| |
| 1945 |
| January
9th |
 |
United
States troops landed on Luzon. |
|
| January
17th |
|
The
Russians liberated the capital of Poland, Warsaw. |
|
| January
22nd |
|
The
Burma Road was reopened. |
|
| January. |
|
With
the dissolution of concentration camps further east, more and
more prisoners were transferred to Dora-Mittelbau in central
Germany. |
|
| February
4th |
|
The
Yalta
conference. British Prime Minister Churchill, United
States President Roosevelt and the Soviet leader Stalin met
in the Crimea to discuss future policies involving the shape
of Europe after the war. |
|
| February
9th |
|
British
and Canadian troops reached the river Rhine, Germany. |
|
February
13th - 14th |
|
The
eastern German city of Dresden was devastated by Allied bombers.
Budapest surrendered to the Russians. |
|
| March
6th |
|
The
Allies took the German city of Cologne. |
|
| March
16th |
|
Iwo
Jima was captured by the Americans. |
|
| March
20th |
|
The
British recaptured Mandalay. |
|
| March
23rd |
|
British
forces cross the German river Rhine in force. |
|
| April. |
|
The
evacuation (death marches) of the main and sub-camps at Dora
began. |
|
| April
1st |
|
Allied
troops encircled the Ruhr. United States landed on the island
of Okinawa. |
|
| April 11th |
|
The
first US soldiers reached camp Dora and the underground Mittelwerk
factory. Liberation of Dora-Mittelbau. |
|
| April
12th |
|
United
States President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in the White House,
of cerebral brain haemorrhage at the age 63. Harry Truman was
sworn in as the new President. |
|
| April
13th |
|
Belsen
and Buchenwald concentration camps were liberated by the British.
The Russians occupied Vienna, in Austria. |
|
| April
16th |
|
The
Russians advanced onto the German capital, Berlin. |
|
| April
28th |
|
Deposed
Italian leader Mussolini was killed, and his body strung up
a lamp post by a mob. The Allies captured Venice, northern Italy. |
|
| April
29th |
|
The
German unconditional surrender was signed at Caserta. Dachau
was liberated. The Allies entered Milan, northern Italy. |
|
| April
30th |
|
The
Führer, Adolf Hitler, and his recently married wife Eva
Braun, committed suicide in his bunker in the German capital
Berlin. The bodies
are burnt to avoid capture. |
|
| May
2nd |
|
Berlin
was captured by the Red Army. Soviet General Zhukov entered,
conquered and excepted the Nazi surrender in a devastated Berlin. |
|
| May
3rd |
|
The
Allies captured Rangoon. |
|
| May
5th |
|
All
German forces in Holland, Denmark and Germany surrendered unconditionally
to the Allies. |
|
| May
7th |
|
Nazi
Germany surrendered. |
|
| May
7th |
|
The
US detonated 100 tons of TNT in the New Mexico desert, USA,
as a pre-test for the Manhattan Project's atomic 'Trinity' test.
The explosion had a yield of 0.1 kiloton. |
|
| May
8th |
|
British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the United States President
Truman proclaimed V.E. Day (Victory in Europe Day). |
|
| May
9th |
|
The
unconditional surrender of Germany to the victorious Allies
was ratified in Berlin. |
|
| May
13th |
|
The
Russians suppressed resistance in Czechoslovakia. |
|
| June
10th |
|
Australian
troops landed in Borneo. |
|
| June
12th |
|
General
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied Supreme Commander, delivered a
victory speech to British lords and royalty at the Guildhall
in London. |
|
| June
21st |
|
The
island of Okinawa was captured by United States forces. |
|
| June
26th |
|
The
United Nations organization was formed, and its constitution
established in San Francisco, USA. |
|
| June. |
|
Around
100 finished rockets were documented as well as many partial
ones. All of them were taken away by the American soldiers and
shipped back to the United States to be studied. |
|
| July
16th |
|
At
5.29am the US detonated the first atomic bomb in New Mexico,
USA. 'Trinity' was the result of the Manhattan
Project. The 21 kiloton yield created a temperature
of 10 million degrees at ground zero. |
|
| July
17th |
|
The
Potsdam Conference. British Prime Minister WInston Churchill,
United States President Truman and Soviet leader Stalin met
for post-war dicussions. The conference was interupted because
of the British General Election, and Churchill had to return
to England. |
|
| July
27th |
|
The
General Election in Britain. Winston Churchill lost, and a Labour
government took power. Clement Attlee became the new Prime Minister.
Attlee took his place at the Potsdam Conference. |
|
| July. |
|
The
construction of the V2 began again at the "Zentralwerk"
or Central Works in Bleicherode under the direction of Soviet
officers. The Soviets attempted to piece together what the Americans
had left. |
|
| August
6th |
|
The
United States dropped an atomic bomb (Little Boy), at 8.15am
on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
The US B29 bomber, the Enola Gay, delivered a new and powerful
weapon with a yield of 15 kilotons. |
|
| August
8th |
|
Russia
declared war on Japan. |
|
| August
9th |
|
At
11.02am the US dropped another atomic bomb (Fat Man) on the
Japanese city of Nagasaki.
The atomic blast had a yield of 20 kilotons which killed tens
of thousands and laid waste to the city. |
|
| August 10th |
|
The
American rocket scientist Robert Goddard died. He outlined
the possibility of reaching the Moon in his 1920 paper, and
he launched the world's first liquid propellant rocket in 1926
in the United States. |
|
| August
14th |
|
Japan
surrendered, and World War II comes to an end. |
|
| August
15th |
|
Emperor
Hirohito of Japan broadcasted on the radio the unconditional
Japanese surrender to his country. It is the first time that
an Emperor had directly addressed the people of Japan. |
|
| September
2nd |
|
Japanese
surrender was signed on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan. |
|
| September
5th |
|
British
forces re-entered Singapore. |
|
| September
13th |
|
The
Japanese surrender in Burma was signed. |
|
| |
|
November
45 -
October 46 |
|
The
Nuremberg Trials were held, as leading Nazi leaders
were tried for war crimes. The trials were organized by the
Allies (Britain, USA, Soviet Union and France). |
|
| November. |
|
The
grounds of the former concentration camp Dora became a quarantine
camp for resettlement, and remained in that function until August
1946. |
|
| |
|
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