The Fall of Germany
Events
November 20, 1944 - Hitler abandons Rastenburg headquarters
December 16 - Battle of the Bulge; Germans begin counteroffensive in Ardennes
December 24 - Germans surround Americans at Bastogne
January 16, 1945 - U.S. forces freed from Bastogne
February 4 - Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta Conference
April 12 - Roosevelt dies; Truman becomes U.S.
president April 16 - Soviets begin offensive on Berlin
April 25 - U.S. and Soviet advances meet for first time
April 28 - Partisans execute Mussolini
April 30 - Hitler commits suicide
May 7 - Germany signs formal surrender
May 8 - Western Allies declare V-E Day
May 9 - USSR declares Victory Day
Key People
Adolf Hitler - German chancellor; committed suicide on April 30, 1945, with fall of Berlin imminent
Franklin D. Roosevelt - 32nd U.S. president;
met with Churchill and Stalin at Yalta Conference but died in April 1945
Harry S Truman - 33rd U.S. president; took office upon Roosevelt’s death
Winston Churchill - British prime minister; met with Roosevelt and Stalin at February 1945 Yalta Conference
Joseph Stalin - Soviet premier; began to assert USSR’s dominance over Eastern Europe in final days of the war, which led to Cold War tensions