Year 1945

Diary for Sunday, May 13, 1945: Okinawa Americans take Conical Hill at east end of Shuri Line. Occupied countries Germany: Scots Guards occupy Heligoland. Home Fronts Britain: Thanksgiving Service in […]

Diary for Saturday, May 12, 1945: Sea War Last Arctic convoys JW.67 (eastbound) and RA.67 (westbound); on May 16 convoy escort accepts surrender of 14 U-boats and escorts them to

Diary for Friday, May 11, 1945: Sea War Pacific: Carrier Bunker Hill (TF 58) hit by 3 Kamikaze planes off Okinawa; 392 killed, 264 wounded. Russian Front Russians launch final

Diary for Thursday, May 10, 1945: Russian Front Russian troops occupy Prague. Okinawa US Marines establish bridgehead over river Asa.

Diary for Wednesday, May 9, 1945: Home Fronts Russia – Victory celebrations in Moscow: 2 million people watch spectacular fireworks display. Britain: Many Defense Regulations revoked. Russian Front German Army

Diary for Tuesday, May 8, 1945: Sea War Final German evacuation convoys from Courland (Latvia); 126 small craft. 1,420,000 people evacuated from Pomerania and East Prussia since January 25. Liberty

Diary for Monday, May 7, 1945: Politics UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF GERMANY. General JodI signs instrument of surrender at 2.41 am in schoolroom at Rheims. Western Front Allied forces occupy Emden

Diary for Sunday, May 6, 1945: Burma British 14th Army links up with ‘Dracula’ forces, north of Rangoon. Western Front Czechoslovakia: Patton occupies Skoda Works. Occupied countries Czechoslovakia: 3 Waffen-SS

Diary for Saturday, May 5, 1945: Occupied countries Czechoslovakia – The Prague Rising: Resistance attack on radio station sparks off general uprising, directed by Czech National Committee. Sea War Atlantic:

Diary for Friday, May 4, 1945: Western Front SURRENDER OF ALL GERMAN FORCES IN NORTHWEST GERMANY, HOLLAND AND DENMARK to Field Marshal Montgomery at ceremony on Lüneberg Heath (surrender effective

Diary for Thursday, May 3, 1945: Burma INDIAN TROOPS OCCUPY RANGOON without resistance. Western Front British capture Hamburg. 59 merchant ships and 600 small craft scuttled. Patton takes Braunau (Hitler‘s

Diary for Wednesday, May 2, 1945: Russian Front STALIN ANNOUNCES FALL OF BERLIN in Order of the Day No. 359: ‘Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Zhukov

Diary for Tuesday, May 1, 1945: Russian Front Battle of Berlin: Goebbels and wife Madga poison their 6 children before committing suicide. Russians capture Charlottenburg and Schoeneburg districts. Home Fronts

Diary for Monday, April 30, 1945: Western Front Munich captured by US 7th Army. Russian Front Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide in Führerbunker beneath Reichs Chancellery, Berlin, at 3.30

Diary for Sunday, April 29, 1945: Italy SURRENDER OF 1 MILLION GERMAN TROOPS IN NORTHERN ITALY AND AUSTRIA, signed in secret at Caserta, near Naples (effective May 2). Western Front

Diary for Saturday, April 28, 1945: Occupied countries Italy: MUSSOLINI AND HIS MISTRESS, CLARA PETACCI, CAPTURED AND SHOT by Communist Partisan leader ‘Colonel Valerio’ (Walter Audisio) at Dongo (Lake Como).

Diary for Friday, April 27, 1945: Russian Front Battle of Berlin: Russians capture suburbs of Potsdam, Spandau and Rathenow; central districts of Neuköln and Tempelhof. Western Front Bremen captured by

Diary for Thursday, April 26, 1945: Russian and Western Front RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN FORCES LINK UP at Torgau on the Elbe. Western Front Patton crosses Danube in Regensburg sector. Russian

Diary for Wednesday, April 25, 1945: Russian Front Battle of Berlin: Zhukov and Konev forces near Potsdam to complete their ‘iron ring’ around the city. Air War Germany: 381 RAF

Diary for Tuesday, April 24, 1945: Russian Front Battle of Berlin: Konev‘s and Zhukov’s troops link up in southern suburbs. Western Front British troops reach Bremen. Italy La Spezia naval