- March 3
- RAF bombing error hits The Hague killing 511. [1]
- Roermond/Venlo Netherlands freed. [1]
- US and Philippine forces recaptures Corregidor. [1]
- US 7th Army occupies last part of Westwall. [1]
- U.S. forces gain control of all three airfields on Iwo Jima. [129]
- March 4
- Finland declares war on Germany. [1]
- March 5
- Allies bombs The Hague, Netherlands. [1]
- US 7th Army Corps captures Cologne. [1]
- March 6
- 117 SD-prisoners executed at Savage Farm. [1]
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- Assassination attempt on Höhere, SS Police führer Rauter. [1]
- Chinese 38th division occupies Lashio. [1]
- Erich Honnecker and Erich Hanke flee Germans. [1]
- Jan Thijssen, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at Savage Farm. [1]
- March 7
- Cologne is taken by allied armies. [1]
- US 9th Armoured Division attacks Remagen, Germany, crosses Rhine. [1]
- Yugoslavia government of Tito forms. [1]
- March 8
- 53 Amsterdammers executed by German occupiers. [1]
- March 9
- 279 American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, Japan, destroying sixteen square miles of the city, killing 83,700, injuring 40,000, making over one million homeless. [10]
- Japanese proclaim the "independence" of Indo-China. [1]
- March 10
- Germany blows-up Wessel Bridge on Rhine. [1]
- George Patton's 3rd Army makes contact with Hodge's 1st Army. [1]
- Tokyo on fire after night time B-29 bombing. [1]
- US troops lands on Mindanao. [1]
- March 11
- 1,000 allied bombers harass Essen with 4,662 ton bombs. [1]
- Flemish Nazi collaborator Maria Huygens sentenced to death. [1]
- March 12
- 30 Amsterdammers executed by German occupiers. [1]
- Anne Frank, diarist (Diary of Anne Frank), killed in Belsen Camp. [1]
- Italy's Communist Party (CPI) calls for armed uprising in Italy. [1]
- The British Empire celebrates its first British Empire Day. [1]
- USSR returns Transylvania to Romania. [1]
- March 13
- Queen Wilhelmina returns to Netherlands. [1]
- Sicherheitsdienst arrest Dutch resistance fighter Henry Werkman. [1]
- March 14
- RAF bomb cuts railway link Hannover-Hamm. [1]
- March 15
- Billboard publishes its first album chart (King Cole Trio is #1). [1]
- Catholic University of Nijmegen reopens. [1]
- March 17
- American forces complete the capture of Iwo Jima. Americans suffer 26,038 casualties, include 6821 dead. Of the 21,000 Japanese defenders, only 1083 survive. [10]
- Allied ships bomb North-Sumatra. [1]
- March 18
- 1,250 US bombers attack Berlin. [1]
- US Task Force 58 attacks targets on Kiushu. [1]
- March 19
- 800 killed as Kamikaze attack USS Franklin off Japan. [1]
- Adolf Hitler issues an order calling for the destruction of anything of value on retreat. (Albert Speer and some army officers do what they can to see that the orders are not carried out.) [5] [10]
- British 36th division conquers Mogok (ruby mine). [1]
- Fritz Fromm, German supreme commander of Reserve army, is executed. [1]
- US Task Force 58 attacks ships near Kobe/Kure. [1]
- March 20
- US 70th Infantry division/7th Armour division attack Saar. [1]
- March 21
- First Japanese flying bombs (ochas) attack Okinawa. [1]
- Allied bombers begin four-day raid over Germany. [1]
- Dutch Resistance fighter Hannie Schaft arrested by German police. [1]
- March 22
- Arab League forms with adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt. [1]
- US third Army crosses Rhine at Nierstein. [1]
- March 23
- (night) Operation Plunder begins, as British and Canadian forces make an amphibious crossing of the Rhine river in Germany. The objective of this operation is to attack north of Wesel, holding down and diminishing the 47th Panzer Corps, preventing it from attacking the main force crossing at Wesel. [10]
- Largest operation in Pacific war, 1,500 US Navy ships bomb Okinawa. [1]
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill visits Bernard Montgomery's headquarter in Straelen. [1]
- March 24
- (1000 hours) Operation Varsity begins, as 134 American and British gliders cross the Rhine River, landing paratroops in Wesel, Germany. [10]
- US minesweepers reach Kerama Retto, South coast of Okinawa. [1]
- March 25
- US first army breaks out bridgehead near Remagen. [1]
- US 4th Armored division arrives at Hanau and Aschaffenburg. [1]
- US Northern Tractor Flotilla departs Ulithi to Okinawa. [1]
- March 26
- Generals Eisenhower/Bradley/Patton attack at Remagen on the Rhine. [1]
- The last Japanese defenders on Iwo Jima are wiped out. Only 200 of the original 22,000 Japanese defenders were captured alive. More than 6,000 Americans died taking Iwo Jima, and some 17,000 were wounded. [1] [5] [129]
- Kamikazes attack US battle fleet near Kerama Retto. [1]
- US 7th Army crosses Rhine at Worms. [1]
- March 27
- British premier Winston Churchill sails to eastern banks of Rhine. [1]
- General Dwight Eisenhower declares German defenses on Western Front broken. [1]
- Iwo Jima is occupied, after 22,000 Japanese and 6,000 US killed. [1]
- (1637 hours) The 1115th and last German V-2 rocket to reach England lands thirteen miles south-east of Stepney, in Orpington, killing one and injuring about 70. Germany launched a total of 1403 rockets at England, of which 1054 exploded on the ground, killing 2754, seriously injuring 6523. [10]
- Argentina declares war on Germany. [10]
- US 20th Army corps captures Wiesbaden. [1]
- March 28
- Last German V-1 (buzz bomb) attack on London, England. [1]
- March 30
- 289 anti-fascists murdered by Germans in Rombergpark, Dortmund. [1]
- USSR invades Austria. [1]
- March 31
- Third Algerian division crosses the Rhine. [1]
- Maurice Rose, first US General in Germany, killed in action at age 45. [1]
- Sicherheitsdienst murders ten political prisoners in Zutphen. [1]
- US artillery lands on Keise Shima; begins firing on Okinawa. [1]
- April 1
- First edition of Indonesia Merdeka publishes. [1]
- Canadian troops free Doetinchem, Enschede, Borculo and Eibergen. [1]
- American 1st and 9th Armies complete an encirclement of the Ruhr area of Germany, isolating 325,000 German soldiers of Army Group B. [10]
- 50,000 American 10th Army troops land on Okinawa, Japan. [10]
- April 2
- First US units reach east coast of Okinawa, Japan. [1]
- A special train carries rockets and 500 technicians and engineers, escorted by 100 SS troopers, to an Alpine redoubt in Bavaria, under orders of chief of SS secret weapon empire Hans Kammler, to bargain with Allies. [861.89]
- April 3
- The Canadian 1st Army crosses the Rhine River into Germany, capturing Zevenaar. [244.4]
- Hengelo freed from German control by Canadian army. [1]
- Germans begin evacuation of camp Buchenwald. [1]
- US first army conquers Hofgeismar. [1]
- April 4
- Hungary is liberated from German occupation. [1]
- US forces liberated the German death camp Ohrdruf in Germany. [1]
- US tanks/infantry conquer Bielefeld. [1]
- April 5
- Almelo Netherlands freed. [1]
- Kuniaki Koiso resigns as Prime Minister of Japan; replaced by Kantaro Suzuki. [1]
- April 6
- Coevorden freed from Germans. [1]
- Japanese giant battleship Yamato heads to Okinawa. [1]
- Massive kamikaze-attack on US battle fleet near Okinawa. [1]
- US marines explore Tsugen Shima near Okinawa. [1]
- April 7
- First and last assault of German Rammkommando on US bombers. [1]
- US B-17s bombs range at Lüneburg. [1]
- (1423 hours) Japanese battleship Yamato sinks. Only 269 of a crew of 3332 survive. [10]
- April 8
- German occupiers executed, German General Christiansen flees Netherlands. [1]
- April 9
- Battleship Admiral Scheer sinks British aircraft carrier. [1]
- Liberty ship at Bari, Italy, carrying aerial bombs, explodes, kills 360. [1]
- Wilhelm Canaris, Admiral/headed Germany Abwehr, hanged. [1]
- The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opened for shipping. [5]
- April 10
- Canadian troops conquer Deventer. [1]
- General Blaskowitz becomes German leader of "Fort Holland". [1]
- German troops attack Ijsselbrug. [1]
- Hendrik N Werkman, resistance/painter (Blue Boat), is executed at age 63. [1]
- US troops land on Tsugen Shima, Okinawa, Japan. [1]
- April 11
- American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. [10]
- SS burns and shoots 1,100 people at Gardelegen. [1]
- US captures Tsugen Shima. [1]
- US troops conquers Mülheim, Oberhausen, Bochum, Unna, Essen. [1]
- April 12
- Canadian troops liberate German concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands. [1]
- Harry Truman sworn in as 33rd US President. [1]
- April 13
- The Soviet Red Army occupies Vienna, Austria. [10]
- Canadian army liberates Teuge and Assen Netherlands from Germans. [1]
- US marines conquer Minna Shima off Okinawa. [1]
- April 14
- American B-29 make incendiary raids on Tokyo, Japan, and damage the Imperial Palace. [1]
- Arnhem/Zwolle freed from Germans. [1]
- US forces conquer Motobu peninsula on Okinawa. [1]
- US marines attack Yae Take on Okinawa, Japan. [1]
- April 15
- British and Canadian troops liberate German camp of Bergen-Belsen. [1]
- Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Communium interpretes dolorum. [1]
- US troops occupy concentration camp Colditz. [1]
- April
- A report to Manhattan Project leader Robert Oppenheimer states not enough enriched uranium existed to create a viable critical mass for even one atomic bomb. [861.61]
- April 16
- German troops in Groningen surrender. [1]
- Soviet forces begin attacks on Berlin, Germany, from a bridgehead west of Kuestrin. About 2.5 million men in the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front take part. [10]
- US troops land on He Shima, Okinawa. [1]
- April 17
- 8th Air Force bombs Dresden, Germany. [1]
- German occupiers flood Wieringermeer, Netherlands. [1]
- Hannie Schaft, "Girl with red hair", is executed. [1]
- Benito Mussolini flees from Salò to Milan. [1]
- US troops lands in Mindanao. [1]
- Walter Model, German fieldmarshal, commits suicide at age 54. [1]
- April 18
- Clandestine Radio 1212, after broadcasting pro-German propoganda for months, uses their influence to trap 350,000 German Army Group B troops. [1]
- Ernest T Pyle, British/US newscaster, killed by Japanese gunfire on Okinawa, Japan, at age 44. [1] [118.12]
- About 320,000 German troops in Army Group B surrender in the Ruhr. [10]
- April 19
- US aircraft carrier Franklin is heavily damaged in Japanese air raid. [1]
- April 20
- German occupiers flood Beemster and Fencer. [1]
- Soviet troops enter Berlin, Germany. [1]
- US 7th Army and Allied forces capture Nuremberg and Stuttgart in Germany. [1]
- US forces conquer Motobu peninsula on Okinawa. [1]
- April 21
- Allied troops occupy German nuclear laboratory. [1]
- Russian army arrives at outskirts of Berlin. [1]
- US 7th Army occupies Neurenberg, Germany. [1]
- April 22
- Concentration camp at Sachsenhausen liberated. [1]
- April 23
- Concentration camp Flossenburg liberated. [1]
- US troops in Italy cross river Po. [1]
- April 25
- 46 countries convene United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, California. [1]
- Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java. [1]
- British troops reach the Grebbe Line in Netherlands. [1]
- Clandestine Radio 1212, used to hoax Germany, makes its final transmission. [1]
- Last Boeing B-17 attack against Germany. [1]
- Soviet Red Army completely surrounds Berlin, Germany. [1]
- British and American troops meet Soviet forces at Torgau on the Elbe river. By order of General Dwight Eisenhower, the US 9th Army halts at the Elbe, allowing Russian forces to capture Berlin. [10]
- April 26
- Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, leader of France's Vichy collaborationist regime during WWII, is arrested for treason. [1]
- April 27
- Second Republic of Austria forms. [1]
- US 5th army enters Genua. [1]
- April 28
- Benito Mussolini is captured by Italian Partisans. Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed and hung in a Milan piazza. [10] [861.1] [997.355]
- British commandos attack Elbe and occupy Lauenburg. [1]
- Claretta Petacci, mistress of Mussolini, is executed. [1]
- US 5th army reaches Swiss border. [1]
- April 29
- Operation Manna begins, as British Bomber Command begins dropping food in four pre-approved drop zones in western Holland. By the end of the day, 239 Lancaster bombers have dropped 500+ tons of food. (The operation continues for ten days, delivering 7,000 tons of food. US Army Air Force joins in, with Operation Chowhound, delivering 4000+ tons of food supplies.) [10]
- Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun. [1]
- Japanese army evacuates Rangoon, Burma. [1]
- (1415 hours) In Caserta, Italy, surrender documents are signed by a German lieutenant colonel and a major, for all German forces in Italy. [10]
- The last parts of French soil, on the Alpine front, still held by Germans are liberated by French forces. [10]
- (about 1300 hours) American 42nd and 45th Divisions capture Dachau concentration camp in Germany, liberating 32,000. [10]
- Venice and Mestre are captured by the Allies. [1]
- April 30
- (morning) In Milan, Italy, partisans execute former chief of staff for the Italian Army Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, following a quick trial. [10]
- (1530 hours) In the command bunker in Berlin, Germany, a single shot is heard from Adolf Hitler's quarters. Hitler's valet Heinz Linge and an orderly emerge with a blanket-covered body. Martin Bormann, Hitler's private secretary, follows with the body of a woman. The corpses are burned with gasoline in a shell crater in a garden area. [5] [10] [129] [861.2]
- Concentration camp München-Allag freed. [1]
- Eva Braun, mistress/wife of Hitler, commits suicide at age 33. [1]
- Lord Haw-Haw calls for crusade against the bolsheviks. [1]
- The Soviet Red Army occupies Demmin. [1]
- (2250 hours) The Soviet Red Army troops capture the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany. [10]
- Russian Army frees Ravensbrück concentration camp. [1]
- US troops attack the Elbe. [1]
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