1945: The End of World War Two

23 May 2024

By the beginning of 1945, the closing stages of the Second World War were playing out across Europe and Asia. This war, the most deadly in history, had dragged on for six years, and by January the German forces were retreating into Germany, ceding the ground they had previously gained. By April, the Allies were steadily closing in from the west and the Red Army from the east, but bitter fighting against the well-entrenched Japanese forces continued in the Asia-Pacific region until August when the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by U.S. atomic bombs.

We have compiled a timeline of events with supporting albums of images and post-war topics that could interest your audiences.

Please contact us if we can help you with image sourcing or licensing.

25 January: The Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge) ends

27 January: Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

Soldiers of the 55th infantry batallion advance protectetd by a tank from the 22nd US tank division, Ardennes Offensive. AKG419950 © akg-images

Meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. (From the left): Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Livadia Palace. AKG157399 © akg-images

4 February: Yalta Conference

13 February: Bombing of Dresden

19 February - 26th March: Battle of Iwo Jima

Landing of the 5th US Amphibian Corps and the 4th and 5th US Navy Infantry division on Iwo Jima, 19.2.1945 onwards. (Capture on 16.3.1945 with high numbers of casualties). Carrier-based Curtiss SB2C Helldiver bombers from Task Force 58 in action in support of landing troops. AKG1569552 © akg-images

Out of the gaping mouths of Coast Guard and Navy Landing Craft, rose the great flow of invasion supplies to the blackened sands of Iwo Jima, a few hours after the Marines had wrested their foothold on the vital island, 1945. AKG5273192 © akg-images / UIG / Universal History Archive

7 March: The Allies cross the Rhine into Germany.

American Infantrymen and Trucks Crossing the Rhine near Worms, Germany, Central Europe Campaign, Western Allied Invasion of Germany, 1945. AKG7226793 © akg-images/Glasshouse/ JT Vintage

First Army Men and Equipment Crossing Ludendorff Railroad Bridge, Remagen, Germany, Rhineland Campaign, 1945. AKG7226752 © akg-images/Glasshouse/ JT Vintage

10 - 11 March: Bombing of Tokyo

16 March - 15 April: Vienna Offensive

1 April: Battle of Okinawa begins

Russian troops advancing towards Vienna. April 1945. AKG1004221 © akg-images / Voller Ernst / Chaldej

Scene on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, as its crew fights fires caused by Kamikaze suicide attacks, off the coast of Okinawa. AKG8740111 © akg-images

11 April: Liberation of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps

12 April: President Franklin D Roosevelt dies

16 April - 2 May: Battle of Berlin

22 April: Liberation of Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Battle of Berlin. Soviet Army tanks behind the Brandenburg Gate, on today’s Strasse des 17. Junis (east-west axis). In the background destroyed buildings at Pariser Platz. AKG9119001 © akg-images

Wedding rings which were taken from prisoners. Photo from Buchenwald after liberation, April 1945. AKG187744 © akg-images

"Handshake of Torgau." Red Army and US soldiers shake hands on the destroyed bridge at Torgau. AKG84220 © akg-images

25 April: Soviet and U.S. troops meet at Torgau in Germany

28 April: Mussolini is captured and killed

29 April: Liberation of Dachau concentration camp

Mussolini and Hitler meet after the attempted assassination of Hitler. Photo July 1944. AKG10393942 © akg-images / ullstein bild - Heinrich Hoffmann

30 April: Adolf Hitler commits suicide

30 April: Liberation of Ravensbrück concentration camp

1 May: Joseph Goebbels commits suicide

Survivors of the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen, liberated by American troops in May 1945. AKG2595508 © akg-images / picture-alliance / dpa

A Soviet tank is welcomed in front of the Powder Tower by the Prague population. May 1945. AKG2568860 © akg-images / brandstaetter images

5 May: Liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp

6 - 11 May: Prague Offensive, leading to the Liberation of Czechoslovakia

Signing the instrument of Germany's surrender by Jodl, Friedeburg and Oxenius in Gen. Eisenhower’s HQs in Reims.AKG86026 © akg-images

7 - 8 May: Germany signs an unconditional surrender

8 May: German Surrender, and Victory in Europe (VE) Day

9 May: The Soviet Union officially pronounces May 9 as Victory Day

The Moscow Victory Fireworks on May 9, 1945 Photographer: Baltermants, Dmitri (1912-1990). AKG8990018 © Courtesy of Dmitri Baltermants

Victory celebrations in Red Square, 9 May, 1945. AKG2455598 © akg-images / Universal Images Group / Sovfoto

23 May: Henrich Himmler commits suicide after capture

17 July: Potsdam Conference

6 August: The first atomic bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima

ATOMIC BOMB HIROSHIMA The Enola Gay with crew. August 1945. The pilot, Paul Tibbets (with pipe), is in the middle. He was in charge of dropping the atom bomb over Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. AKG3854934 ©akg-images

Atomic blast over Nagasaki, Japan. On 9th August 1945, during World War II, a US bomber dropped an atomic bomb over Nagasaki. The atomic explosion, equivalent to 21,000 tons of TNT, destroyed an area several kilometres across, killing an estimated 75,000 people. AKG5535327 © akg-images /Science Photo Library/ Universal History Archive\UIG

9 August: A second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki

15 August: Emperor Hirohito announces the surrender of Japan, with the signing of the unconditional surrender taking place of the US battleship Missouri on 2 September