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1945 marked the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and the fall of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...
. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.


Events

Below, the events of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
have the "WWII" prefix.


January

*
January 1 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
– WWII: **
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
begins
Operation Bodenplatte Operation Bodenplatte (; "Baseplate"), launched on 1 January 1945, was an attempt by the Luftwaffe to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries during the Second World War. The goal of ''Bodenplatte'' was to gain air superiority during th ...
, an attempt by the ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' to cripple Allied air forces in the
Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. **
Chenogne massacre The Chenogne massacre was a war crime committed by members of the 11th Armored Division, an American combat unit, near Chenogne, Belgium, on January 1, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge. According to eyewitness accounts, an estimated 80 Ge ...
: German prisoners are allegedly killed by American forces near the village of Chenogne, Belgium. * January 6 – WWII: A German offensive recaptures
Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Dan ...
,
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
from the Russians. *
January 12 Events Pre-1600 * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire. * 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already rei ...
– WWII: The
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
begins the Vistula–Oder Offensive in Eastern Europe, against the German Army. * January 13 – WWII: The Soviet Union begins the East Prussian Offensive, to eliminate German forces in East Prussia. * January 16 – WWII:
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
takes residence in the '' Führerbunker'' in Berlin. *
January 17 Events Pre-1600 *38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. * 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
** WWII: The
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
occupies
Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, Poland. **
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
: Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...
, who has saved thousands of Jews, is taken into custody by a Soviet patrol during the
Siege of Budapest The Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budape ...
and is never again seen publicly. *
January 18 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later. * 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail. * 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
: The SS begins the evacuation of Auschwitz concentration camp. Nearly 60,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, are forced to march to other locations in Germany; as many as 15,000 die. The 7,000 too sick to move are left without supplies being distributed. *
January 19 Events Pre-1600 * 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to ''Augustus'', and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. * 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrend ...
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
: Soviet forces liberate the
Łódź Ghetto The Łódź Ghetto or Litzmannstadt Ghetto (after the Nazi German name for Łódź) was a Nazi ghetto established by the German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma following the Invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of ...
; only 877 Jews of the initial population of 164,000 remain at this time. * January 20 **
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
is sworn in for a fourth term as President of the United States, the only President ever to exceed two terms. ** Germany begins the Evacuation of East Prussia. *
January 21 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
22 (night) – At the Grünhagen railroad station, located in East Prussia at this date, two trains, heading for Elbing, collide. At dawn the station is reached by
Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...
infantry and tanks which destroy the station, killing between 140 and 150 people. *
January 23 Events Pre-1600 * 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor. * 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao. *1264 & ...
– WWII: ** Hungary agrees to an
armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
with the Allies. ** German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the start of
Operation Hannibal Operation Hannibal was a German naval operation involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from the Courland Pocket, East Prussia, West Prussia and Pomerania from mid-January to May 1945 as the Red Army advanced during th ...
, the mass evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from the
Courland Pocket The Courland Pocket (Blockade of the Courland army group), (german: Kurland-Kessel)/german: Kurland-Brückenkopf (Courland Bridgehead), lv, Kurzemes katls (Courland Cauldron) or ''Kurzemes cietoksnis'' (Courland Fortress)., group=lower-alpha ...
, East Prussia and the
Polish Corridor The Polish Corridor (german: Polnischer Korridor; pl, Pomorze, Polski Korytarz), also known as the Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia (Pomeranian Voivodeship, easter ...
, evacuating an estimated 800,000-900,000 German civilians and 350,000 soldiers from advancing Soviet forces. ** Evacuation of Germans from Grünhagen. *
January 24 Events Pre-1600 * 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula. * 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt. *1438 – The Cou ...
– WWII: AP war correspondent Joseph Morton, nine OSS men, and four SOE agents are executed by the Germans at
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...
under Hitler's Commando Order of 1942, which stipulates the immediate execution of all captured Allied
commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...
s or
saboteurs Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identiti ...
without trial, even those in proper uniforms. Morton is the only Allied correspondent to be executed by the
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
during the war. *
January 26 Events Pre-1600 * 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. *1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. * 1564 – The Council of Tren ...
– WWII: 19-year-old U.S. Army Staff Sergeant
Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor and songwriter. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from t ...
sees action at
Holtzwihr Holtzwihr (; german: Holzweier; gsw-FR, Holzwihr) is a former commune in the Haut-Rhin department in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune Porte du Ried. It was also the location of the World War II Battl ...
, France, for which is awarded the
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...
. * January 27
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
: The Soviet
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
liberates the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. * January 30 – WWII: ** , with over 10,000 mainly civilian Germans from Gotenhafen (
Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...
) is sunk in
Gdańsk Bay Gdańsk Bay or the Gulf of Gdańsk ( pl, Zatoka Gdańska; csb, Gduńskô Hôwinga; russian: Гданьская бухта, Gdan'skaja bukhta, and german: Danziger Bucht) is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent por ...
by three
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
es from Soviet submarine ''S-13'' in the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
; up to 9,400, 5,000 of whom are children, are thought to have died – the greatest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history. **
Raid at Cabanatuan The Raid at Cabanatuan ( fil, Pagsalakay sa Cabanatuan), also known as the Great Raid ( fil, Ang Dakilang Pagsalakay, link=no), was a rescue of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Ph ...
: 121 American soldiers and 800 Filipino guerrillas free 813 American prisoners of war from the Japanese-held camp in the city of
Cabanatuan Cabanatuan, officially the City of Cabanatuan ( fil, Lungsod ng Cabanatuan; ilo, Siudad ti Cabanatuan), is a 1st class component city in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 327,325 peop ...
, in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. **
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
makes his last public speech, on broadcast radio, expressing the belief that Germany will triumph. *
January 31 Events Pre-1600 * 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades. *1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the ...
– WWII: The
Battle of Hill 170 The Battle of Hill 170 was a battle between the British 3rd Commando Brigade and the Japanese 54th Division during the Second World War. The battle was fought in January 1945, as part of the Burma Campaign. The 3rd Commando Brigade were giv ...
in the Burma Campaign ends with the British
3rd Commando Brigade 3 Commando Brigade (3 Cdo Bde), previously called the 3rd Special Service Brigade, is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces. It is composed of the Royal Marine Commandos, alongside commando qualified sailors, soldiers and airmen from ...
defeating the Imperial Japanese Army 54th Division, causing the Japanese Twenty-Eighth Army to withdraw from the
Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
Peninsula.


February

* February – Raymond L. Libby of
American Cyanamid American Cyanamid Company was a leading American conglomerate which became one of the nation's top 100 manufacturing companies during the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Fortune 500 listings at the time. It started in fertilizer, but added ...
's research laboratories, at Stamford, Connecticut, announces a method of orally administering the antibiotic penicillin. * February 3 – WWII: ** Battle of Manila: United States forces enter the outskirts of
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
to capture it from the
Japanese Imperial Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...
, starting the battle. On February 4, U.S. Army forces liberate
Santo Tomas Internment Camp Santo Tomas Internment Camp, also known as the Manila Internment Camp, was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo ...
in the city. ** The
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
agrees to enter the Pacific War against Japan, once hostilities against Germany are concluded. * February 411 – WWII:
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
and
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
leader
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
hold the
Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
. *
February 7 Events Pre-1600 * 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor. * 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II. * 1301 &nd ...
– WWII: General Douglas MacArthur returns to
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. *
February 8 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. *1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. * 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al ...
– The Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, championed by charismatic native leader
Elizabeth Peratrovich Elizabeth Peratrovich (née Elizabeth Jean Wanamaker, ; July 4, 1911December 1, 1958) was an American civil rights activist, Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and member of the Tlingit nation who worked for equality on behalf of ...
, is passed by the territorial Senate, after the legislature defeated a previous bill in 1943. *
February 9 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. * 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. *1539 – The first recorded race is held ...
**
Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
becomes leader of the German
Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
in Moscow. ** WWII: " Black Friday": A force of Allied Bristol Beaufighter aircraft suffers heavy casualties in an unsuccessful attack on German destroyer ''Z33'' and escorting vessels sheltering in Førde Fjord, Norway. *
February 10 Events Pre-1600 * 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, spar ...
– WWII: German
troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
is sunk by the Soviet submarine ''S-13''; 3,608 drown. *
February 10 Events Pre-1600 * 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, spar ...
20 – WWII:
Operation Kita was conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific War in February 1945. Its purpose was to return two hybrid battleship-aircraft carriers and four escort ships to Japan from Singapore, where they had been based since Novembe ...
: The
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
returns "Completion Force", containing both its ''Ise''-class battleships, safely from
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
to
Kure is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan ...
in Japan despite Allied attacks. * February 13 – WWII: ** The Budapest Offensive and the
Siege of Budapest The Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budape ...
end with
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
troops surrendering
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
(Hungary) to
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
-Romanian forces. **
Bombing of Dresden The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Roya ...
(Germany) by the British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
and
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
; 25,000-35,000 are estimated to have died. *
February 16 Events Pre-1600 *1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire. *1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Kar ...
– WWII: ** The Bombing of Wesel begins, destroying 97% of the town over three days. ** American and Filipino ground forces land on Corregidor Island in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. ** Combined American and Filipino forces recapture the
Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the enti ...
Peninsula. **
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
declares war on Germany. * February 1920 – 980 (Actual figure is disputed) Japanese soldiers die as a result of being attacked by long saltwater crocodiles in Ramree, Burma. * February 19 – WWII: Battle of Iwo Jima – About 30,000
United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...
land on Iwo Jima. *
February 21 Events Pre-1600 *452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine. * 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery. *1440 – The Pru ...
– The last
V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develop ...
is launched from
Peenemünde Peenemünde (, en, " Peene iverMouth") is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is part of the ''Amt'' (collective municipality) of Usedom-Nord. The commu ...
. *
February 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. * 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferd ...
– WWII: ** Italian Front: The
Battle of Monte Castello The Battle of Monte Castello ( it, Battaglia del Monte Castello; german: Schlacht von Monte Castello; pt, Batalha de Monte Castello; part of Operation Encore) was an engagement that took place from 25 November 1944 to 21 February 1945 dur ...
ends, after nearly three months of fighting, Brazilian troops expel German forces from a pivot point in the (Tuscan) North Apennines, where their artillery was impeding the advance of Eighth British Army toward
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
. **
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
declares war on Germany and Japan. * February 23 – WWII: ** Battle of Iwo Jima: A group of
United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...
reach the top of
Mount Suribachi is a -high mountain on the southwest end of Iwo Jima in the northwest Pacific Ocean under the administration of Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The mountain's name derives from its shape, resembling a '' suribachi'' or grind ...
on the island, and are photographed raising the
American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...
. The photo, '' Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'' (taken by Joe Rosenthal), later wins a Pulitzer Prize. ** The 11th Airborne Division, with
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp. ** The capital of the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, Manila, is liberated by combined American and Filipino ground troops. American and Filipino troops enter
Intramuros Intramuros (Latin for "inside the walls") is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Present-day ...
. ** The German garrison in
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
capitulates to
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
and Polish troops. ** Bombing of Pforzheim: The heaviest of a series of bombing raids on
Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...
, Germany by Allied aircraft is carried out by the British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
. As many as 17,600 people, or 31.4% of the town's population, are killed in the raid and about 83% of the town's buildings destroyed, two-thirds of its complete area and between 80 and 100% of the inner city. **
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
joins the war on the side of the Allies. * February 24 – Egyptian Premier
Ahmad Mahir Pasha Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...
is assassinated in Parliament after declaring war on Germany and Japan. * February 27 – The Bombing of Mainz results in 1,209 confirmed dead; 80% of the city is destroyed. * February 28 – In
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
, a violent demonstration takes place, during which the ''Bolşevic'' group opens fire on the army and protesters. In response, Andrei Y. Vishinsky,
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
vice commissioner of foreign affairs and president of the Allied Control Commission for
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
, travels to Bucharest to compel
Nicolae Rădescu Nicolae Rădescu (; 30 March 1874 – 16 May 1953) was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-Communist Romania, communist rule List of Prime Ministers of Romania, Prime Minister of Romania, serving from 7 December 1944 ...
to resign as premier.


March

*
March 1 Events Pre-1600 *509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. * 293 – Emperor Diocletian ...
– President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
gives what will be his last address to a
joint session of the United States Congress A joint session of the United States Congress is a gathering of members of the two chambers of the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Joint sessions can be held on a ...
, reporting on the
Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
. *
March 2 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his '' bucellarii'' are almost cut o ...
** Former U.S. Vice-president Henry A. Wallace starts his term of office as
United States Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...
, serving under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
. ** The rocket-propelled
Bachem Ba 349 The Bachem Ba 349 Natter ( en, Colubrid, grass-snake) was a World War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile. After a vertical take-off, which eliminate ...
''Natter'' is first test launched at Stetten am kalten Markt. The launch fails and the pilot, Lothar Sieber, dies. *
March 3 Events Pre-1600 * 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. * 1575 & ...
– WWII: ** Finland declares war on the
Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. ** United States and Filipino troops take
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
,
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. **
Pawłokoma massacre The Pawłokoma massacre was a massacre on 3 March 1945 of Ukrainians by Polish forces in the village of Pawłokoma west of Przemyśl. The Polish post Home Army ( AK) unit was commanded by Lt. Józef Biss and aided by Polish men from surroun ...
: A Polish
Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...
unit massacres between 150 and 500 Ukrainian civilians in the Polish village of
Pawłokoma Pawłokoma ( uk, Павлокома, ''Pavlokoma'', ) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dynów, within Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Dynów and sout ...
. ** Bombing of the Bezuidenhout: The British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, Netherlands, killing 511 people. *
March 4 Events Pre-1600 *AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth). * 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. * 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
– In the United Kingdom, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), joins the
Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...
(ATS) as a truck driver/mechanic in London. * March 5 – WWII: Brazilian troops take Castelnuovo (
Vergato Vergato ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna. Vergato borders the following municipalities: Castel d'Aiano, ...
), in the last operations of the Allied Spring 1945 offensive in Italy. *
March 6 Events Pre-1600 * 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor. * 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. * 845 & ...
** A Communist-led government is formed in
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
under
Petru Groza Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of the Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Commu ...
, following
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
intervention. ** Resistance fighters accidentally ambush and attempt to execute SS general
Hanns Albin Rauter Johann Baptist Albin Rauter (4 February 1895 – 24 March 1949) was a high-ranking Austrian-born SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands and therefore the leading ...
, the arch-persecutor of the Dutch. * March 7 – WWII: At the end of
Operation Lumberjack Operation Lumberjack was a military operation with the goal of capturing the west bank of the Rhine River and seizing key German cities, near the end of World War II. The First United States Army launched the operation in March 1945 to capture s ...
, American troops seize the
Ludendorff Bridge The Ludendorff Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Bridge at Remagen) was in early March 1945 a critical remaining bridge across the river Rhine in Germany when it was captured during the Battle of Remagen by United States Army forces durin ...
over the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...
at
Remagen Remagen ( ) is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the ...
, Germany and begin to cross; in the next 10 days, 25,000 troops with equipment are able to cross. *
March 8 Events Pre-1600 * 1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem ''Shahnameh''. *1126 – Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León. * 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bou ...
** Josip Broz Tito forms a
Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia The Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia () was Democratic Federal Yugoslavia's temporary national government formed through the merger of the Yugoslav government-in-exile and the National Committee for the Liberation of ...
, in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
. ** Nazi authorities kill 117 Dutch men, in reprisal for the attempted murder of
Hanns Albin Rauter Johann Baptist Albin Rauter (4 February 1895 – 24 March 1949) was a high-ranking Austrian-born SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands and therefore the leading ...
. ** Operation Sunrise:
Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
General Karl Wolff meets with
Allen Welsh Dulles Allen Welsh Dulles (, ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest-serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he ...
of the United States Office of Strategic Services at Lucerne, Switzerland, to negotiate the surrender of the
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
forces in Italy to the Allies. *
March 9 Events Pre-1600 * 141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China. * 1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. * 1226 &nda ...
10 – WWII:
Bombing of Tokyo The was a series of firebombing air raids by the United States Army Air Force during the Pacific campaigns of World War II. Operation Meetinghouse, which was conducted on the night of 9–10 March 1945, is the single most destructive bombin ...
:
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
B-29
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...
s attack Tokyo, Japan, with
incendiary bombs Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...
, killing 100,000 citizens in the firebombing. It is the single most destructive conventional air attack of the war. *
March 11 Events Pre-1600 * 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. * 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
** The
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...
establishes the Empire of Vietnam, a
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sove ...
which will last only until August 23, with
Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...
as its ruler. ** The Sammarinese general election gives
San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
the world's first democratically elected communist government, which will hold power until
1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...
. * March 12 – WWII: Swinemünde is destroyed by the USAAF, killing an estimated 8,000 to 23,000 civilians, mostly refugees saved by
Operation Hannibal Operation Hannibal was a German naval operation involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from the Courland Pocket, East Prussia, West Prussia and Pomerania from mid-January to May 1945 as the Red Army advanced during th ...
. *
March 15 Events Pre-1600 *474 BC – Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce. * 44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar takes place. * 493 – Odo ...
31 – WWII: The Soviet
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
carries out the
Upper Silesian Offensive The Upper Silesian offensive was a strategically significant Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II in 1945. It was aimed at capturing the considerable industrial and natural resources located in Upper Silesia and involved forces ...
. *
March 15 Events Pre-1600 *474 BC – Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce. * 44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar takes place. * 493 – Odo ...
– The
17th Academy Awards The 17th Academy Awards were held on March 15, 1945 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, honoring the films of 1944. This was the first time the complete awards ceremony was broadcast nationally, on the Blue Network ( ABC Radio). Bob Hope hosted th ...
ceremony is held, broadcast via radio in the United States for the first time.
Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
goes to ''
Going My Way ''Going My Way'' is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest tak ...
''. *
March 16 Events Pre-1600 * 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang. *1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York. * 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse ...
– WWII: ** The Battle of Iwo Jima unofficially ends. ** The Bombing of Würzburg, as part of the Allied strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany, destroys 89% of the city and causes 4,000 deaths. *
March 17 Events Pre-1600 * 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. * 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of ei ...
– WWII: Kobe, Japan is fire-bombed by 331 B-29 bombers, killing over 8,000 people. *
March 18 Events Pre-1600 * 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10. * 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
– WWII: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin. *
March 19 Events Pre-1600 * 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. * 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen en ...
– WWII: **
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
orders that all industries, military installations, machine shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed. ** Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier USS ''Franklin'', killing about 800 of her crewmen and crippling the ship. *
March 21 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– WWII: ** British troops liberate Mandalay,
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. **
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
n and
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
troops successfully defend the north bank of the
Drava River The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...
, as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concludes. *
March 22 Events Pre-1600 * 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea. * 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century. * 871 – Æthelr ...
** The Arab League is formed, with the adoption of a charter in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
, Egypt. ** The
Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
and the historic city-centre of
Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...
in Germany are destroyed in an air raid. *
March 24 Events Pre-1600 * 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6. *1387 – English victory over a Franco- Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate o ...
** WWII:
Operation Varsity Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops that took place toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it was the largest ai ...
– Two airborne divisions capture bridges across the
Rhine River ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...
to aid the Allied advance. ** The cartoon character Sylvester the cat debuts in ''
Life with Feathers ''Life with Feathers'' is a 1945 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' animated short film directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on March 24, 1945, and is the first cartoon to feature Sylvester the Cat. The title is a play on the long ...
''. *
March 26 Events Pre-1600 * 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. *1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, ...
– WWII: The Battle of Iwo Jima officially ends, with the destruction of the remaining areas of Japanese resistance, although there are
Japanese holdout Japanese holdouts ( ja, 残留日本兵, translit=Zanryū nipponhei, lit=remaining Japanese soldiers) were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific Theatre of World War II who continued fighting World Wa ...
s here until 1949. *
March 27 Events Pre-1600 *1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom. * 1329 – Pope John XXII ...
– WWII: ** The
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
begins
Operation Starvation Operation Starvation was a naval mining operation conducted in World War II by the United States Army Air Forces to disrupt Japanese shipping. Operation The mission was initiated at the insistence of Admiral Chester Nimitz who wanted his naval ...
, laying
naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...
s in many of Japan's seaways. **
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
declares war on
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and Japan. *
March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
** WWII: The
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
almost destroys the German 4th Army, in the
Heiligenbeil Pocket The Heiligenbeil Pocket or Heiligenbeil Cauldron (german: Kessel von Heiligenbeil) was the site of a major encirclement battle on the Eastern Front during the closing weeks of World War II, in which the Wehrmacht's 4th Army was almost entirely ...
in East Prussia. ** The "Clash of Titans":
George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...
and
Bob Kurland Robert Albert Kurland (December 23, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was a American basketball center, who played for the two-time NCAA champion Oklahoma A&M Aggies (now Oklahoma State Cowboys) basketball team. He led the U.S. basketball team to go ...
duel at Madison Square Garden in New York, as
Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
defeats DePaul 52–44 in
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
. *
March 30 Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague. *1282 &ndash ...
– WWII: ** The
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
pushes most of the Axis forces out of Hungary into Austria. ** American official Alger Hiss is congratulated in Moscow for his part in bringing the positions of the Western powers and the Soviet Union closer to each other, at the
Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
.


April

*
April 1 Events Pre-1600 * 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held. * 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. *1081 – Alexios I Ko ...
– WWII: Battle of Okinawa: The
Tenth United States Army The Tenth United States Army was the last army level command established during the Pacific War during World War II, and included divisions from both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps. History The headquarters of the Tenth Army was formed ...
lands on
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
. * April 4 – WWII: ** American troops liberate their first Nazi concentration camp,
Ohrdruf Ohrdruf () is a small town in the district of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It lies some 30 km southwest of Erfurt at the foot of the northern slope of the Thuringian Forest. The former municipalities Crawinkel, Gräfenhain an ...
extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
in Germany. ** The
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
enters Bratislava and pushes to the outskirts of
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, taking it on April 13, after several days of intense fighting. *
April 6 Events Pre–1600 *46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus. * 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia. *13 ...
– WWII: **
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...
is liberated from
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
(a fascist
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sove ...
), by
Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
. ** The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville Island concludes, with a decisive victory for the
Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...
's 7th Brigade. ** Allied forces reach Merkers Salt Mines in
Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
, where gold reserves of the Nazi German
Reichsbank The ''Reichsbank'' (; 'Bank of the Reich, Bank of the Realm') was the central bank of the German Reich from 1876 until 1945. History until 1933 The Reichsbank was founded on 1 January 1876, shortly after the establishment of the German Empi ...
are stored. *
April 7 Events Pre-1600 * 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town. * 529 – First ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Empe ...
– WWII: ** The only flight of the German ramming unit known as Sonderkommando Elbe takes place, resulting in the loss of some 24 B-17s and B-24s of the United States Eighth Air Force. ** and nine other warships take part in
Operation Ten-Go , also known as Operation Heaven One (or Ten-ichi-gō 天一号), was the last major Japanese naval operation in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The resulting engagement is also known as the Battle of the East China Sea. In April 1945, t ...
, a suicide attack on Allied forces engaged in the Battle of Okinawa. ''Yamato'' is sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft in the East China Sea north of
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
with the loss of 2,055 of 2,332 crew, together with five other Japanese warships. **
Kantarō Suzuki Baron was a Japanese general and politician. He was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, member and final leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association and Prime Minister of Japan from 7 April to 17 August 1945. Biography Early l ...
becomes
Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Sta ...
. * April 8 – The SS begins to evacuate the Buchenwald concentration camp; inmates in the
Buchenwald Resistance The Buchenwald Resistance was a resistance group of prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp. It involved Communists, Social Democrats, and people affiliated with other political parties, unaffiliated people, and both Jews and Christians. Be ...
call for American aid, and overpower and kill the remaining guards. *
April 9 Events Pre-1600 * 193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (''Enkyklikon'') to the bishops of his empire, su ...
** WWII: The
Battle of Königsberg The Battle of Königsberg, also known as the Königsberg offensive, was one of the last operations of the East Prussian offensive during World War II. In four days of urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belorussia ...
, in East Prussia, ends with Soviet forces capturing the city. ** Abwehr conspirators
Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and the chief of the ''Abwehr'' (the German military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Canaris was initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler, and the Nazi re ...
,
Hans Oster Hans Paul Oster (9 August 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a general in the ''Wehrmacht'' and a leading figure of the anti-Nazi German resistance from 1938 to 1943. As deputy head of the counter-espionage bureau in the ''Abwehr'' (German military inte ...
and
Hans von Dohnányi Hans von Dohnanyi (; originally ''Johann von Dohnányi'' ; 1 January 1902 – 8 or 9 April 1945) was a German jurist. He used his position in the Abwehr to help Jews escape Germany, worked with German resistance against the Nazi régim ...
are hanged at Flossenberg concentration camp, along with pastor
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
. ** Johann Georg Elser, would-be assassin of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, is executed at Dachau concentration camp. *
April 10 Events Pre-1600 * 428 – Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople. * 837 – Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles). * 140 ...
– WWII:
Visoko Visoko ( sr-cyrl, Високо, ) is a city located in the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the municipality had a population of 39,938 inhabitants with 11,205 liv ...
is liberated by the 7th, 9th and 17th Krajina Brigades from the Tenth Division of
Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
forces. *
April 11 Events Pre-1600 * 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. *1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. *1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrare ...
Buchenwald concentration camp is liberated by the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
. *
April 12 Events Pre-1600 * 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. * 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to ...
**Vice President
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
is sworn in as the 33rd President of the United States, and that evening in the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, following the sudden death of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
earlier in the day. ** WWII: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the
Elbe River The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of ...
astride
Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
, and reaches
Tangermünde Tangermünde (; nds, Tangermünn) is a historic town on the Elbe River in the district of Stendal, in the northeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Tangermünde is situated in the historic Altmark region of the North German Plain ...
— only 50 miles from
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. *
April 14 Events Pre-1600 * 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum. * 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...
– WWII: ** The First Canadian Army assumes military control of the Netherlands, where German forces are trapped in the Atlantic Wall fortifications along the coastline. ** Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroys the German town of
Friesoythe Friesoythe, in Saterland Frisian language Ait or Äit, is a town in the district of Cloppenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, on the river Soeste, northwest of Cloppenburg, and southwest of Oldenburg. History In 1227, Count Otto von Tecklenburg ...
, on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes. *
April 15 Events Pre-1600 * 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings. * 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscar ...
– WWII: ** The
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...
is liberated by British and Canadian forces. ** The Canadian First Army reaches the coast in the northern
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and captures
Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...
. *
April 16 Events Pre-1600 * 1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. * 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide. * 73 – Masad ...
– WWII: ** The Battle of Berlin begins, opening with the Battle of the Oder–Neisse and the
Battle of the Seelow Heights The Battle of the Seelow Heights (german: Schlacht um die Seelower Höhen) was part of the Berlin Offensive, Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (16 April–2 May 1945). A pitched battle, it was one of the last assaults on large Field entrenchm ...
. ** Canadian forces take Harlingen and occupy
Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Stadsfries dialects, Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Fri ...
and Groningen in the Netherlands. ** is sunk by Soviet submarine ''L-3'' in the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
while evacuating German troops and civilians as part of
Operation Hannibal Operation Hannibal was a German naval operation involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from the Courland Pocket, East Prussia, West Prussia and Pomerania from mid-January to May 1945 as the Red Army advanced during th ...
; 7,000–8,000 drown. **
Death marches A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...
from
Flossenbürg concentration camp Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flo ...
begin. *
April 17 Events Pre-1600 *1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized. *1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan ...
– WWII: ** Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German forces. **
Inundation of the Wieringermeer On 17 April 1945, the retreating German occupying forces inundated the polder of Wieringermeer, the Netherlands. Preparations In 1945 German forces occupying the Netherlands planned to destroy the Zuiderzee Works to cover their retreat. Militar ...
in the Netherlands by occupying German forces. *
April 18 Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Coria (Corbridge), Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald of Northumbria, Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 d ...
– American war correspondent
Ernie Pyle Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II. Pyle is also notable for the ...
is killed by Japanese
machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
fire on the island of
Ie Shima , previously romanized in English as Ie Shima, is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, lying a few kilometers off the Motobu Peninsula on Okinawa Island. The island measures in circumference and covers . As of December 2012 the island had ...
off
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
. *
April 19 Events Pre-1600 * AD 65 – The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all the conspirators are arrested. * 531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persi ...
Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular ...
's '' Carousel'', a musical play based on
Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Molnár ( , ; born Ferenc Neumann; 12 January 18781 April 1952), often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian-born author, stage-director, dramatist, and poet, widely regarded as Hungary’s most celebrated and controversial play ...
's ''
Liliom ''Liliom'' is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical ''Carousel''. P ...
'', opens on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, and becomes their second long-running stage classic. *
April 20 Events Pre-1600 * 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. 1601–1900 *1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament. *1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroys ...
– WWII: On his 56th birthday,
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
leaves his '' Führerbunker'', to decorate a group of
Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
soldiers in Berlin. It will be his last trip to the surface from his underground bunker. *
April 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil. * 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. *1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern h ...
– WWII: **
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, through
Folke Bernadotte Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat. In World War II he negotiated the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps, including 450 Danish Jews fr ...
, Count of Wisborg, puts forth an offer of German surrender to the Western Allies, but not the Soviet Union. **
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
finally concedes defeat in the ''Führerbunker'' after learning that SS-Obergruppenführer
Felix Steiner Felix Martin Julius Steiner (23 May 1896 – 12 May 1966) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he served in the Waffen-SS, the combat branch of the SS, and commanded several SS divisions and corps. He was awarded t ...
cannot mobilize enough men to launch a counterattack on the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
forces which have completely surrounded Berlin. * April 23 – WWII: **
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
sends the
Göring Telegram The Göring Telegram was a message sent by Hermann Göring, head of the ''Luftwaffe'' and Adolf Hitler's designated successor as leader of Nazi Germany, that asked for permission to assume leadership of the crumbling regime on 23 April 1945. The ...
to Hitler, seeking confirmation that he should take over leadership of Germany, in accordance with the decree of June 29, 1941. Hitler regards this as treason. ** The main
Flossenbürg concentration camp Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flo ...
is liberated by the United States Army. *
April 24 Events Pre-1600 * 1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty). *1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy ...
– Retreating German troops destroy all the bridges over the
Adige The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the pro ...
in
Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
, including the historic Ponte di Castelvecchio and Ponte Pietra. *
April 25 Events Pre-1600 *404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. * 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the ...
** Founding negotiations for the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
begin in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. ** WWII –
Elbe Day Elbe Day, April 25, 1945, is the day Soviet and American troops met at the Elbe River, near Torgau in Germany, marking an important step toward the end of World War II in Europe. This contact between the Soviets, advancing from the east, and th ...
: United States and
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
troops link up at the
Elbe River The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of ...
, cutting Germany in two. *
April 25 Events Pre-1600 *404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. * 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the ...
26 – WWII: The last major
strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...
raid by RAF Bomber Command, the destruction of the oil refinery at
Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...
in southern Norway, is carried out by 107 Avro Lancasters. *
April 26 Events Pre-1600 * 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. *1348 – Czech king Karel IV founds the Charles University in Prague, which was later named after him and was the first university in Central Europe. * 1 ...
– WWII: ** Battle of Bautzen: The last "successful" German panzer-offensive in
Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budi ...
ends with the city recaptured. ** The British 3rd Infantry Division, under General Whistler, captures Bremen. ** Nazi surrenders mean the British and Canadians now control the German border with Switzerland, from
Basle , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...
to Lake Constance. * April 27 ** The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The
Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...
and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the ''
Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn ''Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn''; original photograph scan received from the Military Museum of Finland), but it is usually labelled as "Finnish soldiers raising the flag on the three-country cairn" ( fi, Suomalaissotilaat nosta ...
'' photograph is taken. ** U.S. Ordnance troops find the coffins of Frederick William I of Prussia,
Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...
,
Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fr ...
, and his wife, in a salt mine in Germany. *
April 28 Events Pre-1600 * 224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire. * 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory ...
** The bodies of Benito Mussolini, his mistress,
Clara Petacci Clara Petacci, known as Claretta Petacci (; 28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945), was a mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. She was killed during Mussolini's execution by Italian partisans. Early life Daughter of Giuseppina Persic ...
, and other followers are hung by their heels at a gas station in the public square of
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Piazzale Loreto, following their execution by Italian partisans after an attempt to flee the country. ** The Canadian First Army captures Emden and
Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...
. *
April 29 Events Pre-1600 * 1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. * 1386 – Battle of the Vikhra River: The Principality of Smolensk is defeated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and b ...
** At the royal palace in
Caserta Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial '' comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Ca ...
, Lieutenant-Colonel Viktor von Schweinitz (representing General
Heinrich von Vietinghoff Heinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel (6 December 1887 – 23 February 1952) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oa ...
) and SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' Eugen Wenner (representing
Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
General Karl Wolff) sign an unconditional instrument of surrender for all
Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
forces in Italy, taking effect on
May 2 Events Pre-1600 * 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. *1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. * 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprison ...
. Italian General
Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's '' Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and durin ...
orders the ''
Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano The National Republican Army (Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano, or ENR) was the army of the Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) from 1943 to 1945 that fought on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II. The ENR ...
'' forces under his command to lay down their arms. ** Dachau concentration camp is surrendered to U.S. forces, who kill SS guards at the camp and the nearby hamlet of Webling. ** Brazilian forces liberate the commune of Fornovo di Taro, Italy, from German forces. ** Operation Manna: British Avro Lancaster bombers drop food into the Netherlands to prevent the starvation of the civilian population. ** Soviet soldiers hoist the Red flag over the ''
Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared ...
'' in Berlin. **
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
marries his longtime mistress
Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his ...
, in a closed civil ceremony in the Berlin '' Führerbunker'', and signs his last will and testament. *
April 30 Events Pre-1600 *311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends. *1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois. *1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus hi ...
Death of Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler, chancellor and dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, died by suicide via gunshot on 30 April 1945 in the in Berlin after it became clear that Germany would lose the Battle of Berlin, which led to the end of World War II in Eur ...
: Adolf Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, commit suicide as the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
approaches the ''Führerbunker'' in Berlin. ''Großadmiral'' Karl Dönitz succeeds Hitler as
President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
(''Reichspräsident'') and Joseph Goebbels succeeds as Chancellor of Germany (''Reichskanzler''), in accordance with Hitler's political testament of the previous day.


May

*
May 1 Events Pre-1600 * 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. * 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. *1169 – N ...
– WWII: ** Reichssender Hamburg's Flensburg radio station announces that Hitler has died in battle, "fighting up to his last breath against
Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, ...
." ** Joseph Goebbels and his wife
Magda Magda is a feminine given name, sometimes a short form ( hypocorism) of names such as Magdalena, which may refer to: * Magda Apanowicz (born 1985), Canadian actress * Magda B. Arnold (1903–2002), Czechoslovakian-born American psychologist * M ...
commit suicide, after killing their six children. Karl Dönitz appoints Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk as the new Chancellor of Germany, in the Flensburg Government. ** Troops of the Yugoslav 4th Army, together with the Slovene 9th Corpus NOV, enter
Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
. ** Mass suicide in Demmin: An estimated 700–2,500 suicides take place, after 80% of the town has been destroyed by the Soviets during the past three days. *
May 2 Events Pre-1600 * 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. *1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. * 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprison ...
– WWII: ** The
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
announces the fall of Berlin. **
Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...
is liberated by the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
. ** The surrender of
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
troops in Italy comes into effect. ** A
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...
from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted under two kilometers west of Waakirchen by the segregated, all-
Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners. ** Troops of the New Zealand Army 2nd Division enter
Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
a day after the
Yugoslavs Yugoslavs or Yugoslavians ( Bosnian and Croatian: ''Jugoslaveni'', Serbian and Macedonian ''Jugosloveni''/Југословени; sl, Jugoslovani) is an identity that was originally designed to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has b ...
; the German Army in
Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
surrenders to the New Zealand Army. ** Following the death or resignation of the Hitler Cabinet in Germany, the Schwerin von Krosigk cabinet first meets. **
Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...
near
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
is evacuated at about this date. ** Expatriate American poet Ezra Pound is arrested by the Italian resistance movement but soon released by them as of no interest; on
May 5 Events Pre-1600 * 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. *1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. *1260 – Kub ...
he turns himself in to the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
and is imprisoned as a traitor. *
May 3 Events Pre-1600 * 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. * 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. ...
– WWII: ** The
prison ship A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nat ...
s ''
Cap Arcona SS ''Cap Arcona'', named after Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen, was a large German ocean liner, later a ship of the German Navy, and finally a prison ship. A flagship of the Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft ("Hamburg- ...
'' (5,000 dead), '' Thielbek'' (2,750 dead) and ''
Deutschland Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
'' (all survive) are sunk by the British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
in
Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...
Bay. ** Rocket scientist
Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...
and 120 members of his team surrender to U.S. forces (later going on to help start the U.S. space program). ** German Protestant theologian
Gerhard Kittel Gerhard Kittel (23 September 1888 – 11 July 1948) was a German Lutheran theologian and lexicographer of biblical languages. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Nazis and an open antisemite. He is known in the field of biblical studies for hi ...
is arrested by the French forces in Tübingen, Germany. *
May 4 Events Pre-1600 * 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull ''Licet ecclesiae catholicae''. * 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus ar ...
– WWII: **
German surrender at Lüneburg Heath On 4 May 1945, at 18:30 British Double Summer Time, at Lüneburg Heath, south of Hamburg, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, northwest Germany including all i ...
: All German armed forces in northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands surrender unconditionally to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, effective on May 5 at 08:00 hours British Double (and German) Summer Time. ** The Netherlands is liberated by British and Canadian troops. ** Denmark is liberated. ** Admiral Karl Dönitz orders all
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s to cease offensive operations and return to bases in Norway. ** The
Holy Crown of Hungary The Holy Crown of Hungary ( hu, Szent Korona; sh, Kruna svetoga Stjepana; la, Sacra Corona; sk, Svätoštefanská koruna , la, Sacra Corona), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the c ...
is found in Mattsee, Austria, by the United States Army 86th Infantry Division. The U.S. government keeps the crown in Fort Knox for safekeeping from the Soviets until it is returned to
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
on January 6 1978. ** German auxiliary cruiser ''Orion'' is sunk on her way to
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
carrying refugees, with a loss of over 3,800 lives. *
May 5 Events Pre-1600 * 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. *1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. *1260 – Kub ...
– WWII: ** Prague uprising:
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
rises up against occupying Nazi forces, encouraged by radio broadcasts (giving rise to the Battle for Czech Radio). ** The
US 11th Armored Division The 11th Armored Division (11 AD) was a division of the United States Army in World War II. It was activated on 15 August 1942 at Camp Polk, Louisiana and moved on 24 June 1943 for the Louisiana Maneuvers. Transferred then to Camp Barkeley, ...
liberates the prisoners of
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...
, including
Simon Wiesenthal Simon Wiesenthal (31 December 190820 September 2005) was a Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture and was living in Lwów at the outbreak of World War II. He survived the Janowska concentration ...
. ** Canadian soldiers liberate the city of
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
from
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
occupation. ** A Japanese
fire balloon An incendiary balloon (or balloon bomb) is a balloon inflated with a lighter-than-air gas such as hot air, hydrogen, or helium, that has a bomb, incendiary device, or Molotov cocktail attached. The balloon is carried by the prevailing winds t ...
kills six people, Elsie Mitchell and five children, near
Bly, Oregon Bly is an unincorporated small town in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. By highway, it is about east of Klamath Falls. , the population was 207. Geography Bly is in southeastern Klamath County, slightly west of Lake County, along O ...
, when it explodes as they drag it from the woods. These are the only people killed by an enemy attack on the American mainland during WWII. *
May 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. * 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Sp ...
** WWII:
Mildred Gillars Mildred Elizabeth Gillars ( Sisk; November 29, 1900 – June 25, 1988) was an American broadcaster employed by Nazi Germany to disseminate Axis propaganda during World War II. Following her capture in post-war Berlin, she became the first woman t ...
("Axis Sally") delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (the first was on December 11, 1941). **
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
:
Ebensee concentration camp Ebensee was a subcamp of Mauthausen concentration camp established by the SS to build tunnels for armaments storage near the town of Ebensee, Austria, in 1943. The camp held a total of 27,278 male inmates from 1943 until 1945. Between 8,500 and ...
in Austria is liberated by troops of the 80th Division (United States). *
May 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. * 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Sp ...
7 – The government of the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
, the Nazi-affiliated fascist puppet state established in occupied
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, flees
Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
for a location near
Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...
in Austria, but is captured in the
Bleiburg repatriations The Bleiburg repatriations ( see terminology) occurred in May 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe, during which Yugoslavia had been occupied by the Axis powers, when tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians associated with the Axis ...
that then leads to mass executions. *
May 7 Events Pre-1600 * 351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. * 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I imm ...
– WWII: ** At 02:41, General Alfred Jodl signs the unconditional German Instrument of Surrender in SHAEF HQ at Reims, France, to end Germany's participation in the war. Surrender is effective on May 8 at 23:01 hours Central European Time (00:01 hours May 9 German Summer Time). ** Numerous RAF Avro Lancaster, Lancasters land in Germany to repatriate British prisoners of war. Some 4,500 ex-POWs are flown back to Great Britain over the next 24 hours. * May 8 – WWII: ** Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) is observed by the western European powers as
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
surrenders, marking the end of WWII in Europe. ** Shortly before midnight (May 9 Moscow time) the final German Instrument of Surrender is signed at the seat of the Soviet Military Administration in Berlin-Karlshorst, attended by Allied representatives. ** Canadian troops move into
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, after German troops surrender. ** The surrender of the Dodecanese is signed in Symi. ** The Prague uprising ends with a ceasefire. ** The Eighth British Army, together with Slovene partisan troops and a motorized detachment of the Yugoslav 4th Army, arrives in Carinthia (state), Carinthia and
Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...
. The Croatian Armed Forces (Independent State of Croatia), Croatian Armed Forces of the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
are ordered by their commanders not to surrender to the
Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
, but to attempt to retreat to Austria and surrender to the British, part of the events leading to the
Bleiburg repatriations The Bleiburg repatriations ( see terminology) occurred in May 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe, during which Yugoslavia had been occupied by the Axis powers, when tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians associated with the Axis ...
. **
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
surrenders himself to the United States Army near Radstadt. * May 8–May 29, 29 – Sétif and Guelma massacre: in Algeria, thousands die as French troops and released Italian POWs kill an estimated 6,000 to 40,000 Algerian citizens. * May 9 – WWII: ** The
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
marks Victory in Europe Day, VE Day as the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
enters Prague. ** Vidkun Quisling and other members of the Collaborationism, collaborationist Quisling regime in Norway surrender to the Resistance (Milorg) and Norwegian police troops in Sweden during World War II, police at Møllergata 19 in Oslo, as part of the legal purge in Norway after World War II. ** General Alexander Löhr, Commander of German Army Group E near Topolšica, Slovenia, signs the capitulation of German occupation troops. ** Liberation of the German-occupied Channel Islands: British forces take the surrender of the occupying troops, with Royal Navy ships HMS Bulldog (H91), HMS ''Bulldog'' arriving in St Peter Port, Guernsey, and HMS Beagle (H30), HMS ''Beagle'' in St Helier, Jersey. * May 10 – WWII: Liberation of the German-occupied Channel Islands: Occupation of Sark ends, with British forces taking the surrender of the occupying troops and leaving them under the orders of Dame Sibyl Hathaway. * May 12 – Argentina, Argentinian labour leader José Peter declares the ''Meat Industry Workers Federation'' dissolved. * May 14–May 15, 15 – WWII: Battle of Poljana: The last battle of the War in Europe is fought at Poljana near Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia. * May 15 – WWII: Bleiburg repatriations#Surrender at Bleiburg, Surrender at Bleiburg – Retreating troops of the Croatian Armed Forces (Independent State of Croatia), Croatian Armed Forces of the former puppet
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
(intermingled with fleeing civilians) attempt to surrender to the British Army at Bleiburg, but are directed to surrender to
Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
, who open fire on them. The remainder, after orders are given by Josip Broz Tito, Tito, are force-marched through Croatia and Serbia, interned or massacred, with thousands dying. * May 16 – WWII: Liberation of the German-occupied Channel Islands: Occupation of Alderney ends, with British forces taking the surrender of the occupying troops, the civilian population having been evacuated. * May 23 ** The Flensburg Government is dissolved by the Allies, and President of Germany (1919–1945), German President Karl Dönitz and German Chancellor Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk are arrested by British RAF Regiment personnel at Flensburg. They are respectively the last German Head of state and Prime minister, Head of government until 1949. **
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, former head of the
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Schutzstaffel, SS, commits suicide in British custody. * May 28 – U.S.-born Irish-raised William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") is captured on the German border. He is later charged in London with high treason for his English-language wartime broadcasts from German radio, convicted, and then hanged in January 1946. * May 29 ** German communists, led by
Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
, arrive in Berlin. ** Dutch painter Han van Meegeren is arrested for collaboration with the Nazis, but the "Dutch Golden Age" paintings he has sold to
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
(Koch) are later proved to be his own fakes. * May 30 – The Iranian government demands that all Soviet and British troops leave the country. * May – Interpol (being headquartered in Berlin) effectively ceases to exist (it is recreated on June 3, 1946).


June

* June 1 – The British take over Lebanon and Syria. * June 5 – The Allied Control Council, the military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power. * June 7 – King Haakon VII of Norway returns to Norway five years to the day after leaving for exile in Britain. * June 11 ** William Lyon Mackenzie King is re-elected as Canadian prime minister. ** The Franck Committee recommends against a surprise nuclear bombing of Japan. * June 12 – The Yugoslav Army leaves
Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
, leaving the New Zealand Army in control. * June 21 – WWII: The Battle of Okinawa ends, with U.S. occupation of the island until 1972. * June 24 – WWII: A Moscow Victory Parade of 1945, victory parade is held in Red Square in Moscow. * June 25 – Seán T. O'Kelly is elected the second President of Ireland. * June 26 – The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco. * June 29 – Czechoslovakia cedes Carpathian Ruthenia to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. * June 30 – John von Neumann's ''First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC'' is distributed, containing the first published description of the logical design of a computer, with Stored-program computer, stored-program and instruction data stored in the same address space within the memory (von Neumann architecture).


July

* July 1 – WWII: Germany is Inner German border, divided between the Allied occupation forces. * July 2 – The 1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion breaks out in Burao and Erigavo in British Somaliland, led by Sheikh Bashir, a Somalis, Somali religious leader. * July 4 – Brazilian cruiser Bahia, Brazilian cruiser ''Bahia'' is sunk by an accidentally induced explosion, killing more than 300 and stranding the survivors in shark-infested waters. * July 5 ** The 1945 United Kingdom general election is held, though some constituencies delay their polls for local holiday reasons. Counting of votes and declaration of results are delayed until July 26 to allow for voting by the large number of service personnel still overseas. ** John Curtin, 14th Prime Minister of Australia, dies in office from heart failure at the age of 60. He is briefly replaced by his deputy Frank Forde, who serves as the 15th Prime Minister until a Australian Labor Party, Labor Party 1945 Australian Labor Party leadership election, leadership election is held to replace Curtin. ** WWII: The
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
are declared liberated. * July 6–July 7, 7 – Schio massacre: 54 prisoners, mostly fascist sympathisers, are killed by members of the Italian resistance movement in Schio. * July 8 – WWII:
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
is informed that Japan will talk peace if it can retain the reign of the Emperor. * July 12 – Ben Chifley is 1945 Australian Labor Party leadership election, elected leader of the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party, and consequently becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Australia, defeating Frank Forde as well as Norman Makin and H.V. Evatt. As a result, Forde becomes the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australian history; nevertheless, he retains his post as Deputy Leader. * July 14 – WWII: Italy declares war on Japan. * July 16 ** The Trinity (nuclear test), Trinity Test, the first of an nuclear weapon, atomic bomb, using about six kilograms of plutonium, succeeds in unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 22 kilotons of TNT. ** A train collision near Munich, Germany kills 102 war prisoners. * July 17–August 2 – WWII: Potsdam Conference – At Potsdam, the three main Allied leaders hold their final summit of the war. President Truman officially informs Stalin that the U.S. has a powerful new weapon. * July 21 – WWII: President
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
approves the order for atomic bombs to be used against Japan. * July 23 – WWII: French marshal Philippe Pétain, who headed the Vichy France, Vichy government during WWII, goes on trial for treason. * July 26 **
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
resigns as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...
, after his Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party is soundly defeated by the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party in the 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 general election. Clement Attlee becomes the new Prime Minister. It is the first time that Labour has governed Britain with a majority in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. ** The Potsdam Declaration demands Japan's unconditional surrender; Article 12, permitting Japan to retain the reign of the Emperor, has been deleted by President Truman. * July 27 – WWII: Bombing of Aomori in World War II, Bombing of Aomori – Two
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
B-29s drop a total of 60,000 Airborne leaflet propaganda, leaflets on the city of Aomori (city), Aomori, Japan, warning civilians of an air raid and urging them to leave immediately. * July 28 - WWII: Japan ambiguously rejects the Potsdam Declaration. * July 29 ** The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched in the United Kingdom, aimed at wikt:mainstream, mainstream light entertainment and music. ** WWII: Bombing of Aomori in World War II, Bombing of Aomori: The Japanese city of Aomori (city), Aomori is firebombed by 63
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
B-29 heavy bombers, killing 1,767 civilians and destroying 18,045 homes. * July 30 – WWII: Heavy cruiser is hit and sunk by torpedoes from the in the Philippine Sea. Some 900 survivors jump into the sea and are adrift for up to four days. Nearly 600 die before help arrives. Captain Charles B. McVay III of the cruiser is later court-martialed and convicted; in 2000, he is posthumously exonerated.


August

* August 6 – WWII: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Atomic bombing of Hiroshima: United States Boeing B-29 Superfortress ''Enola Gay'' drops a uranium-235 atomic bomb, codenamed "Little Boy", on the Japanese city of Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time, resulting in between 90,000 and 146,000 deaths. * August 7 – U.S. President Harry Truman announces the successful atomic bombing of Hiroshima, while he is returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser , in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. * August 8 ** The United Nations Charter is ratified by the United States Senate, and this nation becomes the third to join the new international organization. ** WWII: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan. * August 9 – WWII: ** Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Atomic bombing of Nagasaki: United States Boeing B-29 Superfortress, B-29 ''Bockscar'' drops a plutonium-239 atomic bomb, codenamed "Fat Man", on the Japanese city of Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m. local time, resulting in between 39,000 and 80,000 deaths. ** The Soviet–Japanese War opens: The
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
begins its army offensive against Japan, in the northern part of the Japanese-held Chinese region of Manchuria. * August 10 – WWII: Japan offers to surrender to the Allies, "provided this does not prejudice the sovereignty of the Emperor". * August 11 ** WWII: The Allies reply to the Japanese surrender offer by stating that Emperor Hirohito will be subject to the authority of the Supreme Allied Commander, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. **
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
: Kraków pogrom – Róża Berger is shot dead by Polish militia. * August 11–August 25, 25 – Soviet troops complete the occupation of Sakhalin. * August 13 – The Zionism, Zionist World Congress approaches the British government to discuss the founding of the country of Israel. * August 14 – WWII: Emperor Hirohito accepts the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. His recorded announcement of this is smuggled out of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. At 19:00 hrs in Washington, D.C. (23:00 GMT), U.S. President
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
announces the Japanese surrender. * August 15 ** WWII: *** Bombing of Kumagaya in World War II, Bombing of Kumagaya, Japan, by the United States using conventional bombs, beginning at 00:23. *** Hirohito surrender broadcast ''(Gyokuon-hōsō)'': Emperor Hirohito's announcement of the unconditional surrender of Japan is broadcast on the radio a little after noon (12:00 Japan Standard Time is 03:00 GMT). This is probably the first time an Emperor of Japan has been heard by the common people. Delivered in formal Classical Japanese language, classical Japanese, without directly referring to surrender and following official censorship of the country's weak position, the recorded speech is not immediately easily understood by ordinary people. The Allies call this day Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day). This ends the period of Japanese militarism, Japanese expansionism, and begins the period of the Occupation of Japan. Korea gains independence. ** The August Revolution in Vietnam begins, with the Viet Minh taking over the capital Hanoi, taking advantage of the collapse of Japanese power. ** The Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization is founded, as a specialized agency of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
. * August 17 ** Philippines President Jose P. Laurel, José P. Laurel issues an Executive Proclamation putting an end to the Second Philippine Republic, thus ending his term as President of the Philippines. ** Proclamation of Indonesian Independence: Indonesian nationalists Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, with Sukarno as president and Mohammad Hatta as vice-president, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire. * August 18 – WWII: Death of Subhas Chandra Bose: Indian nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose is killed as a result of his overloaded Japanese plane crashing in Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese Taiwan. * August 19 – Chinese Civil War: Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek meet in Chongqing to discuss an end to hostilities between the Chinese Communist Party, Communists and the Kuomintang, Nationalists. * August 23 – Soviet–Japanese War:
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
orders the detention of Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union. * August 25 –
Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...
abdicates as Emperor of Vietnam, ending 2,000 years of dynastic and monarchic rule in the country and 143 years of the Nguyễn dynasty. * August 30 – WWII: Vietnam's capital Hanoi is taken by the Viet Minh, which ends the French occupation in what becomes North Vietnam, and thus the southern provinces become South Vietnam. This ends the August Revolution. * August 31 ** WWII: Allied troops arrest German field marshal Walther von Brauchitsch. ** A team at
American Cyanamid American Cyanamid Company was a leading American conglomerate which became one of the nation's top 100 manufacturing companies during the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Fortune 500 listings at the time. It started in fertilizer, but added ...
's Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, New York, led by Yellapragada Subbarow, announces they have obtained folic acid in a pure crystalline form. This vitamin is abundant in green leaf vegetables, liver, kidney, and yeast.


September

* September 2 – World War II ends: ** Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita surrenders to Filipino and American forces at Kiangan, Ifugao. ** The final official Japanese Instrument of Surrender is accepted by the Supreme Allied Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, and Admiral of the Fleet, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz for the United States, and delegates from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, China, and others from a Japanese delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, on board the American battleship USS ''USS Missouri (BB-63), Missouri'' in Tokyo Bay. ** General Douglas MacArthur is given the title of Supreme Commander Allied Powers, and is also tasked with the occupation of Japan. ** The North Vietnam, Democratic Republic of Vietnam is officially established, by Ho Chi Minh. * September 4 – WWII: Japanese forces surrender on Wake Island, after hearing word of their country's surrender. * September 5 ** Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose", is arrested in Yokohama. ** Russian code clerk Igor Gouzenko comes forward with numerous documents implicating the Soviet Union in many spy rings in North America, both in the United States and in Canada. * September 8 – U.S. troops occupy United States Army Military Government in Korea, southern Korea, while the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
occupies the Soviet Civil Authority, north, with the dividing line being the 38th parallel of latitude. This arrangement proves to be the indirect beginning of a divided Korea, which will lead to the Korean War in 1950. * September 9 – Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China Chiang Kai-shek officially accepts the Japanese capitulation at Nanking. * September 10 – Vidkun Quisling is sentenced to death as a Nazi collaborator in Norway. * September 11 ** Hideki Tojo, Japanese prime minister during most of WWII, attempts suicide to avoid facing a war crimes tribunal. ** ''Radio Republik Indonesia'' starts broadcasting. ** The Batu Lintang camp in Sarawak, Borneo is liberated by Australian forces. * September 12 – The Japanese Army formally surrenders to the British in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
. * September 18 ** Tropical cyclone, Typhoon Makurazaki kills 3,746 people in Japan. ** The Japanese Army in Central China officially surrenders to the Chinese, in Wuhan. * September 20 – Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru demand that all British troops depart India. * September 24 – Postwar anti-Jewish violence in Slovakia: The Topoľčany pogrom is carried out in Czechoslovakia.


October

* October – Arthur C. Clarke puts forward the idea of a Geosynchronous satellite, geosynchronous communications satellite, in a ''Wireless World'' magazine article. * October 1–October, 15 – Operation Backfire (WWII), Operation Backfire: Three V-2 rocket, A4 rockets are launched near Cuxhaven, in a demonstration to Allied forces. * October 2 – George Albert Smith becomes President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. * October 4 – The Partizan Belgrade sports club is founded in Belgrade, Serbia. * October 5 – Hollywood Black Friday: A strike by the Set Decorator's Union in Hollywood results in a riot. * October 8–October 15, 15 – Hadamar Trial: Personnel of the Hadamar Euthanasia Centre, now in the American zone of Allied-occupied Germany, are the first to be tried for systematic extermination in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. * October 9 – Former prime minister Pierre Laval is sentenced to death, for collaboration with the Nazis in Vichy France. * October 10 – The Nazi Party is dissolved by the Allied Powers. * October 14 – Czechoslovakia: A new provisional national assembly is elected. * October 15–October 21, 21 – The Pan-African Congress#5th Pan-African Congress, Fifth Pan-African Congress is held in Manchester. * October 16 – The Food and Agriculture Organization is established at a meeting in Quebec City, as a specialized agency of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
. * October 17 – A massive number of people, headed for the General Confederation of Labour (Argentina), gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires to demand Juan Perón's release. This is known to the Peronism, Peronists as the ''Día de la lealtad'' (Loyalty Day (Argentina), Loyalty Day) and considered the founding day of Peronism. * October 18 – Isaías Medina Angarita, president of
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, is overthrown by a Coup d'état, military coup. * October 19 – Members of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, Indonesian People's Army attack Anglo-Dutch forces in Indonesia. * October 20 – Mongolians vote for independence from China. * October 21 – Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in the 1945 French legislative election, French Legislative Election for the first time. * October 22 – Rómulo Betancourt is named provisional president of
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. * October 24 ** The
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
is founded by ratification of United Nations Charter, its Charter, by Enlargement of the United Nations#1945 (original members), 29 nations. ** The International Court of Justice ("World Court") is established by the United Nations Charter. ** Norwegian Nazi leader Vidkun Quisling is Execution by firing squad, executed by firing squad, for treason against Norway. * October 25 ** WWII: Japanese armed forces in Taiwan surrender to the Allies. ** Getúlio Vargas is deposed as president in Brazil; José Linhares is named temporary president. ** Osijek prison massacre by Yugoslav secret police. * October 27–November 20 – Indonesian National Revolution: Battle of Surabaya – Pro-independence Indonesian soldiers and militia fight British and British Indian troops in Surabaya. * October 29 ** Getúlio Vargas resigns as president of Brazil. ** At Gimbels Department Store in New York City, the first ballpoint pens go on sale at $12.50 each. * October 30 – The undivided country of British India, India joins the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
.


November

* November 1 ** International Labour Organization's new constitution comes into effect. ** Telechron introduces the model 8H59 Musalarm, the first clock radio. * November 5 – Colombia joins the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
. * November 6 – Indonesians reject an offer of autonomy from the Netherlands, Dutch. * November 9 – Soo Bahk Do and Moo Duk Kwan martial arts are founded in Korea. * November 10 – Indonesian National Revolution: Battle of Surabaya – Following the killing of British officer Brigadier Aubertin Walter Sothern Mallaby, A. W. S. Mallaby on October 30, the British Indian Army (in support of its allied Dutch colonial administration) begins an advance on Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies against Indonesian nationalists; although most of the city is retaken in 3 days of heavy fighting, the strength of the resistance leads to today being celebrated as Heroes' Day#Indonesia, Heroes' Day (Hari Pahlawan) in Indonesia. * November 11 – 1945 Yugoslavian parliamentary election: Marshal Josip Broz Tito and the People's Front (Yugoslavia), People's Front win a decisive majority (90%) in the Yugoslavian Assembly. * November 15 **
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
, Clement Attlee and William Lyon Mackenzie King, Mackenzie King share nuclear information with the U.N. and call for a United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. ** An offensive is begun in Manchuria by the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalists) against further infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party. * November 16 ** Charles de Gaulle is unanimously elected president of France by the Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional government. ** The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology. ** The foundation of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is agreed at a meeting in London. * November 18 – The Tudeh Party of Iran, Tudeh party starts a bloodless coup, and will form Azerbaijan People's Government, Azerbaijan within days. Soviet troops prevent Iranian troops from getting involved. * November 20 – The Nuremberg trials begin: Trials against 22 Nazis for List of war crimes#1939–1945: World War II, war crimes of World War II start at the Palace of Justice, Nuremberg. * November 26 – U.S. Ambassador to China Patrick J. Hurley resigns after he is unable to broker a deal between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung. * November 28 ** The 1945 Balochistan earthquake causes a tsunami and kills 4,000. ** British fascist John Amery pleads guilty to treason, and is condemned to death. * November 29 ** The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is declared (this day is celebrated as Republic Day until the 1990s). Josip Broz Tito, Marshal Tito is named president. ** Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (ENIAC), is completed in the United States, covering of floor space, and the first set of calculations is run on it.


December

* December 2 ** General Eurico Gaspar Dutra is elected president of Brazil. ** French banks (Banque de France, BNP Paribas, BNCI, BNP Paribas, CNEP, Crédit Lyonnais, and Société Générale) are nationalized. * December 3 – Communism, Communist demonstrations in Athens presage the Greek Civil War. * December 4 – The United States Senate approves the entry of the United States into the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
by a vote of 65–7. * December 5 – Flight 19 of United States Navy Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers disappears on a training exercise from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. * December 9 – American General George S. Patton is involved in a car accident in Germany, resulting in his death on December 21. * December 27 – Twenty-one nations ratify the articles creating the World Bank.


Date unknown

* A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (led by Charles D. Coryell, Charles Coryell) discovers chemical element 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 on the periodic table, which they will name promethium. Found by analysis of fission products of irradiated uranium fuel, its discovery is not made public until 1947. * The first geothermal milk pasteurization is done in Klamath Falls, Oregon, United States.


Births


January

*
January 1 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
** Pietro Grasso, Italian politician ** Jacky Ickx, Belgian racing driver * January 3 – Stephen Stills, American rock singer-songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) * January 4 ** Sima Bina, Iranian vocalist ** Richard R. Schrock, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate * January 5 ** Lynn Di Nino, American artist ** Júlio Isidro, Portuguese television presenter ** Robert Pindyck, American economist * January 7 – Shulamith Firestone, Canadian American feminist, writer (d. 2012) * January 10 – Sir Rod Stewart, British rock singer *
January 12 Events Pre-1600 * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire. * 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already rei ...
– André Bicaba, Burkinabé sprinter * January 14 – Einar Hákonarson, Icelandic painter * January 15 ** Vince Foster, American deputy White House counsel during the first term of President Bill Clinton (d. 1993) ** Princess Michael of Kent, German-born member of the British Royal Family *
January 17 Events Pre-1600 *38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. * 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
– Javed Akhtar, Indian political activist, poet, lyricist and screenwriter * January 20 – Robert Olen Butler, American writer *
January 21 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
** Arthur Beetson, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2011) ** Martin Shaw, British actor *
January 24 Events Pre-1600 * 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula. * 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt. *1438 – The Cou ...
– Subhash Ghai, Indian film director, producer and screenwriter * January 25 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress *
January 26 Events Pre-1600 * 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. *1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. * 1564 – The Council of Tren ...
** Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987) ** Graham Williams (rugby union), Graham Williams, New Zealand rugby union player (d. 2018) * January 27 – Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader, writer and lawyer (d. 2005) * January 28 ** Karen Lynn Gorney, American actress (''Saturday Night Fever'') ** Chuck Pyle, American country-folk singer-songwriter (d. 2015) * January 29 ** Jim Nicholson (Northern Ireland politician), Jim Nicholson, Northern Irish politician ** Tom Selleck, American actor (''Magnum, P.I.'') *
January 31 Events Pre-1600 * 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades. *1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the ...
– Joseph Kosuth, American artist


February

* February 1 – Yasuhiro Takai, Japanese professional baseball player (d. 2019) * February 3 ** Bob Griese, American football player ** Philip Waruinge, Kenyan boxer * February 4 ** John P. Jumper, Retired United States Air Force general * February 5 – Sarah Weddington, American attorney (d. 2021) * February 6 – Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1981) *
February 7 Events Pre-1600 * 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor. * 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II. * 1301 &nd ...
– Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player *
February 9 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. * 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. *1539 – The first recorded race is held ...
** Mia Farrow, American actress ** Yoshinori Ohsumi, Japanese cell biologist *
February 10 Events Pre-1600 * 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, spar ...
– Koo Bon-moo, South Korean business executive (d. 2018) * February 12 ** Luiz Carlos Alborghetti, Italian-Brazilian radio commenter, showman and political figure (d. 2009) ** Maud Adams, Swedish actress ** David D. Friedman, American economist * February 13 – Simon Schama, English historian * February 14 ** Adiss Harmandian, Lebanese-Armenian pop singer (d. 2019) ** Prince Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein * February 15 – Douglas Hofstadter, American cognitive scientist *
February 16 Events Pre-1600 *1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire. *1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Kar ...
** Pete Christlieb, American jazz musician ** Elliot Mintz, American consultant * February 17 – Brenda Fricker, Irish actress * February 18 – Hashem Mahameed, Israeli politician (d. 2018) *
February 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. * 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferd ...
– Oliver (singer), Oliver, American singer (''Good Morning Starshine'') (d. 2000) * February 24 – Barry Bostwick, American actor * February 25 – Roy Saari, American swimmer (d. 2008) * February 26 – Marta Kristen, Norwegian actress (''Lost In Space'') * February 27 – Carl Anderson (singer), Carl Anderson, American singer, actor (''Jesus Christ Superstar'') (d. 2004) * February 28 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)


March

*
March 1 Events Pre-1600 *509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. * 293 – Emperor Diocletian ...
– Dirk Benedict, American actor *
March 3 Events Pre-1600 * 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. * 1575 & ...
– George Miller (director), George Miller, Australian film director *
March 4 Events Pre-1600 *AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth). * 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. * 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
** Dieter Meier, Swiss singer, writer ** Tommy Svensson, Swedish football manager, player * March 7 – Arthur Lee (musician), Arthur Lee, American musician (d. 2006) *
March 8 Events Pre-1600 * 1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem ''Shahnameh''. *1126 – Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León. * 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bou ...
** Micky Dolenz, American actor, director and rock musician (The Monkees) ** Anselm Kiefer, German painter *
March 9 Events Pre-1600 * 141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China. * 1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. * 1226 &nda ...
** Katja Ebstein, German singer ** Dennis Rader, American serial killer * March 10 – Nobuhiko Higashikuni, Japanese Imperial prince (d. 2019) * March 13 ** Othman Abdullah (Malaysian footballer), Othman Abdullah, Malaysian footballer (d. 2015) ** Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician * March 14 – Michael Martin Murphey, American country singer-songwriter *
March 17 Events Pre-1600 * 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. * 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of ei ...
– Katri Helena, Finnish singer *
March 18 Events Pre-1600 * 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10. * 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
** Michael Reagan, American television personality, political commentator and Republican strategist ** Marta Suplicy, Brazilian politician and psychologist * March 20 ** Jay Ingram, Canadian television host, author and journalist ** Bobby Jameson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015) ** Pat Riley, American basketball coach *
March 21 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– Charles Greene (athlete), Charles Greene, American Olympic athlete (d. 2022) *
March 26 Events Pre-1600 * 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. *1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, ...
– Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (d. 2004) *
March 27 Events Pre-1600 *1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom. * 1329 – Pope John XXII ...
– Władysław Stachurski, Polish football player, manager (d. 2013) * March 28 ** Rodrigo Duterte, 16th President of the Philippines ** Raine Loo, Estonian actress *
March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
** Walt Frazier, African-American basketball player ** Willem Ruis, Dutch game show host (d. 1986) *
March 30 Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague. *1282 &ndash ...
– Eric Clapton, English rock guitarist * March 31 ** Nana Ampadu, Ghanaian musician (d. 2021) ** Edwin Catmull, American computer scientist, President of Walt Disney Animation Studios


April

* April 2 ** Jürgen Drews, German singer ** Linda Hunt, American actress * April 4 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French political activist * April 5 ** Cem Karaca, Turkish musician (d. 2004) ** Tommy Smith (footballer, born 1945), Tommy Smith, English footballer (d. 2019) *
April 11 Events Pre-1600 * 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. *1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. *1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrare ...
– Christian Quadflieg, German actor *
April 12 Events Pre-1600 * 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. * 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to ...
– Lee Jong-wook, South Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization (d. 2006) * April 13 ** Lucha Corpi, Mexican poet ** Tony Dow, American actor, producer and director (d. 2022) ** Lowell George, American rock musician (''Little Feat'') (d. 1979) *
April 14 Events Pre-1600 * 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum. * 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...
** Ritchie Blackmore, English rock guitarist ** Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa *
April 20 Events Pre-1600 * 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. 1601–1900 *1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament. *1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroys ...
– Naftali Temu, Kenyan Olympic long-distance runner (d. 2003) * April 21 – Ana Lúcia Torre, Brazilian actress *
April 24 Events Pre-1600 * 1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty). *1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy ...
– Larry Tesler, American computer scientist (d. 2020) *
April 25 Events Pre-1600 *404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. * 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the ...
– Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish rock songwriter (ABBA) *
April 29 Events Pre-1600 * 1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. * 1386 – Battle of the Vikhra River: The Principality of Smolensk is defeated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and b ...
– Tammi Terrell, African-American soul singer (d. 1970) *
April 30 Events Pre-1600 *311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends. *1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois. *1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus hi ...
– Lara Saint Paul, Eritrean-born Italian singer (d. 2018)


May

*
May 1 Events Pre-1600 * 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. * 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. *1169 – N ...
– Rita Coolidge, American pop singer *
May 3 Events Pre-1600 * 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. * 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. ...
– Jeffrey C. Hall, American geneticist and chronobiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize laureate *
May 4 Events Pre-1600 * 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull ''Licet ecclesiae catholicae''. * 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus ar ...
** David Magson, mathematician and businessman ** Narasimhan Ram, Indian journalist *
May 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. * 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Sp ...
– Bob Seger, American rock singer *
May 7 Events Pre-1600 * 351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. * 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I imm ...
– Robin Strasser, American actress * May 8 – Keith Jarrett, American musician * May 9 – Jupp Heynckes, German footballer and manager * May 13 – Tammam Salam, 34th Prime Minister of Lebanon * May 14 – Yochanan Vollach, Israeli footballer and president of Maccabi Haifa, Chief executive officer, CEO * May 15 – Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, heir to the Portuguese crown * May 17 – Tony Roche, Australian tennis player * May 19 – Pete Townshend, English rock guitarist, lyricist (The Who) * May 20 – Anton Zeilinger, Austrian quantum physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate * May 21 ** Richard Hatch (actor), Richard Hatch, American actor (''Battlestar Galactica'') (d. 2017) ** Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist, astronaut * May 22 – Victoria Wyndham, American actress (''Another World (TV series), Another World'') * May 23 ** Lauren Chapin, American child actress, evangelist ** Doris Mae Oulton, Canadian community developer * May 24 – Priscilla Presley, American actress, businesswoman * May 28 ** Patch Adams, American physician, comedian, social activist, clown and author ** John Fogerty, American rock singer (Creedence Clearwater Revival) * May 29 ** Gary Brooker, English rock keyboardist and singer-songwriter (Procol Harum) (d. 2022) ** Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, Belgian businessman, fraudster and politician (d. 2018) * May 30 ** Andrea Bronfman, American philanthropist (d. 2006) ** Gladys Horton, American singer (The Marvelettes) (d. 2011) * May 31 ** Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German film director (d. 1982) ** Laurent Gbagbo, President of Côte d'Ivoire


June

* June 1 – Frederica von Stade, American mezzo-soprano * June 2 – Jon Peters, American film producer * June 3 – Hale Irwin, American professional golfer * June 4 – Anthony Braxton, American composer and musical instrumentalist * June 5 ** John Carlos, American athlete ** Théophile Georges Kassab, Catholic prelate (d. 2013) ** Nechama Rivlin, Israeli socialite, 10th First lady of Israel (d. 2019) * June 6 – David Dukes, American actor (d. 2000) * June 7 – Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of Austria * June 9 – Nike Wagner, German woman of the theater * June 10 – Benny Gallagher, Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, half of duo Gallagher and Lyle * June 11 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress, television personality and author (''Maude (TV series), Maude'') * June 12 – Pat Jennings, Northern Irish footballer * June 14 – Jörg Immendorff, German painter * June 15 ** Françoise Chandernagor, French writer ** Miriam Defensor Santiago, Filipino politician (b. 2016) * June 16 ** Claire Alexander, Canadian ice hockey player ** Ivan Lins, Latin Grammy-winning Brazilian musician * June 17 ** P. D. T. Acharya, Secretary General, Indian Lok Sabha ** Art Bell, American radio talk show host (''Coast to Coast AM'') (d. 2018) ** Ken Livingstone, British politician ** Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist * June 19 ** Radovan Karadžić, Serbian politician ** Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar politician and poet, Nobel Peace Prize recipient * June 20 – Anne Murray, Canadian singer * June 21 ** Roberto D'Angelo, Italian slalom canoeist ** Luis Castañeda Lossio, Peruvian politician ** Thiagarajan, Indian actor, director and producer ** Nirmalendu Goon, Bangladeshi poet ** Marijana Lubej, Slovenian sprinter * June 22 ** Juma Kapuya, Tanzanian politician ** Dieter Versen, German football defender * June 23 ** Ana Chumachenco, Italian violinist ** Kim Småge, Norwegian novelist, crime fiction writer, writer of short stories and children's writer * June 24 ** George Pataki, List of Governors of New York, Governor of New York ** Ali Akbar Velayati, Iranian physician, politician * June 25 ** Baba Gana Kingibe, Nigerian politician ** Mohammed Bakar, Malaysian footballer ** Chaiyasit Shinawatra, commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army ** Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, American politician ** Guillermo Mendoza, Mexican cyclist ** Lali Armengol, Spanish playwright, professor and theater director * June 26 – Paul Chun, Hong Kong actor * June 27 ** Ami Ayalon, Israeli politician ** Catherine Lacoste, French amateur golfer ** Lu Sheng-yen, Taiwanese leader of the ''True Buddha School'' ** Norma Kamali, American fashion designer ** Jose Miguel Arroyo, First Gentleman of the Philippines * June 28 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian rock singer (d. 1989) * June 29 – Chandrika Kumaratunga, 5th President of Sri Lanka * June 30 ** Kevin Jackman, Australian rules footballer ** Jerry Kenney, American Major League Baseball infielder ** Sean Scully, Irish-American-based painter, printmaker ** James Snyder Jr., American author, attorney and politician


July

* July 1 ** Jane Cederqvist, Swedish freestyle swimmer ** Visu, Indian writer, director, stage, actor and talk-show host (d. 2020) ** Billy Rohr, American Major League Baseball player ** Debbie Harry, American rock singer (''Blondie (band), Blondie'') * July 2 – Linda Warren, American author * July 3 – Thomas Mapfumo, Zimbabwean musician * July 4 ** Tiong Thai King, Malaysian politician ** Steinar Amundsen, Norwegian sprint canoeist * July 5 ** Nurul Islam Nahid, Bangladeshi politician ** Miroslav Mišković, Serbian business magnate, investor * July 6 – Burt Ward, American actor (''Batman (TV series), Batman'') * July 7 ** Heloísa Pinheiro, Brazilian model, businesswoman ** Moncef Marzouki, Tunisian politician; List of Presidents of Tunisia, 4th President of Tunisia ** Li Chi-an, North Korean football striker ** Matti Salminen, Finnish bass singer * July 8 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss Federal Councilor * July 9 ** Dean Koontz, American writer ** Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Iranian politician, engineer * July 10 ** Zlatko Tomčić, Croatian politician ** Daniel Ona Ondo, Gabonese politician ** Virginia Wade, English professional tennis player ** Ron Glass, African-American actor (d. 2016) * July 11 – Richard Wesley, American playwright, screenwriter * July 12 ** Leopoldo Mastelloni, Italian actor, comedian and singer ** Thor Martinsen, Norwegian ice hockey player * July 13 ** Robert H. Foglesong, U.S. general ** Danny Abramowicz, American football player, coach * July 14 – Antun Vujić, Croatian politician, philosopher, political analyst, lexicographer and author * July 15 ** Hong Ra-hee, South Korean billionaire businesswoman, philanthropist ** Jürgen Möllemann, German politician (d. 2003) ** Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor (d. 2019) * July 16 ** Victor Sloan, Irish artist ** Çetin Tekindor, Turkish actor ** Roy Ho Ten Soeng, Dutch politician ** Jos Stelling, Dutch film director, screenwriter * July 17 ** Eduardo Olivera, Mexican modern pentathlete ** Kim Won-hong, North Korean politician, military leader ** Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia * July 19 ** Oleg Fotin, Russian swimmer ** Richard Henderson (biologist), Richard Henderson, Scottish molecular biologist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate ** Uri Rosenthal, Dutch politician * July 20 ** Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter (''Bette Davis Eyes'') ** Lothar Koepsel, German sailor ** Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Zimbabwean politician and diplomat * July 21 ** John Lowe (darts player), John Lowe, English darts player ** Barry Richards, South African batsman * July 24 – Azim Premji, Indian businessman * July 26 ** Betty Davis, American funk and soul singer ** Helen Mirren, British actress * July 28 – Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis, American cartoonist (''Garfield'') * July 30 ** Patrick Modiano, French novelist, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate ** David Sanborn, American saxophonist


August

* August 1 – Douglas D. Osheroff, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate * August 4 – Alan Mulally, American businessman, CEO of the Ford Motor Company * August 5 – Loni Anderson, American actress (''WKRP in Cincinnati'') * August 9 – Posy Simmonds, English cartoonist * August 12 – J. D. McClatchy, American poet and literary critic (d. 2018) * August 14 ** Steve Martin, American actor and comedian ** Valeriy Shmarov, Ukrainian politician (d. 2018) ** Eliana Pittman, Brazilian singer, actress ** Wim Wenders, German film director, producer * August 15 ** Bobby Treviño, Mexican baseball player (d. 2018) ** Miyuki Matsuhisa, Japanese artistic gymnast ** Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh * August 19 – Ian Gillan, English rock singer (Deep Purple) * August 22 ** David Chase, American writer, director and television producer ** Ron Dante, American rock singer-songwriter and record producer (The Archies) *August 24 – Vince McMahon, Vincent K. "Vince" McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter, chairman and CEO of WWE * August 25 – Daniel Hulet, Belgian cartoonist (d. 2011) * August 26 – Tom Ridge, American politician * August 27 – Marianne Sägebrecht, German film actress * August 29 ** Alyosha Abrahamyan, Armenian football player (d. 2018) ** Wyomia Tyus, American Olympic athlete * August 31 ** Sir Van Morrison, Irish rock musician ** Itzhak Perlman, Israeli-born American violinist, conductor


September

* September 1 – Mustafa Balel, Turkish writer * September 5 ** K. N. T. Sastry, Indian film critic, director and writer (d. 2018) ** Al Stewart, Scottish singer-songwriter (''Year of the Cat'') * September 6 – Victor Ramahatra, 5th Prime Minister of Madagascar * September 7 – Jacques Lemaire, Canadian ice hockey coach * September 8 ** Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, American musician (Grateful Dead) (d. 1973) ** Rogatien Vachon, Canadian ice hockey player * September 10 – José Feliciano, Puerto Rican-American singer ("Feliz Navidad (song), Feliz Navidad") * September 11 – Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer, coach * September 12 – Richard Thaler, American economist * September 14 – Benjamin Harjo Jr., Native American artist * September 15 – Jessye Norman, American soprano (d. 2019) * September 16 – Pat Stevens, American voice actress (d. 2010) * September 17 ** Phil Jackson, American basketball coach ** Bruce Spence, Australian actor * September 18 ** John McAfee, British-American computer programmer and businessman (d. 2021) ** P. F. Sloan, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015) * September 21 ** Shaw Clifton, Northern Ireland-born General of the Salvation Army ** Kay Ryan, American poet * September 22 – Gonzaguinha, Brazilian singer, composer (d. 1991) * September 24 – John Rutter, English choral composer, conductor * September 26 – Bryan Ferry, English singer-songwriter and musician (Roxy Music) * September 27 – Jack Goldstein, Canadian artist (d. 2003) * September 29 – Nadezhda Chizhova, Russian athlete * September 30 ** Ehud Olmert, 12th Prime Minister of Israel ** Ralph Siegel, German record producer, songwriter


October

* October 1 ** Rod Carew, Panamanian-American baseball player ** Donny Hathaway, African-American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1979) ** Ram Nath Kovind, 14th President of India * October 2 ** Regina Torné, Mexican actress, singer and television presenter ** Don McLean, American singer-songwriter ("American Pie (song), American Pie") * October 3 – Viktor Saneyev, Soviet athlete (d. 2022) * October 6 – Ivan Graziani, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 1997) * October 9 ** Vijaya Kumaratunga, Sri Lankan actor and politician (d. 1988) ** Archbishop Nikon of Boston, Albanian bishop (d. 2019) * October 12 ** Aurore Clément, French actress ** Dusty Rhodes (wrestler), Dusty Rhodes, American wrestler (d. 2015) * October 18 ** Norio Wakamoto, Japanese voice actor ** Yıldo, Turkish showman, footballer * October 19 ** Angus Deaton, Scottish-born economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences ** John Lithgow, American actor (''Third Rock from the Sun'') * October 22 – Yvan Ponton, Canadian actor, sportscaster * October 23 – Kim Larsen, Danish rock musician (d. 2018) * October 24 ** Eugenie Scott, American Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education ** Sean Solomon, American Principal Investigator of NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury (planet), Mercury and director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science * October 25 ** Peter Ledger, Australian artist (d. 1994) ** David Schramm (astrophysicist), David Schramm, American astrophysicist and educator (d. 1997) ** Keaton Yamada, Japanese voice actor * October 26 ** Pat Conroy, American author (d. 2016) ** Jaclyn Smith, American actress, businesswoman (''Charlie's Angels'') * October 27 ** Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, List of Presidents of Brazil, 35th President of Brazil ** Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004) * October 29 ** Ching Li, Taiwanese actress (d. 2017) ** Melba Moore, African-American singer, actress * October 30 – Henry Winkler, American actor, producer and director (''Happy Days'')


November

* November 3 – Gerd Müller, German footballer (d. 2021) * November 5 – Jacques Lanctôt, Canadian terrorist * November 7 ** Bob Englehart, American editorial cartoonist ** Waljinah, Javanese singer * November 9 – Charlie Robinson (actor), Charlie Robinson, African-American actor (d. 2021) * November 11 – Daniel Ortega, 58th and 62nd President of Nicaragua * November 12 – Neil Young, Canadian singer-songwriter, musician * November 15 – Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian-born rock singer (ABBA) * November 17 ** Elvin Hayes, American basketball player ** Abdelmadjid Tebboune, President of Algeria * November 18 ** Wilma Mankiller, Chief of the Cherokee Nation (d. 2010) ** Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan politician, 6th President of Sri Lanka * November 21 – Goldie Hawn, American actress * November 22 – Kari Tapio, Finnish singer (d. 2010) * November 23 – Dennis Nilsen, Scottish serial killer (d. 2018) * November 24 – Nuruddin Farah, Somali novelist * November 25 – Mary Jo Deschanel, American actress * November 26 – John McVie, English rock musician (Fleetwood Mac) * November 27 ** Barbara Anderson (actress), Barbara Anderson, American actress ** James Avery, African-American actor (d. 2013) * November 30 ** Roger Glover, English rock musician (Deep Purple) ** Radu Lupu, Romanian classical pianist (d. 2022)


December

* December 1 – Bette Midler, American actress, comedian and singer * December 2 – Tex Watson, American multiple murderer, 'Manson Family' member * December 3 – Bozhidar Dimitrov, Bulgarian historian, politician and polemicist (d. 2018) * December 4 – Geoff Emerick, English recording engineer (d. 2018) * December 7 – Clive Russell, English actor * December 8 – Julie Heldman, American tennis player * December 11 – Sharafuddin of Selangor, Sultan of Selangor * December 12 ** René Pétillon, French satirical, political cartoonist (d. 2018) ** Portia Simpson-Miller, 2-time Prime Minister of Jamaica ** Kathy Garver, American actress, author and online radio hostess ** Heather North, American actress (d. 2017) * December 15 ** Michael King (historian), Michael King, New Zealand popular historian, author and biographer (d. 2004) ** Thaao Penghlis, Australian actor * December 16 – Patti Deutsch, American voice actress (d. 2017) * December 17 – Ernie Hudson, African-American actor * December 18 – Carolyn Wood (swimmer), Carolyn Wood, American professional swimmer * December 19 – Elaine Joyce, American actress, game show panelist * December 20 ** Peter Criss, American rock drummer (Kiss (band), KISS) ** Sivakant Tiwari, senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service (d. 2010) * December 21 – Mari Lill, Estonian actress * December 22 – Diane Sawyer, American news journalist * December 23 – Donald A. Ritchie, American historian * December 24 ** Lemmy, British singer, bassist (Motörhead) (d. 2015) ** Nicholas Meyer, American screenwriter, producer, director and novelist ** Sharafuddin of Selangor, Sultan of Selangor ** Steve Smith (comedian), Steve Smith, Canadian actor, comedian and writer * December 25 – Noel Redding, English musician (d. 2003) * December 30 – Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, English-born pop singer, actor (The Monkees) (d. 2012) * December 31 ** Barbara Carrera, Nicaraguan-American actress ** Vernon Wells (actor), Vernon Wells, Australian actor ** Connie Willis, American fiction writer


Deaths


January

* January 2 – Bertram Ramsay, Sir Bertram Ramsay, British admiral (b. 1883) * January 3 – Edgar Cayce, American mystic (b. 1877) * January 4 – Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno, 3-time President of Costa Rica (b. 1859) * January 6 ** Josefa Llanes Escoda, Filipino women's suffrage advocate, founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (b. 1898) ** Vladimir Vernadsky, Soviet mineralogist, geochemist (b. 1863) * January 7 ** Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor (b. 1870) ** Thomas McGuire, American World War II fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1920) ** Prince Rainer of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (killed in action) (b. 1900) * January 9 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian statesman (b. 1890) * January 10 – Pēteris Juraševskis, 8th Prime Minister of Latvia (b. 1872) *
January 12 Events Pre-1600 * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire. * 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already rei ...
– Teresio Olivelli, Italian Roman Catholic soldier and venerable (b. 1916) * January 15 – Pedro Abad Santos, Filipino politician, brother of José Abad Santos (b. 1876) * January 16 – José Fabella, Filipino physician (b. 1889) *
January 19 Events Pre-1600 * 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to ''Augustus'', and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. * 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrend ...
** Petar Bojović, Serbian field marshal (b. 1858) ** Gustave Mesny, French Army general (b. 1886) * January 20 – Federico Pedrocchi, Italian artist, writer (killed on active service) (b. 1907) *
January 21 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
– Archibald Murray, Sir Archibald Murray, British Army general (b. 1860) * January 22 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet, author (b. 1869) *
January 23 Events Pre-1600 * 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor. * 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao. *1264 & ...
** Eugen Bolz, German politician, 20 July Plotter (executed) (b. 1881) ** Nikolaus Gross, German Roman Catholic layman, martyr and blessed (b. 1898) ** Newton E. Mason, United States Navy rear admiral (b. 1850) * January 30 ** William Goodenough, Sir William Goodenough, British admiral (b. 1867) ** Pedro Paulet, Peruvian scientist (b. 1874) *
January 31 Events Pre-1600 * 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades. *1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the ...
– Eddie Slovik, American soldier (executed for desertion) (b. 1920)


February

* February (or March) – Anne Frank, German-born Jewish diarist, writer (typhus in
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...
) (b. 1929) * February 1 ** Ivan Bagryanov, 30th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (executed) (b. 1891) ** Teresa Bogusławska, Polish poet and resistance worker (meningitis) (b. 1929) ** Dobri Bozhilov, 29th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (executed) (b. 1884) ** Bogdan Filov, Bulgarian archaeologist, historian and politician, 28th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (executed) (b. 1883) ** Petar Gabrovski, former acting Prime Minister of Bulgaria (executed) (b. 1898) ** Johan Huizinga, Dutch cultural historian (b. 1872) ** Prince Kiril of Bulgaria (executed) (b. 1895) * February 2 ** Adolf Brand, German campaigner for homosexuality (air raid victim) (b. 1874) ** Alfred Delp, German Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance, 20 July plotter (executed) (b. 1907) ** Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German politician, civil servant, executive and economist, 20 July plotter (executed) (b. 1884) ** Gustav Heistermann von Ziehlberg, German general, 20 July plotter (executed) (b. 1898) ** Joe Hunt, American tennis champion (military aircraft crash) (b. 1919) * February 3 – Roland Freisler, Nazi Party, Nazi German judge (air raid victim) (b. 1893) * February 5 ** Denise Bloch, French World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1915) ** Aurelio Craffonara, Italian painter, illustrator (b. 1875) ** Lilian Rolfe, French World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1914) ** Violette Szabo, French/British World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1921) * February 6 – Robert Brasillach, French writer (executed) (b. 1909) *
February 7 Events Pre-1600 * 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor. * 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II. * 1301 &nd ...
– Karl Schwitalle, German Olympic weightlifter (killed in action) (b. 1906) *
February 8 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. *1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. * 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al ...
– Robert Mallet-Stevens, French architect, designer (b. 1886) *
February 10 Events Pre-1600 * 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, spar ...
– Anacleto Díaz, Filipino jurist (murdered during the Battle of Manila) (b. 1878) * February 11 – Al Dubin, Swiss-born American songwriter (b. 1891) * February 12 – Antonio Villa-Real, Filipino jurist (murdered during the Battle of Manila) (b. 1878) * February 13 – Maria Orosa, Filipino technologist, chemist, humanitarian and WWII heroine (air raid victim) (b. 1893) * February 15 – Helmut Möckel (politician), Helmut Möckel, German youth leader, politician (automobile accident) (b. 1909) * February 17 – Gabrielle Weidner, Belgian World War II heroine (b. 1914) * February 18 – Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Soviet general (died of wounds) (b. 1906) * February 19 ** John Basilone, American war hero (killed in action) (b. 1916) ** Heinrich Jasper, German politician (b. 1875) *
February 21 Events Pre-1600 *452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine. * 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery. *1440 – The Pru ...
– Eric Liddell, British Olympic athlete (in internment camp) (b. 1902) *
February 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. * 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferd ...
– Sara Josephine Baker, American physician (b. 1873) * February 23 ** Serafino Mazzolini, Italian politician, lawyer and journalist (b. 1890) ** José María Moncada, 19th President of Nicaragua (b. 1870) ** Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Russian writer (b. 1883) * February 24 – Josef Mayr-Nusser, Italian Roman Catholic layman, martyr and blessed (b. 1910) * February 25 – Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer, photographer (b. 1893)


March

*
March 1 Events Pre-1600 *509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. * 293 – Emperor Diocletian ...
** Fritz Goerdeler, German resistance member (executed) (b. 1886) ** Lothar Sieber, German test pilot (killed in aviation accident) (b. 1922) *
March 2 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his '' bucellarii'' are almost cut o ...
– Emily Carr, Canadian painter (b. 1871) *
March 3 Events Pre-1600 * 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. * 1575 & ...
** Gheorghe Avramescu, Romanian general (in custody) (b. 1884) ** Aleksandra Samusenko, Soviet WWII tank commander (died of wounds) (b. 1922) *
March 4 Events Pre-1600 *AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth). * 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. * 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
** Charles W. Bryan, American politician (b. 1867) ** Lucille La Verne, American actress (b. 1872) ** Mark Sandrich, American film director (b. 1900) * March 5 ** Rupert Downes, Australian general (killed in military aircraft accident) (b. 1885) ** Albert Richards (artist), Albert Richards, British war artist (killed in action) (b. 1919) ** George Alan Vasey, George Vasey, Australian general (killed in military aircraft accident) (b. 1895) ** Hasso von Boehmer, German lieutenant colonel, July 20 plotter (executed) (b. 1904) * March 7 – Ralph Ignatowski, American WWII hero (killed in action) (b. 1926) *
March 8 Events Pre-1600 * 1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem ''Shahnameh''. *1126 – Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León. * 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bou ...
– Sadasue Senda, Imperial Japanese Army lieutenant general, battle of iwo jima (killed in action) (b. 1892) * March 12 – Friedrich Fromm, German Nazi official (executed) (b. 1888) * March 14 **Antônio Francisco Braga, Brazilian composer (b. 1868) **Mary Helen Young, Scottish nurse and resistance fighter during World War II (born 1883) *
March 15 Events Pre-1600 *474 BC – Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce. * 44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar takes place. * 493 – Odo ...
– Sava Caracaș, Romanian general (b. 1890) *
March 18 Events Pre-1600 * 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10. * 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
– William Grover-Williams, British/French racing driver, war hero (executed) (b. 1903) *
March 19 Events Pre-1600 * 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. * 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen en ...
– Marcel Callo, French Roman Catholic layman, martyr and blessed (in concentration camp) (b. 1921) * March 20 ** Dorothy Campbell, Scottish golfer (b. 1883) ** Lord Alfred Douglas, English poet (b. 1870) ** Maria Lacerda de Moura, Brazilian feminist, anarchist, teacher, journalist and teacher (b. 1887) *
March 22 Events Pre-1600 * 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea. * 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century. * 871 – Æthelr ...
** Eliyahu Bet-Zuri, Israeli assassin (executed) (b. 1922) ** Eliyahu Hakim, Israeli assassin (executed) (b. 1925) ** Enrico Caviglia, Italian marshal (b. 1862) ** Branca de Gonta Colaço, Portuguese writer, scholar and linguist (b. 1880) ** Heinrich Maier, Austrian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1908) ** Takeichi Nishi, Japanese equestrian gold medalist (1932), tank commander at Battle of Iwo Jima (killed in action) (b. 1902) * March 23 – Élisabeth de Rothschild, French WWII heroine (b. 1902) *
March 26 Events Pre-1600 * 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. *1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, ...
** David Lloyd George, British politician and statesman, 51st
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...
(b. 1863) ** Ichimaru Toshinosuke, Japanese naval aviator, commander at Battle of Iwo Jima (b. 1891) ** Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Imperial Japanese Army general, commander of the battle of Iwo Jima (probably killed in action) (b. 1891) ** Boris Shaposhnikov, Soviet military leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union (b. 1882) *
March 27 Events Pre-1600 *1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom. * 1329 – Pope John XXII ...
– Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, Turkish author (b. 1867) *
March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
– Ferenc Csik, Hungarian swimmer (air raid victim) (b. 1913) *
March 30 Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague. *1282 &ndash ...
** Élise Rivet, French nun, war heroine (murdered in concentration camp) (b. 1890) ** Maurice Rose, American general (killed in action) (b. 1899) * March 31 ** Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (suicide) (b. 1881) ** Harriet Boyd Hawes, American archaeologist (b. 1871) ** Torgny Segerstedt, Swedish newspaper editor, publicist (b. 1876) ** Maria Skobtsova, Soviet Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox nun and saint (killed by poison) (b. 1891) ** Natalia Tulasiewicz, Polish teacher and Roman Catholic blessed (murdered in concentration camp) (b. 1906)


April

*
April 7 Events Pre-1600 * 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town. * 529 – First ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Empe ...
** Seiichi Itō, Japanese admiral (lost in action) (b. 1890) ** Aruga Kōsaku, Japanese admiral (lost in action) (b. 1897) *
April 9 Events Pre-1600 * 193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (''Enkyklikon'') to the bishops of his empire, su ...
**
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
, German theologian (executed) (b. 1906) **
Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and the chief of the ''Abwehr'' (the German military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Canaris was initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler, and the Nazi re ...
, German admiral, head of the Abwehr (executed) (b. 1887) ** Hans von Dohnanyi, Hungarian-born German lawyer, member of the German Resistance, 20 July Plotter (executed) (b. 1902) *
April 10 Events Pre-1600 * 428 – Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople. * 837 – Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles). * 140 ...
** Gloria Dickson, American actress (fire victim) (b. 1917) ** Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch artist and printer (b. 1882) *
April 11 Events Pre-1600 * 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. *1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. *1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrare ...
– Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard, British colonial administrator (b. 1858) *
April 12 Events Pre-1600 * 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. * 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to ...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, American political leader and statesman, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882) * April 13 – Ernst Cassirer, German philosopher (b. 1874) *
April 15 Events Pre-1600 * 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings. * 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscar ...
– Joachim Albrecht Eggeling, German SS general (suicide) (b. 1884) *
April 18 Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Coria (Corbridge), Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald of Northumbria, Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 d ...
** John Ambrose Fleming, Sir Ambrose Fleming, British electrical engineer and physicist (b. 1849) **
Ernie Pyle Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II. Pyle is also notable for the ...
, American journalist (killed in action) (b. 1900) ** William, Prince of Albania (b. 1876) * April 21 – Walter Model, German field marshal (suicide) (b. 1891) *
April 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil. * 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. *1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern h ...
– Käthe Kollwitz, German artist (b. 1867) * April 23 – Klaus Bonhoeffer, German resistance fighter, 20 July Plotter (executed) (b. 1901) *
April 24 Events Pre-1600 * 1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty). *1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy ...
– Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German SS Reichsphysician (suicide) (b. 1899) *
April 28 Events Pre-1600 * 224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire. * 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory ...
** Executed: *** Hermann Fegelein, German SS general (b. 1906) *** Benito Mussolini, Italian politician, journalist, 27th Prime Minister of Italy and Duce, Duce of Fascism (b. 1883) ***
Clara Petacci Clara Petacci, known as Claretta Petacci (; 28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945), was a mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. She was killed during Mussolini's execution by Italian partisans. Early life Daughter of Giuseppina Persic ...
, mistress of Benito Mussolini (b. 1912) *** Nicola Bombacci, Italian Fascist politician (b. 1879) *** Roberto Farinacci, Italian Fascist politician (b. 1892) *** Alessandro Pavolini, Italian Fascist politician (b. 1903) *
April 29 Events Pre-1600 * 1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. * 1386 – Battle of the Vikhra River: The Principality of Smolensk is defeated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and b ...
– Achille Starace, Italian Fascist politician (executed) (b. 1889) *
April 30 Events Pre-1600 *311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends. *1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois. *1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus hi ...
** Luisa Ferida, Italian actress (executed) (b. 1914) **
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, Austrian-born German politician, Führer, Führer of Germany (suicide) (b. 1889) **
Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his ...
, wife of Adolf Hitler (suicide) (b. 1912)


May

*
May 1 Events Pre-1600 * 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. * 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. *1169 – N ...
** Joseph Goebbels, Chancellor of Germany for 1 day and Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Reich Minister of Propaganda (suicide) (b. 1897) ** Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (suicide) (b. 1901) *
May 2 Events Pre-1600 * 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. *1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. * 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprison ...
** Martin Bormann, Nazi Party leader and private secretary to Adolf Hitler (presumed suicide) (b. 1900) ** Wilhelm Burgdorf, German general (suicide) (b. 1895) ** Hans Krebs (Wehrmacht general), Hans Krebs, German general (suicide) (b. 1898) ** Prince Waldemar of Prussia (1889–1945), Prince Waldemar of Prussia (haemophilia) (b. 1889) *
May 3 Events Pre-1600 * 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. * 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. ...
– Mario Blasich, Italian physician, politician (b. 1878) *
May 4 Events Pre-1600 * 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull ''Licet ecclesiae catholicae''. * 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus ar ...
– Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1880) *
May 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. * 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Sp ...
– Xhem Hasa, Albanian nationalist (b. 1908) *
May 7 Events Pre-1600 * 351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. * 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I imm ...
– Vladimir Boyarsky, Soviet army officer (b. 1901) * May 8 ** Francis Bruguière, American photographer (b. 1875) ** Julius Hirsch, German footballer (killed in Auschwitz concentration camp) (b. 1892) ** Wilhelm Rediess, SS and Police Leader of Nazi-occupied Norway (suicide) (b. 1900) ** Bernhard Rust, education minister of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
(presumed suicide) (b. 1883) ** Josef Terboven, ''Reichskommissar'' of Nazi-occupied Norway (suicide) (b. 1898) * May 9 – Gustav Becking, German musicologist (b. 1894) * May 10 – Konrad Henlein, Sudeten German Nazi leader (suicide) (b. 1898) * May 11 – Kiyoshi Ogawa, Japanese kamikaze pilot (b. 1922) * May 14 ** Joseph Barthélemy, French jurist, politician and journalist (b. 1874) ** Heber J. Grant, 7th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1856) * May 15 ** Kenneth J. Alford, British soldier and composer (b. 1881) ** Charles Williams (British writer), Charles Williams, British author (b. 1886) * May 16 **Shintarō Hashimoto, Japanese admiral (killed in action) (b. 1892) **Kaju Sugiura, Japanese admiral (killed in action) (b. 1896) * May 18 – William Joseph Simmons, American founder of the second Ku Klux Klan (b. 1880) * May 19 – Philipp Bouhler, German Nazi leader and general (suicide) (b. 1899) * May 21 – Prince Kan'in Kotohito, Japanese prince, member of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office (b. 1865) * May 23 –
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, German politician, Reichsführer-SS (suicide) (b. 1900) * May 24 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German field marshal (suicide) (b. 1892) * May 25 ** Rafael Estrella Ureña, Dominican lawyer and politician, acting President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1889) ** Ishii Kikujirō, Japanese diplomat and politician (killed in bombing raid) (b. 1866) * May 31 ** Odilo Globocnik, Austrian Nazi leader (suicide) (b. 1904) ** Curt von Gottberg, German SS general (suicide) (b. 1896)


June

* June 4 – Georg Kaiser, German dramatist (b. 1878) * June 7 – Kitaro Nishida, Japanese philosopher (b. 1870) * June 8 ** Robert Desnos, French poet, resistance fighter (typhoid) (b. 1900) ** Karl Hanke, German Nazi general and last Reichsführer-SS (killed) (b. 1903) * June 11 – Lurana W. Sheldon, American author and editor (b. 1862) * June 12 – Theodore Hardeen, Hungarian-born American magician and stunt performer, founder of the Magician's Guild (b. 1876) * June 13 – Minoru Ōta, Japanese admiral (suicide) (b. 1891) * June 15 ** Nikola Avramov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1897) ** Carl Gustaf Ekman, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1872) ** Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy, American author (b. 1863) ** Aris Velouchiotis, Greek World War II resistance leader (b. 1905) * June 16 ** Nikolai Berzarin, Soviet Red Army general (b. 1904) ** Nils Edén, 15th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1871) * June 18 ** Florence Bascom, American geologist and educator (b. 1862) ** Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., American general (killed in action at Okinawa) (b. 1886) ** Friedrich, Prince of Wied, German prince (b. 1872) * June 20 ** Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe, British politician (b. 1858) ** Luís Fernando de Orleans y Borbón, Spanish prince (b. 1888) * June 22 ** Isamu Chō, Japanese general (ritual suicide) (b. 1895) ** Mitsuru Ushijima, Japanese general (ritual suicide) (b. 1887) * June 24 – José Gutiérrez Solana, Spanish painter (b. 1886) * June 27 – Emil Hácha, 3rd President of Czechoslovakia, State President of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (b. 1872) * June 30 ** Germogen (Maximov), Russian Orthodox Metropolitan (b. 1861) ** Gabriel El-Registan, Soviet poet (b. 1899)


July

* July 1 – Félix Evaristo Mejía, Dominican diplomat, educator and writer (b. 1866) * July 2 – Óscar R. Benavides, Peruvian field marshal, diplomat, politician and President of Peru (b. 1876) * July 5 – John Curtin, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885) * July 7 – Peter To Rot, Papuan Roman Catholic layman, martyr and blessed (b. 1912) * July 9 – Luigi Aldrovandi Marescotti, Italian politician, diplomat (b. 1876) * July 12 ** Boris Galerkin, Russian mathematician (b. 1871) ** Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, German field marshal (brain tumor) (b. 1895) * July 13 – Alla Nazimova, Russian-born American actress (b. 1879) * July 17 – Ernst Busch (field marshal), Ernst Busch, German field marshal, as prisoner of war (b. 1885) * July 20 – Paul Valéry, French poet (b. 1871) * July 24 – Arnold von Winckler, German general (b. 1856) * July 25 – Malin Craig, United States Army general (b. 1875) * July 28 – Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith (b. 1864) * July 29 – Maria Pierina, Maria Pierina De Micheli, Italian Roman Catholic religious sister, mystic and blessed (b. 1890) * July 31 – Artemio Ricarte, Filipino general (b. 1866)


August

* August 1 – Blas Cabrera Felipe, Spanish physicist (b. 1878) * August 2 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863) * August 3 – Roman Kochanowski, Polish painter, illustrator (b. 1857) * August 4 – Gerhard Gentzen, German mathematician and logician (starvation in prison camp) (b. 1909) * August 5 – Nat Jaffe, American swing jazz pianist (b. 1918) * August 8 – Le Pétomane, Joseph Pujol, Le Pétomane, French flatulist (b. 1857) * August 7 – Jacques Vaillant de Guélis, British/French WWII hero (injuries received in automobile accident) (b. 1907) * August 9 ** Harry Hillman, American track athlete (b. 1881) ** Jun Tosaka, Japanese philosopher (in prison) (b. 1900) * August 10 – Robert H. Goddard, American rocket scientist (b. 1882) * August 12 – Karl Leisner, German Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1915) * August 15 ** Korechika Anami, Japanese general (ritual suicide) (b. 1887) ** Matome Ugaki, Japanese admiral (killed in action) (b. 1890) * August 16 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral (ritual suicide) (b. 1891) * August 18 ** Subhas Chandra Bose, Leader of Indian National Army (Third-degree burns from aircrash) (b. 1897) ** Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, Indian educationist (b. 1872) * August 19 – Tomás Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (b. 1875) * August 22 – Mustafa Al-Maraghi, Egyptian reformer (b. 1881) * August 24 – Shizuichi Tanaka, Japanese general (suicide) (b. 1887) * August 25 ** John Birch (missionary), John Birch, American missionary for whom the John Birch Society is named (killed in action) (b. 1918) ** Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral, Olympic shooter (b. 1888) ** Thomas F. Woodlock, editor of ''The Wall Street Journal'' and Interstate Commerce Commission commissioner (b. 1866) * August 26 ** Pio Collivadino, Argentinian painter (b. 1869) ** Franz Werfel, Austrian writer (b. 1890) * August 27 – Blessed María Pilar Izquierdo Albero, Spanish Roman Catholic religious professed (b. 1906) * August 29 – Fritz Pfleumer, German engineer, inventor (b. 1881) * August 30 – Florencio Harmodio Arosemena, 6th President of Panama (b. 1872) * August 31 ** Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (b. 1892) ** Pope Macarius III of Alexandria, Egyptian patriarch, saint (b. 1872)


September

* September 6 ** Witold Leon Czartoryski, Polish nobleman (b. 1864) ** John S. McCain Sr., American admiral (b. 1884) * September 9 – Aage Bertelsen, Danish painter (b. 1873) * September 12 – Hajime Sugiyama, Japanese general (suicide) (b. 1880) * September 15 ** Richard Friedrich Johannes Pfeiffer, German physician and bacteriologist (b. 1858) ** André Tardieu, 3-time prime minister of France (b. 1876) ** Anton Webern, Austrian composer (b. 1883) ** Zhang Mingqi, Qing dynasty politician (b. 1875) * September 16 – John McCormack (tenor), John McCormack, Irish tenor (b. 1884) * September 18 ** José Agripino Barnet, Cuban politician and diplomat, acting President of Cuba (b. 1864) ** Blind Willie Johnson, American gospel blues singer (b. 1897) * September 20 ** Augusto Tasso Fragoso, Brazilian soldier, statesman and Interim President of Brazil (b. 1869) ** Eduard Wirths, German doctor, chief SS doctor at Auschwitz concentration camp (suicide) (b. 1909) * September 24 – Hans Geiger, German physicist, inventor (b. 1882) * September 25 – Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexican general and president (1924-1928), known as ''Jefe Maximo'' ("Maximum Boss") (b. 1877) * September 26 ** Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (b. 1881) ** Kiyoshi Miki, Japanese philosopher (b. 1897)


October

* October 1 – Walter Bradford Cannon, American physiologist (b. 1871) * October 6 ** Leonardo Conti, German physician, Nazi officer (suicide) (b. 1900) ** Hans Vogel, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) (b. 1881) * October 8 – Felix Salten, Austrian author (b. 1869) * October 10 – Joseph Darnand, Vichy French politician (executed) (b. 1897) * October 12 – Dmytro Antonovych, Soviet politician (b. 1877) * October 13 – Milton S. Hershey, American chocolate tycoon (b. 1857) * October 15 – Pierre Laval, French politician, 2-time Prime Minister of France (executed) (b. 1883) * October 18 – Frederick Hovey, American tennis player (b. 1868) * October 19 ** Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexican general, politician and 40th President of Mexico (b. 1877) ** N. C. Wyeth, American illustrator (b. 1882) * October 21 ** Henry Armetta, Italian actor (b. 1888) ** Felicija Bortkevičienė, Lithuanian politician and publisher (b. 1873) * October 24 – Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian Nazi collaborator (executed) (b. 1887) * October 25 – Robert Ley, German Nazi politician (suicide) (b. 1890) * October 26 ** Adolf von Brudermann, Austro-Hungarian general (b. 1854) ** Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b. 1878) * October 30 – Xian Xinghai, Chinese composer (b. 1905) * October 31 ** Henry Ainley, British actor (b. 1879) ** Ignacio Zuloaga, Basque Spanish painter (b. 1870)


November

* November 8 – August von Mackensen, German field marshal (b. 1849) * November 11 – Jerome Kern, American composer (b. 1885) * November 13 – Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair, Sir Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair, British admiral (b. 1865) * November 16 – Sigurður Eggerz, Minister for Iceland during World War I and 2nd Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1875) * November 17 – Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. 1882) * November 20 – Francis William Aston, British chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877) * November 21 ** Robert Benchley, American humorist, theater critic and actor (b. 1889) ** Ellen Glasgow, American novelist (b. 1873) ** Alexander Patch, United States Army lieutenant general, World War II army commander (b. 1889) ** Jimmy Quinn (footballer, born 1878), Jimmy Quinn, Scottish footballer (b. 1878) * November 23 – Charles Coborn, British singer (b. 1852) * November 27 – Josep Maria Sert, Spanish Catalan muralist (b. 1874) * November 28 – Dwight F. Davis, American tennis player (b. 1879) * November 30 – Shigeru Honjō, Japanese general (suicide) (b. 1876)


December

* December 1 – Anton Dostler, German general (b. 1891) * December 3 – George McKay (actor), George McKay, Soviet-born American actor (b. 1884) * December 4 ** Thomas Hunt Morgan, American biologist, geneticist, embryologist and Nobel Prize in Physiology recipient (b. 1866) ** Richárd Weisz, Hungarian Olympic champion wrestler (b. 1879) * December 5 – Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1864) * December 8 – Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Italian actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1886) * December 12 – Prince Frederick of Schaumburg-Lippe (b. 1868) * December 13 ** Juana Bormann, German Nazi concentration camp guard (executed) (b. 1893) ** Henri Dentz, French general (b. 1881) ** Irma Grese, German warden at
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...
(executed) (b. 1923) ** Josef Kramer, German commandant of
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...
(executed) (b. 1906) ** Elisabeth Volkenrath, German supervisor at Nazi concentration camps (executed) (b. 1919) * December 14 – Forrester Harvey, Irish actor (b. 1884) * December 16 ** Giovanni Agnelli, Italian entrepreneur, founder of Fiat (b. 1866) ** Fumimaro Konoe, Japanese general, politician and 23rd
Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Sta ...
(b. 1891) * December 21 – George S. Patton, American general (injuries from automobile accident) (b. 1885) * December 22 – Otto Neurath, Austrian philosopher, political economist (b. 1892) * December 25 – Duy Tân, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1900) * December 26 – Roger Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, British admiral (b. 1872) * December 28 – Theodore Dreiser, American novelist (b. 1871)


Nobel Prizes

* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Wolfgang Pauli * Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physiology or Medicine – Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Chain, Howard Florey * Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Gabriela Mistral * Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – Cordell Hull


References


Further reading

* Ian Buruma. ''Year Zero: A History of 1945'' (Penguin Press; 2013) 368 pages; covers liberation, revenge, decolonization, and the rise of the United Nations
excerpt
* International News Service, ''It Happened In 1945 The Essential Year Book'' (1946) * Keith Lowe. ''Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II'' (2012
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* McDannald, A. H. ed. ''The Americana Annual 1946'' (1946) events of 194
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encyclopedia yearbook global coverage in 950pp * Walter Yust, ed. ''10 Eventful Years, 1937 – 1946'' Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1947, 4 vol., encyclopedia yearboo
online
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