Allied forces carry out the largest seaborne invasion in history on the Normandy coast, opening a Western Front to liberate Western Europe.
Germany's last major offensive on the Eastern Front fails against Soviet defences in one of the largest tank battles in history.
The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, where about 1.1 million people were murdered; the date is now International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet at Yalta to discuss the post-war reorganisation of Europe and the world.
Japan overthrows the French administration in Indochina; Bảo Đại then proclaims the Empire of Vietnam with Trần Trọng Kim as prime minister.
One of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War, causing heavy losses among soldiers and Okinawan civilians.
As the Red Army closes in on Berlin, Adolf Hitler kills himself in his underground bunker.