|
|
|||
|
|||
|
- 1: As one of his last acts Reich Chancellor Joseph Goebbels has sent German General Hans Krebs to negotiate the surrender of the city of Berlin with Soviet General Vasily Chuikov. Chuikov, as commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army, (and one time leader of the defence at Stalingrad) commands the Soviet forces in central Berlin. Krebs is not authorized by Goebbels to agree to an unconditional surrender, so his negotiations with Chuikov end with no agreement.
- 1: Partisan leader Tito and his troops capture Trieste in northwest Italy. New Zealand troops play a supporting role.
- 1:Goebbels and his wife kill their children and then commit suicide.
- 1: The war in Italy is over but some German troops are still not accounted for.
- 1: Australian troops land on Tarakan island off the coast of Borneo
- 2: The Battle of Berlin ends when German General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, (and no longer bound by Goebbels commands), unconditionally surrenders the city of Berlin to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov.
- 3: The German cruiser Hipper is scuttled, having been hit heavily by the RAF in April.
- 3: Éamon de Valera, Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland, offers regrets for Hitler's death to German officialdom.
- 3: Rangoon is liberated.
- 4: Neuengamme concentration camp is liberated.
- 4: German troops are surrendering throughout Europe. Troops in Denmark, Northern Germany and The Netherlands surrender to Montgomery.
- 4: Karl Dönitz orders all U-boats to cease operations.
- 5: Czech resistance fighters started Prague uprising.
- 5: Soviets started Prague Offensive.
- 5: Mauthausen concentration camp is liberated.
- 5: German troops in the Netherlands officially surrender; Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands accepts the surrender.
- 5: Formal negotiations for Germany's surrender begin at Reims, France.
- 5: Kamikazes have major successes off Okinawa.
- 5: Japanese Fire balloons claim their first and only lives
- 6: This date marks the last fighting for American troops in Europe.
- 6: German soldiers open fire on a crowd celebrating the liberation in Amsterdam.
- 7: Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies at the Western Allied Headquarters in Rheims, France at 2:41 a.m. In accordance with orders from Reich President Karl Dönitz, General Alfred Jodl signs for Germany.
- 7: Hermann Göring, for a while in the hands of the SS, surrenders to the Americans.
- 8: Ceasefire takes effect at one minute past midnight; V-E Day in Britain
- 8: The remaining members of the Prime Minister Jozef Tiso's pro-German Slovak Republic capitulates to the American General Walton Walker's XX Corps in Kremsmünster, Austria.
- 8: Germany surrendered again unconditionally to the Soviet Union army but this time in a ceremony hosted by the Soviet Union. In accordance with orders from Reich President Karl Dönitz, General Wilhelm Keitel signs for Germany.
- 8: In accordance with orders from Reich President Karl Dönitz, Colonel-General Carl Hilpert unconditionally surrenders his troops in the Courland Pocket.
- 8: Prague uprising ends with negotiated surrender with Czech resistance which allowed the Germans in Prague to leave the city.
- 8: Soviet forces capture the Reichstag during which the soviets install the famous flag of Soviet Union over Reichstag.
- 8: Vietnam is considered a minor item on the agenda; in order to disarm the Japanese in Viet Nam, the Allies divide the country in half at the 16th parallel. Chinese Nationalists will move in and disarm the Japanese north of the parallel while the British will move in and do the same in the south. During the conference, representatives from France request the return of all French pre-war colonies in Indochina. Their request is granted. Viet Nam will once again become French colony following the removal of the Japanese.
- 9: Red Army entered Prague as part of the Prague Offensive.
- 9: Soviet Union officially pronounces May 9 as the Victory Day.
- 9: German garrison in Channel Islands agreed to unconditional surrender.
- 9: German troops on Bornholm surrender to Soviet troops.
- 11: Prague Offensive ends with Soviet capture of the capital city, the last major city to be liberated, though the war is over. Eisenhower stops Patton from participating in the liberation.
- 11: German Army Group Centre in Czechoslovakia surrenders.
- 11: War in New Guinea continues, with Australians attacking Wewak.
- 14: Nagoya, Japan is heavily bombed.
- 14: Fighting in the southern Philippines continues.
- 14–15: The Battle of Poljana, the last major battle of World War II in Europe, is fought.
- 18: Continued fierce fighting on Okinawa.
- 20: Georgian Uprising of Texel ends, concluding hostilities in Europe.
- 23: British forces capture and arrest the members of what was left of the Flensburg government. This was the German government formed by Reich President Karl Dönitz after the suicides of both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.
- 23: Heavy bombing of Yokohama, an important port and naval base.
- 23: Heinrich Himmler, head of the notorious SS, dies of suicide by cyanide pill.
- 29: Fighting breaks out in Syria and Lebanon, as nationalists demand freedom from French control.
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of World War II (1945)