United States
Tag
(524)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
- 03
- Key eventThe Battle of Manila beginsOn 3 February 1945 US cavalry drove into Manila and freed the internees at Santo Tomás. Japanese sailors held the city for a month, murdering civilians.
- The raid on Berlin of 3 February 1945Around a thousand American B-17s bombed central Berlin. German figures put the dead at nearly 2,900, among them the judge Roland Freisler.
- 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.
- 16
- The landing on CorregidorOn 16 February 1945 US paratroopers dropped on Topside and infantry landed below Malinta Hill. The battle for the fortress lost in 1942 had begun.
- Carriers over TokyoOn 16–17 February 1945 aircraft from Mitscher’s carriers struck airfields and aircraft plants around Tokyo – the first carrier attack on Japan’s capital.
- 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.
- 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.
March
- 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.
April
- 01
- Key eventThe landing on OkinawaOn 1 April 1945 General Buckner's Tenth Army landed on Okinawa almost unopposed. The Japanese were waiting in fortifications in the south of the island.
- The capture of LegazpiOn 1 April 1945 the US 158th Infantry took the port and airfield of Legazpi on the Bicol Peninsula unopposed, opening the way to the San Bernardino Strait.
- 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.
May
- 05
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 14
- The Nagoya raid of 14 MayOn 14 May 1945, 472 B-29s burned northern Nagoya and its castle by day. On 16/17 May the south burned; the two raids killed some 3,900 people.
- Fighting in the southern PhilippinesIn mid-May 1945 the US Eighth Army and Filipino guerrillas fought the Japanese on Mindanao, Negros and Cebu. The heaviest fighting was around Davao.
June
- 05
- Key eventThe Berlin DeclarationOn 5 June 1945 Eisenhower, Zhukov, Montgomery and de Lattre signed in Berlin a declaration by which the four powers assumed supreme authority in Germany.
- Typhoon ConnieOn the night of 4–5 June 1945 Typhoon Connie struck Halsey’s Third Fleet off Okinawa. The Pittsburgh lost her bow and six sailors were killed.
July
- 05
- MacArthur announces the liberation of the PhilippinesOn 5 July 1945 MacArthur announced the liberation of the whole Philippines, yet on Luzon and Mindanao the Japanese held out until Japan's surrender.
- The powers recognise the Provisional Government of National UnityOn 5 July 1945 the US and Britain recognised the new Polish government in Warsaw and withdrew recognition from the government-in-exile in London.
- 24
- Truman tells Stalin about the bombOn 24 July 1945 at Potsdam Truman mentioned to Stalin a new weapon of unusual destructive force. Stalin, forewarned by his intelligence, took it calmly.
- The raids on KureOn 24, 25 and 28 July 1945 Task Force 38 aircraft wrecked the remnants of the Japanese fleet at Kure; Hyūga, Ise and Haruna settled in shallow water.
- 30
- Attacks on Kobe and NagoyaBy late July 1945 Kobe and Nagoya were attacked only by fighters and carrier aircraft – B-29s had already burned both cities in the spring.
- The sinking of the “Indianapolis”On 30 July 1945 the Japanese submarine I-58 sank the cruiser Indianapolis, which had delivered atomic bomb parts to Tinian. 316 of 1,195 men survived.
August
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.