The following events occurred in April 1945:
April 1, 1945 (Sunday) The Battle of Okinawa began. 50,000 American troops landed on Okinawa against little initial resistance and established a beachhead. The Japanese ocean liner-turned-hospital ship Awa Maru was passing through the Taiwan Strait when the American submarine mistook it for a destroyer, torpedoed and sank it. Of the 2,004 passengers and crew there was only one survivor. The 6th Guards Tank Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front captured the Hungarian city of Sopron on the Austrian border. The Battle of Kassel began between German and American troops for the city of Kassel. British Commandos began Operation Roast in an effort to push the Germans back to and across the River Po and out of Italy. Died: Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, 96, American businessman; William Fairbanks, 50, American actor
April 2, 1945 (Monday) Operation Roast ended in British victory in Italy. The Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front launched the Vienna Offensive in order to capture the city of Vienna. German submarine U-321 was depth charged and sunk southwest of Ireland by a Vickers Wellington of No. 304 Polish Bomber Squadron. Born: Jürgen Drews, singer, actor and restaurateur, in Nauen, Germany; Linda Hunt, actress, in Morristown, New Jersey; Reggie Smith, baseball player, in Shreveport, Louisiana; Don Sutton, baseball player, in Clio, Alabama (d. 2021)
April 3, 1945 (Tuesday) The Ninth United States Army captured Münster and attacked the Ruhr Pocket. Thousands of prisoners of Buchenwald concentration camp were forced to evacuate and march away from the Allied advance. Died: Fritz Vogt, 27, German Waffen-SS Sturmbannführer (killed during an Allied air raid on Fürstenfeld, Austria)
April 4, 1945 (Wednesday) The East Pomeranian Offensive ended in Soviet victory. The Battle of Kassel ended in Allied victory. The Battle of Buchhof and Stein am Kocher began between German and American forces for territory between the Neckar and Kocher Rivers. Born: Daniel Cohn-Bendit, politician, in Montauban, France.
April 5, 1945 (Thursday) The Georgian uprising on Texel began. The first of the incidents at the Freeman Army Airfield near Seymour, Indiana known as the Freeman Field Mutiny took place. The Soviet Union renounced the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact of April 1941, explaining that the "prolongation of that pact has become impossible." Kuniaki Koiso resigned as Prime Minister of Japan. German submarine U-242 struck a mine and sank in St. George's Channel. Born: Cem Karaca, rock musician, in Antakya, Turkey (d. 2004)
April 6, 1945 (Friday) The Allies began Operation Grapeshot, the Spring offensive in Italy. The Battle of Slater's Knoll ended in decisive Australian victory on Bougainville Island. Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze was beached at Amoy after an attack by American B-25s. American destroyers Bush, Colhoun, Leutze, Morris, Mullany, Newcomb, Rodman and Witter were all hit by Japanese kamikaze attacks off Okinawa. Bush and Colhoun were sunk while Leutze and Necomb were subsequently declared constructive total losses. Died: Leon Feldhendler, 34, Polish Jewish resistance fighter (shot through the door of his home by an unknown assailant)
April 7, 1945 (Saturday) Operation Kikusui I: The Japanese battleship Yamato and nine other warships launched a suicide attack on Allied forces engaged in the Battle of Okinawa. Yamato was bombed, torpedoed and sunk by U.S. Navy aircraft south of Kyushu with the loss of 2,055 of 2,332 crew. Five other Japanese warships were sunk by American aircraft. The Allies began Operation Amherst, a Free French and British Special Air Service attack with the goal of capturing Dutch canals, bridges and airfields intact. Germany sent out 120 student pilots to face 1,000 American bomber planes in a suicide operation with the objective of ramming their planes into the U.S. aircraft and then parachuting to safety. Only a few of the pilots managed to hit the bombers and three-quarters of the Luftwaffe pilots were shot down. It was the Sonderkommando Elbe group's first and last mission. Kantarō Suzuki replaced Kuniaki Koiso as Prime Minister of Japan. German submarine U-1195 was depth charged and sunk southeast of the Isle of Wight by British destroyer Watchman. Born: Werner Schroeter, film director, in Georgenthal, Germany (d. 2010) Died: Elizabeth Bibesco, 48, English writer and socialite (pneumonia); Seiichi Itō, 54, Japanese admiral (killed in the sinking of the Yamato)
April 8, 1945 (Sunday) Operation Amherst ended in Allied victory in the Netherlands. The Battle for Cebu City ended in Allied victory. The Battle of Lijevče Field ended in victory for the forces of the Independent State of Croatia. The 1945 NFL draft was held in New York City. The Chicago Cardinals selected halfback Charley Trippi of the University of Georgia as the #1 overall pick.
April 9, 1945 (Monday) The Battle of Königsberg ended in Soviet victory. The Battle of West Hunan began as part of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Battle of Bologna began in Italy. German cruiser Admiral Scheer was sunk in an RAF raid on Kiel. German submarines U-804 and U-843 were sunk in the Kattegat by de Havilland Mosquitos of No. 143 Squadron RAF. U-1065 was sunk in the neighboring Skaggerak by Mosquito aircraft of No. 143 and No. 235 Squadron RAF. Australia's Z Special Unit began Operation Opossum with the objective of rescuing the Sultan of Ternate from Ternate Island. Charles de Gaulle nationalized Air France. The last B-17 rolled off the line at Boeing's assembly plant in Seattle. Born: Peter Gammons, sportswriter and media personality, in Boston, Massachusetts Died: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 39, German Lutheran pastor; Wilhelm Canaris, 58, German admiral; Ludwig Gehre, 49, German officer; Hans Oster, 57, German major general; Karl Sack, 48, German jurist; and Theodor Strünck, 50, German lawyer (executed for treason by the Nazis in Flossenbürg concentration camp); Johann Georg Elser, 42, German carpenter who attempted to assassinate Hitler on November 8, 1939 (shot at Dachau concentration camp)
April 10, 1945 (Tuesday) The U.S. 84th Infantry Division captured Hanover. The U.S. Ninth Army captured Essen. The Battle of Authion began in the French Alps. In the "day of the great jet massacre," Allied aircraft shot down thirty of 50 Me 262 jet fighters. The loss was fatal to the Luftwaffe and the defense of Berlin was abandoned. US Army Corporal Rick Carrier discovers the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp, leading to the liberation of the camp on April 11th. German submarine U-878 was depth charged and sunk in the Bay of Biscay by British warships. Died: Gloria Dickson, 27, American actress (asphyxiation from a fire at her home); Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, 62, Dutch artist, typographer and printer (executed by the Gestapo); Walther Wever, 22, German Luftwaffe fighter ace (shot down near Neuruppin); Carl L. Becker, 81, American historian
April 11, 1945 (Wednesday) Operation Opossum ended successfully with the rescue of the Sultan of Ternate and his family. Allied commando unit Z Special Unit launched Operation Copper with the objective of capturing a Japanese officer for interrogation and discovering the location of two naval guns of Muschu Island, New Guinea. Eight commandos were landed but only one survived. Chile declared war on Japan. Born: Christian Quadflieg, television actor and director, in Växjö, Sweden (d. 2023) Died: Alfred Meyer, 53, German Nazi official, (suicide)
April 12, 1945 (Thursday) U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt has an intracerebral hemorrhage, collapsed and dies while sitting for a portrait painting by Elizabeth Shoumatoff at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. The painting is known as the Unfinished portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Harry S. Truman is inaugurated president in the Cabinet Room of the White House. A devastating tornado outbreak occurs across the United States, which kills 128 people and injures over 1,000 others. This outbreak would be heavily overshadowed due to the death of President Roosevelt. American destroyers Lindsey, Mannert L. Abele and Zellars are severely damaged off Okinawa by kamikaze attacks. Mannert L. Abele is sunk but Lindsey and Zellars survive, although they will be out of action for the rest of the war. The Syrmian Front northwest of Belgrade is broken by the Allies. The Battle of Authion ends in Allied victory. The Battle of Buchhof and Stein am Kocher ends after one week. German submarines U-486 and U-1024 are sunk by British warships in the North Sea and Irish Sea, respectively. The Berlin Philharmonic gives one of its final performances of the Nazi era at the Philharmonic Hall in Berlin, with various members of the military and political elite in attendance. Robert Heger conducts Brünnhilde's last aria (the Immolation Scene) and the finale from Richard Wagner's Götterdammerung, Beethoven's Violin Concerto, and Anton Bruckner's Romantic Symphony. Historical records confirm that members of the Hitler Youth offered cyanide capsules to the audience as they left the building. Died: Franklin D. Roosevelt, 63, 32nd President of the United States (cerebral hemorrhage)
April 13, 1945 (Friday) Soviet forces began the Samland Offensive. The Vienna Offensive ended with the Soviet capture of Vienna itself. German SS and Luftwaffe troops carried out the Gardelegen massacre in the northern German town of Gardelegen. 1,016 slave laborers were forced into a large barn which was then lit on fire. The German Ariete-class torpedo boat TA45 (formerly Spica), sailing with TA40 (formerly Pugnale) southeast from Bakar to support an artillery attack on Yugoslav partisans in the area of Senj, was torpedoed and sunk by British motor torpedo boats waiting to ambush them near Cape Glavine; half of the crew was killed. Born: Tony Dow, television actor, filmmaker and sculptor, in Hollywood, California; Lowell George, rock musician (Little Feat), in Hollywood, California (d. 1979); Bob Kalsu, football player, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (d. 1970) Died: Ernst Cassirer, philosopher, 70; Aarne Michaël Tallgren, Finnish prehistorian, 60;
April 14, 1945 (Saturday) The Fifth United States Army opened a major offensive into the Po Valley in Italy. Bombing of Potsdam Admiral Karl Dönitz grouped six U-boats into Wolfpack Seewolf and ordered them to the Atlantic to tie down Allied forces in the region. The Allies suspected that the U-boats were equipped to attack America's eastern seaboard with V-1 or V-2 rockets and launched Operation Teardrop with the objective of sinking them. German submarine U-235 was sunk in error by the Kriegsmarine torpedo boat T17. A brief memorial service for Franklin D. Roosevelt was held in the East Room of the White House. Born: Ritchie Blackmore, guitarist and songwriter (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore's Night), in Weston-super-Mare, England
April 15, 1945 (Sunday) The Race to Berlin began between two Soviet marshals, Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev. The British 11th Armoured Division liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp pursuant to an April 12 agreement with the retreating Germans to surrender the camp peacefully. There they found 60,000 ill and emaciated prisoners and more than 13,000 corpses strewn about the camp. The First Canadian Army captured Arnhem. 11 Nakajima Ki-84 Hayates attacked US airfields on Okinawa, destroying many aircraft on the ground. The third Japanese Kikusui attack on ships off the island, including kamikazes, was launched. US Navy Task Force 58 launched fighter sweeps over Kyushu, claiming 29 Japanese aircraft shot down and 51 destroyed on the ground on the first day.Morison, Samuel Eliot (1990). History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIV: Victory in the Pacific, 1945. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. p. 248. Franklin D. Roosevelt was buried on the grounds of his family estate in Hyde Park, New York. First flight of North American F-82 Twin Mustang 483887.