Sunday April 1, 1945


Eastern Front:


The "fortress" Glogau (today: Glogow), a city on the Oder surrenders today, after the German defenders had failed to escape capture by a surprising sally ...:



Here - on the eastern bank of the Oder, Soviet troops stop and prepare their final attack on Berlin.


Western Front:


The trap closes today!

Troops of the 1st American Army under General Courtney Hodges ...



... meet with the units of the American 9th Army of General William Simpson ...



... east of the Ruhr area near Lippstadt and form the "Ruhrkessel" ...:





300,000 soldiers from Army Group B, the remains of a total of 21 divisions and millions of civilians are trapped in an area that was partially destroyed by previous bombings.
The southern front of the boiler was the river Sieg, in the west the Rhine is the natural frontier.

The German commander, Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model ...



... shares the fate of his soldiers - and orders them to continue fighting, although he knows that this will only delay the inevitable end of a path.

The smaller eastern part, including a heavy tank destroyer company with "Jagdtigern" ...









... will surrender on April 15th in the Iserlohn area, after most of the vehicles have been shot down or left out of gasoline.

The commanding general of the remains of German LIII. Army Corps, Lieutenant General Fritz Bayerlein ...



... will surrender at Menden in the Sauerland. In some cities, for example Hohenlimburg and Hagen, there will still be fights in places until April 17.

The western part of the boiler in the Bergisches Land region and near Düsseldorf and Duisburg, where Model itself commands, will continue to resist until April 21.

We'll come back to that!


Behind the troops fighting in the cauldron, SS and Gestapo murders hundreds of foreign forced laborers, opponents of the German regime, deserters and prisoners of justice ...:



Field Marshal Model not only knew about it, he had even issued an order to deliver the above-mentioned groups of people to the Gestapo "for review".


Southwestern Front:



French troops also marched into Germany on that day. The 1st French Army under General Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny ...



...cross the Rhine near Philippsburg...:








The Reich:


On this day, Hitler and his closest frollowers finally move to the "Führer bunker" under the Reich Chancellery. The bunker is his last headquarters...:





The next picture - one of the last of Hitler and only one of three showing him in the "Führer bunker" - shows the dictator greeting Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner ...:



Hitler's last workplace is reproduced in the Berlin Bunker Museum. The only personal item he brought with him hangs over the desk:

A portrait of the Prussian King Friedrich II by Anton Graff (1736-1813)...:





USA:


The effects of the war can now be felt in the USA too!
The weekly meat ration per inhabitant is reduced by 12 percent ...

You have to wait until tomorrow ...

But I think if another miracle doesn't happen, the Germans will lose ...

Martin, thank you. Always fascinating. That line of German prisoners was breathtaking. Unbelievable stuff. Fascinating photo of his desk in the bunker as well.

Monday, April 2, 1945


Western Front - The North:


In the West britisch troops take the city of Münster (or what is left of it), north of the "Ruhrkessel"...:







The resistance of the Germans in the completely destroyed city is short and only symbolic!

We see the remains of the train station...



...and the cathedral (in German: "Münster"), which gave the city its name ...:

It is damaged, but at least not destroyed.

Pre war...:



April 2, 1945...:



Today...:



Note the trophy captured by the British tanker in the foreground ...





Hundreds of Germans march in British captivity - and many of them don't look unhappy about it ...:




However, much more important for the Germans is the loss of the Rheine air base near Münster, which is occupied by Montgomery's troops on the same day:








The British will put at least two of the at Rheine captured Messerschmitt "Me 262" into their own service a few days later, to test them ...:








**contunued next post**

Western Front - The South


In southern Germany, the US tank tips of the US general Patton rush through Bavaria in a hurry to the east ...







... and beat whatever is in front of them!



In the evening of this day they are near Ansbach (south of Nuremberg) only a day or two away from the Thuringian border ...:









Eastern Front - The South:


On the same day the soldiers of the Soviet 2nd (Lt. Gen. Vasily Vasilyevich Sackarov)...



... and 3rd Ukrainian Front (Lieutnant General Fjodor Ivanowitsch Tolbuchin) ...



... are going to take the "Ostmark" capital Vienna ...:











The fighting for Vienna will continue until April 13 - around 19,000 German and 18,000 Soviet soldiers will be killed ...

Tuesday, April 3, 1945


Eastern Front:


Everyone is waiting for the big Soviet offensive to start on Berlin ...!

But for the time being there is silence ...



Western Front:


It' the Tuesday after Easter...

Together with US airborne units, the British finally occupy the city of Münster ...





...as well as the nearby city of Osnabrück ...:





The British find on this day a dead man in the house of the city commander of Münster:

SS-Sturmbannführer Dönicke put an end to his life with cyanide under a painting of his "Führer"...:



On the same day, the Americans impose a total nighttime curfew for Germans in all of the territories they occupy!

Anyone who is still on the street after night can be shot without a problem.

The reason for this is the founding of the guerrilla organization "Werwolf", which was announced the day before with a lot of propaganda tam-tam...:







The name "Werewolf" for this children's guerrilla had been chosen personally by Hitler, who had a strange affinity for the wolf.

He liked to be spoken to privately by the nickname "Wolf" and many of his command centers bore the word "Wolf" in their name, as "Wolfschanze" in East Prussia (Model)...



... or "Wolfsschlucht" near Margival in northern France...:



The "werewolves" themselves, mostly fanatical Hitler boys, no longer develop any noteworthy military activities.



The Reich:



SS chief Himmler, who as a military commander of the "Army Group Vistula" just failed miserably and left his post almost "for illness", can now - in the (still) safe hinterland - spit great sounds again!

With the death penalty, he forbids all male citizens of the German Reich to stay in a house to which the white flag of surrender is shown, which now happens more and more, as here in Olpe (near the Rhine) ...:



Likewise "toughest measures" are to be suffered by those who do not comply with their order to issue the "Volkssturm" or even open tank blocks to the Allies (in order to prevent the bombardment of their own place and thus the destruction of their property) ...:





It doesn't matter that such a tank "lock" from a few tree trunks doesn't hold a tank for five minutes ...!

Behind Himmler's orders to murder, NSdAP secretary Martin Bormann...



... also wants do not stand back!

He orders all Gau leaders and district leaders, other political leaders and branch leaders on the same day to win or die in their district!

But the "gold pheasants", as they are called by the population because of their brown uniforms with plenty of gold braids on them...



... do not even think about it! Because of their position, they are far better informed about the military situation than the normal population. Here an ID-Card of such a "gold pheasant"..:



They usually put on civilian clothes and pile up at the first opportunity ...

The German rocket research center, which had already been evacuated from Peenemünde on the Baltic coast in the southern Harz Mountains, will be relocated again because the Allies are getting closer to the Harz Mountains:

In the foothills of the Alps to Oberammergau on the site of the "Upper Bavarian Research Institute" ...:



On this day SS-Hauptsturmführer Wernher von Braun reports to Berlin that the production of the "America Missile" V8 / V9 can start if enough material is available ...:









At Sea:


Kriegsmarine chief Karl Dönitz sends the following command to all submarines on this day:
They should return to a completely outdated tactic and conduct "unexpected" surface attacks by the enemy.

Given the total air sovereignty of the Allies, this amounts to an invitation to suicide for the submarine crews ...:

Wednesday, April 4, 1945


Eastern Front South East, Slovakia:


Again in the east a city that had previously been nonsensically declared a "fortress" and was almost completely destroyed by the fighting, fell to the Red Army!

Today it is the Slovakian capital Pressburg (Bratislava), which is occupied by the 2nd Ukrainian front under Marshal Rodion Malinowskij ...:



The incoming Red Army soldiers are greeted by the city's inhabitants as liberators! Previously they were from the catholic priest Dr. Jozef Tiso as Hitler's puppet was ruled by a bloody dictatorship ...:









The overthrown dictator Tiso...



... will end here in Bratislava on April 18, 1947 at the gallow, after sentenced to death by court ...



Here, too, "Sherman" tanks from American militar are used by the Soviets when entering the city today...:



The following picture should be quite rare:

Also on the Soviet side is a Romanian unit, the "2nd Royal Panzer Regiment", which is equipped with German loot weapons (here a Sturmgeschütz III) ...:






Eastern Front South East, Hungaria:



Due to the change of front of the Hungarians, the German position in the country has become unsustainable in one fell swoop!

In addition, the Soviet advance on Vienna threatens to cut them off from the German Reich.

That is why the Germans begin evacuating Hungary on this day ...:








**continued next post**

Western Front:



American trops take the city of Kassel (Northern Hesse) this day...:







And for the first time on this day they advance so far east that they reach Thuringia that, after the Yalta agreements, will later belong to the Soviet sphere of influence (and later to the GDR until 1989!).



The first by US troops captured city in East Germany is Gotha...:






In addition, US airborne units jump off both sides of the city of Erfurt, who immediately set about occupying important traffic routes, roads and bridges in order to isolate the city from its surroundings ...:







Again many German child soldiers were captured...:




Meanwhile, the Americans slowly and methodically push the Ruhrkessel in which the German Army Group B is trapped ...:









Western Front South West:




The French troops that just marched into the German Empire a few days ago can take their first big city on this day!

Karlsruhe surrenders to the French General de Lattre de Tassigny ...:



This event is so important to the leader of the "Free French", General de Gaulle, that he will, together with General de Lattre hold a "Victory Parade" in three days at the Ettlinger Tor ...:

Great as always Martin. And thanks again.

Careful though, that photo of those US airborne troops are definitely re-enactors. The picture is too crisp by a mile and three of them are too old, way old, and too fat. Otherwise, great stuff.

Thursday, April 5, 1945


Eastern Front:


On the Oder front there rules silence...



In the south, the Red Army is reaching for Vienna, the capital of the "Ostmark" (as Austria is currently called in "Greater Germany")!

The 3rd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbuchin...



... is launching a major attack!













Western Front:



In Bavaria, US troops occupy Würzburg ...










...and Eisenach in Thuringia...:







Meanwhile, the British in the northwest of the Reich cross the tiver Weser eastwards at five different places, like here at Petershagen ...:











**continued next post**

The Reich:



On this day, Hitler promoted Colonel-General Friedrich Schörner, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army Group Mitte, to Generalfeldmarschall. On this occasion one of only three known pictures was created, which show Hitler in his "Führer bunker"...:




Then the dictator orders the immediate execution of all living conspirators of the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 (who were imprisoned by the Gestapo in Plötzensee for further investigation)!

57 supporters of the assassination plans are hung on meat hooks with wire loops and thus strangled...



... he last will be the politician Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin on April 9, 1945 ...:



Hitler had the excruciating death of the main conspirators in the same place, which is now a memorial, filmed exclusively for himself - and watched the recordings several times to delight himself ...


The fuel situation of the German troops is becoming dramatic!

Today, Minister of Armaments Albert Speer reports to Berlin that all hydrogenation plants in the German sphere of power can no longer produce a single liter of synthetic fuel - they were destroyed by Allied bombs as thoroughly as the very last Grimburg plant near Bergkamen ...:




Transport vehicles, combat technology and airplanes can practically no longer be moved - let alone used.

Many tanks unfit for driving due to lack of petrol are therefore buried and used as "bunkers" ...




With regard to the food situation of troops and - especially - the German civilian population, things are not looking much better:

The authorities can hardly do more than issue "recommendations for replacement food" ...:



Some of those "replacement food":"Coffee substitute" from roasted grain ...



... and "meat extract"...:





Belgium:



In Antwerp in the Bontemantelstraat the last "V2" missile of the war hits today ...:

I didn't know Antwerp was hit with V2 missiles. Maybe because Allies were using it as a sea port.

Some more facts about the "Vergeltungswaffe 2":

London and Antwerp were the two general targets for those "Vergeltungswaffe 2" - Antwerp, as rightly said for using the important harbour by the Allies.

(Antwerp was by the same reason also the target of the failed Ardennes Offensive December 1944 - better known in Britain as Battle of the Bulge).

Antwerp was hidden 1.664 times since October 1944 , leaving 1,736 dead and 4,500 injured, most of them on December 16, 1944, when the cinema "Rex" was hidden, leaving 567 dead and 291 injured.

London was shot 1.402 times, ( 2,754 dead and 6,523 injured). Most of them on November, 25, 1944, when a missile hits "Woolworth", leaving 160 dead and 108 injured.

5.200 "V2" were produced (leaving more than 20.000 forced labour workers dead), 3.172 were fired.

The other targets were:

A. Strategic use:

Belgium: Liège (27), Hasselt (13), Tournai (9), Mons (3), Diest (2)
United Kingdom: Norwich (43), Ipswich (1)
France: Lille (25), Paris (22), Tourcoing (19), Arras (6), Cambrai (4)
Netherlands: Maastricht (19)

B. Tactical use:

Germany (the bridge of Remagen): 11 Missiles

One should never forget the following two facts:

The "Vergeltungswaffe 2" was the only weapon in history which production "costed" more dead people than its using.


After the war, the USA rolled out a "red carpet" for the inventor of this weapon, the Nazi and SS officer Wernher von Braun, made him a US citizen and awarded him with medals - instead of hanging him up!


Cheers

Lets continue further on!

Friday, April 6, 1945



Eastern Front:



There is still deceptive calm on the Oder! The front stands. The Soviets regroup for the final attack on the capital of Berlin and bring in reinforcements and material...:










Meanwhile, the two front commanders Shukow (on the left) and Konjew (on the right), who have to lead the attack on Berlin, are brooding over their plans...:




You have to report any progress to Stalin - but separately!

Stalin then has the final say.

On this day, Shukow describes a new idea that he has come up with and with which he wants to surprise and confuse the German defenders. We'll come back to that.




On the other hand, the Red Army is highly active on another front section!

On this day, the Soviets begin taking the included capital of East Prussia, the "fortress" Königsberg...:











Many prisoners are taken on the first day of the offensive ..:







Southeasten Front:


The German Army Group E under the command of Colonel General Alexander Löhr ...



... meanwhile gradually under pressure from Tito's partisans...



... retires from Croatia towards the Austrian border ...:





All in vain!

The Germans will not reach this border until surrender - with serious consequences! We'll find out ...

Colonel-General Löhr, one of only three Austrians who rose so high in the German Wehrmacht, will be shot in Belgrade on February 26, 1947 as a war criminal (for an illegal bombing of Belgrade with many civilian casualties).



**continued next post**

USA:


US President Franklin Roosevelt orders that the term "German Reich" may no longer be used in official letters and documents!

For him, this "Reich" no longer exists.

Instead, only the word "Germany" has to be used!



Western Front:



The U.S. 9th Army under General Simpson occupies on this day the city of Hamm east of the Ruhrkessel ...:







And on the same day, US troops capture a fortune in Hesse!

In a disused potash shaft near Widdershausen in the Rhön at the Thuringian Border...







...the Americans find the hidden reserves of the German Reichsbank in gold and foreign currency worth over a billion US dollars!








The number of German military personnel captured (or voluntarily given prisoner) in the West since February 23, 1945 has risen to 539,498...:



Since D-Day the western allies have caught exactly 1,450,281 Wehrmacht and SS members.

Saturday, April 7, 1945



South Eastern Front, Vienna


In front of the soldiers of the 3rd Ukrainian Front there is hardly anything left to stop their march on Vienna: a few units of demoralized, frightened fellow soldiers of all units...



...and a few piles of fanatical troops - mostly SS - who have no chance against the Soviet superiority and their anti-tank technology mostly have to move on the team train due to lack of fuel ...:



This is how the Red Army soldiers can penetrate the city of Vienna on the third day of their offensive ...









The Red Army soldiers are not afraid to position an anti-tank gun right next to the famous "Belvedere" castle, which once belonged to Prince Eugen ...



... and grenade launches in front of the Vienna Hofburrg, the seat of the former Austrian emperors ...:





Eastern Front North, Königsberg:



In East Prussia, the defenders of the enclosed Königsberg still fight back, but an end is already in sight due to a lack of ammunition ...:



On the sign above is written: "We hold Königsberg."








Eastern Front, Kurland:


With the isolated army group "Kurland" there is even time for a change of personnel:

Hitler appoints Colonel-General Carl Hilpert as new commander ...




... the previous commander, Colonel General Lothar Rendulic ...

... takes command of the Army Group Ostmark, which fights in Austria - rather what is left of it. Rendulic is evacuated by plane.

Until April 2, 1945, the association still operated under the name "Army Group South".


Western Front:



In Franconia (Northern Bavaria), German troops in a flying hurry set up a new so-called "western line of defense" with compulsory civilians and prisoners...:



No problem for the Americans who break through them with ease!



The operation is supported by an Anglo-American airborne operation in Middle Franconia (in the area of the city of Schweinfurt) behind the German line ...:





The Paras meet - as here at Schweinfurt - macabre German legacies ...:




**continued next post**

The Netherlands, Texel Island:


An uprising breaks out this on the Dutch island of Texel...



... against the Wehrmacht units who are still stationed there - and not from the Dutch, but from interned Georgian Cossacks under their leader Schalwa Loladze...



... who are to be forced to fight on the German side ...:











The resulting fights will continue until the end of the war, and 800 Germans, 500 Georgians and 117 Dutch civilians will be killed - most of the Dutch were women and children, for the most men fom Texel were deported as forced labourers to the Reich.





After the war, a special cemetery was set up on Texel, where the Georgian Cossacks killed in the uprising are buried ...:





All of the pictures shown here were taken on Texel between March and May 1945! This bloody episode of a Cossack uprise against the Germans on an dutch island is almost completely unknown in Germany...!

On the same day (and that probably triggered the uprising!) British Paras land near the Zuidersee - the Germans who meet them willingly give up their weapons...:





The Reich:



The secret Luftwaffe special command "Elbe", which we last saw in unsuccessful attacks on the Rhine bridge near Remagen, is making a name for itself again:



40 so-called "Rammjäger" ("Ram Figfhter") fly missions against a US bomber fleet over northern Germany ...:





The successes of this "German Kamikaze" are modest (a few bombers are damaged and two crash when their tails are rammed, the others can land badly damaged...



... but their own losses are very high!

**continued next post**