On 1 January
1942, Far East, Big battle raging north of Manila. Officially announced that British
forces had withdrawn from Sarawak. Sharp fighting at Kuantan in Malaya. Japanese
occupied aerodromes at Gong Kedah raided at night by he British Royal Air Force
(RAF) Communiqué from Burma reported small Japanese infiltration into Bokpyn
in the Mergui district, but enemy withdrew when British columns arrived.
On 21 and January 1942, Far East, Heavy air raid on Singapore in which 13
enemy aircraft were destroyed. Heavy fighting continued between Muar and Batu
Pahat. In Philippines, General MacArthur's troops made a successful counter-attack.
One of his guerilla bands gained a local success in a surprise raid against an
enemy aerodrome at Tuguegarao. More large-scale air attacks on New Guinea.
Z8
Bruno Heinemann Destroyer
Sunk 25 January 1942
On 3 February
1942, In Africa, Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel's advance slowed down. British mobile columns continued to harass the
enemy.
On 11 February 1942, Operation Cerberus, The Channel Dash, was
a major naval operation during the Second World War in which a Kriegsmarine Flotilla
comprising of the battleships
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau,
and heavy cruiser
Prinz
Eugen along with escorts, ran a British blockade and successfully sailed from
Brest in Brittany to their home bases in Germany via the English Channel.
28 March 1942, Operation Chariot, St Nazaire Raid, Attack by British Navy,
Army and Air units on the Kriegsmarine naval base at St. Nazaire. Main dock gate
blown up by ramming it with an ex-American destroyer HMS Carnpbeltown filled with
tons of high explosive. Special Service troops carried out prearranged demolitions
in the dockyards..
Friedrich
Hüffmeier
Takes command of the Battleship
Scharnhorst
on 31 March 1942 to 13 October
1943 On 3 April 1942, The British Admiralty announced loss of destroyer
HMS Heythrop on
20 March 1942
by the
U-652
after firing for torpedoes of which only hit HMS Heythrop, and was then taken
in tow by the British destroyer HMS Eridge towards Tobruk, but foundered five
hours later.
Z31
Destroyer
Commissioned 11 April 1942
Rudolf
Peters
Takes command of the Battleship
Gneisenau
on 11 April 1942 to 1 July 1942
On 18 April 1942, Doolittle Raid, First American air raid on Japan.
Sixteen B-25 bombers of XVII Bomber Group of the 8th United States Air Force,
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel J. H. Doolittle, take off from the aircraft carrier
Hornet about 750 miles from Tokyo. The Hornet and her escort, the cruisers Vincennes
and Nashville with their complement of destroyers, left on the
14
April 1942 from a rendezvous north of Midway Island. Another carrier, the
Enterprise, joins them near Japan to provide fighter escort. The B-25s arrive
over their targets at 12:15 p.m., dropping bombs on Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Nagoya
and Yokosuka. They then fly on towards China, but owing to bad weather they either
crash on landing or their crews make parachute jumps. One aircraft lands near
Vladivostok and its crew is interned by the Russians. Two planes end up in Japanese
occupied territory where their crews are made prisoner some being shot on
15
October 1942. The aircraft carriers and other ships taking part return unharmed.
Although material results of the raid are trivial the psychological effect is
profound. The heart of the Empire of the Rising Sun is not, as the Japanese have
believed, invulnerable.
Z7
Hermann Schoemann Destroyer
Sunk 2 May 1942
On 12 May 1942, Remember
of these names! The list drawn up by Bucheu then Vichy Minister for the Interior,
today Vichy Ambassador in Berne of the men shot by the Germans at Nantes included
four trade union officials, Granet of the Paper Workers Union, Michels of the
Leather Workers, Poulmarch of the Seamens Union, and Timbaud of the Metal Workers.
According to Facts and Figures about the Dictatorships, on the eve of` the execution
Raymond Froideval, prominent defeatist and renegade trade union leader, visited
those sentenced to death. He offered to guarantee their lives if they were willing
to betray their colleagues and to collaborate. With the enemy. The four men scornfully
rejected the offer and the next day went to their death. (I.T.F.)
Seeadler
Torpedo boat
Sunk 13 May 1942
On 26 May 1942, General Arnold, Admiral
Towers, and Air Chief Marshal Portal attend Anglo-American air conference in London.
Topics of discussion include allocation of aircraft and establishment of United
States air forces in United Kingdom. Meeting begins at 10 Downing Street with
Mr. Churchill.
Reinhard
Heydrich on 4 June 1942 died from wounds received on
27
May 1942.
On 29 June 1942, Russian Front. The Wehrmacht carried
out heavy panzer attacks, repelled at Kursk. The Wehrmacht 11. Armee under Erich
von Manstein takes Sevastopol, although fighting rages until 9 July 1942.
On 18 July 1942, The Luftwaffe prototype
Messerschmitt
Me 262 V3 is test flown for the first time by test pilot Fritz Wendel.
On 7 August 1942, South Pacific (SOPAC). First Marine Division invades Guadalcanal.
Eleventh Air Force. 3 United States Army Air Force (USAAF) B-24 Liberator heavy
bombers dispatched to bomb Kiska return with their bombs due to solid overcast.
4 more B-24 Liberator heavy bombers also depart for Kiska. 1 turns back with mechanical
trouble, the others abort mission over target due to undercast. 1 B-24 Liberator
heavy bombers, 4 P-38 Lightning fighters and an LB-30 bomber fly 2 air coverage
missions at Nazan Bay for Navy tenders.
On 27 September 1942, Eleventh
Air Force. Shore and harbour areas of Kiska are bombed 8 B-24 Liberator heavy
bombers and 1 B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, escorted by 1 P-38 Lightning
fighters, 13 P-39 fighters and 4 P-40 fighters take off first, and are followed
by 6 unescorted B-24 Liberator heavy bombers. Weather turns back 13 of the fighters.
An LB-30 bomber flies photo weather reconnaissance over Attu, Buldir, the Semichis,
Agattu, and Amchitka.
Stier
HSK 6 Auxiliary cruiser
Sunk 27 September 1942
On 3 October 1942,
The first
Aggregate 4 (A-4)
V-2
Rocket is successfully launched from the
Peenemünde
Test Stand VII in Germany. The rocket flies 147 kilometres wide and reaches a
height of 84.5 kilometres, becoming the first man made object to reach space.
Komet
HSK 7 Auxiliary cruiser
Sunk 14 October 1942
On 30 October 1942,
3 British Royal Navy sailors from HMS Petard board Kriegsmarine U-boat
U-559
as it sinks in the Mediterranean and manage to retrieve its Enigma machine and
code books before it sinks taking lives of two of the three sailors who boarded
from HMS Petard
On 19 November 1942, Russian Front. Operation Uranus,
Battle of Stalingrad, Russian forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation
Uranus counter-attacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the Soviet
Union favour.
On 20 to November 1942, Russian Front. Battle of Stalingrad,
The situation for the Wehrmacht attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during
the Russian counter-attack Operation Uranus, and General Friedrich
Paulus sends Adolf
Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6. Armee is surrounded. Soviet troops
had advanced 40 to 50 miles and taken 13,000 Wehrmacht prisoners.
Ernst
Gruber
Takes command of the Pocket Battleship
Admiral
Scheer on 28 November 1942 to
1
February 1943 Thor
HSK 4 Auxiliary cruiser
Destroyed 30 November 1942
For a complete
list of
sources 
