Significant Events
- Jan 20 Franklin D. Roosevelt sworn-in for an unprecedented (and never to be repeated) 4th term as US President
- Jan 27 Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland
- Feb 13 Allied planes begin bombing Dresden, Germany; a firestorm results and over 22,000 die
- Feb 13 USSR captures Budapest, after a 49-day battle with Germany; 159,000 die
- Feb 19 US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese with 30,000 US Marines
- Feb 23 US Marines raise American flag on top of Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Photo of which by Joe Rosenthall later became iconic, inspiring the Marine Corps War Memorial sculpture
- Mar 23 Largest operation in WWII's Pacific War, 1,500 US Navy ships bomb the Japanese island of Okinawa
- Apr 25 "Elbe Day" - US and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany on the Elbe River during the invasion of Germany in WWII
- Apr 26 Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, leader of France's Vichy collaborationist regime during WW II, arrested for treason
- Apr 27 Italian partisans capture Benito Mussolini at Dongo (Lake Como)
Did You Know?
Movie star Jimmy Stewart is promoted to full colonel, one of the few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years
On March 29, 1945
World Leaders in 1945
Adolf Hitler
Dictator of Nazi Germany
Harry Truman
33rd US President
Winston Churchill
Soldier, Author and British Prime Minister
Famous People in 1945
- Harry Truman
Time Person
of the Year 
Joan Crawford
Oscar for Best Actress
Ray Milland
Oscar for Best Actor
Bob Marley
Davy Jones
Eric Clapton
Neil Young
Phil Jackson
Rod StewartWould You Believe?
980 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days on Ramree Island, Burma
On February 19, 1945
Famous Weddings
- Jan 6 Future US President George H. W. Bush marries Barbara Pierce at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye NY
- Jan 6 US First Lady Barbara Bush (19) weds 41st president George H. W. Bush (20) at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, New York
- Jan 29 Actress Gloria Swanson (45) weds William N. Davey
- Mar 21 Actor Humphrey Bogart (44) marries actress Lauren Bacall (20)
- Apr 29 Adolf Hitler (56) marries Eva Braun (33) in the Führerbunker, Berlin
Famous Divorces
- Dec 21 American author and journalist "The Old Man and the Sea" Ernest Hemingway and journalist Martha Gellhorn divorce after 5 years of marriage.
- Dec 25 Actor John Wayne (38) divorces Josephine Saenz (37) after 12 years of marriage
Anne Frank
Benito Mussolini
Franklin D. Roosevelt
George S. Patton
Heinrich HimmlerArticles on Events in 1945
Elvis Comes Fifth in Talent Show
Elvis Presley made his first public appearance as a singer on this day. It did not go well: he came fifth in a local talent show. But he was only ten years old.
October 3, 1945
Ancient Dresden Reduced to Rubble
The blanket bombing of Dresden in East Germany which began on this day, cost thousands of lives and remains highly controversial.
February 13, 1945