Churchill: ‚Dies ist eines Mannes Krieg‘
Die innerpolitischen Gegensätze in der englischen Koalition wachsen rapide
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Führer HQ (April 11, 1945)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Zwischen Drau und Donau wurde der vorübergehend verlorengegangene Zusammenhang der Front wieder hergestellt. Die zäh kämpfende Besatzung von Wien wurde nach schwerem Ringen auf den Donau-Kanal zurückgedrückt. Im Donau-Marchwinkel fingen unsere Truppen starke Angriffe auf. Nördlich der Weißen Karpaten drängten die Bolschewisten mit Schwerpunkt bei Holic und Trentschin nach Norden, wurden aber abgewiesen.
Zwischen der Kleinen Tatra und der Pommerschen Bucht halten die Kämpfe südöstlich Ratibor an. Die Verteidiger von Breslau wehrten starke Angriffe gegen die Süd- und Westfront der Festung ab. Einbrüche am Friedhof St. Bernhardin und westlich des Manfred-von-Richthofen-Platzes wurden abgeriegelt.
An der Danziger Bucht wehrten unsere Truppen dem Gegner den Zugang zur Putziger Nehrung. In der westlichen Weichselniederung wird seit Tagen der Ort Gottswalde heiß umkämpft.
Bei seinen Angriffen gegen die Samland-Front verlor der Feind gestern 20 Panzer.
In Luftkämpfen wurden über der Ostfront in den letzten 48 Stunden 43 Flugzeuge zum Absturz gebracht.
In Holland werden Kämpfe um Deventer und bei Meppel gemeldet. In Nordwestdeutschland warfen unsere Truppen die auf Quakenbrück und Bersenbrück vorgestoßenen britischen Kräfte zurück und behaupteten ihre Stellungen gegen erneute Durchbruchsversuche.
Während der Feind zwischen der unteren Weser und der Aller unter Verlust zahlreicher Panzer abgewiesen wurde, ging Hannover nach erbitterten Straßenkämpfen verloren. Feindliche Panzerkräfte stoßen beiderseits der Stadt weiter nach Osten vor.
Aus der Linie Hameln-Hildesheim nach Osten angreifende amerikanische Panzergruppen stehen an den Nordwestausläufern des Harzes im Kampf mit eigenen Kräften.
Die Abwehrschlacht im Ruhrgebiet und in dem Frontbogen von der Siegmündung bis zur Mohne-Talsperre nahm an Heftigkeit zu. Der auf breiter Front angreifende Gegner drängte unsere Truppen aus Wanne-Eickel und Gelsenkirchen auf den Nordrand von Bochum und Essen zurück, wo das erbitterte Ringen andauert. Übersetzversuche über die Ruhr bei Stelle wurden abgewiesen. Zwischen Siegburg und Olpe sowie weiter nordöstlich erwehren sich unsere Verbände der von Süden und Osten angreifenden Amerikaner.
Nördlich des Thüringerwaldes nahm der Feind seine Angriffe wieder auf, wobei westlich Erfurt heftige Kämpfe entbrannten.
Zwischen dem Thüringerwald und dem Main drangen starke feindliche Panzer und Infanterieverbände nach Südosten. Bei Schweinfurt hielten unsere Truppen dem starken Druck weiterhin stand. Auch östlich Würzburg und nördlich Uffenheim blieb dem Gegner größerer Bodengewinn versagt.
Crailsheim wechselte gestern in harten Kämpfen mehrmals den Besitzer und blieb schließlich in unserer Hand. Eine nach Nordwesten ausgebrochene feindliche Kampfgruppe wurde in der Flanke gefasst und erlitt hohe Verluste. Zwischen dem Neckar und dem Rhein südwestlich Karlsruhe kam es zu heftigen Kämpfen, ohne daß sich der Frontverlauf wesentlich veränderte.
Unsere Stützpunktbesatzungen schlugen stärkere Aufklärungsvorstöße gaullistischer Truppen zurück.
In Italien setzte die 8. englische Armee ihre Angriffe südwestlich des Comacchio-Sees auf breiter Front fort. Unter stärkstem Materialeinsatz konnte der Gegner unsere Hauptkampflinie im Abschnitt Lugo-Alfonsine einige Kilometer zurückdrängen. An der Ligurischen Küste blieben dagegen alle feindlichen Angriffe im Abwehrfeuer liegen.
Der mitteldeutsche Raum war bei Tag und Nacht das Angriffsziel angloamerikanischer Bomberverbände. Besonders schwer wurden Leipzig und Plauen getroffen. Auch in der Reichshauptstadt entstanden Personenverluste und Gebäudeschäden. Der Feind verlor nach bisherigen Meldungen 40 überwiegend viermotorige Bomber.
Wie bereits im Wehrmachtbericht vom 8. April gemeldet, zeichneten sich deutsche Jagdverbände bei der Abwehr amerikanischer Terrorangriffe gegen den norddeutschen Raum am 7. April durch hervorragenden Kampfgeist aus. Die Jäger durchbrachen in erbitterten Luftkämpfen die starke feindliche Jagdsperre und stürzten sich ungeachtet des heftigen Abwehrfeuers, das ihnen aus zahlreichen Bordwaffen entgegenschlug, in todesmutiger Selbstaufopferung auf die viermotorigen Kampfflugzeuge. Die amerikanischen Verbände erlitten in den auch für die deutschen Jäger opferreichen Kämpfen schwere Verluste. Über 60 viermotorige Bomber wurden allein durch Rammstoß vernichtet. Ein Teil der Jäger konnte sich durch Fallschirmabsprung retten.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (April 11, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
111100B April
TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR
(2) NAVY DEPARTMENT
TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(3) TAC HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) MAIN 12 ARMY GP
(5) AIR STAFF MAIN
(6) ANCXF
(7) EXFOR MAIN
(8) EXFOR REAR
(9) DEFENSOR, OTTAWA
(10) CANADIAN C/S, OTTAWA
(11) WAR OFFICE
(12) ADMIRALTY
(13) AIR MINISTRY
(14) UNITED KINGDOM BASE
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM ZONE
(18) SHAEF REAR
(19) SHAEF MAIN
(20) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 368
UNCLASSIFIED: Allied forces occupied Deventer against strong opposition. Farther east, Rijssen and Nijverdal have been captured.
East of the Ems River we captured Sögel, and Haselünne.
Troop concentrations, gun positions and strong points at Arnhem and in the Deventer area and rail transport and other communications targets in northern Germany from Cloppenburg eastward to Bremen were attacked by medium and fighter-bombers and rocket-firing fighters.
More crossings of the Weser River have been made at Hoya and Nienburg and we advanced several miles east.
North and east of Neustadt we gained ten miles.
We cleared Hanover, cut the Hanover-Braunschweig autobahn midway between the two cities, and are within five miles of Braunschweig. Our armor captured Othfresen about seven and one-half miles north of Goslar which was entered by our infantry. Other elements were fighting near Münchehof to the southwest.
Our forces captured Einbeck. Armored units reached a point 14 miles northeast of Northeim and fought a tank battle at Gieboldehausen to the south.
Armored task forces are in the area eight miles east of Duderstadt and have entered Nordhausen to the east, and Clingen, north of Erfurt.
Infantry following the armor cleared towns northwest of Göttingen, captured Duderstadt and Deiligenstadt and reached Dingelstädt, east and southeast of the city.
Other infantry advanced east of Bad Tennstedt, southwest of Clingen, and our units are in the vicinity of Dachwig farther south. We entered Gottstedt and are near Schmira in the Erfurt area. To the south we entered Plaue, are in the vicinity of Roda, and reached Unterneubrunn.
Our armor entered Bad Rodach, northwest of Coburg, while other units reached Wohlsbach northeast of the city.
Our armor advanced southeast of Meiningen, reaching points within six miles of Coburg and 15 miles of Bamberg.
We have closed around Schweinfurt from three sides against heavy artillery fire. Armor driving toward Schweinfurt from the south cleared 15 miles of the east bank of the Main River.
Strong enemy pressure was exerted against our Crailsheim salient.
House-to-house fighting continues in Heilbronn, and to the northwest we forced the enemy back more than three miles from the line of the Jagst River to the Kocher River. We established a bridgehead over the Kocher.
Gains up to five miles were made southeast of Karlsruhe. We have a bridgehead some five miles deep across the Enz River east of Pforzheim.
Fortified positions and troop concentrations in and near Schweinfurt, and at Rothenburg and Beuerbach, north of Crailsheim, were targets for medium and fighter-bombers.
In the Ruhr Pocket we advanced southward to the Ruhr River just east of Essen, and captured several small towns on the western edge of Dortmund. Two fairly strong counterattacks northwest and west of Dortmund were contained. To the northeast and east, our armor took Höingen, and our infantry reached a point one and one-half miles west of Meschede. A small counterattack was repulsed at Bonacker. We entered Cobbenrode, and to the southwest gained six miles and cleared Olpe. Siegburg, southeast of Cologne, has been cleared and we advanced five miles northeast of the town.
Allied forces in the west captured 54,395 prisoners 8 and 9 April.
Enemy airfields at Zerbst, Briest, Neuruppin, Oranienburg, Parchim and Larz, and a supply depot at Oranienburg were attacked by escorted heavy bombers in very great strength. The escorting fighters destroyed 284 enemy aircraft on the ground. Other escorted heavy bombers attacked railyards at Leipzig.
Railyards at Triptis, east of Neustadt an der Orla; Cheb, Nürnberg, Ansbach, and in the triangular area of Coburg, Bayreuth, and Hof; rail and road traffic in the Weimar and Leipzig areas were attacked by medium, light and fighter-bombers.
An oil storage depot at Stassfurt-Leopoldshall; a motor transport repair depot at Rudolstadt; and a rail viaduct and a rail bridge at Cheb were hit by other medium and light bombers.
Fortified positions and troop concentrations in the area of Nordhausen, and objectives at Braunschweig were attacked by medium and fighter-bombers.
Airfields near Braunschweig, Weimar, Hof, Cheb, Nuremberg, Illesheim, and in the München area were struck at by other fighter-bombers.
During the day’s operations 57 enemy aircraft were shot down, 339 were destroyed on the ground and many others were damaged. According to reports so far received 25 of our heavy bombers and 18 fighters are missing.
COORDINATED WITH: G-2, G-3 to C/S
THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SENT IN CLEAR BY ANY MEANS
/s/
Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others
ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section
NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA4655
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/
U.S. Navy Department (April 11, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 329
No substantial changes were made in the lines on Okinawa on April 11 (East Longitude Date). In the south the enemy continued to resist attacks of the XXIV Army Corps with artillery, mortar and small arms fire. In the north, Marines of the III Amphibious Corps met some organized resistance on Motobu Peninsula but continued to advance northward on Ishikawa Isthmus.
Army troops of the XXIV Corps reduced enemy points of resistance on Tsugen Island off the east coast of Okinawa and occupied the island on April 11.
Direct support was provided for our forces by carrier aircraft, naval gunfire and Marine and Army artillery. Our forces in the Okinawa area were attacked sporadically by enemy aircraft, four of which were destroyed.
U.S. forces on Okinawa had lost 432 killed at the end of April 9. Our wounded for the same period were 2,103. A total of 180 were missing.
On the night of April 10, Army Black Widow night-fighters strafed and bombed targets on Haha Jima and Chichi Jima in the Bonins. On the same date, a Marine Mitchell of the Strategic Air Force attacked a large cargo ship north of the Bonins scoring rocket hits on it and leaving it dead in the water.
Planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing attacked buildings and other installations on islands in the Palaus and on Yap in the Western Carolines on April 11.
The Pittsburgh Press (April 11, 1945)
Million Yanks roll unchecked – Essen falls, Nazi disaster grows
Allied, Red junction near – 9th Army tanks drive to Elbe River
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Jap sub base seized on Okinawa
Yanks stalled in drive on island’s capital
GUAM (UP) – Bitter Jap resistance stalled the U.S. XXIV Army Corps’ push toward Naha in Southern Okinawa today.
But Marines in the north seized a submarine base in a mile-and-a-half advance.
Other Army troops unlocked the entrance to Nakagusuku Bay, one of the finest naval anchorages south of Japan, with an amphibious landing Tuesday on tiny Tsukata Island, about 10 miles off the southeast coast of Okinawa.
Capture sub pens
The invasion troops stormed quickly inland against only slight opposition. Moderate resistance in the form of small arms and mortar fire developed later, but officers expected the entire mile-long island would soon be in American hands.
Marines captured Jap submarine pens and other naval installations at Unten By on the north coast of Motobu Peninsula, which juts out of the west coast of Northern Okinawa, yesterday after beating off two small counterattacks the previous night.
Battle hard in south
Torpedoes and mines were seized at Unten Bay, but the enemy had evacuated all submarines and other craft. The base was known to have been a lair for midget submarines, though larger types may have also used it.
The Marines advanced their lines to Unten Bay in he northwest and the Manna River in the southeast. Tsuwa village was captured.
While resistance continued almost nonexistent in the north, troops of the XXIV Army Corps in the south were fighting a battle almost as bloody as Iwo in an effort to crack through the last four miles to Naha, capital of Okinawa.
Marine artillery was moved south to supplement Army guns in the heaviest artillery bombardment of the Pacific war. Naval guns ranging up to the 16-inch rifles of battleships offshore were also pounding away at the enemy defenses.
Japs hold ridges
The Japs were answering almost shot for shot and had the advantage of emplacements on two ridges from which they can observe every American move. In the face of this murderous crossfire, no American advances at all were reported in the past 24 hours.
The Japs were fighting from caves and underground pillboxes and blockhouses.
Several Jap counterattacks were thrown back yesterday.
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced in a communiqué that Jap casualties for the first eight days of the invasion were 5,009 killed and 22 captured. By last Sunday, he said, 43,478 Jap civilians were being cared for by the Military Government.
Near starving Frankfurt –
Herr Direktor ‘so glad’ to help
Sure he’ll be visiting friends in U.S. soon
By Helen Kirkpatrick
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Entire cities knocked flat –
Ruhr glows like torch burns down on heads of trapped Germans
Allies inflicting total destruction on rich industrial area – ‘every brick is broken twice’
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press Vice President for Europe
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Shot in heart fails to kill Greensburg Yank in Italy
Bullet drops down vein and is removed from private’s groin two days later
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Hitler’s birthday just another day
By the United Press
Adolf Hitler’s birthday, April 20, will be like any other day in Germany, according to radio reports.
BBC reported today that there will be no holiday on Hitler’s 56th birthday. The German Minister of the Interior has ordered work to go on as usual because of “war necessity,” the broadcast said.
Young German soldiers flee to their homes
More civilians in Reich towns than in U.S.
By Henry J. Taylor, Scripps-Howard writer
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Germans drive prisoners on 500-mile trek of death
Starving survivors freed by Ninth Army – American forced to march with bullet in leg
By Clinton B. Conger, United Press staff writer
HANNOVER, Germany – The pitiful survivors of a Nazi-enforced 500-mile march of starvation were liberated today by the U.S. Ninth Army.
The liberated war prisoners told of their trek across Germany which resembled Bataan march of death.
The weak and starving men, prisoners and slave workers, included Americans, British, French, Poles and Russians.
An American paratrooper, a prisoner of only 16 days since the Wesel airborne operation, told how he was forced to march 75 miles with a bullet in one leg.
Some of the prisoners were captured in Africa, Dunkerque or even the Lowlands and France in 1940.
They were driven more than 800 kilometers from a work camp near Breslau to avoid the Russian advance.
A British Commando, now a ghastly scarecrow, showed us a peace-time picture of himself as fat and healthy. He said:
They drove us with rifle butts, slugging us with them when we stopped or slowed down.
Men died on the road and they were buried where they fell.
We got there last Thursday night and were weak as kittens. The main trouble was our legs – they call it beriberi. But Friday morning they made us go out and work in the railyards.
We couldn’t even lift the shovels, let alone the rails, and when we fell down and couldn’t get up they beat us again with rifles.
One man died last night just before that heavy artillery barrage of yours. Then a German corporal who’s been decent – the only white German I’ve ever met – armed us against his own people.
The men were dirty, ragged, unshaven and most of them complained of dysentery. They said they had not had a good meal for months – the Russians, in some cases, in years.
Most were covered with lice.