Click to view the Instrument of Surrender

JULY 27, 1945

Potsdam Conference, (July 17–August 2, 1945), Allied conference of World War II held at Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin. The chief participants were U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (or Clement Attlee, who became prime minister during the conference), and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. They gathered to decide how to administer Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier on the 8th of May (Victory in Europe Day).^[6] The goals of the conference also included the establishment of postwar order, peace treaty issues, and countering the effects of the war.

MAY 1945

May 2, 1945

APRIL 30, 1945

APRIL 26, 1945

APRIL 25, 1945

AFTER ENCIRCLING BERLIN, THE RUSSIANS ENTER THE CITY.

April 1 - June 22, 1945

APRIL 1-JUNE 22, 1945

Okinawa—60 miles long and home to almost half a million civilians—was the gateway to Japan. The Allies had to take it before they could move on to the home islands. They gathered the largest invasion force since D-Day—almost 1500 ships and more than half a million men. In the end, 92,000 Japanese soldiers and as many as 100,000 Okinawan civilians would be dead. More than 12,000 Americans died, 60,000 were wounded—the worst losses of the Pacific War.

CHILD SOLDIERS IN OKINAWA

More Information on The Battle of Okinawa

April 12, 1945

President Truman being sworn in, following Roosevelt’s death, on April 12, 1945.