Saturday, May 12, 1945. Shortened futures.

The United Nations War Crimes Commission indicted Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels and Fritz Sauckel on eight counts.  The NKVD didn't wait for trials in all instances, and on this day executed SS commander and war criminal Richard Thomalla.

The US transferred captured Russian turned collaborator Gen. Vlasov over to Soviet custody.

The 7th Army captured the Japanese ambassador to Germany and his staff.

The 8th Army took the Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao.

Hard fighting occurred on Okinawa.

The U-858 became the first U-boat to surrender post war.  It would be escorted to Cap May, New Jersey which it entered flying the black flag of surrender.

Lend Lease shipments to the USSR were suspended.

The Security Committee at the United Nations Conference on International Organization agreed on an eleven-member security council, with non-permanent members chosen by the General Assembly.

Last edition:

Friday, May 11, 1945. The USS Bunker Hill.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aegean Sea, Australian Army, China, Imperial Japanese Army, Kamikaze, New Guinea, Okinawa, Operation Ten-Go, The Battle of West Hunan (湘西會戰), U.S. Navy, World War Two, Yugoslavia

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:

Monday, April 30, 1945. Adolf Hitler commits suicide.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, boats and ships, Eva Braun, Italian partisans, Joseph Goebbels, Karl Dönitz, Nazi Germany, Weapons, World War Two

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.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Dachau, Eva Braun, German SS, Italian partisans, Italy, Netherlands, Operation Chowhound, Operation Manna, Royal Air Force, The Holocaust, U.S. Air Force