12 May — World War II –Second Battle of Kharkov: In the easternUkraine, theSoviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets capture the city ofKharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
21 May — World War II:Mexico declares war against Germany after the sinking of the Mexican tankerFaja de Oro by the German U-boat, U-160, offKey West.
10 June — World War II: The Gestapo massacres 173 male residents ofLidice,Czechoslovakia also in reprisal for the killing of Heydrich in the village.
11 June — Plans are made for the deportation of Jews from France,Belgium and theNetherlands.
23 June — The experimental early type of a nuclear reactor led toLeipzig L-IV experiment accident, becoming the first nuclear accident in history and consisting of steam explosion and reactor fire inLeipzig.
2 July — Soviet, American and British newspapers report that more than 1,000,000 Jews have already been exterminated by the Nazi regime across occupied Europe.
4 July — World War II: Twenty-four ships are sunk by German bombers and submarines afterConvoy PQ 17 to the Soviet Union is scattered in the Arctic Ocean to evade theGerman battleship Tirpitz.
14 July — World War II: Germany introduces theOstvolk Medal for Soviet personnel inWehrmacht, on the same day that the first Dutch Jews are deported to Auschwitz.
19 July — World War II –Battle of the Atlantic: German Grand AdmiralKarl Dönitz orders the lastU-boats to withdraw from theirUnited States Atlantic coast positions, in response to an effective American convoy system.
22 July —Holocaust: The systematic deportation ofJews from theWarsaw Ghetto begins, with many being transported to the new extermination camp atTreblinka.
August - Deportation ofCroatian Jews to Auschwitz begins.
22 August —Brazil breaks diplomatic relations and declares war on Germany and Italy.[3][4]
30 August —Luxembourg is formally annexed to the German Reich.
3 October — The firstA-4 rocket is successfully launched fromTest Stand VII atPeenemünde, Germany. The rocket flies 147 kilometers wide and reaches a height of 84.5 kilometers, becoming the first man-made object to reach space.
5 October - Himmler orders all Jews in concentration camps across Germany to be transferred to Auschwitz or Majdanek.
14 October — A GermanU-boat sinks the ferrySS Caribou, killing 137.
23 October—4 November – World War II –Second Battle of El Alamein: British troops go on the offensive against the Axis forces.
10 November — World War II: In violation of a 1940 armistice, Germany invadesVichy France, following French AdmiralFrançois Darlan's agreement to an armistice with theAllies inNorth Africa.
23 November — A GermanU-boat sinks theSS Benlomond off the coast of Brazil. One crewman, a Chinese second steward namedPoon Lim, is separated from the others and spends 130 days adrift until he is rescued on 3 April 1943.
28 December -
- Hitler ordersGreece andCrete to be fortified and Balkan rebellions to be suppressed firmly and approves the withdrawal of Army Group A from the Caucasus.
- Sterilization experiments begin on women atBirkenau.[6]
^Treblinka - ein Todeslager der "Aktion Reinhard", in: "Aktion Reinhard" - Die Vernichtung der Juden im Generalgouvernement,Bogdan Musial (ed.), Osnabrück 2004, pp. 257-81.
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