Soviet Red Army offensive in the Crimea begins

Japanese aircraft make a surprise raid on the airfield and harbour at Broome, Western Australia.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 240+ aircraft attack on Billancourt Renault Factory, Boulogne-Billencourt is in the western suburbs of Paris. 300 bombs fell on the factory destroying 40% of it. Production of lorries for the German war effort was halted for 4 weeks and final repairs were not completed for many months. Estimated production loss of 2,300 lorries.

The Japanese capture Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.

New conscription laws in the United Kingdom include women and men up to the age of 45.

Japanese forces land at Lae and Salamaua, on Huon Bay, New Guinea, beginning their move toward Port Moresby, New Guinea, and then Australia.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 210+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany. The first use of the Gee navigational aid

Football International: France 0-2 Switzerland, Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

Japanese forces enter Rangoon, Burma, which was abandoned by the British two days earlier. The Japanese now control Java, Burma, and New Guinea.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 180+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 130+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany

Japanese forces land on Mindanao, the southernmost island in the Philippines.

American forces begin to land on Nouméa, New Caledonia

Allied Bomber Offensive: night-time British air raid, 60+ aircraft attack on Kiel, Germany. The main targets are the U-Boat production sites of Deutsche Werke and Germania Werk.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 130+ aircraft attack on Cologne, Germany. Main targets being the Franz Cloud rubber works, which was seriously damaged and the Land-und See-kabelwerke AG factory which was badly damaged

Japanese forces land in the Solomon Islands

Japanese forces threaten American forces around Manila Bay; the retreat to Corregidor begins

Football International: Spain 4-0 France, Estadio de Nervión, Seville

American General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia, after leaving his headquarters in the Philippines.

The United Kingdom institutes rationing of electricity, coal, and gas; the clothing ration is decreased as well.

Operation Outward begins, British weather ballons attack on Germany. The balloons carried either a trailing steel wire to damage high voltage power lines by producing a short circuit or incendiary devices to start fires in fields, forests and heathland. A total of 99,142 Outward balloons were launched; about half carried incendiaries and half carried trailing wires.

Convoy reaches Malta, after heavy losses to the Luftwaffe and an Italian sea force. Continued heavy bombing attacks on the island with slight opposition from overtaxed RAF air forces.

German Welterweight Boxing Title Gustav Eder (Germany) beat Georg Sporer (Germany) Pts 12, Alerthalle, Leipzig.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 240+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany. The main targets being the Krupp works

German Featherweight Boxing Title Ernst Weiss (Germany) drew with Kurt Bernhardt (Germany) Pts 12, Deutschlandhalle, Berlin.

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 250+ aircraft attack on Essen, Germany. The main targets being the Krupp works

Jews in Berlin must now clearly identify their houses.

World Heavyweight Boxing Title Joe Louis (USA) beat Abe Simon (USA) Ko 6, Madison Square Garden, New York City.

First, of at least 75,721 French Jews deported from France to Auschwitz

Operation Chariot: The St Nazaire Raid. The target was the dry dock gates at St Nazaire, built to service the French ocean liner Normandie. These were the only dry dock facilities large enough to accommodate the German warship, Tirpitz. Because of the loss of these lock gates, if the Tirpitz had been damaged during a sortie in the North Atlantic, the ship would have to run the gauntlet of the British Home Fleet of the Royal Navy and other British forces, via the English Channel or the North Sea to get back to Germany

Allied Bomber Offensive: Heavy night-time British air raid, 230+ aircraft attack on Lubeck, Germany. Over 30% of the historic city and 80% of the medieval centre was destroyed. Adolf Hitler is outraged and ordered revenge attacks on British historic cities

Allied Bomber Offensive: night-time British air raid, 30+ aircraft attack on Trondheim, Norway. The main target being the German warship Tirpitz. Tirpitz was not located.