END OF WWII IN EUROPE

April-May 1945

MASS SURRENDER OF AXIS FORCES

Axis troops capitulate en masse to Allied forces with approximately 1,500,000 surrendering. This huge body of soldiers leads US forces to establish a group of 19 Rheinwiesenlager camps in the Western Allied-occupied part of Germany to hold prisoners. By September 1945 these numbers grow to almost two million inmates.

12 April 1945

DEATH OF ROOSEVELT

Roosevelt dies in office of a cerebral haemorrhage, less than three months into his record-breaking fourth term as US president. He is succeeded by Vice-President Harry S. Truman while Winston Churchill eulogises