1945 News and Interesting Tidbits From History

World War II Ends
Following the US President Harry S Truman telling the world at a press conference at the White House yesterday that Japan has surrendered unconditionally.

15 August has been declared Victory in Japan ( VJ ) day.


Following the end of World War II gas rationing in America ends .

Gasoline rations depended on your need for gas and there were a number of different criteria including basic use to different amounts depending on your job needs for example farmers of firemen would gain a larger number of units than an ordinary individual.


Gasoline ration card A entitled the holder to seven units of gasoline


Gasoline ration card B1 entitled the holder to eleven units of gasoline


Gasoline ration card B3 entitled the holder to nineteen units of gasoline

Nuclear bomb Hiroshima
An atomic bomb was used containing more power than 12,000 tons of TNT and producing more than 2,000 times the blast of the most powerful bomb ever dropped before was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, killing an estimated 140,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare. The bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" with 130 pounds of uranium-235 produced the equivalent to about 13 kilotons of TNT. On August 9, 1945, America dropped the second Atom bomb on Nagasaki effectively ending the war when Japan announced their surrender.

US Liberates Manila
American soldiers liberate the capital Manila from Japanese control during World War II.

US Forces Land on Okinawa
The United States Tenth Army commanded by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. land on Okinawa, main island of the Ryukyus, 362 miles from the Japanese home islands.

The Occupation of Island of Okinawa was considered crucial if there was to be an invasion of the Japanese mainland and during the campaign the U.S. Navy sustained greater casualties in this operation than in any other battle of the war and it was not until on about June 21, ( 11 weeks ) that the main battles for the Island ended.
During the battle for Okinawa 35 American ships were sunk and over 300 damaged mostly due to Japanese kamikaze operations by air and by ship.
The battle for Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest in the Pacific Theater with 12,520 Americans and 90,000 Japanese soldiers, plus 130,000 civilians were killed in the 81-day campaign.
( In the event the Nuclear Bombs changed military strategy. )

Allied Bombing Germany
Allied bombers began four days of heavy raids over Germany as an exercise to soften German resistance prior to allies taking Berlin later in the year.

Soviets Invade Austria
The Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II, and at the end of the war Austria like Germany was divided into 4 Zones: American, British, French and Russian with Vienna similarly divided but at its center was an International Zone, sovereignty of which alternated at regular intervals between the 4 Powers. The commission had its seat in Vienna. It was dismantled following the conclusion of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955.
Russian, American and British troops capture Berlin.<

Allied Troops Take Berlin
Russian, American and British troops capture Berlin.

Private Eddie Slovik Executed by Firing Squad
Private Eddie Slovik is executed by firing squad near the village of Ste-Marie aux Mines, France after being court marshaled for desertion to avoid hazardous duty and became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.

Mandalay Liberated
The Japanese capture Mandalay in May 1942, and British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma from the Japanese.

USS Carrier Franklin
Japanese aircraft attack the USS carrier Franklin off Japan, killing about 724 of the crew.
The ship did not sink and managed to limp back to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

USS Indianapolis
I-58 Japanese submarine sinks the American cruiser Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst loss in the history of the U.S. navy. More than 800 fell into the Pacific many died due to injuries during the sinking but the remaining seamen were left to flounder in the Pacific, fend off sharks, drink sea water it was 84 hours before help arrived and only 318 survived the rest were eaten by sharks or drowned.
The USS Indianapolis had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian prior to it's sinking by the submarine.

Japanese Balloon Bomb Kills family
A Japanese balloon bomb explodes at Mitchell Recreation Area on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minister and five children. This is the only recorded instants of deaths caused by Japanese Bombs on the American mainland in World War II.

Pledge of Allegiance
The US Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Danzig Changes Name to Gdansk
Danzig in Poland changes it's name to Gdansk in 1945.

Iwo Jima US Flag raised
United States Marines landed on the tiny island of Iwo Jima where they were met with heavy resistance from the Japanese. The US takes Iwo Jima four days after landing on the Japanese-held volcanic island.

Aircraft Lost In Bermuda Triangle
Five U.S. Navy bombers Flight 19 take off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three hour training mission. Flight 19 was scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that would return them to the naval base. They never returned. This area is known as the Bermuda Triangle and is renowned for causing instrument malfunctions including Compass and Radio Malfunctions. The Bermuda Triangle is said to stretch from the southern U.S. coast across to Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Cuba and Santo Domingo.

Allied Bombing Of Dresden
A massive air raid with hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs drop 1,478 tons of high-explosive bombs and 1,182 tons of incendiaries completely destroying the city of Dresden, in eastern Germany leaving between 35,000 and 135,000 civilian casualties.

Yalta Agreement
Allied Leaders Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D Roosevelt and Marshal Joseph Stalin, meet at a secret location in the Black Sea area planning the final phase of the war against Germany and the future of Europe now that the end of the war is assured. President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin sign the Yalta Agreement laying down rules for control of Germany after the war is ended including the occupation by the three Allies, each of a separate zone, also for reparations in kind to be paid by Germany for damages

VE Day / Victory In Europe Declared
On 8th May President Truman and Prime minister Churchill declared victory in Europe, celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany . Following the announcement huge crowds, many dressed in red, white and blue, gathered outside Buckingham Palace in London and were cheered as the King, Queen and two Princesses came out onto the balcony.

Victory in Japan soon followed after America drops two Nuclear Bombs on Japan.

German Rocket Scientists To Work on Space Program
The United States brings 88 German scientists who had been working on the V-1 and V-2 rockets for Germany to work on the American Space / Defense program .

Vichy Government Leader Goes On Trial For Treason
Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the Vichy government during World War II and had signed as head of state an armistice with Germany that gave Nazi Germany control over the north and west of the country, this left part of the country not under Nazi control including the resort town of Vichy which is where the administrative centre was ( Hence the name Vichy Government ). Marshal Henri Petain is put on trial for treason.

War Entering Final Phase
The war in Europe is entering it's final phase as Russian and American troops join hands at the River Elbe in Germany. Ten Days later on May 7th Germany signs unconditional surrender.

Hitler Goes Underground and Commits Suicide
Following a number of defeats and allied forces approaching Berlin, Adolf Hitler with his companion, Eva Braun takes to his underground bunker, where he remains for 105 days until he commits suicide

Italian partisans Execute Benito Mussolini
Italian partisans executed deposed dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci. Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943

US Troops Liberate Buchenwald Concentration Camp
United States forces liberated a concentration camp in Buchenwald, Germany today. Over Twenty thousand inmates were free today after its capture. Since 1933, approximately 200,000 persons doomed to sadistic death or a living hell passed through the gates of the electrically-charged barbed-wire enclosure as infamous as the camps at Dachau and Oranienburg.

British and Canadian Troops Liberate Belsen Concentration Camp
British and Canadian troops liberate the German Bergen / Belsen Concentration camp finding thousands of dead and rotting corpses and many more thousands of sick and starving prisoners kept in severely overcrowded and dirty compounds.
The prisoners were suffering from acute typhus, typhoid and tuberculosis due to no running water in the camp .
Over 30,000 had died in the previous months many from typhus but even more from starvation

"Carousel"
The popular musical "Carousel" opens at the prominent Majestic Theatre in New York City. The production was based on the 1909 play by Ferenc Molnar about a man named Liliom and his lover, Julie.

"Your Lucky Hit Parade"
For the first time on radio, the show "Your Lucky Hit Parade" is broadcast in homes all over the country. It last for nearly 25 years before television led to its downfall in popularity.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Dies
After serving as U.S. president for 12 years, Franklin D. Roosevelt the 32nd president of the United States died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia. Vice President Harry S. Truman became the President of The United States

Nuremburg Trials
At Nuremburg, Nazi doctors and soldiers were charged with cruel and bizarre torture of concentration camp prisoners. Experiments such as shooting poison bullets through the prisoner's legs and oxygen deprivation of prisoners were only a few of the atrocities that were committed. Seven hundred and fifty thousand SS soldiers faced criminal charges for their participation in torturing victims.
The Nuremburg Trials with an International Military Tribunal made up of four judges one from each country United States, Soviet Union, Britain and France begin when charges against twenty of Germany's Nazi leaders who have been charged with war crimes including committing crimes against humanity.

American prosecutors charged German troops of various war crimes. Hitler aids were present during these proceedings, and evidence was presented that Hitler’s regime had used aggressive warfare techniques that had cost lives of millions of people. One of the biggest concerns was the announcement of the extermination of Polish and Polish-speaking individuals. Orders to kill them had been given by Hitler as early as 1939.

United Nations Charter Signed
Delegates from 50 nations sign the United Nations Charter, establishing the world body as a means of helping to stop another World War happening

The American War Machine

At the beginning of World War II
American had the 17th largest Armed Forces in the World
At The End of World War II
America had the largest Armed Forces in the World

Clement Attlee Elected
Winston Churchill's Conservative party loses the general election to the Labour Party and Clement Attlee, the Labour leader, is sworn in as the new British leader, Attlee had campaigned on an enlarged system of social services would be created as outlined in the wartime Beveridge Report.

As a result of the election of a labour party under Clement Attlee some of the most widely known parts of the British Welfare State are implemented ( From The Cradle To The Grave )
Family Allowances Act 1945 to provide child benefit payments.

National Health Service Act 1946 Provide Free Healthcare

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