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.
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