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• Even as Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front met unexpectedly fierce resistance along the Seelow Heights, Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front broke through to Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | TH]
• Allied troops captured Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. ww2dbase [CPC]
• A Japanese Type 97 tank and a Type 95 tank, with explosives strapped in the front of the hulls, ambushed M4 Sherman tanks on Route 9 on Luzon, Philippine Islands near Baguio. They rammed the American tanks, but the explosives failed to detonate. ww2dbase [Type 97 Chi-Ha | CPC]
• German Oberleutnant August Lambert, the newly appointed Staffelkapitän of 8/SG 77, was killed when his fighter-bomber mission was bounced by a horde of with US P-51 Mustang fighters (reportedly 60-80 strong). At the time of his death Lambert had 116 aerial victories against the Soviets and had destroyed hundreds of enemy tanks, trucks and artillery pieces. Six of his pilots suffered the same fate. ww2dbase [AC]
• Field Marshal Model gave his remaining troops the choice of trying to get home, of trying to fight their way out of the Ruhr region in Germany, or of surrendering. Most chose to surrender. ww2dbase [Ruhr Campaign | AC]
• Oberleutnant August Lambert, the newly appointed Staffelkapitän of German 8/SG 77, was killed when his fighter-bomber mission was bounced by a horde of with US P-51 Mustang fighters (reportedly 60-80 strong). At the time of his death Lambert had 116 aerial victories against the Soviets and had destroyed hundreds of enemy tanks, trucks and artillery pieces. Six of his pilots suffered the same fate. ww2dbase [AC]

• Emperor Bao Dai appointed Tran Trong Kim the Prime Minister of Nguyen Dynasty Vietnam. ww2dbase [Bao Dai | Hue, Annam | CPC]
• Tran Trong Kim was made the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam. ww2dbase [Tran Trong Kim | CPC]

• Thirty three British Lancaster bombers of 5 Group, six carrying Grand Slam bombs and the remainder carrying Tall Boy bombs attacked Helgoland, Germany; they reported that the centre of the island was still ablaze from the previous day's attack. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Helgoland, Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]
• Robert von Greim was awarded the Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds. ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | CPC]
• US troops captured the rail marshaling yard and airport of Nürnberg, Germany. ww2dbase [Southern Germany Campaign | Nürnberg, Franken | CPC]
• The evacuation of non-Jewish prisoners of Flossenbürg Concentration Camp began, with 2,000 prisoners being forced to march toward Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany on foot. ww2dbase [Flossenbürg Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Flossenbürg, Bayreuth | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Dresden, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Dresden | DS]

• In Italy, Brazilian troops captured Montese. The British bridgehead at the Fossa Marina canal near Argenta, Italy was expanded by about 900 meters. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | TH, CPC]

• USS New Mexico departed Okinawa, Japan waters. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Okinawa | CPC]
• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides received orders to depart her patrol area and return to Midway. ww2dbase [Silversides | Bungo Channel | DS]

• German resistance in the Netherlands was effectively ended with the surrender of the Apeldoorn garrison. The Germans had intended to make a stand along the canal, but the Canadians sent the 5th Armoured Division up from Arnhem to surround the town. After this the remaining German garrisons along the Grebbe Line followed suit and by 19 Apr fighting was almost finished allowing food supplies to be sent forward for the starving Dutch population. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Cod sank a Japanese tug and its tow in the East China Sea with the deck gun and went on to rescue three of the survivors. ww2dbase [Cod | East China Sea | CPC]

• Lavrentiy Beria reported to Joseph Stalin that a total of 215,540 people (138,200 Germans, 38,660 Polish, and the remainder Soviet citizens) were arrested by the NKVD, NKGB, and SMERSH since Beria gained influence over all three agencies in Jan 1945. ww2dbase [Lavrentiy Beria | CPC]

• In an address to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the late US President Franklin Roosevelt concluding with "in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known, and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the new world to the old." ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | London, England | AC]

17 Apr 1945 Interactive Map