Natalia
Author
(823)1945
January
- 01
- Operation Nordwind beginsOn New Year's Eve the Germans struck the overstretched US Seventh Army in northern Alsace. Operation Nordwind was their last great offensive in the west.
- The Chenogne massacreOn 1 January 1945, in the Belgian village of Chenogne near Bastogne, soldiers of the US 11th Armored Division killed some 60–80 German prisoners.
February
- 13
- Key eventThe bombing of DresdenOn the night of 13/14 February 1945 the RAF, and by day the USAAF, bombed Dresden. A firestorm destroyed the old city; up to 25,000 people were killed.
- The siege of Breslau beginsOn 13 February 1945 troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front closed the ring around Breslau (Wrocław). The siege of Festung Breslau lasted until 6 May.
- 27
- The restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth governmentOn 27 February 1945 at Malacañang Palace MacArthur handed civil authority to President Sergio Osmeña. The Commonwealth government returned to a ruined Manila.
- Syria and Lebanon declare war on the AxisOn 26 and 27 February 1945 Syria and Lebanon, formally independent since 1941, declared war on Germany and Japan in order to become founders of the UN.
March
- 03
- The end of the Battle of ManilaOn 3 March 1945 the Americans took the Finance Building, the last centre of resistance in Manila. A month of fighting cost the lives of some 100,000 civilians.
- The bombing of BezuidenhoutOn 3 March 1945 RAF bombers sent to destroy V-2 sites in The Hague bombed the Bezuidenhout district by mistake. More than 500 civilians were killed.
- Finland declares war on GermanyOn 3 March 1945 Paasikivi’s government recorded that Finland had been at war with Germany since 15 September 1944. There was no formal declaration of war.
April
- 04
- The capture of BratislavaOn 4 April 1945 troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front took Bratislava. Tiso's government had already fled to Austria; the Slovak State ceased to exist.
- The liberation of OhrdrufOn 4 April 1945 soldiers of the US Third Army entered Ohrdruf, a Buchenwald subcamp in Thuringia – the first Nazi camp liberated by the Americans.
- 09
- The raid on KielOn the night of 9/10 April 1945, 591 RAF Lancasters bombed the port of Kiel. The Admiral Scheer capsized; the Admiral Hipper and Emden were badly damaged.
- The execution of Dietrich BonhoefferAt dawn on 9 April 1945 Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at Flossenbürg, together with Admiral Canaris, General Oster and three other conspirators.
- 24
- Himmler's offerIn Lübeck on the night of 23/24 April 1945 Himmler offered, via Count Bernadotte, to surrender to the Western Allies alone. Truman and Churchill refused.
- The encirclement of BerlinOn 24 April 1945 Zhukov's and Konev's troops met south-east of Berlin, and on 25 April they closed the ring around the capital of the Reich.
- The end of the fighting in ItalyOn 21 April 1945 the Poles entered Bologna, and on 22–24 April the Allies crossed the Po. The German armies in Italy ceased to exist as a fighting force.
May
- 01
- The death of the Goebbels familyOn 1 May 1945 Joseph and Magda Goebbels poisoned their six children in the bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery and then took their own lives.
- The landing on TarakanOn 1 May 1945 the Australian 26th Brigade, with US and Dutch units, landed on Tarakan off Borneo. The fight for the oil island lasted until June.
- 05
- The surrender at WageningenOn 5 May 1945 at Wageningen General Blaskowitz received the Canadian terms for the German forces in the Netherlands to lay down arms. They were signed on 6 May.
- The liberation of MauthausenOn 5 May 1945 a patrol of the US 11th Armored Division reached Gusen and Mauthausen. At least 90,000 people died in the camp complex.
- 08
- Key eventVictory in Europe DayOn 8 May 1945 the West celebrated Germany's surrender in London, Paris and New York. The guns fell silent at 11.01 p.m.; in Poland, joy was clouded by doubt.
- The surrender of the Tiso governmentOn 8 May 1945, at Kremsmünster in Austria, Prime Minister Štefan Tiso's fugitive government of the Slovak Republic submitted to the US XX Corps.
- 09
- Victory Day in the USSRA decree of 8 May 1945 made 9 May Victory Day in the USSR. That evening Stalin announced the end of the war with Germany, and Moscow fired a 30-salvo salute.
- The liberation of the Channel IslandsOn 9 May 1945 the German garrison of Guernsey surrendered aboard the destroyer HMS Bulldog, followed by Jersey. Almost five years of occupation were over.
June
July
August
- 14
- The last raids on JapanOn 14 August 1945 over a thousand US aircraft struck Japan in the last great B-29 operation; air combat still went on on 15 and 18 August.
- The Sino-Soviet treatyOn 14 August 1945 in Moscow China and the USSR concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance that put into effect the Yalta concessions at China's expense.
September
- 02
- Key eventThe Japanese surrender on the “Missouri”On 2 September 1945, in Tokyo Bay, Japan signed the instrument of unconditional surrender aboard USS Missouri. The Second World War was over.
- The Vietnamese Declaration of IndependenceOn 2 September 1945, in Ba Đình Square in Hanoi, Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, quoting the US Declaration.