Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were captured by partisans while attempting to cross into Switzerland.
The Red Army took Potsdam, Prenzlau, Angemunde and Tempelhof airfield.
US troops liberated Kaufering concentration camp.
The Western Allies rejected Himmler's peace offer for the Germans to lay down their arms in the west and sent a reminder that the German surrender was to be unconditional.
One of the interesting things here is that its not entirely clearly that the Western Allies understood the offer the way it was made. Theoretically, it might have been possible to accept the offer as a largescale troop surrender which, while it would have ended fighting in the west, it would not have ended the war against Germany.
The U.S. Fifth Army reached Genoa, Italy, which was mostly already liberated by Italian partisans.
SS architect Hans Schleif committed suicide at age 43. Schleif had been involved in removing cultural material from Poland, but he oddly never really seemed to be fully on board with the worst elements of Nazism. His death was probably needless, but he probably would have served time after the war.
Former Austrian chancellor Karl Renner set up a provisional government composed of Social Democrats, Christian Socialists, and Communists and proclaimed the reestablishment of Austria as a democratic republic. This became the Second Austrian Republic, which remains today.
US and Philippine forces commenced the Battle of Davao. US forces took Baguio.
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