istoryworld
All Events
Montgomery's Twenty-First Army Group crosses the Rhine at several points in the north
At a cost of 20,000 dead, US marines win full control of the small strategic island of Iwo Jima
Aung San's army, now named the Burma National Army, changes sides in a surprise move and attacks the Japanese
Adolf Hitler orders a scorched earth policy within Germany, in the path of the advancing Allies
US troops land on the island of Okinawa, only 300 miles from the main islands of Japan
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is executed in a Nazi concentration camp just a month before the end of the war in Europe
Thousands of Japanese kamikaze pilots die in massed suicide attacks in defence of the island of Okinawa
American troops discover the German concentration camp at Buchenwald
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies and is succeeded by his vice-president, Harry S. Truman
A US destroyer is sunk by a baka, a rocket-propelled version of a kamikaze attack
Russian forces reach and capture the Austrian capital, Vienna
The British reach Belsen and reveal appalling Nazi atrocities, worse even than at Buchenwald
American and Soviet troops join up at Torgau, 70 miles south of Berlin
Soviet armies form a complete circle around Berlin to isolate the city
Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by partisans and their bodies are hung from a gibbet in Milan
Against Hitler's specific orders, the commander of the German army in Italy surrenders to the Allies
Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun in his bunker, and holds a champagne reception with Goebbels as the principal guest
Hitler chooses Admiral Dönitz as his successor and appoints his cabinet
Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun retire to their marital quarters in the Berlin bunker and commit suicide
Soviet troops storm the Reichstag in the centre of Berlin on the day when Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker below them
Anglo-US Fascist William Joyce ('Lord Haw Haw') makes his final English broadcast from Hamburg
In the Berlin bunker, on the day after Hitler's death, Goebbels arranges for his six children to be lethally injected, and himself and his wife to be shot
The German general commanding Berlin, Karl Weidling, surrenders the city to the Allies
British general Bernard Montgomery receives the surrender of German forces in the north and west of Europe
The citizens of Prague, and other cities in Czechoslovakia, rise against the Germans as the Red Army approaches from the east
