- June 10
- German troops destroy the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia, in retribution for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The men are killed, the women taken to internment camps, and children taken to be raised by German families. The city is burned to the ground, 400 graves are dug up, and new roads are built. [10]
- June 11
- US and USSR sign Lend-Lease agreement during WW II. [1]
- June 12
- Tornado kills 35 in Oklahoma City, USA. [1]
- June 13
- First V-2 rocket launch, Peenemünde, Germany; reaches 1.3 km. [1]
- (evening) George Dasch, Ernest Burger, Heinrich Heinck, and Richard Quirin, all American citizens of German birth, and members of the German Nazi party, land on the beach of Long Island, New York, from a small row boat. Their mission is to sabotage industrial installations producing war material. [10]
- June 17
- First World War II American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast). [1]
- June 21
- 129 degrees F (54 degrees C), Tirat Zevi, Israel (Asian record). [1]
- German General Erwin Rommel's army captures Tobruk in Libya, taking 30-35,000 prisoners. [10]
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- June 25
- British RAF stages a 1,000-bomber raid on Bremen, Germany. [1]
- June 27
- FBI captures eight German saboteurs from a submarine off New York's Long Island. [1]
- June 28
- The world's first commercial TV network began operations (Dumont TV, WABD New York). [1] [457]
- (month unknown)
- The Kapoeta meteorite falls in Sudan. [523.103]
- July 5
- USS Growler submarine attacks three Japanese destroyers off Kiska, Alaska, sinking one, damaging the other two. [1388.10]
- July 17
- 3 feet of rain falls on Pennsylvania, flooding kills 15. [1]
- July 18
- German Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, first jet fighter, takes first flight. [1] [5]
- July 23
- The Russian city of Rostov falls to German forces. [10]
- July 28
- Germans liquidate 10,000 Jews in Minsk, Russia. [1]
- July 30
- German SS kills 25,000 Jews in Minsk, Belorussia. [1]
- August 8
- Six convicted German saboteurs who landed in US are executed in Washington DC. [1]
- August 9
- British arrest Indian nationalist Mohandas K Gandhi. [1]
- August 13
- RKO Radio Pictures premieres the Disney film Bambi in the US at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. [6]
- August 17
- US bombers stage first independent raid on Europe, attacking Rouen, France. [1]
- August 19
- The Allies launch a major raid on the French port of Dieppe. 5000 of the 6000 troops are part of the Canadian 2nd Division. Original code name of the operation is Rutter, but was changed to a different plan code-named Jubilee. Primary objectives are to see if it is possible to seize and hold a major continental port, obtain intelligence from prisoners, documents, and equipment, and to see the German reaction to major attack on the French coast. Secondary objectives are to draw the Luftwaffe into battle, show the USSR that Britain is seriously trying to help distract the Germans, and to give Canadian forces in Britain something to do. [10]
- (about 1310 hours) The last Allied troops are evacuated from Dieppe. At the end of the attack, 4384 Allied officer and soldiers are dead, wounded, or taken prisoner, of which 3379 are Canadian. 108 British aircraft were shot down; 46 German aircraft were lost. The British navy lost one destroyer and 13 major landing craft. [10]
- First American offensive in Pacific in World War II, Guadalcanal, Solomon Island. [1]
- August 22
- Brazil declares war on Germany. [10]
- August 24
- The Walt Disney animated feature film Saludos Amigos world premieres in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [6]
- August 25
- Japanese forces launch amphibious operation with about 1200 men on Milne Bay, New Guinea. [653.23]
- Death of George, Duke of Kent, in routine air accident as Sunderland flying boat crashes into low hill Eagles Rock in Caithness, Scotland. This is the first member of royal family to die while on active military service since the 15th century. [861.45]
- August 26
- 7,000 Jews rounded up in Vichy Free Zone of France. [1]
- August 27
- Soviet long-range bombers make an air raid on Berlin, from bases 1000 miles away. [10]
- September 9
- First bombing on continental US soil, Mount Emily, Oregon. [1]
- September 13
- German forces attack Stalingrad. [1]
- September 18
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation authorized for radio service. [1]
- September 21
- The American B-29 Stratofortress makes its maiden flight. [5] [392.40]
- October 1
- Bell P-59 Airacomet fighter, first US jet, makes maiden flight. [1]
- October 2
- Queen Mary liner slices cruiser Curacao in half, killing 338. [1]
- First self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction demonstrated, Chicago, Illinois. [1]
- October 3
- German scientists make the first successful test launch of an A-4 (V-2) rocket, from Peenemünde. Supersonic speed is achieved for the first time by a liquid-propelled rocket. The rocket reaches a height of 60 miles, travelling 120 miles at over 3000 MPH, landing 2.5 miles wide of the target. [10]
- October 8
- The US War Production Board orders the nation's gold mines closed. [923.44]
- October 12
- US navy defeats Japanese in Battle of Cape Esperance. [1]
- October 16
- Cyclone in Bay of Bengal kills some 40,000 south of Calcutta, India. [1]
- October 20
- The office of US Alien Property Custodian operating under the "Trading With the Enemy Act" seizes shares of Union Banking Corporation in New York City, on grounds it was financing Adolf Hitler. [861.116]
- October 23
- Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt. [1]
- October 26
- US ship Hornet sunk in Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. [1]
- October 28
- Train crashes into bus, killing 16 and injuring 20 (Detroit, Michigan). [1]
- October 29
- 16,000 Jews killed in Pinsk, Russia. [1]
- November 2
- British General Bernard Montgomery defeats German General Erwin Rommel in Battle of Alamein. [1]
- November 5
- Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission. [1]
- November 8
- Operation Torch begins, as Allied forces land in Northern Africa. The Western Task Force with 24,500 Americans under Major General George Patton land at Fedala (15 miles north of Casablanca), Mehdia (55 miles south of Casablanca), and Safi (140 miles south of Casablanca). The Center Task Force with 18,500 Americans under Major General Lloyd Fredenall land near Oran. The Eastern Task Force with 9000 British and 9000 Americans and 2000 British Commandos under American Major General Charles Ryder land at Algiers. [10] [1427.10]
- November 11
- Admiral François Darlan, senior French officer in North Africa, signs a cease-fire ending French fighting in the area. [10]
- Adolf Hitler launches Operation Anton, with German forces occupying the remainder of France and the island of Corsica. [10]
- Spain mobilizes its army along the French border. [10]
- November 13
- In North Africa, the British 8th Army takes Tobruk. [10]
- November 17
- The office of US Alien Property Custodian operating under the "Trading With the Enemy Act" seizes Silesian-American Corporation, charging the company with being a Nazi front company supplying coal to Germany. [861.117]
- November 19
- Soviet counteroffensives with one million soldiers north and south of Stalingrad break through the German and Romanian armies. [10] [1427.11]
- November 23
- Soviet forces complete encircling German forces in Stalingrad, holding 250,000 Germans and Romanians in 22 divisions in a 25 by 30 mile oval. [10]
- Steward Poon Lim set adrift for 133 days after his boat is torpedoed. [1]
- November 27
- French navy at Toulon scuttles ships and submarines so Germans don't take them. [1]
- November 28
- Nearly 500 die in a fire that destroys Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [1]
- December 2
- Scientists at the University of Chicago in the US induce a nuclear chain reaction, proving an atomic bomb to be possible. [10]
- December 4
- First US citizenship granted an alien on foreign soil (James Hoey). [1]
- US President Franklin Roosevelt orders dismantling of Works Progress Administration. [1]
- US bombers strike Italian mainland for first time in World War II. [1]
- December 5
- Seyss-Inquart orders students in Nazi-Germany to go work. [1]
- West Indies chocolate/coffee drop above Netherlands. [1]
- December 6
- Queen Wilhelmina announces Dutch Commonwealth. [1]
- British Royal Air Force bombs Dutch Philips factory (150 die). [1]
- December 10
- Adolf Hitler names Mussert "leader of Netherlands people". [1]
- North Africa: 5th German Panzer Army forms under Colonel-General von Arnim. [1]
- December 11
- Australian/Dutch guerrilla troops evacuated to Timor near Australia. [1]
- December 12
- German offensive in South Western Stalingrad. [1]
- December 13
- Seyss-Inquart allows Dutch Nazi Anton Mussert to call himself Leader. [1]
- December 16
- Adolf Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia and Balkans. [1]
- December 17
- Allies in London sentence German war criminals. [1]
- December 20
- First Japanese bombing of Calcutta, India. [1]
- December 23
- Allied air attack on Den Helder. [1]
- December 24
- First powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Peenemünde, Germany. [1]
- French Admiral Jean Darlan is assassinated in Algiers. [10]
- Soviet Red army occupies German airports at Tasjinskaja and Morozowsk. [1]
- December 25
- Russian artillery/tank battle on German armies at Stalingrad. [1]
- December 26
- Bosinier de la Chapelle, French murderer of Admiral Darlan, executed at age 24. [1]
- December 27
- First Japanese women camp (Ambarawa) goes into use. [1]
- December 28
- Oberkommando Wehrmacht orders strategic flight out of Kaukasus. [1]
- December 31
- Potatoes rationed in Holland. [1]
- December (month)
- 60 German submarines sunk this month (330,000 tons). [1]
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