Łukasz
Author
(1129)1945
January
- 31
- The bridgehead on the OderOn 31 January 1945 a forward detachment of the 5th Shock Army crossed the frozen Oder at Kienitz and seized a bridgehead some 70 km from Berlin.
- The landings at Zambales and NasugbuOn 29 January 1945 XI Corps landed unopposed in Zambales to seal off Bataan; on 31 January the 11th Airborne Division came ashore at Nasugbu, south of Manila.
February
- 04
- Key eventThe Yalta ConferenceOn 4–11 February 1945 at Yalta Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed on the occupation of Germany, Poland’s borders and government, UN rules and war on Japan.
- Belgium free of GermansIn early February 1945 the Americans drove the Germans from the last scraps of eastern Belgium. The country was free, but V-2s were still falling on Antwerp.
- 23
- The flag on SuribachiOn 23 February 1945 Marines raised the US flag on the summit of Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the second flag became a symbol of the war.
- Turkey declares war on GermanyOn 23 February 1945 the Turkish Grand National Assembly unanimously declared war on Germany and Japan to secure a place among the founders of the UN.
- The raid on Los BañosOn 23 February 1945 US paratroopers, amphibious tractors and Filipino guerrillas freed 2,147 internees from the Japanese camp at Los Baños.
- The end of the Battle of PoznańOn 23 February 1945 the Citadel, the last pocket of Festung Posen, surrendered. Its commandant Gonell took his own life; Mattern gave up what was left.
March
- 20
- The liberation of MandalayOn 20 March 1945 the 19th Indian Division took Fort Dufferin, the last point of Japanese resistance in Mandalay. The royal palace burned in the fighting.
- The capture of MainzOn 20 March 1945 infantry of Patton’s Third Army reached the hills above Mainz. The ruined city fell on 22 March as German defence west of the Rhine collapsed.
- 27
- Eisenhower gives up BerlinAt the end of March 1945 Eisenhower decided that the Allies' main objective was not Berlin but Leipzig and Dresden. He left the Reich's capital to the Red Army.
- Argentina declares war on the AxisOn 27 March 1945 General Farrell’s government declared war on Japan and Germany, abandoning neutrality under US pressure to secure a place in the new order.
- 29
- The Deutsch Schützen massacreOn 29 March 1945 at Deutsch Schützen in Burgenland the SS shot at least 57 Hungarian Jews – forced labourers building fortifications.
- The Red Army enters AustriaOn 29 March 1945 tanks of the 3rd Ukrainian Front crossed Austria's old border at Klostermarienberg in Burgenland. The road to Vienna lay open.
April
- 02
- The battle for ViennaOn 2 April 1945 the Red Army took Wiener Neustadt and advanced on Vienna. From 6 April fighting was already raging in the suburbs of the Austrian capital.
- The encirclement of the RuhrOn 1 April 1945 the US First and Ninth Armies met at Lippstadt. Model's Army Group B – 320,000–370,000 men – was trapped in the Ruhr Pocket.
- 11
- Kamikaze over OkinawaOn 11 April 1945 a kamikaze hit the battleship Missouri and the carrier Enterprise was damaged. The attacks off Okinawa killed nearly 4,900 sailors.
- The liberation of BuchenwaldOn 11 April 1945 the US 6th Armored Division reached Buchenwald near Weimar. The camp, taken over by the prisoners' underground, held some 21,000 inmates.
- 13
- The fall of ViennaOn 13 April 1945 the Red Army seized the Reichsbrücke and took Vienna. A reborn Austria was coming into being under Soviet occupation.
- The Gardelegen massacreOn 13 April 1945, near Gardelegen in the Altmark, Germans burned and shot 1,016 concentration camp prisoners evacuated ahead of the front in a barn.
- 28
- The death of MussoliniOn 27 April 1945 partisans captured Mussolini at Dongo; on 28 April they shot him with Clara Petacci, and on 29 April the bodies were put on display in Milan.
- The surrender of the 148th DivisionAt Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro the Brazilians trapped the German 148th Division and remnants of Italian divisions. On 29 April 1945 some 15,000 surrendered.
- 29
- The liberation of DachauOn 29 April 1945 soldiers of the US Seventh Army entered Dachau, the first concentration camp of the Third Reich, and freed more than 30,000 prisoners.
- The surrender at CasertaOn 29 April 1945 at Caserta, envoys of Vietinghoff and Wolff signed the surrender of the German forces in Italy. The guns fell silent at 2 p.m. on 2 May.
May
- 02
- The flag over the ReichstagOn 2 May 1945 the German garrison of the Reichstag surrendered. The red banner had flown on the roof since 30 April; Khaldei's famous photograph was staged.
- Key eventThe surrender of BerlinOn 2 May 1945 General Helmuth Weidling surrendered Berlin to General Chuikov and ordered the garrison to lay down arms. Krebs's talks the day before had failed.
- The breakout from the bunkerOn the night of 1–2 May 1945 the occupants of Hitler's bunker tried to break out of Berlin. Krebs and Burgdorf shot themselves; Bormann died while fleeing.
- 04
- The end of the U-boat warOn 4 May 1945 Dönitz ordered the U-boats to cease fighting. The day before, the Admiral Hipper had been scuttled at Kiel; crews scuttled over 200 U-boats.
- The surrender at Lüneburg HeathOn 4 May 1945, in Montgomery's tent near Lüneburg, the Germans signed the surrender of their forces in the Netherlands, north-west Germany and Denmark.
- Neuengamme and the Cap ArconaOn 3 May 1945 the RAF sank ships holding Neuengamme prisoners in the Bay of Lübeck, killing some 7,000. On 4 May the British entered the empty camp.
- 05
- The Prague uprisingPrague rose against the Germans on 5 May 1945. After four days on the barricades, on 8 May the Czechs agreed with General Toussaint on a German withdrawal.
- Kamikaze off Okinawa in MayOn 3–4 May 1945 the fifth Kikusui operation sank the destroyers Luce, Morrison and Little off Okinawa. On 11 May kamikaze hit the carrier Bunker Hill.
- The balloon victims at BlyOn 5 May 1945 near Bly, Oregon, a bomb from a Japanese fu-go balloon killed pregnant Elsie Mitchell and five children – the only enemy victims on US soil.
- 07
- Key eventThe surrender at ReimsAt 2.41 a.m. on 7 May 1945, at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of all German armed forces.
- Göring taken prisonerOn 7 May 1945 Hermann Göring, freed from SS arrest, surrendered to the Americans in Austria. He hoped to meet Eisenhower but ended up in prison and in the dock.
- 08
- The surrender of CourlandOn 8 May 1945, on Dönitz's orders, General Carl Hilpert's Army Group Courland surrendered to the Leningrad Front. Some 190,000 men went into captivity.
- Key eventThe surrender at KarlshorstOn 8 May 1945 in Berlin-Karlshorst, Keitel, Friedeburg and Stumpff signed Germany's final act of unconditional surrender before Zhukov and Tedder.
- The division of Indochina at the 16th parallelOn 8 May 1945 in San Francisco the US assured France it did not dispute French sovereignty over Indochina. The 16th-parallel division was agreed in July.
- 09
- The Red Army in PragueOn the morning of 9 May 1945 Konev's tanks entered Prague. By 11 May Army Group Centre had surrendered, while the Americans halted on a line near Plzeň.
- The surrender on BornholmOn 9 May 1945 a Soviet landing party accepted the surrender of the German garrison of the Danish island of Bornholm, a day after air raids on Rønne and Nexø.
- 29
- The raid on YokohamaIn late May 1945 B-29s burned Tokyo (nights of 23/24 and 25/26 May) and Yokohama (29 May, 454 bombers escorted by P-51s). Thousands of civilians died.
- The Levant crisisOn 29 May 1945 French troops attacked the parliament in Damascus and shelled the city. British intervention forced the French back to their barracks.
June
July
- 10
- Halsey's carriers over TokyoOn 10 July 1945 aircraft of Halsey and McCain's Task Force 38 struck airfields around Tokyo, opening the last carrier campaign against Japan.
- The Augustów roundupOn 10–25 July 1945 the Red Army, NKVD and SMERSH, aided by the UB and the militia, combed the Suwałki region; some 600 detainees vanished without trace.
August
- 15
- Key eventHirohito's broadcastAt noon on 15 August 1945 radio aired Hirohito's recorded address accepting the Potsdam Declaration. The Japanese first heard their Emperor's voice.
- Victory over Japan DayOn 14–15 August 1945 news of Japan's surrender brought joy to New York, London, Sydney and Chongqing. For Poles it was the end of a war that brought no freedom.
- 19
- The August Revolution in HanoiOn 19 August 1945, after a mass rally in Hanoi, the Việt Minh took the city without a fight. The Japanese stood aside as Bảo Đại’s government collapsed.
- Communist–Nationalist clashes in ChinaIn August 1945 the Kuomintang and the Communists raced to accept the Japanese surrender. At the end of the month the first clashes broke out in Shanxi.