Japan surrenders (V-J day)

Victory in Japan Day (V-J Day)
As Japan’s major cities were devastated by attacks, and millions of people died, Japan was desperate. Its naval fleet was lost, and merchant ships could not leave Japan or sail without submarine or mine attack attempts.  Oil stocks were empty, rubber and steel were in very short supply, and the Soviets were attacking against the only sizable forces the Japanese had left, the Kwantung Army. They were a starving and undersupplied force. Many other armies had transferred to the Pacific, where they died in the island battles.  Defeat was unavoidable, but many in the military wanted to fight on, preferring death to capitulation.

One day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, it was clear that Japan would be destroyed if the war continued. Emperor Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, demanded that an official answer be sent accepting surrender. On August 10, Japan notified the U.S via diplomatic channels in Switzerland that Japan accepted an unconditional surrender.

The Japanese military struggled to keep the war going. Emperor Hirohito secretly recorded an announcement of surrender, which was broadcast over Radio Tokyo on the morning of August 15. In the broadcast, the emperor said:

“We have ordered our government to communicate to the governments of the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union that our empire accepts the provisions of their Joint Declaration.”
President Henry Truman announced Japan's official surrender at exactly 7:00 P.M. on August 14, U.S. time. Allied forces began landing on Japan's shores just two weeks later, led by General Douglas MacArthur.

On September 2, 1945, Allied representatives met with representatives of the Japanese government aboard the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay to sign the official surrender document. Over the weeks, Japanese forces surrendered on a number of fronts, including the Philippines, China, and Korea.
World War II was over. All that remained was to put the world back together.

Atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Near the end of the war, German had already surrendered, Japan was the only country left on the Axis team. President Truman believed that if they invaded Japan, it would cost them 1,000,000 men. So the U.S created the Atomic Bomb. Two planes dropped atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, 3 days apart. The damage was devastating. Thousands of people died, and there was nothing left of Hiroshima and Nagasaki except dust and wreckage. After the dust cleared, even more died of radiation disease. The dropping of the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities and the horrific aftermath of their destruction, and the declaration of war against Japan by Russia forced the Emperor of Japan to announce his country’s surrender.

Germany surrenders (V-E day)

Victory in Europe, V-E Day
After the initial success of the D-Day invasion, the Allies had recaptured France on Aug, 15, 1944, but the war wasn’t over yet.

Allied armies crossed the Belgian border in the north during this time.  Brussels fell to Canadian and British troops early in early September.  Other forces went into the Netherlands and through Luxembourg.  The Allies crossed the German border on September 12, 1944.

Allied armies closed in on Germany from all directions.  At this point, it was highly unlikely that Germany could still win the war.  In late April, the head of the Gestapo (Germany’s secret police) tried to make a peace agreement with Great Britain and the United States.  The Allies demanded that the Germans surrender.  On April 25, 1945, U.S. troops joined forces with the Russian Red Army.  On April 28, the Italian resistance (pro Allied forces) called the Partisans captured and killed Mussolini – he was hated in Italy by many of his own people because his actions and alliance with Germany led to the death of many Italian soldiers.  German forces in Italy surrendered on May 2.

On May 1, 1945, as a ruse, German radio stations announced that Hitler had died while fighting for Berlin against the Russians.  Berlin fell to Russian forces the next day.  Eventually, Allied forces found out that Hitler and his wife had committed suicide on April 30 in a bunker under Berlin and their bodies had been burned by a SS (Special Security and elite military unit of the Nazis who supervised concentration camps and served as Hitler’s bodyguards) officer named Otto Guensche who was also a member of Hitler's inner circle.

On May 2, 1945, Colonel General Alfred Jodl of the German army entered Allied headquarters.  There, he signed the terms of the unconditional surrender of Germany. The world celebrated May 8, 1945 as V-E Day – the day when the world was free of the Nazis’ threat.

World War II in Europe was over.  Only Japan remained defiant.

Hitler commits suicide

Near the end of the war, when the Soviet troops entered Germany, it was suggested that Hitler should try to flee Germany. Hitler refused the idea as he feared the chance of being captured. There were rumors of how Soviet troops would parade him through Germany in a cage. To prevent this horrible humiliation Hitler decided to commit suicide.

Two days before committing suicide, Hitler married a woman named Eva Braun. That night he tested out a poisonous pill on his pet dog, Blondi. His new wife, Braun agreed to commit suicide with him. She could have become rich by writing her memoirs but she preferred not to live without Hitler.
By then the Soviet troops were now only 300 yards away from Hitler's underground bunker. Although defeat was unavoidable, Hitler demanded that his troops fight to the death or be executed.
Hitler made a will that left all his property to the Nazi Party. On April 30, 1945, after saying their farewells, Hitler and Eva Braun went into a private room and took poison tablets. Hitler also shot himself in the head. His body was then burned and his ashes were hidden in the ground.

U.S. President Roosevelt dies

America had been able to stay out of World War II until Pearl Harbor was attacked.  President Franklin Roosevelt described the day as "a date that will live in infamy".

After Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt had meetings in Washington with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They decided that Germany, the most powerful of the Axis powers must be defeated first. They continued to meet, and then they included Joseph Stalin of Russia in the talks too. They were known as "The Big Three". Roosevelt also began talking with General Chiang Kai-shek of China.
As the war raged on, Roosevelt was elected President again in 1944.  This would be his fourth term.  He had already been President for twelve years.  He wanted to retire, but he felt it was his duty to continue to serve his country.  He won the election, and two days after his inauguration, he went to Yalta where he met Churchill and Stalin. They planned their strategy to defeat Germany.  Russia, in exchange for land and other favors, agreed to enter the war to help defeat Japan.  However, during this time, he began to have one cold after another, and his health was beginning to fail.

In April, 1945, Roosevelt was in Georgia, where he collapsed and died of a cerebralhemorrhage.  Millions of Americans mourned the death of their beloved President. The world had lost a great leader.  Sadly, President Roosevelt never saw the end of the war which would happen only four months later. 

Auschwitz Liberated

The Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz in 1945.  When the Nazis started to retreat, they wanted to hide evidence of their crime.  The Nazis forced most of the camp prisoners to march west into Germany or they tried to burn the bodies in the crematoria or in large graves.  The Soviets only found a few thousand emaciated prisoners in Auschwitz.  However, there was abundant evidence of mass murder in Auschwitz. The Germans had tried to destroy most of the warehouses in the camp, but in the ones left intact, the Soviets found personal belongings of the victims.  For example, they discovered hundreds of thousands of men's suits, more than 800, 000 women's outfits, and more than 14,000 pounds of human hair.

After the liberation of these camps was the full realization of what Nazis did to Jews was exposed to the world.  The Jews who survived were so thin because of the horrible conditions, forced labor, and the small amount of food they were given. Many were so weak that they could barely move.  Disease still was a danger, and most of the camps had to be destroyed to prevent the spread of sickness.  Survivors had a long and painful recovery. It was so terrible that millions of people still think about it today.

Assassination attempts on Hitler

The German resistance was a group of people that did not like what Hitler and the Nazis were doing.  Members of the resistance engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his throne.  However, there were barely any members in the resistance because most people were scared to death of Nazis and wouldn’t dare speak out against them for the sake of their lives.  Their plans included a plot to assassinate Hitler.

On July 20, 1944, an assassination attempt on Hitler was put into action. One of his top military officers, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, had placed a bomb in a suitcase under the table during a meeting at Hitler's Wolf's Lair. The assassination attempt failed because someone moved the briefcase containing a bomb, which had planted near Hitler's feet.  Von Stauffenberg had left the room before the bomb went off, and had returned to  where a group of high-ranking German army officers were planning to take control of the government after Hitler died.  The bomb exploded, but Hitler survived the blast with only injuries to his arm and some hearing loss.  Not everyone in the room was so lucky.  After the failed assassination, the SS arrested 7000 people, and it is estimated that almost 5000 Germans were executed after the July Plot. Hitler decided that the leaders should have a slow death. They were hung with piano wire from meat-hooks. Their executions were filmed and later shown to senior members of the armed forces.