1942: Deadlock

Europe

In May 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, a top Nazi leader, was assassinated by Allied agents in Prague (Operation Anthropoid). In retaliation, the Germans murdered all males over 16 from the nearby village of Lidice and completely razed the village.

On the Eastern front, an abortive German offensive was launched towards the Caucasus to secure oil fields, while German armies reached Stalingrad. The siege of Stalingrad continued for many months, with vicious urban warfare leading to high casualties on both sides. The Soviet forces were continually resupplied from the east bank of the Volga, however, and the Wehrmacht forces were eventually ground down, especially after Hitler diverted the armour of the Sixth Army to the Caucasus. In November a Soviet offensive encircled the Sixth Army.

The Mediterranean

The First Battle of El Alamein took place in July 1942. Allied forces had retreated to the last defensible point before Alexandria and the Suez Canal. The Afrika Korps, however, had outrun its supplies, and the defenders stopped its thrusts. The Second Battle of El Alamein occurred between October 23 and November 3, 1942, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery in command of the Commonwealth forces, now known as the British Eighth Army. The Eighth Army took the offensive, and was ultimately triumphant. After the German defeat at El Alamein, the Axis forces made a successful strategic withdrawal to Tunisia.

The Allied plan for landings in Africa was made final in July 1942. Operation Torch, headed by General Dwight Eisenhower, aimed to gain control of Morocco and Algiers through simultaneous landings at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, followed a few days later with a landing at Bône, the gateway to Tunisia. The operation was launched on 8 November 1942. The first wave was almost entirely American, because it was thought that the French would react more favourably to Americans than British. It was hoped that the local forces of Vichy France would put up no resistance and submit to the authority of Free French General Henri Giraud. In response Hitler invaded and occupied Vichy France and Tunisia, but the German and Italian forces were caught in the pincers of a twin advance from Algeria and Libya. Rommel's victory against American forces at the Battle of Kasserine Pass could only hold off the inevitable. The German Afrika Corps surrendered on 13 May 1943. Some 250,000 Axis soldiers were taken prisoner.

East Asia and the Pacific

On 19 February 1942, Roosevelt signed United States Executive Order 9066, leading to the internment of approximately 110,000 Japanese-Americans for the duration of the war.

In April, the Doolittle raid, the first U.S. air raid on Tokyo, boosted morale in the U.S. and caused Japan to shift resources to homeland defence, but did little actual damage.

In early May, a naval invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, was thwarted by Allied navies in the Battle of the Coral Sea. This was both the first successful opposition to a Japanese attack and the first battle fought between aircraft carriers.

A month later, on 5 June 1942, American carrier-based dive-bombers sank four of Japan's best aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway. Historians mark this battle as a turning point, the end of Japanese expansion in the Pacific. Cryptography played an important part in the battle, as the United States had broken the Japanese naval codes and knew the Japanese plan of attack.

In July an overland attack on Port Moresby was led along the rugged Kokoda Track. An outnumbered and untrained Australian 39th battalion defeated the 5,000-strong Japanese army in one of the most significant victories in Australian military history.

On 7 August 1942, United States Marines began the Battle of Guadalcanal.

In late August and early September, while battle raged on Guadalcanal, an amphibious Japanese attack on the eastern tip of New Guinea was met by Australian forces in the Battle of Milne Bay.