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Conflicts in 1945

  • Western New Guinea campaignThe Allied command set a clear goal for early 1944. They needed to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions in the Pacific theater.
  • Invasion of the Kuril IslandsThe decision to invade the Kuril Islands emerged from a sudden shift in Soviet military strategy during August 1945. Planners initially targeted Hokkaido…
  • Soviet invasion of South SakhalinIn 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth divided Sakhalin Island along the 50th parallel north. The Russian Empire kept control of the northern half while the…
  • Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaignIn August 1942, the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps began their first large-scale offensive across the Central Pacific.
  • Battle of Nuremberg (1945)The Western Allies crossed the Rhine River on the 8th of February 1945. German forces suffered heavy losses as American and British armies pushed eastward.
  • Budapest offensiveThe Red Army occupied Bucharest on the 31st of August 1944. This action secured Romania for the Soviet Union and opened a path into Hungary.
  • East Prussian offensiveThe East Prussian offensive began on the 13th of January 1945 with a heavy preparatory bombardment. Soviet command structure placed the main thrust under…
  • Spring 1945 offensive in ItalyField Marshal Sir John Dill died on the 5th of November, triggering a cascade of leadership changes that reshaped the Allied high command.
  • East Pomeranian offensiveThe East Pomeranian offensive began on the 10th of February 1945 and ended on the 4th of April 1945. This operation involved the Soviet Red Army fighting…
  • Ruhr pocketThe Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen stood intact on the 7th of March 1945 when American troops seized it. General Omar Bradley's U.S.
  • Silesian offensivesThe Lower Silesian offensive began on the 8th of February 1945 and ended on the 24th of that same month. A second operation followed shortly after, running…
  • Battle of LuzonThe Philippines held a strategic value that threatened the United States when Japan captured it in 1942. General Douglas MacArthur oversaw the defense of the…
  • Borneo campaignOn the 16th of December 1941, Japanese troops landed at Sarawak. A single battalion of British Indian troops fought a delaying action over several weeks.
  • Battle of the BulgeOn the 16th of December 1944, the German army launched a massive offensive through the Ardennes forest. This attack aimed to split Allied forces and capture…
  • Battle of Manila (1945)On the 9th of January 1945, the Sixth U.S. Army under Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger made an amphibious landing at Lingayen Gulf.
  • Battle of West HunanBy April 1945, China had already been at war with Japan for more than seven years. Both nations were exhausted by years of battles, bombings and blockades.
  • Vienna offensiveJoseph Stalin reached an agreement with the Western Allies prior to April 1945 concerning the relative postwar political influence of each party in much of…
  • Soviet invasion of ManchuriaAt 5 p.m. Moscow time on the 8th of August 1945, Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov informed Japanese ambassador Naotake Satō that the Soviet Union…
  • Soviet–Japanese WarAt the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Joseph Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan once Germany was defeated.
  • Western Allied invasion of GermanyBy early 1945, events favored the Allied forces in Europe. On the Western Front, the Allies had been fighting in Germany with campaigns against the Siegfried…
  • Battle of KönigsbergThe Soviet Stavka ordered the East Prussian offensive to prevent flank attacks on armies rushing toward Berlin. Joseph Stalin directed Marshal Konstantin…
  • Italian Civil WarOn the night between 24 and the 25th of July 1943, the Grand Council of Fascism approved a motion of no confidence against Benito Mussolini.
  • Lapland WarThe Moscow Armistice signed on the 19th of September 1944 marked the end of Finnish cooperation with Nazi Germany. Finland had fought alongside German forces…
  • Battle of BerlinOn the 12th of January 1945, the Red Army began a massive offensive across the Narew River and from Warsaw. This three-day operation involved four army…
  • World War II in YugoslaviaWorld War II in Yugoslavia was not one war but several, all happening at the same time. On the 6th of April 1941, the German Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade, and…
  • Vistula–Oder offensiveIn the wake of Operation Bagration, Soviet forces secured two bridgeheads west of the Vistula river between the 27th of July and the 4th of August 1944.