1 Jan 1942
  • The United States introduced a ban on the purchase of new private cars and trucks in order to conserve steel. ww2dbase [AC]
  • Jean Moulin, the former mayor of Chartes, parachuted into France in an effort to coordinate and unify resistance groups. ww2dbase [The French Resistance | TH]
  • Allied powers announced preliminary plans for punishing enemy war criminals after the war. ww2dbase [TH]
  • Oberstgeneral Ernst Udet, head of the Luftwaffe's Production and Development, committed suicide over his perceived inability to properly perform his mission. ww2dbase [TH]
  • Douglas MacArthur accepted a payment of US$500,000 from Philippine President Manuel Quezon for his pre-war service. ww2dbase [Douglas MacArthur | CPC]
  • General der Artillerie Robert Martinek succeeded Wilhelm Weiß as the commanding officer of the German 7th Mountain Division. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Four Australian Hudson medium bombers attacked Kapingamarangi northeast of Rabaul, Bismarck Islands, causing light damage. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | CPC]
  • George Brett was named the Deputy Supreme Commander of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA). ww2dbase [George Brett | CPC]
  • Kittyhawk fighters saw combat in North Africa for the first time, with 9 No. 3 Squadron RAF Kittyhawk fighters attacking 16 German Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers escorted by 6 Bf 109 fighters. The British Kittyhawk fighters would shoot down four Ju 87 and one Bf 109 aircraft. ww2dbase [P-40 Warhawk | CPC]
  • Milton Miles was promoted to the rank of commander. ww2dbase [Milton Miles | CPC]
Caroline Islands
  • Kamoi arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | CPC]
China Malaya
  • Japanese troops continued the assault on Kampar, British Malaya; both sides incurred heavy casualties in the morning. Meanwhile, Japanese 11th Regiment landed in the Bernam River 35 miles to the southwest. In London, England, United Kingdom, Winston Churchill complained of the British Royal Navy's inability to disrupt Japanese shipping in Malayan waters. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | CPC]
Philippines
  • American and Filipino forces south of Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands abandoned their positions and joined the defenses north of the city, which would fall back across the Calumpit bridges by the end of the day. Meanwhile, the Japanese sent a message to the mayor of Manila announcing that the Japanese forces would arrive on the following day. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]
Russia
  • Soviet cruiser Molotov arrived at Sevastopol, Russia with 700 men of the Soviet 386th Infantry Division. ww2dbase [Molotov | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • Fifty-Seven men and boys died in a colliery disaster near Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [AC]
United States
  • British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinov, and Chinese Ambassador Song Ziwen (also known as T. V. Soong) signed the Declaration by United Nations during the Arcadia Conference in Washington DC, United States. ww2dbase [First Washington Conference | CPC]
  • Vice Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, US Atlantic Fleet with the USS Augusta as his flagship. ww2dbase [AC]
Photo(s) dated 1 Jan 1942
Canadian Prime Minister King, British Ambassador Halifax, and Chinese Ambassador Song with US President Roosevelt, Washington DC, United States, 1 Jan 1942Female workers in a factory in Leningrad, Russia, 1 Jan 1942Leningrad after a German air raid, Russia, 1 Jan 1942Walter Nash, Lord Halifax, Song Ziwen, Alexander Loudon, and Manuel Quezon with Franklin Roosevelt, Washington DC, United States, 1 Jan 1942

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Armourers loading a 1,600-lb bomb onto a Barracuda aircraft aboard HMS Formidable, 1940s




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Famous WW2 Quote
"All that silly talk about the advance of science and such leaves me cold. Give me peace and a retarded science."

Thomas Dodd, late 1945