Wednesday, April 25, 1945. Elbe Day.

In a staged photograph,  2nd Lt. William Robertson  and Lt. Alexander Silvashko clasp each other on April 25, 1945.

US and Soviet troops met at the Elbe near Torgau.  The first contact came when First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue crossed the Elbe in a boat with three men of an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon and met the forward elements of a Soviet Guards rifle regiment of the First Ukrainian Front, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gordeyev.

Kotzebue had been born in Puerto Rico and remained in the service, retiring as a Lt. Col and dying in 1987 at age 63.

Image description: Black soldiers sit back on the exterior of a small tank with a white star on the turret. They are in front of the Coburg Stadthaus, an ornate building with a statue of Prince Albert–and some piles of rubble–in front of it.

The East Prussian Offensive and the Samland Offensive ended in Soviet victories.

Today In Wyoming's History: April 25: 1945     Last Boeing B-17 attack against Germany.

Hanna Reitsch flew Luftwaffe General Robert Ritter von Greim from Munich to Berlin by Hanna Reitsch for a meeting with Hitler in which he was given command of the Luftwaffe and promoted to Field Marshall.  Anti aircraft fire resulted in Greim being injured during the flight.

Reitsch lived until 1979 when she died at age 67. There's some speculation that she may have committed suicide with a cyanide capsule she was given at the bunker, but this is speculation based in part on a cryptic letter she sent to former British test pilot and Royal Navy officer Eric Brown.  She remained an unrepentant Nazi until her death in some ways, but lived for a time in Ghana where she recanted racist views on Africans.  She was a fantastic pilot and remains a fascinating figure, being a woman who succeeded in a male field in the 30s and 40s and in an environment that was hostile to working women. Additionally, she excelled in flying even after the war.

The Luftwaffe's last air victories in World War Two occurred when five Allied bombers were shot down over Aussig.

Italian partisan  Miotero Geninetti, age 40, Italian partisan leader, was executed.

Walter Gross, age 40, racist German physician and Nazi politician committed suicide.

Last edition:

Tuesday, April 24, 1945. Berlin surrounded.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Battle of Berlin, Berchtesgaden, Berlin Germany, boats and ships, Dachau, Karl Dönitz, Okinawa, Red Army, Royal Air Force, The Battle of Halbe, The Holocaust, World War Two