U.S. 7TH IN MUNICH, BRITISH PUSH ON BALTIC; RUSSIANS TIGHTEN RING ON BERLIN’S HEART (4/30/45)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 4/30/45 | Drew Middleton, C.L. Sulzberger, Clifton Daniel, Gene Currivan, George Axelsson, Virginia Lee Warren

[EternalVigilance]

Capture of the Reichstag (April 30, 1945)

At 10.40 pm on April 30 a Soviet victory flag was raised over the German Reichstag building in Berlin. It was not a real flag but a large piece of red cloth. The soldier who performed this act was Private Mikhail Petrovich Minin of the Soviet 3rd Army. There was no camera-man present.

The Soviet propaganda photograph we see today was actually taken later on the 2nd of May. It shows a Ukrainian soldier posing for the propaganda picture. This soldier had taken no part in the storming of the Reichstag.

Private Minin and a small group of five men (with a promise of the decoration 'Hero of the Soviet Union') were ordered to storm the building using a fallen tree trunk to smash down the front door.

Soviet troops hoisted the red flag over the Reichstag and over the Reich Chancellery - a woman did that, Major Anna Nikulina of the 9th Rifle Corps.
~Berlin: The Downfall, 1945 by Antony Beevor

http://greyfalcon.us/restored/CAPTURE%20OF%20THE%20REICHSTAG.htm

[Larry Lucido]

So Himmler and Quisling are working on their “resumes” for after the war.

[henkster]

This photograph was, for the Soviet Union, their Mt. Suribachi moment.

[EternalVigilance]

Yep.

[ex-snook]

April 30- 42 Div
I was through Munich on my way to Austria passing Allach, Kirchtruderina, Harthausen. No more fighting. Some freed captives were everywhere. Most could not get out because they were quarantined and had to be carefully fed. We ignored the people and they ignored us. We kicked them out of their homes and we lived in them for the night as we went by. I wondered when the war would end and if we would meet the Russians.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks again for adding so much to Homer’s magnificent threads.

[iowamark]

Of course, the charred remains of Hitler and Eva were found by the Soviets, but they kept this secret from the other Allies for many years. Stalin himself spread the idea that Hitler had escaped to South America.

[EternalVigilance]

yw

[Hebrews 11:6]

It’s “Y w.”

[Hebrews 11:6]

Stalin himself spread the idea that Hitler had escaped to South America.

If true, any idea why he did? General cussedness, or did he perceive some tangible advantage?

[EternalVigilance]

I don’t doubt that a bit.

[ErnBatavia]

I looked up the “record setting pilot” Righetti...apparently he was declared missing/presumed dead.

[EternalVigilance]

http://pastdaily.com/2014/04/30/april-30-1945-rumors-peace-reality-rubble/

Not much left.

NBC’s News Of The World and World News Roundup

News for this day in 1945 was about the continuing war in Europe, despite an almost constant flood of rumors to the contrary. The latest report disclosed the role of Count Bernadotte of Sweden acting as intermediary between the Allies and Germany. With his return to Germany after the Allies rejection of acting German government head Heinrich Himmler, reports went on to say Bernadotte was heading back to Allied Headquarters with a revised surrender proposal from Himmler. Repeated warnings not to believe reports of a German surrender were emphatic, since just about every reporter in Europe was angling to get the “scoop” on official surrender news. Even though surrender was imminent, there was still considerable fighting going on. Word was expected from Moscow almost any moment that Berlin had fallen to the Red Army. Reports were coming in that the Russians had taken almost complete control of the capitol. Meanwhile, the U.S. 7th Army entered Munich, as well as liberating the Concentration Camp at Dachau, just northwest of Munich . The 3rd Army was surging toward Berchtesgaden, and at last report was 75 miles from Hitler’s hideout. The British Army had crossed the Elbe River east of Hamburg. It was announced by the new Italian government that former Dictator Benito Mussolini and several associates had been executed by Italian Partisans.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Conference meeting was continuing, amid a flurry of anticipation. A lot of work needed to be done and it needed to be done fast. Delegates were working overtime, drafting resolutions, setting up committees before the Conference was scheduled to conclude within a few days. With end of the war in Europe an eventual reality within days, not weeks, the necessity to set up the governing body and councils was of utmost importance.

The fighting in the Pacific was continuing, with U.S. forces advancing on two airfields in southern Okinawa. It was also reported that casualties from the Okinawa invasion so far (as of April 30th) were some 11,000 killed, including some 29 Medical personnel when a suicide air attack on the hospital ship USS Comfort, crashed into the stern of the ship some 50 miles south of Okinawa, killing 5 Medical officers and 24 nurses.

And that’s a sampling of what went on this last day of April, 1945 as reported on NBC’s News Of The World and World News Roundup.

Click on the link here for Audio Player – NBC News Of The World/World News Roundup – April 30, 1945 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

http://pastdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/News-for-April-30-1945.mp3

[EternalVigilance]

https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/lee-miller-in-hitlers-bathtub/

Lee Miller, covering WWII for Vogue teamed up with the American photographer David E. Scherman, a Life magazine correspondent on many assignments. The above photograph by Scherman of Miller in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler’s house in Munich is one of the most iconic images from the Miller-Scherman partnership. The New York Times had this to say: “A picture of the Führer balances on the lip of the tub; a classical statue of a woman sits opposite it on a dressing table; Lee, in the tub, inscrutable as ever, scrubs her shoulder. A woman caught between horror and beauty, between being seen and being the seer.”

The night after Miller visited Dachau, on April 30, 1945 — Hitler had committed suicide in Berlin just earlier that day — Miller and Scherman entered Munich with the American 45th Division that was liberating the city. They happened upon a dilapidated and normal-looking apartment building on Prinzenregentplatz 27, and realized, upon entering, that it was Hitler’s Munich apartment. It was here that Chamberlain signed away Czechoslovakia.

They billeted there for three days, surrounded by china and line marked with swastikas and the initials A.H. Scherman slept in Hitler’s bed; Miller had her picture taken at the Führer’s desk. Scherman recalled that while Miller bathed, an angry lieutenant banged on the door, towel and soap in hand. It is believed that there was also a similar photograph with the roles reversed: Scherman as the subject, and Miller as the photographer. The duo later headed to a villa belonging to Eva Braun three blocks away, also napped on the bed and tried the telephone marked ”Berlin.” Miller wrote to her Vogue editor Audrey Winters:

I was living in Hitler’s private apartment when his death was announced, midnight of Mayday … Well, alright, he was dead. He’d never really been alive to me until today. He’d been an evil-machine-monster all these years, until I visited the places he made famous, talked to people who knew him, dug into backstairs gossip and ate and slept in his house. He became less fabulous and therefore more terrible, along with a little evidence of his having some almost human habits; like an ape who embarrasses and humbles you with his gestures, mirroring yourself in caricature. “There, but for the Grace of God, walks I.”

When the photo came out, it was considered an extremely poor judgement. For some, Miller posing nude in the tub of one of the most repulsive men in history was nothing more than a ill-timed reflection of the adage, “To the victor goes the spoils”. For others, it represents the power of life over death, “The living do what they can and the dead suffer what they must”. Lee Miller herself shied away from the controversies but reprouding the image very rarely and noted that she was merely trying to wash the odors of Dachau away.

[henkster]

Quisling was an odd duck. He thought, somehow, that after the fall of Nazi Germany, he would be relevant in Norway’s political future. Consider the fates of all of Hitler’s pals:

Antonescu is under arrest and “unavailable.”
All the Vichy collaborationists are under arrest and are on trial.
Mussolini became a public urinal.

A rational guy would assume things will go very badly for him. I guess he wasn’t rational.

[EternalVigilance]

Dinnertime, April 30, 1945

From the archives of the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association (Airmobile - Air Assault)

http://old.506infantry.org/hiswwii/hisrhqwwiiphoto04.html

[EternalVigilance]

His political career is going to last about as long as Mr. and Mrs. Schicklgruber's honeymoon.

[EternalVigilance]

http://iagenweb.org/boards/cerrogordo/documents/index.cgi?read=443321

Liberation of Stalag Luft 1, Barth Germany, April 30, 1945

HARRER, SPENCER, MARTIN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
May 10, 1945, Page 10

9,000 FREED AIRMEN WERE “IN on KILL” IN GERMANY

Mason Cityans Among Group That Seized Prison Camp

EDITOR’S NOTE: Three Mason City and Clear Lake air force war prisoners known to have been at the Barth prison camp, northern Germany, were among the 9,000 freed allied airmen ‘in on the kill’ as told in this remarkable story by Lowell Bennett, International News Service correspondent, who had also been a prisoner at Barth.

The Mason Cityans are Lt. Donald G. HARRER, Lt. Melvin J. SPENCER and the Clear Lake man, Flight officer Roy B. MARTIN. This is Correspondent Bennett’s first dispatch since his liberation from the nazi prison camp.

Bennett parachuted into German captivity Dec. 3, 1943, when a British bomber from which he was reporting a raid on Berlin was shot down.

By LOWELL BENNETT

Barth, Pomerania, May 1. (Delayed). - (INS) - Nine thousand allied air force war prisoners who were my companions in Stalag Luft No. 1 were liberated in time to go back to the war today and be in on the kill.

These men, who for long months and years waited for this wonderful day, have taken more than 200 square miles of German territory, have linked up with the Russians and now are waiting to go home after their long exile.

Total casualties of their entire operation so far is one man killed.

During the past 12 hours they have seized their prison camp, captured 3 towns, an important air field and flak school and large quantities of equipment and fuel. Moreover, they have taken almost 2,000 German prisoners.

A junction has been established with the Russian forces battering westward from Stettinand our joint victory in Pomerania is being riotously celebrated.

Under the command of Col. Hubert Zemke, a fighter ace from Missoula, Mont., and a royal Canadian air force captain, the prisoners in this camp - the largest prison camp for allied air force officers in Europe - have made an important contribution to the final occupation of Germany.

They also have made an important contribution to the establishment of first-class relations between the western and eastern allies on this northern front.

The action began last night when the advancing Russian armies ahd reached the nearby sea base at Griefswald.

Long-rehearsed operations got under way. We were fully prepared for such an eventuality. The “kriegies” (our abbreviation for the unwieldy tongue-twisting German word [Kriegesgefangenen] for war prisoners) captured the guard towers and the radio station.

Scouts were dispatched in every direction and fully armed skirmish and picket lines were established. Expeditionary forces were organized to seize the entire area.

Little opposition was encountered by the airmen, who, operating on the ground for the first time, disarmed the Germans they encountered and swiftly captured 50 vehicles, thousands of weapons and 3,000 gallons of fuel.

Five neighboring prisoner of war camps and a concentration camp in the vicinity were liberated. Quickly afterward, the liberated airmen capture Barth’s air base, where they seized 14 planes intact and 18 others which were damaged only slight.

Our attempts to get in touch with the Russians at Stralsund and Greifswald by radio and telephone were unsuccessful.

But this evening 2 of our scouts returned to camp with a Russian first lieutenant, Nich Karmytoff.

This 22-year-old veteran red army infantry officer who had fought his way from Stalingrad to Barth, established the first Russian contact with the western allies in the Baltic.

Complete liaison with the Russians was quickly established.

At this writing, Col. Zemke’s forces are in control of teh 175 square miles of Pomeranian territory and have taken almost 2,000 prisoners who they are making final arrangements to had over to the Russians and then go home.

Paris has the American army had a more enthusiastic welcome.

There was no formal parade by American units, though the Czech crowds loyally cheered every Yank motorcycle messenger, truckload of gasoline or jeep that drove past. But you could feel they were waiting for something - something they hadn’t seen in almost 7 years. A Czech army marching through a Czech city under its own flags.

Shortly before dusk word swept through the waiting thousands that a Czech army unit had entered the city. A few moments later the first car rolled into the city square. Three Czech girls in brightly colored native dresses waved the Czech flag at the crowd and they went wild.

I have heard many crowd demonstrations, but none like the peculiar sound that rose from these oppressed people celebrating their first full day of liberation. The column contained only about 50 cars - a few ack ack guns, some Bren gun carriers, some civilian cars and a number of wheezy old derelict trucks decked with flowers and banners. Three German tanks could have destroyed it in 15 minutes.

By as a symbol, that column was matchless. A cry burst from every throat as the first vehicle entered the parade area and as each car limped past the volume of sound grew greater.

One truck that brought the loudest cheers had painted across its side:

“From Dunkerquie to Pilsen to Prague.”

Many persons in the crowd knew that even the German tanks - remnants of forces that hadn’t surrendered - were shooting up the center of their capital city.

One truck broke down near the end of the parade, greatly embarrassing the driver, who was a veteran of Dunkerque. But the crowd immediately made him their favorite. By the time the parade was over they had covered his vehicle with flowers, and by nightfall it looked more like a curbside florist’s stand than a truck.

NOTE: Stalag Luft 1 was located approximately 105 miles northwest of Berlin and two miles from the village of Barth on a strip of barren land which extended into the the Baltic Sea. According to the Stalag Luft 1 website (www.merkki.com/) Lt. Donald G. HARRER was housed in the South compound; Lt. Melvin J. SPENCER and SSgt. Roy B. MARTIN Jr. were housed in North 1 compound.

Stalag Luft 1 was liberated on April 30, 1945 by Russian troops.

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2013

[iowamark]

The Stalinist line was that the non-Communist countries were still run by the “fascists.” The Communist struggle against fascism thus did not end in 1945 but continues. An image of a living Hitler sheltered in the West aided this fantasy.

The US/British attitude was: “The war is over! Let’s disarm immediately!” The Communists never disarmed or demobilized.

[EternalVigilance]

One of the most horrific poems I've ever read, the subject matter being one of the most horrific crimes of history, to my view, which was the murder on this day of the Goebbels children by their own parents.

Brace yourself, or move on to other posts...

Magda Goebbels (30 April 1945), a poem by W. D. Snodgrass

The crime as depicted in the film Downfall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0w9LQFkng