Explore 5072 historical events from 1940–1949.
HMS Vestal was a turbine-powered Algerine-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1943 and saw service in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan. She was crit…
World War II: HMS Vestal is the last British Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the war.
Pierre Jean Marie Laval was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vichy Fr…
Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often referred by its shortened name as the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Unio…
World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fight
The United States Army is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is designated as the army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As a part …
The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Coldi
MV Goya was a Norwegian freighter used as a troop transport by Germany and sunk with a massive loss of life near the end of World War II. Completed in 1940 for the Johan Ludwig Mow…
More than 7,000 die when the German transport ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine
Trần Trọng Kim (Vietnamese: [t͡ɕən˨˩ t͡ɕawŋ͡m˧˨ʔ kim˧˧]; chữ Hán: 陳仲金, Kanji pronunciation: Chin Jūkin; Japanese: チャン・チョン・キム, romanized: Chan Chon Kimu; 1883 – December 2, 1953; co…
Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam
The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the unicameral supreme state organ of power of Vietnam. The National Assembly is the only branch of government in Viet…
The National Representatives' Congress, the precursor of the current National Assembly of Vietnam, convenes in Sơn…
Sukarno was an Indonesian statesman, activist, and revolutionary who served as the first president of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967.
Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against…
The evacuation of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo occurred during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, part of the last phase of World War II.
Evacuation of Manchukuo: At Talitzou by the Sino-Korean border, Puyi, then the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo, formally…
The Italian Resistance, or simply La Resistenza, consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of…
Italian resistance movement: In Turin, despite the harsh repressive measures adopted by Nazi-fascists, a great pre-insur
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: U
The Führerbunker was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1…
World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses t
Nazi Germany conducted medical experiments on prisoners in its concentration camps mainly between 1942 and 1945. There were 15,754 documented victims, of various nationalities and …
Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm scho
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters
Sukarno was an Indonesian statesman, activist, and revolutionary who served as the first president of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967.
Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the…
A commander-in-chief is the person who exercises supreme command and control over an armed force. The role may be vested in a head of state, head of government, or another designat…
The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.
The Berlin Victory Parade of 1945 was held by the Allies of World War II on 7 September 1945 in Berlin, the capital of the defeated Germany, shortly after the end of World War II. …
The Berlin Victory Parade of 1945 is held.
The Bourne End rail crash occurred on 30 September 1945 when a sleeper train from Perth to London Euston derailed, killing 43. The cause was driver error, possibly compounded by am…
The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire, England, kills 43.
Jasenovac was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia…
World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May.…
World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany during the Nazi era from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the N…
World War II: Adolf Hitler's designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leader
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: United States and Soviet reconnaissance troops meet in Torgau and Strehla along the River Elbe, cutting th
Liberation Day, also known as the Anniversary of Italy's Liberation, Anniversary of the Resistance, or simply 25 April, is a national holiday in Italy that commemorates the liberat…
World War II: Liberation Day (Italy): The National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy calls for a general uprising
Thomas Hodge Allen is an American author and former politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Maine's 1st congressional district …
Tom Allen, American lawyer and politician