This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago (1 Viewer)

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GERMANY: Hermann Göring sends a radio message to Hitler offering to take war leadership of the Reich if Hitler is unable to continue while the siege continues. Hitler is infuriated and orders Goring arrested. Hitler dismisses Reichsmarschall Göring as Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe and installs Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim in his place after first promoting the Generaloberst to Generalfeldmarschall. Flugkapitän Hanna Reitsch, flying a Fiesler Storch, then flies von Griem into beleaguered Berlin for a conference with Hitler. After the conference they are able to fly out again, becoming the last people to get out of the encircled city.

Albert Speer bids Hitler farewell, confessing that he sabotaged the "scorched-earth" directive, and has preserved German factories and industry for the post-war period.

Reichsjugendführer Artur Axmann gives a personal order that battalions of Hitler Youth be raised to defend the Pichelsdorf bridges across the River Havel in Berlin to keep the way open for Wenck's phantom army.

148 RAF Lancasters of No 5 Group set out to attack the railway yards and port area at Flensburg but the operation was abandoned because of cloud which covered the target on the bomb run. All aircraft returned safely.

60 RAF Mosquitos dispatached to Kiel; none lost.

38 RAF Mosquitos to Rendsburg, 32 to Travemünde and 8 to Schleissheim airfield, 45 RCM sorties, 35 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.

General Galland's JV 44 increases its pilots and machines when Obstlt. Heinz Bär and his III./EJG 2 arrive from Lechfeld after their airfield is overrun by ground troops of General Patch's 7th Army. The Me 262s of I./KG 51 also arrive to bring JV 44's strength to over forty aircraft, much more than a Staffel, along with about ninety pilots. The other Gruppen of EJG 2 are sent to Prague-Ruzyn to combine with the jet fighters of JG 7.

EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army has broken into Berlin from the north, east and south. Massed Russian artillery is shelling the central and western areas of the city. Buildings are collapsing piece by piece. Sturmovik aircraft dive over the rubble to silence German strongpoints. Latest reports say that Russian assault troops are smashing their way through the inner ring of SS resistance near the Stettiner railway station, one mile from the Unter den Linden.

Frankfürt am der Oder: After 6 days of heavy defensive fighting, the defenders of the city, assisted by 11.SS-Armee Korps [Kleinheisterkamp], gave very little ground to Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front. Massive and continuous artillery bombardments on the town from 20 to 22 April, 1945, reduced vast parts of the city to a wasteland of burning rubble. Still, the defensive perimeter remained intact. Zhukov's 1st Byelorussian then sought to bypass and find a way around and behind the stubborn defenders. By 22 April the near breakup of 9th Armee into three isolated segments was dangerously close. Hitler, at the insistence of Gen.Heinrici, allowed 9th Army to remove itself from continued [suicidal] holding of the Oder line-position, which allowed the extrication of the beleaguered and nearly surrounded garrison of 'Festung-Frankfurt' aided by elements of 11.SS-Armee.Korps, at the very last moment. The Russians [actually a Polish Tank Brigade of the Red Army] took possession of the city on 23 April 1945. Detonations and fire in the city centre area went on for a number of days beyond this, and have been attributed to both unexploded Allied aerial ordnance [The RAF raided Frankfurt a.Oder in late March and early April 1945], as well as to last ditch Hitler-Jugend attacks by the so-called 'Werwolf' organisation.

About 1,000 German civilians are massacred by the Red Army in the occupied town of Treuenbrietzen. Men are gathered together, taken to nearby woods and shot. A number of women are also raped and killed. Nearly every family in the town loses relatives. Five kilometres up the road near the village of Nichel retreating German soldiers shoot 127 Italian forced labourers who had just escaped from a munitions factory in Treuenbritzen.

WESTERN FRONT: Elements of the 2nd US Cavalry Group, 90th and 97th US Infantry Divisions liberate the 1,526 prisoners who remain in the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp near Weiden in NE Bavaria.

At 1535, 'U-1023' fired a spread of two LUT torpedoes at Convoy TBC-135 and heard one detonation and sinking noises. In fact, the 'Riverton' was only damaged.

The unescorted 'Katy' was torpedoed and damaged by 'U-857' east of Kitty Hawk. She was towed to Lynnhaven, Hampton Roads on 26 April and repaired. It is also possible that 'U-879' torpedoed this ship, but both U-boats were lost during April 1945 in that area and this success can not be definitely assigned to one of the boats.

'U-396' reported missing from weather-reporting duties. No explanation exists for its loss. 45 dead (all hands lost).

'U-1055' reported missing in the North Atlantic or the English Channel. No explanation exists for its loss. 49 dead (all hands lost).

Minesweeper HMCS 'Vegreville' damaged by mines off French coast and headed for Devonport for repairs. The damage to her port engine was considered to be beyond economical repair and was declared a constructive total loss 6 Jun 45.

'U-716' depth charged in the Arctic by a hunter-killer group. Due to the damage incurred the boat had to return to base.

First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): HQ 71st Fighter Wing moves from Vittel, France to Heidelberg, Germany. Ninth Air Force: Weather cancels combat operations by the 9th Bombardment Division. In Germany, fighters patrol the Magdeburg area and the US Third Army front (E of the Bayreuth-Nurnberg area), fly armed reconnaissance over E Germany and W Czechoslovakia, and operate in conjunction with the XII Corps as it presses forward N of Regensburg between the Danube River and Czech Border. P-47 unit moves in Germany: 411th and 412th Fighter Squadrons, 373d Fighter Group, from Venlo, the Netherlands to Lippstadt; 509th, 510th and 511th Fighter Squadrons, 405th Fighter Group, from Ophoven, Belgium to Kitzingen.

MEDITTERANEAN: The US 5th and the British 8th Army reach the River Po. The 5th Army crosses south of Mantua.
 
EASTERN FRONT: In the battle for Berlin, Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) penetrate into the suburbs of Berlin from the south while the forces of the 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) continue attacking into the city from the east. Other Soviet units of the two fronts are moving around the city to the north and south to complete the encirclement of the city. Large parts of the German 9th Army and 4th Panzer Army, both part of German Army Group Vistula (Heinrici) are cut off to the east of Berlin as a result of the northwest advance of the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front. The relief attack by III.Panzerkorps (Steiner) from the area of Eberswalde 50 miles NE of Berlin fails for lack of forces. The isolated fortress of Breslau is still holding out.

The RAF joined in the final battle of Berlin with fighter-bombers of Bomber Command pouncing on General Wenck's Twelfth Army as it moves east after being switched from the western front to Berlin. The pilots report that the entire eastern half of the city is on fire. On the ground Konev's men are crossing the heavily-defended Tetlow canal on bridges built by assault sappers under fire.

Stab./JG 301's Walter Loos, flying the new Focke-Wulf Ta 152, encounters a formation of Soviet fighters over Berlin and shoots down two of them.

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler orders Göring to be arrested after receiving a telegram from him offering to take over command of the Reich.

The fighters of JV 44 lose another experte. Gunther Lützow downs a B-26 in the morning. In the afternoon he finds another formation of Marauders and attacks. But the formation is protected by P-47s, which bounce Lützow. Diving to escape two P-47s, he is unable to pull out of the dive and crashes straight into the ground and explodes. His place at Jafu Oberitalien is taken by Hptm. Hans "Gockel" von Hahn.

WESTERN FRONT: The British 2nd Army launches attacks near Bremen. Dessau on the Elbe River is taken by US 1st Army. To the south, on the Danube River, Ulm is captured and in the Black Forest area the French 1st Army continues its advance.

Guardsman Edward Colquhoun Charlton (b.1920), Irish Guards, stopped a German attack single-handed. He died of wounds. (Victoria Cross)

'U-363' was attacked by a hunter-killer group. During the depth charge attack the periscope was damaged so badly that the boat had to return to base.

USS 'Frederick C. Davis' was participating in the operation Teardrop, a hunt for snorkel-equipped U-boats in the Western Atlantic and was part of the 4th Escort Division, which screened escort carrier USS 'Bogue' in the Southern Surface Barrier. On 24 April 1945, 'U-546' discovered the USS 'Bogue' about 570 miles east of Cape Race, Newfoundland and tried to attack on periscope depth, but the USS 'Frederick C. Davis' discovered the U-boat and prepared herself for an attack. At this moment a Gnat struck forward on the portside. The ship broke in two and sank. The crew abandoned ship and were picked up within three hours by the other escort destroyers of the Division, after they had sunk 'U-546'.

German U-boats sink 5 Allied supply ships in the English Channel. At 1414, the unescorted 'Monmouth Coast' was torpedoed and sunk by 'U-1305' about 80 miles from Sligo. The master, 13 crewmembers and two gunners were lost. Irish fishermen rescued the sole survivor, messroom boy Derek Cragg.

417th Night Fighter Squadron, 64th Fighter Wing [attached to First Tactical AF (P)], moves from St Dizier, France to Giebelstadt, Germany with Beaufighters. 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), from Erfurt to Furth with F-6s; 125th Liaison Squadron, IX Fighter Command (attached to Twelfth Army Group), from Gutersloh to Brunswick with L-5s; 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to Twelfth Army Group), from Bad Wildungen to Weimar with L-5s; 422d Night Fighter Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command, from Strassfeld to Langensalza with P-61s.

30 RAF Mosquitos and 7 Lancasters dropped leaflets on 8 POW camps in which British prisoners-of-war were waiting to be liberated. Medical supplies were also dropped at the Neubrandenburg camp, north of Berlin. No aircraft were lost.

40 RAF Mosquitos to Schleissheim airfield, 38 to Pasing airfield and 17 to Kiel, 27 RCM sorties, 19 Mosquito patrols. 1 Mosquito from the Schleissheim raid crashed in Belgium.

MEDITTERANEAN: Units of both US 5th Army and British 8th Army begin to cross the Po River at several points near Ferrara and to the west. Ferrara is captured. On the west coast, La Spezia falls to the US 92nd Division. German forces are incapable of stopping the Allied advance.
 
GERMANY: The US 8th Air Force makes its last bombing mission from England when 554 B-17s and B-24s attack airfields and rail targets in Czechoslovakia and southeastern Germany. Mission 968: 589 bombers and 486 fighters fly the final heavy bomber mission against an industrial target, airfields and rail targets in SE Germany and Czechoslovakia; they claim 1-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft (including an Ar 234 jet); 6 bombers and 1 fighter are lost: 1. 307 B-17s are sent to hit the airfield (78) and Skokda armament works at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia; 6 B-17s are lost, 4 damaged beyond repair and 180 damaged; 8 airmen are WIA and 42 MIA. Escorting are 188 of 206 P-51s. 2. 282 B-24s are sent to hit marshalling yards at Salzburg (109), Bad Reichenhall (56) and Hallein (57) and electrical transformers at Traunstein (56); 20 B-24s are damaged; 1 airman is WIA. The escort is 203 of 216 P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft in the air. 3. 17 of 19 P-51s fly a sweep of the Prague-Linz area claiming 0-1-0 aircraft in the air; 1 P-51 is lost. 4. 17 of 19 P-51s fly a screening mission. 5. 4 P-51s escort 2 OA-10s on an air-sea-rescue mission. 6. 22 P-51s escort 5 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany and Czechoslovakia. 7. 88 of 98 P-51s escort RAF bombers. Mission 969: During the night of 25/26 Apr, 11 B-24s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany. 12 B-24s and 1 A-26 are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions to Norway; 7 aircraft complete the mission.

(Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 296 A-20s, A-26s and B-26s strike Erding Airfield and Freilassing ordnance depot; fighters fly airfield cover and escort missions, and operate in conjunction with the US XII Corps as it pushes along the N bank of the Danube River SE of Passau and support the XX Corps on the Danube at Regensburg and surrounding areas.

Uffz. Franz Köster of JV 44 downs an Allied P-51 Mustang and a P-38 Lightning to add to his score of three jet kills achieved while flying with the other jet Geschwader, JG 7.

375 RAF Lancaster and Mosquito bombers drop six-ton bombs on Hitler's home at Berchtesgaden. Escorted by 98 Mustangs of the US Eighth Army Air Force and 13 Mustang squadrons of RAF Fighter Command, the bombers flew low, taking cover from the anti-aircraft fire behind mountains, until they were almost over the target, and then dropped their bombs. The Times reported on the attack that twelve 1,000-lb bombs, fused for deep penetration, were used against the Berghof chalet, and large numbers of 4,000-lb and 1,000-lb bombs were dropped on the SS barracks. After the second run, and with two Lancasters missing, the anti-aircraft batteries had been silenced. When it was all over, most of the buildings on the Obersalzburg were smoking ruins. Most of the squadrons taking part in the raids on this day were flying their last operations of the war.

The headquarters staff of KG 200 is released from further duties. Most change into civilian clothes and try to make it to Allied lines while others proceed to Outstation Olga to continue fighting.

As several Arado 234s of KG 76 come in to land at their airbase, the formation is bounced by a trio of American P-47 Thunderbolts who brave the airfield flak defenses. Shot down and killed is Major Polletin of the Stab KG 76.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet forces complete the encirclement of Berlin near Ketzin. Zhukov's tanks, sweeping across the northern suburbs, have 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 are under point-blank fire from field guns. Tegel is captured by elements of the 47th Army and Reinickendorf by the 12th Guards Tank Corps. A relief attack by the 3rd Panzer Corps from the area of Eberswalde, 50 miles northeast of Berlin fails. Pillam in East Prussia falls to the Russians. Since early in the year, about 140,000 wounded and 40,000 refugees have been evacuated to the west from Pillau. A few German troops continue to hold out at the tip of the Samland Peninsula.

The last German troops leave Finnish territory around Kilpisjärvi, in far north-western Finland, thus ending the Fenno-German Lappland War and WWII for Finland. In this last day, two Finnish soldiers die, one is wounded and one goes missing in skirmishes with German patrols. During the seven-month war against Germany, Finns lose 774 KIA, 262 MIA and 2904 WIA. The German losses are estimated roughly equal.

MEDITTERANEAN: German resistance begins to collapse as Mantua, Parma and Verona fall to the Allies. Just 40 miles away, Mussolini flees to Como. Uprisings in Milan and Genoa are aided by Partisans.

(Twelfth Air Force): In Italy, all combat operations are aimed at plugging retreat routes and disrupting transport in the N Po Valley and points to the N; medium bombers hit the Adige River crossing at Cavarzere and marshalling yard at Gorizia, and attack 5 bridges and fills on the Brenner line in Austria and N Italy, damaging 2 of the targets; fighters and fighter-bombers harass the retreating forces in the N Po Valley; during the night of 24/25 Apr, A-20s and A-26s and night fighters attack the crossings of the Adige and Po Rivers and the Canale Bianco, and strike airfields at Villafranca di Verona, Udine, and Bergamo, and marshalling yards at Brescia and Verona.

WESTERN FRONT: Elements of US 1st Army link up with the Soviet forces at Torgau on the Elbe River. US 3rd Army crosses the Danube near Regensburg and assault the city.

The fighter groups including the 78th fly their last combat missions.

Tonight an oil target at Vallo is the subject of the last raid by RAF Lancasters of the war. 107 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked the oil refinery in Tonsberg in Southern Norway in the last raid flown by heavy bombers. The attack was accurately carried out and the target was severely damaged. A Lancaster of No 463 Squadron came down in Sweden, the last of more than 3,300 Lancasters lost in the war; Flying Officer A Cox and his all-British crew all survived and were interned in Sweden until the end of the war - only a few days away.

Destroyers HMS 'Iroquois', 'Haida' and 'Huron' arrive Kola Inlet with Convoy JW-66.

'U-326' sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of Brest in position 48.12N, 05.42W by a homing torpedo from a USN VPB-103 Sqn Liberator. 43 dead (all hands lost).

HQ 97th Combat Bombardment Wing (Light) from Marchais to Arrancy, France; HQ 397th Bombardment Group (Medium) and 597th, 598th and 599th Bombardment Squadrons from Peronne, France to Venlo, the Netherlands with B-26s; 33d Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, from Gutersloh to Brunswick, Germany with F-5s; 492d Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, from Kassel to Illesheim, Germany with P-47s.

(Fifteenth Air Force): In Austria, 467 B-17s and B-24s bomb the main marshalling yard station, and sidings, N and S main marshalling yards and freight yard at Linz, the major Austrian traffic center along the railline running N to Prague, Czechoslovakia, plus the Wels marshalling yard (an alternate) and several targets of opportunity. 119 P-38s and P-51s fly armed reconnaissance over N Italy, a few strafing road traffic. The P-38s dive-bomb road and rail bridges and raillines. P-38s and P-51s fly almost 300 sorties in escort of the heavy bombers, P-38 reconnaissance flights, and MATAF B-26 raids.

Wangerooge: 482 RAF aircraft - 308 Halifaxes, 158 Lancasters, 16 Mosquitos - of Nos 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 5 Halifaxes and 2 Lancasters lost. The raid was intended to knock out the coastal batteries on this Frisian island which controlled the approaches to the ports of Bremen and Wilhelmshaven. No doubt the experience of Antwerp, when guns on the approaches had prevented the port being used for several weeks, prompted this raid. The weather was clear and bombing was accurate until smoke and dust obscured the target area. The areas around the batteries were pitted with craters but the concreted gun positions were 'hardly damaged'; they were all capable of firing within a few hours. Part of the bombing hit a camp for forced workers and the holiday resort and many buildings were destroyed, including several hotels and guest houses, the Catholic church and two children's holiday homes, although these do not appear to have been occupied at the time of the bombing. 6 of the 7 bombers lost were involved in collisions - 2 Halifaxes of 7No 6 Squadron, 2 Lancasters of No 431 Squadron and 2 Halifaxes of Nos 408 and 426 Squadrons (both from Leeming airfield). There was only 1 survivor, from one of the No 76 Squadron aircraft. 28 Canadian and 13 British airmen were killed in the collisions. The seventh aircraft lost was a Halifax of No 347 (Free French) Squadron, whose crew were all killed.

82 RAF Mosquitos to Pasing airfield and 18 to Kiel, 9 RCM sorties, 35 Mosquito patrols, 14 Lancasters minelaying in Oslo Fjord (the last minelaying operation of the war), 12 Mosquitos of No 8 Group dropping leaflets over prisoner-of-war camps.
 
WESTERN FRONT: The British 2nd Army completes the capture of Bremen. US 3rd Army units take Regensburg while other elements enter Austria. In the south, the French 1st Army reaches Lake Constance.

HQ IX Tactical Air Command from Lahn Airfield, Marburg to Weimar; 160th and 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadrons, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, from Gutersloh to Brunswick with F-6s; 162d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), from Wiesbaden to Furth with F-6s.

Operation Exodus: Bomber Command Lancasters now started flying to Brussels, and later to other airfields, to collect British prisoners of war recently liberated from their camps. 469 flights were made by aircraft of Nos 1, 5, 6 and 8 Groups before the war ended and approximately 75,000 men were brought back to England by the fastest possible means (unlike the end of the First World War when some British ex-prisoners were still not home by Christmas, although the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918 ). There were no accidents during that part of Operation Exodus which was carried out before the war ended.

31 RAF Mosquitos to Husum, 28 each to Eggebek and Grossenbrode and 12 to Neumünster (all airfields in Schleswig-Holstein), 12 Mosquitos to Kiel, 4 Mosquito Intruders on patrols. No aircraft lost.

GERMANY: Galland is wounded and Obstlt. Heinz Ba(e)r took over command of the combined Luftwaffe unit of Jagdverband-44 and Erprobungskommando 162 which flies the Heinkel 162 Salamander jet fighter.

Major Walther Dahl, flying a Me 262 with III./EJG 2 from JV 44's airfield, shoots down his 128th and last victory, a USAAF P-51 Mustang near Dillingen.

(Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 125 bombers hit Plattling Airfield; fighters escort the bombers, fly airfield cover, carry out armed reconnaissance in Germany and Czechoslovakia, drop leaflets, and cooperate with the US XII Corps as its forces cross into Austria SE of Passau, and the XX Corps as it begins a full-scale assault across the Danube River at Regensburg; fighters claim 19 combat victories.

EASTERN FRONT: Russian tanks have crossed the Spree and reached the Jannowitz Bridge station within a few hundred yards of the Imperial Castle at the start of the Unter den Linden. General Wenck embarks on the last German offensive to relieve Berlin, but only manages to reach Ferch on the 27th April, before the offensive grinds to a halt. The remnants of 9.Armee (Busse) are cut off and surrounded in the Halbe pocket, 30 miles southwest of Frankfurt am der Oder. There is, however, a surge of optimism in Hitler's bunker as General Wenck has launched his relief attack from the west and has made good progress towards the capital. On the Russian side, there is dismay at Konev's HQ because Stalin has divided Berlin between his armies and drawn the boundary so that Konev's rival, Zhukov gets the plum prize, the Reichstag. Soviet artillery fire made the first direct hits on the Chancellery buildings and grounds directly above the Führerbunker. That evening, a small plane containing female test pilot Hanna Reitsch and Luftwaffe General Ritter von Greim landed in the street near the bunker following a daring flight in which Greim had been wounded in the foot by Soviet ground fire. Once inside the Führerbunker the wounded Greim was informed by Hitler he was to be Göring's successor, promoted to Field-Marshal in command of the Luftwaffe. Although a telegram could have accomplished this, Hitler had insisted Greim appear in person to receive his commission. But now, due to his wounded foot, Greim would be bedridden for three days in the bunker.

Other Soviet units take the port of Stettin on the Baltic coast and Brno in Czechoslovakia.

MEDITTERANEAN: The US 5th Army moves towards the Brenner Pass and west towards Milan. The British 8th Army moves northeast towards Venice and Trieste.

The US 15th Air Force conducts it last bombing mission when B-24s diverted from the original targets in northern Italy attack marshalling yards at four locations in southern Austria. 107 B-24s bomb a motor transport depot at Tarvisio, Italy, and marshalling yards at Sachsenburg, Lienz, Spittal an der Drau, and Klagenfurt, Austria (all targets of opportunity); 117 B-17s and 196 B-24s, also dispatched against targets in N Italy, abort due to bad weather; 155 fighters provide escort; 75 P-38s and 102 P-51s fly armed reconnaissance over N Italy; of these, 12 P-38s and 48 P-51s strafe targets of opportunity; all of the P-38s dive-bomb rail lines and road bridges; 16 other P-38s dive-bomb the NW part of Alesso, Italy; reconnaissance and reconnaissance escort and supply escort missions by P-38s and P-51s continue as usual.

(Twelfth Air Force): In Italy during the night of 25/26 Apr, XXII Tactical Air Command aircraft hit marshalling yards, airfields, motor transport, and other communications targets, mainly in the N Po Valley; medium bombers complete 1 of 4 missions dispatched (clouds obscures 3 targets), hitting the Chioggia bridge and knocking out a span; XXII Tactical Air Command fighters and fighter-bombers attack enemy movement throughout the afternoon, destroying 150+ motor transport.

SWITZERLAND: Vallorbe: With a soldier's bearing, Marshal Philippe Petain saluted the aide-de-camp of General Koenig, the Free French commander-in-chief. He then advanced towards Koenig with outstretched hand, Koenig refused to shake. It took the aged marshal a moment to realize that he was under arrest. He was transferred to a second-class train which will arrive in Paris early tomorrow. There the prosecutor in his case, Andre Mornet, said that Petain's conduct deserved the death sentence "but he has reached an age where considerations of humanity should prevail." He will later be tried and convicted as a war criminal.
 
WESTERN FRONT: Himmler's peace feeler sent through the Swedish Red Cross is refused by the Allies.

By this date the flow of P-51, B-17, and B-24 replacement aircraft has stopped and the authorization of 68 planes per bomb group and 96 per fighter group is reduced to the original 48 and 75, respectively.

Leaders of communities near concentration camps, including Belsen and Buchenwald, are being forced to see for themselves the horrors in their own backyard: the souvenirs of human skin; half-burnt and sometimes part-cannibalized corpses. At Belsen, where hundreds still die each week, town mayors protest that they knew nothing, in spite of continuous transport activities to this transit camp. At Buchenwald, 1,000 women marched in singing, but left in tears.

A momentous announcement, revealing that Allied troops advancing from the west have linked up with the Russians on the river Elbe, was released simultaneously in London, Moscow and Washington this evening. The official version of the meeting places it at Torgau yesterday afternoon, when news cameramen were present to show American and Russian troops shaking hands on a wrecked railway bridge, and the commander of the US 69th Infantry Division, General F. E. Reinhardt, clasping hands with an unidentified Russian general of the 58th Guards Division. In fact the first meeting had occurred on 25 April, when a US patrol, led by Lt. Albert Kotzebue of the US 69th, spotted a solitary Soviet cavalryman near the village of Stehla. A few hours later, Lt. William Robinson met other Soviet soldiers at Torgau. In a radio message to his command post Kotzebue reported: "Mission accomplished. Making arrangements for meeting between commanding officers." The message ended with two significant words: "No casualties." - a reflection of western fears that a meeting with the Russians might lead to clashes.

'U-1231' sails on her final patrol.

Frigate HMS 'Redmill' is attacked by 'U-1105' (Oberleutnant zur See Hans Joachim Schwarz) and loses her stern and propellers, but is able to be towed to Londonderry where she is paid off and not repaired. Location: Irish Sea 25 miles NW of Blacksod Bay at 54 23N 10 36W. There are 22 casualties.

The last German forces leave Finland around Kilpisjärvi, the northwestern most tip of Finland.

EASTERN FRONT: In Berlin, the Soviet forces have captured the Templehof airfield and are making progress in Spandau, Grunewald and other areas. To the north of the capital, troops of 2nd Belorussian Front begin to advance rapidly, taking Prenzlau and Angermunde. The Russian 13th Army reaches Wittenberge on the Elbe River. The German 9th Army tries to reach Berlin from the southeast and begins a counterattack at Zossen. The German 20th Army does the same southeast of Belzig.

GERMANY: Hitler's optimism evaporated today. Wenck has been stopped 15 miles short of Berlin and a breakout attempt by General Busse's trapped Ninth Army has been foiled while the Russians inexorably occupy Berlin, house by house, street by street, looting and raping as they go. Tonight the garrison is penned into a corridor three miles wide and ten miles long running east/west across the city. The SS rules there by way of instant execution. Hitler announces, "On the occasion of my death Ferdinand Schorner will take command of the German Army. In Hitler's last public appearance he decorated the Hitler Youth member Alfred Zeck from Goldenau with the Iron Cross. Zeck was only twelve years old becoming the youngest recipient of the prestigious medal.

(Ninth Air Force): Weather grounds the 9th Bombardment Division. In Germany, fighters fly sweeps, airfield cover, and armed reconnaissance, and attack airfields; other fighters fly air cover for the US XII Corps as the 11th Armored Division reaches the Czech border N of Bischofsreuth and other elements move further into Austria toward Linz, and support the XX Corps as it receives the surrender of Regensburg and expands its Danube River bridgehead; the 72d Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Sixth Army Group), moves from Kitzingen to Gmund with L-5s.

MEDITTERANEAN: US forces liberate Genoa, Italy which has been controlled by partisans.

Russell Folsom on the capture of Mussolini. The former dictator is travelling north from Como with a number of his "Salo Republic" Fascist toadies and their hanger-ons, only to meet up with a German column also heading north commanded by Luftwaffe Flakartillerie Lt. Hans Fallmeyer at Mennagio. Seeking the safety and anonymity of the larger group, Mussolini and his followers joined the Germans. As far as I know, there were no explicit orders by higher command for Lt. Fallmeyer or his unit to escort or protect the Duce from the partisans or the Allied forces during this general scramble north to the Tyrol. Unlike the rescue operation by Skorzeny from the Gran Sasso in 1943, Mussolini was this time very much on his own, and his meeting and joining of the German column was apparently, entirely coincidental. The column was stopped at a Partisan roadblock at Masso, where Lt. Fallmeyer negotiated passage with the leader of the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, Count Pierluigi Bellini delle Stelle (aka: "Pedro"). It was there agreed that all Italians among the column would be left behind with the partisans before the Germans were allowed to move out. At this point Fallmeyer surreptitiously suggested to Mussolini that he should bury himself in a German privates greatcoat and pull a steel helmet over his head and continue on with the column. This ruse worked briefly until the next roadblock at Dongo, where Mussolini was discovered, apparently by the mis-match of the incongruous red-stripe on his grey riding trousers with the German private's coat. Partisans arrest Mussolini. Urbano Lazzaro, the Partisan leader halts a German truck in the village of Dongo and discovers Il Duce in disguise. "His face was like was and his stare glassy, somehow blind. I read there utter exhaustion, but not fear," Lazzaro says in his memoirs. "Mussolini seemed completely lacking in will - spiritually dead." Under such circumstances, Lt. Fallmeyer was in no way either able or obligated to fight for the Duce's continued freedom. He had done what he could, and left the rest to what was most assuredly (in his self-interested view concerning the safety of his men) an internal "Italian affair" between the partisans and the former dictator. Lazzaro, a member of the largely Communist 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, then found Mussolini's mistress, Clara Petacci, and high officials of his fascist republic hidden in the retreating column of Nazi troops heading for Switzerland.
 
EASTERN FRONT: Soviet forces of 3rd Ukrainian Front capture Sopron in western Hungary, to the south of Vienna, in a continuing advance. The 2nd Ukrainian Front, to the north, also continues to advance. On the Oder River, German resistance at Glogau is eliminated by elements of 1st Ukrainian Front.

In the battle of Berlin, the Red Army reaches the Anhalt Station. They are within a mile of Hitler's Bunker in the east and south. The German garrison is running out of ammunition and food. General Weidling, the capital's commandant, estimates that the bullets will run out in another two days. The defence may not last that long as the Russians drive ever closer to the Reichstag. They are infiltrating through the subways and sewers, often storming the defences from below. Now not much more than the area round the Tiergarten remains in German hands.

FINLAND: The Commander of the Finnish III Corps, General Siilasvuo reports that the mission of Puolustusvoimat is complete. The Second World War is over for Finland.

WESTERN FRONT: The US 1st and 9th Armies link up at Lippstadt, cutting off the German forces in the Ruhr which consist of 325,000 men mostly from German 15th Army and 5th Panzer Army of German Army Group B (Field Marshal Model). Other elements of US 1st Army capture Paderborn while US 9th Army units take Hamm. To the north, forces of British 2nd Army have crossed the Mitteland Canal near Munster and are advancing to Osnabruck. The Canadian First Army (Crerar) captures Emden and Wilhelmshaven, while the US Seventh Army (Patch) occupies Augsburg, Regensburg and Ingolstadt.

In the Netherlands, Operation Duck begins, with the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division beginning an assault on the town of Leer.

In the English Channel, German U-boats have sunk 8 Allied ships, 3 destroyers and 2 corvettes.

(US Ninth Air Force): Weather prevents all Ninth AF combat operations. Unit moves in Germany: HQ 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance) and 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron from Ober Olm to Furth with F-6s; 493d Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, from Kassel to Illesheim with P-47s.

GERMANY: Hitler receives word via Göbbels' Propaganda Ministry that the BBC was reporting SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler's attempted peace negotiations, Hitler orders his immediate arrest and execution and has his liaison officer, Hermann Fegelein, shot dead.

'U-56' sunk at Kiel, in position 54.19N, 10.10E, by bombs from British aircraft. 6 dead and 19 survivors.

Obstlt. Bär, GeschwaderKommodore of JV 44 scores his sixteenth and last jet victory of the war, making him the highest scoring jet ace of World War II.

JG 7 pilot Lt. Fritz Kelb, the only Jägdflieger to achieve kills with both the Me 163 rocket fighter (JG 400) and Me 262 jet fighter (JG 7), is killed in action, by flak near Cottbus.

MEDITTERANEAN: British Guards and Commando units attack over the River Reno between Lake Comachio and the sea.

The body of Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, dictator of Italy until his downfall in 1943, hangs upside-down over an ESSO garage forecourt in Milan. The body of his mistress, Clara Petacci, hangs next to it. Both bodies have been mutilated. Earlier today, a woman fired five revolver shots - "for my five dead sons" into the Duce's body. Others spat at their former leader. With his SS escort, Mussolini was heading towards the Alps where he believed that he could continue the war in the mountains with 3,000 fanatical Fascist followers. In fact, only 12 turned up at a rendezvous. They then drove through dangerous, partisan-held territory.The partisans caught up with Petacci and Mussolini, dressed in a German uniform, at Dongo, on Lake Como. After interrogation, a communist partisan, Walter Audisio, lined them up at the gate of the Villa Belmonte in Mezzegra. First, he shot Petacci, who clung to her lover. Then Mussolini opened his coat wide and asked to be shot in the chest. The machine-gun rang out and the Duce slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. Audisio moved closer, and fired the final shot into his heart.

(US Twelfth Air Force): Weather severely curtails operations. In Italy, XXII Tactical Air Command fighters and fighter-bombers, flying 100+ sorties, hit enemy movement in the battle area at several points from S of Piacenza to NW of Milan; medium bombers are grounded.
 
GERMANY: In the last hours before his suicide, Hitler proclaimed his faith that the Nazi creed will arise again from the ashes of Germany's defeat. "I die with a happy heart," he says in his last testament, in the certainty that through the sacrifices of his soldiers and himself there "will spring up ... the seed of a radiant rebirth of the National Socialist movement and thus of a truly united nation." The Führer dictated his message to posterity during the night, soon after his wedding to Eva Braun. Neither he nor "anybody else in Germany" wanted war, but "I left no one in doubt that this time not only would millions ... meet their death ... but this time the real culprits would have to pay for their guilt even though by more humane means than war." He sees betrayal on all sides: in the army, the air force, even in the SS. He concludes by asking that his personal possessions be passed to his sister, Paula, "for maintaining a petty bourgeois standard of living." Hitler says goodbye to his medical staff.

EASTERN FRONT: In the battle of Berlin, the Red Army has now captured most of the city except for the area around the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichskanzlei and the Reichstag which is still fiercely defended by isolated units of the Waffen-SS. There is little left now for the defenders of Berlin to die for. They are being split up into small groups which fall back to fight from the Flak towers and large air-raid shelters. Guns are set up in railway yards, squares and parks to hold off the advancing tanks. It appears that a last stand will be made in the Tiergarten, but more and more men are risking the SS execution squads and surrendering. North of the capital, Red Army units capture Anklam and other towns. In the south, Soviet pressure in Austria and Czechoslovakia continues.

The Red Army sets up a provisional government in Vienna.

WESTERN FRONT: The British Second Army crosses the Elbe at Lauenburg, 20 miles E of Hamburg, and advances toward Schwerin and Wismar in Mecklenburg. The French First Army (de Tassigny) captures Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. South of the Danube River, US 3rd Army units reach the River Isar.

A tentative agreement is made with the Swedish Government for German forces in Norway to be disarmed and interred in Sweden.

The last parts of French soil, on the Alpine front, still held by Germans are liberated by French forces.

30,000 surviving inmates of Dachau are liberated by troops of the US 3rd Army. The advance continues toward Munich.

Dachau: Enraged GIs who liberated Dachau death camp today killed many SS guards crossing their paths. At Webling, about five miles away, 43 SS men were killed. The GIs, men of the 157th and 222nd Infantry Regiments, found mounds of bodies outside a crematorium, and lying inside and alongside rail cattle trucks. Local civilians were busy looting, accompanied by their children. An arrogant commander attempted a formal military hand-over. The GIs screamed "Kill 'em!" and opened fire. Twelve died before a colonel intervened. Those liberated today included Lt-Cdr Patrick Albert O'Leary), a Belgian, who ran a PoW escape network in France before his betrayal in 1943. Silent under torture, he was sent to Dachau.

Convoy RA-66 of 24 ships, becomes involved in the last convoy battle of the war. There are no transports sunk, only one damaged. But two U-boats are lost. This battle will continue through the 2nd of May. 'U-427' attacked destroyer HMCS 'Haida' but missed upon departure of Convoy RA-66 from Kola Inlet. Also in escort were sister ships HMCS 'Iroquois' and 'Huron'. 'U-307' sunk in the Barents Sea near Murmansk, Russia, in position 69.24N, 33.44E, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS 'Loch Insh'. 37 dead and 14 survivors. 'U-286' Type VIIC Sank the first time 17th March 1944 in the Baltic Sea east of Rgen after collision with 'U-1013'. 26 survivors. Raised and repaired and returned to duty. On 18 July 1944 a Norwegian Mosquito aircraft (Sqdn 333/K) attacked the boat, causing damages and killing 1 man and wounding 7 more. The boat reached Kristiansand, Norway on the same day. Finally sunk today in the Barents Sea north of Murmansk, Russia, in position 69.29N, 33.37E, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS 'Loch Insh', 'Anguilla' and 'Cotton'. 51 dead (all hands lost).

Whilst engaged on an A/S sweep off Kola prior to the departure of convoy RA.66, frigate HMS 'Goodall' is torpedoed and magazine explodes blowing away the forward part of the ship. Beyond salvage, she is abandoned and scuttled. Location: entrance to Kola Inlet at 69 25N 33 38E. 'Goodall' is the last British warship to be sunk by submarine attack.

'U-1017' sunk in the North Atlantic NW of Ireland, in position 56.04N, 11.06W, by depth charges from an RAF 120 Sqn Liberator. 34 dead, unknown number of survivors.

Operation Manna: A large pocket in Western Holland was still in German hands and the population was approaching starvation; many old or sick people had already died. A truce was arranged with the local German commander and Lancasters of Nos 1, 3 and 8 Groups started to drop food supplies for the civilian population. Eighteen aircraft of No 153 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, began dropping food parcels from a height of 400 feet to the starving Dutch civilians. In the winter of 44/45, the 'Hunger Winter' as the Dutch call it, northern Holland and the heavily populated cities in Western Holland was still under German occupation. Around 18,000 of the elder, sick and young had died through sickness and lack of sufficient food. Churchill had written on April 10th, 'I fear we may soon be in the presence of a great tragedy'. The first food drop (284 bags) was over Ypenburg, near the Hague, subsequent drops were on the Dundigt Racecourse. Before the food-drop operation began an agreement was reached whereby German anti-aircraft units would not fire on low flying aircraft dropping food. This was agreed to by the then Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands, Artur Seyss-Inquart, who was later found guilty of participating in the deportation of Jews. (He was hanged at Nuremberg on October 16, 1946) Over the next ten days the squadron flew 111 sorties, dropping 7,029 tons of the much needed food. Pathfinder Mosquitos 'marked' the dropping zones. 2,835 Lancaster and 124 Mosquito flights were made before the Germans surrendered at the end of the war and allowed ships and road transport to enter the area. Bomber Command delivered 6,672 tons of food during Operation Manna. The operation continues for ten days, delivering 7,000 tons of food. US Army Air Force joins in, with Operation Chowhound, delivering 4000+ tons of food supplies.

(US Eighth Air Force): Mission 971: 8 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany.

HQ 64th Fighter Wing moves from Edenkoben to Schwabisch-Hall, Germany.

(US Ninth Air Force): Weather cancels operations by the 9th Bombardment Division. Fighters fly patrols and airfield cover, hit special targets, fly armed reconnaissance over E Germany and W Czechoslovakia, and cooperate with the XII Corps moving SE between the Danube River and the Czech border N of Linz, Austria, and with the XX Corps as some of its units establish bridgeheads and begin crossing the Isar River in the Plattling-Landau an der Isar-Landshut-Passau, Germany areas. Unit moves: HQ 48th Fighter Group and 494th Fighter Squadron from Kassel to Illesheim, Germany with P-47s; HQ 387th Bombardment Group (Medium) from Clastres, France to Beek, the Netherlands.

MEDITTERANEAN: After three weeks of tense negotiations, the German garrison in Italy surrendered unconditionally. More than one million men - 22 German divisions in Italy and Austria - are preparing to lay down their arms and march into prison camps. A vast are of former Axis territory is now in Allied hands. Negotiations began in great secrecy. The Germans had lost most of their heavy guns and tanks when they were trapped south of the Po. Fleeing survivors - including generals - had been forced to swim to safety as Allied tanks raced across the valley. Bologna had fallen and partisans had taken control of Milan and Turin. The German position was hopeless. It was an SS general, Karl Wolff, who made the first overtures, using Cardinal Schuster of Milan as intermediary. The surrender document was signed at Allied headquarters here today. In a proclamation, General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, the German commander, told his soldiers: "Hitherto you have obeyed your Führer. Today you must obey your orders."

Venice is liberated by the 8th Army. American 1st Armored Division enters Milan, Italy.

(US Fifteenth Air Force): Bad weather again prevents bomber operations. 8 P-51s and P-38s complete weather and photo reconnaissance missions. 39 P-51s fly armed reconnaissance over NE Italy; 5 of the fighters bomb and 4 strafe various targets of opportunity, claiming 4 motor transports destroyed and a reconnaissance car and 2 parked aircraft damaged.

(US Twelfth Air Force): In Italy, weather again restricts operations; the medium bombers are grounded; fighters and fighter-bombers attack retreating forces and communications throughout NE Italy including Thiene Airfield and claim 350+ motor transport destroyed; enemy forces in Italy, commanded by General Heinrich von Vietinghoff surrender unconditionally at Caserta, effective 2 May; HQ 57th Fighter Group and 64th, 65th and 66th Fighter Squadrons move from Grosseto to Villafranca di Verona, with P-47s.
 
EASTERN FRONT: The battle of Berlin is reaching its bloody climax. Isolated pockets of German resistance throughout the city are overpowered and systematically destroyed. The Reichstag building is now under Russian control. The Russians turned their guns on the building at 0500 and pounded it until early this afternoon, when Zhukov's men poured through shell holes in the walls and fought their way, hand to hand, through the shattered corridors and rooms. The honour of raising the Red Flag over the building fell late tonight to two sergeants, M. A. Yegorov and M. V. Kontary. The final battle of Berlin is over.

To the north, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front advance toward Straslund, Waren and Wittenberge. In Czechoslovakia, Mor Ostrava is occupied after a lengthy battle. German forces continue to hold a part of Maravia and most of Bohemia. Slovakia has been completely overrun by Soviet forces. Troops of the Second White Russian Front capture Greifswald, Treptow, Neustrelitz, Fuerstenberg, Gransee, Lassen, Wolgast, Rheinsberg, Hanshagen, Zuessow, Guetzkow, Jarmen, Bartow, Burow, Sarow, Wolde, Penzlin, Menz, Gros-Woltersdorf, Dolgow.

Soviet troops liberate Ravensbruck concentration camp. The defenders of Breslau, decimated by relentless Soviet attacks, are still holding out.

GERMANY: Eva Braun had no appetite for lunch today, so Hitler dined with his two secretaries and his cook. At 3.30 pm having finished his meal, he sent for Eva, his bride of 36 hours, and they retired to his quarters. In the passage, Goebbels and a few other faithful followers waited. A single shot rang out. After some minutes they opened the door. The body of Adolf Hitler, dripping blood, was slumped on a couch. He had shot himself in the mouth. Beside him was Eva Braun. Two revolvers lay on the floor, but she had not used hers; she had taken poison. Hitler's valet, SS Major Heinz Linge, and a servant carried Hitler's body, wrapped in an army blanket, up to the garden of the Chancellery. Martin Bormann brought Eva Braun's, then handed it to the Führer's chauffeur Erich Kempka. With Russian shells exploding all around, Linge and Kempka slid the bodies into a shell hole. The bodies were doused with petrol and set alight with a burning rag. Goebbels stood to attention and raised his right hand in the Nazi salute. The propaganda wizard had risen to the heights with Hitler; now he was preparing to follow him in death. It was Himmler's "treachery" - the SS chief was trying to make a separate peace with the western Allies - that persuaded Hitler that the end had come. But first his mistress's long-cherished desire must be fulfilled. In the early hours of Sunday, a city councillor called Wagner was tracked down fighting with the Volkssturm and brought to the bunker to marry the Führer and Eva, who both swore that they were "of complete Aryan descent". In the space on the marriage form for the name of his father (Schicklgruber) Hitler left a blank. The bride began to write "Eva Braun", stopped, struck out the "B" and wrote "Eva Hitler". The next day a pistol shot put an end to the "Thousand Year Reich" that lasted for little more than twelve years. The new German "Führer" is to be the commander of the German navy. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz. Appalled by Himmler's treachery and Göring's incompetence, Hitler appointed the former U-boat commander as president of the Reich because he was the only man left to trust.

The last Focke-Wulf Ta 154 Moskito, an experimental prototype with angled wing tips and middle wing aerials for night fighting work, crashes during a service flight at Stade.

British troops liberate over 21,500 prisoners in Sandbostel, Germany. Allied forces reach Moosburg, liberating a prisoner-of-war camp of 110,000 British and American troops.

WESTERN FRONT: Forces of French 1st Army enter Austria near Lake Constance, in the south, while units of British 2nd Army, in the north, advance toward the Baltic coast. The US Seventh Army (Patch) enters Munich.

American, French, and Canadian forces make an amphibious assault on Ile d'Oleron on the French Atlantic coast. By evening, they capture St. Trojan.

Canadian forces clear most of Leer, Netherlands, from German forces.

'U-2511' set out from Bergen for her first and last patrol. The crew served under very experienced U-boat officers like Oak-Leaves owner Korvkpt. Adalbert Schnee, the former very successful commander of 'U-201' and then two years one of closest staff members of Dönitz. The destination for that patrol was to be the Caribbean, where the boat had should be tested under all conditions.

US Strategic Air Forces in Europe and the British Air Ministry declare an end to strategic bombing in Europe. The policy is declared to have come up to every expectation, wrecking oil plants, aircraft factories, and railway systems.

(US Eighth Air Force): Mission 972: 6 of 7 B-17s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and France.

(US Ninth Air Force): Weather cancels 9th Bombardment Division and XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) operations. In Germany, the IX Tactical Air Command flies airfield cover, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance; the XIX Tactical Air Command flies patrols and armed reconnaissance, and cooperates with the XII Corps moving SE between the Danube River and the Czech border N of Linz, Austria and with the XX Corps crossing the Isar River at several points in the Landau an der Isar-Landshut area. Unit moves in Germany: HQ 354th Fighter Group and 356th Fighter Squadron from Ober Olm to Ansbach with P-47s; HQ 362d Fighter Group and 379th Fighter Squadron from Frankfurt to Furth with P-47s; HQ 405th Fighter Group from Ophoven, Belgium to Kitzingen; 31st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance) from Ober Olm to Furth with F-5s.

MEDITERRANEAN: American 5th Army's 442nd Infantry Regiment enters Turin, Italy. Allies capture Gargnano, Cittadella, Bassano, Friolo, Treviso, Chioggia, and Alessandria.

In Milan, Italy, partisans execute former chief of staff for the Italian Army Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, following a quick trial.

(US Fifteenth Air Force): For the fourth consecutive day bad weather cancels bomber operations; P-38s fly reconnaissance, escorted by P-51s. Other P-51s and P-38s escort supply-dropping missions to N Italy and Yugoslavia.

(US Twelfth Air Force): In Italy during the night of 29/30 Apr, A-20s and A-26s hit motor transport near Lake Como and roads in the Trento, San Michele all'Adige, and Bolzano areas; bad weather grounds the medium bombers; fighter-bombers fly armed reconnaissance over N Italy, blasting guns, vehicles, and other targets of opportunity; the 12th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 3d Photographic Group (Reconnaissance) moves from Peretola Airfield, Florence to Villafranca with F-5s.
 
EASTERN FRONT: In the battle of Berlin, the remaining pockets of German resistance in the center of the city are crumbling. General Krebs, head of the OKH after Guderian's dismissal on March 26, begins negotiations with General Chuikov, CO of Eighth Guards Army, about the Soviet terms for a surrender. He is informed that surrender must be unconditional. German-Soviet truce talks are ended when a German sniper injures Russian Major Belovsoff. Soviet forces retaliate with a intense shell barrage.

GERMANY: The Fuhrerbunker, in Berlin, empties as Martin Borman leaves with others. Josef Goebbels and his wife die after killing their six children. First the children had to be poisoned, all six of them: Helga, 12; Hilda, 11; Helmut, nine; Holde, seven; Hedda, five; and Heide, three. Having given them lethal injections. Josef Goebbels and his wife Magda left the bunker and asked an SS orderly to shoot them in the back of the head.

Recovering from his wounds in a bed in a villa on the shores of the Tegernsee, Generalleutnant Adolf Galland typed out a note and sealed in an envelope, handed it to Major Willi Herget, a former nightfighter. Galland instructed Herget to fly - in a Storch Galland had procured - to Schleissheim to offer a special surrender of JV 44 to the Allies. Major Herget, along with Hptm. Kessler, reach the Allies, delivers his message and flies back to Galland with a reply. Although Galland types another note to the Allies, Herget is unable to take-off due to the weather. The special surrender will have to wait until the next day.

Grossadmiral Dönitz, following the death of Hitler, assumes his duties as the new German head of state. He orders utmost resistance on all fronts, especially in the East where tens of thousands of German civilians are still trying to escape from the stampeding Red Army. From the deck of the Aviso (sloop) 'Grille' Dönitz announces the death of Hitler.

WESTERN FRONT: In the north, the British continue their moves toward Lubeck and Hamburg. The US 1st and 9th Armies are firmly established along the line of the Elbe and Mulde rivers. They have been forbidden to advance farther into the zone designated for Soviet occupation. The US 7th Army continues advancing into Austria.

German forces begin abandoning Denmark. Canadian forces capture Delfzijl, Netherlands.

The Portuguese Government orders flags at half-staff and two days of mourning for Adolf Hitler.

Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt is captured by US troops. US 7th Army captures German Field Marshal General Wilhelm Rutter von Leeb and German Field Marshal General Wilhelm List.

(US Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 973: 396 B-17s are dispatched to drop food supplies in the Hague (237) and Rotterdam (155), the Netherlands; a total of 777.1 tons of food are dropped. Mission 974: During the night of 1/2 May, 4 of 5 B-24s drop leaflets in Germany.

(US Ninth Air Force): 9 A-26s bomb an ammunition plant at Stod, Czechoslovakia. The IX Tactical Air Command escorts the bombers, flies airfield cover, and patrols the Leipzig-Schwarzenberg, Germany area. The XIX Tactical Air Command flies patrols and armed reconnaissance over E Germany, W Czechoslovakia, and Austria, dive-bombs Berchtesgaden, and operates with the US XII Corps which is advancing SE between the Danube River and the Czech border and N into Czechoslovakia N of Passau, Germany, and with the XX Corps whose advance elements speed toward the Inn River at Wasserburg, Germany; the 353d and 355th Fighter Squadrons, 354th Fighter Group, move from Ober Olm to Ansbach, Germany with P-47s.

MEDITTERANEAN: German General Vietinghoff agrees to the terms signed at Caserta. Partisans under Tito capture Trieste a few hours before Britain's Eighth Army. Possession of this city will become a point of dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia after the war.

(US Fifteenth Air Force): Despite bad weather 27 B-17s bomb the main station and marshalling yard at Salzburg, Austria; this is the final Fifteenth AF bombing mission of the war; P-38s and P-51s fly reconnaissance and reconnaissance escort missions.

(US Twelfth Air Force): During the night of 30 Apr/1 May A-20s and A-26s bomb targets of opportunity in N Italy; bad weather during the day cancels medium bomber operations; fighter-bombers destroy numerous motor and horse-drawn vehicles in NE Italy; US Fifth Army forces approach the Brenner Pass on the Austro-Italian border, while British Eighth Army elements make contact with Yugoslav troops of Marshal Tito near Monfalcone; the flight of the 5th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 3d Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), operating from Pisa with F-5s returns to base at Peretola Airfield, Florence.

Greek Commandos with co-operation of British Navy and Air Force make four simultaneous raids on the west coast of Rhodes Island in the Dodecanese Islands in Aegean Sea. German and Italian casualties are estimated at 89, with just three British troops wounded.
 
Thats a fair trade off for use of the Azores , which was probably the best asset they had
 
GERMANY: Karl Dönitz appoints Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk as Foreign Minister, replacing Joachim von Ribbentrop.

As Major Herget flies near the outskirts of Munich with Galland's answer to the Allies about the status of JV 44, his Storch is fired upon by Allied ground troops. Herget crash-lands, is burned and ends the war in an Allied medical station.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet forces complete the capture of Berlin, when Soviet units in the north and south of Berlin link up on the Charlottenburg Chaussee. German forces surrender to Marshal Zhukov, who immediately despatches troops to search for the bodies of Hitler and Goebbels. The German surrender is made by General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling, CO of LVI Panzer Korps, and last "Kampf-kommandant" of Berlin. He unconditionally surrenders all German forces in the 'Reichshauptstadt' of Germany to the forces of the Soviet Red Army. With over 130,000 men surrendering in Berlin, General Weidling was taken, together with Mohnke, Gunsche, and other survivors, to the airfield at Strausberg, about 35 km east of the city, where the Russians had established a special holding camp for VIP prisoners. Through O'Donnell's account, Mohnke has told us that the next day (May 4) Weidling and his staff had to leave the camp in the morning, returning that night. He had been taken to the Reichskanzlei where he was filmed coming out of one of the exits to the Voss Strasse from the cellars beneath the ruins of the Reichs Chancellery. Later, the Russians were to use this piece of film as propaganda , saying that it had been taken at Weidling's headquarters (he had actually directed the battle from Army Headquarters in the Bendlerblock) after he had signed the surrender document. Stalin announces the fall of Berlin in his Order of the Day No. 359.

Breslau learns of the surrender of Berlin, and General Herman Niehoff asks Army Group Center that he be allowed to surrender the city. His request is denied.

North of Berlin, Soviet units have taken Rostock and many other towns. The only large German forces which remain in contact with the Soviet armies are those isolated in Latvia and those in Austria and Czechoslovakia.

In Berlin, a Major Feodor Novikov of the Red Army ordered the vaults of the Reichbank to be opened. Still in the vaults were 90 gold bars worth 1.3 million dollars and gold coins worth 2.1 million dollars. Also 400 million dollars worth of negotiable bonds. Major Novikov ordered the vaults locked and demanded the keys. Shortly afterwards the entire contents of the vault disappeared. The gold was never seen again, but the bonds keep turning up even today all over the world!. Another six and a half tons of gold, recovered from Ribbentrop's castle 'Schloss Fuschl' near Salzburg and turned over to the US Army on June 15, 1945, also disappeared and no records of it being received at the Frankfurt US Foreign Exchange Depository can be found. In 1945 it was worth over seven million dollars. Much of the gold recovered by the Americans was re-smelted and in the process all hallmarks, Nazi symbols and identification numbers, were erased.

WESTERN FRONT: The British 2nd Army captures Lübeck and Wismar. US and Soviet troops meet near Barow and Abbendorf. Units Canadian 1st Army capture Oldenburg. American units continue their advances in Austria and Bavaria. The defenders of Innsbruck begin to sue for peace. The French I Corps reaches Gotzis and Obersdorf. The final German defenders of the Dutch port of Delfzijl surrender.

A large group of German rocket engineers surrender to American forces.

US 7th Army in Germany captures Field Marshal General Karl von Rundstedt, former commander in the West.

The American 13th Armored Division peacefully enters Braunau, in former Austria, birthplace of Adolf Hitler.

16 RAF Mosquito Mk XVIs of No. 608 Squadron, No. 8 Group join Halifaxes of No.100 Group (Nos. 177 and 199 Squadrons) to make the last Bomber Command raid of the Second World War, an attack on Kiel. There had been no offensive operations by Bomber Command since 26/27 April and most squadrons thought that their war in Europe was over, but it was feared that the Germans were assembling ships at Kiel to transport troops to Norway in order to carry on the war there. A last raid by No 8 Group Mosquitos was thus organized, with a large supporting effort being provided. 16 Mosquito bombers of No 8 Group and 37 Mosquitos of No 100 Group were first dispatched to attack airfields in the Kiel area. A Mosquito of No 169 Squadron, No 100 Group, was lost while carrying out a low-level napalm attack on Jagel airfield; its crew - Flying Officer R Catterall, DFC, and Flight Sergeant DJ Beadle - were killed. 126 Mosquitos of No 8 Group then attacked Kiel in 2 raids, 1 hour apart. The target area was almost completely cloud-covered but H2S and Oboe were used. Large fires on the ground were seen through the cloud. No Mosquitos were lost on these raids. Towards morning, a large column of military vehicles departed in the direction of Flensburg on the Danish frontier. Meanwhile, there had been a final small tragedy for Bomber Command. 89 RCM aircraft of No 100 Group had been sent to support the Mosquito bomber force and 2 Halifaxes from No 199 Squadron, each with 8 men on board, were lost. The Halifaxes had been part of the Mandrel screen and were also carrying 4,500lb bombs and large quantities of Window. The 2 aircraft crashed at Meimersdorf, just south of Kiel, and it is probable that they collided while on their bomb runs. They were the last Bomber Command aircraft to be lost in the war. There were only 3 survivors. 13 airmen, 12 from the United Kingdom and one from the Irish Republic, mostly second-tour men, died.

RCAF, RAF, and Norwegian 'Mosquito' fighter-bomber a/c from RCAF 404 Sqn, RAF 143, 235, and 248 Sqns and Norwegian 333 (RAF) Sqn, attacked and sank 'U-2359' in the Kattegat, in position 57.29N, 011.24E. There were no survivors from her crew of 12.

RAF Mitchell light bombers of 2nd T.A.F. make their last mission of the war when 47 aircraft of Nos. 98, 108, 226, 320 and 342 Squadrons bomb railway marshalling yards at Itzehoe.

Minesweeping trawler HMS 'Ebor Wyke' was torpedoed and sunk by 'U-979' off Hrafneyri Light, seven miles north of Skagi, Iceland. The only survivor was Coxswain John Milnes.

(US Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 975: 401 B-17s are dispatched to drop food supplies in the Netherlands at Schipol (250) and Alkmaar (20) Airfields, Vogelenznag (40), Hilversum (20), Utrecht (59) and targets of opportunity (4); 4 B-17s are damaged by 20mm fire which ceases as soon as a green flare is fired; a total of 767.1 tons of food are dropped. Mission 976: 8 B-17s, escorted by 9 P-51s, drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany during daylight hours.

(US Ninth Air Force): Weather cancels 9th Bombardment Division operations. In Germany, fighters fly airfield cover, defensive- freelance patrols, a sweep over the Dessau area, and patrol the Straubing- Ingolstadt area and the US Third Army front in Austria and Czechoslovakia; unit moves: HQ 394th BG (Medium) from Niergnies Airfield, Cambrai, France to Venlo, the Netherlands; 14th Liaison Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command (attached to Twelfth Army Group) from Erlangen to Regensburg with L-5s; 72d Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Sixth Army Group), from Gmund to Augsburg; 377th and 378th FS, 362d FG, and 425th Night Fighter Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command, from Frankfurt to Furth with P-47s and P-61s respectively.

Irish Prime Minister Eamon de Valera expresses condolences to the German Legation for Adolf Hitler's death.

French Pierre Laval arrives at Barcelona airport, agreeing to be interned and dealt with by Allied Governments.

MEDITTERANEAN: The German surrender is effective at noon. The long, difficult and controversial campaign in Italy is over. Allied forces reach Trieste, Milan and Turin during the course of the day, while others are advancing north toward Brenner Pass where they will link up with US 7th Army forces from the north. 490,000 troops become PoWs. A remarkable story of the dangerous intrigue that led up to the surrender of German forces in Italy began to emerge today. It was an SS man, Karl Wolff, who masterminded negotiations in Switzerland and north Italy with Allen Dulles, the representative of the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was formed in 1942 to gather intelligence and aid resistance groups. The first peace-feelers were put out in December by two SS men concerned with the possibility that Hitler's threat of a "scorched-earth" policy would destroy much of Italy's culture. Dulles took a cool view of Wolff's involvement, but agreed to talk when two Italian partisans were freed as a gesture of good faith. Negotiations began seriously at Ascona, a resort of Lake Maggiore. Despite Russian objections, two Allied officers, joined Dulles in total secrecy. In grave danger, Wolff was recalled to Berlin but used his charm to escape Hitler's wrath. Even so, he and his co-conspirators faced death until the surrender was signed at Caserta. German command radio calls on remaining troops to surrender.

New Zealand 2nd Division of the British 8th Army accepts the surrender of the German garrison in the port of Trieste, Yugoslavia.

(US Twelfth Air Force): Bad weather continues; medium bombers are grounded while the XXII Tactical Air Command flies an uneventful armed reconnaissance in NE Italy.

ENGLAND: The British Government announces that the air raid warning system has been discontinued. It was heard 1224 times during the war.

SOUTH AMERICA: Over two days, residents of Montevideo, Uruguay celebrate the fall of Berlin, Germany. The celebrations turn to rioting and looting; 58 are injured, and thousands of dollars worth of property are damaged.
 
GERMANY: Admiral Dönitz moves his seat of government to Flensburg. Karl Dönitz signs an edict written by Albert Speer, prohibiting the destruction of any facilities.

The Me 163 rocket fighters of JG 1 move from Ludwigslust to Leck.

JV 44, the "Squadron of Experts" ends its wartime mission at Salzburg. At dawn, the pilots gathered for a final briefing where Geschwaderkommodore Heinz Bar disperses the ground crews and some pilots. He orders the engine governors of the Me 262s on the field removed. After several hours, American tanks begin to move towards the airfield. Without any word of a surrender or orders, Hptm. Walter Krupinski and a mechanic grab a box of grenades and climb aboard a kettenkrad. Driving down the row of JV 44's Me 262s, Krupinski places grenades within the engine nacells and within a few minutes there was a line of smoking Me 262s laid waste behind them. A while later, American troops entered the field and the senior officers of JV 44 - Bar, Krupinski, Barkhorn, Herget, Hohagen, Schnell and Gutowski - are captured and led away to captivity at Bad Aibling.

In Bavaria, GeschwaderKommodore Wolfgang Falck, the originator of the German night fighter force, surrenders to American forces. He still hasn't found his HQ or staff.

'U-446' scuttled near Kiel, and 'U-3505' was bombed and sunk.

P-47 unit moves in Germany: 314th, 315th and 316th Fighter Squadrons, 324th Fighter Group, from Luneville, France to Stuttgart; 406th Fighter Squadron, 371st Fighter Group, from Eschborn Airfield, Frankfurt to Furth.

WESTERN FRONT: British Field Marshal Bernhard Montgomery tells German General of the Army, Admiral Hans von Friedeburg and three others to surrender unconditionally all German forces in Holland, Friesen, Frisian Islands, Helgoland, Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark, and all other islands. They take the message back to Field Marshal Ernst Busch. Friedeburg informs Montgomery of the German wish to dicuss surrender of all German armed forces.

In northern Germany, the British 12th Corps (Dempsey) occupies Hamburg, the last significant objective of British offensive operations. The British 6th Airborne and the US 7th Armoured Division captured the north German town of Wismar. The actual capture was carried out by men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Just outside the town were the Russian front lines from where drunken soldiers, fuelled by a mixture of vodka and rocket fuel, were flocking into town in search of wine, women and song. The main hospital in Wismar was now occupied by the Paras. That night, a group of Russian soldiers approached the main gate of the hospital and demanded that all German nurses be brought out. Told that no women were here they pushed the sentry aside and entered the courtyard. A half dressed Para pocked his head out of a window and shouted 'They are our girls, get lost'. Suddenly a shot rang out followed by the rattle of a British Sten-gun. The drunken Russians scattered as shooting broke out on both sides. It was all over in minutes, the Russians retiring to their own lines. US forces are advancing swiftly on Salzburg and Linz while British troops pursue the Germans up the Kiel Canal.

American, British, and Canadian planes sink or damage over 64 ships off the Baltic coast of Schleswig-Holstein, as thousands of Germans flee toward Denmark and Norway.

A tragic episode today claimed the lives of 8,000 people who had survived the hell of the concentration-camp system. The victims, mainly Jews, were survivors from Neuengamme, and Stutthof. The commandant, Max Pauly, had loaded them onto the liners, German Hamburg South America Line ship 'Cap Arcona' (27,600 tons), 'THIELBEK' and 'Deutschland' rather than hand them over in their camps to the Red Cross or the Allies. Their hopes ended this afternoon when three RAF Typhoon ground-attack fighters swooped low over Neustadt Bay and sank the ships in a rocket attack. Most drowned immediately. A few managed to jump overboard, only to run the gamut of Nazi machine-gun fire.

'U-1210' sunk near Eckernförde, in position 54.28N, 09.54E, by USAAF bombs. 1 dead, unknown number of survivors.

'U-2521' sunk in the Flensburg Fjord, in position 54.49N, 09.50E by rockets from RAF 184 Sqn Typhoons. 44 dead, unknown number of survivors.

'U-3032' sunk east of Frederica, in position 54.26,5N, 11.32,2E, by rockets from RAF 184 Sqn Typhoons. 36 dead and 24 survivors.

'U-2524' RAF 236 and 254 Sqn Beaufighters attacked the boat killing 1 man and damaging the boat. The boat was scuttled later that day. The LI refused to leave the boat and perished with it.

During an attack from a Beaufighter aircraft on a rocket penetrated into the control room of 'U-2503' killing the commander and 12 of his men. She was scuttled the next day.

(US Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 977: 399 B-17s are dispatched to drop food supplies in the Netherlands at Schipol (251) and Alkmaar (20) Airfields, Vogelenzang (42), Hilversum (21), Utrecht (58) and a target of opportunity (3) in the Netherlands; a total of 739.1 tons of food are dropped. Mission 978: 14 B-17s, escorted by 43 of 47 P-51s, drop leaflets in Germany during the day.

(US Ninth Air Force): 132 A-26s (on the final 9th Bombardment Division raid) bomb the Stod, Czechoslovakia ammunition plant. The IX Tactical Air Command escorts the A-26s and C-47s and flies airfield cover; the XIX Tactical Air Command patrols the US Third Army front, flies armed reconnaissance over Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia in the frontline areas and around Kiel and Lubeck, Germany, and escorts the A-26s; the XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) escorts C-47s, flies sweeps, and hits shipping in the Kiel- Lubeck area. Unit moves: HQ 98th Combat Bombardment Wing (Medium) from Havrincourt, France to Venlo, the Netherlands; HQ 362d Fighter Group from Furth to Illesheim, Germany.

EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army makes contact with American troops on the Elbe, to the west of Berlin, and with British troops to the north. In the city itself it mops up the last pockets of resistance.

MEDITERRANEAN: US troops meet US 5th Army from Italy at Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy.

(US Fifteenth Air Force): Bad weather again restricts operations to reconnaissance and reconnaissance escort missions by 20 P-38s and escort of Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force (MATAF) a B-25 leaflet dropping mission in N Italy.

(US Twelfth Air Force): To assure that the enemy implements the surrender terms in Italy and to observe road activity, fighters fly reconnaissance missions over N Italy and SW Austria; medium bombers drop leaflets in several areas where enemy troops might be unaware of the surrender. The 121st Liaison Squadron, Twelfth AF (attached to Fifth Army), moves from Florence to Verona, Italy with L-4s and L-5s.

Brazilian War Minister Eurico Dutra announce the Brazilian Expeditionary Force will return home from Italy immediately.
 
WESTERN FRONT: In a tent on the desolate Lüneburg Heath, three generals and two admirals this evening put their signatures to the surrender of all German armed forces in north-west Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. As Montgomery read out the capitulation terms, a nervous German general took out a cigarette; Monty, who disapproves of smoking, gave him a sharp glance and the German hastily put it away. The German team was led by an Admiral, Hans Georg von Friedeburg. The surrender takes effect from 8am tomorrow. More than 500,000 troops are involved; these will join the 500,000 taken prisoner in the past 24 hours. The Germans also agree to the Allied demand that German submarines should be surrendered rather than scuttled -- in the German naval tradition.

German delegates of the 24th Army request surrender terms of the French.

General Harry Crerar of the Canadian 1st Army orders all planned assaults called off, as a German surrender is considered imminent.

The British Second Army occupies Kiel. Troops of the US First Army prepare to march into Czechoslovakia. Salzburg is taken by US forces, who then move on towards Berchtesgaden. Units of the US 3rd Army complete the crossing of the river Inn, and Innsbruck finally surrenders.

'U-2511' Korvkpt. Adalbert Schnee, the former very successful commander of 'U-201' and then two years one of closest staff members of Dönitz, received the ceasefire orders. A few hours later 'U-2511' made a contact with cruiser HMS 'Norfolk' among some other British warships. The boat approached to within 500 meters of the British warship without any sonar contact from the enemy destroyers. Schnee had here the possibility for an absolute deadly attack against the cruiser, but then he left the scene without attacking and headed back to base.

'U-711' sunk in the Arctic near Harstad, Norway, in position 68.43,717N, 16.34,600E, by depth charges from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of escort carriers HMS 'Searcher', 'Trumpeter' and 'Queen'. 40 dead and 12 survivors.

'U-2338' sunk ENE of Frederica, position 55.34N, 09.49E, by RAF 236 and 254 Sqn Beaufighters. 12 dead and 1 survivor.

'U-155' shot down an RAF 126 Sqn Mustang.

British forces land on Jutland, Denmark. Soviet forces begin attacking Danish islands of Moen, Laaland, and Falster.

Nine ships carrying Germans escaping toward Denmark and Norway are sunk in the Baltic. 100 other ships are damaged.

(US Eighth Air Force): Mission 978: 1 B-17s and 8 B-24s are dispatched on a leaflet mission during the night of 4/5 May; 7 aircraft drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany.

(US Ninth Air Force): No bomber operations. In Germany, the IX Tactical Air Command flies patrols and armed reconnaissance, the XIX Tactical Air Command flies patrols and armed reconnaissance and operates in concert with the XII Corps assault on Linz, Austria, and with the XX Corps which crosses the Inn River and pushes E and SE; the XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) sweeps the Dessau and Wittenberg areas and attacks shipping in the Kiel and Flensburg areas; German forces in the Netherlands, NW Germany and Denmark surrender. Unit moves: 377th, 378th and 379th Fighter Squadrons, 362d Fighter Group, from Furth to Illesheim, Germany with P-47s; 556th, 557th, 558th and 559th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 387th Bombardment Group (Medium), from Clastres, France to Beek, the Netherlands with B-26s.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet troops liberate all of Slovakia. In Breslau, German General Herman Niehoff requests a cease fire with the Russians. General Gluzdovsky accepts.

German forces conduct rearguard actions, in northern Germany, in Czechoslovakia and Austria, as the bulk of the German forces attempt to disengage and reach the Anglo-American lines, rather than be taken by the Russians. In the East, fierce fighting continues in Moravia, the Vistula delta and in Kurland.

German Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, Commanding Army Group South (Russia), is killed in an air-raid.

The last Me-109G fighters of the Hungarian Air Force under de Heppe, are destroyed by strafing P-51s.

GERMANY: The only "kill" attributed to the Volksjaeger FG-1 flying the Heinkel 162 jet is that of I/JG1's Lt.Rudolf Schmitt today for a low-flying RAF Typhoon. This claim has since been attributed to flak.

MEDITERRANEAN: (US Fifteenth Air Force): No offensive operations; activity is limited to reconnaissance missions (with escort), escort of MATAF leaflet drops in N Italy, and escort of C-47s on supply dropping missions to Yugoslavia. HQ 332d Fighter Group and the 100th and 301st Fighter Squadrons move from Ramitelli Airfield to Cattolica, Italy with P-51s.

(US Twelfth Air Force): The XXII Tactical Air Command continues flying visual reconnaissance during the night and day in N Italy; the US 85th Infantry Division reaches the Austrian border near San Candido and pushes on to the Brenner Pass at Vipiteno without opposition.
 
GERMANY: All He 162 Volksjager Gruppen are combined to form three Staffel Einsatzgruppe (I./JG 1) with a strength of 50 aircraft.

At the villa on the shores of the Tegernsee, Generalleutnant Adolf Galland surrenders to American forces. Because of his injuries, he is taken by ambulance to Bad Tolz. He asks the Allies to launch a search to find the remains of Gunther Lutzow, but they found nothing.

Grossadmiral Dönitz orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases: "You have fought like lions!"

The German airline Lufthansa suspends all operations due to the destruction of German airports by Allied aircraft. The last flight is between Oslo, Norway and Flensburg, Germany.

HQ 371st Fighter Group and 404th and 405th Fighter Squadrons move from Eschborn to Furth, Germany with P-47s.

WESTERN FRONT: German Army Group G, under General Hausser, surrenders unconditionally to US forces in at Haar in Bavaria. Third US Army's 11th Armored Division liberates Mauthausen concentration camp. On the Baltic coast Swinemunde and Peenemunde, the site of the rocket-weapon research centre that was supposed to win Hitler the war, are captured.

US 11th Armored Division enters Linz, Austria, occupying it within an hour without a fight.

Starting yesterday and finishing today, the US Army's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, ("Curahee") of the 101st Airborne 'Screaming Eagles' Division, under Col. Robert Sink, capture Hitler's fortified military complex on the Obersalzburg, the 'Berghof'.

The US 9th Army discovers art treasures in a damp copper mine near the town of Siegen in Westphalia, Germany. Included are paintings by Rembrant, Van Gogh, Rubens; gold sarcophagus of Emperor Charlemagne; original manuscript of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony.

In Stendal area, German 9th and 12th Armies surrender, to take effect at noon May 6.

Copenhagen: British paratroopers land after fighting breaks out between Danish civilians and Germans.

In Wageningen, Netherlands, German General Johannes Blaskowitz surrenders the troops of the 25th German Army in Netherlands to Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes, commander of 1st Canadian Corps.

Five German U-boats, including four of the powerful XXI types, were sunk today in an Allied air strike on the Kattegat, just 24 hours after Admiral Dönitz had ordered the U-boats to cease hostilities and return to base. More air raids are planned to ram home the message that the six-year BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC is over; for the second time this century, Germany's attempt to defeat Britain by crippling its merchant fleet had failed. This time the U-boats sank more merchant ships, although their combined tonnage was less. Some 175 Allied warships, mostly British, were also lost; but so were 784 of Germany's 1,162 U-boats.

U-2511 reached Bergen on the 5 May 1945. There the commander a few days later had a talk with officers of the HMS Norfolk and they could not believe the fact, that U-2511 was able to get so close without any sonar contact.

U-579 sunk in the Kattegat east of Aarhus, in approximate position 56.10N, 11.04E, by depth charges from an RAF 547 Sqn Liberator.

U-733 scuttled Flensburg Fjord, position 54.48N, 09.49E, after being damaged by bombs and gunfire. Broken up 1948.

U-2367 sank near Schleimünde, in approximate position 55.00N, 11.00E, after a collision with an unidentified German U-boat. Raised in August 1956. Renamed U-Hecht (pike) and served in the German Federal Navy from 1 Oct 1957. Stricken on 30 Sep, 1968 and broken up at Kiel in 1969.

U-2551 sunk near Flensburg Solitude, in position 54.49N, 09.28E Wreck broken up.

U-534 sunk in the Kattegat NW of Helsingör, in position 56.39N, 11.48E, by 10 depth charges from an RAF 86 Sqn Liberator. 3 dead and 49 survivors. Earlier in the action, U-534 shot down an RAF 547 Sqn Liberator. U-534 raised 1995 and now a museum piece at Birkenhead.

At 1740, the unescorted 'Black Point' was struck by a torpedo from U-853 in the stern, while proceeding in fog. The explosion carried away the aftermost forty feet of the ship aft of the #5 hold. The vessel quickly began to sink by the stern about five miles southeast of Point Judith, Rhode Island. The most of the eight officers, 33 crewmen and five armed guards (the ship was armed with one 6pdr and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship in two boats and a raft. The 'Black Point' capsized and all but the bow disappeared beneath the water 25 minutes after the torpedo struck. Eleven crewmen and one armed guard (W.L. Whitson Lloyd USNR) died. 17 men on a raft were picked up by the Yugoslavian steam merchant 'Karmen' and two men by the Norwegian steam merchant Scandanavia. All were later transferred to a US Coast Guard patrol boat, which brought them to Point Judith. Crash boats from Quonset Point, Rhode Island rescued 15 survivors and landed them at Newport. The 'Black Point' was the last American-flagged ship sunk by a German U-boat. Immediately after the sinking the US Navy searched for U-853 and sank her in the morning of 6 May.

The French politicians Paul Reynaud and Edouard Daladier, with the French General Maurice Gamelin, the German pastor Martin Niemoller and the former Austrial Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, all imprisoned by the Nazis, are set free.

The Hopseidet Incident. Two German submarines U 318 and U 992 broke the surface in Hopsfjorden, Norway late the night of the 4th of May 1945. They continued tor travel on the surface toward Hopseidet. 10 km away from the village the submarines put 30 men ashore, and they returned with a prisoner, a fisherman Ivar ÿye, who would be used as a guide further inland. This operation was followed by Norwegians ashore. The local policeman in SjÂnes informed The Military Command about the subs approaching Hopseidet. An observation post was situated in the village, and the soldiers and some volunteer civilians got ready for a fight by taking station in a couple of places with view to the shore.

(US Eighth Air Force):: Mission 980: 403 B-17s are dispatched to drop food at Schipol Airfield (261), Vogelenzang (40), Utrecht (60), N of Hilversum (16), Alkmaar (21) and other targets (4) in the Netherlands; a total of 744.5 tons of food are dropped.

(US Ninth Air Force): No Ninth AF operations except tactical and photo reconnaissance in forward areas. The 584th and 585th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium), 394th Bombardment Group (Medium), move from Niergniew Airfield, Cambrai, France to Venlo, the Netherlands with B-26s.

EASTERN FRONT: Russian forces capture the German naval base of Swinemünde on Usedom Island. German 11th Panzer Division surrenders to US 90th Division in Czechoslovakia.

Beginning of a civilian uprising in Prague which is aided by defecting units of the anti-Bolshevist Vlasov Army. Czech patriots rose against the Germans still occupying Prague today following several spontaneous revolts against the Nazis in other parts of the country. Street fighting is raging in the streets of the Czech capital. The situation tonight is that the patriots hold most of the city, but the Germans remain in control of several strongpoints while tanks and other Wehrmacht units move in from bases outside. General Patton's Third Army is now in Czechoslovakia, and could well make a dash for Prague, but the Russians insist that the Czech capital is their prize. The situation is complicated by the presence in Prague of General Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army (Russkaya Osvoboditel'naya Armiya, the POA). When the Allies make no reply to the Czech's plea they turn to General Bunyachenko of the 1st Division of the POA. German Army Group Centre conducts a fighting withdrawal in Czechoslovakia with bitter fighting near Olmutz.

Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov informs U.S. Secretary of State Stettinius that the Red Army has arrested 16 Polish peace negotiators who had met with a Soviet army colonel near Warsaw back in March. When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill learns of the Soviet double-cross, he reacts in alarm, stating, "There is no doubt that the publication in detail of this event would produce a primary change in the entire structure of world forces."

MEDITTERANEAN: Genoa: US forces seize the poet Ezra Pound, wanted on charges of treason.

(US Fifteenth Air Force): 14 P-51s escort MATAF C-47s on supply-dropping missions over Yugoslavia. The 99th Fighter Squadron, 332d Fighter Group, moves from Ramitelli to Cattolica, Italy with P-51s.

(US Twelfth Air Force): XXII Tactical Air Command fighters continue reconnaissance flights over N Italy, SW Austria, and as far N as Munich, Germany; fighters destroy numerous aircraft at an airfield SE of Munich.

UNITED STATES: The War Department announces that about 400,000 troops will remain in Germany to form the US occupation force and 2,000,000 men will be discharged from the armed services, leaving 6,000,000 soldiers serving in the war against Japan.
 
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