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From D-Day to V-Day

April 1945

April 17, 1945 - D-Day + 245

Units from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division under the First Canadian Army’s I Canadian Corps occupied Apeldoorn. At that same moment, the 5th Canadian Armored Division cut off the highway between Amersfoot and Apeldoorn while advancing through Barneveld to the Zuiderzee.

The British Second Army’s British XXX Corps encountered strong enemy resistance in the outskirts of Bremen, and the British XII Corps neared Soltau and Harburg. The British Guards Armoured Division was assigned to the XII Corps. The British 15th Infantry Division under the British VIII Corps continued to fight for Uelzen, while the British 11th Armoured Division advanced to Lueneburg and the 6th Airborne Division crossed the Imenau River southeast of Uelzen.

The 5th Armored Division’s Combat Command A under the Ninth Army’s XIII Corps prepared to mop up the Knesebeck Forest south of Wittingen. In the meantime, Combat Command B blocked the roads leading eastwards out of the forest, and Combat Command R took up positions in the area south of Salzwedel. Tank units from the 2nd Armored Division’s Combat Command A and men from the XIX Corps’s 30th Infantry Division launched an attack on Magdeburg at 1500 hrs. The 30th Infantry Division attacked the north and northwest parts of the city, while Combat Command A attacked the south and southwest. Later the two contingents were able to mop up two thirds of Magdeburg. The 83rd Infantry Division continued to improve its positions on the east bank of the Elbe at Barby. The 8th Armored Division remained in the Seehausen area as reserves for now. The 75th Infantry Division under the XVI Corps assembled near Brambauer.

The 20th Armored Division was assigned to the US First Army. The 13th Armored Division’s Combat Command A under the XVIII Corps occupied Mettmann, and later halted near Ratingen for the night. Meanwhile, Combat Command B made contact with the 8th Infantry Division and subsequently advanced to Duisburg. Part of the 97th Infantry Division engaged in fighting in Solingen, and additional division units reached Düsseldorf. The 78th Infantry Division’s 311th Infantry Regiment left Wuppertal in trucks and convoyed to the Dillenburg area. The 8th Infantry Division’s 13th Infantry Regiment mopped up the sector south of the Ruhr River, including Werden. Forces from the III Corps were reassigned to Patton’s Third Army and started to prepare to relocate. The 99th Infantry Division started to move to the Trossenfurt area northwest of Bamberg. A task force from the 3rd Armored Division’s Combat Command R under the VII Corps headed out of Köthen towards Aken and the Elbe River, and the other left Bernburg for Bobbau and Jessnitz. In the meantime, Combat Command A mopped up the Haldeburg Forest south of Dessau. Together with men from the 104th Infantry Division’s 413th Infantry Regiment, units from Task Force Kelleher attacked Halle from the south and east, and by evening had mopped up two thirds of the city. The 104th Division’s 415th Infantry Regiment advanced towards Sandersdorf and Roitzch. In its advance through the Harz Mountains, the 1st Infantry Division conquered Braunlage, Sorge, and Tanne. The 4th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division. The 9th Division’s 60th Infantry Regiment advanced to Mägdesprung, while its sister 47th Infantry Regiment occupied Pansfelde and Degenershausen and the 39th Infantry Regiment reached Aschersleben, Güsten, and Ilberstedt. The 9th Armored Division under the US V Corps advanced along the Mulde River to the north. Regiments from the 2nd and 69th Infantry Divisions reached Leipzig from the west and south.

Forces from the US Third Army’s XX Corps regrouped for an attack southwards against Austria. The 65th Infantry Division, which assembled in the Bamberg area, was assigned to the Corps. The 89th Infantry Division under the VIII Corps conquered Werdau, built a bridgehead over the Zwick-Mulde River, and occupied Greiz and Reichenbach. The 87th Infantry Division’s 346th Infantry Regiment crossed the A72 Autobahn and headed towards Lengefeld and Treuen, while Task Force Sund advanced to Bergen and the division’s 347th Infantry Regiment occupied Theuma. Divisions under the XII Corps prepared for an attack that the Corps was to launch to the southeast on April 19. After being relieved by units from the 11th Armored Division, the 71st Infantry Division started to advance along the Bayreuth – Gefrees line southwards in order to take over the sector held by the 14th Armored Division.

Seventh Army Divisions changed the direction of their attack from the southwest to the south. Assault battalions from the 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions engaged the determined enemy and launched a tenacious battle for Nuremberg. The 14th Armored Division’s Combat Commands A and B commanded by Col Francis J. Gillespie assembled in the Berg area. Meanwhile, Combat Command R commanded by Col Daniel H. Hudelisch secured the Creussen – Buchau line until it was relieved by the 71st Infantry Division. The 42nd Infantry Division under the XXI Corps advanced to the edge of Fürth. With assistance from the 42nd Division’s 232nd Infantry Regiment, the 12th Armored Division’s Combat Command A occupied Cadolzburg and Zautendorf, while Combat Command R advanced to Ansbach and reached the Weihenzell – Brünst line. A motorized task force from the 4th Infantry Division’s 8th Infantry Regiment attacked the outskirts of Ansbach. In the area to the northwest of the city, the rest of the regiment cleared a path through the forest to Colmberg, and its sister 12th Infantry Regiment occupied Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The 10th Armored Division’s Combat Command A advanced to Huetten, Schuppach, and Gailsbach. With assistance from the 99th Infantry Division’s 254th Infantry Regiment, Combat Command B conquered Sülz, mopped up about half of Schwäbisch Hall and occupied Michelfeld and Bibersfeld. The 100th Infantry Division won the territory on the hills east of Löwensten and in the Neckar River valley in the direction of Beilstein.

Units from the French First Army’s French II Corps conquered Freudenstadt, Nagold, and Horb am Neckar. The I Corps took over the command of Task Force Valluy, the French 1st Armored Division, the 4th Moroccan Infantry Division and reserve units. Under attack from the DA Alp mountain group, the Germans quickly retreated from the Roya River Valley. The DA Atl army group mopped up the greater part of the pocket in the Royan area north of the Gironde River.

The US Air Force was hard at work once more in the skies over the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Just like the night before, train stations would be the main target for the Liberators and Flying Fortresses. Sokolov, Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary), Beroun, Ústí nad Labem – in all these locations battle formations of Allied bombers appeared in the skies whose mission was to put the local train junctions out of order. While the Fortresses and the Liberators destroyed the railroad, escort fighters organized another hunt, targeting German aircraft often crowded together at the airports around Prague. According to some sources, the Americans hit 290 German aircraft in western and central Bohemia that day, and damaged countless others.

Just 24 hours after the Mustang massacre around Prague, the 357th Fighter Group joined the fighting. Following the lead of their colleagues, they attacked enemy aircraft at Ruzyně airport. The flak did not fail this time, either, bringing down three fighter aircraft from the 364th Fighter Squadron. Nellie Jean, as 1/Lt James C. Monahan nicknamed his airplane, made an emergency landing to the northwest of Prague. The pilot was apprehended and after the fighting ended he was returned to his home unit. Pilots 2/Lt Robert W. Muller and 1/Lt Irving E. Snedeker had similar fates, with Lady Fortune definitely on their side that day. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about Capt Raymond F. Reuter and 1/Lt William R. Preddy from the 503rd Fighter Group. At about 2:30 p.m., a formation of fighters from the 503rd Group was flying to the northwest of Prague when Capt Reuter announced over the radio that he and 1/Lt William R. Preddy were pursuing a German Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (“Swallow”). The jet-powered Messerschmitt still managed to land at the Planá airport near České Budějovice, and immediately afterwards the skies over the tarmac closed. Flak out of České Budějovice instantly sent Capt Raymond F. Reuter’s plane down, his Mustang crashing near Boršov nad Vltavou. The pilot did not have the slightest chance of getting out of the cockpit. The enemy’s precise flak fired from near the airport hit the P-51 flown by 1/Lt William R. Preddy and the airplane caught fire. The pilot decided to make an emergency landing, but things went wrong. “The airplane’s undercarriage hit a tree. Then it tipped sideways and hit the ridge with its wing. After doing a few somersaults, the propeller was ripped off and the fuselage broke in two,” a local witness described the crash after the war had ended. “The pilot was alive, he was hanging strapped to his seat with his head slumped and he was bleeding. With the help of other people who had already managed to run to the site, we freed and untied the pilot,” the witness continued. Three days later, 21-year-old William R. Preddy died of his injuries in the hospital in České Budějovice. Today he and his fellow pilot and fighter Raymond F. Reuter are interred at the American soldiers’ cemetery in St Avold, France.

On the same day two Mustang pilots were tragically killed in Southern Bohemia, one of the many war crimes officially supported by the Nazi regime took place in the northern part of the country. At 1 p.m., more than ten Thunderbolts from the 368th Fighter Group took off on a mission over northern and central Bohemia. The aircraft flew in the area bordered by Pilsen, Prague, and Děčín, shooting at opportune targets. In the Lom area near Most, ground fire hit the aircraft flown by 2/Lt John Albert Banks. The Thunderbolt caught on fire and the pilot decided to bail out. He parachuted down to Horní Lom, a village then located in the Sudetenland. John was captured right after he landed, but he soon came before a self-appointed executioner who shot the pilot. The murdered American was buried in Osek. Today his grave is located in Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.

Bomber units also reported losses. It has been verified that two Fortresses were downed within the pre-1938 borders of Czechoslovakia. The first of these aircraft, piloted by 2/Lt J. V. Bartl, was hit by flak and exploded in mid-air. Of the nine airmen on board, no one survived the crash. Wreckage from the bomber fell on the village of Přečáply in the district of Chomutov. Another Flying Fortress crashed near Libkovice, in the district of Most. Of 1/Lt Thomas F. Kahler’s eight-member crew, six survived.