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Post by emron on Apr 17, 2020 21:24:44 GMT 12
16 April 1945
Germany: The final great offensive of the Red Army against Germany, the Berlin operation began with Gen. G.K. Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front attacking west of the Oder near Kuestrin, and Gen. Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front attacking south across the Neisse to envelop Busse's 9th Army and drive on to the southern flanks of the doomed German capital. The Russians met initial stiff resistance at the Seelow Heights, a fortified defensive position which dominated the flood-plain of the Oder (Oderbruch), and controlled access to the main land route to Berlin. The Russians had assembled 2,500,000 men, 6,250 tanks, 41,600 guns and mortars, 3,255 rocket launchers and 7,500 aircraft in three fronts, for this final assault. The US 7th Army reached Nüremberg and began its assault on the city, not from the west as the defenders expected, but from the east and north-east. By the end of the day, the Americans had captured the outskirts of Erlenstegen and Buch. The Oflag IV-C POW camp at Colditz near Liepzig was liberated by troops of the US First Army. Baltic Sea: The Goya (5,200 ton GRT transport formerly of the Hamburg-Amerika line), was sunk in the Baltic by the Soviet submarine L-3, taking with it 6,220 passengers and crew, The Goya put out from the Hela Peninsula (Danzig-Gotenhafen) today packed with c. 6000 evacuees of wounded soldiers and refugee civilians, when it was suddenly torpedoed with two direct hits amidships which broke it in two. It sank in an estimated 4 minutes in the cold dark seas of the Baltic. Only 183 passengers were rescued from this disaster, many of who later died from exposure. The sinking of the Goya was the second greatest maritime disaster in history. RAF Lancasters using Tallboy bombs, sank the Lutzow, Germany's last remaining pocket battleship, in the Kaiserfahrt canal, western Pomerania. Despite sinking, the water was shallow enough that her main deck was still 6 ft above water, permitting her use as a stationary gun battery against advancing Soviet forces. She continued in this role until 4 May, by which time she had expended her main battery ammunition.
Off Okinawa: kamikazes sank destroyer USS Pringle and damaged battleship USS Missouri, aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, destroyer USS Bryant, destroyer escort USS Bowers, high speed minesweepers USS Hobson and USS Harding and oiler USS Taluga.
Japan: During the night of 15/16 April, the Twentieth Air Force flew two missions: Mission 68; 194 B-29s bombed the Kawasaki urban area; Mission 69; 109 B-29s hit the urban area of Tokyo. The VII Fighter Command flew Mission 3: In the first very long range fighter operation from Iwo Jima P-51s, with XXI Bomber Command B-29 navigational escorts, strafed and bombed targets at Kanoya Airfield on Kyushu.
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Post by emron on Apr 18, 2020 10:48:50 GMT 12
17 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: Heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk with four destroyers, HMS Kipling, Juno, Janus and Hereward were assigned to bombard Sola airfield near Stavanger. The operation had little effect, but as they returned, German Ju88 bombers attacked in retaliation and Suffolk sustained severe damage to the aft of the ship forcing her to return to Scapa Flow.
17 April 1945
Western Europe: 21 Army Group: In Canadian First Army's Canadian 1 Corps area, Apeldoorn fell to 1st Div; In British Second Army area, 30 Corps continued to meet strong opposition at outskirts of Bremen. 12th Army Group: In U.S. Ninth Army's XIX Corps area, after preparatory aerial bombardment, 30th Div and CCA of 2nd Armoured Div opened the assault on Magdeburg about 1500. 30th Div pushed into N and NW part of city and CCA into S and SW part, clearing about two thirds of their objective. In U.S. Third Army area, XX Corps regrouped for final drive into Austria. 6th Army Group: In U.S. Seventh Army’s XV Corps area, 45th and 3rd Divs converged on Nuremberg and began clearing it against furious opposition.
Burma: Admiral Mountbatten issued directive for modified Operation Dracula, calling for the amphibious and airborne assaults to capture Rangoon.
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Post by emron on Apr 19, 2020 19:19:00 GMT 12
18 April 1945
Western Europe: 21 Army Group: In Canadian First Army's Canadian 1 Corps area, 5th Armoured Div reached Zuider Zee, cutting off the Wehrmacht's Army Group H and virtually ending offensive operations for the Corps. In British Second Army area, 30 Corps prepared for assault on Bremen; In 8th Corps area Ülzen and Lüneburg were captured; Resistance in the Ruhr ended as the US First Army rounded up the last of 325,000 Germans that had surrendered; The US Third Army captured Nüremberg and advanced into Bohemia; 12th Army Group: In U.S. Ninth Army's XIX Corps area, organized resistance in Magdeburg ceased after assault elements of 30th Infantry and 2nd Armoured Divs cleared their respective portions and made contact; In French 1st Army area, 2nd Corps began it’s drive on Stuttgart; U.S. Third Army regrouped extensively and prepared for the final drive south-east to Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Eastern Europe: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front captured Forst on the Neisse River; north of Frankfurt, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front continued its attack to take the Seelow Heights, gradually wearing down the outnumbered German defenders.
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Post by emron on Apr 20, 2020 21:33:54 GMT 12
19 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: A force of British and French troops have landed at the Lofoten Islands, off Narvik. The British 148th Brigade at Åndalsnes under Brig. Gen. Harold de Riemer Morgan was diverted at the request of Norway’s General Ruge. Morgan ordered his men south 80 miles to Lillehammer; HMS Furious, already damaged by a near miss, had expected to finally get fully refuelled from the newly arrived tanker War Pindari (5,559 BRT), but the need to get underway in the face of two air attacks left little doubt that Tromsø was no longer a safe haven. Abandoning further efforts, she put to sea at her best speed on three shafts, 20 knots.
19 April 1945
Germany: In the west, the U.S. First Army neared its final stop line in central Germany as it captured Leipzig and Halle. Eisenhower had ordered the First and Ninth Armies to halt along the Elbe and Mulde rivers and let the Red Army overrun areas that will be part of the post-war Soviet occupation zone. The British 2nd Army reached the Elbe River south of Namburg; 30 Corps, reinforced by 52nd Div, began assault on Bremen. In the east, Zhukov's army crashed through German defences and swarmed to within 20 miles of Berlin's eastern suburbs. Konev's army threatened southern Berlin. Patton's US forces crossed the Czech border.
Okinawa: An enormous bombardment preceded attacks on the Shuri Line, but the 7th, 27th and 96th Infantry Divisions made small gains and suffered severe losses. The 1st and 6th Marine divisions completed occupation of north and central Okinawa.
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Post by emron on Apr 21, 2020 11:23:48 GMT 12
20 April 1940
United Kingdom: HMS Ark Royal, having parted company with the destroyers HMS Westcott and Bulldog off Plymouth, was joined by the destroyers HMS Saladin, Juno and Hasty, all arriving in the Clyde at 0145. She then docked at Greenock. Later in the day HMS Glorious departed the Clyde for Scapa Flow after loading supplies and equipment, carrying 12 Swordfish of 825 Squadron and 9 Sea Gladiators of 802 Squadron.
Norwegian Campaign: German aircraft bombed Namsos, destroying most of the houses in the town centre, and large portions of the supply storage for allied troops, leaving Major-General de Wiart’s Mauriceforce without a base. Regardless, he moved 81 miles inland to Steinkjer and linked up with the Norwegian 5th Division. 20 April 1945
Germany: Adolf Hitler celebrated his 56th and last birthday in the ruins of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. The Second Byelorussian Front under Marshal Rokossovsky had now reinforced the offensives launched by Zhukov and Konev four days ago. Today Rokossovsky battled over marshy ground to cross the western branch of the Oder towards Neubrandenburg, Stralsund and Rostock, effectively preventing the 3rd Panzer Army from reinforcing the defence of Berlin. Konev crossed the River Spree, and took Calau on the approach to Berlin from the south followed by Zossen, the Wehrmacht high command headquarters. Although the direct eastern attack by Marshal Zhukov's First Byelorussian Front had encountered strong resistance near Seelow, Germany's Ninth Army was being squeezed between the advancing armies of Zhukov and Konev. The French 1st Army advanced rapidly in the Stuttgart area, taking the city. Nuremberg was captured by the US 7th Army.
Italy: The US Fifth Army fought its way out of the Apennines and onto the Po River plain. Without Hitler's authorization, General Heinrich Von Vietinghoff ordered his army to retreat across the Po. In the British Eighth Army area, 10 Corps reached Idice River, following up the enemy withdrawal. In Polish 2 Corps area, forward elements crossed the Idice in the vicinity of Highway 9, night 20-21, and sped toward Bologna. In 13 Corps area, NZ 2nd Div, leading corps advance, reached the Idice and established a bridgehead across it.
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Post by emron on Apr 22, 2020 11:31:43 GMT 12
21 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: Only having arrived at Steinkjer from Namsos yesterday, Mauriceforce was attacked by the German 181st Division from Trondheim. De Wiart was forced to fall back from these assaults, leaving Steinkjer for the Germans. On 21 and 22 April Steinkjer was bombed by the Luftwaffe leaving four-fifths of the town in ruins and more than 2,000 people homeless. Similarly Sickleforce, to the south, was forced to retreat from Lillehammer by the advance of the German 196th Infantry Division led by General Pellengahr.
21 April 1945
Gerrmany: In the West, Stuttgart was overrun by De Lattre de Tassigny's 1st French Army while there was continued German resistance around Elbingerode in the Harz Mountains. Yesterday he was denounced by Goebbels as a traitor to the Reich and today on learning that the Soviets had indicted him for war crimes, Field Marshal Walter Model, drove to the forest beyond Duisburg, left his car, drew his service pistol and shot himself. Goering took the last trip by his personal train “Asien”. From Karinhall he travelled to Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, to his lodge on the Obersalzberg. B-24 42-95592 was the last American heavy bomber shot down over Germany during World War II. The aircraft was hit by flak on a mission to Regensburg. The two survivors of the 12-man crew were briefly POWs. In the East: Zhukov's leading units reached the Berlin suburbs; the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front captured Bautzen and Cottbus 70 miles south-east of Berlin, while others of the front continued west toward Dresden and Leipzig.
Italy: At 5.50am the last of the German garrison motored out of Bologna, while the city slept. Fifteen minutes later, advance units of the Polish II Corps drove in from the east unopposed and hoisted their national flag on the town hall, just a few minutes before American tanks rumbled in from the north, soon to be joined by Italian troops of the Eighth Army.
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Post by emron on Apr 23, 2020 11:39:14 GMT 12
22 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: At Steinkjer German troops came ashore and seized the only bridge across the Ogna River, cutting the road north to Namsos. Those British troops east of Steinkjer were now cut off. However they located another bridge 6 miles east so they loaded their wounded onto sleds and moved out on foot. They covered approximately 82 miles in 67 hours, reaching Mauriceforce’s new position north of Namsos without losing a weapon or leaving a straggler behind. From Lillehammer, Sickleforce fell back along the east bank of the Lagen River to a bridge at the village of Trettin. The bridge had to be held until the Norwegians and British west of the river could retreat across it.
22 April 1945
Western Europe: The US 7th Army crossed the Danube at Dillingen and Baldingen. The final American offensive in Europe began with Patton's Third Army and Patch's Seventh Army driving toward southern Germany and Austria. The Allies believed that some German troops, notably SS Storm troopers, may plan to retreat to the Alps for a deadly last stand in a "National Redoubt." Eisenhower wanted to overrun the region before the diehard Nazis organized.
Berlin: Zhukov and Konev, having overcome the fanatical resistance of the defence zone before Berlin, were moving rapidly to put a ring of tanks round the capital. Zhukov's 47th Army and Konev's Fourth Guards Tank Army, were both west of the city, and only 25 miles separated them. Rokossovsky, after being held up crossing the Oder marshes, was preventing the 3rd Panzer Army from coming to Berlin's aid from the north. Units of the Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front had penetrated into the northern and eastern suburbs of Berlin. Fuhrerbunker: Personnel in the bunker were given permission by Hitler to leave. Most did so and headed south for the area around Berchtesgaden via a convoy of trucks and planes. Only a handful of Hitler's personal staff remained, including his top aide Martin Bormann, the Goebbels family, SS and military aides, two of Hitler's secretaries, and long-time mistress and companion Eva Braun.
Italy: General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, German commander in Italy, contemplated surrender. His armies had lost most of their tanks and guns during a chaotic retreat across the Po.
Burma: Lt Gen Kimura ordered withdrawal of the bulk of Japanese forces from Rangoon to Pegu and Moulmein. In British Fourteenth Army's 33 Corps area, Yenangyaung, largest of the Burmese oilfields, fell to Indian 7th Div. In 4 Corps area, Indian 5th Div reached Toungoo 3 days ahead of schedule; leading elements continued south to Oktwin.
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Post by emron on Apr 24, 2020 11:12:26 GMT 12
23 April 1940
United Kingdom: HMS Ark Royal, in company with the destroyers HMS Sikh, Mashona and Juno, having flown off the Swordfish of 821 Squadron to Hatston en-route, arrived at Scapa Flow and commenced refuelling. At 1230, Vice-Admiral Air Wells, flying his flag on Ark Royal, in company with HMS Glorious, the heavy cruiser HMS Berwick, the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curlew and the destroyers HMS Fearless, Fury, Hasty, Hereward, Hyperion and Juno, departed Scapa Flow. Immediately afterwards, Ark flew aboard the Skua and Roc fighters of 800 and 801 Squadrons. Wells mission, dubbed Operation DX, was to transport RAF fighters to the ice landing ground on Lake Lesjaskog and to cover the Allied landing sites at Åndalsnes to the South, and Namsos to the North of Trondheim. Ark Royal had embarked 44 aircraft of four Fleet Air Arm squadrons: Glorious had embarked 29 aircraft of three Fleet Air Arm squadrons as well as the 17 Gladiators of 263 Squadron. Norwegian Campaign: The retreating British troops of Sickleforce were suddenly attacked in the Tretten valley by three German tanks which charged through the centre of their defensive line. Troops west of the Lågen River withdrew in haste; those east of the river were cut off. After a further retreat of 45 miles, Morgan could count only nine junior officers and some 300 men out of his original strength of 1,000. The 148th Brigade, routed in its first major engagement, no longer existed as a fighting unit. Morgan sent the survivors back to Åndalsnes for evacuation. Meawhile the British 15th Brigade sent to relieve them had only just landed at Molde and Åndalsnes. Severe snowstorms today prevented any air operations from HMS Furious which steamed for Harstad and anchored in Bygden Fjord.
23 April 1945
The Red Army had broken into Berlin from the north, east and south. Massed Russian artillery was shelling the central and western areas of the city. Elements of the 2nd US Cavalry Group, 90th and 97th US Infantry Divisions liberated the 1,526 prisoners who remained in the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp near Weiden in NE Bavaria.
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Post by nuuumannn on Apr 24, 2020 17:30:40 GMT 12
Fascinating as always. This is a map recovered from Hitler's office in the Fuhrerbunker by a Soviet soldier and shows the approach by the Soviets into the centre of the city in blue. Between Zoologischergarten in the west, to the left of the map and Alexanderplatz to the east was a ring of strong defences called the Zitadelle. This area can be seen marked out in red as 'Ost' 'Zit' and 'West'. This map is on public display in the German Russian Museum at Karlshorst, Berlin, of which we'll be hearing from in these posts shortly. Europe 331
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Post by emron on Apr 24, 2020 21:22:20 GMT 12
24 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: After four days of continuous Anti-Aircraft duty off Åndalsnes, cruiser HMS Curacoa was badly damaged by German bombers. The 8 crewmen killed by a 550lb bomb that hit the forecastle were buried at the nearby village of Veblungsnes. HMS Glorious flew off the RAF Gladiators in two sections of nine, each section accompanied by a two seat Skua (with navigator). This was the first time that the RAF pilots had flown from the deck of a carrier (the aircraft were flown on by FAA pilots), but they all got into the air and by 7pm all of them were safely down on the frozen lake. Although weather was still poor, the arrival off Trondheim and Åndalsnes of the two carriers promised a new phase in the Campaign, one where some level of air support, particularly fighters, would be available to the Allied forces in Northern Norway. Meanwhile, near Narvik, things took a turn for the worse on HMS Furious when a second turbine sheds some blades, leaving her with only two good engines. After consultations, the Commander in Chief, Home Fleet, Admiral Sir Charles M. Forbes, decided that she was to refuel and then return home for repairs.
24 April 1945
Germany:21 Army Group: In British Second Army area, 30 Corps got into position for the assault on Bremen. The RAF joined in the final battle of Berlin today with fighter-bombers of Bomber Command pouncing on General Wenck's Twelfth Army as it moved east after being switched from the western front to Berlin. The pilots reported that the entire eastern half of the city was on fire. On the ground Konev's men were crossing the heavily-defended Tetlow canal on bridges built by assault sappers under fire.
Italy: The US 5th and British 8th Army crossed the River Po, in large numbers. La Spezia fell to the US 92nd Division who were ordered to drive along the coast to Genoa while pushing inland along Highways 62 and 63 toward Parma and Reggio.
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Post by emron on Apr 25, 2020 11:19:41 GMT 12
25 April 1915 (Sunday)
The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force launched its invasion of the Dardanelles. First ashore was the ANZAC, landing midway up the Gallipoli Peninsula. Warships and merchant ships transported the troops to the landing zone, where they were loaded into ships’ longboats that were towed inshore by steamboats before rowing to the beaches. The 1st Australian Division spearheaded the attack, with the first wave of troops landing before dawn. They came ashore about 2 km north of the intended landing site, most in a narrow bay (later known as Anzac Cove) just south of the Ari Burnu headland. New Zealand infantry, led by the Auckland and Canterbury battalions, started landing around 11 a.m. and quickly joined the desperate and confused fighting on the hills and ridgelines above Anzac Cove.
25 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: The arrival of the two additional carriers, this time carrying fighters, was expected to greatly assist the Army and Navy units operating in Northern Norway. The main effort today occurred in and around Trondheim (where the Germans were), and Åndalsnes to the South and Namsos to the North (the British landing sites). However the attrition rate was high; four aircraft were hit by AA fire and force-landed at sea, one crew was missing; three other aircraft ran into an impenetrable weather front while returning to their ship and made force-landings on shore. Fortunately, all three crews quickly linked up with Allied forces, though it would be some time before they got home. After fuelling in Bygden Fjord and delaying her departure to bring aboard a recovered German torpedo, HMS Furious got underway for the Clyde in company with six destroyers. The British 15th Brigade and Norwegian units forces put up fierce resistance in the Gudbrondsdal. The British force whose 3,800 men had been hurriedly shipped to the aid of Sickleforce made contact with the Germans at Kvam, 35 miles south of Dombas. The brigade’s five French 25mm Hotchkiss antitank guns stopped the first enemy rush, knocking out two tanks, but the Germans began working around the British left flank. The British held though and at night they reorganized their lines but abandoned two anti-tank guns in the process.
25 April 1945
Finland: The last German troops left Finnish territory around Kilpisjärvi, in far north-western Finland, thus ending the Fenno-German Lappland War and WWII for Finland.
Norway: The last major strategic raid by RAF Bomber Command during World War II was carried out tonight. 107 Lancasters bombed an oil refinery at Vallo, Tonsberg in southern Norway.
The US 8th Air Force made its last bombing mission from England when 554 B-17s and B-24s attacked airfields and rail targets in Czechoslovakia and south-eastern Germany. Germany: 359 RAF Lancasters accompanied by 16 Mosquitos were dispatched for a daylight raid on Obersalzberg, Hitler’s mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps. They were escorted by 98 Mustangs of the US Eighth Army Air Force and 13 squadrons of RAF fighters. Their mission was to destroy the bunkers located below Obersalzberg, from which the Allies feared that senior members of the German Government would command an “Alpine Fortress”. The bombers attacked in two waves and dropped 1400 tons of bombs, including “Tallboys”. The attack produced mixed results. Of the primary targets, the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest) was undamaged and Hitler’s Berghof Chalet was moderately damaged by three bombs. The Waffen-SS barracks and the houses owned by Göring and Himmler were destroyed. Most of the approximately 3,000 people at Obersalzberg had sheltered in the bunkers below the complex, but 31 were killed, including several children. The bunker network was not seriously damaged. The nearby town of Berchtesgaden was undamaged, and none of its population were killed or wounded. Hitler was in Berlin at the time of the attack and Hermann Goering the only senior Nazi at Obersalzberg, survived. The Soviets completed the encirclement of Berlin. Zhukov's tanks, sweeping across the northern suburbs, had cut all the roads leading to the west and yesterday linked up with Konev's drive from the south at Ketzin. Inside the city, government buildings in the Wilhelmstrasse were under point-blank fire from field guns. Soviet and American troops met at the River Elbe, near Torgau. This contact between the Soviets, advancing from the East, and the Americans, advancing from the West, meant that the two powers had effectively cut Germany in two. Italy: German resistance began to collapse as Mantua, Parma and Verona fell to the Allies. Just 40 miles away in Milan, Mussolini fled to Como. Uprisings in Milan and Genoa were aided by Partisans.
USA: US Secretary of War Stimson and General Leslie Groves arrived at the White House. They were there to give President Truman his first detailed briefing on the Manhattan Project.
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Post by 30sqnatc on Apr 25, 2020 13:18:30 GMT 12
Liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp: The first British troops entered Bergen-Belsen, near Celle in northern Germany, on Sunday at 3 p.m., led by Brigadier H.L. Glyn Hughes, the Chief Medical Officer of the British Second Army.
I recall talking to a long serving officer in NZ Army who, as a very young boy soldier, was there as a member of the British Army armoured reconnaissance unit who were first at the camp. He had only arrived in Europe a few weeks before having only just become of age to join up. He did not recall that they had any information on what they would find as they advanced through the forest that surrounds the camp. He said the sights were indescribable.
After the initial relief was in place he was involved in rounding up local villagers and forcing them to visit the camp. He said they all denied any knowledge of the camps existence.
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Post by nuuumannn on Apr 28, 2020 15:10:20 GMT 12
Berlin, 28 April 1945: The final battle for the Reichstag at the end of April 1945 was fierce and intense and despite the building being unused at the time, the engagement played out like the battle for Berlin's soul as both sides fought a hard and costly fight for the empty shell. Having been given a direct order by Josef Stalin to take the Reichstag and raise the red banner from its ramparts by the 1st of May, the Soviet 3rd Shock Army, led by General Perevertkin from within the customs building next to the Moltkebrucke on the waterfront built up its forces for the push. This began around midnight on 28 April, when the 79th Corps crossed the Moltkebrucke, meeting fierce resistance from the Reichstag, where remnants of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler SS Panzer Division, Hitler's personal bodyguard had hunkered down, numbering around 300 men against far superior numbers. Berlin Tour 16
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Post by emron on Apr 28, 2020 22:05:58 GMT 12
28 April 1940
United Kingdom: The government had to face the fact that the Trondheim campaign was a failure. Neither Sickleforce nor Mauriceforce had made a single gain. Between them they had suffered 1,559 casualties and they were in danger of losing the remaining men. High Command concluded that they must be brought home.
28 April 1945
Germany: The siege of Berlin by the Russians continued. They were within a mile of Hitler's Bunker in the east and south. The German garrison was running out of ammunition and food. General Weidling, the capital's commandant, estimated that the bullets would run out in another two days. The defence may not last that long as the Russians drove ever closer to the Reichstag. They were infiltrating through the subways and sewers, often storming the defences from below. Now not much more than the area round the Tiergarten remained in German hands. Hitler received word via Göbbels' Propaganda Ministry that the BBC was reporting Heinrich Himmler’s attempted peace negotiations, Hitler ordered his immediate arrest and execution and had his liaison officer, Hermann Fegelein, shot dead.
Italy: Benito Mussolini and his mistress Claretta Petacci were captured yesterday by local partisans near the village of Dongo on Lake Como. This afternoon they were summarily executed in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in Northern Italy. They were then taken to Milan and left in a suburban square, the Piazzale Loreto. Their mutilated bodies were later hung upside from a metal girder above a service station on the square.
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Post by emron on Apr 29, 2020 21:48:50 GMT 12
29 April 1940
Norwegian Campaign: The sea phase of the evacuation of Sickleforce began. First a sloop took off 340 men. After darkness fell this evening more than 1,800 British troops, exhausted and hungry, stumbled aboard blacked-out warships and transports. King Haakon and the Norwegian Government were en-route from Molde to Tromsø on the British cruiser HMS Glasgow. The quay at Molde was aflame when they left, with the crew of HMS Glasgow playing hoses on the flames. HMS Furious in company with its 3 destroyer escort arrived in the Clyde, the carrier anchoring off Greenock at 0800 in preparation to being dry-docked for repairs and refitting. HMS Glorious at Scapa Flow, flew off her two unserviceable Skuas and had the pilots attempt to acquire replacement aircraft for what remained of 803 Squadron. HMS Ark Royal had retired out to sea to rest and reorganize her air group in preparation for the planned bombardment of Trondheim Leeds by the Home Fleet, after HMS Glorious rejoined.
29 April 1945
Berlin: Shortly after midnight Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in a map room within the Fuhrerbunker. After a modest wedding breakfast he took secretary Traudi Junge to another room and dictated his last will and testament. It left instructions to be carried out immediately following his death, with Grand Admiral Karl Donitz and Joseph Goebbels assuming Hitler’s role as head of state and chancellor respectively. He signed these documents at 04:00 and then went to bed. This afternoon Hitler learnt that his ally Benito Mussolini had been executed by Italian partisans. There is little left now for the defenders of Berlin to die for. They were being split up into small groups which fell back to fight from the Flak towers and large air-raid shelters. Guns were set up in railway yards, squares and parks to hold off the advancing tanks. It appeared that a last stand would be made in the Tiergarten but more and more men, realizing that defeat was inevitable, were risking the SS execution squads and surrendering.
Germany: 30,000 surviving inmates of Dachau Concentration Camp, in Bavaria, were liberated by troops of the US 3rd Army. Italy: SS general, Karl Wolff, on behalf of Commander-in-Chief General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, signed the instrument of unconditional surrender of the German garrison in Italy, at the Royal Palace of Caserta. To be effective 2 May. More than one million men - 22 German divisions in Italy and Austria - were preparing to lay down their arms and march into prison camps. A vast area of former Axis territory was now in Allied hands. In British Eighth Army's 13 Corps area, NZ 2nd Division advanced along Route 14 toward Trieste, reaching the Piave River, where bridge was down. 5 Corps took Venice.
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Post by nuuumannn on Apr 30, 2020 0:10:22 GMT 12
Berlin, 29 April 1945: A Soviet soldier's view of the Reichstag from the Moltkebrucke, with the Swiss Embassy to the left and what was the location of the Interior Ministry to the right. The site's now occupied by the Bundeskanzleramt, or German Chancellery. After the initial push by the 79th Corps the night before, the Soviets realising they hadn't artillery support fanned out into the surrounding buildings, including the Interior Ministry, which they nicknamed 'The Himmler House'. Crossing the Moltkebrucke at 0700 hours on the 29th, the 150th Division entered The Himmler House and systematically took control of it, advancing room by room until it had been secured. During their advance the Soviets came under intense fire from an unlikely source; the gunners manning Flakturm Eins at Zoologischer Garten had a commanding view of the Reichstag and the surrounding area and thus with its big 12.8cm guns pounded the Russians. Berlin Tour 17 We are standing on Spandauerstrasse looking toward the Rotes Rathaus, the Berlin town hall. Built between 1861 and 1869, it was damaged during WW2 as it was the scene of bitter fighting in April 1945 as the Soviet armies swept into the city from the east. This represents the eastern edge of what the Nazis called the Zitadelle, in the city's defence; a circular stronghold stretching as far west as Zoo Station, where the defences were ordered to hold out until the last, which they did. Once the Zitadelle had been reached by the Soviet armies, bitter building-to-building, room-to-room fighting took place, with the Rathaus being attacked on the 29th of April, by two infantry regiments supported by tanks and self-propelled guns, - the 1008th Rifle regiment and the 1010th Regiment of the 266th Rifle Division. According to Marshal Georgi Zhukov in his report on the attack on the building, resistance was so fierce that the only means of breaching it was by blowing holes in the exterior under cover of smoke screens. Hand grenades were used to clear the halls, while each room was individually scoured and cleared of remaining Germans. Berlin Tour 89
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Post by emron on Apr 30, 2020 21:03:24 GMT 12
30 April 1920
United Kingdom: Celebrity UK Covid-19 fund-raiser, (Captain)Tom Moore was born in the town of Keighley, (north-west of Bradford) West Yorkshire, England.
30 April 1940
United Kingdom: A German Heinkel bomber crashed into a house in Clacton, Essex and its mines exploded, killing two civilians and injuring 132 others. They were the first civilian casualties of the war in England.
Norwegian Campaign: HMS Ark Royal was at sea with battleship HMS Valiant, cruiser HMS Berwick, and destroyers HMS Fearless, Hyperion, Fury, Fortune, Encounter, and Escort, preparing for the planned bombardment of Trondheim Leads. Off Namsos, German Ju 87 aircraft attacked British anti-submarine sloop HMS Bittern, hitting her with a bomb and starting a fire on the stern that killed 20; destroyer HMS Janus rescued the survivors and scuttled HMS Bittern to prevent capture.
Germany: Believing that the Scandinavian campaign was over, Hitler ordered his generals to make their final preparations for an attack on the west. He told General Jodl and other military commanders to be prepared to launch Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) on 5 May or within 24 hours of any later day.
New Zealand: The first commercial flight of newly registered Tasman Empire Airways Limited was the inaugural service from Auckland to Sydney by Short Empire Class flying boat ZK-AMA, Aotearoa, carrying ten passengers.
30 April 1945
Arctic Ocean: The frigate, HMS Goodall, became the last ship to be sunk in the war against Germany when she was torpedoed by submarine U-286 in the Barents Sea with heavy loss of life returning from escorting a Russian convoy. Germany: Berlin; After bringing up artillery support the Russians launched their attack on the Reichstag at 6.00am but it was not until evening before they overcame the surrounding defences and entered the building. Fierce room-to-room fighting ensued. At that point there was still a large contingent of German soldiers in the basement who launched counter-attacks against the Red Army. Early this morning General Weidling informed Hitler in person that the city defenders would probably exhaust their ammunition during the night. Hitler gave him permission to attempt a breakout through the encircling Red Army lines. In mid-afternoon Adolf and Eva Hitler retired to his quarters in the Fuhrerbunker where they committed suicide. Later their bodies were carried up to Chancellery garden and cremated. 6th Army Group: In U.S. Seventh Army area, XV Corps converged on Munich and cleared the city with ease; taking bridges over the Isar there intact. 30 miles to the north-east, at Moosburg, US Third Army freed over 110,000 prisoners of war from Stalag VII A, Germany’s largest PoW camp.
Italy: 15th Army Group: In U.S. Fifth Army area, 92nd Div reached Turin, which was undefended; 473rd Infantry linked up with French troops on Franco-Italian border. 10th Mountain Div eliminated resistance at head of Lake Garda; 85th Infantry crossed the lake to Gargnano and moved on without incident to Riva. IV Corps task force formally occupied Milan. Legnano Gp moved to Brescia area to assist in mopping up. II Corps was reinforced by 85th Div. 91st Div sped to Treviso, north of Venice. This ends eastward drive of corps. In British Eighth Army's 13 Corps area, NZ 2nd Div troops crossed the Piave and continued to Porto Gruaro, on route to Trieste. Pursuit forces of 6th Armoured Div established contact with Americans at Treviso and thrust toward Belluno and Udine.
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Post by nuuumannn on Apr 30, 2020 22:40:45 GMT 12
This is the Swiss Embassy and was during the battle for the Reichstag too; the Swiss being the only country to retain an embassy so close to the Reichstag in what used to be known as the Diplomatik Quartier. By 0400 on the morning of 30 April, having cleared out The Himmler House, the 150th was ordered to promptly attack the Reichstag, but fire from the Krolloper nearby halted their advance. The 207th Division was sent to attack the remaining defensive positions, which took until 11:30am. Within yards of the Reichstag, the Soviets literally had victory in their sites, but for intense fire from the SS troops holed up inside. In the intervening time however, tanks and artillery had arrived, which enabled a frontal assault on the Reichstag, which promptly failed, then another was launched at 1pm, which also made little headway. It wasn't until 6pm that the 171st Division, having taken the eastern half of the Diplomatic Quarter enabled flanking fire that supported the final assault. Berlin Tour 18We are now in front of the Reichstag, looking over the Platz Der Republik, what was originally called the Konigsplatz (King's Place). In April 1945, when the Soviets made their attack, they came from the left of this picture because right in front was a trench that had been dug for the U-bahn that was to connect the proposed giant Volkshalle as part of Welthaupstadt Germania to the network. It was initially assumed that it was a defensive trench, having filled with water over the intervening few years, but its purpose was more prosaic. It was at 6pm on 30 April that the final assault began. This was after the Krolloper building, across the Konigsplatz from the Reichstag had been assaulted, which led to high losses among the Russians. After dark, with the support of Soviet self-propelled artillery, while still under fire from the Zoo bunker's guns 2 kilometres away, Soviet troops of the 150th Division breached the outer doors, firing a mortar horizontally at them and busting their way in. Their entry into the building was met with fierce resistance and hand to hand combat broke out with the SS troops determined to hold out. Whilst the fighting indoors continued, the 171st Division secured the exterior and the trappings highlighting the Soviet victory, the ceremonial banners prepared especially for the occasion were brought into the building. With 70 minutes to go before the deadline of the 1st of May arrived, the Red Banner was finally hoisted above the ramparts on the eastern side of the building. Some 2,200 Soviets and 2,500 German soldiers had lost their lives in the assault on Berlin's soul. Untitled
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Post by nuuumannn on May 1, 2020 17:01:23 GMT 12
Berlin, 1 May 1945: It is hard to find a more incongruous place for the most notorious megalomaniac in human history to have met his death, but 30 feet below this dusty space are the remains of Hitler's bunker. We are facing south-east, with Wilhelmstrasse running to our left. In 1936, on this spot was located a hall named the Diplomatensaal that was connected to the rear of the old Chancellery on Wilhelmstrasse and below it the first air raid shelter suitable for the Fuhrer was constructed. This was later to be called the Vorbunker once the Fuhrerbunker proper had been constructed in 1944. When Speer ordered the construction of the new Reichs Chancellery on Vossstrasse in 1938, a series of interconnecting tunnels between the new building, the Vorbunker and ministries on Wilhelmstrasse, such as the Propaganda Ministry and the Foreign Ministry were built, but these had proven to be vulnerable to air raid damage during Allied raids in 1943, so a new shelter was planned, to be bigger than the existing one, the Vorbunker and deeper, too. Located 30 feet below the ground, with a roof comprising a concrete slab 2.8 metres thick, the new Fuhrerbunker was not yet complete in its entirety by May 1945 when the Fuhrer took his own life on a sofa in his office in the bunker around 1530pm on 30 April, next to his wife, Eva Braun, who did the same. Berlin Tour 43
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Post by emron on May 1, 2020 22:12:51 GMT 12
1 May 1940
Norwegian Campaign: Norwegian troops in Lillehammer surrendered. British Vice Admiral Layton's task force consisted of cruisers Manchester and Birmingham and destroyers Inglefield, Diana, and Delight arrived at Åndalsnes, to evacuate the British 148th and 15th Brigades; they embarked 5,084 men overnight. Joining the British evacuation was Norwegian General Ruge, who departed Åndalsnes aboard British destroyer HMS Diana to join the Norwegian government at Tromsø. Four British destroyers arrived at Namsos to evacuate the British 146th Brigade and other Allied troops in the area; heavy fog delayed the operation, and only 850 French troops were embarked overnight.
1 May 1945
Germany: Berlin; As the perimeter shrank and the surviving defenders fell back, they became concentrated into a small area in the city centre. By now there were about 10,000 German soldiers in the city centre, which was being assaulted from all sides. One of the other main thrusts was along Wilhelmstrasse on which the Air Ministry, built of reinforced concrete, was pounded by large concentrations of Soviet artillery. The remaining German Tiger tanks took up positions in the east of the Tiergarten to defend the centre against Kuznetsov’s 3rd Shock Army (which although heavily engaged around the Reichstag was also flanking the area by advancing through the northern Tiergarten) and the 8th Guards Army advancing through the south of the Tiergarten. Early this morning Goebbels sent General Hans Krebs, Chief of the Army General Staff, under a white flag, to deliver a letter he had written to General Vasily Chuikov. The letter contained surrender terms acceptable to Goebbels. Chuikov, as commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army commanded the Soviet forces in central Berlin. Krebs arrived shortly before 4:00 a.m. Krebs who spoke Russian informed Chuikov that Hitler and Eva Braun, his wife had killed themselves in the Fuhrerbunker. Chuikov, who was not aware that there was a bunker complex under the Reich Chancellery or that Hitler was married, calmly said that he already knew all of this. Chuikov was not, however, prepared to accept the terms in Goebbels' letter or to negotiate with Krebs. The Soviets were unwilling to accept anything other than unconditional surrender as it was agreed with the other Allies. Krebs was not authorized by Goebbels to agree to such terms, and so the meeting ended with no agreement. At around 8:30 p.m. shortly after killing their children, Goebbels and his wife Magda, left the bunker and walked up to the garden of the Reich Chancellery where they committed suicide. The responsibility for surrendering the city now fell to General Helmuth Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defence Area. Admiral Dönitz also thus became the sole representative of the crumbling German Reich. 6th Army Group: In U.S. Seventh Army area began assault on Bad Toelz, elements driving into the city and capturing Field Marshal von Runstedt. British troops advanced on Lubeck and Hamburg, and US forces were dug in on the west bank of the Elbe.
Italy: In British Eighth Army's 13 Corps area, NZ 2nd Div, continuing toward Trieste; reached Monfalcone and made contact with Yugoslav troops of Marshal Tito near there. Burma: British forces in the Sittang Valley approached Pegu. There were also paratrooper landings on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River with the intention of taking Rangoon.
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