Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.

January

Auschwitz]].

• January – American troops cross the Siegfried Line into Germany.
• January 5 – Australia recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.
• January 7 – British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference at Zonhoven describing his supporting role at the Battle of the Bulge.
• January 12 – WWII: The Soviet Union begins the Vistula-Oder Offensive in Eastern Europe against the Nazis.
• January 13 – WWII: A day after beginning the Vistula-Oder Offensive, the Soviets launch the East Prussian Offensive to eliminate German forces in East Prussia.
• January 17
  • WWII: A Soviet patrol arrests Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary.
  • WWII: The Soviet Union occupies Warsaw, Poland.
• January 20
  • The Holocaust: The evacuation of Auschwitz concentration camp begins.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States. No president before, or since, has ever reached a third term in office.
• January 23 – Hungary drops out of WWII, agreeing to an armistice with the Allies.
• January 26 – WWII: Infantry action at Holtzwihr, France, for which Audie Murphy is awarded the Medal of Honor.^[1]
• January 27 – The Holocaust: The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps.
• January 28 – WWII: Supplies begin to reach China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
• January 30
  • The Wilhelm Gustloff, with over 10,000 mainly civilian Germans from Gotenhafen (Gdynia) in the Gdansk Bay, is sunk by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea; up to 9,400 are thought to have died the greatest loss of life in a single ship sinking in war action in history.
  • Raid at Cabanatuan: 121 American soldiers and 800 Filipino guerrillas free 813 American POWs from the Japanese-held camp at Cabanatuan City, Philippines.
• January 31 – Eddie Slovik is executed by firing squad for desertion, the first American soldier since the American Civil War, and last to date to be executed for this offense.

February

The "Big Three" at the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin, February 2, 1945. the island]], February 19, 1945.

• February 3 – WWII:
  • Battle of Manila: United States forces enter the outskirts of Manila to capture it from the Japanese Imperial Army, starting the battle.
  • The Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific War against Japan once hostilities against Germany are concluded.
• February 4–February 11 – WWII: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin hold the Yalta Conference.
• February 6 – French writer Robert Brasillach is executed for collaboration with the Germans.
• February 7 – WWII: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
• February 9
  • Walter Ulbricht becomes leader of the German Communists in Moscow.
  • WWII: "Black Friday": A force of Allied Bristol Beaufighter aircraft suffers heavy casualties in an unsuccessful attack on German destroyer Z33 and escorting vessels sheltering in F rde Fjord, Norway.
• February 10 – WWII: The SS General von Steuben is sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13.
• February 13 – WWII:
  • Soviet forces capture Budapest, Hungary from the Nazis.
  • Royal Air Force bombing of Dresden, Germany.
• February 14 – Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
• February 16 – WWII:
  • American and Filipino ground forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
  • Combined American and Filipino forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.
• February 19–February 20 – 980 Japanese soldiers die as a result of a killing spree by long saltwater crocodiles in Ramree, Burma.^[2]
• February 19 – WWII – Battle of Iwo Jima: About 30,000 United States Marines land on Iwo Jima.
• February 21 – The last V-2-rocket is launched from Peenem nde.
• February 22 – Uruguay decares war on Germany and Japan.
• February 23 – WWII:
  • Battle of Iwo Jima: A group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (taken by Joe Rosenthal), later wins a Pulitzer Prize.
  • The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, freed the captives of the Los Ba os internment camp.
  • The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined American and Filipino ground troops.
  • American and Filipino troops enter Intramuros, Manila.
  • The German garrison in Pozna capitulates to Red Army and Polish troops.
  • Turkey joins the war on the allies side.
• February 24 – The Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
• February 28 – In Bucharest, a violent demonstration takes place, during which the bol evic group opens fire on the army and protesters. In response, Andrei Y. Vishinsky, USSR vice commissioner of foreign affairs and president of the Allied Control Commission for Romania, travels to Bucharest to compel Nicolae R descu to resign as premier.

March

March: Anne Frank dies in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp of typhus

• March – Anne Frank, dies in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Lower Saxony, Germany, of typhus.
• March 1 – Franklin D. Roosevelt gives what will be his last address to a joint session of Congress, reporting on the Yalta Conference.
• March 2 – Former U.S. Vice-President Henry A. Wallace starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, serving under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• March 2 – The Bachem Ba 349 Natter is launched from Stetten am kalten Markt. The Natter is the first manned rocket, developed as anti-aircraft weapon. The launch fails and the pilot dies.^[3]

• March 3 – WWII:
  • Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers.
  • United States and Filipino troops take Manila, Philippines.
  • A possible experimental atomic test blast occurs at the Nazis' Ohrdruf military testing area.
  • The RAF accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.
• March 4 – In the United Kingdom, The Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II, joins the British Army's Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service as a truck driver/mechanic.
• March 4 – Football club FC Red Star (in Serbian: FK Crvena Zvezda) formed in Belgrade, Yougoslavia.
• March 6
  • A Communist-led government is formed in Romania under Petru Groza following Soviet intervention.
  • Resistance fighters ambush and attempt to execute SS general Hanns Albin Rauter, the arch-persecutor of the Dutch.
• March 7 – WWII: American troops seize the bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany and begin to cross.
• March 8
  • Josip Broz Tito forms a government in Yugoslavia.
  • The Nazi authorities kill 117 Dutch men in reprisal for the attempted murder Hanns Albin Rauter.
• March 9 – The film Les Enfants du Paradis premieres in Paris.
• March 9–March 10 – WWII: American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, Japan with incendiary bombs; the city is fire-bombed, killing 100,000 citizens.
• March 12 – Swinem nde is destroyed by the USAAF killing an estimated 8,000 to 23,000 civilians, mostly refugees saved by Operation Hannibal
• March 15 – The 17th Academy Awards ceremony is held, broadcast via radio for the first time. Best Picture goes to Going My Way.
• March 16 – WWII: The Battle of Iwo Jima unofficially ends, with pockets of guerrilla resistance persisting until the official conclusion of the battle.
• March 17 – WWII: Kobe, Japan is fire-bombed by 331 B-29 bombers, killing over 8,000 people.
• March 18 – WWII: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.
• March 19 – WWII:
  • Adolf Hitler orders that all industries, military installations, machine shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.
  • Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing about 800 of her crewmen and crippling the ship.
• March 21 – WWII: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
• March 22 – The Arab League is formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
• March 24
  • WWII – Operation Varsity: Two airborne divisions capture bridges across the Rhine River to aid the Allied advance.
  • Sylvester the cat, a cartoon character, debuts in Life with Feathers
• March 26 – WWII: The Battle of Iwo Jima officially ends, with the destruction of the remaining areas of Japansese resistance.
• March 29 – The "Clash of Titans": George Mikan and Bob Kurland duel at Madison Square Garden. OSU defeats DePaul 52 44.
• March 30 – WWII:
  • The Red Army pushes most of the Axis forces out of Hungary and into Austria.
  • Alger Hiss congratulated in Moscow for his part in bringing positions of Western powers and the USSR closer to each other at the Yalta Conference.

April

Japanese battleship Yamato]] explodes after persistent attacks from U.S. aircraft during the Battle of Okinawa, 7 April 1945. committed suicide]] on 30 April 1945.

• April 1 – WWII – Battle of Okinawa: The U.S. 10th Army lands on Okinawa.
• April 4 – WWII: American troops liberate their first Nazi concentration camp, Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
  • The Red Army enters Bratislava and pushes to the outskirts of Vienna, taking it on April 13 after several days of intense fighting.
• April 6 – WWII: Sarajevo is liberated from the Nazi Germany and Nazi Croatia (German puppet state) by the Yugoslav Partisans.
• April 7 – WWII:
  • The only flight of the German ramming unit known as the Sonderkommando Elbe takes place, resulting in the loss of some 24 B-17s and B-24s of the United States Eighth Air Force.
  • The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk north of Okinawa while enroute on a suicide mission.
  • Kantar Suzuki becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
• April 9
  • WWII: The Battle of K nigsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
  • Abwehr conspirators Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Oster and Hans Dohanyi are hanged at Flossenberg concentration camp, along with pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
• April 10 – WWII:
  • The Allied Forces liberate the Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald.
  • Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th and 17th Krajina Brigades from the Tenth Division of Yugoslav Partisan forces.
• April 12 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies suddenly at Warm Springs, Georgia; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd President.
• April 14 – WWII: The Canadian First Army assumes military control of the Netherlands where German forces are trapped in the Atlantic wall fortifications along the coastline.^[4]
• April 15 – The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
• April 15 – WWII: The Canadian First Army reaches the coast in northern Holland and captures Arnhem.
• April 16 – WWII: The Goya is sunk by the Soviet submarine L-3.
• April 16 – WWII: The Canadians take Harlingen, and occupies Leeuwarden and Groningen
• April 17 – Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German forces.
• April 18 – American war correspondent Ernie Pyle is killed by Japanese machine gun fire on the island of Ie Shima off Okinawa.
• April 19 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, a musical play based on Ferenc Moln r's Liliom, opens on Broadway and becomes their second long-running stage classic.
• April 22
  • Heinrich Himmler, through Count Bernadotte, puts forth an offer of German surrender to the Western Allies, but not the Soviet Union.
  • Adolf Hitler concedes defeat in his underground Berlin bunker after learning Felix Steiner count not mobilize enough men to launch a counterattack on the Soviets who had just broken through Germany.
• April 24 – Retreating German troops destroy all the bridges over the Adige in Verona, including the historical Ponte di Castelvecchio and Ponte Pietra.
• April – The British/Canadian front enters Breman.
• April 25
  • Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
  • WWII – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops link up at the Elbe River, cutting Germany in two.
• April 25–26 – WWII: Last major strategic bombing raid by RAF Bomber Command, the destruction of the oil refinery at T nsberg in southern Norway by 107 Avro Lancasters.
• April 26 – WWII: Battle of Bautzen: The last "successful" German panzer-offensive in Bautzen ends with the city recaptured.
• April 26 – WWII: The Nazis surrender to the British/Canadian front who now control the Swiss border from Basle to Lake Constance.
• April 27
  • U.S. Ordinance troops find the coffins of Frederick Wilhelm I, Frederick the Great, Paul von Hindenburg, and his wife.
  • The Western Allies flatly reject any offer of surrender by Germany other than unconditional on all fronts.
• April 28 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are executed by Italian partisans as they attempt to flee the country. Their bodies are then hung by their heels in the public square of Milan.
• April 28 – The Canadian First Army captures Emden and Wilhelmshaven.
• April 29
  • Operation Manna: British Lancaster bombers drop food into the Netherlands to prevent the starvation of the civilian population.
  • Brazilian forces liberate the commune of Fornovo di Taro, Italy, from German forces.
  • Adolf Hitler marries his longtime mistress Eva Braun in a closed civil ceremony in the Berlin F hrerbunker.
• April 30 – Adolf Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, commit suicide as the Red Army approaches the F hrerbunker in Berlin. Karl D nitz succeeds Hitler as President of Germany; Joseph Goebbels succeeds Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.

May

• May – For all practical purposes the ICPC ceases to exist (recreated on June 3, 1946).
• May 1 – WWII:
  • Hamburg Radio announces that Hitler has died in battle, "fighting up to his last breath against Bolshevism."
  • Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide after killing their six children. Karl D nitz appoints Count Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk as the new Chancellor of Germany.
  • Troops of the Yugoslav 4th Army, together with the Slovene 9th Corpus NOV, enter Trieste.
  • Mass suicide in Demmin.
• May 2 – WWII:
  • The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin. Soviet soldiers hoist the Red flag over the Reich Chancellery.Prague liberated by Red Army in May 1945.
  • Troops of the New Zealand Army 2nd Division enter Trieste a day after the Yugoslavs; the German Army in Trieste surrenders to the New Zealand Army.
  • L beck is liberated by the British Army.
• May 3 – WWII:
  • The prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland are sunk by the RAF in L beck Bay.
  • Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and 120 members of his team surrender to U.S. forces (later going on to help to start the U.S. space program).
  • German Protestant theologian Gerhard Kittel is arrested by the French forces in T bingen, Germany.
• May 4 – WWII:
  • The concentration camp Neuengamme near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
  • The North German army surrenders to Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
  • Holland is liberated by British and Canadian troops.^[5] German forces officially surrender one day later.
  • Denmark is liberated.^[6] German forces officially surrender one day later.
• May 5 – WWII:
  • Prague rises up against the Nazis.
  • Ezra Pound, the poet and author, is arrested by American soldiers in Italy for treason.
  • The US 11th Armored Division liberates the prisoners of Mauthausen concentration camp, including Simon Wiesenthal.Pacific]] theater listen to radio reports of Victory in Europe Day on May 8, 1945.
  • Canadian soldiers liberate the city of Amsterdam from Nazi occupation.
  • Admiral Karl D nitz orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
  • A Japanese balloon bomb kills five children and a woman, Elsie Mitchell, near Bly, Oregon, when it explodes as they drag it from the woods. They are the only people killed by an enemy attack on the American mainland during WWII.
• May 6 – WWII: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (the first was on December 11, 1941).
• May 7 – WWII: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
• May 8 – WWII:
  • V-E Day (Victory in Europe, as Nazi Germany surrenders) commemorates the end of WWII in Europe, with the final surrender being to the Soviets in Berlin, attended by representatives of the Western Powers.
  • Canadian troops move into Amsterdam, after German troops surrender.
  • Surrender of the Dodecanese is signed in Symi.
  • The British 8th Army, together with Slovene partisan troops and a motorized detachment of the Yugoslav 4th Army, arrives in Carinthia and Klagenfurt.
• May 8–29 – S tif massacre: In Algeria, thousands die as French troops and released Italian POWs kill an estimated 6,000 to 40,000 Algerian citizens.
• May 9 – WWII:
  • The Soviet Union marks V-E Day.
  • Hermann G ring is captured by the United States Army.fighting on Okinawa]], May 1945.
  • The Norwegian resistance movement in Oslo, Norway, arrests the traitor Vidkun Quisling.
  • The Red Army enters Prague.
  • General Alexander L hr, Commander of German Army Group E near Topol ica, Slovenia, signs the capitulation of German occupation troops.
  • The German occupation of the Channel Islands ends with the liberation by British troops.
  • Alderney, an annex of the concentration camp Neuengamme, is liberated.
• May 12
  • Argentinian labour leader Jos Peter declares the Federaci n Obrera de la Industria de la Carne dissolved.
  • Rev. W. V. Awdry's children's book The Three Railway Engines, first of The Railway Series, is published in England.
• May 14–15 – WWII – Battle of Poljana: The last battle of the War in Europe is fought at Poljana near Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia.
• May 23 – President of Germany Karl D nitz and Chancellor of Germany Count Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk are arrested by British forces at Flensburg. They are respectively the last German Head of state and Head of government until 1949.
• May 23 – Heinrich Himmler, former head of the Nazi SS, commits suicide in British custody.
• May 28 – William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") is captured. He is later charged with high treason in London for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio, convicted, and then hanged in January 1946.
• May 29
  • German communists, led by Walther Ulbricht, arrive in Berlin.
  • Dutch painter Han van Meegeren is arrested for collaboration with the Nazis, but the paintings he had sold to Hermann G ring (Koch) are later found to be his fakes.
• May 30 – The Iranian government demands that all Soviet and British troops leave the country.

June

Dwight Eisenhower and Georgy Zhukov, June 5, 1945.

• June 1 – The British take over Lebanon and Syria.
• June 5 – The Allied Control Council, military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.
• June 6 – King Haakon VII of Norway returns to Norway.
• June 11
  • William Lyon Mackenzie King is re-elected as Canadian prime minister.
  • The Franck Committee recommends against a surprise nuclear bombing of Japan.^[7]
• June 12 – The Yugoslav Army leaves Trieste, leaving the New Zealand Army in control.
• June 21 – WWII: The Battle of Okinawa ends.
• June 24 – WWII: A victory parade is held in Red Square in Moscow.
• June 25 – Se n T. O'Kelly is elected the second President of Ireland.
• June 26 – The United Nations Charter is signed.
• June 29 – Czechoslovakia cedes Carpathian Ruthenia to the Soviet Union.

July

Trinity Test]] at night in New Mexico.

• July 1 – WWII: Germany is divided between the Allied occupation forces.
• July 5 – WWII: The Philippines are declared liberated.
• July 8 – WWII: Harry S. Truman is informed that Japan will talk peace if it can retain the reign of the Emperor.^[7]
• July 9 – A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn (the third in that area since 1933).
• July 15 – The Scott Morrison Award of Minor Hockey Excellence was first given out to recipient Gordie Howe
• July 14 – Italy declares war on Japan.
• July 16 – The Trinity Test, the first of an atomic bomb, using about six kilograms of plutonium, succeeds in unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 19 kilotons of TNT.
• July 16 – WWII: A train collision near Munich, Germany kills 102 war prisoners.
• July 17–August 2 – WWII – Potsdam Conference: At Potsdam, the three main Allied leaders hold their final summit of the war.
• July 21 – WWII: President Harry S. Truman approves the order for atomic bombs to be used against Japan.^[7]
• July 23 – WWII: French marshal Philippe P tain, who headed the Vichy government during WWII, goes on trial for treason.
• July 26 – Winston Churchill resigns as the United Kingdom's Prime Minister after his Conservative Party is soundly defeated by the Labour Party in the 1945 general election. Clement Attlee becomes the new Prime Minister. It is the first time that Labour has governed Britain with a commons majority.^[8]
• July 26 – The Potsdam Declaration demands Japan's unconditional surrender; Article 12 permitting Japan to retain the reign of the Emperor has been deleted by President Truman.^[7]
• July 28 – An U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building, killing 14 people, including all on board.
• July 28 – WWII: Japan ambiguously rejects the Potsdam Declaration.^[7]
• July 29 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched, aimed at mainstream light entertainment and music.
• July 30 – WWII: The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis is hit and sunk by torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58 in the Philippine Sea. Some 900 survivors jump into the sea and are adrift for up to four days. Nearly 600 die before help arrives. Captain Charles B. McVay III of the cruiser is later court-martialed and convicted.

August

nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki]] rising 18 km into the air. USS Missouri]].

• August 6 – WWII: Atomic bombing of Hiroshima: A United States B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb, codenamed "Little Boy", on Hiroshima, Japan, at 8:15 a.m. (local time).
• August 7 – President Harry Truman announces the successful bombing of Hiroshima with the atomic bomb, while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
• August 8
  • The United Nations Charter is ratified by the United States Senate, and this nation becomes the third one to join the new international organization.
  • The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
• August 9 – WWII:
  • A United States B-29 Bomber, Bockscar, drops an atomic bomb, codenamed "Fat Man", on Nagasaki, Japan, at 11:02 a.m. (local time).
  • The Soviet Union begins its army offensive against Japan in the northern part of the Japanese-held Chinese region of Manchuria.^[9]
• August 10 – WWII: Japan offers to surrender to the Allies, "provided this does not prejudice the sovereignty of the Emperor".
• August 11 – WWII: The Allies reply to the Japanese surrender offer by saying that Emperor Hirohito will be subject to the authority of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces.
• August 11–25 – Soviet troops complete occupation of Sakhalin.
• August 13 – The Zionist World Congress approaches the British government to discuss the founding of the country of Israel.
• August 14 – WWII: Emperor Hirohito accepts the terms of the Potsdam Declaration.
• August 15
  • Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization founded as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
  • WWII: Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender on the radio. The United States calls this day V-J Day (Victory in Japan). This ends the period of Japanese expansionism and begins the period of Occupied Japan.
  • WWII: Korea gains independence following Japan's surrender.
• August 17
  • President Jos P. Laurel issues an Executive Proclamation putting an end to the Second Philippine Republic, thus putting an end to his term as President of the Philippines.
  • Indonesian nationalists Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta declare the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, with Soekarno as president. Dutch colonial authorities do not approve.
  • The novel Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published by Fredric Warburg in London.
• August 19 – Chinese Civil War: Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek meet in Chongqing to discuss an end to hostilities between the Communists and the Nationalists.
• August 31 – WWII: Allied troops arrest German field marshal Walther von Brauchitsch.

September

• September 2
  • Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita surrenders to Filipino and American forces at Kiangan, Ifugao.
  • WWII ends: The final official surrender of Japan is accepted by the Supreme Allied Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz for the United States, and delegates from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, China, and others from a Japanese delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, on board the American battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay (but i August 14 is recognized as the day the Pacific War ended).
• September 4 – WWII: Japanese forces surrender on Wake Island after hearing word of their country's surrender.
• September 5
  • Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose", is arrested in Yokohama.
  • The Russian code clerk Igor Gouzenko comes forward with numerous documents implicating the Soviet Union in numerous spy rings in North America: both in the United States and in Canada.
• September 8
  • American troops occupy southern Korea, while the Soviet Union occupies the north, with the dividing line being the 38th parallel of latitude. This arrangement proves to be the indirect beginning of a divided Korea.
  • Hideki T j , Japanese prime minister during most of WWII, attempts suicide to avoid facing a war crimes tribunal.
• September 9 – The first case of a computer bug is found: a moth lodged in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at the Naval Weapons Center in Dahlgren, Virginia.
• September 11
  • Radio Republik Indonesia starts broadcasting.
  • The Batu Lintang camp in Sarawak, Borneo is liberated by Australian forces.
• September 12 – The Japanese Army formally surrenders to the British in Singapore.
• September 18 – Typhoon Makurazaki in Japan kills 3,746 people.
• September 20 – Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru demand that all British troops depart India.

October

October 24: The United Nations is formed. This was its flag. The modern version is slightly retouched. Buchenwald]] closed.

• October – Arthur C. Clarke puts forward the idea of a communications satellite in a Wireless World magazine article.
• October 1–October 15 – Operation Backfire: Three A4 rockets are launched near Cuxhaven in order to show Allied forces the rocket with liquid fuel.
• October 2– George Albert Smith becomes president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
• October 3–October 10 – The Detroit Tigers win the World Series against the Chicago Cubs, who have not made it to the World Series since.
• October 4 – The Partizan Belgrade sports society is founded in Belgrade, Serbia.
• October 5 – A strike by the Set Decorator's Union in Hollywood results in a riot.
• October 15 – WWII: Pierre Laval, the former premier of Vichy France, is shot to death by a firing squad for treason against France.
• October 16 – FAO established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
• October 17 – A massive number of people, headed for CGT, gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Per n's release. This is known to the Peronists as the D a de la lealtad (Loyalty Day). It is considered the founding day of Peronism.
• October 18 – Isa as Medina Angarita, president of Venezuela, is overthrown by a military coup.
• October 21 – Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
• October 23 – Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals.
• October 24
  • ICJ ("World Court") established by the United Nations Charter.
  • The United Nations is founded.
  • The Norwegian Nazi leader Vidkun Quisling is shot to death by a firing squad for treason against Norway.
• October 27 – Indonesian separatists riot and fight Dutch and British security forces.
• October 29
  • Get lio Vargas resigns as the president of Brazil.
  • At Gimbels Department Store in New York City, the first ballpoint pens go on sale at $12.50 each.
• October 30 – The undivided country of India joins the United Nations. Pakistan is formed and joins later.

November

• November 1
  • International Labour Organization (ILO) In 1945, the organisation's new constitution came into effective.
  • John H. Johnson publishes the first issue of the magazine Ebony.
  • Telechron introduces the model 8H59 "Musalarm", the first clock radio.#
• November 5 Colombia joins the United Nations.
• November 9 – Soo bahk do Moo Duk Kwan is founded.
• November 13 – Charles De Gaulle is elected head of a French provisional government
• November 15 – Harry S. Truman, Clement Attlee, and Mackenzie King call for a U.N. Atomic Energy Commission.^[7]
• November 16
  • Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.
  • The motion picture The Lost Weekend, starring Ray Milland, is released. The most realistic film portrayal of alcoholism up to that time, it wins several Oscars in the following year.
• November 16
  • Yeshiva College is founded.
• November 20 – The Nuremberg Trials begin: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals of WWII start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.
• November 28 – An earthquake in Balochistan (Pakistan) causes a tsunami and kills 4,000.
• November 29
  • The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is declared (this day is celebrated as Republic Day until the 1990s). Marshal Tito is named president.
  • Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), is completed. It covers of floor space. The first set of calculations is run on the computer.

December

• December 2
  • General Eurico Gaspar Dutra is elected president of Brazil.
  • French banks (Banque de France, BNCI, CNEP, Cr dit Lyonnais, and Soci t G n rale) nationalized.
• December 3 – Communist demonstrations in Athens presage the Greek Civil War.
• December 4 – By a vote of 65 7, the United States Senate approves the entry of the United States into the United Nations.
• December 5 – A flight of US Navy Avenger torpedo bombers known as Flight 19 disappears on a training exercise.
• December 21 – General George S. Patton dies from injuries sustained in a car accident on December 9.
• December 27
  • Twenty-eight nations sign an agreement creating the World Bank.
  • Terror strikes are carried out against British military bases in Palestine.

Date unknown

• A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory led by Charles Coryell discovers chemical element 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 on the periodic table, which they will name promethium.^[10]
• Raymond Libby develops the oral penicillin antibiotic.
• American Canamid discovers folic acid, a vitamin abundant in green leafy vegetables, liver, kidney, and yeast.
• The first geothermal milk pasteurization is done in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
• Some time in August Korea splits into two nations with the North being communist and the South being capitalist.

Births

January

• January 3
  • Stephen Stills, American rock singer and songwriter
  • Abbas Khattak, Commander of the Pakistan Air Force
• January 4 – Richard R. Schrock, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• January 10
  • Jennifer Moss, British actress (d. 2006)
  • Rod Stewart, British rock singer
• January 14 – Einar H konarson, Icelandic painter
• January 15
  • Vince Foster, deputy White House counsel during the first term of President Bill Clinton (d. 1993)
  • Princess Michael of Kent, member of the British Royal Family
• January 20 – Robert Olen Butler, American writer
• January 25 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
• January 26 – Jacqueline du Pr , English cellist (d. 1987)
• January 27 – Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader, writer, and lawyer (d. 2005)
• January 29
  • Jim Nicholson, Northern Irish politician
  • Tom Selleck, American actor
• January 30 – Michael Dorris, American author (d. 1997)
• January 31 – Joseph Kosuth, American artist

February

• February 2 – David D. Friedman, American economist
• February 3
  • Bob Griese, American football player
  • Philip Waruinge, Kenyan boxer
• February 6 – Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter and musician ( . 1981)
• February 7 – Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player
• February 9 – Mia Farrow, American actress
• February 12 – Maud Adams, Swedish actress
• February 14 – Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
• February 16 – Jeremy Bulloch, English actor
• February 17 – Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
• February 20 – Henry Polic II, American actor
• February 24 – Barry Bostwick, American actor
• February 25
  • Elkie Brooks, English singer
  • Roy Saari, American swimmer
• February 26 – Marta Kristen, Norwegian actress
• February 27 – Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (d. 2004)
• February 28 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011)

March

• March 1 – Dirk Benedict, American actor
• March 4
  • Dieter Meier, Swiss singer and children's writer
  • Tommy Svensson, Swedish football manager and player
  • Gary Williams, American basketball coach
• March 7
  • John Heard, American actor
  • Arthur Lee, American musician
• March 8
  • Jim Chapman, American politician
  • Micky Dolenz, American actor, director and rock musician (The Monkees)
  • Jay Ingram, Canadian television host, author and journalist
  • Anselm Kiefer, German painter
• March 9 – Dennis Rader, American serial killer
• March 13 – Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician
• March 15 – A. K. Faezul Huq, Bangladeshi lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
• March 17 – Katri Helena, Finnish singer
• March 19 – Cem Karaca, Turkish musician (d. 2004)
• March 20
  • Jay Ingram, Canadian television host, author and journalist
  • Pat Riley, American basketball coach
• March 26 – Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (d. 2004)
• March 29
  • Walt Frazier, American basketball player
  • Willem Ruis, Dutch game show host (d. 1986)
• March 30 – Eric Clapton, English rock guitarist
• March 31 – Gabe Kaplan, American actor, comedian, and professional poker player

April

• April 2 – Linda Hunt, American actress
• April 4 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French activist
• April 7 – Werner Schroeter, German film director
• April 9 – Peter Gammons, American baseball sportswriter
• April 12 – Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization (d. 2006)
• April 13
  • Tony Dow, American actor, producer, and director (Leave It to Beaver)
  • Lowell George, American rock musician (Little Feat)
  • Bob Kalsu, American football player (d. 1970)
• April 14 – Ritchie Blackmore, English rock guitarist (Deep Purple)
• April 21 – Diana Darvey, British actress, singer and dancer (d. 2000)
• April 25 – Bj rn Ulvaeus, Swedish rock songwriter (ABBA)
• April 27 – August Wilson, American playwright (d. 2005)
• April 29
  • Hugh Hopper, British musician (d. 2009)
  • Tammi Terrell, American soul singer (d. 1970)

May

• May 1 – Rita Coolidge, American pop singer
• May 2 – Sarah Weddington, American attorney
• May 4 – Narasimhan Ram, Indian journalist
• May 5 – Kurt Loder, American film critic, author, and television personality
• May 6
  • Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American musician
  • Bob Seger, American rock singer
• May 8 – Keith Jarrett, American musician
• May 14 – Yochanan Vollach, Israeli footballer and president of Maccabi Haifa, CEO
• May 15 – Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, heir to the Portuguese crown
• May 16 – Nicky Chinn, English rock songwriter (The Sweet, Suzi Quatro)
• May 17 – Tony Roche, Australian tennis player
• May 19 – Pete Townshend, English rock guitarist and lyricist (The Who)
• May 21
  • Richard Hatch, American actor
  • Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut
• May 22 – Victoria Wyndham, American actress (Another World)
• May 23
  • Lauren Chapin, American child actress and evangelist
  • Doris Mae Oulton, Canadian community developer
• May 24 – Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman
• May 28 – John Fogerty, American rock singer (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• May 29 – Gary Brooker, English pianist and singer (Procol Harum)
• May 30 – Gladys Horton, American singer (The Marvelettes) (d. 2011)
• May 31
  • Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German film director (d. 1982)
  • Laurent Gbagbo, President of Cote d'Ivoire

June

• June 1 – Frederica von Stade, American mezzo-soprano
• June 2 – Jon Peters, American film producer
• June 3 – Hale Irwin, American professional golfer
• June 4
  • Anthony Braxton, American composer and musical instrumentalist
  • Gordon Waller, Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist (Peter and Gordon) (d. 2009)
• June 5 – John Carlos, American athlete
• June 6 – David Dukes, American actor (d. 2000)
• June 7 – Wolfgang Schussel, Chancellor of Austria
• June 8 – Steven Fromholz, American singer-songwriter
• June 9 – Nike Wagner, German woman of the theater
• June 11 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress, television personality and author
• June 12 – Pat Jennings, Northern Irish footballer player
• June 13 – Rodney P. Rempt, American admiral
• June 14 – J rg Immendorff, German painter
• June 15 – Fran oise Chandernagor, French writer
• June 16 – Claire Alexander, Canadian ice hockey player
• June 17
  • P. D. T. Acharya, Secretary General Lok Sabha
  • Frank Ashmore, American actor
  • Art Bell, American radio talk show host
  • Ken Livingstone, British politician
  • Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist
• June 19
  • Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar poet, politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Radovan Karad i , Serbian politician
• June 20 – Anne Murray, Canadian singer
• June 24 – George Pataki, Governor of New York
• June 25 – Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter
• June 26 – Dwight York, American musician, fashion consultant, cult leader, and child molester
• June 28 – David Knights, British bassist (Procol Harum)
• June 29 – Chandrika Kumaratunga, President of Sri Lanka

July

• July 1 – Debbie Harry, American rock singer (Blondie)
• July 5 – Lu Sheng-yen, leader of the True Buddha School
• July 6 – Burt Ward, American actor
• July 7 – Michael Ancram, British politician
• July 8 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss Federal Councilor
• July 9 – Dean Koontz, American writer
• July 10 – Ron Glass, American actor
• July 11 – Richard Wesley, American playwright and screenwriter
• July 15 – J rgen M llemann, German politician (d. 2003)
• July 16 – Victor Sloan, Irish artist
• July 17 – Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
• July 20
  • Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter
  • Larry Craig, U.S. senator from Idaho
• July 21 – John Lowe, English darts player
• July 24 – Azim Premji, Indian businessman
• July 26 – Dame Helen Mirren, British actress
• July 28 – Jim Davis, American cartoonist
• July 30 – Roger Dobkowitz, American game show producer

August

• August 1 – Douglas D. Osheroff, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• August 2 – Joanna Cassidy, American actress
• August 4 – Alan Mulally, American businessman, current CEO of the Ford Motor Company
• August 5
  • Loni Anderson, American actress
  • Ja'net Dubois, American actress and singer
• August 6 – Ron Jones, British director (d. 1993)
• August 7 – Alan Page, American football player
• August 9 – Posy Simmonds, English cartoonist
• August 14
  • Steve Martin, American actor and comedian
  • Eliana Pittman, Brazilian singer and actress
  • Wim Wenders, German film director and producer
• August 19 – Ian Gillan, English rock singer (Deep Purple)
• August 22 – Ron Dante, American rock singer, songwriter, and record producer (The Archies)
• August 24 – Vincent K. McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter, chairman and CEO of WWE
• August 26 – Tom Ridge, American politician
• August 31
  • Van Morrison, Irish rock musician
  • Itzhak Perlman, Israeli-American violinist and conductor

September

• September 1 – Mustafa Balel, Turkish writer
• September 4 – Danny Gatton, American guitarist (d. 1994)
• September 5 – Al Stewart, Scottish singer-songwriter
• September 7 – Jacques Lemaire, Canadian ice hockey coach
• September 8
  • Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, American musician (Grateful Dead) (d. 1973)
  • Rogatien Vachon, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Kelly Groucutt, British Bassist (Electric Light Orchestra) (d. 2009)
• September 9 – Doug Ingle, American songwriter and singer for Iron Butterfly
• September 10 – Jos Feliciano, Puerto Rican singer
• September 11 – Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer and coach
• September 14 – Martin Tyler, British sports broadcaster
• September 15 – Jessye Norman, American soprano
• September 16 – Pat Stevens, American voice actress (d. 2010)
• September 17 – Phil Jackson, American basketball coach
• September 19 – Randolph Mantooth, American actor and motivational speaker
• September 20 – Candy Spelling, American author and socialize
• September 21
  • Shaw Clifton, General of the Salvation Army
  • Kay Ryan, American poet
• September 23 – Paul Petersen, child actor and advocate of other child actors
• September 25 – Dee Dee Warwick, American singer (d. 2008)
• September 26 – Bryan Ferry, English singer-songwriter and musician (Roxy Music)
• September 27
  • Max Boyce, Welsh comedian and singer
  • Jack Goldstein, Canadian artist (d. 2003)
• September 29 – Nadezhda Chizhova, Russian athlete
• September 30 – Ehud Olmert, 12th Prime Minister of Israel

October

• October 2 – Don McLean, American rock singer-songwriter
• October 3
  • Kay Baxter, American bodybuilder (d. 1988)
  • Viktor Saneyev, Soviet athlete
• October 4 – Clifton Davis, American actor
• October 5 – Brian Connolly, Scottish musician
• October 6 – Ivan Graziani, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
• October 12
  • Aurore Cl ment, French actress
  • Dusty Rhodes, American professional wrestler
• October 13 – Susan Stafford, American television presenter
• October 15 – Jim Palmer, American baseball player
• October 18
  • Huell Howser, host of California's Gold.
  • Y ldo, Turkish showman, footballer
• October 19 – John Lithgow, American actor
• October 20 – George Wyner, American actor
• October 22 – Yvan Ponton, Canadian actor and sportscaster
• October 24 – Eugenie Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education
• October 25
  • David Schramm, American astrophysicist (d. 1997)
  • Peter Ledger, Australian artist (d. 1994)
• October 27
  • Lu s In cio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil
  • Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
• October 29 – Melba Moore, American singer and actress
• October 29 – Daniel Albright, American literary critic and musicologist
• October 30 – Henry Winkler, American actor, producer and director
• October 31 – Brian Doyle-Murray, American actor

November

• November 3 – Gerd M ller, German footballer
• November 5 – Jacques Lanct t, Canadian terrorist
• November 7 – Waljinah, Javanese singer
• November 12
  • Michael Bishop, American author
  • Tracy Kidder, American journalist and author
  • Neil Young, Canadian singer-songwriter and musician
• November 15 – Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian rock singer (ABBA)
• November 18
  • Wilma Mankiller, Chief of the Cherokee Nation (d. 2010)
  • Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka
• November 21 – Goldie Hawn, American actress
• November 23 – Jerry Harris, American sculptor
• November 26
  • Daniel Davis, American actor
  • John McVie, English rock musician (Fleetwood Mac)
• November 27 – Barbara Anderson, American actress
• November 30 – Mary Millington, British porn star (d. 1979)

December

• December 1 – Bette Midler, American actress, comedienne and singer
• December 2 – Charles "Tex" Watson, American prisoner
• December 7 – Clive Russell, English actor
• December 9 – Michael Nouri, American actor
• December 13 – Kathy Garver, American actress, author and online radio hostess
• December 16 – Patti Deutsch, American voice actress
• December 17
  • Ernie Hudson, American actor
  • Chris Matthews, American news anchor
• December 19 – Elaine Joyce, American actress and game show panelist
• December 20
  • Peter Criss, American rock drummer (KISS)
  • Sivakant Tiwari, senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service (d. 2010)
• December 22 – Diane Sawyer, American news journalist
• December 24
  • Lemmy Kilmister, English rock singer and bassist (Mot rhead)
  • Nicholas Meyer, American screenwriter, producer, director and novelist
• December 25 – Gary Sandy, American actor (WKRP in Cincinnati)
• December 26 – John Walsh, American media personality
• December 28 – Birendra of Nepal (d. 2001)
• December 30 – Davy Jones, English actor and singer (The Monkees) (d. 2012)
• December 31
  • Barbara Carrera, Nicaraguan-born American actress
  • Vernon Wells (actor), Australian film and television actor

Deaths

January

• January 2 – Bertram Ramsay, British admiral (b. 1883)
• January 3 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
• January 6 – Josefa Llanes Escoda, Filipino advocate of women's suffrage and founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (b. 1898)
• January 9
  • J ri Uluots, Estonian statesman (b. 1890)
  • Dennis O'Neill, young victim of the Care Systems (b. 1932)
• January 22 – Else Lasker-Sch ler, German poet (b. 1869)
• January 31 – Eddie Slovik, American soldier (executed) (b. 1920)

February

• February 1 – Prince Kiril of Bulgaria (b. 1895)
• February 2
  • Adolf Brand, German writer (b. 1874)
  • Joe Hunt, American tennis champion (b. 1919)
• February 3 – Roland Freisler, Nazi German judge (b. 1893)
• February 5
  • Denise Bloch, French WWII heroine (executed) (b. 1915)
  • Lilian Rolfe, French WWII heroine (executed) (b. 1914)
  • Violette Szabo, French WWII heroine (executed) (b. 1921)
• February 10 – Anacleto Diaz, Filipino jurist (murdered during the Battle of Manila) (b. 1878)
• February 11 – Al Dubin, Swiss songwriter (b. 1891)
• February 12 – Antonio Villa-Real, Filipino jurist (murdered during the Battle of Manila) (b. 1878)
• February 17 – Gabrielle Weidner, Belgian WWII heroine (b. 1914)
• February 21 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
• February 25 – M rio de Andrade, Brazilian writer and photographer (b. 1893)

March

• March – Margot Frank (b. 1926) and her younger sister Anne Frank, German-born Jewish diarist (typhus) (b. 1929)
• March 2 – Emily Carr, Canadian artist (b. 1871)
• March 3 – Aleksandra Samusenko, Soviet WWII tank commander (b. 1922)
• March 4
  • Lucille La Verne, American actress (b. 1872)
  • Mark Sandrich, American director (b. 1900)
• March 16 – B rries von M nchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
• March 18 – William Grover-Williams, French race car driver and war hero (b. 1903)
• March 19 – Friedrich Fromm, German Nazi official (b. 1888)
• March 20 – Lord Alfred Douglas, English poet (b. 1870)
• March 22
  • Eliyahu Bet-Zuri, Israeli assassin (executed) (b. 1922)
  • Eliyahu Hakim, Israeli assassin (executed) (b. 1925)
• March 23 – Elisabeth de Rothschild, French WWII heroine (executed) (b. 1902)
• March 26 – David Lloyd George, Welsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1863)
• March 29 – Ferenc Csik, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1913)
• March 30 – lise Rivet, French nun and war heroine (b. 1890)
• March 31
  • Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
  • Harriet Boyd-Hawes, American archaeologist (b. 1871)
  • Torgny Segerstedt, Swedish newspaper editor and publicist (b. 1876)

April

• April – Auguste van Pels, German-Jewish housemate of Anne Frank (b. 1900)
• April 5 – Huldreich Georg Fr h, Swiss composer (b. 1903)
• April 7 – Elizabeth Bibesco, writer (b. 1897) (pneumonia)
• April 9
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (hanged) (b. 1906)
  • Wilhelm Canaris, head of the German Abwehr (hanged) (b. 1887)
• April 10
  • Gloria Dickson, American actress (b. 1917)
  • H.N. Werkman, Dutch artist and printer (executed) (b. 1882)
  • Walther Wever, German fighter ace (b. 1923)
• April 12 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
• April 18
  • Ernie Pyle, American journalist (sniper fire) (b. 1900)
  • William, Prince of Albania (b. 1876)
• April 21 – Walter Model, German field marshal (b. 1891)
• April 22 – K the Kollwitz, German artist (b. 1867)
• April 24 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German Reichsphysician (S.S. and Police) in the Third Reich (b. 1899)
• April 27 – Halit Ziya U akl gil, Turkish author (b. 1867)
• April 28
  • Benito Mussolini, Italian Fascist dictator (executed) (b. 1883)
  • Hermann Fegelein, German Nazi general (b. 1906)
• April 29 – Malcolm McGregor, American actor (b. 1892)
• April 30
  • Adolf Hitler, German Nazi dictator (suicide) (b. 1889)
  • Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (suicide) (b. 1912)
  • William Darby, American creator of the U.S. Army Rangers (b. 1911)
  • Luisa Ferida, Italian actress (b. 1914) (executed)

May

• May 1
  • Joseph Goebbels, German Nazi propagandist (suicide) (b. 1897)
  • Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (suicide) (b. 1901)
• May 2 – Martin Bormann, German Nazi leader (b. 1900)
• May 4 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1880)
• May 5 – Peter van Pels, German-Jewish love interest of diarist Anne Frank (b. 1926)
• May 8
  • Ernst-G nther Baade, German general (b. 1897) (gangrene)
  • Wilhelm Rediess, SS and Police Leader of Nazi-occupied Norway (suicide) (b. 1900)
  • Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of Nazi-occupied Norway (suicide) (b. 1898)
  • Bernhard Rust, Education Minister of Nazi Germany (suicide) (b. 1883)
• May 11 – Kiyoshi Ogawa, Kamikaze pilot (b. 1922)
• May 14 – Heber J. Grant, 7th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1856)
• May 15 – Charles Williams, British author (b. 1886)
• May 17 – Bobby Hutchins, Our Gang films child actor (b. 1925)
• May 18 – William Joseph Simmons, American founder of the second KKK (b. 1880)
• May 19 – Philipp Bouhler, German Nazi leader (b. 1899)
• May 23 – Heinrich Himmler, German head of the SS (suicide) (b. 1900)
• May 24 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German field marshal (suicide) (b. 1892)
• May 31 – Odilo Globocnik, Austrian Nazi leader (suicide) (b. 1904)

June

• June 8 – Robert Desnos, French poet and resistance fighter (b. 1900)
• June 15 – Nikola Avramov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1897)
• June 16
  • Henry Bellamann, American writer (b. 1882)
  • Nikolai Berzarin, Soviet Red Army general (b. 1904)
• June 18 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., American general (b. 1886)
• June 23 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian resistance member (b. 1923)

July

• July 5 – John Curtin, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885)
• July 12 – Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, German field marshal (b. 1895)
• July 13 – Alla Nazimova, Russian actress (b. 1879)
• July 16 – Addison Randall, American actor (b. 1906)
• July 17 – Ernst Busch, German field marshal (b. 1885)
• July 20 – Paul Val ry, French poet (b. 1871)
• July 28 – Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith (b. 1864)
• July 31 – Artemio Ricarte, Filipino general (b. 1866)

August

• August 2 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
• August 9 – Harry Hillman, American athlete (b. 1881)
• August 10 – Robert Goddard, American rocket scientist (b. 1882)
• August 15
  • Korechika Anami, Japanese general (b. 1887)
  • Matome Ugaki, Japanese admiral (b. 1890)
• August 16 – Takijir nishi, Japanese admiral (b. 1891)
• August 18 – Subhash Chandra Bose, Indian political leader (b. 1897)
• August 19 – Tomas Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (b.1875)
• August 25 – Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (b. 1888)
• August 26 – Franz Werfel, Austrian writer (b. 1890)
• August 31 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (b. 1892)

September

• September 1 – Frank Craven, American actor (b. 1881)
• September 6 – John S. McCain, Sr., American admiral (b. 1884)
• September 12 – Sugiyama Hajime, Japanese general (b. 1880)
• September 15 – Anton Webern, Austrian composer (b. 1883)
• September 16 – John McCormack, Irish tenor (b. 1884)
• September 20
  • Jack Thayer, Titanic survivor (b. 1894)
  • Eduard Wirths, German doctor, chief SS doctor at Auschwitz concentration camp (suicide) (b. 1909)
• September 24 – Johannes Hans Geiger, German physicist and inventor (b. 1882)
• September 26
  • B la Bart k, Hungarian composer (b. 1881)
  • A. Peter Dewey, first American casualty in Vietnam

October

• October 10 – Joseph Darnand, Vichy France politician (executed) (b. 1897)
• October 13 – Milton S. Hershey, American chocolate tycoon (b. 1857)
• October 15 – Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of France (executed) (b. 1883)
• October 19
  • Plutarco El as Calles, President of Mexico (b. 1877)
  • N.C. Wyeth, American illustrator (b. 1882)
• October 21 – Henry Armetta, Italian actor (b. 1888)
• October 24 – Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian traitor (executed) (b. 1887)
• October 25 – Robert Ley, German Nazi politician (suicide) (b. 1890)
• October 26 – Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b. 1878)
• October 28 – Gilbert Emery, American actor (b. 1875)
• October 31 – Henry Ainley, English actor (b. 1879)

November

• November 7 – Gus Edwards, American songwriter (b. 1879)
• November 8 – August von Mackensen, German field marshal (b. 1849)
• November 11 – Jerome Kern, American composer (b. 1885)
• November 16 – Sigur ur Eggerz, Prime Minister of Iceland during World War I (b. 1875)
• November 20 – Francis William Aston, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
• November 21
  • Ellen Glasgow, American novelist (b. 1873)
  • Robert Benchley, American humorist, theater critic, and actor (b. 1889)
  • Alexander Patch, United States Army lieutenant general, World War II army commander (b. 1889)
• November 23 – Charles Armijo Woodruff, 11th Governor of American Samoa (b. 1884)
• November 25 – Doris Keane, American stage actress (b. 1881)
• November 28 – Dwight F. Davis, American tennis player (b. 1879)
• December 4 – Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1866)

December

• December 5 – Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1864)
• December 13 – Josef Kramer, commandant of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (executed) (b. 1906)
• December 14 – Forrester Harvey, Irish actor (b. 1884)
• December 16 – Fumimaro Konoe, Prime Minister of Japan (suicide) (b. 1891)
• December 21 – George S. Patton, U.S. general (car accident) (b. 1885)
• December 22 – Otto Neurath, Austrian philosopher and political economist (b. 1892)
• December 25 – Duy Tan, emperor of Vietnam (b. 1899)
• December 26 – Roger Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, British admiral (b. 1872)
• December 28 – Theodore Dreiser, American author (b. 1871)

Nobel Prizes

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• Physics – Wolfgang Pauli
• Chemistry – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
• Physiology or Medicine – Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain, Sir Howard Walter Florey
• Literature – Gabriela Mistral
• Peace – Cordell Hull

References

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