1945

Jan. 26:
Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz.

Feb. 4-11:
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta.

March 9-10:
U.S. B-29s bomb Tokyo.

April 1:
U.S. troops encircle German troops in Ruhr; Allied offensive in northern Italy; Americans land in Okinawa.

April 12:
President Roosevelt dies. Truman becomes president.

April 21:
Soviets reach Berlin.

April 28:
mussolini captured and hanged by Italian partisans.

April 30:
adolf hitler commits suicide.

May 7:
Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.

May 8:
V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.

June 5:
Allies divide up Germany and take over government.

June 26:
United Nations charter signed in San Francisco.

July 1:
U.S., British, and French troops move into Berlin.

July 16:
First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins.

Aug. 6:
First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Aug. 9:
Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

Aug. 14:
Japenese agree to unconditional surrender.

Aug. 15:
V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.

Sept. 2:
Japanese sign surrender agreement on USS Missouri, Tokyo Bay. World War II ends.

Oct. 24:
United Nations is officially born.

Nov. 20:
Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.