Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published.
The press was covering the Skopes trial, and lampooning the characters in it.
Last edition:
Showing posts with label Adolf Hitler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adolf Hitler. Show all posts
Friday, July 18, 2025
Friday, July 4, 2025
Wednesday, July 4, 1945. MacArthur declares things wrapped up while additional mopping up occurs in the Philippines.
"With the 6th Inf. Div. in the Cagayan Valley, Luzon, P.I., about 9 miles north of Bagabag along Highway 4. Scene showing a reinforcing patrol of A Co., 1st Bn. of the 63rd Regt. on road at the frontlines just prior to moving ahead. 4 July, 1945. Company A, 1st Battalion, 63rd Infantry Regiment, 6th Infantry Division. Photographer: Pfc. Murray Schneiweiss."
General Douglas MacArthur announced that the Philippines had been completely liberated while the 24th Infantry Division organized an amphibious expeditionary force to liberate Sarangani Bay, south of Davao.
Hmmm. . . .
President Truman released a short statement for the Fourth of July.
Statement by the President: The Fourth of July.
July 04, 1945
AGAIN THIS YEAR we celebrate July 4 as the anniversary of the day one hundred and sixty-nine years ago on which we declared our independence as a sovereign people.
In this year of 1945, we have pride in the combined might of this nation which has contributed signally to the defeat of the enemy in Europe. We have confidence that, under Providence, we soon may crush the enemy in the Pacific. We have humility for the guidance that has been given us of God in serving His will as a leader of freedom for the world.
This year, the men and women of our armed forces, and many civilians as well, are celebrating the anniversary of American Independence in other countries throughout the world. Citizens of these other lands will understand what we celebrate and why, for freedom is dear to the hearts of all men everywhere. In other lands, others will join us in honoring our declaration that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights--life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Here at home, on this July 4, 1945, let us honor our Nation's creed of liberty, and the men and women of our armed forces who are carrying this creed with them throughout the world.
Canadian troops in Aldershot rioted about the delay in returning them home to Canada.
Rumors started circulating in Berlin that Hitler was alive and well.
The British Occupation force arrived in the city.
Last edition:
Tuesday, July 3, 1945. Don't use the Bomb.
Friday, June 6, 2025
Wednesday, June 6, 1945. Hitler's body.
The Soviets announced they had found the body of Adolf Hitler.
Today in World War II History—June 6, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 6, 1945: Despite damage from the previous day’s typhoon, US Navy Task Force 38 aircraft support ground troops at Okinawa and down 20 Japanese aircraft. Japanese forces in southern China retreat to Kweilin.
Brazil declared war on Japan.
"An airstrike on the escarpment in Southern Okinawa where veterans of the 7th Inf. Div. are meeting heavy resistance as the Japs make their final defensive stand. 6 June, 1945. 7th Infantry Division."
Last edition:
Tuesday, June 5, 1945. The Berlin Declaration.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Tuesday, May 1, 1945. German radio reports Hitler dead.
General situation map, May 1, 1945.
Reichssender Hamburg's Flensburg radio station announced that Adolf Hitler had died in Berlin while "fighting for Germany".
Hmmm. . .
Dönitz gave a broadcast that night declaring that it was his task to save the German people "from destruction by Bolshevists."
New Chancellor of German Joseph Goebbels sent a letter to the Soviet commander in Berlin advising of Hitler's death and requesting a ceasefire.
The Soviets refused.
He and his wife Magda then murdered their six children and committed suicide. Dönitz then appointed Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk as the new de facto Chancellor of Germany, in the Flensburg Government.
Mass suicides occurred in Demmin following the Red Army taking and destroying the town. Between 700 and 2,500 people killed themselves. As was common, the Red Army engaged in rapes and murders upon entering the town.
The Battle of Halbe ended in a Soviet victory.
The Australian Army landed on Tarakan off of Borneo.
Last edition:
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Monday, April 30, 1945. Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
A post war PPK, the same type of pistol that Hitler used to end his life.
The man responsible for the deaths of millions in Europe, Adolf Hitler committed suicide with a .32 ACP PPK. His wife of one day, Eva Braun, also killed herself. Both deaths occurred around 3.30 p.m..
Their bodies were taken outside of the bunker, liberally doused with gasoline, and burned in a pit.
The Red Army was less than 500m from the Führerbunker. Soviet troops reached the Reichstag.
Karl Dönitz and Joseph Goebbels took on Hitler's former roles as Head of State and Head of Government of Germany in accordance with his wishes.
Such was the engine of the German state that, even though the Nazis would never have come to power without Hitler, and the war would never have occurred without Hitler, the war nonetheless continued on without him.
The Battle of Bautzen ended in a localized German victory.
The U-879, U-1107 and U-326 were all sunk.
Actors Osvaldo Valenti and Luisa Ferida were killed by Italian partisans due to their links to fascism.
Last edition:
Sunday, April 29, 1945. Dachau.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Sunday, April 29, 1945. Dachau.
U.S. troops liberated Dachau. In outrage over what they discovered, some SS Guards were executed along with the camp commandant.
Hitler married Eva Braun, his long time mistress.
Braun had been in a relationship with Hitler for a long time. She was a photographer by picked up trade and relatively young when she met Hitler. She had already attempted suicide twice in her relationship with the dictator by this point in time.
Braun's family survived the war. Her mother Franziska, died aged 91 in January 1976. Her father, Fritz, died in 1964. Her sister Gretl, left a widow by the execution of Fegelein, gave birth to a daughte on May 5 1945 and later married Kurt Beringhoff, a businessman. She died in 1987. Braun's elder sister was not part of the Hitler inner cricle and Ilse died in 1979.
Hitler's German Shepard Blondi was given cyanide capsules as a test of their lethality and died.
Germans signed the terms of surrender in Italy and Austria which provided that the fighting would end on May 2. This effected the surrender of 1,000,000 Axis troops.
The Battle of Collecchio ended in Allied victory.
SS Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp committed suicide after being captured by Soviet troops.
Italian fascist Achille Starace was killed by Italian partisans.
The Allies began dropping food to the people of the Netherlands:
29 April 1945
Last edition:
Saturday, April 28, 1945. The fate of the fascists.
Friday, April 25, 2025
Wednesday, April 25, 1945. Elbe Day.
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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.
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Monday, April 23, 1945. Where's Hitler?
German radio broadcast that Adolf Hitler was in the "main fighting line" in Berlin and would "remain there despite all rumors."
The Allies suspected he was in Bavaria organizing resistance there.
Göring sent a telegram asking for permission to assume leadership of the Third Reich which Hitler regarded as treason, ordering his arrest.
The Flossenburg concentration camp was liberated by the U.S. Army.
The U-183 was sunk off of Borneo by the U.S. submarine Besugo.
The Navy deployed Bat air to ship missiles against Japanese ships in Balipapan Harbor in Borneo, marking their first use.
Those arrested in the Freeman Field Mutiny were released.
"Lt. Richard K. Jones, OIC 3235th Sig. Ser. Det. of Hollywood, Calif., feeds Japanese children found in a tomb 50 yards from front line on Okinawa. 23 April, 1945."
Last edition:
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Sunday, April 22, 1945. The Bunker.
Adolph Hitler held conference in the Führerbunker to discuss the military situation. He learned there that the Steiner attack ordered the prior day had not occured, and became enraged.
He announced his intention to remain in Berlin nad kill himself, and conceded that the war was lost. Those wishing to leave the bunker were given permission to do so.
This scene if famously depicted in the movie Downfall.
Himmler met in secret with Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden and asked him to act as an intermediary to offer the surrender of all German forces in the west. The message would be delivered two days later.
The 7th Army crossed the Danube.
The Red Army liberated the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The U.S. Navy sank the U-518.
The British Fourteenth Army captured Taungoo and Oktwin, Burma.
Private First Class Thomas performed the actions that resulted in his winning the Medal of Honor in the Philippines..
He was a member of the leading squad of Company B, which was attacking along a narrow, wooded ridge. The enemy strongly entrenched in camouflaged emplacements on the hill beyond directed heavy fire and hurled explosive charges on the attacking riflemen. Pfc. Thomas, an automatic rifleman, was struck by 1 of these charges, which blew off both his legs below the knees. He refused medical aid and evacuation, and continued to fire at the enemy until his weapon was put out of action by an enemy bullet. Still refusing aid, he threw his last 2 grenades. He destroyed 3 of the enemy after suffering the wounds from which he died later that day. The effective fire of Pfc. Thomas prevented the repulse of his platoon and assured the capture of the hostile position. His magnificent courage and heroic devotion to duty provided a lasting inspiration for his comrades.
The US 31st Infantry Division landed at Moro Gulf. US forces took Jolo.
German mathematician Wilhelm Cauer, 44, was executed by the Red Army, with the soldiers killing him apparently not aware that he was on a list of people to be found by the Soviets for their talents.
"As an ambulance jeep evacuates three wounded U.S. soldiers to a rear area field hospital, one is given blood plasma en route by a corpsman of 102nd Med. Bn. on Okinawa. 22 April, 1945."
Last edition:
Saturday, April 21, 1945. Steiner refuses to attack, Hitler decides on suicide, Model kills himself, May dies heroically in action.
Monday, April 21, 2025
Saturday, April 21, 1945. Steiner refuses to attack, Hitler decides on suicide, Model kills himself, May dies heroically in action.
Hitler ordered a last ditch, all out, attack by German forces in Berlin. The Berlin forces were under the command of SS Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner., who called Gen. Heinrici and informed him that the plan could not be implemented because the 5th Jäger Division and the 25th Panzergrenadier Division were deployed defensively and could not be redeployed until the 2nd Naval Division arrived from the coast to relieve them. This left only two battalions of the 4th SS Panzergrenadier Division available, and they were poorly equipped.
Heinrici, appreciating Steiner's assessment, called General Hans Krebs, Chief of Staff of the German General Staff of the Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres or OKH), and told him that the plan could not be implemented and he further asked to speak to Hitler. He was informed that Hitler was too busy. Hitler did become aware that Steiner had no intention of attacking, however, and fell into a rage, declared the war lost, and blamed his generals. He expressed his intention to remain in Berlin until the defeat was final and kill himself.
What a selfish asshole.
The Battle of Bautzen, one of the last battles of the Eastern Front, began around Bautzen, Germany.
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket ended in an Allied victory. It was notable as German anti Nazi resistance in Düsseldorf attempted to surrender the city to the Allied armies in the so-called "Aktion Rheinland" in order to spare Düsseldorf.
The Polish II Corps captured Bologna.
American soldiers being greeted by civilians in Genoa. 21 April, 1945. Photographer: Leviton, 196th Signal Photo Co.
The U-636 was sunk off of Ireland by the Royal Navy.
German born Jewish representative for Sweden to the Jewish World Congress Norbert Masur met, in Germany, with Heinrich Himmler to agree the release of women from Ravensbrück concentration camp.
Diehard Nazis who weren't willing to go down with Hitler were beginning to attempt to cut their deals.
A mutual assistance treaty was concluded between the Soviet government and the Provisional Government of Poland
Field Marshall Walter Model, age 54, killed himself.
Model had not come from a military family, which is interesting in relation to his death. Many high ranking officers who did saw no reason to take this step at all, and their post war lives showed the wisdom of their decision. Many joined the Bundesheer, and even very high ranking officers were not really subject to much but temporary punishment. Model would no doubt not have been able to join the post war West German Army, but he likely would not have been punished all that much.
Model's middle class background likely had much to do with his despair. Perhaps ironically, those who came from the military class were acclimated to German and Prussian regimes failing.
Gen. Karl Decker, age 47, German panzer general killed himself. What is noted above for Model, is even more the case for Decker.
PFC Martin O. May, agee 23,preforemd the actions that resulted in his winning the Medal of Honor. His citation reads:
He gallantly maintained a 3-day stand in the face of terrible odds when American troops fought for possession of the rugged slopes of legusuku-Yama on Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands. After placing his heavy machinegun in an advantageous yet vulnerable position on a ridge to support riflemen, he became the target of fierce mortar and small arms fire from counterattacking Japanese. He repulsed this assault by sweeping the enemy with accurate bursts while explosions and ricocheting bullets threw blinding dust and dirt about him. He broke up a second counterattack by hurling grenades into the midst of the enemy forces, and then refused to withdraw, volunteering to maintain his post and cover the movement of American riflemen as they reorganized to meet any further hostile action. The major effort of the enemy did not develop until the morning of 21 April. It found Pfc. May still supporting the rifle company in the face of devastating rifle, machinegun, and mortar fire. While many of the friendly troops about him became casualties, he continued to fire his machinegun until he was severely wounded and his gun rendered useless by the burst of a mortar shell. Refusing to withdraw from the violent action, he blasted fanatical Japanese troops with hand grenades until wounded again, this time mortally. By his intrepidity and the extreme tenacity with which he held firm until death against overwhelming forces, Pfc. May killed at least 16 Japanese, was largely responsible for maintaining the American lines, and inspired his comrades to efforts which later resulted in complete victory and seizure of the mountain stronghold.
Last edition:
Friday, April 20, 1945. Shelling Berlin. Departing Berlin. The Morotai Mutiny.
Sunday, April 20, 2025
Friday, April 20, 1945. Shelling Berlin. Departing Berlin. The Morotai Mutiny.
At 11:00 the Red Army started shelling Berlin.
It was Hitler's 56th birthday. He left his bunker to to decorate a group of Hitler Youth combatants. He refused an effort to evacuate to Obersalzberg. Goering and Himmler left the bunker for good.
SS officer Herbert Lange, age 35, commandant of Chełmno extermination camp was killed in action in the city.
The 7th Army captured Nuremberg. Karl Holz, age 49, German Nazi Gauleiter was found dead in a barricaded police bunker. Willy Liebel, age 47, lord mayor of Nuremberg was also found there, a suicide.
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Italian paratroopers boarding C-47 for Operation Herring. It must have been comforting to board an aircraft that has a giant flak scar near the door they're entering.
U.S.aircraft dropped Italian paratroopers over northern Italy in Operation Herring.
While the Italian Army is often dissed in World War Two, it's airborne troops were good.
Mussolini gave his final interview noting that the end had been reached for him.
Members of the Australian First Tactical Air Force based on the island of Morotai in the Dutch East Indies tendered their resignations to protest their belief that they were being assigned to missions of no military importance. A later investigation confirmed their views.
The war had never been as widely supported in Australia as it was in the US, something the Australians shared with Canadians. And they had a real point here I've often wondered about. Islands in the South Pacific and targets in the Indian Ocean that had been significant early on really were not by this time, even though fighting continued on them. The wisdom of continuing the ongoing operations actively can be questioned.
The US 3rd Amphibious Corps completed the capture of the Motobu Peninsula and the whole of the main northern part of Okinawa.
Last edition:
Thursday, April 19, 1945. Broadcasting from Belsen.
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