Editing 1942 (section)

===January===
{{Main|January 1942}}
* [[January 1]] &ndash; WWII: The [[Declaration by United Nations]] is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in which they agree "not to make any separate peace with the [[Axis powers]]".
* [[January 5]] &ndash; WWII: Two prisoners, British officer [[Airey Neave]] and Dutch officer [[Anthony Luteyn]], escape from [[Colditz Castle]] in [[Germany]]. After travelling for three days, they reach the Swiss border.<ref>{{cite book | last = Levine | first = Alan | title = Captivity, flight, and survival in World War II | publisher = Praeger | location = Westport, CT | year = 2000 | isbn = 9780275969554 | page=119}}</ref>
* [[January 7]] &ndash; WWII:
** [[Battle of Slim River]]: Japanese forces of the [[5th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|5th Division]], supported by tanks, sweep through sixteen miles of British defenses, shattering the exhausted [[11th Infantry Division (India)|11th Indian Division]] and inflicting some 3,000 casualties.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hack | first = Karl | title = Did Singapore have to fall?: Churchill and the impregnable fortress | publisher = RoutledgeCurzon | location = London New York | year = 2004 | isbn = 9781134396382 | page=224}}</ref>
** [[Operation Typhoon]], the German attempt to take Moscow, ends in failure.<ref>{{cite book |author=David M. Glantz |title=Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War: 1941-1943 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwBoAAAAMAAJ |year=2005 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-1353-3 |page=215}}</ref>
* [[January 11]] &ndash; WWII:
** [[Dutch East Indies campaign]]: Japan declares war on the [[Netherlands]] and the [[Dutch East Indies]]. Japanese forces invade [[Borneo]] and [[Sulawesi|Celebes]].
** [[Malayan Campaign]]: The Japanese [[Battle of Kuala Lumpur|capture]] [[Kuala Lumpur]], the capital of the [[Federated Malay States]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Asian Profile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m9UtAQAAIAAJ |year=1997 |publisher=Asian Research Service |page=458}}</ref>
* [[January 12]] &ndash; WWII:
** New Zealand [[No. 488 Squadron RNZAF|Squadron No. 488]] loses two aircraft and five damaged against a force of 27 Japanese fighters, in their first combat mission in [[Singapore]].<ref>Clayton, Graham (2008). ''Last Stand in Singapore: The Story of 488 Squadron RNZAF'', p. 83. Auckland, New Zealand: Random House. {{ISBN|978-1-86979-033-2}}.</ref>
* [[January 13]]
** [[Heinkel]] test pilot Helmut Schenk becomes the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an [[ejection seat]].
** [[Henry Ford]] patents a plastic automobile that would be 30% lighter than a conventional car.
* [[January 14]]
** WWII: "[[Second Happy Time]]", the German submarine commanders' name for ''Operation PP'' (Operation Drumbeat), the phase in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] during which German submarines are successful in attacking Allied shipping along the [[East Coast of the United States]], opens early this morning when [[German submarine U-123 (1940)|German submarine ''U-123'']] under the command of [[Reinhard Hardegen]] sinks a Norwegian tanker within sight of [[Long Island]], before entering [[New York Harbor]] and sinking a British tanker off [[Sandy Hook, New Jersey|Sandy Hook]] the following night, as she leaves heading south along the coast. U-boat successes continue until around June 12.
** The [[Sikorsky R-4]] first flies in the United States; it will become the first mass-produced [[helicopter]].
* [[January 16]] &ndash; American film actress [[Carole Lombard]] and her mother are among all 22 killed aboard [[TWA Flight 3]] when the [[Douglas DC-3]] plane crashes into [[Potosi Mountain (Nevada)|Potosi Mountain]] near [[Las Vegas]] while she is returning from a tour to promote the sale of war bonds.
* [[January 17]] &ndash; WWII: South African forces of the British [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|8th Army]] conquer the [[Halfaya Pass]] ("Hellfire Pass"). The Halfaya garrison of 4,200 men of the Italian [[55th Infantry Division "Savona"|55th Division "Savona"]] and 2,100 Germans surrender. 
* [[January 19]] &ndash; WWII:
** Japanese forces invade [[Burma]].
** The following Commands of the United States [[Eighth Air Force]] are established: VIII Bomber Command initially at [[Langley Field]] in Virginia, and [[VIII Fighter Command]] at [[Selfridge Air National Guard Base|Selfridge Field]] in Michigan.
* [[January 20]] &ndash; [[The Holocaust]]: [[Nazism|Nazis]] at the [[Wannsee Conference]] convened by [[Reinhard Heydrich]] in Berlin decide that the "[[Final Solution]] (''Endlösung'') to the Jewish problem" is deportations to extermination camps.
* [[January 21]] &ndash; WWII: [[Erwin Rommel]] launches his new offensive in [[Cyrenaica]].
* [[January 23]] &ndash; WWII: The [[Battle of Rabaul (1942)|Battle of Rabaul]] begins. Before dawn, 5,000 troops of Japan's elite [[South Seas Detachment]] storm ashore at [[Rabaul]] on the island of [[New Britain]]. With control of the air and support from the guns of their own ships, the Japanese overwhelm the small Australian garrison: the majority are either killed or captured. This marks the start of the [[New Guinea campaign]].
* [[January 25]] &ndash; WWII: 
** German forces under Erwin Rommel of [[Panzer Army Africa|Panzer Group Afrika]] reaches [[Msus]]. General [[Alfred Reade Godwin-Austen|Alfred Godwin-Austin]] orders the [[4th Infantry Division (India)|4th Indian Division]] from the British [[XIII Corps (United Kingdom)|13th Corps]] to evacuate [[Benghazi]].
** [[Thailand]] declares war on the United States and the United Kingdom.
* [[January 26]] &ndash; WWII: The first American forces arrive in Europe, landing in [[Northern Ireland]].
* [[January 31]] &ndash; WWII: [[Malayan Campaign]]: The last organized Allied forces leave [[British Malaya]], ending the 54-day campaign, and the [[Johor–Singapore Causeway]] is severed.