A decade and a half later, the Polish anthropology student, Bronisław Malinowski ( 1884 – 1942 ), was beginning what he expected to be a brief period of fieldwork in the old model, collecting lists of cultural items, when the outbreak of the First World War stranded him in New Guinea.

He was the fourth child of Ondrej Varchola ( Americanized as Andrew Warhola, Sr., 1889 – 1942 ) and Júlia ( née Zavacká, 1892 – 1972 ), whose first child was born in their homeland and died before their move to the U. S. Andy had two older brothers, Paul, born about 1923, and John, born about 1925.

* 1942 – Barry Levinson, American producer and director

* 1942 – Carlos Reutemann, Argentine race car driver and politician

* 1942 – Jacob Zuma, African politician, President of South Africa

* 1942 – Daryl Dragon, American keyboardist ( Captain & Tennille )

* 1942 – Brian Peckford, Canadian politician, 3rd Premier of Newfoundland

* 1942 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.

* 1942 – George Jung, American convicted drug smuggler

* 1942 – Byard Lancaster, American saxophonist ( d. 2012 )

* 1942 – Indian leader Mohanda Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement.

* 1942 – World War II: Battle of Savo Island – Allied naval forces protecting their amphibious forces during the initial stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal are surprised and defeated by an Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser force.

* 1942 – Tommie Agee, American baseball player ( d. 2001 )

* 1942 – Jack DeJohnette, American drummer, pianist, and composer ( Gateway and Trio Beyond )

* 1942 – David Steinberg, Canadian comedian, actor, director, and author

* 1942 – Major General Eugene Reybold of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the " Development of Substitute Materials " project, better known as the Manhattan Project.

* 1872 – Richard Willstätter, German chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate ( d. 1942 )

* 1942 – Isabel Allende, Chilean author

* 2012 – Jamaa Fanaka, American director, producer, and screenwriter ( b. 1942 )

* 1942 – André Gagnon, Canadian pianist and composer

* 1942 – Jerry Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist ( Grateful Dead, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, Old and in the Way, and New Riders of the Purple Sage ) ( d. 1995 )

* 1942 – Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor

* 1942 – Richard Willstätter, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate ( b. 1872 )

* 1942 – World War II: the Battle of Guadalcanal begins – United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.

* 1942 – World War II: the Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.

* 1942 – World War II: Battle of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.

* 1942 – World War II: second day of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.

* 1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

* 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan / Bataan Death March – United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula.

* 1942 – World War II: the Battle of Alam Halfa begins.

He had stabilised the Allied position at the First Battle of El Alamein, but after a visit in August 1942, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, replaced him as C-in-C with Alexander and William Gott as commander of the Eighth Army in the Western Desert.

Rommel attempted to turn the left flank of the Eighth Army at the Battle of Alam Halfa from 31 August 1942.

* First Battle of El Alamein – 1 – 27 July 1942

* Second Battle of El Alamein – 23 October – 4 November 1942

In addition the Battle of Alam el Halfa ( 30 August-5 September 1942 ), was fought between both battles and in the same location.

* 1942 – The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign.

Mountbatten, who was promoted to the acting rank of vice-admiral in March 1942, was in large part responsible for the planning and organisation of The Raid at St. Nazaire in mid 1942, an operation resulting in the disuse of one of the most heavily defended docks in Nazi-occupied France until well after war's end, the ramifications of which greatly contributed to allied supremacy in the Battle of the Atlantic.

* 1942 – Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.

* 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.

* 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies

* 1942 – The heavy cruiser is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with which lost 375 men.

The completed films included the seven-episode Why We Fight series — consisting of Prelude to War ( 1942 ), The Nazis Strike ( 1942 ), Divide and Conquer ( 1943 ), The Battle of Britain ( 1943 ), The Battle of Russia ( 1943 ), The Battle of China ( 1944 ), War Comes to America ( 1945 ) – plus Know Your Enemy: Japan ( 1945 ), Tunisian Victory ( 1945 ), and Two Down and One to Go ( 1945 ) that do not bear the Why We Fight banner ; as well as the African-American related, The Negro Soldier ( 1944 ).