Modern Era
Operation Anthropoid (1942): The Assassination of Heydrich
Heydrich died of his wounds on 4 June 1942; the parachutists were killed in Prague on 18 June and the Nazis carried out brutal reprisals.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
St Nazaire Raid (1942): Operation Chariot and HMS Campbeltown
British success at heavy cost; the Normandie dock was put out of action for the rest of the war, but about 169 raiders were killed and over 200 captured.
Modern Era
Bombing of Darwin (1942): The Largest Attack on Australia
Japanese victory; Darwin's harbour, airfields and town were heavily damaged and at least 235 people were killed.
Modern Era
Treblinka Extermination Camp (1942–1943): History and Revolt
Between about 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were murdered; a prisoner revolt on 2 August 1943 preceded the camp's closure and demolition that autumn.
Modern Era
Rosie the Riveter: American Women in the Wartime Workforce
Millions of women did skilled industrial work during the Second World War; many lost those jobs in 1945, but the experience reshaped ideas about women and work.
Modern Era
Operation Torch (1942): The Allied Landings in North Africa
Allied success: Vichy French forces in Morocco and Algeria ceased resistance within days, but Germany occupied the rest of France and rushed troops into Tunisia.
Modern Era
Kokoda Track Campaign (1942): Australia's Fight in New Guinea
Australian victory: the Japanese overland advance on Port Moresby was halted at Ioribaiwa in September 1942 and pushed back to the north coast by November.
Modern Era
Dieppe Raid (1942): Operation Jubilee and Canada's Costly Lessons
Allied defeat: of about 6,000 troops landed or embarked, more than half were killed, wounded or captured, most of them Canadians.
Modern Era
Battle of Guadalcanal (1942–1943): The Allies Go on the Offensive
Allied victory; Japan evacuated its remaining troops in February 1943 and lost the strategic initiative in the South Pacific.
Modern Era
Anne Frank and the Secret Annex: Hiding in Amsterdam 1942–44
The eight people in hiding were arrested in August 1944 and only Otto Frank survived; Anne's diary, saved by Miep Gies, was published in 1947.
Modern Era
Japanese American Internment (1942–1945): Executive Order 9066
About 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of them US citizens, were confined without trial; the US government formally apologised and paid compensation in 1988.
Modern Era
Battle of the Coral Sea (1942): The First Carrier Battle
Tactical edge to Japan in ships sunk, but a strategic Allied success: the seaborne invasion of Port Moresby was called off and two Japanese fleet carriers missed Midway.