PACIFIC WAR TIMELINE

APRIL 1945


1 April: Okinawa: US Army led by General Buckner invades Okinawa.


Germany: US troops encircle German Army on the Rhine.


5 April: Okinawa: Admiral Spruance has to move his flag from the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis to the battleship USS New Mexico after the Indianapolis is hit by a Kamikaze.


7 April: Okinawa: Japanese superbattleship sunk by Mitscher’s fast carrier group aircraft as it head towards Okinawa.


12 April: America: President Franklin Roosevelt dies. Vice-President Truman sworn into office.


Iwo Jima: 22nd Marines reach the northern tip of Okinawa.


26 April: Okinawa: Mount Shuri falls.


30 April: Burma: Amphibious landing by Lord Mountbatten takes Rangoon as General Slim’s 14th Army is hammering south 40 miles north of the city.


Berlin: Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin.


MAY 1945


2 May: Italy: German troops in Italy surrender.


7 May: Europe: Unconditional surrender of all German Armies.


17 May: Burma: General Leese attempts to sack General Slim with Mountbatten connivance but Leese himself is sent packing back to England and is replaced by Slim.


20 May: Japan: starts withdrawal of troops from China.


25 May: America: Operation Olympic approved in Washington for the invasion of Kyushu Island, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands.


31 May: America: Nuclear facility at Hanford (Washington) produces enough plutonium to enable critical mass experiments to start.


JUNE 1945


22 June: Okinawa: Formal Japanese resistance on Okinawa ends. Commanders General Ushijima and General Cho commit seppuku.

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