On 19 April 1945, the BBC finally airs war correspondent Richard Dimbleby`s report from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Dimbleby entered the camp shortly after the British 11th Armoured Division liberated it four days ago, which we covered in our 15 April post. However, the BBC initially neither believed his report nor did they want to release it due to its graphic nature. Today, they do so after Dimbleby threatens to resign. We bring you parts of his report:
˝I have just returned from the Belsen concentration camp...
I had waited a day before going to the camp so that I could be absolutely sure of the facts now available.
I passed through the barrier and found myself in the world of a nightmare.
Dead bodies, some of them in decay lay strewn about the road.
I’ve seen many terrible sights in the last five years but nothing, nothing approaching the dreadful interior of this hut at Belsen
The dead and the dying lay close together...
In the shade of some trees lay a great collection of bodies. I walked round them trying to count. There were perhaps a hundred and fifty flung down on each other – all naked, all so thin that their yellow skins glistened like stretched rubber on their bones...
As we went deeper into the camp and further from the main gate we saw more and more of the horrors of the place and I realised that what is so ghastly is not so much the individual acts of barbarism that take place in SS camps but the gradual breakdown of civilisation that happens when human beings are herded like animals behind barbed wire...
And back in the hut by the main gate of the camp I questioned the sergeant who’d been in charge of one of the SS squads... I asked him how many people he had killed. He looked vacant for a moment and then he replied ‘oh I don’t remember’...
Far away in a corner of Belsen camp there is a pit the size of a tennis court. It’s 15 feet deep and at one end it’s piled to the very top with naked bodies that have been tumbled in one on top of the other...˝
Picture: Bergen-Belsen 1945
Source: George Rodger, The LIFE Picture Collection
On 18 April 1945, the remaining organized units of German Army Group B trapped in the Ruhr Pocket surrender to the U.S. 1st and 9th Armies, with around 317,000 German troops becoming POWs.
Despite escape being nigh impossible by the time Lt. Gen. Hodges` 1st Army and General Simpson`s 9th Army began their advance inward to reduce the pocket, which we covered in our 3 April post, Field Marshal Walter Model`s Army Group B was prepared to fight and held up the advance of U.S. troops for several days, until 9 April, along the Dortmund-Elms Canal and the Sieg River, even launching a limited counterattack around Dortmund.
However, the cracks were starting to show. Essen fell to the 9th Army on 10 April, and by 11 April, Model`s forces were offering only scattered resistance along major roads and cities, slowly running out of ammunition.
Three days later, the 1st and 9th Army linked up on the Ruhr River near Hattingen, splitting Army Group B in two. General Gustav-Adolf von Zangen capitulated in the eastern part of the pocket with what remained of his 15th Army that same day.
The next day, 15 April, Model dissolved Army Group B, ordering his subordinates to transmit orders the best they can that once ammunition is expended, troops are to lay down their arms and surrender.
XVIII Airborne Corps commander Maj. Gen. Matthew Ridgway sent an aide to offer Model to surrender. Model refused out of pride and a sense of duty to Hitler, but told most of his troops to leave and go home.
Today, the remaining German troops in the western part of the Ruhr Pocket surrender.
Model attempts a breakout toward the Harz Mountains with a small contingent. But within the next couple of days, it will become apparent to him that this is impossible, and he will be branded a traitor alongside the entirety of Army Group B by Joseph Goebbels. He will walk off into the forest near Duisburg and commit suicide by shooting himself in the head on 21 April.
The two U.S. armies suffered only 2,000 dead and missing and 8,000 wounded for the capitulation of an entire army group and 317,000 German troops.
Picture: German prisoners of war on the motorway north of Frankfurt, March 1945
Source: U.S.
On 17 April 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses Parliament with a eulogy for the late U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
We deliver you a part of his speech:
˝My friendship with the great man to whose work and fame we pay our tribute today began and ripened during this war...
When I became Prime Minister, and the war broke out in all its hideous fury, when our own life and survival hung in the balance, I was already in a position to telegraph to the President on terms of an association which had become most intimate and, to me, most agreeable. This continued through all the ups and downs of the world struggle until Thursday last, when I received my last messages from him...
I conceived an admiration for him as a statesman, a man of affairs, and a war leader... His love of his own country, his respect for its constitution, his power of gauging the tides and currents of its mobile public opinion, were always evident, but, added to these, were the beatings of that generous heart... It is, indeed, a loss, a bitter loss to humanity that those heart-beats are stilled for ever...
Not one man in ten millions, stricken and crippled as he was, would have attempted to plunge into a life of physical and mental exertion and of hard, ceaseless political controversy. Not one in ten millions would have tried, not one in a generation would have succeeded, not only in entering this sphere, not only in acting vehemently in it, but in becoming indisputable master of the scene...
In war he had raised the strength, might and glory of the great Republic to a height never attained by any nation in history. With her left hand she was leading the advance of the conquering Allied Armies into the heart of Germany and with her right, on the other side of the globe, she was irresistibly and swiftly breaking up the power of Japan...
For us, it remains only to say that in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the new world to the old.˝
Picture: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill in Casablanca, 18 January 1943
Source: U.S. National Archives
On the night of 16/17 April 1945, Soviet submarine L-3 torpedoes and sinks the MV Goya, carrying thousands of German troops and civilian evacuees back to Germany.
Initially built in 1940 as a 146 m (475 ft) long merchant vessel with a gross register tonnage of 5,230 and a capacity for up to 850 crew and passengers, the Goya was seized by the Germans in 1942 once they occupied Norway.
Since then, she has been used by the Kriegsmarine for various purposes, ranging from a supply and depot ship for U-boats to a torpedo target practice vessel. By 1944, the ship was based on Memel.
Much like the MV Wilhelm Gustloff and SS General von Steuben, the catastrophic sinkings of which we covered in our 30 January and 10 February posts, respectively, the Goya was pressed into service as a hospital and evacuation ship by the Kriegsmarine when Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz launched the evacuations of German troops and civilians under Operation Hannibal on 23 January this year.
Again, repeating the pattern of the previous two tragedies, the Goya sets out today from the Gotenhafen on the way back to Kiel in Germany. Aboard are a registered 6,100 civilians, German troops, and wounded military personnel. However, in the chaos of the evacuation, perhaps over 7,000 people made it aboard.
Under armed escort by minesweepers M-256 and M-328, the Goya, the smaller Kronenfels, and the steam tug Aegir round the Hel Peninsula and leave Danzig (Gdańsk) Bay, when Soviet submarine L-3, commanded by Captain Vladimir Konovalov spots them just north of Cape Rixhöft (Cape Rozewie).
Kronenfels slows because of engine problems, giving L-3 just enough time to catch up. At 2352 hours, Konovalol orders his crew to fire a spread of four torpedoes.
Two strike the Goya, amidships and in the stern. She breaks apart almost immediately and sinks just four minutes later. Somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 drown or succumb to hypothermia in the icy Baltic Sea. The two minesweepers only manage to pick up some 170-180 survivors.
Picture: Soviet submarine L-4 "Garibaldiets", 1933
Source: Submarines: history of development by V. P. Vlasov
On 15 April 1945, the British 11th Armoured Division liberates Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
The massive Bergen-Belsen camp complex initially housed Polish POWs but has since grown into one of the Wehrmacht`s largest POW camps, holding some 95,000 POWs of all nationalities. Soviet POWs have suffered particularly badly, with almost 50,000 dying in the various camps since June 1941.
In April 1943, the SS Economic-Administration Main Office (SS Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt; WVHA) took control of part of the camp complex, designating it the Aufenthaltslager (holding camp) to avoid international inspections.
The population of the concentration camp increased significantly with further expansions, from 7,300 in July 1944 to 15,000 by December 1944, but exploded in April this year to around 60,000 as Jews and other prisoners evacuated by the Germans from other camps arrived. Some 35,000 have died since the concentration camp was established.
Overcrowding caused a series of epidemics to break out, with the typhus epidemic reaching such severity that the Germans created an exclusion zone around the complex in the past few weeks. Thus, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered on 11 April to surrender the camp to the advancing British forces without resistance.
Around 1300 hours on 13 April, Wehrmacht representatives signed a temporary truce with commanders of the British VIII Corps, creating a 48 square km (19 square mi) neutral zone. Only camp commandant SS-Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer and a few SS personnel remained, ostensibly to maintain order. In reality, they have been destroying the camp`s records.
This afternoon, elements of the 11th Armoured Division arrive. They find some 60,000 sick and malnourished prisoners, as well as some 13,000 unburied bodies.
British troops and relief personnel will transport the prisoners to a newly set up displaced persons camp nearby in the following weeks. Unfortunately, another 14,000 of the former prisoners will fail to recover and die by the end of June.
Picture: Women inmates are helped aboard a truck which will transport them to their new temporary home
Source: IWM BU 5469
On 14 April 1945, Private First Class John David Magrath, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 85th Infantry, 10th Mountain Division, leads an assault on multiple German positions near Castel d`Aiano, Italy, despite intense machine gun and artillery fire.
For his actions, PFC Magrath will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on 17 July 1946. His citation will read:
˝He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty when his company was pinned down by heavy artillery, mortar, and small arms fire, near Castel d`Aiano, Italy. Volunteering to act as a scout, armed with only a rifle, he charged headlong into withering fire, killing 2 Germans and wounding 3 in order to capture a machinegun. Carrying this enemy weapon across an open field through heavy fire, he neutralized 2 more machinegun nests; he then circled behind 4 other Germans, killing them with a burst as they were firing on his company. Spotting another dangerous enemy position to this right, he knelt with the machinegun in his arms and exchanged fire with the Germans until he had killed 2 and wounded 3. The enemy now poured increased mortar and artillery fire on the company`s newly won position. Pfc. Magrath fearlessly volunteered again to brave the shelling in order to collect a report of casualties. Heroically carrying out this task, he made the supreme sacrifice—a climax to the valor and courage that are in keeping with highest traditions of the military service.˝
Picture: Infantrymen of Co. "I", 3rd Bn., 85th Regt., 10th Mtn. Div., entruck to move to more forward positions. 17 April, 1945.
Source: Signal Corps Archives SC 270869
On 13 April 1945, SS troops and concentration camp guards burn to death 1,016 slave labourers from the Mittelbau-Dora camp in a barn in the town of Gardelegen.
The SS administration and guards of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp and V-weapon production facilities began evacuating around 4,000 prisoners and slave labourers on 3 and 4 April to Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück or Neuengamme concentration camps. However, when they reached Gardelegen on 9 April, air raid damage to the tracks prevented the trains from moving further. The SS guards sought assistance from local Hitler Youth, Volkssturm, and Luftwaffe auxiliaries to guard the prisoners.
Meanwhile, on 11 April, the U.S. 3rd Armored Division and 104th Infantry Division reached Mittelbau-Dora, which you can read about in our post from that day.
With U.S. troops continuing their advance, the SS guards and local Nazi administration decided to force the prisoners to continue on foot.
Today, the SS and their local accomplices force 1,027 prisoners too weak or sick to walk, mainly Poles and some Soviet and French, into a barn on the Isenschnibbe estate. They burn the barn and shoot those who try to escape. Somehow, eleven men, seven Poles, three Russians and a Frenchman, manage to escape.
Early morning tomorrow, the SS guards will attempt to hide the evidence by burying the bodies in a trench nearby, but the U.S. troops` arrival will force them to flee before they destroy all the evidence.
A few hours later, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 405th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 102nd Infantry Division, will enter Gardelegen and discover the burned, unburied corpses and the surviving 11 prisoners.
Meanwhile, at Mittelbau-Dora, U.S. commanders will order the German residents of Nordhausen to dig graves and bury the 5,000 or so dead concentration camp prisoners found after being shocked by their claims of not knowing what was going on in the camp. The 102nd ID commander will order the residents of Gardelegen to do the same with the bodies found in the barn on 21 April.
Picture: American soldiers stand among the bodies of prisoners killed by the SS in a barn outside the town of Gardelegen
Source: USHMM
On the afternoon of 12 April 1945, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away at the age of 63.
Roosevelt`s role as America`s leader throughout the war, now serving an unprecedented fourth term as President, cannot be overstated. However, it has been clear for at least the past year that his health, if not his ability to lead, has been in severe decline.
Even his paralysis resulting from polio has been at least partially hidden from the American public, until a recent address to Congress, which we covered in our 1 March post.
And that address, in which he acknowledged his health issues were a result of an even more significant decline since the start of 1944. Shortly after his 62nd birthday, in March 1944, doctors diagnosed him with hypertension, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease causing angina pectoris, and congestive heart failure.
It appears that the stresses of long meetings and difficult military and political decisions, coupled with travelling all the way to Yalta, have caused President Roosevelt`s health to reach a critical point, with him resting at the `Little White House` in Warm Springs, Georgia, where he spent a considerable time recovering from the initial onset of polio symptoms back in the 1920s.
Around noon today, the well-known portrait painter Elizabeth Shoumatoff arrives to continue work on her portrait of the President. However, Roosevelt appears particularly weak and soon starts complaining of an intense headache.
At 1315 hours, Roosevelt loses consciousness and collapses. His cardiologist diagnoses a massive brain hemorrhage, and just over two hours later, at 1535 hours, pronounces President Roosevelt dead.
At 1737, the White House issues a radio notice of the President`s death. Shortly afterwards, Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the President of the U.S.A. He issues his first statement at 2000 hours, saying: ˝The world may be sure that we will prosecute this war on both fronts, east and west, with all the vigor we possess, to a successful conclusion.˝
Picture: The last photograph of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, taken at Warm Springs, GA. 11 April 1945
Source: FDR Presidential Library & Museum
On 11 April 1945, elements of the U.S. 3rd Armored Division and 104th Infantry Division liberate the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp and discover the V-1 and V-2 production facilities dug into the Kohnstein Hill nearby.
After the RAF raid on the A4/V-2 missile research and production facilities at Peenemünde on 18 August 1943, Hitler ordered Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler on 22 August to move production to a secure facility and begin employing concentration camp slave labourers to speed up production.
The first prisoners arrived at the former gypsum mine in Kohnstein Hill on the southern border of the Harz mountains, close to Nordhausen, from the Buchenwald concentration camp on 28 August to begin the heavy construction and transport work. Officially, Arbeitslager Dora became a subcamp of Buchenwald.
By January 1944, when V-2 production in the facility began, the camp`s population rose to 12,000, with further increases up to 33,000 after Mittelbau-Dora became a separate camp and subcamp system in September, and prisoners began arriving from Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, and other camps the Nazis evacuated ahead of the advancing Red Army. Overall, some 60,000 have passed through Mittelbau-Dora, of whom around 20,000 died.
A few days ago, the SS forced the remaining prisoners to march to Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück concentration camps ahead of the arrival of the U.S. 3rd Armored Division, which had been rapidly driving east toward Nordhausen after meeting up with the 2nd AD on 1 April and closing the Ruhr Pocket.
Early this morning, the 3rd AD`s Combat Command B (CCB) and elements of the 104th ID quickly defeat the few disorganized German troops still present in the camp and Nordhausen.
As they push through the camp, they are shocked by the sight of several hundred starving and sick prisoners and almost 5,000 dead bodies scattered around the camp or partially cremated.
They also secure hundreds of completed or partially assembled V-1 rockets and V-2 missiles.
Picture: American medics remove survivors from Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp after liberation.
Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
On the morning of 10 April 1945, troops from the 1st Free French Division assault German and Italian Social Republic (RSI) positions on the Authion massif on the Southern Alps along the French-Italian border.
British Field Marshal Harold Alexander, commander of the Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ), authorized an operation on the French-Italian border to divert attention from the main Allied offensives into the Po River Valley and allow France to retake some territories lost to Italy in 1940.
This assault, by the 30,000-strong 1st Free French Division and 3e régiment d`infanterie (3e RI), is to secure the Authion massif, towering 2,080 m (6,820 ft) above the Alpine Valleys of Cairos, and the key fortifications at the Forts of Forca and Milles Fourche. Some 5,200 troops from the German 34th Infantry Division and 4,800 from the Italian Social Republic`s 2nd Division "Littorio" hold these positions.
At 0915 hours today, French artillery begins firing on Forca, to little effect, however. Two companies of the Bataillon d`Infanterie de Marine du Pacifique (BIMP) attack the spur between Forca and the peak of Authion. However, they take heavy casualties from mortars and German armoured turrets.
By 1730, another battalion destroys the turret and passes along a road between the Forca and Milles Fourche with the support of light tanks.
To the north, scout skiers from the 3e RI capture the fortifications at Col de Rauss. To the south, other elements of the 1st FFD capture some minor positions, but progress proves slow.
Early afternoon tomorrow, a French assault group, heavily armed with flamethrowers, submachine guns, bazookas, and mortars, will capture Fort Milles Fourche.
By the evening, French and U.S. troops will breach the German-Italian lines at multiple points and occupy much of the massif. At 2030 hours, the German garrison at the old French fort of Redoute des Trois Communes will surrender after being subjected to heavy artillery fire and surprised by the presence of Allied tanks.
On 12 April, the offensive will end, reaching the Italian border.
Picture: 1st Regiment of Naval Fusiliers (1er RFM) advance during the Battle of Authion
Source: Musée de l`Armée
On 9 April 1945, Private First Class Edward J. Moskala, Company C, 383rd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division, destroys two Japanese machine gun positions, and covers the withdrawal of his unit during a counterattack on Okinawa.
For his actions, PFC Moskala will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His citation will read:
˝He was the leading element when grenade explosions and concentrated machinegun and mortar fire halted the unit`s attack on Kakazu Ridge, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands. With utter disregard for his personal safety, he charged 40 yards through withering, grazing fire and wiped out 2 machinegun nests with well-aimed grenades and deadly accurate fire from his automatic rifle. When strong counterattacks and fierce enemy resistance from other positions forced his company to withdraw, he voluntarily remained behind with 8 others to cover the maneuver. Fighting from a critically dangerous position for 3 hours, he killed more than 25 Japanese before following his surviving companions through screening smoke down the face of the ridge to a gorge where it was discovered that one of the group had been left behind, wounded. Unhesitatingly, Pvt. Moskala climbed the bullet-swept slope to assist in the rescue, and, returning to lower ground, volunteered to protect other wounded while the bulk of the troops quickly took up more favorable positions. He had saved another casualty and killed 4 enemy infiltrators when he was struck and mortally wounded himself while aiding still another disabled soldier. With gallant initiative, unfaltering courage, and heroic determination to destroy the enemy, Pvt. Moskala gave his life in his complete devotion to his company`s mission and his comrades` well-being. His intrepid conduct provided a lasting inspiration for those with whom he served.˝
Picture: Japanese strongpoint is assaulted.
Source: Signal Corps Archives SC 270794
Early on 8 April 1945, U.S. troops open a vault containing Nazi Germany`s monetary and gold reserves in the Merkers salt mine.
After the largest USAAF raid on Berlin, covered in our 3 February post, destroyed the Reichsbank, including its printing presses, Walter Funk, president of the Reichsbank and Reich minister of economics, decided to send most of the gold and monetary reserves to a special vault area designated Room No. 8 in the Merkers salt, about 321 km (200 mi) southwest of Berlin, on 11 February. These reserves also included jewellery and gold seized by the SS from concentration camp prisoners and the proceeds from selling these in a proxy account belonging to Himmler and the SS under the name `Max Heiliger`, as well as thousands of art pieces owned or stolen by Nazi Germany shipped there between 16 and 30 March. The SS property arrived under the direction of Albert Thoms, head of the Reichsbank`s Precious Metals Department, on 18 March.
Despite German attempts to move all these reserves and possessions back to Berlin before the arrival of U.S. forces, Gen. Patton`s 3rd Army`s speed of advance prevented them from doing so.
U.S. troops of the 90th Infantry Division arrived on 4 April but assumed the work was part of regular mine operations. They did, however, capture Thoms. Director Frommknicht, who had the vault key, slipped away. Lt. Col. Russell, 90th IDs assistant commander, discovered the mine`s importance on 6 April from two French women forced to work nearby by the Germans.
Yesterday at 1000 hours, Russell and German mining officials entered the mine and found some of the money but were stopped by the vault door.
Early today, engineers blast through the wall surrounding the door, and Gen. Eddy (90th ID commander), Russell, photographers, and reporters enter the 23 m (75 ft) wide and 46 m (150 ft) long vault. They find bags containing billions of Reichsmarks, gold, silver, and foreign currencies, the stolen art, as well as 18 bags and 189 suitcases, trunks, and boxes containing the stolen SS loot.
Picture: `Wintergarden` by the French Impressionist Edouard Manet, discovered in the vault at Merkers.
Source: U.S. National Archives 5757184
On 7 April 1945, hundreds of U.S. Navy carrier-launched aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) battleship Yamato.
Vice-Admiral Seiichi Itō, ordered to lead Operation Ten Go, sailed the 72,000-ton, 18.1 inch (460 mm) gun-armed battleship, the light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers from Kure to Tokoyuma on 29 March in preparation for the mission. But he rejected actually carrying it out on the grounds of it being a waste of fuel and manpower to charge the U.S. fleet at Okinawa and then beach the ship to act as a shore battery. Only after the IJN`s leadership convinced him of the emperor`s supposed insistence on the mission did he relent.
Itō`s ships sailed out at 1600 hours yesterday and were detected immediately by two U.S. submarines.
Early this morning, Admiral Spruance, U.S. 5th Fleet commander, receives the submarines` reports. He orders Rear Admiral Deyo`s Task Force 54 of older but modernized battleships to intercept Itō. However, Vice Admiral Mitscher, commanding the powerful Fast Carrier Task Force 58, preempts this by launching a 386-plane air group at 1000 hours without even informing Spruance.
At 1234, Yamato begins firing anti-aircraft shells from her massive main guns as the planes approach.
The first attack wave hit the destroyer Yahagi at 1246, sinking her by 1405. They then hit Yamato with two armour-piercing bombs and one torpedo.
Between 1320 and 1415 hours, with Yamato`s non-radar-guided anti-aircraft guns ineffective, the second wave scores 15 bomb hits and at least 8 torpedo hits.
By 1402, Itō orders the crew to abandon ship. He and his officers remain aboard.
At 1420, Yamato capsizes and sinks.
But she doesn`t go down quietly. At 1423, her magazines detonate, sending a mushroom-shaped plume of water and smoke 6.1 km (3.8 mi) into the air, knocking several U.S. planes out of the air.
For a loss of only ten aircraft, the U.S. Navy also sinks Asashimo, Isokaze, Hamakaze, and Kasumi. Between 3,700 and 4,250 IJN sailors perish today.
A poetic end to the battleship era, with even the mighty Yamato taken down by air power.
Picture: Yamato under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft on 7 April 1945
Source: U.S. Navy
On 6 April 1945, the Yugoslav National Liberation Army liberates Sarajevo.
The German defence plans for Sarajevo were completed early-mid February under Hitler`s orders to hold the city at all costs. Three defensive rings were formed (See Map 1 and Legend), manned by 38,000 troops of Gen. Ernst von Leyser`s XXI Mountain Corps, including the German 181. and 117. Infantry Divisions, 964. Fortress Division, and as of March, the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen", and remnants of the 369. (Croat) Infantry Division and 9th Mountain Ustashe-Home Guard Division, both undermanned after losses at Mostar, holding the key mountain pass Ivan Sedlo to the south.
However, the situation deteriorated after Yugoslav forces captured Mostar, which we covered on 15 February, and resistance and intelligence forces in Sarajevo, led by Vladimir Perić `Valter`, secured the detailed defence plans.
By mid-March, command of the 2nd (3rd, 29th, 37th Divisions), 3rd (27th and 38th Div), and 5th Corps (4th and 10th Div) was unified under Col. Gen. Radovan Vukanović in preparation for an offensive.
On 20 March, Hitler permitted the evacuation of forces from Sarajevo.
At 0400 hours on 28 March, the Yugoslav 3rd Corps began their assault on Sarajevo, aiming for a double envelopment. Four hours later, the 29th Division began its attack on Ivan Sedlo, which stalled until Yugoslav forces flanked the 369. CID in early April.
Despite slow early progress, the German defences were crumbling by 4 April, with the 29th Div and 5th Corps forces threatening the evacuation routes via Kiseljak and Blažuj. In the city, resistance forces began attacking German units.
Yesterday, around 1500 hours, the 16th Muslim Brigade, 27th Div, broke into Sarajevo from the east via Vratnik. By 1730 hours, they cleared Baščaršija (Old Town), captured the City Hall, and linked up with the 18th Croat Brigade.
Early today, the 3rd and 4th Sandžak Brigades enter Sarajevo from the south. The 14. Regiment of the 7th SS rapidly retreats west, and the city is declared secure early afternoon.
Picture: 3rd Yugoslav Corps units enter Sarajevo
Source: Museum of the History of Yugoslavia, 15721
On the night of 5/6 April 1945, Georgian soldiers of the Wehrmacht 822nd Infantry Battalion Königin Tamara (Queen Tamar) stage an uprising on Texel Island.
The 822nd was formed in Poland in mid-1943 from ethnic Georgians who volunteered to escape the conditions facing them after they were captured while serving in the Red Army, with an original strength of 1,200 troops, 800 Georgians and 400 Germans, under the command of Major Klaus Breitner. However, as Hitler`s mistrust toward the Georgians and Osttruppen grew, the 822nd was moved first to Zandvoort, Netherlands, and then, on 6 February, to Texel Island.
At today`s unit headcount (756 Georgians and 246 Germans), Breitner informs former Soviet Captain, now Leutnant (second lieutenant), Sjalva (Sjaliko) Georgiëvitsj Loladze, to prepare the unit for departure to the front against British and Canadian troops at 0700 tomorrow.
Wanting to avoid becoming casualties or repatriation to the Soviet Union as POWs, which would result in their treatment as traitors, Loladze organizes his men to stage an uprising.
At 0100 hours on 6 April, the Georgians kill around 200 Germans from the unit. They capture much of the island but fail to secure the southern coastal battery, allowing Breitner to call for assistance.
Already at 0900, the South Battery shells the town of Den Burg, and Breitner`s forces counterattack, supported by the arrival of 600 troops of the 163rd Marine-Schützen-Regiment.
On 7 April, 200 more troops from the 163rd will arrive on Texel. At the same time, Loladze will convince some of the Dutch resistance and civilians on the island to help him. Several of his men will travel across the North Sea to England to seek Allied assistance, to no avail, due to a lack of resources available for an assault on the island.
By 20 April, with over 2,000 troops on Texel, the Germans will defeat Loladze`s forces. Over 800 German troops will be killed. 565 Georgians will be killed in combat or executed, including Loladze. However, around 200 will continue to fight while hiding amongst the civilian population for several weeks.
Picture: Soldiers of the Georgian Legion during the Texel uprising
Source: Bundesarchiv
At noon on 4 April 1945, Germans defending the city of Kassel surrender to elements of the U.S. 3rd Army.
While Lt. Gen. Hodges` 1st Army was encircling German Army Group B in the Ruhr, which we covered in yesterday`s post, Lt. Gen. Patton`s 3rd Army was advancing on their right flank.
By 26 March, Maj. Gen. Eddy`s XXI Corps captured Frankfurt. Then, Maj. Gen. Walker’s XX Corps spearheaded the move further east-northeast to Kassel, which they reached on 30 March after advancing some 220 km (140 mi).
In Kassel, Generalmajor Johannes Erxleben commands around 6,000 troops of the 510th and 511th Heavy Tank Battalions, a Reich Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst; RAD) 88 mm anti-aircraft battery, and remnants of other units which have retreated into what is left of the city after 40 Allied air raids. The two tank battalions have, however, been reinforced with 13 Tiger II tanks completed in the last days of March at the Henschel factory in Kassel.
These tanks met the lead elements of XX Corps on 30 March south of Kassel. They disabled several U.S. tank destroyers, but artillery fire forced them to retreat, allowing Maj. Gen. McBride`s 80th Infantry Division to reach the outskirts of Kassel by 1 April.
Even though the RAD battery delayed the 80th ID`s advance for a day, by 2 April, overwhelming U.S. artillery fire prevailed. A battalion of the 318th Infantry Regiment moved west of Kassel, while the 319th crossed the Fulda River and attempted to envelop the city from the north.
A German counterattack supported by 15 half-tracks and 12 tanks against the 1/318th IR destroyed six U.S. tank destroyers. However, U.S. artillery once again struck the Tiger IIs, destroying two and forcing the rest to retreat. The fighting soon moved into the city.
This morning, around 0900 hours, elements of the 318th IR approach Erxleben`s command post. As negotiations are underway, the 319th`s tanks cross the Fulda and enter Kassel from the east. At 1200 hours, Erxleben and 1,325 of his men surrender without a prior ceasefire.
Picture: 6th Armored Division, 3rd U.S. Army, advance cautiously to take Oberdorla, Germany. 4 April, 1945
Source: Signal Corps Archives SC 335616
On 3 April 1945, the U.S. 1st and 9th Armies begin their attacks on German Army Group B trapped in the Ruhr Pocket.
General Eisenhower`s plan has long been the encirclement and destruction of German forces of Field Marshal Walter Model`s Army Group B in the Ruhr. He was, however, caught between focusing his forces on this or making a mad dash for Berlin, which he decided on and informed Stalin on 28 March (which we covered in our post on that day). According to Eisenhower`s plan, Lt. Gen. Hodges` 1st Army was to push hard east out of their bridgehead to parallel the advance of General Simpson`s 9th Army east from Wessel, where they crossed along with the rest of Field Marshal Montgomery`s forces during Operation Plunder.
They are facing some 370,000 German troops of the 15th Army, 5th Panzer Army, two corps of the 1st Parachute Army, and thousands of Luftwaffe air defence crews, Hitler Jugend and Volkssturm troops.
So when the U.S. 9th Army began to push east, the 8th and 2nd Armored Divisions initially struggled to find a break in the German lines and then were slowed down by the marshy terrain. Meanwhile, the 1st Army`s VII, III, and V Corps abreast. After they broke out of their bridgehead on 25 March, they began a relentless advance, reaching Giessen and Marburg, some 129 km (80 mi) east of the Rhine, by 28 march with III Corps alone taking 17,000 German prisoners.
Gen. Rose, 3rd AD commander, ordered Task Force Richardson to drive immediately 96 km (60 mi) north toward Paderborn. They covered 72 km (45 mi) by the end of the day. On 29 March, though, they encountered strong resistance from an ad hoc SS battalion supported by 60 tanks at Brilon, 24 km (15 mi) south of Paderborn.
On 1 April, the VII Corps linked up with the lead elements of the 9th Army at Lippstadt, completing the encirclement of Army Group B, including Model and 26 German generals in a pocket measuring 48 km (30 mi) by 120 km (75 mi).
After consolidating, the U.S. 1st and 9th Army begin their simultaneous push into the Ruhr Pocket today.
Picture: Infantrymen crouch close to buildings as tanks go down the streets of Konigshoffen. 8 April 1945.
Source: Signal Corps Archives SC 335303
On 2 April 1945, Corporal Thomas Peck Hunter, 43 Royal Marine Commando, leads an attack over open ground against multiple German machine gun positions near Commachio, Italy.
For his actions today, Cpl Hunter will be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross on 12 June 1945. His citation will read:
˝In Italy during the advance by the Commando to its final objective, Corporal Hunter of "C" Troop was in charge of a Bren group of the leading sub-section of the Commando. Having advanced to within 400 yards of the canal, he observed the enemy were holding a group of houses South of the canal. Realising that his Troop behind him were in the open, as the country there was completely devoid of cover, and that the enemy would cause heavy casualties as soon as they opened fire, Corporal Hunter seized the Bren gun and charged alone across two hundred yards of open ground. Three Spandaus from the houses, and at least six from the North bank of the canal opened fire and at the same time the enemy mortars started to fire at the Troop.
Corporal Hunter attracted most of the fire, and so determined was his charge and his firing from the hip that the enemy in the houses became demoralised. Showing complete disregard for the intense enemy fire, he ran through the houses, changing magazines as he ran, and alone cleared the houses. Six Germans surrendered to him and the remainder fled across a footbridge onto the North bank of the canal.
The Troop dashing up behind Corporal Hunter now became the target for all the Spandaus on the North of the canal...he lay in full view of the enemy on a heap of rubble and fired at the concrete pillboxes on the other side. He again drew most of the fire, but by now the greater part of the Troop had made for the safety of the houses. During this period he shouted encouragement to the remainder, and called only for more Bren magazines with which he could engage the Spandaus. Firing with great accuracy up to the last, Corporal Hunter was finally hit in the head by a burst of Spandau fire and killed instantly.˝
Picture: Men of 40 Royal Marine Commando leave a power plant they destroyed at Lake Comacchio, Italy, 11 April 1945
Source: NAM. 1985-11-36-173
On the morning of 1 April 1945, U.S. Marine and Army troops of the 10th Army make an unopposed amphibious landing on the western coast of Okinawa.
Landing on Okinawa as the final stepping stone before the potential invasion of the Japanese Home Islands has always been envisioned by U.S. commanders as a massive operation.
Okinawa covers an area almost 60 times larger than the recently captured Iwo Jima, and Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima has some 130,000 troops of the Japanese 32nd Army at his disposal. Following the same lessons as Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi on Iwo Jima, Ushijima has no intention of meeting the U.S. invasion forces on the beaches but has instead concentrated his troops on the southern part of the island.
In preparation for the main landings, the 77th Infantry Division landed on the Kerama Islands, 24 km (15 mi) west of Okinawa, on 26 March. The Marines of the Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion then landed without opposition on Keise Shima, four islets just 13 km (8 mi) west of the Okinawan capital of Naha.
At dawn today, the 1,300 ships of Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner`s Task Force 51 stand at the ready in the waters around Okinawa. At 0530, the fire support force of 10 battleships, 9 cruisers, 23 destroyers, and 177 gunboats began the heaviest concentration of naval gunfire ever to support a troop landing.
At 0830, the first troops of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.`s 10th Army hit the beaches, suffering no casualties and encountering only sporadic mortar fire.
Major General Roy S. Geiger`s III Amphibious Corps lands on the Northern Landing Beaches - 6th Marine Division on Green and Red, and 1st Marine on Blue and Yellow.
To their south, the 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions of Major General John R. Hodge XXIV Army Corps land on Purple and Orange and White and Brown Beaches, respectively.
Facing almost no resistance, they expand the beachhead to a length of almost 14 km (8.7 mi) wide and 4.5 km (2.8 mi) deep within hours.
By nightfall, some 60,000 U.S. troops will land on Okinawa.
Picture: Infantrymen disembark from landing craft after hitting beach at Okinawa
Source: Signal Corps Archives SC 126058
On 31 March 1945, SS officers partially demolish Wewelsburg Castle, just ahead of the arrival of advancing U.S. forces.
The location`s history stretches as far back as the 9th and 10th centuries as the estate of various local lords, and as of 1603 and then after 1650, transformation into the current baroque-style castle.
In the leadup to the Nazis taking power in Germany, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler sought out a castle to base the Reichsführerschule SS (SS Leadership School). He was captivated by Wewelsburg`s and the region`s alleged connections to ancient Germanic history.
By 1935, the castle was leased out to the SS for a token sum, and Himmler officially redesignated it as the SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg (SS School, House Wewelsburg).
Employing first the Reichsarbeitsdienst (the RAD, `Reich Labour Service`), and then forced labour from the Sachsenhausen and Niederhagen concentration camps, the castle was redesigned to adhere to Himmler`s vision as the spiritual and ideological epicentre of the SS, based studies of ideas of racial purity and ancient Germanic myths.
By 1943, some 15 million Reichsmark had been spent on this reconstruction process. Himmler commissioned further plans for a wider Wewelsburg complex, a self-contained community where SS members could live according to the principles dictated by their ideology.
He desired to make the castle the `center of the new world` (`Zentrum der neuen Welt`) once Nazi Germany achieved final victory.
But that final victory is very rapidly turning out actually to be Germany`s downfall. With the U.S. 3rd Armored Division rapidly moving into the area, the castle commander (Burghauptmann), SS General Siegfried Taubert, fled yesterday. Himmler thus ordered the castle demolished.
Today, SS Major Heinz Macher, with 15 of his men, place explosives and tank mines in various parts of the castle, but only partially demolish it. The thousands of SS-Ehrenringe (`SS Honour Rings`) belonging to deceased SS officers, which Himmler had returned to the castle in 1938, however, disappear.
Picture: On July 1, 1938, Nazis mark the anniversary of the death of King Henry I of Quedlinburg
Source: Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H08447
On 30 March 1945, Hitler orders Army Group Vistula to prepare for fanatical resistance ahead of a Soviet attack on Berlin.
His orders read:
˝The enemy is in full preparation across the entire front of the army group. The development of the situation in the west can cause the enemy to initiate its long-planned and prepared attack across the Oder before spring or to await only the entrance of the freed-up forces in East- and West Prussia to begin.
After it has not succeeded with the continuing, accelerated surprise attack, and also an attack of the previously prepared positions could not be prevented...
I demand that the army group commander be completely clear that only the strongest defensive will and fanatical determination down to the last man are capable of repelling the coming enemy offensive. The battle for Berlin must and will end with a decisive defensive victory.
In detail, I command:
The Army Group must organize, with the deployment of previously still withheld formations at the front, in such a way that every divisional sector reaches a sufficient depth.
Approximately 3-6 km behind the current main battle line is to be determined, and an immediate responsive relationship with the commander of the army group in case of immediate threat of a large-scale enemy attack. Under no circumstances should the massed artillery fire shatter our entire defense.
The deceptive impression of training units and the hurried deployment of Luftwaffe in the rearward area 8-10 km behind the running position must be enforced with all energy.
The artillery is now to be moved so deep into the area that the majority of the batteries still block the current main battle line... The individual batteries must find themselves in the line of training units.
After the commitment of the 10th SS Panzer Division, all fast units as intervention reserves are to be brought up and thus behind the probable main points of attack of the enemy.˝
It seems that Hitler still harbours hopes of turning this war around.
Picture: Volkssturm machine-gun position on the banks of the Oder. 15 February 1945
Source: Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J28732
On 29 March 1945, Staff Sergeant Robert H. Dietz, Company A, 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division, singlehandedly eliminates several German anti-tank teams and disarms demolition charges threatening the bridge into the town of Kirchain, Germany.
For his actions, SSG Dietz will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on 17 December 1945. His citation will read:
˝He was a squad leader when the task force to which his unit was attached encountered resistance in its advance on Kirchain, Germany. Between the town`s outlying buildings 300 yards distant and the stalled armored column were a minefield and 2 bridges defended by German rocket-launching teams and riflemen. From the town itself came heavy small-arms fire. Moving forward with his men to protect engineers while they removed the minefield and the demolition charges attached to the bridges, S/Sgt. Dietz came under intense fire. On his own initiative he advanced alone, scorning the bullets which struck all around him, until he was able to kill the bazooka team defending the first bridge. He continued ahead and had killed another bazooka team, bayoneted an enemy soldier armed with a panzerfaust and shot 2 Germans when he was knocked to the ground by another blast of another panzerfaust. He quickly recovered, killed the man who had fired at him and then jumped into waist-deep water under the second bridge to disconnect the demolition charges. His work was completed; but as he stood up to signal that the route was clear, he was killed by another enemy volley from the left flank. S/Sgt. Dietz by his intrepidity and valiant effort on his self-imposed mission, single-handedly opened the road for the capture of Kirchain and left with his comrades an inspiring example of gallantry in the face of formidable odds.˝
Picture: 1st U.S. Army soldiers stand guard as American vehicles pass over Katzenfurt Bridge over the Dill River, Germany. The bridge was left intact by the fleeing enemy. 27 March, 1945.
Source: Signal Corps Archives SC 335285
On 28 March 1945, SHAEF commander, General Eisenhower, informs Stalin that U.S. and British forces will not push toward Berlin.
It is no secret that the prize on the minds of Allied commanders and soldiers for the past couple of months has been Berlin. In particular, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commanding the 21st Army Group, has been gearing up for the final drive on Berlin in his usually slow and meticulous manner.
But U.S. forces from Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges` 1st Army have started an aggressive push eastward out of their Rhine bridgehead at Remagen on 25 March. Far more significantly, the Red Army has been a mere 48 km (30 mi) from Berlin for several weeks, readying over 2 million troops for a final push.
Earlier this month, Eisenhower sought Bradley`s opinion, to which the latter replied that the projected 100,000 casualties in a final push to Berlin seem “a pretty stiff price to pay for a prestige objective, especially when we’ve got to fall back and let the other fellow take over.” Politically, the matter has been settled by the Big Three, with Berlin firmly 160 km (100 mi) within the Soviet post-war occupation zone.
So, today, Eisenhower telegrams Maj. Gen. John R. Deane, the U.S. military liaison in Moscow, with the following message to be passed on to Stalin: ˝My immediate operations are designed to encircle and destroy the enemy forces defending the Ruhr. My next task will be to divide the remaining enemy forces by joining with your forces…. If we are to complete the destruction of German armies without delay, I regard it as essential that we coordinate our action and make every effort to perfect the liaison between our advancing forces. I am prepared to send officers to you for this purpose.”
Stalin will receive the message in three days. Thus, U.S. forces will move to surround German Army Group B in the Ruhr, while Montgomery`s 21st Army Group will push to seize Luebeck in northern Germany, cut off German troops in the Danish peninsula and Norway, and take the crucial ports on the North Sea.
Picture: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery with Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Omar Bradley
Source: National Library of Australia
On the night of 27 March 1945, USAAF XXI Bomber Command B-29 Superfortresses conduct the first of many long-range minelaying sorties in the waters around the Japanese Home Islands as part of Operation Starvation.
Last September, General Henry `Hap` Arnold, commanding general of the USAAF, received Admiral Nimitz`s proposal to use Very Long Range Aircraft for naval minelaying purposes positively and asked his analysts to develop a plan. Nimitz had considered the idea a solution to the Navy`s lack of large-scale mine delivery mechanisms. On 22 December, Arnold directed a less-than-enthusiastic General Hansell, then-commander of XXI BC, to initiate planning for mining operations beginning on 1 April 1945 under the codename Operation Starvation.
However, when Hansell was replaced as commander by Major General Curtis LeMay in mid-January this year, tactics shifted to low-level, radar-assisted night bombing, which the bomber crews applied very effectively in the firebombing attacks on Japanese cities we covered recently.
On 25 March, XXI BC issued the Field Order for Mining Mission No. 1 to the 313th BW, which specified the area of the attack, the date (27 March), the number of sorties, the density of the minefield, and the preparation of the mines.
After sunset today, 102 B-29s from the 313th BW take off from Tinian Island carrying a combination of 900 kg (2,000 lb) Mk 25 and 500 kg (1,000 lb) Mark 26 and Mk 36 mines with a mix of magnetic and acoustic actuating devices and random arming delays.
They encounter only a few dozen Japanese fighters, of which only a few launch successful attacks. Despite the relatively heavy flak, the bombers lay 825 mines on the eastern and western sides of the Shimonoseki Strait, codenamed minefields LOVE and MIKE, respectively. A 4.9 km (3 mi) gap remains in LOVE because of mechanical release failures on several aircraft. Eight B-29s return with damage, while three are shot down.
XXI BC will continue to fly hundreds of similar missions and successfully mine most of Japan`s shipping routes.
Picture: A B-29 of the 9th BG/313th BW drops two parachute-retarded Mark 26 aerial mines during Operation Starvation
Source: U.S. Air Force
On 26 March 1945, `Task Force Baum` pushes behind enemy lines on direct orders from Lieutenant General Patton to liberate a POW camp.
Around 1000 hours this morning, Patton arrives at XII Corps headquarters to confirm orders to Hoge and XII Corps commander Maj. Gen. Manton S. Eddy to send a battalion-sized task force to liberate POW camp Oflag XIII-B, 3 km (1.8 mi) south of Hammelburg and 80 km (50 mi) behind German lines.
After a detailed briefing by 4th Armored Division`s Combat Command B commander, Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams, Captain Abraham “Abe” Baum leads his task force of 314 men, 16 tanks, 28 half-tracks, and 13 other vehicles drawn from the 37th Tank Battalion and 10th Armored Infantry Battalion. Maj. Alexander Stiller, Patton`s aide, accompanies them, likely to identify Patton`s son-in-law, Lt. Col. John K. Waters (captured in 1943), who is potentially among the prisoners at the camp.
`Task Force Baum` (TFB) departs with only 15 relatively basic road maps without knowing the camp`s exact location.
Tomorrow morning, lacking artillery support, TFB will lose 2 tanks and suffer 18 casualties in a fight with German forces at a rail complex near Gemünden, some 56 km (35 mi) from Hammelburg.
But the situation will get worse as a reconnaissance aircraft will spot them and direct a tank destroyer unit to the route between the town and POW camp. The push to the camp will cost Baum another 3 tanks and 5 halftracks.
Negotiations with the guards result in Waters getting wounded and Baum realizing he can only extract a couple of hundred prisoners with his remaining forces.
TFB will begin their return journey around 2000 hours on 27 March, but a group of German NCOs from the local officer school in Hammelburg will ambush them and destroy another five Sherman tanks.
TFB will be surrounded on the morning of 28 March. Only 35 soldiers from TFB will make it back to friendly lines; others will be killed, wounded or captured. Baum, Waters, and Stiller will all be captured.
Ironically, they will be liberated just 9 days by the 14th AD.
Picture: M4 tank of the 47th Tank Bn., 14th AD crashes into the prison compound at Oflag XIII-B, 6 April 1945
Source: USHMM
On 25 March 1945, a team of six Waffen-SS troops and `Werwolf` guerrillas assassinate the Allied-appointed Mayor of Aachen, Franz Oppenhoff.
Perhaps less convinced of the possibility of turning the tide of the war than Hitler, with his obsession with Wunderwaffe, last autumn Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler placed SS Obergruppenführer Hans-Adolf Prützmann in charge of training elite military and paramilitary units intended to stem the Allied advance by clandestinely operating behind their lines as part of Unternehmen Werwolf (Operation Werwolf).
As Generalinspekteur für Spezialabwehr (General Inspector of Special Defence), Prützmann has used his study of partisan groups to begin training volunteers from the SS and Hitler Youth.
Despite the growing lack of equipment and volunteers, the Nazi leadership has been keen to let the Werwolfs loose on the Allies and those they`ve deemed traitors. After Hitler took a personal interest in Franz Oppenhoff, Himmler ordered the Werwolfs to execute Unternehmen Karneval (Operation Carnival).
Prützmann selected SS Untersturmführer Herbert Wenzel, a Werwolf training officer, to lead Unterscharführer-SS (Sergeant) Josef "Sepp" Leitgeb, 16-year-old Werwolf trainee Erich Morgenschweiss, and 23-year-old Nazi Ilse Hirsch, a Hauptgruppenführerin (captain) in the League of German Girls (BDM).
On the night of 20 March, together with Former border Patrolman Karl-Heinz Hennemann and Georg Heidorn, they parachuted near the village of Gemmenich, Belgium, from a Luftwaffe-flown captured B-17 Flying Fortress.
This evening, they arrive at Oppenhoff`s house at Eupener Strasse 251 in Aachen, disguised as downed Luftwaffe pilots seeking help. Oppenhoff returns from a nearby party he was attending and attempts to convince them to surrender, but Leitgeb confronts him and shoots him in the head with a pistol.
They quickly evade the incoming U.S. patrols, but as they move out of the area, Hirsch triggers a landmine, which injures her knee and kills Leitgeb. But they do manage to get away.
Should the Allies fear the Werwolfs from now on?
Picture: Hitler Youth company preparing to defend the town of Pyritz
Source: Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J28536
On the morning of 24 March 1945, troops of the U.S. 17th Airborne Division and British 6th Airborne Division land along the eastern bank of the Rhine near the town of Wesel to assist the Allied river crossing being conducted as part of Operation Plunder.
At 2100 hours last night, the troops from Montgomery`s 21st Army Group began crossing the Rhine as part of Operation Plunder, which you can learn more about by following Indy`s weekly coverage on our YouTube channel.
Between 0700 and 0900 hours today, 72 C-46s, 836 C-47s, and 906 CG-4A gliders carrying 9,387 paratroopers and glider-borne soldiers from the U.S. 17th AD make their way toward Germany. Alongside them are 800 aircraft and 420 gliders, carrying over 8,000 airborne troops from the British 6th Airborne.
The front of the 320 km (200 mi) long air armada reaches the objective area at 0953 hours, slightly ahead of schedule. The U.S. 507th and 513th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR) land first. The 507th is split up during the landing, while the haze created by the massive smoke screen covering Operation Plunder causes the 513th to drop in the British landing zones.
Nevertheless, by 1400 hours, both regiments complete all their objectives, the 507th by clearing the area around Diersfordt Forest and the 513th by capturing Hamminkeln together with the British forces. One of 513th`s battalions also reaches the Issel River and establishes a crossing.
The British 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades fair similarly, capturing Schnappenberg and clearing all the drop zones by around 1530 hours.
Both the U.S. 194th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR) and British 6th Airlanding Brigade suffer heavier casualties than expected. Nevertheless, the glider infantry quickly reorganizes and joins the paratroopers in the fight, successfully securing all their objectives.
By nightfall, the airborne troops suffer around 2,700 killed, wounded, or missing in action, significantly lighter than in previous airborne operations. However, they take over 3,500 Germans prisoner, while also killing or wounding likely thousands more.
Picture: 513th PIR troops stay low near Wesel. British Horsa glider in the background
Source: U.S. Army
On 23 March 1945, Staff Sergeant Edward A. Carter Jr., 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division, singlehandedly neutralizes an enemy position near Speyer, Germany, despite suffering from multiple wounds.
For his actions, SSG Carter will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on 12 January 1997. His citation will read:
˝At approximately 0830 hours, 23 March 1945, near Speyer, Germany, the tank upon which Staff Sergeant Carter was riding received bazooka and small arms fire from the vicinity of a large warehouse to its left front. Staff Sergeant Carter and his squad took cover behind an intervening road bank. Staff Sergeant Carter volunteered to lead a three-man patrol to the warehouse where other unit members noticed the original bazooka fire... As the patrol left this covered position, they received intense enemy small arms fire killing one member of the patrol instantly. This caused Staff Sergeant Carter to order the other two members of the patrol to return to the covered position... The enemy fire killed one of the two soldiers while they were returning to the covered position, and seriously wounded the remaining soldier... An enemy machine gun burst wounded Staff Sergeant Carter three times in the left arm as he continued the advance. He continued and received another wound in his left leg that knocked him from his feet. As Staff Sergeant Carter took wound tablets and drank from his canteen, the enemy shot it from his left hand, with the bullet going through his hand. ...Staff Sergeant Carter continued the advance by crawling until he was within thirty yards of his objective. The enemy fire became so heavy that Staff Sergeant Carter took cover behind a bank and remained there for approximately two hours. Eight enemy riflemen approached Staff Sergeant Carter, apparently to take him prisoner. Staff Sergeant Carter killed six of the enemy soldiers and captured the remaining two. These two enemy soldiers later gave valuable information concerning the number and disposition of enemy troops...˝
Picture: Black soldier of the 12th Armored Division stands guard over a group of Nazi prisoners, April 1945
Source: U.S. National Archives
On 22 March 1945, six Middle Eastern states sign the Charter of the League of Arab Nations in Cairo, Egypt.
In the past few months, we have seen a slew of agreements signed, organizations formed, or membership in them confirmed, and pledges being made in preparation for a post-war world. But these have been mostly between the major powers and states recently freed from occupation by the Axis. In the background, Arab state leaders have been negotiating and working together to attempt to secure their future against a potential return of the colonial system.
British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden encouraged this `Arab Unity` in his Mansion House speech in May 1941, and Arab leaders have made progress in making agreements to work together since. On 7 October last year, the representatives of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon signed the Alexandria Protocol, in which they agreed to form a joint Arab organization which would strengthen the relations between Arab states and allow them to participate actively in the coordination of political plans and foreign policy without interference with their independence.
Based on this organizational blueprint, the representatives of Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria meet today in the Boustan Palace in Cairo and sign the Charter of the League of Arab Nations.
With pledges to foster political, economic, cultural, and social cooperation among its member states to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, the Arab League certainly has the potential to be a powerful player in the region. However, it remains to be seen what issues the leaders of the signatories place the most importance on.
One particular issue that they have already identified is that of the future of the British Mandate for Palestine. In the Charter`s ˝Annex on Palestine˝, the signatories express their view that Palestine should become an independent state.
The issue of Palestine may become a sticking point if the British authorities there do not resolve the growing grievances and emerging violence from both the Jewish and Arab populations.
Picture: Saudi Arabian delegates sign the League of Arab States charter
Source: AP
On the morning of 21 March 1945, RAF de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers bomb the Gestapo headquarters located in the Shellhuset (Shell House) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Despite turning down the mission multiple times due to concerns over collateral damage, recent arrests of top resistance leaders convinced RAF planners to give Operation Carthage the go-ahead several months ago.
As with previous low-level bombing of Gestapo or other German occupation forces` HQs, the squadrons selected, No. 21 (RAF), 464 (RAAF), and 487 (RNZAF), have been meticulously planning the raid with the use of detailed maps, scale models of the target, and practice runs at their bases in England. They destroyed the Gestapo HQ located at Aarhus University in Denmark with great precision, which you can read about in our 31 October post. They have been training especially intensively to avoid the inaccuracies that caused 77 civilian deaths in No. 627 Squadrons` attack on the Gestapo headquarters at Victoria Terrasse in Oslo, Norway, which we covered in our 31 December post.
Around 0900 hours today, 18 Mosquitos from 21, 464, and 487 Sqns, and two from the the Photo Reconnaissance Unit/Film Production Unit (PRU/FPU) take off from RAF Fersfield in Norfolk. Escorting them are 28 Mustang Mk. IIIs tasked with eliminating anti-aircraft defences in Copenhagen.
Around 1100 hours, the first wave of six Mosquitos lines up for the attack, but one hits a lamp post. Its two 230 kg (500 lb) bombs explode nearby and kill 12 civilians. The plane crashes into the garage of the French Jeanne d`Arc Catholic school at Frederiksberg Alle. The others land 6 hits on the Shellhuset, destroying the prison and Gestapo records, killing 55 Gestapo members, 47 Danish employees of the Gestapo and 8 prisoners. The chaos allows at least 18 Danish resistance members to escape.
Unfortunately, all but 5 of the Mosquitos from the second and third wave mistake the fire at the Jeanne d`Arc school for their target and drop their bombs there, killing 86 children and 16 adults.
Another 3 Mosquitos and 3 Mustangs fail to return home.
Picture: Shellhuset on fire
Source: Nationalmuseet (National Museum of Denmark)
