1945
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1 January 1945 After a harrowing night through which he is watched over by his girlfriend, Iannis Xenakis (22) is captured by the British and taken to the central hospital in Athens where he will eventually undergo three operations to reconstruct his face.
1,000 German planes attack all forward Allied air groups, both inflicting and suffering heavy losses.
The Provisional government of General de Gaulle orders the nationalization of Renault.
A Polish government under Prime Minister Edward Osóbka-Morawski is constituted in Lublin.
Pierre Boulez (19) moves from the Rue Oudinot to accommodations in the Rue Beautreillis where he will live until 1959. He engages a coal-seller who moves all his belongings by handcart.
3 January 1945 Americans begin a two-day attack on Japanese ships off Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands.
British forces capture Ye-u, Burma, 110 km northwest of Mandalay.
Greek regent Archbishop Damaskinos forms a government with General Nikolaos Plastiras as Prime Minister.
Allied forces turn to the offensive against the Ardennes Bulge, attacking from both north and south.
The Seventy-ninth Congress of the United States convenes in Washington. President Roosevelt’s Democratic Party holds majorities in both houses.
4 January 1945 Allied troops complete their conquest of Leyte.
British forces occupy Akyab, Burma (Sittwe, Myanmar), 500 km northwest of Rangoon (Yangon).
Three of the Four Excursions op.20 for piano (I, II, IV) by Samuel Barber (34) are performed for the first time, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. See 22 December 1948.
5 January 1945 British forces capture Shwebo, Burma, 80 km northwest of Mandalay.
The USSR recognizes the Lublin committee as the legitimate government of Poland.
Greek communist forces evacuate Athens in the face of British reinforcements.
6 January 1945 With the withdrawal of Greek leftist forces, Athens is now quiet.
An SS attack on Bastogne is repulsed by American defenders.
Francis Poulenc and Benjamin Britten (31) are soloists in Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in Royal Albert Hall, London on the eve of his 46th birthday. It is the first time the two have met and it is the beginning of a fruitful relationship.
8 January 1945 British troops force Greek leftists out of Thebes and take control of the town.
Turkey breaks diplomatic relations with Japan.
9 January 1945 American forces land on Luzon at Lingayen Gulf, 175 km north of Manila, where the Japanese invaded the island four years ago. There is little Japanese opposition and they go on to occupy Lingayen.
British forces begin an offensive against the Japanese in Burma (Myanmar).
Experiences I for two pianos by John Cage (32) is performed for the first time, at the Hunter College Playhouse, New York.
Long Live Louis and Sidney Homer for chorus by Samuel Barber (34) is performed for the first time, in Winter Park, Florida.
10 January 1945 Allied troops capture Gangaw, Burma 200 km west of Mandalay.
11 January 1945 The Japanese begin to strike at the American presence at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon.
A truce is signed between Greek communists and the combined British and Greek right-wing forces, temporarily ending the Civil War. Communists forces move to Thessalia with thousands of Greek citizens fearful of the conservative government.
12 January 1945 American planes attack the Japanese naval base at Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina (Vietnam), sinking 40 ships.
Indian troops capture the bridgeheads over the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) at Kyaukmyaung and Thabeikkyin, north of Mandalay.
The Red Army begins a major offensive from the Baltic to the Carpathians.
13 January 1945 The Red Army offensive sends German troops in Poland reeling to the west in disarray.
Symphony no.5 op.100 by Sergey Prokofiev (53) is performed for the first time, in Moscow, under the baton of the composer. This is Prokofiev’s last performing appearance. The performance is delayed when large guns are fired in tribute to the Red Army offensive in Poland.
14 January 1945 Soviet troops capture Lucenec, Czechoslovakia, 190 km east of Bratislava.
A cease-fire is agreed to between the British and Greek communists.
An orchestral suite from the ballet Fancy Free by Leonard Bernstein (26) is performed for the first time, in Pittsburgh conducted by the composer. See 18 April 1944.
15 January 1945 Soviet forces take Kielce, Poland, 155 km south of Warsaw.
The Gestapo execute 79 Poles in Krakow.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ends its schism with the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Greek communist resistance to the British occupation of Athens ends. Some fighters surrender, others take to the mountains.
Hitler returns by train from his headquarters at Bad Nauheim to the Reich Chancellery, Berlin.
The first civilian Channel boat train since May 1940 departs London. Aboard are Francis Poulenc (46) and Pierre Bernac.
16 January 1945 Chinese troops capture Namkham, Burma, 260 km northeast of Mandalay.
Elements of the Red Army enter Warsaw.
Northern and southern Allied forces meet in Houffalize, Belgium, cutting off 20,000 Germans and effectively ending the Battle of the Bulge.
17 January 1945 Warsaw is cleared of German resistance by Soviets and Poles.
Germans execute 320 Poles at Mlawa.
The last 41 Jewish slaves at Chelmo are shot by the SS. One survives the execution gravely wounded. Another stabs an SS guard and escapes into the woods.
The Red Army liberates 94,000 Jews left in the two ghettos of Pest.
After he saved as many as 100,000 people from the Nazi death camps, Swedish architect Raoul Wallenberg is arrested by Soviet troops in Hungary. He will die in a Hungarian prison in 1947.
American troops capture Diekirch, Luxembourg.
A dike on the Mosna River in Peru breaks, inundating the town of Chavin and killing about 1,500 people.
18 January 1945 Edward Osóbka-Morawski, president of the Lublin committee, and his Soviet-backed government move from Lublin to Warsaw.
The remaining 62,000 defenders of Budapest surrender to the Soviets.
The last 60,000 remaining inmates of Auschwitz, Birkenau, Monowitz, and workers in area factories are ordered evacuated west. Some go by rail, some in massed death marches in freezing temperatures for hundreds of kilometers. 7,600 too sick to travel remain.
Ivan the Terrible, a film with music by Sergey Prokofiev (53), is shown for the first time.
19 January 1945 The Red Army captures Krakow, Tarnow, 70 km to the east, and Nowy Sacz, 70 km to the southeast. The also take Wloclawek, 140 km west of Warsaw and Lodz, 120 km southwest of Warsaw. In Lodz, they liberate the 900 Jews surviving the second largest ghetto in Poland.
Festive Overture for orchestra by William Grant Still (49) is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati.
20 January 1945 Chinese forces capture Mu-se, Burma, 290 km northeast of Mandalay.
Soviet troops achieve a breakthrough in East Prussia, capturing Tilsit (Sovetsk, Russia). They also take Bardejov, Presov, and Kosice in eastern Czechoslovakia.
The Hungarian provisional government concludes an armistice with the USSR, the United Kingdom, and the United States, in Moscow.
About this day, Sergey Prokofiev (53) blacks out and falls in his Moscow apartment. The black out is due to untreated high blood pressure. He injures his back and head and is confined to bed by doctors.
German forces in the west are now pushed back to a line roughly equal to that which they held at the beginning of the Ardennes offensive. 40,600 people were killed in the Battle of the Bulge. 75,000 Germans were taken prisoner.
Overture for orchestra by Karel Husa (23) is performed for the first time, in Prague, conducted by the composer.
US President Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated to an unprecedented fourth term in office.
21 January 1945 Japan institutes drastic manpower mobilization powers. Henceforth, all citizens may be conscripted for labor at any time.
American forces take Tarlac, Luzon 105 km north of Manila.
British and Indian troops land on Ramree Island, Burma 350 km northeast of Rangoon (Yangon). Indian forces capture Monywa, 95 km west of Mandalay.
Soviet troops capture Gumbinnen, East Prussia (Gusev, Russia).
The Germans evacuate Tannenberg (Stebark, Poland) bringing the remains of Hindenburg and his wife back to Berlin.
American troops capture Wiltz, Luxembourg.
A Book of Music for two prepared pianos by John Cage (32) is performed for the first time, at the New School for Social Research in New York.
22 January 1945 British forces take Tilin, Burma 205 km west of Mandalay.
Soviet troops capture Insterburg (Chernyakhovsk, Russia), Allenstein (Olsztyn, Poland) and Deutsch Eylau (Ilawa, Poland), East Prussia.
A review of yesterday’s concert of music by John Cage (32) by Virgil Thomson (48) appears in the New York Herald Tribune. Thomson is effusive in his praise, calling Cage a genius. “His work represents...not only the most advanced methods now in use anywhere, but original expression of the very highest poetic quality.”
23 January 1945 Indian forces capture Myinmu, Burma, 55 km west of Mandalay.
The Japanese prison camp near Capas, Philippines is liberated. Over 4,000 veterans of the Bataan Death March of 1942 have been housed there.
Allied forces capture St. Vith, Belgium.
24 January 1945 American troops capture Calapan virtually ending Japanese resistance on Mindoro Island in the Philippines. They also take Cabanatuan, 95 km north of Manila.
British planes destroy the Japanese oil refineries at Palembang.
Ernst Krenek (44) becomes an American citizen in St. Paul, Minnesota.
25 January 1945 German troops almost cut off in East Prussia begin evacuating.
The SS begins evacuating the Stuthof death camp in a severe winter storm, killing 12,000 immediately and sending 51,000 more on a death march.
The SS shoot 350 Jews in the sick room at Auschwitz.
Fluoride is added to a city water supply for the first time, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Four Choral Patterns from The New Yorker (later renamed The Choral New Yorker), for solo voices, chorus, and piano by Irving Fine (30), to words of four different poets, is performed for the first time, in Sanders Theatre of Harvard University.
Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play The Tempest by David Diamond (29) is performed for the first time, in the Alvin Theatre, New York.
26 January 1945 British and Indian troops land on the Chedube Islands, Burma. They also take Myohaung, northeast of Akyab (Sittwe). Indians take Pauk, 180 km southwest of Mandalay.
Soviet troops reach the Baltic north of Elbing (Elblag) completely cutting off East Prussia.
The last five gas chambers and crematoria are blown up at Auschwitz. The SS then abandons the camp.
A five-man National Supreme Council takes power in Hungary.
Elegy for viola or violin by Igor Stravinsky (62) is performed for the first time, in the Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Washington.
27 January 1945 Chinese troops from Yunnan and Burma link up near Mongyu thus clearing the Ledo Road.
The Red Army captures Memel (Kleipeda, Lithuania). They also encircle Posen (Poznan) and Thorn (Torun).
Red Army troops enter Auschwitz and find 648 corpses and over 7,000 starving survivors (5,800 Jews at Birkenau, 1,200 Poles at Auschwitz main camp and 650 slaves of various nationalities at Monowitz). They also find the burned out ruins of 29 enormous storehouses, six still standing. They contain 836,255 dresses, 348,000 men’s suits and 38,000 pairs of men’s shoes.
American troops take Oberhausen.
28 January 1945 American troops land at San Antonio, north of Subic Bay, Luzon.
Soviet troops capture Katowice, west of Krakow and Leszno, 70 km south of Posen (Poznan).
Heitor Villa-Lobos (57) appears in a concert of his music at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York presented by the New York League of Composers.
29 January 1945 King Petar II of Yugoslavia announces he is withdrawing his opposition to a regency for the country, to facilitate an agreement between his government in London and Marshall Tito.
Adagio pour orgue op.201 by Charles Koechlin (77) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
30 January 1945 American forces capture Olongapo, 80 km northwest of Manila.
American and Philippine troops raid the Cabanatuan POW camp on Luzon, killing 225 Japanese guards and freeing 531 prisoners.
Drago Marosic replaces Ivan Subasic as Prime Minister of the Yugoslav government-in-exile.
In Kiel harbor, a Soviet submarine sinks the German liner Wilhelm Gustloft, loaded with soldiers and war refugees from East Prussia, and the General Steuben, a hospital ship. 6,800 people die.
American forces begin an offensive against the Siegfried Line.
31 January 1945 American forces come ashore at Nasugbu, 70 km southwest of Manila.
Soviet tanks cross the River Oder, the last natural barrier to Berlin.
Private Eddie Slovik is executed by firing squad at Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, for desertion. He is the first American so executed since the Civil War, and the only one in World War II.
1 February 1945 Soviet troops occupy Torun, 185 km northwest of Warsaw.
In Bulgaria, two former members of the Council of Regents, three former prime ministers, 22 former ministers and eleven royal advisors are sentenced to death for treason and war crimes. By the time the trials end in March, over 2,000 people will be executed, 9,000 imprisoned.
With the Red Army less than 80 km away, Berlin is declared a fortress city.
2 February 1945 At the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, Olivier Messiaen (36) improvises at the organ. His improvisations are recorded for use as incidental music for Fabre’s play Tristan et Yseult. See 22 February 1945.
Ecuador declares war on Germany.
3 February 1945 Fighting moves into Manila.
Soviet troops capture Landsberg (Wielkopolski), 125 km east of Berlin.
American and French forces take Colmar, France, 65 km south of Strasbourg.
The Allies announce that all Germans have been expelled from Belgium.
Peace talks begin between the warring Greek factions.
Roland Freisler, President of the Court sentencing anti-Nazis to death, is killed when an American bomb hits the courthouse in Berlin.
The Lindenoper in Berlin is destroyed by bombs.
4 February 1945 President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and General Secretary Stalin come together at Yalta to plan the course of the post-war world, in a meeting which will last until 11 February.
Symphony in G by Lukas Foss (22) is performed for the first time, in Pittsburgh the composer conducting.
5 February 1945 The Red Army crosses the Oder at Brieg (Brzeg), 45 km southeast of Breslau (Wroclaw).
Ecuador declares war on Japan.
7 February 1945 The Red Army crosses the Oder at Fürstenberg, 25 km south of Frankfurt-an-der-Oder.
Allied forces capture Schmidt, 50 km west of Bonn.
Paraguay declares war on Germany and Japan.
8 February 1945 Canadian forces launch an offensive south from Nijmegen.
German radio broadcasts an order for all farmers to immediately turn over all stocks of wheat, barley, and rye, at the expense of livestock.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (57) conducts the New York Philharmonic in New York, in a performance of his Chôros nos.8 & 9.
9 February 1945 Japanese soldiers in Manila take 20 Philippine girls and rape them repeatedly over the next three days. Some of them escape during an American air raid.
Indian troops complete their capture of Ramree Island, Burma.
American and French forces complete their operation to push the Germans back across the Upper Rhine.
10 February 1945 A Red Army offensive begins in East Pomerania. Today they capture Elbing (Elblag).
A German force of 16,000 attempting to break out of Budapest is destroyed at Perbal, a western suburb. Only a few hundred escape. 30,000 Germans surrender Buda to the encircling Red Army.
11 February 1945 British and Canadian forces capture Prüm, 80 km west of Koblenz.
Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt sign a joint declaration after their meeting in Yalta. It puts forth guidelines for the end of the war and the maintenance of peace thereafter.
Missa brevis for chorus and organ by Zoltán Kodály (62) is performed for the first time, in Budapest. See 9 September 1948.
Achille van Acker replaces Hubert Pierlot as Prime Minister of Belgium at the head of a broad unity government.
12 February 1945 The Greek resistance signs the Varkiza Agreement with the British occupiers of the country and its Greek government. They agree to disarm their guerrilla fighters, turn over weapons, and give up control of the territory it occupies (about ¾ of the country). They are promised legal recognition, free elections, and the removal of Nazi collaborators from the armed forces and police. By July, Greek conservatives will imprison 18,000 people with torture and murder occurring on a daily basis.
German radio reports all women have been conscripted for distribution of arms and supplies.
Peru declares itself at war with Germany and Japan.
Twelve Notations for piano by Pierre Boulez (19) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
13 February 1945 American troops capture Cavite, south of Manila.
After a two-month battle, Soviet forces capture Budapest. 100,000 Germans are taken prisoner.
Soviet forces take Bunzlau (Boleslawiec), 100 km west of Breslau (Wroclaw).
The Polish government in London rejects the Yalta agreement while the Lublin government accepts it.
British bombers attack Dresden with incendiaries. In the first wave, a firestorm is created, burning 2,850 hectares. The city is packed with refugees from the eastern front.
Poems for Piano, Volume 2 op.5 by Vincent Persichetti (29) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of radio station WNYC, New York by the composer.
14 February 1945 Indian troops capture Singu, 65 km north of Mandalay.
American planes bomb Chemnitz and Magdeburg.
Soviet troops take Schneidemühl (Pila) and Deutsch Krone (Walcz), 80 km north of Poznan as well as Sorau (Zary) and Grünberg (Zielona Góra), southeast of Frankfurt-an-der-Oder.
Lance Corporal Peter von Webern, son of the composer (61), is wounded during an air attack on the train in which he is riding near Lindenkogel in Lower Styria. He dies this evening in a hospital train near Marburg.
The city now engulfed in a firestorm, US planes attack Dresden. Returning from Prague to Berlin, a contingent of German soldiers including Private Hans Werner Henze (18) passes through the city.
Chile declares war on Germany.
15 February 1945 After analysis of aerial photographs of the Dresden raid, American planes bomb the city again, hoping to kill firefighters. It is estimated that somewhere between 25,000 and 100,000 people, mostly women and children, lose their lives in Dresden. Richard Strauss (80) writes “I am in a mood of despair! The Goethehaus, the world’s greatest sanctuary, destroyed! My lovely Dresden--Weimar--Munich, all gone!”
Lederle Laboratories Inc. announces in New York the development of penicillin which may be taken orally.
Uruguay and Venezuela announce a state of war with Germany and Japan.
16 February 1945 American ships and planes begin the bombardment of Iwo Jima in earnest.
American airborne troops land on Corregidor to strong Japanese resistance.
While in prison awaiting trial, Jacques Larsac, the former police chief of Dijon, is lynched by a mob.
17 February 1945 British troops land 65 km south of Myebon, Burma.
German scientists evacuate Peenemünde and make for Oberammergau.
Switzerland agrees to freeze all German assets pending an investigation.
18 February 1945 American forces breach the Siegfried Line north of Echternach, Luxembourg.
Suite no.2 from the ballet Gayaneh by Aram Khachaturian (41) is performed for the first time, in Moscow Conservatory Bolshoy Hall.
19 February 1945 American forces invade the Japanese island of Iwo Jima to fierce Japanese resistance.
American troops land on Samar Island, Philippines as well as the small offshore islands of Dalupiri and Capul.
Street fights erupt in Bucharest between members of the National Peasant Party and Communists.
20 February 1945 In Piazzas Palladio for voice and piano by Ned Rorem (21) to words of Phemister is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of radio station WNYC, New York the composer at the keyboard.
21 February 1945 After heavy fighting, American forces reach the base of Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Kamikaze attacks severely damage one carrier and sink a light carrier.
After 13 days of heavy fighting, Canadian forces capture Goch, Germany 65 km northwest of Cologne.
Italy raises the daily bread ration from 200 to 300 grams.
The US government cuts the rations of sugar.
22 February 1945 After a month-long battle, the Red Army captures Posen (Poznan).
Allied planes accidentally bomb the Swiss border towns of Stein am Rhein and Ruti. 18 Swiss citizens are killed.
The organ music improvised by Olivier Messiaen (36) on 2 February is used for the first time, in the production of Fabre’s play Tristan et Yseult in the Théâtre Édouard VII, Paris.
Symphony on a Hymn Tune by Virgil Thomson (48) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York the composer conducting. Critics are generally disappointed.
23 February 1945 The American flag is raised on the summit of Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima.
Turkey declares war on Germany.
Kurt Weill’s (44) operetta The Firebrand of Florence to words of Mayer and Ira Gershwin is performed for the first time, in the Colonial Theatre, Boston, under the title Much Ado About Love. The lead role is played by Lotte Lenya. See 22 March 1945.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (57) conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in his own music in Symphony Hall, Boston.
24 February 1945 After announcing his country’s declaration of war on Germany, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Pasha is shot to death in Parliament. The assassin is believed to have pro-Axis sympathies.
Allied troops capture Jülich, west of Cologne.
The US government returns 72 coal mines to their owners. They were seized last year because of labor disputes.
25 February 1945 American forces capture Düren, southwest of Cologne.
The first Canadian short wave station is opened in Sackville, New Brunswick.
The Harmony of Morning for female chorus and small orchestra by Elliott Carter (36) to words of Van Doren is performed for the first time, in Temple Emanu-El, New York.
26 February 1945 Indian troops capture Mahlaing, Burma, 25 km northwest of Meiktila.
The Syrian Parliament declares war on Germany and Japan.
A national midnight curfew goes into effect in the United States.
27 February 1945 Organized Japanese resistance ends on Corregidor.
Cabildo, an opera by Amy Cheney Beach (†0) to words of Stephens, is performed for the first time, in Athens, Georgia.
28 February 1945 American troops land on Palawan Islands, Philippines, to little resistance.
British forces reach Meiktila, Burma (Myanmar), 450 km north of Rangoon (Yangon), the focus of Japanese communications. They mount an attack in strength.
Saudi Arabia declares war on Germany and Japan.
Five Fantasies on Polish Christmas Carols for children’s chorus and orchestra by Arnold Bax (61) to words translated by Sliwinski is performed professionally for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London. There has already been an amateur performance of this, but few details are known.
Trio for flute, cello, and piano by Bohuslav Martinu (54) is performed for the first time, in New York.
1 March 1945 American forces capture Mönchengladbach and Neuss, west of Düsseldorf.
Iran declares war on Japan effective yesterday. Lebanon declares war on Germany and Japan.
2 March 1945 American soldiers reach the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf but find all bridges destroyed.
American troops capture Trier as well as Roermond and Venlo, east of Eindhoven.
American planes return to bomb Dresden.
3 March 1945 American forces land on Ticao Island and Burias Island, south of Luzon.
Finland declares war on Germany.
German forces counterattack against the Soviets in western Hungary.
King Petar II appoints three regents to govern for him in Yugoslavia.
American troops take Forbach, France to the southwest of Saarbrücken.
Hermine von Webern learns of the death of her husband, Lance Corporal Peter von Webern, on 14 February. In the afternoon, she and her sister inform his parents, Anton (61) and Wilhelmine von Webern.
4 March 1945 American troops secure the remains of Manila.
American planes use precision bombing over Japan for the last time. From now on, American airmen will practice only indiscriminate terror bombing.
British forces capture Geldern, west of Duisburg.
American bombs hit Zürich, killing five people.
The principal defendant in the trial of fascists in Rome, General Mario Roatta, escapes from an army hospital.
Memorial Fanfare for Henry Wood, a work for orchestra by William Walton (42), is performed for the first time, in the Royal Albert Hall, London.
5 March 1945 Germany begins to conscript all boys born in 1929.
American troops enter Cologne.
6 March 1945 At Soviet insistence, King Mihai of Romania replaces Nicolae Rádescu with Petru Groza as Prime Minister at the head of a communist-dominated government.
Soviet authorities begin to arrest or kill anyone connected with the Polish Home Army or the Polish government in London.
A mass demonstration in Rome to protest the escape of General Mario Roatta turns violent. Gunfire breaks out and one person is killed, several injured.
7 March 1945 Chinese forces capture Lashio, Burma.
Six weeks after a bad fall, and deteriorating health, doctors order Sergey Prokofiev (53) to be hospitalized.
Rival Yugoslav governments are merged in a new arrangement dominated by Josip Broz Tito who becomes Prime Minister.
As American forces capture Cologne, 45 km to the southeast, the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen is found intact by American troops. They immediately put four divisions across to the eastern bank of the Rhine. These are the first foreign troops to successfully go east across the Rhine in anger since Napoleon in 1805.
Allied planes bomb Dessau, destroying what is left of the synagogue where Albert Weill (father of Kurt Weill (45)) was a cantor earlier in the century. The synagogue was gutted during Kristallnacht.
Two Settings from Finnegans Wake for soprano, flageolet, flutes, and kithara by Harry Partch (43) to words of Joyce, is performed for the first time, in Madison, Wisconsin.
8 March 1945 American forces complete the occupation of Palawan Island in the Philippines.
Canadian troops take Xanten, northwest of Duisburg.
A V-2 lands on Smithfield Market, London, killing 110 people.
9 March 1945 Allied forces occupy Samar Island in the Philippines.
Indian forces enter Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar).
Fearful that the Vichy French in Indochina will turn Free French, Japanese troops disarm, imprison, or kill all French nationals in the region, taking over all administrative functions--all during the worst famine in the history of Indochina.
American forces capture Bonn and Godesberg as well as Erpel, across the Rhine from Remagen.
Germans from the Channel Islands raid Granville on the Normandy coast. They blow up port installations, free 67 German POWs, capture John Alexander, the principal Welfare Officer for the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and five American soldiers. 33 people die in the raid.
10 March 1945 334 American B-29 long range bombers from the Mariana Islands drop 2,000 tons of napalm and incendiary bombs on downtown Tokyo. Hurricane force winds are created as the resulting firestorm reaches 1,000° C. 41 sq. km. of Tokyo are obliterated. Approximately 130,000 people die. Similar attacks soon follow in Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe. This is the most devastating air attack of the war, including Hiroshima.
American troops land at Zamboanga on the western tip of Mindanao.
The Japanese government announces that the French colony in Indochina has ended and that they will support independence. In Hue, Bao Dai declares the independence of Vietnam.
Northern Transylvania is returned to Romania by the USSR.
German troops abandon Wesel, their last bridgehead on the west bank of the Rhine.
11 March 1945 British forces capture Möng Mit, 135 km northeast of Mandalay.
An orchestral suite of music from the ballet The Limpid Stream op.39a by Dmitri Shostakovich (38) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
12 March 1945 Indian troops capture Myotha, 45 km southwest of Mandalay.
Soviet troops take Tczew, 30 km south of Danzig (Gdansk) and Küstrin (Kostrzyn), north of Frankfurt-an-der-Oder.
The trial of 15 Italian fascists ends in Rome. Two receive death sentences, including General Mario Roatta, currently at large. Others receive lengthy prison terms. Four are acquitted.
During a bombing raid by American forces, five bombs fall on the Vienna Staatsoper completely obliterating it. Conductor Karl Böhm is among those who attempt to save articles from the burning building. See 30 June 1944 and 5 November 1955.
13 March 1945 King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia declares the independence of his country in Phnom Penh.
14 March 1945 The United States officially declares its control over Iwo Jima and the Volcano Islands.
Indian troops take Maymyo, 40 km east of Mandalay.
Soviet troops capture Zvolen, Czechoslovakia, 160 km east of Bratislava.
A reception in honor of the visiting Heitor Villa-Lobos (58) takes place in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York. Among those attending are composers Aaron Copland (44), Cole Porter, Sigmund Romberg and Morton Gould; conductors Walter Damrosch, Arthur Rodzinski, Leopold Stokowski, George Szell, Arturo Toscanini, and Eugene Ormandy; singers Marian Anderson, Bidú Sayão and Ezio Pinza; instrumentalists Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington (45), Joseph Szigeti, Claudio Arrau, Yehudi Menhuin, and José Iturbi; as well as Fiorello La Guardia, Deems Taylor, and Nelson Rockefeller.
15 March 1945 The Provisional Government of Hungary decrees expropriation and redistribution of land.
Three Dodecanese islands request union with Greece.
Juan José Arévalo Bermejo is sworn in as President of Guatemala. He takes power from a junta which overthrew the dictator Federico Ponce last October. Dr. Arévalo was freely elected in December.
Pastorale for orchestra by Virgil Thomson (48) is performed for the first time, in the New York Center for Music and Dance, conducted by the composer.
Ode for orchestra by Lukas Foss (22) is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
16 March 1945 American troops land on Basilan Island west of Mindanao.
The Red Army begins to attack the German salient in Hungary.
17 March 1945 Chinese troops capture Hsiaw, 140 km northeast of Mandalay.
The Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen collapses killing 25 American engineers.
American forces capture Koblenz and Boppard, south of the city.
18 March 1945 The Japanese government closes all schools, except first grade. All students and teachers are mobilized into national defense.
American forces land on Panay Island, Philippines to little resistance.
American troops take Bingen and Bad Kreuznach, just west of Mainz.
Two days of voting in Finnish Parliamentary elections conclude. For the first time, communists are allowed to openly contest the election and they win 49 of 200 seats, largely at the expense of the Social Democrats. Together, the left takes over half the seats.
1,250 American bombers drop 3,000 tons of explosives on Berlin.
19 March 1945 American troops capture Bauang, Luzon south of San Fernando on Lingayen Gulf.
British troops capture Mogok, 115 km northeast of Mandalay.
Chaim Hirszman, one of only two survivors of Belzec death camp, gives testimony to a war crimes investigation in Lublin. On his way home, he is attacked and murdered by Polish anti-Semites because he is a Jew.
General Friedrich Fromm, former Commander of the Reserve Army, is shot by firing squad in Brandenburg-Görden Prison for his dubious connection to the plot to kill Hitler last July.
American forces capture Saarlouis, 20 km northwest of Saarbrücken.
The house in Zwickau where Robert Schumann (†88) spent his childhood years from age seven to 17 is totally destroyed. It will not be rebuilt.
20 March 1945 American troops complete the occupation of Panay Island in the Philippines.
After fighting in the city for twelve days, Japanese forces abandon all positions in and around Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar). British and Indian troops occupy the city.
All private property in Romania over 50 hectares is expropriated without compensation as is all farm equipment and livestock.
American forces capture Saarbrücken and nearby Zweibrücken as well as Ludwigshafen, near Mannheim and Kaiserslautern, 50 km to the west.
The French cabinet expects $40,000,000,000 in reparations from Germany.
21 March 1945 British and American planes raid Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen. Since Danes are imprisoned on the top floor and the basement, the airmen are required to destroy the middle three floors, which they do. 100 Germans and collaborators are killed along with six prisoners. The other prisoners flee to Sweden.
American forces reach Worms, 50 km southwest of Frankfurt.
22 March 1945 Representatives of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Transjordan sign the constitution of the Arab League in Cairo.
American forces secure two more bridgeheads across the Rhine at Nierstein and Oppenheim, south of Mainz.
Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson become the first women elected to fellowship in the Royal Society in London.
Concerto for strings, piano, and percussion by Alfredo Casella (61) is performed for the first time, in Basel.
Kurt Weill’s (45) operetta The Firebrand of Florence, to words of Mayer and Ira Gershwin, is performed for the first time in New York, in the Alvin Theatre. The lead role is played by Lotte Lenya. Critics are unimpressed and the run will close after 43 performances. See 23 February 1945.
23 March 1945 American troops and Philippine guerrillas capture San Fernando in northern Luzon.
Soviet forces take Székesfehérvár, 60 km southeast of Budapest.
Variations on a Theme by Goosens is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati. The theme is followed by variations from Paul Creston, Aaron Copland (44), Deems Taylor, Howard Hanson (48), William Schuman (34), Walter Piston (51), Roy Harris (47), Bernard Rogers (52), Ernst Bloch (64) and Eugene Goosens.
24 March 1945 American naval forces begin a bombardment of the Japanese island of Okinawa as American ground forces land on the Kerama Islands 24 km to the west.
Soviet forces capture Veszprem, 100 km southwest of Budapest and Mor, 65 km to the west of the capital. The Germans and their Hungarian allies retreat west in disarray.
Provisional President Charles de Gaulle announces that France intends to retain control of Indochina.
Allied (United States-Great Britain-Canada) forces cross the Rhine on a 32 km front from Rheinberg to Rees near the Dutch border. They take the remains of Wesel.
25 March 1945 Soviet troops take Esztergom, 40 km northwest of Budapest.
American troops begin a break out of the Remagen bridgehead.
American forces capture Darmstadt, 25 km south of Frankfurt-am-Main. They find 60% of the remaining residents are homeless.
Twelve Russian Folk Songs op.104 for voice and piano by Sergey Prokofiev (53) are performed for the first time, in Moscow.
Figure Humaine, a cantata by Francis Poulenc (46) to words of Eluard, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC, originating in London.
26 March 1945 American troops land south of Cebu City, Philippines.
Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jesus for piano by Olivier Messiaen (36) is performed for the first time, in the Salle Gaveau, Paris.
27 March 1945 The Japanese commanders on Iwo Jima kill themselves, thus ending organized Japanese resistance on the island. In over a month of fighting for the island, 25,000 people have died. 200 Japanese are taken prisoner.
American troops land on Caballo Island in Manila Bay.
Soviet troops pierce the final defensive lines at Danzig (Gdansk) and Gdynia.
Soviet authorities arrest 16 Polish underground leaders.
The Germans fire the last V-2s from near The Hague. One kills 134 people in London, one kills 27 in Antwerp and a third kills one person in Orpington, Kent, the last civilian killed by war action in Great Britain. V-2s killed 2,855 people in Great Britain, 4,483 in Belgium.
Francis Poulenc (46) writes to Darius Milhaud (52) in the United States. “The ascension of Messiaen (36) has been the most significant musical event. You will, in fact, find a fanatical sect surrounding this musician who, for all the impossible literary jargon, is nevertheless remarkable.”
Argentina declares war on Germany and Japan.
A symphonic allegro by Peter Mennin (21) is performed for the first time, in New York conducted by Leonard Bernstein (26). See 27 November 1945.
28 March 1945 The Red Army captures Gdynia, Poland and Györ, Hungary, 110 km southwest of Vienna.
American troops capture Marburg, 75 km north of Frankfurt-am-Main and Lauterbach, 50 km to the east.
29 March 1945 American troops land on Negros, Philippines near Bacolod.
Soviet forces capture Kapuvar, 85 km southeast of Vienna, and cross the border into Austria at Köszeg.
Dozens of Allied agents captured by the Germans are executed at Flossenbürg death camp in Bavaria.
American forces capture Frankfurt-am-Main.
30 March 1945 Indian troops take Kyaukse, 40 km south of Mandalay.
Soviet forces capture Danzig (Gdansk).
At Ravensbrück, Jewish women being led to execution struggle with guards. Nine escape, are recaptured and killed.
Béla Bartók (64) completes a third volume of Rumanian Folk Music.
31 March 1945 American forces complete the capture of the Kerama Islands in the Ryukyu Islands.
British and Chinese troops capture Kyaukme, 115 km northeast of Mandalay, thus clearing the Burma Road from Mandalay to Lashio.
The provisional government of Poland claims Danzig (Gdansk) as “an inseparable part of the Polish Republic.”
French troops cross the Rhine at Speyer and Germersheim, north of Karlsruhe.
Anton Webern (61) and his wife leave their home near Vienna on foot, hoping to reach their house in Mittersill some 300 km to the west. They reach Neulengbach, on the rail line to Salzburg.
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams opens at the Playhouse Theatre in New York.
1 April 1945 50,000 American troops invade the Japanese island of Okinawa against little initial resistance. They achieve a 13 km beachhead.
Allied troops occupy Legaspi in southern Luzon.
Soviet forces capture Sopron, Hungary, 60 km south of Vienna.
Hitler moves his headquarters from the Chancellery to a bunker system deep below it.
American forces link up at Lippstadt, 40 km south of Bielefeld, trapping 325,000 German troops in the Ruhr. They also capture Hamm, northeast of Dortmund, and Paderborn, 35 km southeast of Bielefeld.
Roy Harris’ (47) motet Alleluia for chorus and brass is performed for the first time, in Grace Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs.
2 April 1945 Allied forces capture the island of Tawi Tawi in the Philippines.
Soviet and Bulgarian troops take Nagykanizsa, Hungary near the Yugoslav border, the center of the Hungarian oil fields and Kremnica, Czechoslovakia, 145 km northeast of Bratislava.
British forces capture Münster.
After travelling on foot from their home near Vienna, Anton Webern (61) and his wife reach Mittersill near Salzburg, soon to be joined by their three daughters.
3 April 1945 Americans land on Masbate Island, south of Luzon, to assist local guerillas.
Soviet troops take Wiener Neustadt, 45 km south of Vienna.
President Edvard Benes and the Czechoslovak government arrive in Kosice from the USSR.
4 April 1945 The Japanese on Okinawa begin to oppose the American invasion.
The Red Army captures Bratislava.
The fascist leader of Hungary Ferenc Szálasi flees the country, taking the crown with him.
British and Canadian forces capture Osnabruck, 45 km northeast of Münster.
American troops take Kassel and Gotha, west of Erfurt. They enter the death camp at Ohrdruf and find thousands of bodies stacked like cordwood, each with a bullet through the back of the head. With this, the first close up view of Nazi atrocities is revealed to the West.
French troops capture Karlsruhe.
5 April 1945 Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso of Japan resigns.
The USSR denounces its neutrality treaty with Japan.
The first bombs fall on Bayreuth, some hitting Wahnfried, the home of Richard Wagner (†62). Much of the main house is destroyed.
Soviet troops take Mödling, near Vienna and the home of Anton Webern (61). Webern is now in Mittersill near Salzburg.
The new Czechoslovak government announces the demand that all ethnic Germans and Magyars be expelled from the country. This will be enshrined in the final Potsdam declaration.
Incidental music to Shkvarkin’s play The Last Day by Aram Khachaturian (41) is performed for the first time, in Vakhtangov Dramatic Theatre, Moscow.
6 April 1945 Japanese naval forces begin a suicide sortie against the Americans off Okinawa, sinking three destroyers, two ammunition ships and an LST.
The Red Army lays siege to Vienna.
Yugoslav partisans capture Sarajevo.
The City of Memphis, Tennessee bans the movie Brewster’s Millions because it “presents too much social equality and racial mixture.”
Concerto for french horn and orchestra by Gunther Schuller (19) is performed for the first time, in Cincinnati, the composer as soloist.
7 April 1945 American planes attack and destroy the Japanese Navy suicide force, sinking one superbattleship, one cruiser and four destroyers. Only four destroyers remain (two of them damaged). The Okinawa mission is cancelled. This is the last attack by the Japanese Navy.
Admiral Kantaro Suzuki replaces Kuniaki Koiso as Prime Minister of Japan.
President Edvard Benes of Czechoslovakia, in Kosice, sets up a provisional government under Prime Minister Zdenek Fierlinger.
American troops capture Göttingen, northeast of Kassel.
US soldiers find a cache of gold and art treasures in a salt mine at Merkers. It constitutes almost the entire German gold reserve, plus millions in various currencies.
Psalm 150 op.5 for chorus and orchestra by Alberto Ginastera (28) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires.
8 April 1945 After a week of easy advance on Okinawa, American forces are brought to a halt by Japanese defenders on Kakazu Ridge. They cut the neck of the Motobu Peninsula.
Elements of the Red Army enter Vienna to German resistance.
A royal proclamation in Luang Phra Bang (Laos) announces an end to French rule.
French troops take Pforzheim, southeast of Karlsruhe.
Petros Voulgaris replaces Nikolaos Plastiras as Prime Minister of Greece.
Toccata for piano by Stefan Wolpe (42) is performed for the first time, at the Settlement Music School, Philadelphia by the composer’s wife, Irma Schoenberg Wolpe.
9 April 1945 American troops land on Jolo Island in the Sulu Archipelago, Philippines.
After four days of heavy fighting, Soviet forces capture Königsberg (Kaliningrad).
The Allies renew their attack on the Gothic Line across the River Senio in northern Italy. Taking part are soldiers from Great Britain, the United States, Poland, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, as well as Jewish volunteers.
Soviet troops reach the center of Vienna.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and five others are executed by the Nazis at Flossenbürg death camp in Bavaria.
10 April 1945 American forces take Mauban, north of Lucena, Luzon.
American troops capture Hannover.
American pilots shoot down 14 German jets over Oranienburg.
Allied troops capture Massa, 25 km southeast of La Spezia.
Former Chancellor Franz von Papen is captured by American soldiers in the Ruhr.
Albert Einstein retires from the faculty of Princeton University. He is given the title Professor Emeritus.
William Schuman’s (34) ballet Undertow, to a story by Tudor, is performed for the first time, in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York.
11 April 1945 American forces land on Bohol Island, Philippines east of Cebu.
The USSR signs a treaty of mutual aid with Yugoslavia in Moscow.
American troops take Weimar. They reach the Elbe at Wittenberge, 120 km northwest of Berlin.
Americans capture Carrara, 20 km southeast of La Spezia.
American troops capture Essen.
Spain breaks diplomatic relations with Japan when Japanese atrocities against Spanish citizens in the Philippines are revealed.
Chile declares war on Japan.
As the Gestapo call Buchenwald to tell them that explosives are on the way to blow up the camp and the prisoners, the phone is answered by inmates since the guards and administration have fled. The inmates assure the Gestapo that the explosives will not be necessary. A few hours later, American troops enter the camp. (One of the prisoners, Elie Wiesel, later wrote, “You were our liberators but we, the diseased, emaciated, barely human survivors were your teachers. We taught you to understand the Kingdom of Night.”) 57,000 people were killed in Buchenwald.
12 April 1945 Japanese defenders begin a counterattack on Okinawa. 185 kamikaze and eight Oka bombs (human steered, rocket-powered bombs) attack American ships around the island. Two ships are sunk, twelve damaged. The concurrent ground attack fails.
Indian troops take Kyaukpadaung, Burma, 455 km north of Rangoon.
German and Croatian defenses along the River Sava collapse.
American forces cross the River Elbe near Magdeburg, 100 km from Berlin. They also capture Braunschweig and Erfurt.
French troops take Baden-Baden.
At his home in Garmisch, Richard Strauss (80) completes the score to his Metamorphosen.
US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in his home at Warm Springs, Georgia, and is succeeded by Harry S. Truman.
13 April 1945 Unknown to the Japanese people, Prime Minister Suzuki broadcasts his condolences on the death of President Roosevelt to the United States.
Americans on Okinawa reach Hedo Point.
At Manila Bay, American troops land at Fort Drum and pour 5,000 gallons of fuel into the fortifications and set it alight, thus eliminating the Japanese garrison.
After five days of fighting, Soviet forces complete the capture of Vienna.
Near the town of Gardelegen, German soldiers put 5,000-6,000 prisoners on a death march from Auschwitz into a barn and set it afire. Some of them escape.
American troops take Jena and Bamberg.
Grand Duchess Charlotte returns to Luxembourg almost five years after departing.
US President Harry Truman learns of the existence of the Manhattan Project from Secretary of War Henry Stimson.
14 April 1945 Americans take Calauag, Luzon, 70 km east of Lucena.
Allied troops capture Vergato, 30 km south of Bologna.
United States troops enter Bayreuth which, fortunately, is not defended by the Germans.
The Berlin Philharmonic and the Singakademie perform Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms (†48) in the ruins of Berlin Philharmonic Hall.
15 April 1945 Indian troops capture Taungdwingyi, 360 km north of Rangoon.
The Bulgarian government orders the collectivization of agriculture.
American forces capture Leuna, south of Halle.
Prime Minister Tito of Yugoslavia claims Istria and Trieste and demands reparations from Italy.
British troops enter Belsen death camp. By coincidence, the three soldiers manning the first tank into the camp are Jews. As the British are forced to move on, they leave the camp in control of the 1,500 Hungarian guards. Over the next 48 hours, the Hungarians kill 83 prisoners.
Canadians take Arnhem.
16 April 1945 Fighting in northern Okinawa virtually ends as American forces capture Mt. Yaetake. They also land on Ie Shima, west of Okinawa, to fierce resistance.
Americans land on Fort Frank and find it abandoned, thus ending the conquest of the islands in Manila Bay.
British forces take Taungup, 300 km northwest of Rangoon.
05:00 The Red Army begins its final offensive on Berlin by firing 500,000 shells, rockets, and mortar bombs. They drive west from a 320 km front along the River Oder.
American pilots shoot down the last useable German jets.
American troops liberate Fallingbostel and Colditz POW camps.
17 April 1945 Americans land on Mindanao at Cotabatu.
Soviet troops take Zisterdorf, northeast of Vienna and Seelow, 65 km east of Berlin.
American bombers strike Dresden for the sixth time. Elsewhere, American planes destroy 752 German airplanes on the ground, virtually the last of the Luftwaffe.
Allied forces take Argenta, 45 km west of Bologna.
Germans in the Ruhr begin to surrender in large numbers.
Incidental music to the stage spectacle Russian River by Dmitri Shostakovich (37) to words of Dobrovolsky is performed for the first time, in Moscow Dzerzhinsky Central Club.
18 April 1945 War Correspondent Ernie Pyle is killed by enemy fire on Okinawa.
325,000 German troops surrounded in the Ruhr surrender. Their commander, Field Marshall Walther Model, kills himself.
American troops capture Magdeburg and cross the border into Czechoslovakia. As US soldiers reach Magdeburg, German units in the city, including Private Hans Werner Henze (18) are hurriedly evacuated towards Berlin.
Lejaren Hiller (21) marries Elizabeth Halsey in Elkton, Maryland.
19 April 1945 After the greatest single concentration of artillery in the Pacific War assaults their positions, Japanese forces on Kakazu Ridge repel American attacks, inflicting heavy casualties.
Allied forces occupy Vigan in northern Luzon.
Indian troops take Pyinmana, 320 km north of Rangoon while the British take Chauk, 475 km northwest of the capital.
Soviet forces break through the German lines at Forst on the Neisse, 120 km southeast of Berlin.
American forces capture Leipzig and Halle.
The Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel opens in New York.
20 April 1945 American forces complete the conquest of the Motobu Peninsula and most of the northern part of Okinawa.
11:00 On Adolf Hitler’s 56th birthday, Soviet artillery begins pounding Berlin.
Soviet troops take Prötzel, 40 km east of Berlin.
American forces occupy Nuremberg, taking 17,000 prisoners.
Allied bombers make the last massive raid on Berlin.
French forces clear Bordeaux of German resistance.
With British troops only a few kilometers away, 20 Russian POWs and 20 Jewish children are hanged by the Germans at Bullenhuser Damm, near Neuengamme, Netherlands.
French troops capture Royan, 95 km northwest of Bordeaux.
Sonatina for piano by Karel Husa (23) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
Two works by Vincent Persichetti (29) are performed for the first time, in Philadelphia: Pastoral op.21 for woodwind quintet, and Fables op.23 for speaker and orchestra.
21 April 1945 Indian forces take Yedashe, 250 km north of Rangoon while the British take Yenangyaung, 425 km northwest of the capital.
Allied troops complete the capture of Ie Shima off Okinawa.
Elements of the Red Army reach the suburbs of Berlin. They overrun the headquarters of the German High Command at Zossen, 35 km south of Berlin.
170 Italian partisans die in a sweep through the Gorizia region by the Germans.
Polish forces capture Bologna.
Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine for female chorus, piano, ondes martenot, five percussionists, and strings by Olivier Messiaen (36) to his own words is performed for the first time, in Salle de l'Ancien Conservatoire, Paris. The work is an immediate success with the public but causes a storm of protest in the press. Also premiered is Un Soir de Neige, a chamber cantata by Francis Poulenc (46) to words of Eluard, and Darius Milhaud's (52) Quatrains valaisans for chorus to words of Rilke.
22 April 1945 Japanese resistance on Jolo Island in the Philippines ends.
Indian forces occupy Toungoo, 235 km north of Rangoon.
Fearful that they are about to be killed, 600 of the 1,000 remaining prisoners (Serbs and Jews) in Jasenovac concentration camp, 95 km southwest of Zagreb, rise in revolt. About five hundred are killed but 80 manage to escape.
Soviet troops reach Treuenbrietzen, 60 km southwest of Berlin, and a POW camp. They also capture Jüterbog, 60 km south of the capital.
Swiss Red Cross representatives bring food to the Mauthausen death camp and are allowed to take out 817 prisoners.
French troops capture Stuttgart and drive to the Swiss border.
Allied troops capture Modena.
String Quartet no.12 by Darius Milhaud (52) is performed for the first time, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
23 April 1945 Soviet troops capture Frankfurt-an-der-Oder and Cottbus, 65 km to the south.
Allied forces cross the Po south of Mantua.
Blackout restrictions are lifted in Britain.
24 April 1945 The Japanese pull back to their second defense line on Okinawa.
Lead elements of the Red Army enter Berlin.
American troops capture Dessau and Ulm.
Americans take La Spezia while other Allied forces capture Ferrara.
Benjamin Britten’s (31) Festival Te Deum op.32 for chorus and organ is performed for the first time, in St. Mark’s, Swindon.
25 April 1945 Indian troops take Salin, 440 km northwest of Rangoon.
Shortly after noon. A few Soviet and American soldiers meet near the village of Leckwith and then near Stehla.
Shortly after 16:00 Large numbers of Soviet (58th Russian Guards Division) and American (69th Division) troops meet at Torgau on the River Elbe, cutting the German Army in two.
Soviet forces complete their encirclement of Berlin.
While Allied forces capture Mantua, Parma, and Verona, a general uprising of Italian partisans takes place behind the German lines, especially in Milan and Genoa. The Gestapo shoot six Jews in Cuneo.
Hermann Göring, inspired by several SS gun barrels pointed in his direction, resigns all his positions.
Allied bombers destroy Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s Alpine retreat.
The French begin to uncover mass graves of Jews in Württemberg.
Secretary of War Henry Stimson and General Leslie Groves give President Truman the details of the Manhattan Project.
The United Nations Conference on International Organization opens in San Francisco.
Tema y variaciones op.100 for harp and piano by Joaquín Turina (62) is performed for the first time, in the Circulo Medina de Madrid.
26 April 1945 American troops land on the southwest of Negros Island, Philippines.
Dawn. While attempting to reach Switzerland, Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are discovered and taken prisoner by Italian partisans near Dongo.
As Soviet troops fight their way into Tempelhof, their comrades capture Stettin (Szczecin) and Brno.
American troops capture Regensburg and enter Austria.
British forces capture Bremen.
French troops reach Lake Constance.
Henri Pétain is arrested as he travels from Switzerland into France.
27 April 1945 American forces secure Maeda Ridge on Okinawa.
American troops take Baguio in northern Luzon.
Soviet troops occupy Prenzlau and Angermünde, west of Stettin (Szczecin).
1,000 Jews who were forced to march from Buchenwald for nearly two weeks are killed by their guards with machine guns and grenades at Marienbad railroad station.
Allied forces occupy Genoa. Most of the city is already in the hands of partisans.
Karl Renner is appointed by the occupying powers to constitute a government for Austria.
While staying at the house of his in-laws on Lake Starnberg, Karl Amadeus Hartmann (39) witnesses 20,000 prisoners from Dachau being marched past shortly before the arrival of the American army. This will inspire his second piano sonata which he will inscribe with the words “Unending was the line--unending was the misery--unending was the suffering.”
Montparnasse and Hyde Park, both for voice and piano by Francis Poulenc (46) to words of Apollinaire, are performed for the first time, in the Salle Gaveau, Paris the composer at the keyboard.
28 April 1945 Allied troops take Brescia and Bergamo. Benito Mussolini, Clara Petacci and 15 leading fascists are shot and killed by Italian partisans. Among them are Alessandro Pavolini, secretary of the Fascist Party and four cabinet ministers.
As the Red Army moves to within a few kilometers of the Chancellery, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun are married in his Berlin bunker.
American troops take Augsburg.
Symphony for voices and orchestra by Norman Dello Joio (32) to words of Stephen Vincent Benét is performed for the first time, in New York.
29 April 1945 British forces reach Pegu, Burma (Myanmar) just as early monsoons begin. They also take Allanmyo, 300 km northwest of Rangoon. Indians take Nyaunglebim, 135 km northeast of the capital.
Soviet troops reach Potsdam Station, while others capture Anklam, 75 km northwest of Stettin (Szczecin).
An instrument effecting the surrender of almost 1,000,000 Germans in Italy is signed in Caserta, ending the war on the peninsula.
Allied troops enter Milan and Venice.
An all-party provisional government for Austria is set up under Karl Renner.
Italian partisans turn over Ezra Pound to the United States Army.
The RAF drops 6,000 tons of supplies into German-occupied Netherlands.
Shortly after 15:00 American soldiers enter Dachau death camp, northwest of Munich. They find 33,000 prisoners and a garrison of 560 SS. The Americans are so horrified by what they find that they kill many of the guards. Others are done in by the inmates.
A Quartet Movement in F by Antonín Dvorák (†40) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Prague Radio, 64 years after it was composed.
Seven of Les chants de Nectaire for flute op.198 by Charles Koechlin (77) are performed for the first time, in the Grand Amphithéâtre de la Sorbonne.
Zwei Lieder aus Gedichten von Berthold Viertel by Stefan Wolpe (42) are performed for the first time, in New York.
30 April 1945 14:30 Sgt. Kantariya of the Red Army places the Red Banner on the Second floor of the Reichstag. By 22:50 it will fly from the roof.
American troops reach Garmisch and intend to billet themselves in a large villa. Answering their knock, an 80-year-old man opens the door and announces, “I am Richard Strauss, the composer of Der Rosenkavalier and Salome.” The officer in charge recognizes Strauss who invites them in and offers them wine and food. The soldiers do not to disturb the composer’s privacy and proceed to take over another house.
American forces capture Munich and Turin.
Yugoslav forces enter Trieste battling German defenders.
15:30 After Mr. and Mrs. Adolf Hitler enter Hitler’s room in the Berlin bunker and close the door, Eva Braun takes poison. Shortly thereafter, Adolf Hitler shoots himself in the head.
1 May 1945 Australian and Dutch forces land at Tarakan, Borneo to little opposition.
British paratroopers drop on Elephant Point, near Rangoon (Yangon).
Germans on Rhodes surrender.
Listeners to German radio are told to stand by for an important announcement. This is followed by excerpts from Götterdämmerung and the slow movement of Anton Bruckner's (†48) Seventh Symphony (composed for the death of Wagner (†62)). Finally, Admiral Dönitz, speaking from Hamburg, announces the death of Hitler. He also appeals that the fight against Bolshevism be continued. Hans Werner Henze (18) is one of a small group of soldiers in a village near Esbjerg, Denmark who listens to the broadcast. They light a candle and celebrate surviving the war. In Garmisch, Richard Strauss (81) writes in his diary, “...from 1 May onwards the most terrible period of human history came to an end, the twelve-year reign of bestiality, ignorance, and anti-culture under the greatest criminals, during which Germany’s 2,000 years of cultural evolution met its doom and irreplaceable monuments of architecture and works of art were destroyed by a criminal rabble of soldiers. Accursed be technology!”
After their six children receive lethal injections in the bunker, German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels and his wife are shot by an SS orderly.
Admiral Karl Dönitz becomes temporary head of state of Germany.
As Yugoslav partisans enter Trieste, British troops from the north and Yugoslavs from the south link at Monfalcone, 15 km northwest of the city.
Italian partisans parade through Milan and lay down their arms before the Allied Military Government.
Admiral Horthy is captured by US troops at Welheim, Bavaria.
Uprisings against the Germans take place in Bohemia and Moravia followed by German reprisals.
2 May 1945 British and Indian troops enter Rangoon (Yangon) without resistance, also capturing Prome and Pegu (Bago).
Soviet commander Marshal Zhukov accepts the surrender of Berlin. Soviet troops capture Rostock on the Baltic.
British forces reach Lübeck and Wismar on the Baltic Sea, cutting off Germans in Denmark and Norway.
Canadian troops take Oldenburg, west of Bremen.
Pierre Laval and other former members of the Vichy government arrive in Barcelona aboard a German plane. Spanish authorities intern them pending a decision on their status.
The Portuguese government orders all flags flown at half-staff to mourn the death of Adolf Hitler.
The German army in Italy abides by the Caserta agreement and ceases hostilities at noon.
Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk becomes head of an interim German government at Flensburg.
3 May 1945 Japanese forces on Okinawa begin another counteroffensive. Kamikaze flights sink two ships and damage four others.
Allied forces capture Davao on Mindanao.
Aceh rebels wipe out a Japanese outpost at Pandrah.
American forces reach Innsbruck.
New Zealand troops occupy Trieste.
British forces enter Hamburg unopposed, and Kiel, home of the German fleet.
Queen Wilhelmina and Crown Princess Juliana arrive in liberated areas of the Netherlands to take up temporary residence.
Dark Brother for baritone, viola, chromelodeon, kithara, and Indian drum by Harry Partch (43) to words of Wolfe, is performed for the first time, in Madison, Wisconsin. Also premiered is Partch’s I’m very happy to be able to tell you about this... for soprano, baritone, kithara, and Indian drum.
4 May 1945 Only one of the several Japanese attacks on Okinawa succeeds, piercing the American lines above Tanabaru.
American troops sent south through the Brenner Pass meet Americans from the Italian front a few miles south of the pass.
Admiral Friedeburg, an emissary of Admiral Dönitz, signs the surrender of all German forces in northwest Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, in Lüneburg.
The government of Croatia flees Zagreb.
American troops capture Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Berchtesgaden. Former Governor-General of Poland Hans Frank is captured at Berchtesgaden after a bungled suicide attempt.
American soldiers enter Flossenbürg concentration camp. Among those liberated are Léon Blum, former Prime Minister of France, Kurt von Schuschnigg, former Chancellor of Austria, and Pastor Martin Niemöller, former head of the Confessional Church in Germany.
Edvard Benes replaces Emil Hacha as President of Czechoslovakia.
5 May 1945 The successful Japanese units of 4 May on Okinawa are forced to withdraw, suffering heavy losses.
08:00 The German surrender signed yesterday goes into effect.
14:30 In Baldham, the Germans surrender all forces between the Bohemian mountains and the Upper Inn River.
Czech resistance fighters in Prague rise against the Germans and invite American forces under General Patton to enter their city. Street battles ensue which, over the next four days, will cost 2,000 lives.
Soviet troops capture Peenemünde and Swinemünde (Swinoujscie), northwest of Stettin (Szczecin).
American forces capture Linz.
American troops enter Mauthausen death camp near Linz. They find 110,000 survivors and 10,000 bodies.
As British troops arrive in Copenhagen, King Christian X of Denmark formally accepts the resignation of Prime Minister Erik Scavenius and his government. The government resigned on 29 August 1943 but the King held this in abeyance. King Christian names Wilhelm Buhl to replace Scavenius.
Ross Lee Finney (38), a member of the OSS, arrives in Paris by plane from Marseille.
6 May 1945 Allied troops from Rangoon and the north meet at Hlegu, north of the city, effectively ending the Burma campaign.
Germans in Breslau (Wroclaw) surrender to the Soviets.
American troops take Plzen, Czechoslovakia, but are ordered to halt.
Portugal breaks diplomatic relations with Germany.
Women in Panama vote for the first time, in the election of a constitutional convention.
7 May 1945 02:41 General Alfred Jodl signs the total unconditional surrender of all German forces, at General Eisenhower’s headquarters in Rheims. The surrender will take effect at midnight.
Theresienstadt (Terezín), north of Prague, is liberated by the Red Army.
A German submarine sinks two Allied merchant ships off Scotland, killing nine merchant seamen. These are the last people to die at sea in the European war. 27,491 German submariners were killed and 754 submarines destroyed. 2,800 Allied merchant ships and 148 warships were sunk. During the first week in May, 231 German submarines scuttled themselves rather than surrender.
Sweden and Spain break diplomatic relations with Germany and seize all German property.
Haj Amin el-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and leader of the Palestinian Arabs is transported by a German plane from Germany to Bern, Switzerland.
Aaron Copland (44) wins the Pulitzer Prize in Music for Appalachian Spring. See 30 October 1944.
Les songes op.237 for two pianos by Darius Milhaud (52) is performed for the first time, at the University of Wyoming, Laramie.
8 May 1945 Soviet forces enter Prague.
President Josef Tiso and the Slovakian government surrender to the Allies in Austria.
Germans surrender at Karlshurst, near Berlin along with those in Latvia and the Dresden-Görlitz area. Continued resistance in Olomouc and Sternbeck, Czechoslovakia is defeated by the Soviets.
Yugoslav partisans take Zagreb.
Germans holding St. Nazaire on the Bay of Biscay, surrender to the Americans.
Sergeant Joseph Wechsberg, US Army, desiring to see the famous building, walks through the stage door of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Finding himself on stage in the set for Die Meistersinger he sits and sings part of the music-drama. A carpenter, alerted by the sound, is his only audience.
The “brownout” of non-essential lighting is ended in the United States.
9 May 1945 The surrender signed by General Jodl is ratified by the German High Command at a ceremony in Berlin. German troops continue to surrender on the Channel Islands, the Aegean islands of Milos, Leros, Kos, Piskopi, and Simi, Danzig and East Prussia, in west and central Czechoslovakia, Silesia, and Dunkirk.
King Christian X of Denmark opens Parliament in Copenhagen.
Hermann Göring is captured by United States troops in Bavaria.
Vidkun Quisling and other Norwegian fascists are arrested by Norwegian resistance.
The US government ends the midnight curfew and the ban on horse racing.
10 May 1945 Americans land at Macalajar Bay on the north shore of Mindanao.
The Czechoslovak government move from Kosice to Prague.
Konrad Henlein, Sudetenland leader and Governor of Bohemia and Moravia since 1939, kills himself in an Allied internment camp.
Prime Minister Churchill announces the lifting of many wartime restrictions in Britain.
11 May 1945 Allied forces recapture Wewak, Northeast New Guinea.
Josef Terboven, Reich Commissioner for Norway, kills himself with a stick of dynamite, in Oslo.
Jewish sacred works are performed for the first time, in Park Avenue Synagogue, New York: Kaddish op.250 for cantor, chorus, and organ by Darius Milhaud (52), Hashkiveinu for cantor, chorus, and organ by Leonard Bernstein (26), and excerpts from the cantata Yigdal by Stefan Wolpe (42) to words of Maimonedes.
12 May 1945 The United Nations War Crimes Commission indicts Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels, and Fritz Sauckel on eight counts.
King Leopold of Belgium says in Austria that he must delay his return because of health. He asks that his brother Charles rule in his absence.
Arabs kill 50 Europeans in Algiers during V-E day celebrations.
Radio Munich begins broadcasting on a frequency owned by the military government.
13 May 1945 Crown Prince Olav returns to Oslo to a tumultuous reception.
Berliner Rundfunk begins broadcasting in the Soviet zone of the city.
A Song of Thanksgiving for soprano, speaker, chorus, and orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (72), recorded 5 November 1944, is broadcast over the airwaves of the BBC.
Riots take place outside a Catholic church in Santiago, Chile holding a mass in memory of Benito Mussolini. Four people are arrested, several injured.
14 May 1945 The provisional government of Austria declares the independence of the country, abolishes all Nazi-era laws and outlaws the Nazi party.
15 May 1945 Americans continue to make slow progress on Okinawa in heavy fighting.
The last German force under arms surrenders at Slovenski Gradek to the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans.
Soviet authorities announce the discovery of the bodies of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and his family in a bunker underneath the Tiergarten in Berlin.
16 May 1945 President Edvard Benes arrives in Prague.
US troops seize a 50-car train near Salzburg loaded with gold, diamonds, currency, and other loot. It was sent by Hungary to Germany to avoid falling to the Soviets.
17 May 1945 French troops land in Beirut to reassert colonial control.
19 May 1945 American forces take most of Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa.
Australian troops complete the conquest of Tarakan Island, Borneo.
20 May 1945 US forces capture Malaybalay on Mindanao.
21 May 1945 Japanese troops on Okinawa begin a slow retreat.
Heinrich Himmler is arrested by British troops near Bremervörde.
The last of the wooden barracks at Belsen is destroyed by flame throwers.
Stephen Tiso, the former Prime Minister of “independent” Slovakia, and three other cabinet ministers are arrested by US troops.
Syria and Lebanon, their independence already recognized by the US, UK, and USSR, break off negotiations with France. They protest the arrival of more French troops without their consent. They request the removal of all foreign troops.
Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart marry in Mansfield, Ohio.
22 May 1945 American troops capture Yonabaru on Okinawa, seven km east of Naha.
23 May 1945 The Soviet Union orders the arrest of all members of Admiral Dönitz’ government. The formal occupation of Germany begins.
While undergoing a medical examination in Lüneberg, Heinrich Himmler ingests cyanide which he has concealed in his mouth. He dies instantly.
Julius Streicher is captured by US soldiers near Berchtesgaden.
Grand Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg, who signed three surrender documents, kills himself in Mürwik.
At the request of King George VI, Prime Minister Winston Churchill resigns and forms a conservative dominated caretaker government pending elections 5 July.
Strikes and rioting continue in Syria and Lebanon where both governments pledge to resist the presence of French troops.
24 May 1945 550 US bombers attack Tokyo with 4,500 tons of incendiaries.
An announcement appears that the Austrian section of the ISCM has been reorganized for the first time since the Anschluss. Anton Webern (61), who is in Mittersill and unable to cross from American to Soviet occupation zones, is elected president of the board of directors.
Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Grein, the last commander of the Luftwaffe, kills himself in a Salzburg prison.
25 May 1945 American B-29 long-range bombers drop over 3,000 tons of incendiaries on Tokyo causing a firestorm and devastating 43.5 sq km of the city. Flames reach the Imperial Palace for the first time. Over 1,000 people are killed.
26 May 1945 500 US bombers attack Tokyo with 4,000 tons of incendiaries.
Chinese troops recapture Yungning (Yongning) south of Liuchow (Liuzhou).
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra gives its first concert since the end of the European war in the Titania Palace Theatre in the Steglitz district.
27 May 1945 Dos piezas caballerescas for orchestra by Joaquín Rodrigo (43) is performed for the first time, in the Ataneo de Madrid.
28 May 1945 The Japanese launch their last major air attack of the war against American ships off Okinawa. 100 planes are lost. No ships are sunk.
Sergey Prokofiev (54) is released from Podlipki sanatorium in Barvikha after a three-month convalescence.
William Joyce, “Lord Haw-Haw”, is arrested by the British at Flensburg, Germany.
The governments of Britain and the United States end shipping convoys in noncombatant areas.
29 May 1945 American B-29 bombers obliterate 85% of the metropolitan area of Yokohama.
Fighting erupts between French and Syrian troops in Damascus. French artillery reportedly shells the city.
30 May 1945 French troops take over the parliament building in Damascus amidst continuing unrest. The Lebanese government asks for volunteers to fight the French.
Iran asks that the governments of the US, UK, and USSR remove their troops from the country because the European war is over.
Zoltán Kodály (62) is elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
La muse ménagère op.245 for piano by Darius Milhaud (52) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio-Bruxelles.
String Quartet no.7 by Heitor Villa-Lobos (58) is performed for the first time, in the Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro.
31 May 1945 On orders from London, British troops intervene to stop the bloodshed in Syria. A cease-fire is in effect as French troops are ordered to their barracks. Fighting between French and Syrians in Damascus ends after 2,000 people have been killed.
The United Nations War Crimes Commission meets for the first time, in London. 16 nations are represented. 4,000 people have been charged with war crimes. In Greece, former Prime Minister Georgios Tsolakoglou is sentenced to death. He will die in prison in 1948. Other ministers of the puppet government receive lengthy prison sentences.
The Norwegian government arrives in Oslo from five years of exile in London.
Excerpts from Peter Grimes, an opera by Benjamin Britten (31) to words of Slater, after Crabbe are performed for the first time, in a concert setting in Wigmore Hall, London the composer accompanying on piano. See 7 June 1945.
1 June 1945 450 US bombers attack Osaka with 3,000 tons of incendiaries.
William Schuman (34) enters full-time duties as Director of Publication at G. Schirmer publishers.
2 June 1945 France bans the sale of meat in public eateries except at lunch on Sundays and holidays.
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, Klaus Fuchs, a British scientist working on the Manhattan Project, gives to Soviet agent Harry Gold drawings detailing the plutonium bomb which will soon be tested at Los Alamos.
3 June 1945 American troops occupy Iheya Shima north of Okinawa.
French troops are removed from Damascus to billets outside the city. They are replaced by British peacekeeping forces.
Five Prayers for women’s voices over the Pater noster as cantus firmus by Ernst Krenek (44) to words of Donne, is performed for the first time, at Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota.
4 June 1945 American troops land on Oroku Peninsula, Okinawa and attack Naha airfield.
In an election broadcast, British Prime Minister Churchill asserts that a Labour government would require “some kind of Gestapo” to enforce its manifesto.
Two explosions rock the US military police headquarters in Bremen. 15 people are killed.
5 June 1945 500 US bombers attack Kobe with 3,000 tons of incendiaries.
A typhoon off Okinawa damages many American warships.
An Allied Control Commission takes power in Germany which is divided into four occupation zones.
United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for a European Recovery Program.
Incantations op.201 for male chorus by Darius Milhaud (52) to Aztec poems is performed for the first time, in Oakland.
6 June 1945 Four men are arrested by FBI agents on charges of espionage. Philip Jaffe and Kate Mitchell, co-editors of a leftist newspaper, Lt. Andrew Roth of Naval Intelligence, Mark Gayn, Asia expert, and John Stewart Service and Emanuel Larsen, State Department officials. Roth, Larsen and Service are arrested in Washington, the others in New York. None will ever be brought to trial.
Brazil declares war on Japan.
7 June 1945 The Arab League demands a French withdrawal from Syria and Lebanon. The Syrian government begins to sack French officials and dismantle French courts.
Rita Louisa Zucca, aka “Axis Sally”, is found and detained by US troops in Turin. She is a native of the United States but has since become an Italian citizen.
King Haakon VII of Norway returns to Oslo where he is greeted by cheering crowds.
Peter Grimes, an opera by Benjamin Britten (31) to words of Slater after Crabbe, is performed for the first time, at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. Present are Ralph Vaughan Williams (72), William Walton (43) and Michael Tippett (40). It quickly becomes one of the most performed operas written in the 20th century.
9 June 1945 In a temporary agreement signed in Belgrade, Yugoslavia will evacuate Trieste and turn it over to an allied military government pending resolution of competing claims to the area.
Prisoner No.217, a film with music by Aram Khachaturian (42), is released.
10 June 1945 American forces begin an assault on the last Japanese defenses on Okinawa, at Yaeju-dake.
Australian troops land at Brunei, Labuan Island, and Muara Islands.
Chinese troops capture Ishan (Yishan), 180 km north of Nanning.
Burmese guerrillas take Loi-lem, 180 km east of Meiktila.
11 June 1945 700,000 Sudeten Germans are forced across the border by the new Czechoslovak government.
National elections in Canada produce a hung Parliament, with the Liberals losing 59 seats and their majority, but still constituting the largest party.
Las horas de una estancia, for voice and piano by Alberto Ginastera (29) to words of Ocampo, is performed for the first time, in Montevideo.
12 June 1945 Allied troops take over Trieste from Yugoslav forces who withdraw. The Italian citizens express their pleasure.
13 June 1945 Japanese resistance on the Oroku Peninsula ends. Only 170 prisoners are taken. The naval commander, Admiral Minoru Ota, kills himself.
Australian troops capture Brunei town (Bandar Seri Begawan).
Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes for orchestra by Benjamin Britten (31) is performed for the first time, in Cheltenham Town Hall, conducted by the composer.
Espoir, a film with music by Darius Milhaud (52), is released in France.
Suite française for band by Darius Milhaud (52) is performed for the first time, in New York.
14 June 1945 After a vicious, tenacious battle for Naha airfield, wherein American soldiers use flamethrowers against Japanese in caves, Americans enter the airfield headquarters cave to find 200 wounded and the general staff, including the commander Admiral Minoru Ota, all dead by their own hands.
The Norwegian Parliament meets for the first time in Oslo since 1940.
Former Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop is arrested by British soldiers in a Hamburg boarding house.
The US government returns 260 coal mines to their owners. They were taken during wage disputes.
15 June 1945 The southern part of Prussian Rheinland and the western part of Hessen are joined to create the province of Rheinland-Hessen-Nassau.
The longest British Parliament since 1679 is dissolved before upcoming elections.
US President Truman orders the seizure of the Chicago trucking industry. 80,000 teamsters are presently taking a strike vote.
16 June 1945 Australian forces complete their conquest of Labuan Island.
Prime Minister Achille van Acker of Belgium and his cabinet resign over the possible return of King Leopold III. The action is not accepted by the regent, Prince Charles, Count of Flanders.
US troops capture former Hungrian Prime Minister Béla Imredy.
17 June 1945 Lou Harrison (28) and John Cage (32) attend a concert in Town Hall, New York of compositions by Alan Hovhaness (34). They are both surprised at the music, how beautiful it is with so few materials, drones and a melody. After the performance, Harrison meets Hovhaness and writes a review for the New York Herald Tribune. Hovhaness will recall, “Lou gave me the first good review I ever had.”
Two works for orchestra are performed for the first time, over the airwaves of NBC radio originating in San Francisco: Mirage by Roy Harris (47) and Horizon by Samuel Barber (35).
18 June 1945 Organized Japanese resistance on Mindanao ends.
Australian troops capture Tutong, Brunei.
William Joyce, “Lord Haw-Haw”, is put on trial for treason, in London.
19 June 1945 American troops take Ilagan in northern Luzon.
British soldiers find Alfred Krupp in Essen and spirit him away to a secret place.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower is given a tumultuous welcome to New York City.
20 June 1945 Allied forces complete their recapture of Cebu and Negros in the Philippines.
Allied forces land at Lutong, Sarawak and go on to capture Miri.
The northern part of the Prussian Rheinland become the Province of Nordrhein.
Seven Italian generals are indicted in Rome for treason, including Rudolfo Graziani, former chief of staff and Gastone Gambara who led the expeditionary force to aid the fascist rebels in the Spanish Civil War.
Sergeant Marc Blitzstein (40) is discharged from the United States Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
21 June 1945 The Czechoslovak government orders that all property of collaborators is to be confiscated.
Feruccio Parri replaces Ivanoe Bonomi as Prime Minister of Italy.
22 June 1945 The Japanese commander on Okinawa, General Ushijima, with eight of his staff, commit suicide. American forces declare the island secure, although “mopping up” continues for a week. Approximately 160,000 people died in the battle for Okinawa.
Allied forces invade and capture Tarakan in eastern Borneo. Australians capture the Seria oil fields in the north of the island.
Einar Gerhardsen replaces Johann Nygaardvold as Prime Minister of Norway.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower tells reporters in Abilene, Kansas that he has “no political ambitions at all.”
23 June 1945 Allied forces capture Aparri on the north coast of Luzon.
A new Polish government is decided upon in Moscow made up of members of the western-backed London government and the Soviet-backed Lublin government. A three-man committee will hold the presidency until a new president can be chosen. Edward Osóbka-Morawski will continue as Prime Minister.
Willem Schermerhorn replaces Pieter Sjoerd Gerbrandy as Prime Minister of the Netherlands at The Hague.
24 June 1945 Allied forces land on Halmahera Island in the Molucca Sea.
25 June 1945 American troops capture Tuguegarao in northern Luzon.
Australian troops complete the occupation of the Miri oilfields in Sarawak.
An all-party conference to consider revisions to the government of India is opened at Simla by Viceroy Viscount Wavell.
Sean Thomas O’Kelly replaces Douglas Hyde as President of Eire.
26 June 1945 All air transport companies in France are nationalized.
The United Nations Conference on International Organizations meeting in San Francisco adopts the Charter of the United Nations.
Rhapsody in Blue, a film biography of George Gershwin (†7), is released in Hollywood.
27 June 1945 The Japanese government takes control of all communication in the country, in preparation for an invasion.
Emil Hacha, President of Czechoslovakia in 1938 whom Hitler made State President of Bohemia and Moravia, dies in prison in Prague.
Thousands of Polish refugees flee from the Soviet zone of Germany to the west.
The US Federal Communications Commission allocates 13 channels for commercial television. It also changes frequency modulation radio from 42-50 megacycles to 88-106 megacycles. 88-92 megacycles are reserved for non-commercial use.
Dane Rudhyar (50) marries his second wife, Eya Fechin.
Governor Ellis G. Arnall of Georgia announces that “we of the south do not believe in social equality with the Negro.”
28 June 1945 General MacArthur announces that operations in Luzon are over, although many Japanese units are still in the field.
Tomasz Arciszewski, President of the Polish government in London, gives over power to Edward Osóbka-Morawski and his government decided upon on 23 June. They take power upon their arrival in Warsaw from the Moscow conference.
Suite française op.248 for orchestra by Darius Milhaud (52) is performed for the first time, in New York.
29 June 1945 The Simla Conference on Indian government recesses, unable to agree on a list of ministers.
By a treaty signed today in Moscow, Czechoslovakia cedes Ruthenia to the USSR.
30 June 1945 Representative John Rankin of the US House Un-American Activities Committee announces a major investigation of the film industry, naming it “the greatest hotbed of subversive activities in the United States.” It is “one of the most dangerous plots ever instigated for the overthrow of this government.”
1 July 1945 Australian forces land at Balikpapan on the east coast of Borneo.
Allied troops occupy Liuchow (Liuzhou) in south China.
Zones of occupation for Germany and Austria, administered by France, Great Britain, the USSR, and the United States, go into effect.
Irving Fine (30) is promoted to faculty instructor in music at Harvard University.
2 July 1945 The American command declares the Okinawa campaign complete. The three-month battle has caused the deaths of almost 200,000 people, including 75,000 civilians.
3 July 1945 Processional (Funeral March) op.36a for orchestra by Wallingford Riegger (60) is performed for the first time, in Moscow. See 23 January 1944.
The first civilian passenger car made in the US since 1942 comes off the assembly line of the Ford Motor Co. in Detroit.
Béla Bartók (64) travels from Montreal across the border into the United States in order to gain an official immigrant status.
4 July 1945 450 US bombers drop 3,000 tons of incendiaries on Tokushima, Takamatsu, Kochi, and Himeji.
Several works by Charles Koechlin (77) are performed for the first time, at the École Normale, Paris: Six of Les chants de Nectaire for flute op.198, Soir païen op.35/4 for voice and piano to words of Samain, and Il pleure dans mon coeur op.22/4 for voice and piano to words of Verlaine, 44 years after it was composed.
5 July 1945 Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia dies at his residence in Canberra of heart disease.
General MacArthur announces that the Philippines have been completely liberated.
A general election is held in Great Britain, but results will not be posted until 25 July after the votes of British forces overseas can be counted.
The United States and Great Britain recognize the new government in Poland.
The US military government seizes all assets of IG Farbenindustrie AG in their occupation zone.
US President Truman orders the seizure of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plants being struck in Akron, Ohio.
6 July 1945 Francis Michael Forde replaces John Curtin as Prime Minister of Australia.
The government of Czechoslovakia announces that about 3,000,000 Sudeten Czechs who accepted German citizenship will be transferred to Germany over the next 18 months. Their property will be confiscated for reparations.
The US government bans sleeper cars on all civilian train journeys of less than 450 miles (725 km) so that the cars may be used for military purposes.
Goodyear workers in Akron, Ohio return to work.
Nicaragua becomes the first country to ratify the Charter of the United Nations.
7 July 1945 US bombers drop 4,000 tons of explosives on Kofu, Chiba, Shimizu, Akashi, and Shimotsu.
The Free State of Baden is divided in two. The northern section becomes part of Württemberg-Baden while the southern section becomes the State of Südbaden.
France agrees to let native troops in the French army of Syria and Lebanon to be absorbed into the national armies of the two countries.
8 July 1945 The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra gives its first concert since the end of the European war.
9 July 1945 Mecklenburg is formed by joining Mecklenburg with part of Pomerania.
The Brazilian cruiser Baia strikes a mine and sinks 150 km off the Brazilian coast. 300 lives are lost.
L’appel de la montagne, a ballet by Arthur Honegger (53) to a story by le Bret, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. See 14 November 1945.
Frank Lloyd Wright displays his model for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Non-Objective Painting in New York City.
10 July 1945 Tokyo is attacked by 1,022 American planes.
El Salvador ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
11 July 1945 Several thousand tons of napalm are dropped on the Japanese in Luzon.
Allied troops capture Balikpapan, Borneo and its oil installations.
The four-party military committee organized to run Berlin meets for the first time.
13 July 1945 Joseph Benedict Chifley replaces Francis Michael Forde as Prime Minister of Australia.
The province of Hessen-Pfalz is created by joining the Pfalz from Bavaria with the district of Rheinhessen from Hessen-Darmstadt. Baden and Württemberg are separated. The northern sections of both become the State of Württemberg. The Southern part is joined to Sigmaringen to form Südwürttemberg-Hohenzollern.
14 July 1945 American warships begin bombarding the Japanese home islands, at Kamaisha, 450 km northeast of Tokyo.
The Simla Conference on the future of Indian government ends in failure.
General Eisenhower announces that the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) is now closed, its mission accomplished.
Italy declares war on Japan.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (58) founds the Academia Brasileira de Música in Rio de Janeiro.
15 July 1945 The blackout of London is terminated. Street lights are lit again.
The US government ends blackout restrictions in eight western states.
16 July 1945 US warships shell Muroran on Hokkaido Island.
Harry Partch (44) is appointed by the University of Wisconsin to a research position, and his grant from that school is renewed.
17:30 The first atomic bomb is exploded near Alamagordo, New Mexico, 200 km south of Albuquerque. All life is ended within two kilometers of the explosion. The temperature at ground zero is three times hotter than the surface of the sun. The steel structure on which the bomb is placed is turned to gas. Windows are blown out 320 km away. The light from the blast is visible as much as 650 km away.
17 July 1945 US warships shell Hitachi, northeast of Tokyo.
President Truman, Prime Minister Churchill, and General Secretary Stalin come together in Potsdam to discuss the post-war world, in a meeting which will last until 2 August.
The Belgian Chamber of Deputies votes to bar the return of King Leopold without their permission. Six cabinet members resign. The King says he will not abdicate without a popular referendum on the issue.
18 July 1945 Australian troops take the Samboja oil fields, now ablaze.
The Belgian Senate agrees to the action of the Chamber of Deputies yesterday.
The Brazilian Expeditionary Force returns to Rio de Janeiro to a tumultuous welcome.
20 July 1945 600 US bombers attack Choshi, Hitachi, Fukui, Okazaki and Amagasaki.
American Cyanamid Co. announces in New York that it has synthesized Folic Acid.
Paul Valéry dies in Paris at the age of 73.
21 July 1945 Beginning today and over the next three days, US soldiers search all buildings and people in their German occupation zone. 80,000 people are arrested, but many of those are released once they establish their identification.
22 July 1945 Fanfare for the 99th Fighter Squadron for orchestra by William Grant Still (50) is performed for the first time, in the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles.
23 July 1945 Magdeburg, Halle-Merseburg, and Anhalt are joined to form the province of Sachsen-Anhalt.
The trial of Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain begins in Paris.
24 July 1945 600 US bombers attack Osaka and Nagoya.
At Potsdam, US President Truman informs Soviet leader Stalin of the existence of the atomic bomb. Stalin already knows about it from his spies.
Former Prime Ministers Paul Reynaud and Édouard Daladier testify against Henri Pétain at his trial in Paris.
Themes for Improvisation for organ by Benjamin Britten (31) are performed for the first time, over the airwaves of the BBC Home Service.
25 July 1945 The United States announces the end of all organized Japanese resistance on Mindanao.
An agreement between British and French commanders in Syria calls for a French withdrawal to the coast.
26 July 1945 The governments of the United States, Great Britain, and China demand the unconditional surrender of Japan. “The alternative for Japan is complete and utter destruction.”
The results of the British general election are announced giving the Labour Party a majority in the House of Commons, up 227 seats from the last Parliament. Prime Minister Winston Churchill tenders his resignation. King George VI asks Clement Attlee to form a government.
The US War Production Board announces that a new insecticide, DDT, will soon be available to the public.
The ballet The Ivory Tower is performed for the first time, in Oakland. The music is a chamber orchestration of Darius Milhaud’s (52) La muse ménagère.
27 July 1945 Allied forces occupy Kweilin (Guilin) in southern China.
28 July 1945 The Japanese government announces that they will be “ready to talk peace only when the whole of East Asia is freed from Anglo-American colonial exploitation…”
Prime Minister Clement Atlee arrives at Potsdam to take the place of Winston Churchill.
The United States ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
A B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building in New York in fog. 13 people are killed, 25 inured.
29 July 1945 Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki says it will “take no notice” of the ultimatum of 26 July.
30 July 1945 US warships shell Hamamatsu on Honshu Island.
Former Prime Minister Édouard Herriot testifies against Henri Pétain at his trial in Paris.
31 July 1945 Pierre Laval flies from Barcelona to Linz and surrenders to American authorities.
Seven German civilians, including two women, are sentenced to death in Darmstadt for killing six American prisoners in Russelheim last year. Three others receive long prison sentences. One defendant is acquitted.
Pietro Mascagni (81) and Anna Lolli, his mistress of 35 years, see each other for the last time, in Rome.
The Board of Directors of the Juilliard School of Music elects William Schuman (34) as president.
An orchestral suite from music for the film The Story of a Flemish Farm by Ralph Vaughan Williams (72) is performed for the first time, in the Royal Albert Hall, London the composer conducting.
1 August 1945 A priest from nearby San Lorenzo in Lucina is summoned to administer Last Rites to Pietro Mascagni (81) in his hotel room. He is joined by an emissary from Pope Pius XII, Monsignor Pucci.
2 August 1945 800 US bombers attack Hachioji, Toyama, Nagaoka, and Mito with 6,632 tons of explosives.
07:15 Pietro Mascagni dies in his hotel apartment in Rome, aged 81 years, seven months, and 26 days. He is attended by his wife and other family members, although his son Edoardo is currently in prison for fascist activities. The French commanders, who use the hotel for their officers, order their flag outside lowered to half-staff. As the news is broadcast on the radio, a crowd begins to form outside the hotel.
The Potsdam Conference ends. The three powers agree on the future of Germany, reparations for the USSR, the borders of Poland, transfer of Germans living in other countries and freedom of the press in occupied Axis countries. Königsberg is transferred to the USSR. They also condemn Spain for “close association with the aggressor states.”
3 August 1945 Pierre Laval testifies in Paris at the trial of Marshal Henri Pétain.
The French Consultative Assembly holds its last meeting in Paris. It will be replaced in the Autumn by an elected body.
The public is admitted to the hotel in Rome where the body of Pietro Mascagni is lying in state. Thousands stream in.
In a Los Angeles drugstore, two German-speaking emigres, Arnold Schoenberg (70) and Bertolt Brecht meet by chance.
4 August 1945 200,000 people view the funeral procession in memory of Pietro Mascagni in Rome. Though only a short distance, it takes three hours to complete. The honor guard is provided by the French army. After the service in the Church of San Lorenzo, his earthly remains are laid to rest in the Campo Verano cemetery.
5 August 1945 The Yugoslav Parliament passes a broad amnesty for those held on collaboration charges. Only war criminals and fascists are not affected.
Canada lifts all wartime restrictions on alcohol.
6 August 1945 08:16 An American B-29 drops a 200 kiloton atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, ending the existence of the city and 80,000 people who live there. 35,000 people are injured. 70% of the 90,000 buildings are destroyed. 90% of the 200 doctors are killed or seriously injured. Three of the 55 hospitals are useable. 150 of the 1,780 nurses are able to perform their jobs.
7 August 1945 New Zealand ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
Prime Minister Tito of Yugoslavia announces government reform plans including abolishing the monarchy and nationalization of church lands and estates owned by banks, industries, and the wealthy.
8 August 1945 The USSR declares war on Japan, as they promised, three months after the end of the European war.
The United Nations War Crimes Commission establishes an International Military Tribunal to try those accused of crimes against humanity.
Agreement is reached by France, USSR, UK, and US over the future of Austria. It is confined to its 1937 borders. It is divided into occupation zones and governed by a committee of four military commissioners.
King Petar II of Yugoslavia broadcasts from London his defiance to Prime Minister Tito and his measures announced yesterday. He disowns the three regents ruling in his place and demands power for himself.
9 August 1945 Soviet forces launch a major offensive against the Japanese in Manchuria, immediately breaching defenses. 1,000,000 Red Army troops are thrown into the battle.
11:02 An American B-29 drops an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan destroying half of the city and 70,000 people who live there. Nagasaki is chosen only after the American airmen encounter haze at the primary target, Kokura.
10 August 1945 Japanese radio announces that the government accepts the Potsdam declaration provided that the sovereignty of the Emperor is maintained.
Allied warships shell Kamaishi on Honshu Island.
11 August 1945 Speaking for the Allies, President Truman responds to the Japanese message of yesterday that the Emperor will be permitted to remain on the throne but must be subject to a supreme Allied military commander. The Emperor must ensure the surrender of all Japanese military forces. The form of government for Japan will be chosen by the people.
Soviet naval forces bombard southern Sakhalin Island.
US President Truman orders a halt to further atomic bomb production until further notice.
13 August 1945 Soviet forces capture the Japanese naval base at Rashin, Korea.
The World Zionist Congress demands admission of 1,000,000 Jews into Palestine.
President Edvard Benes of Czechoslovakia nationalizes the film industry.
14 August 1945 In the last strategic bombing raid on Japan, American planes hit Kumagaya and other targets on Honshu.
Japanese acceptance of surrender terms is transmitted to the Allies.
Emperor Hirohito records a message to the Japanese people explaining that his government has accepted Allied terms of unconditional surrender. In the evening, over 1,000 Japanese soldiers attack the palace in an attempt to destroy the recording or prevent its transmission. They kill the commander of the palace guards, but are repulsed by loyal troops. Minister of War, General Anami, kills himself in order to be spared listening to the imperial proclamation.
France ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
15 August 1945 For the first time, the voice of the Emperor of Japan (recorded) is broadcast over Japanese radio. He announces the intention of his government to surrender. The cabinet resigns.
Nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh asks President Truman to declare Vietnam an American protectorate, similar to the Philippines. He receives no reply.
A Paris court finds Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain guilty of intelligence with the enemy and sentences him to death. His property is confiscated. Marshal Pétain is flown to Portalet Fort in the Pyrenees to await the pleasure of President de Gaulle.
The music of Kurt Weill (45) is heard in Germany for the first time in twelve years when Die Dreigroschenoper is performed in the Hebbel-Theater, Berlin.
The US government ends rationing on gasoline, fuel oil, and oil stoves, canned fruits and vegetables.
16 August 1945 Emperor Hirohito orders all Japanese troops to cease-fire.
Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni replaces Baron Kantaro Suzuki as Prime Minister of Japan.
Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta meet with General Yamamoto in Batavia (Jakarta) who tells them that Japanese promises of independence are moot since Japan no longer has power over the future of the country.
The King of Siam voids his country’s declaration of war on the United States and Great Britain.
A treaty between Poland and the USSR puts their border at the Curzon Line. Poland loses 179,460 sq km in the east, gaining 102,553 in the west.
Turkey ratifies the United Nations Charter.
String Quartet no.2 op.24 by Vincent Persichetti (30) is performed for the first time, in Colorado Springs.
17 August 1945 The Indonesian Committee of National Independence declares the independence of the former Netherlands East Indies as Indonesia.
French President Charles de Gaulle commutes the death sentence for Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain to life in prison.
Animal Farm by George Orwell is published in London by Secker and Warburg.
18 August 1945 A constitution for the Republic of Indonesia is announced in Batavia (Jakarta).
France returns Kwangchowwan (Guangzhouwan) to China.
The US government lifts the national 35 mph (56 kph) speed limit.
Walt Whitman Suite for chorus, string quartet, and piano by Roy Harris (47) is performed for the first time, at Colorado College, Colorado Springs. This is the premiere of this work as a ballet. The first performance in concert was in 1944.
The first two movements of the Duo for two violins op.258 by Darius Milhaud (52) are performed for the first time, privately at the home of Yehudi Menuhin. See 27 August 1945.
19 August 1945 A Japanese delegation in Manila hears the terms of their surrender from General MacArthur.
20 August 1945 Soviet forces occupy Pinkiang (Harbin) and Mukden (Shenyang).
Armed clashes between Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces occur in Shansi (Shanxi) Province.
The USSR ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
Vidkun Quisling goes on trial for treason in Oslo.
The War Production Board in the United States removes most controls over manufacturing.
21 August 1945 King Mihai of Romania refuses to sign any more laws. The communist government rules by decree.
US President Truman ends the Lend-Lease program.
22 August 1945 The Japanese army in Manchuria surrenders to the Soviets. Soviet troops occupy Darien (Dalian) and Port Arthur (Lüshun) and begin to occupy the Kuriles. They capture and imprison Kang Teh, Emperor of Manchukuo.
Japanese forces in Indonesia publicly announce their surrender.
A French military team parachutes into southern Indochina.
Ukraine ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
A conference in Paris on Tangier decides it will have international status until a larger conference by all signatories to the 1907 treaty.
The US government allows amateur radio on the air again.
23 August 1945 Allied troops set up their occupation zones in Vienna.
Leo Bouchard, conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, is shot to death by an American soldier when he fails to stop at a checkpoint in Berlin.
25 August 1945 The Red Army completes the conquest of southern Sakhalin Island.
American soldiers enter a POW camp at Hoihow (Haikou) on Hainan Island, liberating the 130 Australians left alive.
Leonard Bernstein is offered the directorship of the New York City Symphony on his 27th birthday. He accepts.
26 August 1945 Chinese Nationalist forces enter Shanghai and Nanking ahead of the Communists.
A treaty between China and the USSR is announced. The Soviet Union pledges not to interfere in Chinese internal affairs and to respect the territorial integrity of China. Both countries will jointly manage Manchurian railroads and Port Arthur (Lüshun).
27 August 1945 Allied warships anchor in Tokyo Bay.
The third movement of the Duo for two violins op.258 by Darius Milhaud (52) is performed for the first time, privately at the home of the composer in Oakland. See 18 August 1945.
28 August 1945 150 men in an advance team of the American occupation forces, led by Colonel Charles Tench, lands at Atsugi Air Base near Yokohama. They are the first foreign conquerors ever to set foot on Japanese soil.
29 August 1945 An American airborne division lands at Yokosuka naval base.
Soviet warships enter Port Arthur (Lüshun).
The Philippines ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
The first congress of the new Polish Composers’ Union opens. During the four-day meeting, Witold Lutoslawski’s (32) Wind Trio is first performed.
24 members of the Nazi government are indicted for war crimes in Nuremberg.
The US ends restrictions on the sale of wool.
Passacaglia from Peter Grimes for orchestra by Benjamin Britten (31) is performed for the first time, in London.
30 August 1945 The Royal Navy reaches Hong Kong.
General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Japan.
Byelorussia and Syria ratify the Charter of the United Nations.
31 August 1945 The Japanese garrison on Marcus Island (Minami Tori Shima) surrenders to the Americans.
The Chinese Nationalist army takes control of Canton (Guangzhou).
A government for the Republic of Indonesia is installed with Sukarno as President and Mohammed Hatta as Vice-President.
Works for piano by Peter Sculthorpe (16) are performed for the first time, over the local Tasmanian airwaves of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, by the composer: Nocturne, Short Piece for Pianoforte no.1, and Prelude to a Puppet Show.
US President Truman abolishes the Office of War Information.
Cuatro Nocturnos for soprano, alto, and orchestra by Carlos Chávez (46) to words of Villaurrutia, are performed for the first time, in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City.
1 September 1945 The Red Army completes the conquest of the Kuril Islands.
British forces land at Hong Kong.
Nai Thawi Bunyakat becomes Prime Minister of Siam.
The United States and Finland resume diplomatic relations.
2 September 1945 Aboard the American battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, representatives of Japan sign the instrument of surrender, as do representatives of China, Great Britain, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States. It is estimated that roughly 50,000,000 people died in World War II including 20,000,000 Soviets, 7,000,000 Germans, 6,000,000 Chinese, 6,000,000 Poles, 6,000,000 Jews, 3,000,000 Japanese, 1,500,000 Yugoslavs, 511,000 from the British Commonwealth nations, 420,000 Greeks, 363,000 Americans, 240,000 Dutch, 36,000 Indians, 27,000 Finns and untold thousands from other nations. At the end of the ceremony, General MacArthur announces, “These proceedings are closed.”
Japanese troops on Truk, Pagan, Rota, and Palau surrender to the Americans.
The Congress of the Viet Minh declares the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, ending all connection with France. Ho Chi Minh is named President and proclaims independence to a crowd of 500,000 in Hanoi.
The All-Poland Composers’ Congress is created at a meeting in Warsaw ending today. Witold Lutoslawski (32) is elected secretary-treasurer of the board of directors.
3 September 1945 Rudolph Dunbar becomes the first black man to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic. Among other things he directs the first European performance of the Afro-American Symphony of William Grant Still (50).
4 September 1945 2,200 Japanese troops remaining on Wake Island surrender to the Americans.
Chinese Communist forces under Marshal Chu Teh (Zhu De) begin a general offensive to disarm surrendering Japanese troops and take control of all Chinese territory currently in Japanese hands.
Symphony no.9 by Dmitri Shostakovich (38) is performed for the first time, in a reduction for two pianos, in Moscow Philharmonic Hall, by Svyatoslav Richter and the composer. See 3 November 1945.
5 September 1945 British troops go ashore on Singapore and take control of the city.
6 September 1945 Japanese forces in the southwest Pacific surrender in a ceremony aboard a British ship off Rabaul.
The British occupation government arrests 40 German industrialists in the Ruhr.
7 September 1945 Japanese forces in the Ryukyu Islands surrender at Okinawa.
8 September 1945 Americans formally occupy Tokyo and take control of the city.
American forces occupy Korea south of the 38th parallel.
British troops parachute into Kemayoran Airport, Batavia (Jakarta).
Argentina ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
9 September 1945 In a ceremony in Nanking, 1,000,000 Japanese troops in China surrender.
British forces land near Port Swettenham, Malaya to enforce the Japanese surrender.
The Japanese navy in eastern Indonesia formally surrenders to Australian forces at Morotai. Japanese forces on Timor surrender to Australians in Kupang harbor.
10 September 1945 General MacArthur orders the Japanese Imperial Staff dissolved and imposes censorship on the country.
A People’s Republic is declared in Inner Mongolia.
Vidkun Quisling, Nazi puppet ruler of Norway, is convicted of treason and sentenced to death.
11 September 1945 General MacArthur orders the arrest of 40 Japanese officials on war crimes charges. When soldiers arrive at the Tokyo home of former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, he shoots himself in the stomach. He is taken to an American hospital in Yokohama and will survive.
Portugal reasserts authority over Portuguese Timor.
Japanese forces hand over Sarawak to an Australian administration.
67-year-old Dutch woman Maria Schafstadt survives a kidney ailment through the use of an artificial kidney invented and used by Willem Kolff. She is the 17th patient Kolff treated with this machine and the first to survive more than a few days. It is the beginning of the use of artificial organs.
Works for piano by Peter Sculthorpe (16) are performed for the first time, over the local Tasmanian airwaves of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, by the composer: Falling Leaves and Winter Woodland.
12 September 1945 In the Council Chamber at Singapore, Lord Mountbatten receives the surrender of all Japanese forces in Southeast Asia.
Chinese troops take control of Shanghai.
Rationing of cheese ends in the United States.
13 September 1945 Indian, Gurkha, and Free French troops arrive in Saigon and free the Vichy French garrison (who have been imprisoned by the Japanese). All three forces, British and Free French, Vichy French and Japanese join to drive the Viet Minh out of Saigon.
The Soviet Union establishes a German government in their occupation zone. Three of eleven directors are communists.
14 September 1945 A suite from the score to the film Henry V by William Walton (43), arranged by Sargent, is performed for the first time, in Royal Albert Hall, London.
15 September 1945 The Kingdoms of Luang Phra Bang and Champasak are unified as the Kingdom of Laos.
21:45 Anton Friedrich Wilhelm Webern is mistakenly shot three times and killed at the home of his son-in-law in Mittersill, near Salzburg, by Raymond Bell, an American soldier. The composer was aged 61 years, nine months, and twelve days. See 3 September 1955.
16 September 1945 Admiral Harcourt of the Royal Navy receives the formal Japanese surrender of Hong Kong.
A British admiral lands at Batavia (Jakarta) and announces his mission is to secure the area until the Dutch can arrive to resume their colonial rule.
17 September 1945 Typhoon Ida strikes Japan including Hiroshima. 6,000 people are killed.
Rallies take place in Batavia (Jakarta) in favor of the republic.
Seni Pramoj replaces Nai Thawi Bunyakat as Prime Minister of Siam.
The heart of Frederic Chopin (†95) is returned to its place of honor in the wall of the Holy Cross Cathedral, Warsaw from its wartime hiding place.
18 September 1945 General Douglas MacArthur sets up the headquarters of the Supreme Command Allied Powers in Tokyo.
A thousand students walk out of Gary, Indiana public schools protesting racial integration.
19 September 1945 Australia ratifies the Charter of the United Nations.
US occupation forces in Korea revoke all Japanese laws restricting freedom of religion, assembly, speech, and press.
British Prime Minister Attlee declares in a radio broadcast that it is now time for Indians to decide their future, and that a constitutional assembly will soon be formed.
William Joyce “Lord Haw Haw” is sentenced to death by a London court.
20 September 1945 Dr. Chaim Weizmann, a senior member of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, requests compensation from Germany for crimes against the Jews.
21 September 1945 At Saranac Lake, New York, where he has been resting during his constant battle with leukemia and working on his Third Piano Concerto, Béla Bartók’s (64) temperature drops precipitously. His Hungarian doctor arranges for him to be brought to the West Side Hospital in New York.
23 September 1945 China occupies Laos north of the 16th parallel.
The All-India Congress Committee lead by Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru rejects British self-government proposals and demands independence.
Egypt demands British withdrawal from their country and incorporation of Sudan into Egypt.
24 September 1945 Karl Amadeus Hartmann (40) signs a contract with the Bavarian State Theatre in Munich naming him Dramaturge until 31 August 1946. It will be approved by the American military government on 26 September. The position requires him to report to the theatre management on developments in opera and music theatre, and oversee musical productions of recent works. He will hold this position until his death.
Bachianas Brasileiras no.6 for flute and bassoon by Heitor Villa-Lobos (58) is performed for the first time, at the Escola Nacional de Música, Rio de Janeiro.
25 September 1945 Allied authorities order the immediate abolition of all German armed forces, SS, SA, Gestapo, and the Nazi Party. All German foreign affairs will be handled by the Allies. Germans are ordered to turn over all gold, silver, and platinum coin and bullion. All items looted from conquered countries are ordered returned.
26 September 1945 Just before noon. Béla Bartók dies of leukemia at West Side Hospital, New York aged 64 years, six months, and one day. His earthly remains will be buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.
The Argentine government imposes a state of siege and arrests hundreds, including newspaper editors.
27 September 1945 Emperor Hirohito visits with General MacArthur at his headquarters.
17 people are killed, 75 injured in Hindu-Moslem violence in Bombay.
Most wartime restrictions over telephone and mail communications are lifted by the US government.
Der Tagesspiegel becomes Berlin’s first daily newspaper to be printed since the end of the war.
Sonatina for violin and piano by Karel Husa (24) is performed for the first time, in Prague.
28 September 1945 Police fire on rioters on the third day of sectarian violence in Bombay.
A funeral service in memory of Béla Bartók takes place in the Unitarian chapel on West Side Avenue in New York. His mortal remains are then buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. They will be returned to Hungary in 1988.
Corporal Samuel Barber (35) is discharged from the United States Army.
29 September 1945 Rita Louisa Zucca, “Axis Sally”, is sentenced to imprisonment for four years and five months in a Rome court. She made propaganda broadcasts from Italy.
30 September 1945 US occupation authorities seize 21 Japanese banks.
Chinese Nationalists and Communists agree to submit their differences to a political council made up of members from the two groups and non-political members.
“War time”, year-round daylight savings time, is ended in the United States.
Ross Lee Finney (38) receives a Certificate of Merit from the Office of Strategic Services for his work during the war.
1 October 1945 King Leopold III of Belgium arrives in Switzerland from Austria. A royal proclamation in Brussels defends his actions during the war.
William Schuman (35) enters upon duties as President of the Juilliard School of Music.
3 October 1945 30,000 university students go on strike in Argentina to protest repressive government policies.
The ashes of Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (†0) are placed next to those of her husband in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston. During the nine months since her death, they have been kept in St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York.
4 October 1945 An unofficial dock strike begins in Great Britain.
General Douglas MacArthur orders the restoration of civil liberties in Japan.
1,000 Dutch troops arrive in Batavia (Jakarta). Some Indonesian cities are in the hands of nationalists, including Surabaya and Bandung.
The trial of Pierre Laval begins in Paris. His lawyers refuse to attend and he is ejected after protesting the loss of counsel.
Argentine troops invade the University of La Plata and arrest 350 students and several professors.
The True Glory, a film with music by Marc Blitzstein (40), is released in the United States.
A symphonic suite from the ballet Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland (44) is performed for the first time, in New York. See 30 October 1944.
5 October 1945 Pierre Laval speaks for three hours at his Paris trial, defending his actions during the Vichy government.
Gift of the Magi, a ballet by Lukas Foss (23) after the O. Henry story, is performed for the first time, in Boston.
6 October 1945 Baron Kijuro Shidehara replaces Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni as Prime Minister of Japan.
The trial of Pierre Laval continues in Paris without the defendant. He questions the impartiality of the court. Former President Albert Lebrun gives testimony.
Süddeutsche Zeitung begins publication as Munich’s first daily newspaper since the end of the war.
7 October 1945 Non-Communists win in Budapest municipal elections.
Great Britain returns to Greenwich Mean Time.
Largely through the efforts of dramaturge Karl Amadeus Hartmann (40), the first orchestral concert in Munich since the war takes place in the Prinzregententheater. It is small, but one of the few venues not damaged or destroyed by bombs.
8 October 1945 Jews in Palestine stage a general strike for five hours to protest British restrictions on Jewish immigration.
President Truman announces that atomic secrets will be shared only with Canada and Great Britain.
Leonard Bernstein (27) takes up duties as director of the New York City Symphony.
The first postwar national elections in Norway result in a majority for the Labour Party. No other party comes within 50 seats.
Percy L. Spencer applies for a US patent for a microwave oven.
9 October 1945 Japanese troops in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands surrender to the British.
Pierre Laval is found guilty of plotting against the state and intelligence with the enemy. He is sentenced to death and his property is ordered seized.
10 October 1945 The British government reveals an agreement with the USSR for both countries to quit Iran by next 2 March.
The Columbia Broadcasting System successfully tests broadcasting of television in color in New York.
11 October 1945 Rival Chinese leaders Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek announce an agreement in Chungking (Chongqing) to maintain peace and order, effect a national conciliation and foster democratic institutions.
International administration of Tangier goes into effect.
The Daughters of the American Revolution refuse to allow pianist Hazel Scott to give a concert in Constitution Hall, Washington. The hall may not be used by blacks.
Incidental music to Duncan’s play This Way to the Tomb by Benjamin Britten (31) is performed for the first time, in the Mercury Theatre, London.
12 October 1945 Colombia, Cuba, and Guatemala ratify the Charter of the United Nations.
Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria warn the United States that war will ensue if there is any attempt to set up a Jewish state in Palestine.
Symphony no.3 by Bohuslav Martinu (54) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
13 October 1945 The Christian Social Union of Bavaria is founded in Würzburg.
14 October 1945 Over the next five days, young people favoring the Indonesian republic battle Japanese troops in Semarang, Java.
In the midst of a dock workers strike, 6,000 British troops are sent in to unload food.
Argentine universities are ordered reopened and their faculties reinstated.
Chant for Psalm 67, Deus misereatur by Ralph Vaughan Williams (73) is performed for the first time, in St. Martin’s Church, Dorking.
15 October 1945 Pierre Laval, Prime Minister in the Vichy government, is executed by firing squad at the prison of Fresnes, Paris. Shortly before the execution, Laval attempts suicide by ingesting poison.
The Allies eliminate Hessen-Pfalz. Its constituent parts go to create Rheinland-Hessen-Nassau and Pfalz.
Peru and Poland ratify the Charter of the United Nations.
16 October 1945 The Hungarian government institutes a state of siege to curb lawlessness in the country.
The Food and Agriculture Organization is established in Quebec. It will be attached to the United Nations on 14 December 1946.
17 October 1945 An imperial decree orders the liberation of about 1,000,000 Japanese held in prisons and concentration camps.
Indonesian nationalists kill 15 people in Depok, Java. Elsewhere on the island, Red Cross workers are taken hostage.
Soviet troops begin to withdraw from Manchuria.
Archbishop Damaskinos replaces Petros Voulgaris as Prime Minister of Greece.
The Soviet Union annexes the northern half of East Prussia including Königsberg (Kaliningrad).
Colonel Juan Domingo Perón Sosa takes power in Argentina, confirming President Farrell in his office.
18 October 1945 Japanese troops quell the uprising in Semarang, Java and hand over the city to the British.
The German War Crimes trials convene in Nuremberg. 24 highly ranked Nazis are charged with various crimes including waging aggressive war, murder, pillage and destruction, and crimes against humanity.
A one-day general strike takes place in Argentina in support of Colonel Juan Perón.
19 October 1945 Japanese naval forces at Mergui, in the far south of Burma, surrender to the British.
President Isaias Medina Angarita of Venezuela is deposed by army officers. Rioting results in 50 deaths and around 100 injuries.
20 October 1945 Indonesian nationalist leader Achmed Sukarno appeals to the United States to end material aid to colonial forces in the islands.
Thomas Pasatieri is born in New York.
Fighting breaks out between rival army factions in Venezuela.
21 October 1945 France holds its first national postwar elections. Women vote for the first time in French national elections. Leftists do well with the Communists and Socialists the two largest parties.
The first postwar elections take place in Luxembourg.
With the apparent success of the rebellion. Rómulo Betancourt becomes provisional President of Venezuela.
Sonata for violin and piano op.99 by Ernst Krenek (45) is performed for the first time, in Bridgman Hall, Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota the composer at the piano.
Cain et Abel op.241 for speaker and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (53) to words of the Bible is performed for the first time, in Hollywood.
22 October 1945 Results from a referendum in Mongolia show support for independence.
Sonatina for flute and viola by Ernst Krenek (45) is performed for the first time, in Teatro del Pueblo, Buenos Aires.
23 October 1945 Concertino for piano and orchestra op.16 by Vincent Persichetti (30) is performed for the first time, in Rochester, New York, the composer at the keyboard.
24 October 1945 Japanese troops at Padang on the west coast of Sumatra surrender.
With the ratification of the USSR and Colombia, the Charter of the United Nations goes into effect between the nations who have ratified the charter.
Vidkun Quisling, leader of the Norwegian government under Nazi occupation, is shot by a firing squad in Oslo.
Banks, insurance companies, and industries representing 61% of the workforce of Czechoslovakia are nationalized by presidential decree.
The second revision of Igor Stravinsky’s (63) Suite from “The Firebird” is performed for the first time, in New York.
Serenade Concertante for orchestra by Arthur Berger (33) is performed for the first time, in Rochester, New York conducted by Howard Hanson (48).
25 October 1945 Taiwan is returned to China after 50 years of Japanese rule.
General Douglas MacArthur orders Japan to break all diplomatic relations with other countries, recall their diplomats and turn over all diplomatic property to Allied control.
The Inner Mongolian Peoples Republic is annexed to China.
Japanese troops at Thaton, Burma, 135 km east of Rangoon, surrender to the British.
Dr. Robert Ley, head of the German Labor Front, hangs himself in his Nuremberg cell.
The Soviet Union demands $79,000,000 in reparations from Finland rather than the $50,000,000 previously agreed to in the armistice between the two countries.
Greece ratifies the United Nations Charter.
The Philharmonia Orchestra gives its first concert in Kingsway Hall, London conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.
Serenade for flute, harp and strings op.35 by Howard Hanson (48) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
26 October 1945 Communists and opposition members battle in the streets of Sofiya.
Suite symphonique by Ernest Bloch (65) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
27 October 1945 After British planes drop leaflets on Surabaya demanding the surrender of republican forces, citizens rise up and with Indonesian troops almost wipe out British troops in the city.
28 October 1945 The Czechoslovak government orders the confiscation of all German and Hungarian property in the country.
29 October 1945 The trial of General Tomoyuki Yamashita on war crimes charges opens in Manila.
Indonesian leaders Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta arrive in Surabaya and negotiate a truce with the British military.
The State of Württemberg is renamed Nordwürttemberg-Nordbaden.
Getulio Dornelles Vargas resigns as President of Brazil. He is replaced by Chief Justice José Linhares.
Ballpoint pens go on sale in New York.
Jean-Paul Sartre gives a lecture at Club Maintenant, Paris entitled Existentialism is a Humanism. He will publish a book of the same name next year.
30 October 1945 Five hours after signing a cease-fire in Surabaya, British Brigadier Aubertin Walter Sothern Mallaby is killed in confused circumstances between British and Indonesian troops. As punishment, British planes bomb and strafe Surabaya and the surrounding area. Thousands are killed.
India ratifies the United Nations Charter.
Denmark holds its first postwar election. The ruling Social Democrats lose 17 seats. Prime Minister Buhl will resign tomorrow.
The last liberty ship is launched at Portland, Maine.
The US government announces an end to the rationing of shoes.
Trio for violin, viola, and cello by Heitor Villa-Lobos (58) is performed for the first time, at the Library of Congress, Washington.
31 October 1945 Chinese communists attack Tatung, Shansi (Shanxi) Province.
The Republic of Peru ratifies the United Nations Charter.
Alfred Hitchcock’s film Spellbound is shown for the first time, in New York.
1 November 1945 The Commonwealth of Australia ratifies the United Nations Charter.
Railroads in Palestine are sabotaged at 50 points between Acre (Akko) and Gaza. A bomb explodes at the Jerusalem station. Jewish terrorists are blamed.
21 German bankers are arrested on suspicion of war crimes.
The Northwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra gives its first performance, directed by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt in Hamburg. It was created by the British in an attempt to return Germany to “normalcy.”
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos replaces Archibishop Damaskinos as Prime Minister of Greece.
2 November 1945 Arabs stage a general strike in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine in protest to the Balfour Declaration. Jews and Jewish businesses are attacked in Cairo and Alexandria. A synagogue is torched in Cairo. Nine people are reported killed, 520 injured.
42 members of the staff at Dachau concentration camp are indicted in Nuremberg.
The Republic of Costa Rica and the Republic of Liberia ratify the United Nations Charter.
Two early orchestral works by Sergey Rakhmaninov (†2) are performed for the first time, in Moscow: Scherzo in d minor, composed in 1887, and the symphonic poem Prince Rostislav, composed in 1891.
Chant des déportés for chorus and orchestra by Olivier Messiaen (36) to his own words is performed for the first time, in Palais de Chaillot, Paris. The piano part is played by Pierre Boulez (20). This work was composed in memory of those deported to their deaths in Germany.
A piano concerto by Gian-Carlo Menotti (34) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
3 November 1945 Symphony no.9 by Dmitri Shostakovich (39) is performed for the first time in its full score, in Leningrad Philharmonic Bolshoy Hall in a nationwide broadcast. The audience requires the last three movements to be repeated. See 4 September 1945.
Fantasia for theremin, oboe, string quartet, and piano by Bohuslav Martinu (54) is performed for the first time, in New York.
4 November 1945 Riots by Arabs in Tripoli and four other Libyan cities kill over 121 Jews. British troops fire on the rioters and arrest over 500.
In Hungarian national elections, Communists win only 17% of the vote. Conservatives win.
5 November 1945 Trials begin in Delhi for those Indians accused of collaborating with the Japanese.
The Republic of Colombia ratifies the United Nations Charter.
The British dock strike ends one month and one day after it began.
6 November 1945 Charles de Gaulle and his provisional government resign as the new Constituent Assembly convenes in Paris.
Russian Fantasy for orchestra by Aram Khachaturian (42) is performed for the first time, in Moscow.
7 November 1945 Vladimir Ussachevsky (34) is honorably discharged from the United States Army.
The Republic of Mexico and the Union of South Africa ratify the United Nations Charter.
8 November 1945 Knud Kristensen replaces Wilhelm Buhl as Prime Minister of Denmark.
Battles in Bucharest between Romanian troops, communists, and monarchists result in 13 deaths and 80 injuries.
La sagesse op.141 for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (53) to words of Claudel, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Belge.
9 November 1945 Martial law ends in Bulgaria. Demobilization begins.
The Dominion of Canada ratifies the United Nations Charter.
10 November 1945 Indonesian republican troops launch a counterattack against the British at Surabaya which continues for the next three weeks. During the fighting, 600 British (Indian) soldiers go over to the other side.
Cosmos, a tone poem for four pianos by Ivan Alyeksandrovich Vyshnegradsky (52), is performed for the first time, in Paris. Two of the pianos are tuned a quarter-tone higher than the other two.
Symphony no.1 by Michael Tippett (40) is performed for the first time, in Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.
11 November 1945 Elections to a constituent assembly in Yugoslavia are won by Marshall Tito’s National Front.
Glenn T. Seaborg announces his discovery of two new elements, americium and curium, on a children’s radio quiz show called Quiz Kids in the United States. He is due to make the official announcement five days from now at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
12 November 1945 British warships shell Indonesian positions in Surabaya.
Ode to the End of the War op.105 for winds, eight harps, four pianos, percussion, and double basses by Sergey Prokofiev (54) is performed for the first time, in Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow.
13 November 1945 The British government announces that pre-war restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine will continue. Only 13,000 legal immigrants are allowed in 1945.
The French Constituent Assembly elects Charles de Gaulle provisional President.
The Empire of Ethiopia and the Republic of Panama ratify the United Nations Charter.
14 November 1945 Sutan Sjahir becomes the first Prime Minister of Indonesia.
The Republic of Bolivia ratifies the United Nations Charter.
Schwyzer Fäschttag for orchestra by Arthur Honegger (53) is performed for the first time, in Winterthur. It is an orchestral suite from his ballet L’appel de la montagne. See 9 July 1945.
15 November 1945 Zoltán Tildy replaces Béla Miklós de Dálnok as Prime Minister of Hungary.
Eight former Finnish leaders go on trial in Helsinki.
Joseph Hoffman, commandant of Majdanek concentration camp, is sentenced to death in Lublin.
The Republic of Venezuela ratifies the United Nations Charter.
16 November 1945 Tudeh, the Iranian Communist Party, begins an uprising in Azerbaijan province.
A constitution for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization is adopted in London. It becomes effective 4 November 1946.
30 Germans are convicted and 14 acquitted by a British military court in Luneburg in connection with their activities at Belsen and Auschwitz. Eleven will be sentenced to death, one to life in prison and the rest to prison terms.
British troops seize all assets of the firm of Friedrich Krupp of Essen.
Suite anglaise for violin and orchestra by Darius Milhaud (53) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia. See 28 May 1947.
Elégie op.251 for cello and piano by Darius Milhaud (53) is performed for the first time, in Town Hall, New York.
Billy Wilder’s film The Lost Weekend is released in the United States.
17 November 1945 Sonata for violin op.10 by Vincent Persichetti (30) is performed for the first time, in Waldport, Oregon.
18 November 1945 Communists win a major victory in Bulgarian parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition.
Aaron Copland (45) chairs the music panel of the First Conference on American-Soviet Cultural Cooperation.
The biblical cycle Genesis, organized by Nathaniel Shillkret, is performed for the first time, in Los Angeles. The constituent parts and their composers are: 1. Prelude-Arnold Schoenberg (71) 2. Creation-Shillkret 3. Adam and Eve-Alexandre Tansman 4. Cain and Abel-Darius Milhaud (53) 5. Noah’s Ark-Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco 6. The Covenant-Ernst Toch 7. The Tower of Babel-Igor Stravinsky (63).
19 November 1945 Arthur Honegger’s (53) Sérénade à Angelique for small orchestra is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Zürich.
20 November 1945 The German War Crimes Trials open in Nuremberg.
21 November 1945 The US occupation administration begins to censor Japanese plays and music.
Themistoklis Panagiotou Sophoulis replaces Panagiotis Kanellopoulos as Prime Minister of Greece.
The Republic of Guatemala ratifies the United Nations Charter.
The United Auto Workers in Detroit strike against General Motors over lack of progress in negotiations.
Cinderella op.87, a ballet by Sergey Prokofiev (54) to a scenario by Volkov, is performed for the first time, in the Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow. See 12 November 1946 and 3 September 1947.
As part of the 250th anniversary of the death of Henry Purcell, Benjamin Britten’s (31) String Quartet no.2 is performed for the first time, in Wigmore Hall, London.
22 November 1945 Chinese Nationalist troops capture Lienshan, Manchuria.
British and Japanese troops clear Semarang of Indonesian fighters.
As part of the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of Henry Purcell, Benjamin Britten’s The Holy Sonnets of John Donne op.35, a cycle for voice and piano, is performed for the first time, in Wigmore Hall, London by Peter Pears and the composer on his 32nd birthday.
23 November 1945 Police fire into anti-British rioters in Calcutta, killing 37.
Former Prime Minister Béla Imredy of Hungary is found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.
Rationing of all food except sugar is ended by the US government.
On Stage for orchestra by Norman Dello Joio (32) is performed for the first time, in Cleveland.
24 November 1945 Chinese Nationalist troops take Hulutao (Huludao), the first Manchurian port opened to them.
Perón supporters carry out pogroms in the Jewish sections of Buenos Aires. Police then arrest some of the victims.
25 November 1945 Parliamentary elections in Austria result in a majority for the Catholic Peoples Party with the Socialists providing the official opposition. Communists win four seats.
In municipal elections today, Ecuadorian women vote for the first time.
26 November 1945 10,000 British troops sweep through the Sharon Valley looking for arms and terrorists. They meet some opposition and kill nine Jews and injure 75.
In the first postwar elections in Austria, conservatives win the most votes.
27 November 1945 The Kingdom of Norway ratifies the United Nations Charter.
Ten etudes for piano by Virgil Thomson (49) are performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Symphony no.2 by Peter Mennin (22) is performed completely for the first time, at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. See 27 March 1945.
28 November 1945 On the birthday of King Mihai of Romania, anti-Communist demonstrations take place. Police fire on them killing and injuring many.
29 November 1945 The Kingdom of Yugoslavia is abolished by a Constituent Assembly and replaced by the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. The Karadordevic dynasty is banned from the country.
The Seven Ages, a symphonic suite by John Alden Carpenter (69), is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Choreographic episodes from William Schuman’s (35) ballet Undertow are performed for the first time, in Los Angeles. See 10 April 1945.
30 November 1945 Chinese Communists invade Shantung (Shandong) Province from the south.
Symphony no.4 by Bohuslav Martinu (54) is performed for the first time, in Philadelphia.
Sonatina for violin and harpsichord by Walter Piston (51) is performed for the first time.
1 December 1945 All Allied troops are withdrawn from Czechoslovakia.
British military police arrest 76 German industrialists in the Ruhr.
2 December 1945 A constituent assembly is elected in Albania. Communists control the majority of seats.
The Constituent Assembly in Paris votes to nationalize five banks, the Banque de France, Banque Nationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie, Comptoir National d'Escompte de Paris, Crédit Lyonnais and Société Générale, to take effect 1 January.
General Eurico Gaspar Dutra is elected President of Brazil.
3 December 1945 The Arab League votes in Cairo to boycott all goods from Jewish Palestine.
The Catholic hierarchy in Buenos Aires directs the faithful not to vote for communists, socialists, or their allies.
4 December 1945 Piano Quintet no.2 by Bohuslav Martinu (54) is performed publicly for the first time, in Boston. See 31 December 1944.
5 December 1945 Incidental music to Salacrou’s play Le soldat et la sorcière by Francis Poulenc (46) is performed for the first time, in Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris.
6 December 1945 Le bal martiniquais for two pianos by Darius Milhaud (53) is performed for the first time.
7 December 1945 General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese commander of the Philippines, is convicted of war crimes in a Manila court and sentenced to death.
A four-man National Supreme Council takes power in Hungary, replacing the one set up last January.
8 December 1945 Armed Perónistas fire into a rally of their opposition, the Democratic Union, in Buenos Aires. Four people are killed, 40 injured.
9 December 1945 Three Pieces for two pianos by Aram Khachaturian (42) is performed for the first time.
10 December 1945 British planes destroy the village of Chibadak, Java. A British truck convoy was attacked by Indonesians there last night.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands ratifies the United Nations Charter.
Alcide de Gasperi replaces Feruccio Parri as Prime Minister of Italy.
11 December 1945 The setting for full orchestra of Darius Milhaud’s (53) ballet Jeux de printemps op.243 is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of Radio Bruxelles. See 30 October 1944.
12 December 1945 Soviet forces declare a Peoples Republic of Azerbaijan in Iranian territory they occupy.
Deux marches op.260 for orchestra by Darius Milhaud (53) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of CBS radio, originating in New York.
13 December 1945 In retaliation for the murder of occupants of a British plane that crash landed three weeks ago, British troops burn the nearest town, Bekasi, Dutch East Indies, to the ground.
40 members of the staff of Dachau concentration camp are found guilty of crimes against humanity. 36 will be sentenced to death, four to long prison terms.
Eleven people convicted of crimes at Belsen and Auschwitz are hanged in Hamelin.
The British Parliament accepts the terms of a $3,700,000,000 loan from the United States. They include convertability from Sterling to US dollars.
16 December 1945 Former Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoye, kills himself by taking poison in his Tokyo home. He was to have surrendered today to face war crimes charges.
A “National Government of Iranian Azerbaijan” is formed in Tabriz after government troops surrender the city to leftist rebels.
17 December 1945 The Republic of Honduras ratifies the United Nations Charter.
William Schuman (35) offers Aaron Copland (45) a teaching position at the Juilliard School. See 2 January 1946.
Violin Sonata no.3 by Bohuslav Martinu (55) is performed for the first time, in New York.
18 December 1945 The Republic of Uruguay ratifies the United Nations Charter.
19 December 1945 Thunderbolt P-47 for orchestra by Bohuslav Martinu (55) is performed for the first time, in Washington.
20 December 1945 Seven Germans are hanged in Smolensk for the murder of 135,000 people. An audience of 50,000 watch.
Karl Renner becomes the first President of a reconstituted Austria. He names Leopold Figl to replace him as Prime Minister.
Nordwürttemberg-Nordbaden is renamed Württemberg-Baden.
Charles Ives (71) is notified that he has been elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, even though most of the music he wrote during his most fertile period, 1896-1918, has never been performed.
Musicans Wrestle Everywhere for chorus and strings by Elliott Carter (37) to words of Dickinson, is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of WNBC radio. See 12 February 1946.
21 December 1945 The Kingdom of Iraq and the Republic of Ecuador ratify the United Nations Charter.
A district court in Washington finds Ezra Pound insane and unfit to stand trial for treason.
22 December 1945 Great Britain and the United States recognize the new Yugoslav Republic and the ending of the monarchy.
23 December 1945 O Dame Get Up and Bake your Pies for piano by Arnold Bax (62) is performed for the first time, over the airwaves of BBC Third Programme.
27 December 1945 Foreign ministers of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States reach agreement on a series of issues, in Moscow. They agree on international control of atomic energy, creation of a Far Eastern Commission and Allied Council for Japan, an independent Korea within five years, withdrawal of foreign troops from China, and the broadening and recognition of the governments of Bulgaria and Romania.
Pursuant to the terms of the Bretton Woods Agreement, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund come into existence in a signing ceremony in Washington. Original members are Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, China, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, India, Iraq, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Yugoslavia.
Jewish fighters blow up the building housing the Civil Investigation Dept. in Jerusalem. They also attack police headquarters in Jaffa and an ammunition dump in Tel Aviv.
The Kingdom of Belgium ratifies the United Nations Charter.
Charles Ives (71) and William Schuman (35) are formally elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
28 December 1945 Igor Stravinsky (63) and his wife become American citizens in Los Angeles. Their sponsor, Edward G. Robinson, is actually an illegal immigrant.
Suite concertante for violin and orchestra by Bohuslav Martinu (55) is performed for the first time, in New York.
29 December 1945 Koreans attack US soldiers in Seoul in protest the decision of 27 December to wait up to five years for independence.
Ivan Ribar becomes Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly (head of state) of Yugoslavia.
The French government decrees that all air transport be taken over by the state-owned Air France.
30 December 1945 2,600 Dutch troops land at Batavia (Jakarta) to help reimpose colonial rule. They were trained by the United States.
©2004-2012 Paul Scharfenberger
20 November 2012
Last Updated (Tuesday, 20 November 2012 07:05)