• Serial
  • June 1944
  • July 1944
  • August 1944
  • September 1944
  • October 1944
  • November 1944
  • December 1944
  • January 1945
  • February 1945
  • March 1945
  • April 1945
  • May 1945

From D-Day to V-Day

April 1945

April 19, 1945 - D-Day + 247

The British Second Army, currently reinforced by the British 52nd Infantry Division, launched an attack on Bremen. The British 3rd Infantry Division advanced on the city from positions west of the Weser River, while the British 52nd Infantry Division started to cross the Weser and assault Bremen from the southeast. The British 7th Armored Division under the British XII Corps rapidly advanced to the north and cut off the divided highway leading between Bremen and Hamburg. The British 11th Armored Division reached the Elbe near Lauenburg.

With artillery and aerial support, tank units from the 5th Armored Division under the Ninth Army’s XIII Corps destroyed German units that were attempting to escape the division’s operational zone. The 11th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) held back enemy troops that were attempting to escape the Kloetze Forest, and the XIX Corps improved its positions along the Elbe River. The 113th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) took up positions along the Elbe from Breitenhagen in the south, while the 8th Armored Division prepared to mop up the area from Blankenburg to the eastern edge of the Harz Mountains. The XVI Corps started to regroup leading up to the launch of occupation and policing operations in the Ninth Army zone. The following units were assigned to this task: the XVI Corps artillery, the 15th Cavalry Group (Mechanized), the 95th and 79th Infantry Divisions, the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group, and the 17th Parachute Infantry Division.

The 8th Infantry Division under the US First Army’s XVIII Corps expanded its sector westwards to the Rhine and relieved the 13th Armored Division from its positions, as the 13th Armored and 97th Infantry Divisions prepared to move to the US Third Army. At the same moment, the 3rd Armored Division under the VII Corps attempted to push the enemy out of Bobbau-Steinfurth and Wolfen. The 104th Infantry Division’s Task Force Kelleher finished occupying Halle and advanced to Radewell and Dieskau. The division’s 413th Infantry Regiment attacked Delitzsch, while its sister 415th Infantry Regiment improved its positions near Bitterfeld and went on to occupy the village of Petersroda. The 1st Infantry Division continued to advance through the Harz Mountains. The Big Red One’s 16th Infantry Regiment conquered Elbingrode and Hüttenrode, and the 18th Infantry Regiment mopped up the southern section of Thale. Following intense fighting, combat infantry regiments from the 2nd and 69th Infantry Divisions under the US V Corps conquered Leipzig.

The VIII Corps under Patton’s Third Army reinforced its defense positions. The 6th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) continued to send reconnaissance units out to the Czechoslovak border, and the 4th Armored Division was placed into reserve. The XII Corps attacked to the southeast. Artillery and tactical air support prevented the enemy from taking up a firm defense position, making it possible for the Corps to advance swiftly. Tank columns from the 11th Armored Division’s Combat Command A and B reached Grafenwöhr, where they remained after mopping up the town. Meanwhile, the 26th Infantry Division advanced to the Tröstau – Birk line. The 90th Infantry Division operating on the Corps’ left flank attacked to the southeast. Its 358th Infantry Regiment occupied Rehau and pushed on towards Selb, while the 357th Infantry Regiment advanced to Wunsiedel. Major General Walton Walker, the commander of the XX Corps, prepared a plan of attack in the direction of Austria headed up by the 71st Infantry Division, which was still under the command of the XV Corps, and the 65th Infantry Division. The XVIII Corps’ 80th Infantry and 13th Armored Divisions would be added to the contingent, but for now both divisions were left in reserve. The 3rd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) received orders to secure both flanks of the Corps. In the course of the day, the 71st Infantry Division moved in the direction of Amberg, and the 20th Armored Division was assigned to the III Corps.

The Seventh Army’s XV Corps continued to battle for Nuremberg. The 42nd Infantry Division was attached to the Corps, and mopped up Fürth and the western suburbs of Nuremberg before advancing to the centre of the city. The XXI Corps took over the command of the 63rd Infantry Division. Tank units from the 12th Armored Division’s Combat Commands R and B finished occupying Ansbach and soon afterwards headed out towards Feuchtwangen. At the same time, Combat Command A advanced to the east and blocked escape routes out of Nuremberg in Schwabach and Bertholdsdorf. The 4th Infantry Division’s 8th Infantry Regiment advanced to the Rödenweiler area, and its sister 12th Infantry Regiment broke through to the Bottenweiler – Wildenholz – Theuerbronn line. During the day, the 63rd Infantry Division mopped up the area between Schwäbisch Hall and Crailsheim east of the Kocher River. The 10th Armored Division’s Combat Command A under the VI Corps crossed the Rems River near Lorch and continued in its advance, taking control of the bridge over the Fils River in Farndau near Göppingen. For now, Combat Command B went around Schwäbisch Gmünd and crossed the Rems River west of the city. The 100th Infantry Division’s 397th Infantry Regiment advanced to the Murr River in Murrhardt. Its sister 397th Infantry Regiment reached the river in Sulzbach and subsequently launched an attack on the city, while the 399th Infantry Regiment occupied Beilstein and Ilsfeld. The 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron was attached to the 100th Infantry Division and subsequently took up positions between the Neckar River and the 399th Infantry Regiment’s zone.

Units from the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division under the French First Army’s French II Corps and the French 5th Armored and 2nd Moroccan Infantry Divisions continued their attack on Stuttgart. In the interim, the French I Corps mopped up the western section of the Black Forest and advanced to the Biederbach – Mahlberg area. Units from the DA Atl army group operating in the Pointe de Grave sector reached Le Verdon.

In the night from April 18-19, 1945, a formation of RAF bombers appeared over the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Their target: the Chomutov train station. It was already light when an event took place in the Benešov district south of Prague which was in direct contradiction with the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war. The US Eighth Air Force attacked the train station in Ústí nad Labem on April 19, 1945. A sizable group of Messerschmitt Me 262 jets took off into the air to engage the American aircraft, and the German pilots were able to soon shoot down five American bombers belonging to the 447th and 490th Bomb Groups. The Fortress flown by 1/Lt. R. F. Glazener came down in Kálek, in the district of Chomutov. Two men escaped after parachuting down, while the other six were taken prisoner. The second pilot, H. Cramer, was killed. The remaining four bombers belonged to the 490th Bomb Group. The aircraft piloted by 1/Lt B. E. Stovall crashed near Sýkořice, in the district of Rakovník. Eight aviators escaped and two were apprehended, but one died. 1/Lt W. E. McCallister’s crew fared far worse. Three airmen were killed and another five were captured. Several of them were later murdered. Six men from Lt R. A. Norvell’s crew faced a similar fate. Seven men bailed out of Norvell’s hit bomber over Benešov. One of the men ran away, and another was shot soon after bailing out. The remaining five airmen were transported to the Konopiště Castle grounds, where the headquarters for the local SS training grounds “Böhmen” was located. Meanwhile, Norvell’s aircraft continued with two men on board to Pilsen, where both men bailed out of the plane. They were apprehended after parachuting down to the ground, but they did live to see the end of the war. Their colleagues, however, faced a tragic fate at the hands of the SS men. Three men from 2/Lt P. A. Snyder’s crew were also brought in to Konopiště. Seven other men from the same aircraft were killed in the wreckage. Based on orders from the commander of the SS training grounds, all eight apprehended aviators were shot and buried at Konopiště. After the war, their bodies were exhumed and the entire case was investigated. The murder at Konopiště was a reprehensible act, and the extent of the crime remains unparalleled in the history of the war in the air over Czechoslovakia. R. A. Norvell, a pilot from one of the bombers that was shot down that day, returned to the area where he got a second lease on life nearly sixty years after the events at Konopiště. In 2005 he returned to the Czech Republic once more to pay tribute to his brothers in arms.

Besides the attack on Ústí nad Labem, the Americans also carried out a raid on the train station in Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) that day.

In the course of the day, the Czechoslovak pilots took part in Operation Ramrod 1546. As was the case one day earlier, today as well they escorted bombers headed over the German island of Helgoland. Fighter pilot F/Sgt Josef Prokopec also took part in the mission and described the assault on the island fortress: “On April 19, 1945, we make a long flight alongside 36 Lancasters sent out by Bomber Command over the island of Helgoland to bomb and destroy the still operational coastal heavy artillery battery. The day before the mission, we flew our Spitfires from Manston to the detached continental B-90 airfield in Petit Breughel, Belgium. We fly into action shortly after 3:30 p.m., and three hours later, I land near the Dutch city of Nijmegen at a detached B-79 airfield together with a pair of other Spitfires from the No. 312 Squadron. The remaining 28 fighters from the Czechoslovak wing remained down at the B-90 and B-91 airfields. That same day, I fly over to the B-90 airfield at Petit Breughel. The bombs gradually turned the island into one large, freshly-plowed field. Our “wards” significantly contributed to the elimination of German supremacy over access to the northwestern ports. Already the next day, the British press published an eyewitness account of the RAF’s April 19 attack against Helgoland which described the situation on the European battlefield.” Ramrod 1546 was the next to last mission for the Czechoslovak fighter pilots. The last would take place on April 25, 1945. After that, all that would be left is for them to return back to their home country.