World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 29 Apr 1945

• The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were taken to Milan, Italy and hung upside down for public display at the spot where partisans had been executed earlier. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | TH]
• The Soviet Union set up a provisional government in Vienna, Austria. ww2dbase [Battle of Vienna | CPC]
• Japanese B5N torpedo bombers from Truk, Caroline Islands attacked Manus, Admiralty Islands; they launched torpedoes at floating docks, which were misidentified as carriers. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Japanese transport Kumikawa Maru hit a mine laid by Australian aircraft and became damaged off Balikpapan, Borneo. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Eva Braun changed her legal name to Eva Hitler after marrying Adolf Hitler. ww2dbase [Eva Braun | CPC]
• USS Macabi departed New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. ww2dbase [Macabi | CPC]
• USS Cero sank a Japanese tanker south of Japan, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Cero | CPC]
• Friedrich Stephan was made the commanding officer of 104th Jäger Division, relieving Hartwig von Ludwiger. ww2dbase [Hartwig von Ludwiger | CPC]
• Hartwig von Ludwiger was made the commanding officer of 21st Mountain Corps. ww2dbase [Hartwig von Ludwiger | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland bombarded Car Island and Port Blair of the Nicobar Islands. ww2dbase [Cumberland | DS]

• [incorrectly given as 27 Apr 1945 by some sources] Acting on a reconnaissance report stating two US aircraft carriers were in Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admiralty Islands, the Japanese executed an aerial torpedo attack consisting of two (some sources 3) Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” bombers. The targets were actually floating drydocks USS ABSD-2 and ABSD-4 and each was struck with one torpedo, causing minimal damage to the docks. USS ABSD-4 had three ships in dock at the time, including a seaplane tender that was docked for emergency repairs and thus had not offloaded her ammunition. None of the ships in dock were damaged in the attack and all were returned to service. ww2dbase [B5N | ABSD-2 | Manus, Admiralty Islands | DS]

• The two-prong assault by Indian 17th Division on Pegu, Burma was repulsed. ww2dbase [Battle of Rangoon | Pegu | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun in his bunker in Berlin, Germany, and began dictating his final political testament and will. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Berlin | TH]
• British Second Army crossed the Elbe River at Hamburg, Germany. ww2dbase [Hamburg | TH]
• US troops arrived at the outskirts of München, Germay. To the west, French First Army captured Freidrichshafen. ww2dbase [Southern Germany Campaign | TH, CPC]
• SS-Untersturmführer Heinrich Wicker became the final commandant of Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany, replacing Johannes Otto, who had been in that role for less than one day. Wicker would share the same fate as his predecessor, as American troops of the 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, US 45th Infantry Division, commanded by Colonel Felix Sparks, would enter Dachau Concentration Camp on this day. Brigadier General Henning Linden of 222nd Infantry Regiment, US 42nd Infantry Division accepted the formal surrender from Wicker. Men of US 157th and 122nd Infantry Regiments were accused of executing a number of German SS prisoners of war, in the camp and in the nearby hamlet of Weßling, before a colonel intervened. ww2dbase [Dachau Concentration Camp | Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
• In the afternoon, Colonel Nicolaus von Below and other three adjutant officers departed Adolf Hitler's bunker in Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | Berlin | CPC]
• US tanks arrived at Oberammergau air test facility in southern Germany. Aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt was captured along with a P.1101 prototype jet aircraft. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British 2nd Army captured Lauenburg, just south of Hamburg, in Germany, thus trapping all German forces in Denmark and securing the Baltic Ports. When Soviet forces arrived at Lubeck and Wismar not long afterwards they found British and Canadian paratroopers waiting for them. Bernard Montgomery had thereby, not only denied Joseph Stalin the opportunity to seize Denmark, but had also kept the Soviet Navy locked within the Baltic Sea. ww2dbase [Lauenburg, Schleswig-Holstein | AC]
• Martin Gottfried Weiss was captured by Corporal Henry Senger of US 292nd Field Artillery Observation Battalion in München (Munich), Germany. ww2dbase [Martin Gottfried Weiss | Nuremberg Trials and Other Trials Against Germany | München, München-Oberbayern | CPC]

• USS Ray arrived at Apra Harbor, Guam, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Ray | Apra Harbor | CPC]
• USS Sterlet departed Midway for her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Sterlet | Midway | CPC]

• USS Sea Robin arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Sea Robin | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Silversides | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• British Eighth and US Fifth Armies linked up near Padua, Italy, which had just been liberated by Italian partisans who surrounded the 5,000-strong German garrison. Later in the day, German Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff surrendered Axis forces in northern Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | TH, CPC]
• German 148th Division, Italian 4th Alpine Division "Monte Rosa", Italian 3rd Marine Division "San Marco", and German 29th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division (Italian troops) surrendered to Brazilian General Mascarenhas de Moraes near Parma, Italy. ww2dbase [Battles of Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro | Parma, Emilia-Romagna | CPC]

• USS Marcus Island departed Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Marcus Island | Okinawa | CPC]
• USS New Mexico departed Okinawa, Japan waters. ww2dbase [New Mexico | Okinawa | CPC]

• Two British RAF Lancaster bombers conducted the first Operation Manna sortie, delivering food to Dutch civilians. ww2dbase [Operations Manna, Chowhound, and Faust | CPC]

• Between Okinawa and Iwo Jima, Lt(jg) Donald Davis flying a TBM-3 Avenger with Composite Squadron VC-92 from USS Tulagi attacked Japanese submarine I-44 running on the surface with six Kaitens on her deck. Davis dropped one depth charge and one Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo that exploded against the crash-diving submarine’s hull. I-44 was lost with all 130 hands plus four Kaiten pilots. ww2dbase [Mark XXIV | TBF Avenger | DS]

• Allied convoy RA-66 departed the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a leaflet dropping mission (nickels) to 16 cities in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | RAF Thurleigh | Thurleigh, England | DS]

29 Apr 1945 Interactive Map