World War II Daily: DDay to VEDay

[dayhiker]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

CA and Earle, here's the guy from my church I mentioned to yall on FB: http://www.annistonstar.com/the_dai...cle_718166a0-e580-11e4-92e4-5b0711153d1b.html

 

[Tidewater]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

That's about it. The A-bomb and the entry of Russia into the war against Japan pretty much ended it prematurely, which was a good thing...

I had neglected to mention the Russian invasion of Manchuria. If you want a modern example of a country boy backside whuppin', that is a very good example of one. Man, the Soviets teed the Japanese up and kicked them right through the goalposts of victory.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

April 28, 1945: Canadian 1st Army captures Emden and Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The sunken cruiser Köln - which is sitting on an even keel - fires the still-working turrets against the Allied advance at Wilhelmshaven. Elements of Canadian 1st Army also attack Leer. British 2nd Army begins assault crossing of the Elbe River around Lauenburg overnight. US 3rd Army continues probing into Czechoslovakia and advancing across the Danube River while US 7th Army advances toward Munich and captures Augsburg in its advance south toward Austria. French 1st Army continues advancing along Swiss border toward Austria.

A group of Austrian resistance fighters become the last victims of gassings at Mauthausen Concentration Camp, joining some 320,000 people who were murdered there.

In Berlin, Marshal Ivan Koniev's 1st Ukrainian Front troops have virtually cleared the Potsdamer Strasse and Soviet troops are now within a mile of the Chancellery and the Reichstag, spurred on by Joseph Stalin's explicit wish that the Soviet flag should fly there in time for the May Day celebrations. In the bunker under the Chancellery, Hitler awaits reports for the progress of the counterattack he had ordered Walther Wenck to commence; he would receive no such report as the counterattack never took place.

Eva Braun's brother-in-law, SS Gruppenfuehrer Hermann Fegelein, is executed outside Hitler's bunker for cowardice and treachery.

Himmler's attempts to negotiate peace with the Western Allies are discovered by Hitler, who strips him of all his titles and ranks and orders his arrest.

In Italy, British 8th Army captures Venice and US 5th Army captures Brescia, Alessandria and Vicenza and advances around Piacenza, Lake Como, and Lake Garda. Brazilian infantry and US tanks attack the remnants of German 148th Infantry Division at Fornovo di Taro. German Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff dispatches a messenger from Bolzano, Italy to the Allied commanders seeking a ceasefire.

Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci - along with 12 other Fascist leaders - are shot and their bodies transported to Milan and hung up by the heels in the main square, where a mob then mutilates the corpses.

Pictured: Soviet soldier carrying his Degtyaryov DP-28 light machine gun during the final days of the Battle of Berlin. Berlin, Germany. April 1945

Martin Bormann wires Admiral Doenitz: "Reich Chancellery (Reichskanzlei) a heap of rubble." He informs Keitel that the foreign press is reporting fresh acts of treason and 'that without exception Schoerner, Wenck and the others must give evidence of their loyalty by the quickest relief of the Fuehrer.

Map of the troop movements in April that led to the downfall of the Nazis

British 8th Army troops crossing the River Po, beyond Ferrara, Italy, April 28, 1945

German 148th Infantry Division’s surrender to Brazilians soldiers on April 28, 1945 near the city of Fornovo. By that time it was commanded by General Otto Fretter-Pico and had some 9,000 soldiers. Despite strong manpower and the fact that it had more than 100 mortars and cannons, the division was very low on ammunition and supplies.

Werner Wolff - member of the Italian partisan group that was responsible for shooting Benito Mussolini, April 28, 1945

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

Nice writeup. A lot of guys who went into the Guard or Reserve just gave up and made a career in the army, after being recalled for Korea. My brother was still in the Reserve. My brother had, and then, in 1947, he became an Air Force reservist, when the services were split. In the mean time, my brother (2nd oldest) had become a CPA and thus had acquired an additional MOS number. He had been a fighter pilot during the war. Problem was that there was only one digit between the accountant MOS and helicopter pilot. So, he got a letter to report to Dothan, I think. He knew that, if they ever got him back in uniform, they'd make a helicopter pilot of him. Only intervention by Sen. Sparkman got him out of it...

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

April 29, 1945: The British 2nd Army captures Lauenburg, just south of Hamburg, and crosses the Elbe River at Hamburg, thus trapping all German forces in Denmark and securing the Baltic Ports. When Soviet forces arrive at Lubeck and Wismar not long afterwards they find British and Canadian paratroopers waiting for them. Bernard Montgomery had not only denied Joseph Stalin the opportunity to seize Denmark, but had also kept the Soviet Navy locked within the Baltic Sea. British 2nd Army liberates Neuengamme concentration camp, where over half of the 106,000 prisoners had been murdered. US 3rd Army troops continue to advance toward Munich. South of the Danube River, US 3rd Army units reach the River Isar.

Further south, US 7th Army troops arrive at the outskirts of Munich and liberate the concentration camp at Dachau, finding ~30,000 surviving inmates. While there were 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, there were thousands more that are undocumented. Troops of US 157th and 122nd Infantry Regiments execute German SS prisoners of war at Dachau Concentration Camp and the hamlet of Weßling to the southwest before a colonel intervenes.

US tanks arrives at Oberammergau air test facility in southern Germany. Aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt is captured along with a P.1101 prototype jet aircraft.

In the Netherlands, Operation Manna begins as RAF Bomber Command utilizes Lancaster bombers to drop food supplies to Dutch civilians.

In Berlin, Soviet 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Fronts make gains in the Moabit district and in the Wilmersdorf area, with heavy fighting around Moltke bridge, Interior Ministry, City Hall, flak towers, Chancellery, and Reichstag building. With Soviet troops two blocks away from the Reich Chancellery and Hitler's bunker, they are both under heavy Soviet artillery fire. North of the capital, Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front forces capture Anklam and other towns. In the south, Soviet pressure in Austria and Czechoslovakia continues. Soviet troops liberate 3000 female prisoners remaining at Ravensbruek concentration camp

In his bunker, Hitler marries Eva Braun and begins dictating his final political testament and will, appointing Admiral Donitz as his successor, Hanke leader of the SS, Goebbels Reich Chancellor, Bormann party minister, Seyss-Inquart Foreign Minister, and Field Marshal Schorner Army CinC, Hitler goes on to describe how Germany has failed him in the struggle against Bolshevism and expels Goering and Himmler from the Nazi party. Hitler then orders Blondi, his Alsatian dog, killed in order to test effectiveness of poison capsules.

In Italy, the Allied armies continue to advance quickly. Venice is liberated by elements of British 8th Army while elements of British 8th and US 5th Armies link up near Padua, Italy, which has just been liberated by Italian partisans who surrounded the 5,000-strong German garrison. Later in the day, German Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff surrenders Axis forces in northern Italy. Italian 4th Alpine Division "Monte Rosa", Italian 3rd Marine Division "San Marco", and German 29th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division (Italian troops) surrender to Brazilian General Mascarenhas de Moraes near Parma. The unofficial surrender of German forces in Italy is signed at Caserta. The German representatives are present here because of a secret negotiation between the head of the OSS mission in Switzerland, Allan Dulles, and SS General Wolff. These talks have been going on since much earlier in the year, but because of their clandestine nature, the German representatives at Caserta cannot guarantee that the surrender will be ratified by Vietinghoff, commanding German forces in Italy.

Pictured: 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion soldiers crossing the Elbe River in Lauenburg, Germany, enroute to capturing the Baltic seaport of Wismar.

US Army troops executing German SS guards at Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany, April 29, 1945

Men of the RAF loading food supplies for Operation Manna

Map of the Soviet’s Battle for the Reichstag

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

April 30, 1945: British 2nd Army advances across the Elbe River toward the Baltic coast and frees 20,000 prisoners of war from Sandbostel, Germany. Canadian 1st Army captures Leer and Loga in Germany and attacks Delfzijl in the Netherlands. Elements of US 3rd Army liberate over 80,000 POWs at camp Stalag VIIA, just north of Moosburg, where rundown, one-story military barracks built to accommodate 10,000 persons housed over 110,000 prisoners of war in horrible conditions. Other elements of US 3rd Army continue probing into Czechoslovakia and pushing into Austria. 30 miles to the south, US 7th Army captures Munich with minimal opposition. French 1st Army attacks Immenstadt, Staufen and Lindau, and enters Austria near Lake Constance to attack Bregenz.

Soviets and US 1st Army link up near Ellenburg, Germany.

The battle for Berlin is reaching its bloody climax - isolated pockets of German resistance throughout the city are overpowered and systematically destroyed by Soviet troops. Soviet forces reach the Reichstag from the north, and fierce fighting begins within its ruins. Other government buildings are also captured. Overnight, in agreement with Goebbels and Bormann, General Krebs makes his way to Zhukov's HQ with a letter for Stalin offering a German-Soviet armistice - Zhukov replies by launching an assault, refusing any armistice, instead demanding only unconditional surrender. To the north, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front advance toward Straslund, Waren and Wittenberge. In Czechoslovakia, Mor Ostrava is occupied after a lengthy battle. German forces continue to hold a part of Maravia and most of Bohemia. Slovakia has been completely overrun by Soviet forces.

With Red Army infantry only a few hundred yards away, Hitler and Braun commit suicide in Führerbunker in Berlin via cyanide capsules, their bodies are carries outside and burned with gasoline near the Chancellery bunker. Bormann notifies Doenitz of his appointment as Hitler's successor, but neglects to tell him Hitler is dead.

In Italy, British 8th Army troops attack toward Trieste, Belluno, and Udine. US 5th Army enters Milan and reaches Turin and the French border where they make contact with French forces. US 12th Air Force bombers are grounded by poor weather conditions while fighters attack withdrawing German units throughout northern Italy. US 15th Air Force bombers are also grounded by poor weather conditions.

Pictured: Citizens of Munich greet the 7th Army as liberators, April 30, 1945

Marshal Georgy Zhukov in the streets Berlin, April 30, 1945

The Red Army battles for the ruins of the Reichstag, April 30, 1945

Nazi SS troops filing out on their way to captivity after being surrounded and forced to surrender in Milan, April 30, 1945

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

I have only one comment to make about our GIs being greeted as liberators, and it comes from a German ex-neighbor. She commented how happy they were to see US troops. I asked why and she said that it meant that the bombing would stop...

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

May 1, 1945: In the north, the British continue their moves toward Lubeck and Hamburg. US 9th and British 2nd Armies combine their bridgeheads across the Elbe River. The US 1st and 9th Armies are firmly established along the line of the Elbe and Mulde rivers. They have been forbidden to advance farther into the zone designated for Soviet occupation. To the the south, the US 7th Army presses on into Austria. US 3rd Army arrives at the pre-war German-Austrian border.

German 12.Armee retreats from Berlin, Germany to the Elbe River and attempts to begin negotiations with US troops.

Operation Chowhound begins: ten bomb groups of the US 3rd Air Division fly 2,268 sorties beginning May 1, delivering a total of 4,000 tons. 392 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the United States Army Air Forces drop 800 tons of K-rations during May 1-3 on Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

US 15th Air Force attacks Salzburg with 27 B-17 bombers in the 15th's final bombing mission of the war.

In Berlin, Hans Krebs informs Vasily Chuikov of Hitler's suicide, thus Chuikov becomes the first Soviet general to learn of this news. Krebs tries to negotiate surrender terms for Berlin, but is told that only unconditional surrender is acceptable. In the city, the Soviet 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts advance continues and only a tiny area remains in German hands.

German radio announces that Hitler is dead and that Donitz is the second Fuhrer of the Reich. Donitz himself broadcasts, announcing that "it is my duty to save the German people from destruction by Bolshevists." From Hitler’s bunker, takes his new post in accordance with Hitler's will and immediately orders the strongest resistance in the east, as tens of thousands of civilians struggle to stay ahead of oncoming Soviet forces. At 8 pm, newly titled Reich Chancellor Joseph Goebbels arranges for an SS dentist, Helmut Kunz, to kill his six children by injecting them with morphine and then, when they are unconscious, crushing an ampoule of cyanide in each of their mouths. According to Kunz's testimony, he gave the children morphine injections but it was Magda Goebbels and Stumpfegger, Hitler's personal doctor, who then administered the cyanide. Shortly afterward, Goebbels and his wife go up to the garden of the Chancellery, where they kill themselves.

In Italy, General Vietinghoff, commanding German Army Group C, agrees to the surrender terms signed at Caserta. Yugoslavian partisans occupy Trieste. Possession of this city will become a point of dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia after the war. British 8th Army advances toward Trieste and contacts Tito's Yugoslavian partisans around Monfalcone. S 5th Army advances rapidly throughout northern Italy and prepares to drive toward Brenner Pass.

Pictured: B-17G Fortress “Liquid-8-Or” of 569th Bomb Squadron dropping cases of “10 in 1” rations into Holland during Operation Chowhound aimed at breaking the famine in western Holland, May 1, 1945

Russian troops fighting in Berlin, Germany, May 1, 1945; note Mosin-Nagant M1944 Carbine and Degtyaryov Pekhotny 'DP' light machine gun

Homeless Berliners on the street, May 1, 1945

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

May 2, 1945: The British 2nd Army takes Lubeck and Wismar (makes contact with Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front near Wismar) on the Baltic coast, sealing off northwestern Germany and Denmark. German 21st Army surrenders to US 82nd Airborne Division of British 2nd Army. Units Canadian 1st Army capture Oldenburg. US 9th Army makes first contact with Soviet forces. US 3rd Army advances rapidly through Austria. US 7th Army pushes to Innsbruck where the German garrison opens surrender negotiations French 1st Army reaches Obersdorf and Goetzis.

RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force aircraft continues to engage Luftwaffe aircraft and strafe those airfields still in German hands, claiming large numbers of victories.

Under a flag of truce negotiated with Reichskommissar Syess-Inquart, British and Canadian forces begin delivering food supplies to Dutch civilians inside German lines in isolated area around Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Operations Manna and Chowhound continue as the RAF and USAAF airdrop food to Dutch civilians.

Dornberger, Wernher von Braun, and V-weapons scientists and engineers surrender to American forces.

In Berlin, the Soviet forces complete the capture of Berlin with the attacks from north and south linking up along the Charlottenburg Chaussee - remnants of German defenders surrender and Soviet forces take control of the city. In the battle for Berlin Soviet armies suffer more than 200,000 troops killed and wounded while Germans lose around 500,000 troops killed and captured. Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front captures Stralsund and Rostock. Remnants of German 12th Army retreat to the west.

Soviet troops liberate 17,000 survivors of Terezin concentration camp.

Soviet troops discover the remains of Hitler, Eva Braun, the Goebbels family, and General Krebs in the garden of the Reich Chancellery outside Hitler's bunker.

In Italy, the German surrender becomes effective at noon - the long, difficult and controversial campaign in Italy is over. British 8th and US 5th Army forces reach Trieste, Milan and Turin during the course of the day, while others are advancing north toward Brenner Pass where they will link up with US 7th Army forces from the north.

Pictured: Hitler's death as reported by the May 2, 1945 issue of US Army magazine Stars and Stripes

Soviet BM-31-12 Katyusha rocket launcher on Studebaker US6 chassis in Berlin, Germany, May 2, 1945

German troops surrendering their weapons near a subway entrance, Berlin, Germany, May 2, 1945

German General Helmuth Weidling and other German generals in captivity, Berlin, Germany, May 2, 1945

Red Army soldier Mikhail Alekseevich Yegorov of Soviet 756 Rifle Regiment flying the Soviet flag over the Reichstag, Berlin, Germany, May 2, 1945

 

[Tidewater]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

Spent the day in Bastogne. The War Museum outside town is well done and worth a visit for anyone who goes there.
Visited the village of Marvie where my former company, G Company (now called Company C), 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry was crushed on the night of 23 December 1944 by the 901st Panzer Grenadier Battalion (Panzer Lehr Division) supported by a company of Panther tanks. You can look at the positions occupied by G Company, now a farm, and see exactly why they deployed the way they did, and how the German attack rolled them up like they did.
The 327th Infantry Regiment, the Glider Regiment of the 101st Airborne, has a memorial in the village.
Kids playing basketball in the park in the village centre. The odd juxtaposition of deadly battlefields surrounding a peaceful village where kids can play basketball was somehow a fitting testimony to the men who fought there.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

Spent the day in Bastogne. The War Museum outside town is well done and worth a visit for anyone who goes there.
Visited the village of Marvie where my former company, G Company (now called Company C), 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry was crushed on the night of 23 December 1944 by the 901st Panzer Grenadier Battalion (Panzer Lehr Division) supported by a company of Panther tanks. You can look at the positions occupied by G Company, now a farm, and see exactly why they deployed the way they did, and how the German attack rolled them up like they did.
The 327th Infantry Regiment, the Glider Regiment of the 101st Airborne, has a memorial in the village.
Kids playing basketball in the park in the village centre. The odd juxtaposition of deadly battlefields surrounding a peaceful village where kids can play basketball was somehow a fitting testimony to the men who fought there.

*like*

And I'm jealous.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

May 3, 1945: Hamburg is declared an open city and surrenders to British 2nd Army - the last significant objective of British offensive operations. In the harbor, the Germans scuttle 59 merchant ships and 600 smaller craft to prevent capture. A German delegation meets with British Field Marshal Montgomery on Luneberg Heath, outside Hamburg, offering the surrender of all their forces in northwestern Germany - a total of more than one million men.

Donitz arranges to send a surrender delegation to Montgomery's 21st Army Group headquarters.

The Allied military government in western Germany begins to form.

US Third Army crosses the Inn River in Germany. In Austria, Innsbruck falls to the US 7th Army while other units advance near Salzburg.

A group of prominent prisoners of war are allowed to move toward American lines, with SS guards in escort, from Markt Pongau near Salzburg in occupied Austria per the orders of SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger, who wishes to curry favor with the Allies as the European War nears its end.

RAF Typhoon fighter-bombers, looking for ships transporting German troops to Norway where it is believed they plan to make a last stand, attack and sink the troopships Cap Arcona and Thielbek, which re actually loaded with concentration camp inmates under transportation. The full death toll is never established but could be as high as 8,000 from the two ships, including crews and SS guards.

Operations Manna (RAF) and Chowhound (USAAF) continue, dropping much-needed food supplies to Dutch civilians.

Fighting in Berlin ends.

Soviet forces have now reached the Elbe west of Berlin and made contact with US 1st and 9th Armies and in the north with the British 2nd Army: Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front contacts British 2nd Army around Wismar, Soviet 1st Belorussian Front contacts US 9th Army on the Elbe River, and Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front contacts US 1st Army on the Elbe River.

Remnants of German 12th Army continue to withdraw to the west in order to surrender to US forces.

In Italy, Tito's Yugoslavian partisans face off against 2nd New Zealand Division over control of Trieste. The German garrison of Trieste surrenders to British 8th Army. US 12th Air Force fighters conduct armed recon missions and bombers drop leaflets.

Pictured: Universal carriers of British 1/5th Queen's Regiment, 7th Armored Division, Hamburg, Germany, May 3, 1945

Cromwell tanks of British 7th Armored Division, Hamburg, Germany, May 3, 1945

US Army M24 Chaffee light tank fighting in Salzburg, Austria, May 3, 1945

A Russian soldier carries a statue head of Nazi leader Hitler, May 3, 1945

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

May 4, 1945: Donitz sends envoys to the headquarters of Field Marshal Montgomery, at Luneburg Heath, and they sign an agreement for the surrender of German forces in Holland, Denmark and northern Germany, to be in effect at 8:00 AM on the next day. The Germans also agree to the Allied demand that German submarines should be surrendered rather than scuttled -- in the German naval tradition.

Meanwhile, US 9th Army accepts surrender of German 9th and 12th Armies and US 3rd Army accepts the surrender by Feldmarschall Paul von Kleist.

US troops liberate the survivors of Gunskirchen concentration camp: when troops of the 71st Infantry Division (US 3rd Army) enter the camp, they learn that the SS guards had fled the corpse-littered camp days before. Some 15,000 prisoners are still in the camp. In the months following the liberation, some 1,500 former prisoners will die as a consequence of their mistreatment by the Nazis. One member of the 71st Infantry recounted his first impressions of Gunskirchen:
“As we entered the camp, the living skeletons still able to walk crowded around us and, though we wanted to drive farther into the place, the milling, pressing crowd wouldn't let us. It is not an exaggeration to say that almost every inmate was insane with hunger. Just the sight of an American brought cheers, groans and shrieks. People crowded around to touch an American, to touch the jeep, to kiss our arms—perhaps just to make sure that it was true. The people who couldn't walk crawled out toward our jeep. Those who couldn't even crawl propped themselves up on an elbow, and somehow, through all their pain and suffering, revealed through their eyes the gratitude, the joy they felt at the arrival of Americans.”
—Capt. J. D. Pletcher
The 71st immediately begins requisitioning supplies and transportation from the local town to provide the prisoners with food and water.

US 7th Army occupies Innsbruck, Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria.

British troops enter the Neuengamme Concentration Camp near Hamburg, Germany, where some 43,000 people had been murdered by the Nazis.

In the Netherlands, RAF Bomber Command continues Operatio Nmanna, dropping much-needed food to Dutch civilians.

Hans Fritzsche is brought to the Chancellory in Berlin, Germany to identity the body of Joseph Goebbels.

To the east, German forces actively retreat in northern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria, as the bulk of the German forces attempt to disengage and reach the British-American lines.

Pastor Hornig, Dr. Konrad, Bishop Ferche, and Canon Kramer (the three leading religious leaders in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland)), unsuccessfully attempt to persuade German General of the Infantry Hermann Niehoff to surrender the city to the Soviets.

In Italy, US 5th Army moves up to the Brenner Pass on the Italo-Austrian border where they make contact with US 7th Army.

Pictured: Sherman Firefly tank of British 7th Armored Division, Hamburg, Germany, May 4, 1945

Allies examining a captured Mistel flying bomb, a Focke-Wulf Fw-190 piggybacked onto a Junkers Ju-88 bomber. The bomber would be filled with explosives and controlled by the fighter pilot. May 4, 1945

Tanks of the American 11th Armored Division crossing the Muhl River near Neufelden, Austria. May 4, 1945

An M4 Sherman tank and men of the 3rd Infantry Division entering Berchtesgaden, Germany, May 4, 1945

Generalleutnant Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin surrendering to General Mark Clark at US 15th Army Group Headquarters, Italy, May 4, 1945

 

[cuda.1973]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

This is the last of the photos my dad took, during the war. No precise clue, as to when, other than "May 45". The guys are smiling, so either the European war was over, or just a day or so away.

"Wetten, Ger. May 45
40 mm gun pit
Hudson and Whitey"

Wetten is a small village, roughly 5 miles from the border with The Netherlands. About 25 miles NW of Dusseldorf. Kinda sorta going the wrong direction, from Remagen!

OK, boss..........over to you. I'm out of anything of historic interest.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

This is the last of the photos my dad took, during the war. No precise clue, as to when, other than "May 45". The guys are smiling, so either the European war was over, or just a day or so away.

"Wetten, Ger. May 45
40 mm gun pit
Hudson and Whitey"

Wetten is a small village, roughly 5 miles from the border with The Netherlands. About 25 miles NW of Dusseldorf. Kinda sorta going the wrong direction, from Remagen!

OK, boss..........over to you. I'm out of anything of historic interest.

From the way they look, I'd say it was over...

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

May 5, 1945: German General Blaskowitz surrenders all German forces in the Netherlands at the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen to Canadian General Charles Foulkes. In Denmark, the German occupation forces surrender.

Despite the surrender agreement to the Allies, German captains begin scuttling their U-boats in German naval tradition:
- scuttled in Flensburger Forde: U-750, U-827, and U-999
- scuttled in Flensburger Forde: U-1025, U-1026, U-1028, U-1029, U-1030, and U-2540
- scuttled at Solitude: U-2551
- scuttled in Kupfermuhlen Bay: U-29, U-30, U-46, U-290, U-382, U-1132, U-1161, U-1303, and U-1304
- scuttled in Horup Haff: U-351, U-1234, U-2354, U-4701, U-4702, and U-4704
- scuttled in Wassersleben Bay: U-3033 and U-3034
- scuttled at Holnis: U-393
- scuttled at Geltinger Bay: U-297, U-349, U-370, U-397, U-721, U-746, U-1056, U-1101, U-1162, U-1193, U-1204, U-1207, U-1306, U-794, U-2507, U-2517, U-2522, U-2525, U-2541, U-3015, U-3022, U-3044, U-3510, U-3524, U-3526, U-3529, U-2333, U-2339, U-2343, U-2346, U-2347, U-2349, U-2357, U-2358, U-2360, U-2362. U-2364, U-2366, U-2368, U-2369, U-4703, U-4707, and U-4710
- scuttled at Schleimunde: U-2367
- scuttled at Eckernforde: U-1405
- scuttled at Lubeck Bay: U-1016
- scuttled at Cuxhaven: U-1406 and U-1407
- scuttled off Wesermunde: U-38, U-3501, U-3527, and U-3528

Operations Manna and Chowhound continue to air drop food and supplies to the starving Dutch citizens.

The concentration camps at Mauthausen and Gusen are discovered by a squad of US Army Soldiers of the 41st Reconnaissance Squadron of the US 11th Armored Division, 3rd US Army. The reconnaissance squad is led by Staff Sergeant Albert J. Kosiek. His troops disarm the policemen and leave the camp. By the time of its liberation, most of the SS-men of Mauthausen had already fled; around 30 who were remained were killed by the prisoners, and a similar number were killed in Gusen II.

US 3rd Army captures Karlsbad and Pilsen in occupied Czechoslovakia. Czech resistance leaders make a radio broadcast asking all resistance groups in Czechoslovakia to rise up against the Germans.

General Brooks (US 7th Army) accepts the surrender of the German 19th and 24th Armies in Innsbruck, Austria. German Army Group G with 1st Army and 19th Army surrenders to US 7th Army effective May 6, but combat operations on that front cease immediately.

At a meeting attended by SS-Obergruppenführer von Herff and representatives of the Gestapo and SD, Heinrich Himmler outlines his plans to establish an SS government in Schleswig-Holstein which will conduct independent peace negotiations with the western powers.

SMERSH (Soviet counterintelligence) agents attached to Soviet 3rd Shock Army FIND two burned bodies in a bomb crater near the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany and bury them without much thinking - little did they know they were burying Hitler and Braun.

Soviet Army launches a final assault in Moravia region of Czechoslovakia against what remains of German Armeegruppe Mitte.

In Italy, General Senger und Etterlin arrives at Clark's headquarters to arrange implementation of German surrender.

In France, the German garrisons continue to hold fortresses of La Rochelle, Lorient, and Saint-Nazaire on the Bay of Biscay, and Dunkirk on the Channel coast.

In Washington, the War Department announces that about 400,000 troops will remain in Germany to form the US occupation force and 2,000,000 men will be discharged from the armed services, leaving 6,000,000 soldiers serving in the war against Japan.

Pictured: Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes (left centre), GOC 1st Canadian Corps, accepts the surrender of German forces in The Netherlands from General Johannes Blaskowitz, Wageningen, The Netherlands, May 5, 1945

Liberation Day, Denmark; May 5, 1945 marks the end of German occupation during World War II

Dutch children stealing wood from tram tracks for use as fuel in kitchen stoves, May 5, 1945

American and Soviet troops enjoying a song on a Russian tank after their forces link up near Griebo in Germany, May 5, 1945

Overwhelmed with emotion, this Czech mother kisses a Russian soldier in Prague, Czech Republic on May 5, 1945, thanking one who fought to free her beloved home.

 

[jabcmb]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

Link

Found this video of Berlin, looks like German civilians picking up the pieces after the fighting. Nothing momentous here, but good quality B roll and interesting.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

Link

Found this video of Berlin, looks like German civilians picking up the pieces after the fighting. Nothing momentous here, but good quality B roll and interesting.

That's awesome, thanks for sharing it!

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

Link

Found this video of Berlin, looks like German civilians picking up the pieces after the fighting. Nothing momentous here, but good quality B roll and interesting.

Thanks...

 

[crimsonaudio]

Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)

May 6, 1945: The Dutch Nazi Party, Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, is outlawed.

Operations Manna and Chowhound: relief efforts continue in the Netherlands.

The US 97th Division, part of US 5th Corps of the US 3rd Army, occupies Pilsen in Czechoslovakia. The US 12th Corps advances toward Prague but the army is ordered to halt the advance and allow Soviets to occupy the rest of the country as has been arranged. Czech resistance leaders made a radio broadcast, appealing to the Americans for military assistance in their war against the Germans, not knowing that the Western Allies had already made a deal with the Soviet Union in terms of operational boundaries in Central Europe.

German General of the Infantry Hermann Niehoff surrenders Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) to the Soviets, ending the 82-day siege.

Grand Admiral Donitz announces that Himmler is to be relieved of all government duties; he also abolishes the Schutzstaffel in all its forms, and bans any further resistance by members of the SS.

SMERSH agents of Soviet 3rd Shock Army sneak into a section of Berlin occupied by a different Soviet unit to secretly retrieve the two burned bodies buried yesterday near the Chancellery; they believe that one of them might be Hitler's.

Werner Haase is brought by the Soviets to examine and identify the remains of the Goebbels family in Berlin, Germany.

US 5th Army enters southern Austria through the Brenner Pass on the same day that the German forces in Austria surrender to the Allies.

German U-boat U-853, having sunk the last American merchant ship to be lost in the war yesterday, is discovered by American blimps and destroyers and is destroyed off Block Island, Rhode Island, with all 55 aboard lost, becoming the second-to-last German submarine to be sunk in WW2.

Pictured: Cheering survivors greet American troops of the 11th Armored Division of US 3rd Army as they enter the Mauthausen concentration camp a day after the actual liberation, May 6, 1945

Barricades in the streets of Prague, May 6, 1945

Soviet troops escorting German officers to surrender negotiations, Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), May 6, 1945

Italian partisans that had been fighting with the US 5th Army march surrendered German troops through Milan, May 6, 1945