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• From their positions on the Oder-Neisse Line, Soviet 1st Byelorussian and Soviet 1st Ukrainian Fronts began their final push on Berlin, Germany. Hitler's order of the day dated on the previous day was released to all German troops, ordering all who would flee in the face of the Soviet attack to be arrested or shot. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | TH]
• Canadian troops captured Harlingen, Groningen, and Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. ww2dbase [TH]
• US Army troops landed on Ie Shima off Okinawa, Japan. Meanwhile, Japanese special attack aircraft sank a destroyer and damaged a number of other warships. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• Soviet submarine L-3 sank German passenger liner Goya with a torpedo, killing 6,220 people being evacuated from East Prussia, Germany, most of whom were civilian refugees. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | CPC]
• USS Charr fired 10 torpedoes at a Japanese freighter, none of which hit. ww2dbase [Charr | CPC]
• USS Kete was presumed lost. ww2dbase [Kete | CPC]
• The Allied Chiefs of Staff formally decreed the ending of the area bombing campaign against Germany. In one of British Bomber Command's last major operations of the war, 900 bombers were despatched to attack the German island fortress of Helgoland. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | AC]
• The Japanese Navy launched an Ohka combat sortie off Okinawa by six G4M bombers that resulted in failure. ww2dbase [MXY7 Ohka | CPC]
• USS Sennet was attacked by Japanese patrol boats off Miki Saki, Mie Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]
• Oberfeldwebel Karl Schäfer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Soviet Union stopped the mass deportation of German males for use as forced laborers in the territories occupied by Soviet troops. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Indian 5th Division captured Shwemyo, Burma during the day, while by nightfall the Anglo-Indian 4th Corps reached within 240 miles of Rangoon. ww2dbase [Battle of Rangoon | Shwemyo | CPC]

• US First Army captured Solingen and Wuppertal, Germany. ww2dbase [Fall of the Ruhr | TH]
• Eighteen British Lancaster bombers of No. 617 Squadron RAF attacked the German heavy cruiser Lützow at Swinemünde, Germany (now Swinoujscie, Poland). All but two of the aircraft were hit, although only one was lost (becoming No. 617 Squadron's last loss of the war). A near miss by a "Tallboy" 12,000-lb bomb tore a large hole in the bottom of the Lützow, crippling her. ww2dbase [Deutschland | Swinemünde, Pommern | AC]
• US troops reached the outskirts of Nürnberg, Germany. ww2dbase [Southern Germany Campaign | Nürnberg, Franken | CPC]
• US 9th Armored Division liberated the prisoners at the Oflag IV-C camp at the "escape-proof" Colditz Castle in Germany. US Private First Class Alan Murphey received the formal surrender from German Hauptmann Eggers at the courtyard of the castle. Throughout the war, 316 POWs attempted escapes from the castle with 32 making "home runs", which was the most of any camp. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | AC, CPC]
• 1,700 Jewish prisoners at Flossenbürg Concentration Camp were loaded onto open freight railcars starting at 0500 hours, with very little food and water. When the train began to move out of the station, US aircraft strafed, killing an unknown number of prisoners. Those who were injured by the US attack were executed by SS guards. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Flossenbürg Concentration Camp | Flossenbürg, Bayreuth | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against rail facilities at Plattling, Germany. The 306th Bomb Group and the air base at RAF Thurleigh had a change of command with Lieutenant Colonel Hudson Upham relieving Colonel James Sutton. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Plattling | DS]

• British troops crossed the Fossa Marina canal east of Argenta, Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | Argenta, Emilia-Romagna | CPC]

• Submarine I-369 departed Yokosuka, Japan for Caroline Islands. She carried 0.312 tons of food, 6.303 tons of weapons and ammunition, 25 tons of fuel, and 4.4 tons of other cargo for Truk, and 38.9 tons of food and 2.6 tons of other cargo for Woleai. ww2dbase [I-369 | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• A special attack aircraft dove at USS Missouri off Okinawa, Japan. Falling astern of the battleship, the attack caused only minor shock and fragment damage. ww2dbase [Missouri | Okinawa | CPC]

• Italian MTM explosive motorboats heavily damaged French destroyer Trombe off Liguria, Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [MT | CPC, AC]

• USS Sunfish sank Japanese transport Manryu Maru and Coast Defense Vessel No. 73 off Miyako, Japan, hitting them with 4 of 6 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Sunfish (Gato-class) | CPC]

• Cruiser USS Phoenix with destroyers USS Nicholas and USS O’Bannon conduct a second day of bombardments of Carabao Island at the entrance to Manila Bay, Philippines prior to the landing of US Army troops. ww2dbase [Philippines Campaign, Phase 2 | Nicholas | Phoenix | Carabao, Luzon | DS]

• US B-24 and P-51 aircraft attacked Matsuyama Airfield in Taihoku (now Taipei), Taiwan. ww2dbase [Matsuyama Airfield | Taihoku | CPC]
• B-24 bombers of US 380th Bombardment Group, escorted by P-51 fighters, attacked Giran Airfield in northern Taiwan. ww2dbase [Giran Airfield | Giran, Taihoku | CPC]

• Allied convoy JW-66 departed Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Clyde, Scotland | CPC]

• Alamogordo Army Air Field near Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States was relieved of its training mission and was assigned to Continental Air Forces to become a permanent B-29 bomber base. ww2dbase [Alamogordo Army Air Field | Alamogordo, New Mexico | CPC]
• Escort carrier USS Bogue and her task group put to sea from Quonset Point, Rhode Island on an offensive anti-submarine patrol in the northwest Atlantic. ww2dbase [Bogue | Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island | DS]

16 Apr 1945 Interactive Map