http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/3/24.htm
April 24th, 1945
UNITED KINGDOM: The “dim-out” is abolished, except for a coastal belt five miles deep.
Minesweeper HMS Mary Rose commissioned.
GERMANY: Konev’s troops penetrate Berlin from the South.
Berlin: Hitler orders Göring to be arrested after receiving a telegram from him offering to take over command of the Reich.
The RAF joined in the final battle of Berlin today with fighter-bombers of Bomber Command pouncing on General Wenck’s Twelfth Army as it moves east after being switched from the western front to Berlin. The pilots report that the entire eastern half of the city is on fire. On the ground Konev’s men are crossing the heavily-defended Tetlow canal on bridges built by assault sappers under fire.
Dessau on the Elbe falls to the British 1st Army.
Guardsman Edward Colquhoun Charlton (b.1920), Irish Guards, stopped a German attack single-handed. He died of wounds. (Victoria Cross)
Shortly after liberation from the Berga Elster concentration camp, Norman Fellman of the US 70th Infantry Division, an American Jewish GI, is made to sign a “Security Certificate for Ex-Prisoners of War”. This states in its first clause: “Some activities of American prisoners of war within German prison camps must remain secret not only for the duration of the war against the present enemies of the United States, but in peacetime as well.” (Personal recollection of William J. Shapiro and Mordecai Hauer, The Lost Soldiers of Stalag IX-B, by Roger Cohen, New York Times, 27 February, 2005)
U-2371, U-2551 commissioned.
ITALY: The US 5th and British 8th Army cross the River Po, in large numbers.
La Spezia falls to the US 92nd Division.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: VII Fighter Command, United States’ Seventh Air Force bases the 506th Fighter Group flying P-47Ns at North Field.
JAPAN: The Japanese forces on Okinawa begin to pull back to the 2nd section of the Shuri Line.
BORNEO: Two BAT missiles are launched at Balikpapan. The only US use of guided missiles in the war. (Patrick Holscher)
U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Goodrich commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-363 was attacked by a hunter-killer group. During the depth charge attack the periscope was damaged so badly that the boat had to return to base.
USS Frederick C. Davis was participating in the operation Teardrop, a hunt for snorkel-equipped U-boats in the Western Atlantic and was part of the 4th Escort Division, which screened escort carrier USS Bogue in the Southern Surface Barrier. On 24 April 1945, U-546 discovered the USS Bogue about 570 miles east of Cape Race, Newfoundland and tried to attack on periscope depth, but the USS Frederick C. Davis discovered the U-boat and prepared herself for an attack. At this moment a Gnat struck forward on the portside. The ship broke in two and sank. The crew abandoned ship and were picked up within three hours by the other escort destroyers of the Division, after they had sunk U-546.
At 1414, the unescorted Monmouth Coast was torpedoed and sunk by U-1305 about 80 miles from Sligo. The master, 13 crewmembers and two gunners were lost. Irish fishermen rescued the sole survivor, mess room boy Derek Cragg.
There is actually a German situation map in the archives. It is dated tomorrow, and I know I'm jumping the gun. But I have some time this morning and will be traveling tomorrow so I won't be posting. If you are German, this map isn't pretty.
First, the remains of 9th Army in the Beeskow pocket south-east of Berlin:
Wenck's weak 12th Army ordered to attack from the south-west to relieve Berlin. His army doesn't have a lot of strength, and the Soviets do. Only a madman would think it has any chance of success. Oh, wait...
And finally, Berlin itself. The Germans don't have specific Soviet unit locations identified. They have only roughly identified the areas were Soviet armies and tank corps are operating, and have listed their orders of battle. Heavy fighting north of Berlin where a cavalry corps and 1st Polish Army are engaged with 25th Panzer Grenadier Division, one of the last cohesive field units of the Wehrmacht:
I can see why, at this point, the German officers in the bunker were drinking a lot. Why not?
And finally, Berlin itself. The Germans don't have specific Soviet unit locations identified. They have only roughly identified the areas were Soviet armies and tank corps are operating, and have listed their orders of battle. Heavy fighting north of Berlin where a cavalry corps and 1st Polish Army are engaged with 25th Panzer Grenadier Division, one of the last cohesive field units of the Wehrmacht: