Editing 1945 (section)

===April===
{{Main|April 1945}}
[[File:Yamato battleship explosion.jpg|thumb|[[April 7]] – [[Japanese battleship Yamato|Japanese battleship ''Yamato'']] explodes after persistent attacks from U.S. aircraft during the [[Battle of Okinawa]].]]
[[File:Stars & Stripes & Hitler Dead2.jpg|thumb|[[April 30]] – [[Adolf Hitler]], along with his wife of one day [[Eva Braun]], [[Death of Adolf Hitler|commits suicide]].]]
* [[April 1]] – WWII: [[Battle of Okinawa]]: The [[Tenth United States Army]] lands on [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]].
* [[April 4]] – WWII:
** American troops liberate their first Nazi concentration camp, [[Ohrdruf concentration camp|Ohrdruf extermination camp]] in Germany.
** The Soviet [[Red Army]] enters [[Bratislava]] and pushes to the outskirts of [[Vienna]], taking it on April 13, after several days of intense fighting.
* [[April 6]] – WWII:
** [[Sarajevo]] is liberated from [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Independent State of Croatia]] (a [[fascist]] [[puppet state]]) by [[Yugoslav Partisans]].
** The [[Battle of Slater's Knoll]] on [[Bougainville Island]] concludes with a decisive victory for the [[Australian Army]]'s [[7th Brigade (Australia)|7th Brigade]].
** Allied forces reach [[Merkers Adventure Mines|Merkers Salt Mines]] in [[Thuringia]] where gold reserves of the Nazi German [[Reichsbank]] and art treasures are stored.
* [[April 7]] – WWII:
** The only flight of the German ramming unit known as [[Sonderkommando Elbe]] takes place, resulting in the loss of some 24 [[B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17s]] and [[B-24 Liberator|B-24s]] of the United States [[Eighth Air Force]].
** {{ship|Japanese battleship|Yamato}} and nine other warships take part in [[Operation Ten-Go]], a suicide attack on Allied forces engaged in the Battle of Okinawa. ''Yamato'' is sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft in the [[East China Sea]] {{convert|200|mi|km}} north of [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]] with the loss of 2,055 of 2,332 crew, together with five other Japanese warships.
** [[Kantarō Suzuki]] becomes [[Prime Minister of Japan]].
* [[April 8]] – The [[SS]] begins to evacuate the [[Buchenwald concentration camp]]; inmates in the [[Buchenwald Resistance]] call for American aid, and overpower and kill the remaining guards.
* [[April 9]]
** WWII: The [[Battle of Königsberg]], in [[East Prussia]], ends with Soviet forces capturing the city.
** [[Abwehr]] conspirators [[Wilhelm Canaris]], [[Hans Oster]] and [[Hans von Dohnányi]] are hanged at Flossenberg concentration camp, along with pastor [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]].
** [[Johann Georg Elser]], would-be assassin of [[Adolf Hitler]], is executed at [[Dachau concentration camp]].
* [[April 10]] – WWII: [[Visoko]] is liberated by the 7th, 9th and 17th Krajina Brigades from the Tenth Division of [[Yugoslav Partisans|Yugoslav Partisan]] forces.
* [[April 11]] – [[Buchenwald concentration camp]] is liberated by the [[United States Army]].
* [[April 12]]
** Vice President [[Harry S. Truman]] becomes the 33rd president of the United States upon the death of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] at the [[Little White House]] in [[Warm Springs, Georgia]] of an [[intracerebral hemorrhage]]. President Truman is [[First inauguration of Harry S. Truman|sworn in]] later this evening in the [[White House]].
** A [[Tornado outbreak of April 12, 1945|devastating tornado outbreak]] occurs across the United States, which kills 128 people and injures over 1,000 others. This is heavily overshadowed by the death of President Roosevelt.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Grazulis|first1=Thomas P.|author-link=Thomas P. Grazulis|title=Significant Tornadoes, 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events|date=July 1993|publisher=The Tornado Project of Environmental Films|location=[[St. Johnsbury, Vermont]]|isbn=1-879362-03-1|page=919}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Top Ten Deadliest Oklahoma Tornadoes (1882-Present) |url=https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-ok-deadliest |publisher=National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma |access-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814191757/https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-ok-deadliest |archive-date=14 August 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>
** WWII: The [[Ninth United States Army|U.S. Ninth Army]] under General [[William H. Simpson]] crosses the [[Elbe|Elbe River]] astride [[Magdeburg]], and reaches [[Tangermünde]] — only 50 miles from [[Berlin]].
** [[Richard Strauss]] completes composition of his ''[[Metamorphosen]]''.
* [[April 14]] – WWII:
** The [[First Canadian Army]] assumes military control of the Netherlands, where German forces are trapped in the Atlantic Wall fortifications along the coastline.<ref name=Timeline>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-in-europe/western-europe/western-europe-index-1945.htm|title=1945|work=A WW2 Timeline|publisher=Worldwar-2.net|access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref>
** [[Razing of Friesoythe]]: The [[4th Canadian (Armoured) Division]] deliberately destroys the German town of [[Friesoythe]], on the orders of Major General [[Christopher Vokes]].
* [[April 15]] – WWII:
** The [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]] is liberated by British and Canadian forces.
** The Canadian First Army reaches the coast in the northern [[Netherlands]], and captures [[Arnhem]].
* [[April 16]] – WWII:
** The [[Battle of Berlin]] begins, opening with the [[Red Army]] launching the [[Battle of the Oder–Neisse]] and the [[Battle of the Seelow Heights]].
** Canadian forces take [[Harlingen, Friesland|Harlingen]] and occupy [[Leeuwarden]] and [[Groningen]] in the Netherlands.
** {{MV|Goya}} is sunk by [[Soviet submarine L-3|Soviet submarine ''L-3'']] in the [[Baltic Sea]] while evacuating German troops and civilians as part of [[Operation Hannibal]]; 7,000–8,000 drown.
** [[Death marches (Holocaust)|Death marches]] from [[Flossenbürg concentration camp]] begin.
* [[April 17]] – WWII:
** [[Battle of Montese]]: [[Brazilian Expeditionary Force|Brazilian]] forces liberate the town of [[Montese]], Italy, from German forces.
** [[Inundation of the Wieringermeer]] in the Netherlands by occupying German forces.
* [[April 18]] – American [[war correspondent]] [[Ernie Pyle]] is killed by Japanese [[machine gun]] fire on the island of [[Iejima|Ie Shima]] off [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]].
* [[April 19]] – [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]]'s ''[[Carousel (musical)|Carousel]]'', a musical play based on [[Ferenc Molnár]]'s ''[[Liliom]]'', opens on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]], and becomes their second long-running stage classic. It includes the standard "[[You'll Never Walk Alone]]".
* [[April 20]] – WWII: 
** On his 56th birthday, [[Adolf Hitler]] leaves his ''[[Führerbunker]]'', to decorate a group of [[Hitler Youth]] soldiers in Berlin. It will be his last trip to the surface from his underground bunker.
** The German city of [[Nuremberg]], previously the site of the [[Nuremberg rallies]], is occupied by American troops.
** "[[Morotai Mutiny]]": members of the [[Australian First Tactical Air Force]] based on the island of [[Morotai]] in the [[Dutch East Indies]] tender their resignations to protest their belief that they are being assigned to missions of no military importance and in which they are not specialists; a subsequent inquiry effectively vindicates them.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Alexander|first=Kristen|date=2004-09-01|title="Cleaning the Augean stables": the Morotai Mutiny?|journal=Sabretache| publisher= Military Historical Society of Australia|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%22Cleaning+the+augean+stables.%22+The+Morotai+Mutiny%3F-a0123162109}}</ref>
* [[April 22]] – WWII:
** [[Heinrich Himmler]], through [[Folke Bernadotte]], Count of Wisborg, puts forth an offer of German surrender to the Western Allies, but not the Soviet Union.
** [[Adolf Hitler]] finally concedes that "everything is lost"<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Jones, Bill|year=1989|title=The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler|medium=Television documentary|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8onbm_8bcgQ|access-date=2016-04-27|publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref> at a meeting in the ''Führerbunker'' after learning that ''[[SS-Obergruppenführer]]'' [[Felix Steiner]] cannot mobilize enough men to launch a counterattack on the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] forces which are surrounding Berlin.
* [[April 23]] – WWII:
** [[Hermann Göring]] sends the [[Göring telegram]] to Hitler, seeking confirmation that he should take over leadership of Germany, in accordance with the decree of June 29, 1941. Hitler regards this as treason.
** The main [[Flossenbürg concentration camp]] is liberated by the United States Army.
* [[April 24]] – WWII:
** [[Battle of Berlin]]: [[Red Army]] troops complete encirclement of Berlin.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ziemke|first=Earl F.|year=1969|title=Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich|series=Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II, Battle Book #6|publisher=Ballantine Books}}</ref>
** Retreating [[Wehrmacht|German troops]] destroy all the bridges over the [[Adige]] in [[Verona]], including the historic [[Castelvecchio Bridge|Ponte di Castelvecchio]] and [[Ponte Pietra (Verona)|Ponte Pietra]].
* [[April 25]]
** Founding negotiations for the [[United Nations]] begin in [[San Francisco]].
** WWII – [[Elbe Day]]: United States and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] troops link up at the river [[Elbe]], cutting Germany in two.
* [[April 25]]–[[April 26|26]] – WWII: The last major [[strategic bombing]] raid by [[RAF Bomber Command]], the destruction of the oil refinery at [[Tønsberg]] in southern Norway, is carried out by 107 [[Avro Lancaster]]s.
* [[April 26]] – WWII:
** [[Battle of Bautzen (1945)|Battle of Bautzen]]: The last "successful" German panzer-offensive in [[Bautzen]] ends with the city recaptured.
** The [[3rd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|British 3rd Infantry Division]], under [[Lashmer Whistler|General Whistler]], captures Bremen.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Smythe|title=Bolo Whistler: The Life of General Sir Lashmer Whistler|location=London|publisher=Muller|year=1967}}</ref>
** Nazi surrenders mean the British and Canadians now control the German border with Switzerland, from [[Basel]] to [[Lake Constance]].
* [[April 27]]
** The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The [[Lapland War]] and thus, [[Military history of Finland during World War II|World War II in Finland]], comes to an end and the ''[[Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn]]'' photograph is taken.
** The provisional government of [[Austria]] headed by [[Karl Renner]] asserts its independence from Germany.<ref name="stone books apr 27">{{cite web |url=http://books.stonebooks.com/wardiary/19450427/ |title=War Diary for Friday, 27 April 1945 |website=Stone & Stone Books |access-date=March 28, 2016}}</ref>
** U.S. Ordnance troops find the coffins of [[Frederick William I of Prussia]], [[Frederick the Great]], [[Paul von Hindenburg]] and his wife in a salt mine in Germany.<ref>MacDonogh, Giles (2007). ''After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation''. New York: Basic Books. p. 93.</ref>
* [[April 28]]
** The bodies of [[Benito Mussolini]], his mistress, [[Clara Petacci]], and other followers are hung by their heels at a gas station in the public square of [[Milan]], Piazzale Loreto, following their execution by Italian partisans after an attempt to flee the country.
** The Canadian First Army captures [[Emden]] and [[Wilhelmshaven]].
* [[April 29]]
** At the royal palace in [[Caserta]], Lieutenant-Colonel Viktor von Schweinitz (representing General [[Heinrich von Vietinghoff]]) and SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' Eugen Wenner (representing [[Waffen-SS]] General [[Karl Wolff]]) sign an unconditional instrument of surrender for all [[Axis powers]] forces in Italy, taking effect on [[May 2]]. Italian General [[Rodolfo Graziani]] orders the ''[[Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano]]'' forces under his command to lay down their arms.<ref>Ernest F. Fisher Jr., [https://web.archive.org/web/20120927071348/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/006/6-4-1/CMH_Pub_6-4-1.pdf ''The Mediterranean Theater of Operations: Cassino to the Alps''] (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1977), p.&nbsp;524</ref>
** [[Dachau concentration camp]] is surrendered to U.S. forces, who kill SS guards at the camp and the nearby hamlet of Webling.<ref>{{cite web|first=George R.|last=Duncan|title=Massacres and Atrocities of World War II|url=http://compunews.com/gus/massacres.htm|access-date=2015-10-15}}</ref>
** [[Brazilian Expeditionary Force|Brazilian]] forces liberate the commune of [[Fornovo di Taro]], Italy, from German forces.
** [[Operations Manna and Chowhound|Operation Manna]]: British [[Avro Lancaster]] bombers drop food into the Netherlands to prevent the starvation of the civilian population.
** Soviet soldiers hoist the [[Red flag (politics)|Red flag]] over the ''[[Reich Chancellery#New Reich Chancellery|Reich Chancellery]]'' in Berlin.
** [[Adolf Hitler]] marries his longtime mistress [[Eva Braun]], in a closed civil ceremony in the Berlin ''[[Führerbunker]]'', and signs [[Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler|his last will and testament]].
* [[April 30]] – WWII:
** [[Death of Adolf Hitler]]: Adolf Hitler and his wife of one day, [[Eva Braun]], commit suicide as the [[Red Army]] approaches the ''[[Führerbunker]]'' in Berlin. ''Großadmiral'' [[Karl Dönitz]] succeeds Hitler as [[President of Germany (1919–1945)|''Reichspräsident'' (President of Germany)]] and [[Joseph Goebbels]] succeeds as [[Chancellor of Germany|''Reichskanzler'' (Chancellor of Germany)]], in accordance with Hitler's political testament the day earlier.
** American forces enter the Bavarian capital of [[Munich]].