21 Jan 1949

China
  • Chiang Kaishek stepped down as the President of the Republic of China. ww2dbase [Chiang Kaishek | CPC]
  • Acting President Li Zongren pardoned Wei Lihuang. ww2dbase [Wei Lihuang | CPC]
Germany
  • Fritz Knoechlein, formerly an officer in the German SS Toptenkopf, went to the gallows in Hamburg, Germany, having been found guilty of "committing a war crime in that in the vicinity of Paradis, Pas-de-Calais, France, on or about 27 May 1940, in violation of the laws and usages of war, was concerned in the killing of about ninety prisoners of war, members of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Norfolk Regiment and other British units". ww2dbase [Hamburg | AC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, 16 Mar 1945


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