German «Western Wall» on the Luxembourg border, and the Americans landed on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima.
On February 26—27, the deputy commander of the Bandera Ukrainian Insurgent army (UPA) Mayevsky and other leaders of the Bandera met with the Soviet representative to negotiate the conditions for ending the armed struggle.
March 1945
On March 4, Finland declared war on Germany. After a month-long siege and fierce street battles with the Japanese, the Americans captured Manila (Philippines).
On March 5, conscripts born in 1929, that is, 16-year-olds, begin to be recruited into the German army.
On March 6, the Balaton defensive operation of the Red Army began, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, reflecting the counteroffensive of German troops, began to defend in the area of Lake Balaton in Hungary. lasting until March 15.
On March 9, 84,000 Tokyo civilians were killed during the American bombing.
On March 16, the Vienna offensive operation of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front began, the operation lasted until April 15.
On March 25, Allied troops crossed the Rhine. The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front launched the Bratislava-Brno offensive operation in Czechoslovakia, it lasted until May 5. Fierce fighting continues in the Baltic States, the 3rd Belorussian Front has carried out three military operations against enemy troops in East Prussia.
On March 30, during fierce fighting, Soviet troops took Danzig (now Gdansk in Poland).
April 1945
On April 1, the completion of the liquidation by the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front after a long siege of the encircled garrison of the Nazis and the occupation of the fortress city of Glogau on the Oder River.
On April 4, the Allies surrounded 21 German divisions in the «Ruhr pocket». Soviet troops took Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The completion by the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts of the liberation from the German invaders of the entire territory of Hungary.
On April 5, the USSR denounced the non-aggression pact with Japan.
On April 6, Soviet troops reached the outskirts of Vienna.
On April 9, the four-day operation to capture Konigsberg ended, the garrison capitulated.
April 11 death of Roosevelt. He was succeeded as President of the United States by G. Truman.
On April 13, Soviet troops took Vienna, the capital of Austria.
On April 16, the Berlin operation began with the troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts.
On April 18, British Prime Minister Churchill sent troops under Montgomery to Lubeck to prevent the occupation of Denmark by Soviet troops. Soviet troops broke through all three defensive lines on the outskirts of Berlin.
On April 25, the UN Constituent Assembly in San Francisco with the participation of representatives of 46 states. Adoption of the UN Charter. The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Elbe and met with American troops near the city of Torgau. Soviet troops completed the encirclement of Berlin.
On April 28, Italian partisans executed Mussolini.
April 29 the surrender of German troops in Italy.
April 30, Hitler’s suicide. Grand Admiral Doenitz replaced Hitler as head of the German state. Occupation by Soviet troops of the Reichstag building in Berlin, on which the Victory Banner is hoisted!
May 1945
On May 1, Order No. 20 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin was issued in connection with the celebration of May 1. Soviet troops took the city of Brandenburg.
On May 2, the capture of Berlin by the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts was completed.
On May 3, the anti-fascist uprising began in Prague.
On May 4, the German troops completely stopped fighting against the Anglo-American troops and continued their desperate resistance to the Soviet offensive.
On May 5, the occupation of the German naval base – the port city of Svinemunde by the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front.
On May 6, the occupation of the fortress city of Breslau by the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front.
On May 7, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front left for the Elbe River.
On May 8, the signing took place by representatives of the German High Command in Karlhorst (a suburb of Berlin) the act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces. Celebration of Victory Day in Europe. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declaring May 9 a Victory Day. Occupation by the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of the city of Dresden. The cessation of resistance by the Kurland grouping of German troops, surrounded off the coast between the cities of Tukums and Libava. Liberation of the city of Olomouc.
ON MAY 9, THE SOVIET PEOPLE UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY VICTORIOUSLY ENDED THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR, DEFEATING HITLER’S GERMANY AND ITS SATELLITES!
In accordance with the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945 from 23 h. 01 min. according to the Central European time, all military operations ceased. According to Moscow time, this corresponded to 1 h. 01 min. on May 9. In Western countries, the celebration takes place on May 8. Modern bourgeois historians downplay and belittle the contribution of the USSR to the victory, claiming that the main force that defeated Nazi Germany was the American-British troops. I.V. Stalin’s address to the people on the radio in connection with the victory over Nazi Germany. Order of the Supreme Commander I. V. Stalin in connection with the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War. Termination of resistance of a group of German troops near the mouth of the Vistula River and on the Putziger-Nerung spit (northeast of Gdynia). Liberation by the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of the capital of Czechoslovakia – the city of Prague. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the establishment of the medal «For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941—1945.
««The campaigns conducted by the Red Army played a decisive role in the defeat of Germany.»
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander-in-chief of the Allied Armed Expeditionary Forces in Europe.
This is the joy of victory and the triumph of the winners, whose great feat will forever remain in the memory of posterity.
«Russia has accomplished a great military feat… Russia, in a heavy single combat almost one-on-one with the advancing Hitlerite armies, took on the full force of the German blow and stood. We, the British, will never forget the feat of Russia.» Bernard Montgomery, Field Marshal of Great Britain.
Fascist Germany recognized itself defeated and agreed to unconditional surrender. On May 8, representatives of the German Fascist command signed an act of surrender in Berlin, the last act of the great tragedy that befell the peoples of Europe and, if not for the steadfastness and heroism of the Red Army, could have become a catastrophe for the peoples of the whole earth. Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov accepted the surrender from the Soviet Supreme Command.
No holiday has been marked with such genuine national rejoicing as this one, because it was the Victory of 1945. And, probably, people did not cry like that on any holiday, because they were not only tears of joy, but also tears for those who did not live to see this great day. It really was «a holiday with tears in my eyes, joy with gray hair on my temples.» And it is also a celebration of peace on earth, peace that the Soviet people won at the cost of huge losses.
On May 10, the entry of Soviet troops into the city of Vindava (Ventspils). Full occupation of the Putziger-Nerung spit and the Courland Peninsula.
On May 11, Soviet troops occupied Bornholm Island in the Baltic. Completion of the liquidation of the remnants of resisting enemy troops