Events in History
Events 301 - 400 of 547
Event of Interest
May 2 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina & Princess Juliana reach Gilze-Rijen

Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
- May 2 More than 1,000,000 German soldiers officially surrender to the Western Allies in Italy and Austria
Raising a Flag over the Reichstag
May 2 World War II: Battle of Berlin ends as Soviet army takes Berlin and General Weidling surrenders
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- May 2 Yugoslav troops occupy Trieste
- May 3 1st Polish Armoured Division of the Polish Armed Forces in the West occupies Wilhelmshafen in Germany
- May 3 Allies arrest German physicist Werner Heisenberg
- May 3 British troop join in Rangoon
- May 3 World War II: German ship "Cap Arcona" laden with prisoners sunk by Royal Air Force in East Sea, 5,800 killed - one of largest maritime losses of life
Event of Interest
May 4 German forces in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands surrender unconditionally to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery at Luneburg Heath

Bernard Montgomery
- May 4 German forces in Bavaria surrender unconditionally to American commander Jacob L. Devers
- May 5 Mauthausen Concentration camp in Austria liberated by US forces from 41st Reconnaissance Squadron
- May 5 Netherlands & Denmark liberated from Nazi control
- May 5 Uprising against occupying SS troops in Prague
- May 5 Premier Gerbrandy on Radio Orange tells Dutch they are liberated
Battle of Interest
May 5 World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases

Karl Dönitz
Event of Interest
May 7 World War II: Unconditional German surrender to the Allies signed by General Alfred Jodl at Rheims

Alfred Jodl
Nazi Germany Surrenders
May 8 German General Wilhelm Keitel formally surrenders to the Allies represented by the United States, the UK, France and the Soviet Union in Berlin
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Event of Interest
May 9 Norwegian nazi collaborators Vidkun Quisling arrested

Vidkun Quisling
Event of Interest
May 9 World War II: Hermann Goering is captured by the United States Army

Hermann Goering
- May 9 World War II: The Soviet Union marks Victory Day
- May 9 World War II: The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British
- May 10 Allies capture Rangoon from the Japanese
- May 10 Soviet troops occupied Prague
- May 11 US Marines conquer Awatsha Draw, Okinawa
- May 13 US troops conquer Dakeshi Okinawa
- May 14 Kamikaze Zero strikes US aircraft carrier Enterprise
- May 14 US offensive on Okinawa, Sugar Loaf conquered
Event of Interest
May 14 Physician Joseph G. Hamilton injects misdiagnosed cancer patient Albert Stevens (CAL-1) with 131 kBq (3.55 µCi) of plutonium without his knowledge. Stevens lives another 20 years, surviving the highest known accumulated radiation dose in any human

Albert Stevens

Joseph Gilbert Hamilton
Event of Interest
May 21 Nazi SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler captured

Heinrich Himmler
- May 22 6th US Marine division reaches suburbs of Naha Okinawa
- May 22 NSB-Fuhrer Rost van Tonningen makes failed suicide attempt
- May 23 The Allies arrest the members of the Nazi Flensburg government, including Admiral Karl Donitz, formally dissolving Nazi Germany
- May 23 German island of Helgoland in the North Sea surrenders to British
Event of Interest
May 23 Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce) arrested at Danish boundary

William Joyce
- May 25 Arthur C Clark proposes relay satellites in geosynchronous orbit
- May 26 US drop fire bombs on Tokyo
- May 29 US 1st Marine division conquers Shuri Castle, Okinawa
- Jun 1 WLB-AM in Minneapolis Minn changes call letters to KUOM
- Jun 4 6th US Marine division occupies Orokoe Peninsula Okinawa
- Jun 4 US, Soviet Union, Britain and France agree to divide up occupied Germany
- Jun 5 USA, UK, USSR, France declare supreme authority over Germany
- Jun 6 "Free People" premieres in Amsterdam
- Jun 9 -10] Australian troops land in Brunei Bay, North Borneo
- Jun 10 US destroyer William D Porter ("Willie Dee") sunk by kamikaze
- Jun 12 US 7th Marine regiment conquer summit of Kunishi Ridge, Okinawa
- Jun 13 Orokoe peninsula Okinawa captured, with 6,000 dead
- Jun 15 Dutch political party ANJV established in Concert building, Amsterdam
- Jun 17 Day of Unity in West Germany (National Day)
- Jun 18 William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) charged with treason
- Jun 21 US defeat Japanese forces on Okinawa
- Jun 23 Last organized Japanese defiance broken (Tarakan)
- Jun 24 Schermerhorn government forms in the Netherlands
- Jun 24 The Moscow Victory Parade takes place
- Jun 25 Allied landing at Ternate, capital of the Maluku Islands in modern day Indonesia
- Jun 25 Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo announce fall of Okinawa
United Nations Charter
Jun 26 United Nations Charter signed by 50 nations in San Francisco
Learn More- Jun 27 Foundation 1940-45 established
- Jun 28 Polish Provisional government of National Unity set up by Soviets
- Jun 29 20.6 cm rainfall at Litchville North Dakota (state record)
- Jun 29 Ruthenia, formerly in Czechoslovakia, annexed by Soviet Union, becomes Ukrainian SSR
- Jun 30 17-day newspaper strike in NY begins
- Jul 1 55th Postmaster General: Robert E Hannegan of Mo takes office
- Jul 1 Allies troop land on Balikpapan
Event of Interest
Jul 3 James F. Byrnes becomes 49th US Secretary of State, succeeding Edward Stettinius

James F. Byrnes
- Jul 4 Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson gives Britain's agreement to use the atomic bomb against Japan at the Combined Policy Committee in Washington D. C.
Election of Interest
Jul 5 Labour Party under Clement Attlee wins British parliamentary elections (results not declared until 26 July)

Clement Attlee
- Jul 5 World War II: Liberation of the Philippines declared
- Jul 6 Nicaragua becomes 1st nation to ratify the Charter of the United Nations
- Jul 6 US President Harry Truman signs executive order establishing Medal of Freedom
- Jul 10 Admiral Marc Mitscher named chief of US Navy staff
- Jul 14 Battleship USS South Dakota is 1st US ship to bombard Japan
Manhattan Project
Jul 16 1st test detonation of an atomic bomb, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico as part of the US Manhattan Project
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- Jul 16 Cruiser Indianapolis leaves San Francisco with atom bomb
Potsdam Conference
Jul 17 Potsdam Conference: Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill hold 1st post-World War II meeting
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- Jul 19 USS Cod saves 51 sailors from Dutch sub in only sub-to-sub rescue
Event of Interest
Jul 23 Marshal Philippe Pétain, leader of the French Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II goes on trial

Philippe Pétain