Saturday, May 5, 1945. Balloon casualties.

The Prague Uprising and the Battle of Czechoslovak Radio began.  The Axis raised Russian Liberation Army switched sides and supported the Czech partisans.

The Bratislava–Brno Offensive ended in Soviet-Romanian victory.

The Battle for Castle Itter in Austria resulted in an Allied victory.

A Japanese balloon bomb killed the pregnant wife of Reverend Archie Mitchell, Elsie, age 26, and five children of their Sunday School class on Gearhart Mountain near Bly, Oregon, where they had gone for an outing.

The bomb had likely been in place for a month before it was discovered by the party.

Rev. Mitchell moved to Vietnam in 1947 with his new bride Betty, the older sister of two of the children killed by the fire balloon in Bly, where they served as missionaries.  They were kidnapped by the Viet Cong in 1962 and forced to serve as medics, and ultimately disappeared.

The cartoon character Yosemite Sam appeared for the first time in the Bugs Bunny animated short Hare Trigger.

Otto-Heinrich Drechsler, age 50, German Nazi Commissioner of Latvia committed suicide in British captivity.

Last edition:

Friday, May 4, 1945. The war ends in northwest Europe.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Austria, Bernard Law Montgomery, British Army, Czechoslovakia, German Wehrmacht, Red Army, World War Two, Yugoslav Partisans, Yugoslavia

Sunday, March 25, 1945. Crossing the Rhine.

The Battle of Remagen ended in a US victory.

The Red Army began the Bratislava–Brno Offensive.

Winston Churchill, accompanied by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, crossed the Rhine near Wesel in an Allied landing craft.

The trip was legitimately dangerous.

Allied forces began to cross or advance from the Rine nearly everywhere.

" Left to right: Pvt. Ray Pennington, Princetown, W.Va., Pfc. Emory Neill, Griffith, Ga., and Pfc. Howard J. Stringer, Columbia, Miss., set up their machine gun to watch and harass the Nazi movements on the other side of the Rhine near Oberwesel, Germany. All men are with 76th Infantry Division, 3rd U.S. Army. 25 March, 1945. 76th Infantry Division. Photographer: Tec 5 A.H. Herz, 166th Signal Photo Co."

"3rd U.S. Army infantrymen load onto tank destroyer in Konigstadien, Germany, as they drive deeper into Germany. 25 March, 1945. Company I, 3rd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/5 Schneider, 166th Signal Photo Co."

Today in World War II History—March 25, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—Mar. 25, 1945: US Seventh Army crosses the Rhine at Worms. US Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy flies its last strategic bombing mission of WWII.

Aachen's post Nazi mayor Franz Oppenhoff, age 42, was assassinated by the SS.

Task Force 58 conducted air raids on Okinawa.

Marine Corps Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus, age 55, died of a heart attack.  He was the author of the Rifleman's Creed;

Rifleman's Creed

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will ...

My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit ...

My rifle is human, even as I [am human], because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!

Last edition:

Saturday, March 24, 1945. Operation Varsity.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Bernard Law Montgomery, British Army, Burma, Canadian Army, Hungary, Nationalist Chinese Army, Okinawa, Operation Plunder, Operation Varsity, Red Army, U.S. Navy, World War Two