April 1945
(Italy)
The Italian Campaign was seen as a sideshow after D-Day, when the Allies turned their focus on the Western Front. For those involved it was a long punishing struggle. Beginning on the 6th April 1945, the Spring 1945 offensive was given the code name Operation Grapeshot. The winter of 1944-45 was harsh resulting in stalemate and the Allies and German forces were unable to progress. When the offensive began over 600,000 Germans of Army Group “C” defended the Lombardy Plain in northern Italy. They were attacked by over one million Allies of the 18th Army Group. The German Army Group “C” was made up of German and the Italian Social Republican troops. The Allied 18th Army Group consisted of troops from the U.K. and Commonwealth, the U.S., Poland, Italy plus the Italian Resistance, Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa. On the 9th April 1945, Allied troops launched a major attack from Ravena, not far from the east coast, northwest toward Ferrara. After a three-day battle Montese, a town in the province of Moderna, was liberated by Brazilian troops on the 17th April 1945. Bologna, west of Ravena, was encircled by U.S. and Polish forces on the 21st April 1945. The German commanders realised their position was impossible and sued for peace on the 24th April 1945. By the 29th April 1945 the Germans had signed the surrender terms. On the 2nd May 1945 the cease-fire was completed and the long Italian campaign has ended.
In July 1943 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was deposed by the Fascist Party and King Vittorio Emanual III. He was arrested and held prisoner in the mountains. Hitler’s forces rescued him. Following the liberation of Rome by the Allies, on the 27th April 1945, and the war almost over Mussolini and his mistress Claretta Petacci attempted to escape to Switzerland. The intention was to board a plane and escape to Spain, but were stopped and identified by communist partisans. On the 28th April 1945, Mussolini and Petacci. together with their 15 aides, were shot. Their bodies were loaded into a van and driven to Milan where they were hung upside down from the roof of a service station. As dictator during the Second World War, he overstretched his forces and eventually killed by his own people. The Italian masses greeted Mussolini’s death without regret. Mussolini had promised his people Roman glory, but his megalomania overcame his common sense, bringing them only war and misery.
(Germany)
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany was liberated by the British on the 15th April 1945. Originally the camp was established as a prison of war camp but in 1943 it developed into a concentration camp. During its existence as a concentration camp and for three months after liberation, approximately 50,000 people died. When the soldiers liberated the camp, they discovered approximately 60,000 victims who were half starved and seriously ill. With the camp having 13,000 unburied corpses lying around, the site gained international notoriety for Nazi mass murder.
As a part of the Battle of Berlin, the last major assault on the entrenched defences of city, was the Battle of Seelow Heights. The three-day battle was fought from the 16th to the 19th April 1945 when nearly one million Soviet troops engaged in the bitterest fighting against approximately 110,000 German defenders. Spreading back from the Heights toward Berlin, theGermans had built three defensive lines. Each line consisted of a network of trenches and bunkers, anti-tank ditches and anti-tank gun emplacements. Over half a million shells were fired from approximately 9,000 Soviet artillery pieces in the first thirty minutes of 16th April 1945. Over the next three days both sides suffered heavy losses and by the close of the 19th April 1945 the German defences had effectively ceased to exist.
With the western Allies and Red Army rapidly advancing toward Berlin, Fuhrer Adolf Hitler’s celebration was subdued for his 56th birthday on the 20th April 1945. By this time Hitler was in residence full time in the Fuhrerbunker in central Berlin. He accepted the congratulations of his personal staff and later with some of his circle of Nazi leaders. These included Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler and Martin Bormann, who all offered their obligatory congratulations. In the afternoon, in the ruined gardens of the Reich Chancellery, he awarded Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth who were fighting the Red Army on the front line.
With the Allies approaching Berlin from the west and the Red Army approaching from the east, for Germany, the war was coming to a rapid ending. By the 27th March 1945, British-U.S. forces had been held up at the Battle of the Bulge and not crossed the Rhine River. Approaching from the east the Red Army was approximately 40 miles (64 km) from Berlin. Supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower sent a telegram to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, that the Allies would halt at the Elbe River. By this action the Allies allowed the Red Army to take Berlin.
Hitler ordered his commanders to counter-attack and destroy the Belarusian Front of the Soviet Army on the 21st April 1945. Upon hearing the following day that the attack did not take place he went into an immediate rage accusing his commanders of incompetence and treachery. He ended, with a first-time declaration, that the war was lost. Realising there was nowhere for him to go he announced he would stay in Berlin until the end then commit suicide rather than be captured alive.
Luftwaffe chief Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring, had in 1941 been named as Hitler’s successor. Having learnt of the announcement he sent a telegram to Hitler on the 26th April 1945, requesting the agreement be honoured and that he would take over the leadership of the Reich. Hitler was convinced by his secretary Martin Bormann that Goring’s telegram was an attempt to overthrow the Fuhrer. Hitler’s response was that unless Goring resigned with the loss of all his powers he would be executed. Later that day Hitler sacked Goring and was consequently relieved of all his powers. Having done so Hitler promptly issued the order for Goringto be arrested. –
The encirclement of Berlin was completed on the 24th April 1945 when the Belarusian and Ukrainian forces of the Soviet Army linked up.
With the Americans advancing from the west and the Soviets advancing from the east, Germany was effectively divided in two on what became known as Elbe Day. The Americans crossed the Elbe River on the 26th April 1945 and met with the Soviet forces at Torgau, south-east of Belin. Arrangements had been made for the “Handshake of Torgau” to be photographed of the two commanders on the 27th April 1945. With the taking of the handshake photograph it confirmed the encirclement of Berlin was complete. On the same day, the America, British, French and Soviet governments simultaneously released statements with regard to the determination for the complete destruction of the Third Reich.
Nero Decree, or the scorched earth policy, was issued by Hitler on the 19th March 1945. The decree required all German infrastructure destroyed to prevent the Allies using the facilities as they penetrated deeper into Germany. Hitler placed the responsibility for carrying out the decree to his Minister of Armaments and War Production, Albert Speer. Apparently, Speer was appalled by the plan and deliberately did not carry out the order. Having by then lost faith in Hitler, as he considered the Fuhrer to have become insane, Speer requested he was given exclusive power to implement the plan to carry out the decree. Hitler was completely unaware of this until Speer met him on the.23rd April 1945 during his last ever meeting with Hiter. It would appear Hitler went into a rage saying another Nazi leader had let him down, but Hitler did allow Speer to leave the Berlin Fuhrerbunker.
Himmler who had left Berlin on Hitler’s birthday, was attempting to negotiate a surrender with the western Allies on the 24th April 1945. Hitler discovered, on the 28th April 1945, Himmler’s involvement, and he immediately ordered the arrest of Himmler for what he considered to be treason.
Built in March 1938, Dacau was one of the first and longest running concentration camps in Germany. Located in Bavaria, 10 miles (16 km) north west of Munich, Dacau was originally intended to inter Hitler’s Pollical opponents. The camp developed, by the Gestapo SS, into part of the “Final Solution” of the extermination of the Jewish race. On the 29th April 1945 the U.S. Army troops liberated Dacau to find the conditions in the camp to be horrendous, despite the attempt by the Nazi’s to destroy the evidence.
Lee Miller, the U.S. female front-line war correspondent heard that Dacua had been liberated and she wished to record the events. The only problem was that she and her colleague, photographer Dave Scherman, were in Nuremberg, 105 miles (168 km) north of Munich. Driving through the night, in Scherman’s acquired 1937 Chevrolet, they reached Dacau, located on the outskirts of Munich. Upon arrival at the concentration camp they were unprepared for the horrible conditions they encountered. The squalor, the stench of the dead bodies, but the most abiding horror was the starved, broken bodies of the survivors. They left Dacau “gulping for air”, wishing to cover a battle, but in the centre of Munich there was little fighting to report. They were given permission by the U.S. military to use Prinzregentplaz 16, Hitler’s Munich Residence, as a temporary billet. Wishing to wash off the stench of Dacau, her instinctive response was to take a bath in Hitler’s bathtub. Lee placed a framed photograph of Hitler to one side of the bath and placed her muddy boots on the mat. Scherman took a photograph of Lee sitting in the bath, which eventually became the most iconic shot of his career. Ironically it was the 30th April 1945 the photograph was taken, the same day that Hitler committed suicide. Lee continued to report on military events until the end of the war.
With Germany virtually defeated and the Reich Chancellery besieged, Hitler married Eva Braun in the early hours after midnight on the 29th April 1945. When he heard that Mussolini had been executed it was thought Hitler was determined not to be captured. With Soviet troops approaching, Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide on the 30thApril 1945. He shot himself in the head and she bit into a cyanide capsule. As per Hitler’s instructions their bodies were taken into the garden, doused with petrol and set on fire. Grand Admiral Karl Donitz and Joseph Goebbels assumed the role of Hitler’s head of state and chancellor respectively.
(Pacific)
The Allied preparation for the Battle of Okinawa began on the 18th March 1945, whilst the assault on Iwo Jima was still under way. Okinawa was heavily fortified by artillery hidden in caves and garrisoned by 100,000 Japanese troops. Familiar with the fierce determination of the Japanese army the U.S. forces began the campaign with massive bombardments. To the west of Okinawa both the Karama Islands and Keise Shima were invaded by U.S. troops on the 26th March 1945. Karama Islands for the U.S. fleet anchorage and Keise Shima for artillery support on southern Okinawa. The invasion of Okinawa began on the 1st April 1945 when 50,000 U.S. marines landed at Hagushi Bay, south central Okinawa. Meeting with little resistance, key positions and airfields had been over-run, then moving inland the marines had divided the island in two, at the point known as the Shuri Line, by the 7th April 1945. Ultimately over 170,000 U.S. marines invaded the island and began the advance north. By the 13th April 1945 the marines had captured the tip of the island at Hedo. The marines met with strong resistance at the Motobu Peninsular in the wooded terrain around Mount Yae. By the 20th April 1945 the marines had captured northern Okinawa including the islet of le Shama. On the 18th April 1945 during the assault of le Shama, U.S. Pollitzer Prize-winning correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed.
Operation Ten-Go was the last major Japanese naval operation in the Pacific. The largest battleship in the world, the Japanese battleship Yamato and nine other Japanese vessels sailed from Japan on the 6th April 1945. The Japanese vessels sailed south toward Okinawa and were shadowed by U.S. submarines and flying boat reconnaissance aircraft. Opposing the Japanese battleship and escorting ships were eleven aircraft carriers, 49 assorted naval vessels and 388 aircraft. On the morning of the 7th April 1945, armed with torpedoes and bombs, 280 U.S. aircraft were launched from the carriers. Around mid-day they located the Japanese and methodically attacked Yamato and accompanying ships as the Japanese had no air cover. At around 14.30 Yamato capsized and began to sink and a few minutes later blew up as internal fires had reached the main magazines. The Japanese Army had promised an attack against the U.S. naval fleet at Okinawa during the battle. Approximately 115 aircraft, mainly kamikaze, attacked the U.S. ships. None of the ships were sunk, although moderate damage was inflicted on two and severe damage inflicted on another ship. Approximately 100 Japanese aircraft were lost in the attack. In addition, the Japanese casualties were over 4,000 sailors killed, six ships including Yamato sunk, and one destroyer severely damaged. For the U.S. forces they suffered 97 killed, 132 wounded, ten plus aircraft destroyed, three ships and 52 aircraft damaged.
The battle for southern Okinawa began on the 9th April 1945 after the U.S. marines had arrived at the Shuri Line, which effectively had divided the island in two. Organised Japanese resistance finally ended the Battle of Okinawa on the 22nd June 1945. The progress of the battle In May 1945 will include the events of April 1945.
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The tactics for further aerial raids on Tokyo had changed since the last raids in March 1945. The bombers attacked at night and at lower altitude rather than daylight raids and higher altitudes. The Nakajima aircraft factory was bombed twice on separate raids. The first was on the 2nd April 1945 with 100 B-29 bombers attacking. On the second raid 101 B-29s bombed the factory again on the 7th April 1945. On the 3rd April 1945 68 B-29s attacked the urban areas of Tokyo and principally the Koizumi aircraft factory. The final attack of the month was on the 13th April 1945 when 329 B-29s bombed the arsenal area of the city.
(Other Theatres)
In America Franklin D. Roosevelt was the longest serving President of the United States of America. He served for four terms from 1933 until 1945. He was stricken with polio in 1921 and paralysed from the waist down. He fought to regain the use of his legs and was able to walk a little with his legs encased in leg braces and the aid of a cane. Most of the time he was in a wheelchair. His health had started to decline since 1940, mainly due to the fact he was chain smoker which gradually led to heart and blood circulatory problems. Returning to the United States from the Yalta Conference in February 1945, he looked old, thin and frail which shocked many of his fellow Americans. To enable him to rest before another conference in Warm Springs, Geogia, he departed on the 29th March 1945. While sitting for a portrait during the morning of 12th April 1945, he stated “I have a terrible headache”. Immediately after saying that he slumped forward unconscious in his wheelchair, and was carried into his bedroom. Roosevelt died in the afternoon at 3.35 pm and his attending cardiologist diagnosed Intracerebral Haemorrhage, a form of stroke. He was 63 years old. Roosevelt’s deputy Harry Truman became President Truman. Roosevelt’s flag-draped coffin was loaded onto the Presidential Train the following morning for the trip back to Washington. Instead of a full state funeral, as was tradition, a smaller ceremony was proposed as the USA was still at war. His remains were placed in the White House East Room when a simple funeral was held on the 14th April 1945. In attendance were his family, government officials and foreign ambassadors. Roosevelt was transported by train from Washington to his birthplace of Hyde Park, New York and on the 15th April 1945 he was buried. During the 30-day mourning period Germany had surrendered, but the now President Truman ordered all flags to remain at half-mast. Upon being re-elected for his fourth term of office, Roosevelt knew his health was deteriorating. He later admitted that at the end of the war he would resign in favour of his deputy Harry Truman.
In the German-occupied Netherlands Allied air forces commenced Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound. The operations were humanitarian food drops to relieve the Dutch famine of 1944-45. During the last ten days of the European war, British Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and Polish Air Force attached to the RAF, began dropping 7,000 tonnes of food into the still Nazi-occupied Netherlands on the 29th April 1945. Mana ended on the 7th May 1945. Operation Chowhound began on the 1st May 1945.
The Bay Museum & Research Facility 