* 1939 – 1945, the Second Battle of the Atlantic.

* 1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.

* 1945 – World War II: the Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.

* 1945 – Neal Boortz, American radio personality

* 1945 – U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office ; vice-president Harry Truman is sworn in as the 33rd President.

* 1945 – Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization ( d. 2006 )

* 1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day.

* 1945 – Annie Dillard, American writer

* 1945 – Mimi Fariña, American singer-songwriter, musician, and activist ( d. 2001 )

* 1945 – Michael J. Smith, American astronaut ( d. 1986 )

* 1871 – Theodore Dreiser, American author ( d. 1945 )

* 1905 – Aris Velouchiotis, Greek military leader ( d. 1945 )

* 1945 – Jan Sloot, Dutch inventor ( d. 1999 )

* 1945 – World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb " Little Boy " is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay.

* 1945 – Ron Jones, English director ( d. 1993 )

* 1945 – Andy Messersmith, American baseball player

* 1945 – World War II: Nagasaki, Japan is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar.

* 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and begins the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.

* 1945 – Barbara Delinsky, American author

* 1945 – Aleksandr Gorelik, Russian figure skater ( d. 2012 )

* 1945 – Posy Simmonds, English cartoonist

* 1866 – Giovanni Agnelli, Italian businessman, founded Fiat S. p. A ( d. 1945 )

* 1945 – Lars Engqvist, Swedish politician

* 1945 – Robin Jackman, English cricketer

* 1897 – Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer ( d. 1945 )

* 1866 – Italo Santelli, Italian fencer ( d. 1945 )

* 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by a firing squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.

* 1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.

* 1945 – The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement ; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini tries to escape.

Clara Petacci ( born Claretta Petacci ; 28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945 ) was the mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was twenty-eight years her senior.

On 27 April 1945, when a convoy of escaping Italian Social Republic members, including Mussolini, was captured by Communist partisans, it is said that Petacci was offered the opportunity to go unmolested.

Mussolini was rescued from arrest by German forces and led the German client state, the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945.

On 28 April 1945, Mussolini was captured and executed by Italian communist partisans.

* 1912 – Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini ( d. 1945 )

* 1945 – Leopoldo Mastelloni, Italian actor

* 1945 – World War II: Italian Campaign – General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.

* 1945 – Arduino Cantafora, Italian architect and painter

* In 1945 the body of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was lynched, hung ( upside down ), kicked in the head by passers-by, and shot several times after his execution by a firing squad.

The persecution of the Jews ended in Southern Italy ( controlled by the Kingdom of Italy ) after the armistice with the Allies ( 8 September 1943 ), while in Central and Northern Italy ( controlled by the Italian Social Republic, a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by Mussolini ) the persecution continued until the definitive fall of Mussolini's regime ( 25 April 1945 ).

* 1945 – Gianluigi Gelmetti, Italian conductor and composer

* December 7 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer ( d. 1945 )

* June 23 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian resistance member ( d. 1945 )

Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni (; December 7, 1863 – August 2, 1945 ) was an Italian composer most noted for his operas.

Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta ( Rome, Open City 1945 ) to the movement.

Between 1924 and 1945, Benito Mussolini's Fascist government forced minorities living in Italy to assume the Italian language and culture, and worked to erase any traces of the existence of other nations on the territory of Italy.

Between 1943 and 1945, Veneto belonged to the Italian Social Republic, while the province of Belluno was part of the Prealpine Operations Zone.

In the Italian Popular Party founded by Don Luigi Sturzo in 1919, Savonarola was revered as a champion of social justice, and after 1945 he was held up as a model of reformed Catholicism by leaders of the Christian Democratic Party.

In April 1945, Operation Herring, an Italian commando-style airborne drop aimed at disrupting German rear area communications and movement over key areas in Northern Italy, took place.