The End of WWII

Germany Surrenders

Dec, 1944- Jan 1945 Battle of the Bulge—last German offensive

April 12 FDR Dies at age 63 of a stroke

April 30, 1945 Hitler commits suicide as Soviets approach Berlin

U.S. liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps throughout Europe

Victory in Europe for the Allies declared—May 8th, 1945

Vice President Harry Truman becomes president (began as VP January 20th, 1945)

He is faced with ending the war with Japan next

Harry Truman—"I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."

The Pacific War—1941-1945

March – July 1945

3/9/1945 US begins the

firebombing of Japan’s major cities with a raid on Tokyo. 100,000 people killed. Attacks continued in Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe.

4/12/1945 President Truman takes

office. 6/4/1945 US troops land on

Okinawa.7/16/1945 The first atomic bomb is

exploded at a test site in Los Alamos, USA. Firebombs of Tokyo

August 1945

8/6/1945 US B-29 “Enola Gay”

drops a 3 meter long atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima killing an estimated 140,000 people and wiping out 10 square km.

8/9/1945 US B-29 “Bocks Car” drops atomic

bomb “Fat Man” on Nagasaki. Two-thirds of the city of 250,000 inhabitants is destroyed and 113,000 people die.

8/14/1945 The Japanese Cabinet surrender,

V-J Day! Japanese sign a peace treaty with the U.S. on the Navy ship, Missouri.

8/23/1945 The Japanese official casualty

figures from air raids including A-bombs are 260,000 killed, 412,000 injured, 9.2 million homeless, along with 44 cities completely wiped out.

How big is a 10km radius?