** 25 cent WWII ( Dutch coin )

** WWII: Forward elements of General Hoeppner's XVI Panzerkorps take up positions outside Warsaw.

** WWII: Polish troops on the Westerplatte are forced, due to lack of food and ammunition, to surrender.

** WWII – Sonderaktion Krakau: Germans take action against scientists from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of WWII.

** WWII – Winter War: Soviet forces attack Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.

** WWII – Sweden declares non-belligerency in the Winter War.

** George Unwin, British fighter ace of WWII ( d. 2006 )

** WWII: The 27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division is re-created, marking the start of Operation Tempest by the Polish Home Army.

** WWII: The Japanese launch an offensive in central and south China.

** WWII: A train stalls inside a railway tunnel outside Salerno, Italy ; 521 choke to death.

** WWII: Battle of Monte Cassino: Allied aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault.

** WWII: The National Council of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme.

** Operation Bagration: A general attack by Soviet forces clears the German forces from Belarus, resulting in the destruction of German Army Group Centre, possibly the greatest defeat of the Wehrmacht during WWII.

** WWII: At Camp Hood, Texas, future baseball star and 1st Lt. Jackie Robinson is arrested and later court-martialed for refusing to move to the back of a segregated U. S. Army bus.

** WWII: Over 500 Japanese prisoners-of-war attempt a mass breakout from the Cowra POW Camp.

** WWII: A Soviet patrol arrests Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary.

** WWII: The Soviet Union occupies Warsaw, Poland.

** WWII: " Black Friday ": A force of Allied Bristol Beaufighter aircraft suffers heavy casualties in an unsuccessful attack on German destroyer Z33 and escorting vessels sheltering in Førde Fjord, Norway.

** WWII – Operation Varsity: Two airborne divisions capture bridges across the Rhine River to aid the Allied advance.

** WWII: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.

** WWII – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops link up at the Elbe River, cutting Germany in two.

** V-E Day ( Victory in Europe, as Nazi Germany surrenders ) commemorates the end of WWII in Europe, with the final surrender being to the Soviets in Berlin, attended by representatives of the Western Powers.

** WWII: Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender on the radio.

** WWII: Korea gains independence following Japan's surrender.

** Second Court of Appeals of Texas

** Second son: Prince Okinobu ( 興信法親王 ) ( Buddhist Priest )

** Second son: Imperial Prince Ohito ( 緒仁親王 ) ( Emperor Go-En ' yū )

** Second daughter: Imperial Princess Kenshi ( 見子内親王 )

** Second son: Imperial Prince Dōchō ( 道朝法親王 )

** Second Intermediate Period: ca.

** In a 2011 episode of Misfits, an alternate reality where Germany won the Second World War, depicts Britain and the gang under the rule of the Nazi occupation force.

** The Second Battle of Trenton

** The third period of the Second Vatican Council opens.

** Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.

** The Second Congo War starts in 1998 in central Africa and includes 50 different cultures and 7 different nations.

** The Second Chechen War ( 1999 – ongoing ) – the war was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan and the Russian apartment bombings which were blamed on the Chechens.

** Second Red Scare: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.

** The Reichstag passes a statement stating that Hitler, s second-in-command Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring should be appointed as Hitler, s succesor as Führer should Hitler die in the middle of the Second World War. Rudolf Hess is to be appointed in Göring, s place should anything befall Göring.

** President José P. Laurel issues an Executive Proclamation putting an end to the Second Philippine Republic, thus putting an end to his term as President of the Philippines.

** The second period of the Second Vatican Council in Rome opens.

** Second Boer War: The British House of Commons ' vote of censure over the British government's handling of the war is defeated.

** Second Boer War: British military leaders accept the unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje.

** Second Boer War: The British Army relieves the Siege of Mafeking.

** A referendum in Greece favors the formation of the Second Hellenic Republic.

** The first period of the Second Vatican Council closes.

** The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.

** Second ODECA charter, signed on 12 December 1962, effective.

** The Second Vatican Council closes.