vichy regime of Philippe Petain commenced its trial of former Republican officals began in the city of Riom, but quickly fell off the rails as the defendents easily rebuffed the charges of treason leveled against them. Notably, General Maurice Gamelin, the former French Army commander, simply refused to acknowledge the court as being legitimate, and kept silent on the stand. By the end of March, Hitler himself was becoming irritated with the farce, and began to put pressure on Petain and his government to end the proceedings.
HMS Campbeltown crashed into the Normandie Dock at St. Nazaire, shortly before her explosion
German Federal Archives
Near the end of March, one of the most daring raids of the war took place, when British commandos struck the French port of St. Nazaire on 28 March. The city, home to the only drydock in German hands capable of servicing the Bismarck class battleships (the Tirpitz remaining in service at this time), was targeted so as to make it unbearably risky for the Germans to deploy the ship into the Atlantic.
Operation Chariot consisted of an older American destroyer that had been handed over the Royal Navy, HMS Campbeltown, sailing into the port at night under German colors, having been modified so her sillouhette would appear more like a Kriegsmarine destroyer. With her empty bow compartments filled with tons of explosives, she carried 265 commandos into the harbor, successfully bluffing the German coastal defenses long enough for the destroyer to get within a mile of the drydock gates. With the Germans opening fire, the German flag was struck and the White Ensign of the Royal Navy hoisted, as the ship accelerated into the gates.
The commandos then dispersed into the harbor, targeting important machinery and infrastructure before pushing into the town of St. Nazaire itself. The Germans were closing in, however, and eventually all but five of the commandos were captured after their ammunition was exhausted. Hours later, the Campeltown exploded at 1200, causing such damage that the dock would not be operational again until well after the war. In the end, only 228 commandos made it back to Britain. The rest were either killed or captured by the Germans.
Pacific: Pacific Islands
Wrecked F4F Wildcat fighters on Wake Island
Now we need to step back into December of 1941. The Japanese had not only attacked the United States in Hawaii and the Philippines, but also Guam, the Marshall Islands and Wake Island. Guam and the Marshalls fell quickly, but the US Marine garrison on Guam held out for some time, the heavy coastal batteries and USMC aircraft based there inflicting casualties on the Japanese ships. The garrison held out until 23 December, when the Japanese returned with significant reinforcements. After a full day of fighting, the remnants of the defenders surrendered the island to the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Japanese troops land on Borneo
Elsewhere, the Japanese also struck against the British and the Dutch. Landings in the Dutch East Indies, Borneo and New Guinea commenced in December, with massive air attacks preceding landings by amphibious troops. Airborne assaults also accompanied some of the assaults, and soon the Japanese had secured many of the coastal areas, including the important harbor at Rabaul in British New Guinea.
The Dutch on Borneo fought bravely, but were caught with little to no supplies available as well as their allies all being too ensconced in their own problems. After losing the coastal areas they retreated inland, but by the end of January had lost the last of the population centers, as their airfields were overrun. The remnants of the Dutch Colonial forces retreated into the jungles and mountains, but by the end of March had exhausted their supplies and were forced to capitulate.
A Japanese sentry in the Dutch East Indies
William Remmelink via Wikimedia
In the East Indies and New Guinea, the situation was similar. Here a joint Allied command, ABDACOM (American-British-Dutch-Australian-Command) had been formed to defend the islands with all available troops, but with the British more concerned with using the troops to defend Singapore, while the Americans and Australians were more concerned with holding Southeast Asia. This left the troops in the East Indies essentially on their own, and by the end of January had lost their local air power as the Allied fleets floundered around them. Eventually, and despite the objections of the Americans and Australians, the Dutch surrendered in early March.
Portuguese soldiers pose in Timor (pre-war)
In a notable episode in the same region, the Japanese also invaded Portuguese Timor, despite the regime of dictator Antonio Salazar being friendly to the Axis cause. Fearing the Japanese using the Portuguese territory as a springboard to capture the Dutch half of Timor, the Allies occupied the territory in December of 1941. Despite a diplomatic solution being reached between Portugal and the Allies, the Japanese landed on the island with 1,500 troops in late February. The island was quickly occupied, although Allied commandos remained in the mountainous interior, supported by the locals, for months to come.
Pacific: Southeast Asia
Japanese forces advance into Malaya
The Japanese were also on the move in Southeast Asia. Using French Indochina as a base, they had on 8 December enter Thai territory to cross over into British Malaya. After a brief fight with the Thai military, the government of Prime Minister Phibun allied with Japan, and began to assist the Imperial Japanese Army in invading Malaya to the south.
In addition to moving overland, the Japanese also landed along the eastern coast of the narrow British territory, encountering a mixture of British and Indian troops. In these engagements the Japanese made efficient use of tanks, quickly overcoming the defenders near the border and compelling the British Commander, General Percival, to execute a withdrawal southward to consolidate his lines.
British Indian troops man field guns during the Battle of Kampar in Malaya
The British and Indian troops in Malaya were mostly new recruits, and in general could only hope to delay the experienced Japanese forces advancing into the territory. Australian troops were later brought in, but they too had difficulties, being trained for desert warfare in North Africa rather than the jungles of Malaya. These Australians were able to hold up the Japanese near the city of Kuala Lumpur, when they managed to ambush a large column at Gemas. They inflicted over 1,000 casualties and destroyed several Japanese tanks with .55 caliber Boys rifles. Despite this, once they retreated the Japanese managed to resume their timetable within hours.
Australians man a gun defending a road in Malaya, a wrecked Japanese tank downrange
Despite the firece resistance to the invasion, the British and their Imperial forces were unable to stem the tide. By the end of January the decision had been made to abandon Malaya entirely, retreating over the Strait of Johore into the fortress city of Singapore, the so called “Gibraltar of the East.”
Singapore was the symbol of British Imperial power in Southeast Asia. The city was heavily fortified, and cut off from the mainland by the aforementioned Strait of Johore, and was thought to be impregnable. In addition to its sizable garrison (bolstered by the troops retreated from Malaya), it also boasted batteries of powerful 15 inch naval guns, as well as local air forces.
Japanese troops began to cross the straits on 8 February, with a total of 13,000 men landing in an area held by 3,000 Australians. With such a disparity of numbers, the Australians were forced back as the Japanese established a beachead. Addtional Japanese troops landed in the coming days, expanding their foothold and pushing Percival’s forces back, and by mid February began to break into rear areas. Arriving at the Alexandria Hospital on 14 February, the Japanese slaughtered the staff and patients with bayonets. The British were at the breaking point, and discipline was breaking down, with soldiers deserting and engaging in looting in some areas. The Japanese, for their part, were also nearing their limit, although the British were unaware of this.
General Percival and his staff, accompanied by a Japanese escort, march to surrender Singapore
After a conference with his officers, Percival could see no other option. His supplies were all but exhausted, and Japanese air attacks were decimating civilian areas. Thus General Percival and some of his staff traveled to a nearby factory, where he met his opposite number: Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Percival surrendered Singapore on 15 February, marking what Churchill would call the single worst defeat in the history of the British Empire. The Japanese, for their part, were brutal in their occupation, slaughtering large numbers of prisoners and civilians.
Japanese troops take Kuala Lumpur
Farther west, the Japanese had also entered British Burma in late December via their ally Thailand, with further forces entering the country a month later. Despite attempts to block them, the British were unable to prevent the Japanese taking Rangoon on 8 March. Chinese reinforcements were also deployed to aid the British, but by the end of March they too had been pushed back toward toward the border border.
Pacific: China
In China, the Empire of Japan had been at war since they invaded the country in 1937, fighting a United Front built between the Nationalists (the Republic of China, the main government under the control of the Kuomintang Party and led by Chiang Kai-shek) and the Communists (led by Mao Tse-Tung). China had effectively suspended its Civil War to combat the invasion, albeit with some skirmishing taking place regardless.
Japanese troops march on Hong Kong
With the expansion of the war, the Japanese saw their priorities shifting toward the European and American colonial possessions in the Pacific and Asia, and this would include China. Most notably, the old Chinese Empire had, in its terminal decline in the late nineteenth century, leased several port cities to the European Empires. The Japanese had already seized one of these in 1914, when they captured the port of Tsingtao from the German Empire in the early days of the First World War, and they looked now to complete a similar operation against the British in their concession of Hong Kong.
The invasion commenced in 8 December, 1941, and despite local successes by the British defenders in some areas, they soon found themselves forced to withdraw as the Japanese made penetrations on their flanks. By 13 December the lines had essentially collapsed in the outer territory, and thus the defenders withdrew back into Hong Kong Island itself. The Japanese began their assault on the island on 18 December, and despite heavy resistance, the situation had become untenable by Christmas, and the British forces surrendered Hong Kong to the Japanese.
A Chinese soldier in action during the offensive of early 1942
The day before the surrender of Hong Kong, the Japanese launched another offensive in the region, this time directed into the Chinese interior in order to prevent them from relieving the British in the city. Three Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army began to push toward the city of Changsha, entering it in early January.
Despite this, the Japanese now occupied a major salient, and the Chinese had moved the 58th Army into the area, supported by other elements totaling some 20 divisions, and it quickly became apparent that the Japanese were in danger of encirclement. This led to an attempt to withdraw, which although completed was very costly to the Japanese forces. This victory by the Chinese, although of relatively little strategic importance, made for an important boost to morale both in China and abroad, in a time when the Japanese seemed to march from victory to victory on all fronts.
Pacific: Naval War
Sailors scramble off the doomed HMS Prince of Wales into the sea
Meanwhile at sea, the United States was not the only naval power crippled by the Japanese. Two days after Pearl Harbor the Royal Navy’s Force Z, consisting of the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and various escorts, was steaming from Singapore to engage a Japanese troop convoy inbound to Malaya when they were set upon by massed Japanese aircraft based at Saigon in French Indochina.
A critical hit by a Japanese torpedo on the propellers of the Prince of Wales caused massive damage, as the engines running at full speed effectively widened the hull breach and tore the aft compartments apart. The battleship quickly took on a heavy list, rendering her starboard anti-aircraft guns useless as they could no longer depress enough to engage the attacking planes, and power failures deprived the ship of most internal communications. Three more torpedo hits caused the ship to begin to capsize, and she sank shortly afterward. Repulse endured a similar fate, with four torpedo hits capsizing the ship and sinking her. With that the last operational Allied battleforce in the Pacific was destroyed.
A Dutch submarine operating out of the Dutch East Indies
Elsewhere, as the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies the local naval forces, under the command of Admiral Conrad Helfrich, moved into action immediately after the commencement of hostilities. With few ships available, Helfrich opted to deploy his submarines in an aggressive campaign, and where the Royal Navy had been thwarted off Malaya the Dutch found success. Soon Helfrich had developed a reputation for his impressive kill tallies, amounting to more Japanese ships sunk than the combined totals of American and British fleets in that time.
HMS Exeter sinks during the Battle of the Java Sea
By late January, with the Japanese progressing in all of their invasions, the Allies mounted a naval counterattack with a mixture of older American, British, Australian and Dutch warships. Initial operations off Balikpapan met with some success, but were unable to halt the landing of additional Japanese forces on the island. Further operations at sea produced a limited Allied victory, but it was not to last.
An engagement in the Badung Strait followed on the night of 19 February, with the Japanese managing to defeat a superior Allied fleet and demonstrating that, contrary to popular belief among the Europeans, the Japanese were not only capable of fighting at night, but excelled at it.
The main engagement was to be in the Java Sea in late February, with the Allied fleet engaging the IJN on 27 February. They were eventually forced to withdraw with heavy casualties, including the force commander, Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman. The next day another engagement in the Sunda Strait resulted in the loss of the entire Allied force there (an American heavy cruiser, an Australian light cruiser and a Dutch destroyer). A similar event occured on 1 March, with the damaged British destroyer HMS Exeter and her her escorts all destroyed by the Japanese. With that the Allied naval forces in and around the Java Sea had been destroyed, the remnants having withdrawn to Australia. The Japanese were by mid march in control of the seas in the region, and poised to enter the Indian Ocean.
Pacific: The Air War
Japanese G4M “Betty” medium bombers
The war in the air had also commenced in the Pacific. In addition to preceding and supporting the numerous Japanese campaigns across the Pacific and Southeast Asia by the Imperial Japanese Army and Naval Air Services the various Allied air forces in the region were brought into action. In most cases, the situation was much like what happened to the USFEAF in the Philippines: significant destruction on the ground, leaving the outnumbered forces still available to mount a desperate defense against technologically superior Japanese forces. Despite valiant efforts, the American, British and Dutch forces were all overwhelmed, leaving the Japanese with air superiority on all fronts by March.
An SBD Dauntless dive bomber takes off from the USS Enterprise during the raid on the Marshal Islands on 1 February
The one advantage left to the crippled United States Navy after Pearl Harbor lay in its aircraft carriers, which had been absent on the day of the attack. It was through them that the first American offensive action of the war took place, as carrier based aircraft attacked Japanese bases in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. The carriers USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise had steamed into the central pacific under the command of Admiral William “Bull” Halsey to commence hit and run attacks on the islands in the Japanese rear. The raids on 1 February had little military effect, but served to buoy American morale after the losses sustained thus far in the war.
A ship explodes in Darwin Harbor as the Japanese launch their first air raid on Australia on 19 February
19 February also marked the beginning of a Japanese strategic bombing campaign against Australia. Over 200 Japanese bombers attacked Darwin on that day, a mixture of land based types from the occupied areas in the Dutch East Indies and carrier planes, striking the port and the city itself. The Japanese crippled the port and inflicted heavy casualties, for the loss of only two aircraft. Additional raids would take place against various military and civilian targets in northern Australia as the year went on, but the attack on Darwin would be the most effective as well as the largest. The port was effectively destroyed, preventing its use to further support Allied movements in the region for the foreseeable future, and as the Japanese advanced Australia soon found itself under Invasion Alert.
The Homefront
Private Milburn Henke, the first American soldier to disembark in Britain
At home in the various warring nations, the reactions to this latest escalation varied dramatically. In the USSR and Britain the mood was initially jubilant at the entry of the United States, but quickly soured as the Japanese secured victory after victory across the theater. But signs of what to come were still apparent. The arrival of the first American troops in Britain, on 26 January, was received with great enthusiasm, even as on the other side of the world the situation deteriorated for the Empire.
A notice posted after the signing of Executive Order 9066
In the United States several cities on the West Coast initated blackouts and other air raid precautions, and a fear of a Japanese invasion of the mainland was growing among the civilian population, regardless of whether such a threat was real or imagined. Paranoia reigned in many areas, with the anti-aircraft defenses of Los Angeles even engaging in a furious battle with an unidentified anomaly in their airspace on the night of 24 February, likely a weather balloon fired upon by a single battery triggering the others to open fire. This did not mean real attacks did not occur, however, with Japanese submarines shelling Santa Barbara with shore guns before escaping, as well as sinking ships within sight of the California coast.
In a particularly dark episode, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on 19 February. This order mandated that American citizens of Japanese ancestry, as well as foreign nationals of enemy nations, were to be forcibly relocated away from the coasts and interned for the duration of the conflict. These Americans were forced to abandon their homes and businesses and were relocated to hastily assembled camps further inland. Despite this treatment, almost all remained steadfastly loyal to the United States, with many even volunteering to serve in the armed forces.
Political Developments
Hitler declares war on the United States at an assembly of the Reichstag
German Federal Archives
The spread of the war was quickly formalized in December of 1941. As the Allies immediately declared war on Japan, so too did several South and Central American nations join the conflict. Meanwhile, on the other side, both the Germans and Italians declared war on the United States in a show of Axis solidarity with the Japanese. This action, which has perplexed historians to this day, ensured that the United States would be fully involved in both of the major theaters of war from this point forward. With it, the Second World War had fully engaged all of the world’s major powers for a truly global conflict on a scale never before seen.
The declaration of war was not the only major political development in Germany. In Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin, several top Nazi officials met on 20 January in a meeting called by Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) to discuss how to enact the policies indicated by Hitler in his earlier orders from late 1941. In this meeting the groundwork was laid for what the Nazis referred to as “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question”.
Leaders of the Allied Nations gathered to sign the Declaration by United Nations
On the other side, a conference of a much different nature had occurred. Meeting at the White House at the end of December, 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill (who was visiting the US at that time) drafted a declaration of intent for the future prosecution of the war. In this document, the Declaration by United Nations, the signatories formalized their alliance and commitment to the destruction of the Axis Powers, forming the basis of the United Nations that would arise after the war. After the initial signing on 1 January by the four principal Allied nations (the US, UK, China and the USSR), with the other twenty two Allied nations signing the next day. The conflict had escalated, but despite their setbacks, the Allies resolve was set for the long war to come.
Timeline
12-7-1941
Japanese forces launches a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, decimating the US Pacific Fleet but missing the US carrier force
Japanese ships bombard the US garrison on Midway Island
Japanese forces invade British Malaya
Japan issues a declaration of war against the United States and the British Empire
Australia declares war on Japan
Hitler issues an order for political dissidents to be quietly arrested
Rommel pulls his forces back to a defensive line at Galaza
12-8-1941
Japan attacks the US held Philippine Islands, destroying the US Far East Air Force on the ground
Japanese aircraft bomb British Singapore and Hong Kong and US Guam and Wake Islands
The US issues its formal declaration of war on Japan, as does Britain, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic
Japan invades Thailand for a short period before a cease fire is signed along with an alliance
12-9-1941
British commandoes raid the town of Floro in Occupied Norway
China officially declares war on the Axis Powers, despite already being at war with Japan since 1936
Cuba and Guatemala declare war on Japan
12-10-1941
Japanese air forces engage and sink Force Z: the main Royal Navy battleforce in the South Pacific
Japanese troops land on Guam and the outnumbered and outgunned US forces surrender
Japanese forces seize the British Gilbert Islands
Japanese forces land in the Philippines, along the northern coast of Luzon
Los Angeles has a blackout as an air raid precaution
12-11-1941
Germany and Italy declare war on the US
British forces are defeated by Japanese tanks at Jitra in Malaya, forcing them back towards the fortress of Singapore
A Japanese landing attempt on Wake Island is defeated by effective US coastal artillery
12-12-1941
Japanese troops land in southern Luzon, threatening the USAFFE with envelopment around Manila
Japanese ships attack US held Johnston and Palmyra Atoll, but no landings are attempted
At a meeting in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Hitler announces he intends to annihilate the Jewish People from the world
12-13-1941
Two Italian cruisers are sunk in action with British and Dutch ships off Cape Bon in Tunisia
An attack by New Zealand and Indian troops on the German Galaza Line are repulsed by the Germans
12-14-1941
Japanese forces engage British Indian troops at Gorun in Malaya
12-16-1941
Japanese forces break the Gorun Line in Malaya
Japanese forces land in British and Dutch Borneo
The Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest ever built, is commissioned
The Afrika Korps pulls back to El Agheila
Hitler orders no retreat on the Eastern Front
12-17-1941
Admiral Chester Nimitz takes command of the US Pacific Fleet after Admiral Husband Kimmel is relieved
The passenger ship Corregidor is sunk by a Japanese mine in Manila Bay, with 1,200 casualties
British and Italian convoys, with full escorts, clash in the Mediterranean, but neither side claims victory
12-18-1941
Japanese troops land on Hong Kong Island
German Army Group Center commander Field Marshal Fedor von Bock relinquishes his command due to health issues. He is replaced by Gunther von Kluge
12-19-1941
Japanese troops land on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines
Italian frogmen with manned torpedoes enter the harbor at Alexandria and disable two British battleships, shifting the balance of power in the Mediterranean back to the Italians
As a result of the failures around Moscow, Hitler relieves General Walther von Brauchitsch of his post as Commander in Chief of the Wehrmacht. Hitler will direct the war personally from this point forward
12-20-1941
The tanker Emidio is sunk by a Japanese submarine within sight of the California coast
US aviator and prominent anti-war activist Charles Lindbergh requests to join the US Army Air Forces. President Roosevelt denies it, but Lindbergh later serves as a civilian consultant
Due to supply shortages Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels institutes a clothing drive to get winter items to the German soldiers on the Eastern Front
12-21-1941
After an outbreak of typhus in the Bogdanovka concentration camp, the German and Romanian guards decide to liquidate the inmates, leading to 30,000 murdered
The British escort carrier HMS Audacity is torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic
12-22-1941
The main Japanese invasion force lands at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon along with General Homma, commander of the 14th Area Army. US counterattacks fail to contain or destroy the beachheads
Allied forces reach Beda Fomm but are stopped by German panzers. As the situation deteriorates, German and Italian forces are evacuated by sea from Benghazi
12-23-1941
Wake Island falls to the Japanese after a morning landing and a brief but brutal fight with the US Marine garrison
Japanese forces continue to drive into Luzon
12-24-1941
Manila is declared an open city as US forces and the Philippine government withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor
Japanese forces in China launch an offensive to prevent the Chinese from reinforcing the British at Hong Kong
12-25-1941
Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
The city of Davao on the Philippine Island of Mindanao falls to the Japanese
Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke takes command as British Chief of the General Staff
General Heinz Guderian is relieved of command of the German 2nd Panzer Group for refusing to follow Hitler’s no retreat order
Free French forces seize control of the islands Saint Pierre and Miquelon off Canada from the local Vichy administration
12-26-1941
The city of Ipoh in Malaya falls to the Japanese as British forces continue to be pushed back toward Singapore
Winston Churchill addresses a joint session of the US Congress
Soviet forces attempt an amphibious landing on the Kerch Peninsula in the Crimea to relieve the Siege of Sevastopol
12-29-1941
Japanese aircraft begin raids on Corregidor
The city of Kerch in the Crimea is retaken by Soviet forces
12-30-1941
British Indian troops begin a delaying action against the Japanese at Kampar in Malaya
Admiral Ernest King is named Commander in Chief, US Fleet, taking command of the entire US Navy
Operation Crusader comes to an end, with the British and Imperial forces having made significant gains against the Afrika Korps
The Germans are forced to pause their attacks on Sevastopol to deal with the Soviet amphibious landings
1-1-1942
The Declaration by United Nations is signed, formalizing the Allied Powers and laying the groundwork for the post-war UN
1-2-1942
Japanese troops enter Manila at dawn, marking the first capture of a major American city since 1812
British Indian troops withdraw from Kampar after successfully delaying the Japanese advance in Malaya for four days
German and Italian forces surrender at Barida in Libya to South African forces
1-3-1942
General Sir Archibald Wavell is named commander of American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, or ABDACOM
1-4-1942
American B17 bombers attack the Japanese carrier Chitose off Mindanao but inflict little damage
1-5-1942
US forces on Luzon withdraw into the Bataan Peninsula
Soviet forces liberate Belyov near Tula
1-6-1942
Japanese troops land at Brunei in Borneo
1-7-1942
The Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow ends in a major victory.
Stalin orders a general offensive across the Eastern Front, despite his generals’ advice
Japanese forces engage the US lines at Bataan
Japanese forces defeat the British at Slim River in Malaya
1-8-1942
Soviet forces launch attacks on Rhzev near Moscow, but find the German lines stiffened
Hitler orders that General Erich Hoepner be relieved of command and discharged from the German Army, in addition blocking his pension. The general had withdrawn troops without Hitler’s prior approval
1-9-1942
German forces engage with Slovenian Partisans at the village of Dražgoše
1-11-1942
Japanese forces invade Dutch Borneo
Kuala Lumpur falls to the Japanese after the British abandon the city
Japanese paratroopers land at Manado in the Dutch East Indies
German forces destroy Dražgoše after defeating the partisans there
The German Kriegsmarine launches a major operation to interdict shipping from the US to Europe
1-12-1942
Lt. Alexander R. Nininger is awarded the first Congressional Medal of Honor for actions at Bataan
Australian troops ambush the advancing Japanese at Gemas in Malaya, inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese with their anti-tank rifles proving critical
1-14-1942
British special forces seize German and Italian boats from netural Spanish territory off Africa
1-15-1942
The Japanese offensive into China near Hong Kong ends with a victory by the Chinese as the Japanese 11th Army is forced to withdraw under threat of envelopment
The German U-boat U-123 surfaces close enough to New York to see Coney Island, reporting shock at the lack of blackout on the US East Coast
1-16-1942
Japanese forces cross the Muar River in Malaya
1-17-1942
German forces surrender to the British at Halfaya Pass in Egypt
1-18-1942
Soviet forces retake Borodino near Moscow
Soviet paratroopers land at Vyazma near Rzhev
Japanese forces advancing in Burma take the RAF base at Tavoy
1-19-1942
Large reinforcements begin to arrive for the Afrika Korps at Tripoli
US President Roosevelt approves the initiation of the top secret Manhattan Project
German forces take Feodosia in the Crimea
1-20-1942
The Wannsee Conference is held in Berlin, where the Nazis agree to their “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem”
1-21-1942
The Afrika Korps launches a surprise offensive in North Africa
The Japanese launch a large air raid on Rabaul in British New Guinea
1-22-1942
After suffering heavy casualties near Muar, British, Australian and Indian forces withdraw into the fortress of Singapore
A large Japanese force steams into Rabaul under cover of darkness, with the Australian garrison there having withdrawn after the destruction of their coastal defenses by air attacks
In revenge for the ambush at Gemas, the Japanese slaughter 300 Australian prisoners, torturing them before killing them
Japanese forces break through the first American line on Bataan
1-23-1942
German counterattacks relieve units surrounded by the Red Army at Sukhinichi
1-25-1942
Japanese forces take the port of Balikpapan in Borneo
German forces near Leningrad are surrounded at Kholm by a Soviet counterattack
The Royal Navy makes a last-ditch effort to salvage the situation in Malaya by intercepting Japanese troop convoys, but fails
1-26-1942
The first US troops arrive in Britain
1-28-1942
Benghazi in Libya is retaken by German and Italian forces
1-29-1942
The Germans withdraw from Sikhinichi on the Eastern Front
1-30-1942
Japanese troops land on Ambon in Dutch New Guinea
The last pocket of Indian troops in Benghazi surrender to the Germans
1-31-1942
The last British forces are withdrawn from Malaya into Singapore, blowing the bridges as they do so
2-1-1942
US Navy carrier planes raid Japanese bases in the Marshal and Gilbert Islands
British forces in North Africa withdraw to Galaza
2-2-1942
General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell is placed in command of US forces in the China Theater
2-3-1942
The Japanese begin an aerial offensive against Port Moresby in Australian Papua
The island of Ambon in Borneo falls to the Japanese
2-4-1942
A combined Allied fleet is forced to retreat from the Makassar Strait after a Japanese air attack
2-7-1942
The Germans halt their offensive just before reaching the British Galaza Line
Vidkun Quisling formalizes his new dictatorship in Occupied Norway
2-8-1942
Japanese forces land in Singapore, and the exhausted Australian forces in the area cannot contain the beachhead
German forces at Demyansk are enveloped by advancing Soviet forces
German Armaments Minister Fritz Todt is killed in a plane crash. He is replaced by Albert Speer, Hitler’s favorite architect
2-10-1942
Despite almost breaking, the Japanese continue their advance into Singapore
2-13-1942
Japanese paratroopers attack Palembang in Sumatra
The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen manage to force their way through the English Channel into the North Sea from France, without loss
2-14-1942
The Japanese overcome a major British strongpoint at Pasir Panjang in Singapore
Japanese troops slaughter the staff and patients at the Alexandria Hospital in Singapore
Japanese forces engage the British at the Bilin River in Burma
The RAF issues orders for a massive, sustained bombing campaign against the German population
The HMS Li Wo, a small British craft operating alone, launches an attack on a Japanese convoy near Malaya, sinking the lead ship before succumbing to the escorts
2-15-1942
Singapore falls to the Japanese in the worst defeat in British history. Many prisoners are used for target and bayonet practice by the Japanese.
2-16-1942
Palembang in Sumatra falls to the Japanese
The Japanese massacre Australian nurses as well as wounded soldiers at Banka Island
2-17-1942
The Japanese form an army of anti-British Indians from prisoners taken in Malaya
2-18-1942
The IJN defeats a superior Dutch and Allied fleet at Badung Strait
Japanese occupation troops begin to slaughter Chinese civilians in Singapore
2-19-1942
A large Japanese air raid is commenced against Darwin, Australia
US President Roosevelt orders the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry
Japanese troops invade Portuguese Timor
Japanese aircraft bomb Mandalay in Burma
In Vichy France, the show trial of Republican officials and generals begins at Riom
2-20-1942
Japanese and American air raiders clash near the island of Bougainville, with both sides being forced to turn back
Here Ensign Edward O’Hare becomes the first US Navy ace
2-21-1942
British armored forces are redeployed to Burma, after Japanese tanks proved decisive in Malaya
2-22-1942
The British begin to evacuate civilians from Rangoon as the Japanese approach the city
2-23-1942
A Japanese submarine shells Santa Barbara, California
2-24-1942
A Soviet submarine sinks a Panamanian flagged merchant carrying Jewish refugees in the Black Sea, resulting in 780 deaths
2-25-1942
US anti-aircraft batteries around Los Angeles fire a massive barrage into the sky. This is written off as a false alarm by authorities
2-26-1942
The German battleship Gneisenau is put out of action by an RAF raid on Kiel
2-27-1942
The Allies suffer a significant naval defeat by the Japanese in the Java Sea
The USS Langley, the US Navy’s first ever carrier, is badly damaged and scuttled
2-28-1942
An American/Australian task force is destroyed in a battle with the IJN at Sunda Strait
3-1-1942
The Allies are again handed a naval defeat in the Java Sea
3-2-1942
Japanese air attacks on New Guinea escalate
The Dutch scuttle their ships at Surabaya as the Japanese advance on the port
3-3-1942
Japanese troops engage an defeat the British at the Rangoon perimeter, forcing the abandonment of the city
Japanese fighters attack Broome in Australia, destroying several US and Australian aircraft as well as strafing civilians
3-4-1942
Japanese flying boats raid Pearl Harbor with negligible effect
3-5-1942
Japanese troops take Batavia, capitol of the Dutch East Indies
3-8-1942
Rangoon falls to the Japanese
3-9-1942
The Dutch East Indies and Borneo are secured by the Japanese
Japanese forces land on Bougainville Island
3-11-1942
General Douglas MacArthur flees the Philippines as the situation on Bataan deteriorates
3-12-1942
Java falls to the Japanese
3-17-1942
General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia to take command of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific
3-18-1942
Chinese forces deployed in Burma to aid the British engage the Japanese
3-21-1942
British Indian Sikh cavalry launch a charge against the Japanese in Burma, ending with defeat and almost total loss of the unit
3-22-1942
The British promise to grant India independence after the war in exchange for cooperation in the conflict
Royal Navy convoy escorts defeat a powerful Regia Marina squadron near Malta
3-24-1942
Chinese forces in Burma are pushed back to Toungoo
3-26-1942
Finnish troops fight a battle with the Red Army on the ice in the Gulf of Finland, defeating the Soviets
The Germans begin moving Jews to a new extermination camp at Auschwitz in Poland
3-27-1942
Australia declares a State of Emergency in the north as the threat of Japanese invasion mounts
3-28-1942
Sumatra falls to the Japanese
Over 200 RAF bombers cause a firestorm in the German city of Lubeck
British commandos launch a raid on the French port of St. Nazaire, successfully destroying the only Atlantic drydock large enough for the German battleship Tirpitz
3-29-1942
Japanese troops take Toungoo in Burma from the Chinese, opening the route into the Allied rear
Freed German prisoners seize control of the island of Nias, declaring a new Nazi government on the small Pacific island
3-31-1942
Japanese carriers sortie into the Indian Ocean
Japanese troops seize Christmas Island