1945 - What happened in 1945 ?

January 1945

Friday 05:

The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.

Sunday 07:

British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.

Tuesday 09:

The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.

Friday 12:

World War II: The Soviets begin a large offensive in Eastern Europe against the Nazis.

Wednesday 17:

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

February 1945

Monday 05:

World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.

Sunday 11:

Yalta Conference ends.

Tuesday 13:

World War II: The Royal Air Force bombers were dispatched to Dresden, Germany (see Bombing of Dresden in World War II).

Friday 16:

1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.

Saturday 24:

Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.

March 1945

Saturday 03:

World War II: Hundreds of people die in The Hague after the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombs a civilian area in the city.

Wednesday 07:

World War II: American troops seize the bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany and begin to cross.

Saturday 10:

The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting firestorm kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.

Friday 16:

Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.

Thursday 29:

World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.

April 1945

Sunday 01:

United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.

Saturday 07:

Kantaro Suzuki becomes the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan

Thursday 12:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies and Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.

Sunday 15:

The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.

Saturday 21:

World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.

May 1945

Wednesday 02:

1945 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued.

Thursday 03:

World War II: Sinking of the floating-jails Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the RAF in the Lübeck Bay.

Friday 04:

World War II: Surrender of the North Germany Army to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.

Saturday 05:

A Japanese bomb, launched by balloon and called a fire balloon, explodes near Lakeview, Oregon, United States, killing a woman and five children who were examining it during a church picnic.

Tuesday 15:

Last skirmish of the Second World War in Europe fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.

June 1945

Friday 15:

The General Dutch Youth League (ANJV) is founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Thursday 21:

World War II: Battle of Okinawa ends.

Sunday 24:

The U.S.S.R. capture the Free Republic of Schwarzenberg.

Tuesday 26:

The United Nations Charter is signed.

Friday 29:

Carpathian Ruthenia was annexed by Soviet Union

July 1945

Monday 09:

A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn, the third fire in that area since 1933.

Thursday 19:

Montgomery Ward is seized by United States Army troops at the direction of Attorney General Francis Biddle because of its refusal to obey National War Labor Board orders. Montgomery Ward chairman Seward Avery is carried out of his office by troops

Friday 20:

The U.S. Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement.

Monday 30:

World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst single loss in the history of the United States Navy.

Tuesday 31:

Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

August 1945

Wednesday 01:

Mel Ott becomes the third member of the 500 home run club with a home run at the Polo Grounds in New York, New York.

Tuesday 07:

President Harry Truman announces the successful bombing of Hiroshima with a atomic bomb while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Wednesday 15:

World War II: Korean Liberation Day

Sunday 19:

Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Thursday 30:

Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.

September 1945

Sunday 02:

Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).

Wednesday 05:

Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.

Monday 10:

Vidkun Quisling sentenced to death for collaboration with Nazi Germany.

Saturday 15:

A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.

Wednesday 19:

Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London

October 1945

Saturday 06:

Baseball: Bill Sianis and his pet billy goat are ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series (see Curse of the Billy Goat).

Monday 15:

World War II: Former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed by firing squad for treason.

Wednesday 17:

A massive number of people gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Peron's release. This is known to the Peronists as the Día de la lealtad (day of loyalty) or San Perón (Saint Perón). It's considered the birthday of Peronism.

Sunday 21:

Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón married actress Evita.

Monday 29:

Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.

November 1945

Friday 16:

Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.

Tuesday 20:

Nuremberg Trials begin: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals of World War II start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.

Thursday 29:

The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared , celebrated as Republic Day until 2003).

December 1945

Tuesday 04:

By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations (the UN was established on October 24, 1945).

Sunday 09:

American General George S. Patton is injured in an automobile crash in occupied Germany. He dies twelve days later.

Saturday 15:

General Douglas MacArthur orders end of Shinto as state religion of Japan

Thursday 27:

1945 - Korea is divided

Friday 28:

The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance