Air Operations, CBI

• 32 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack 5 bridges in central Burma.
• 18 10th Air Force P-47s attack troops near Kengkawmanhaung.
• 12 P-47s attack troops and a supply dump at Tonglau.
• 12 P-47s attack troops near Wan Nahpeit.

• 9 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Loyang and Luchou.
• 7 B-25s attack Neihsiang and several rail lines.
• More than 100 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets across southern and eastern China.
• Following weeks in which Japanese Army ground forces have been conducting a deliberate offensive against the Chihchiang area, USAAF air-ground liaison teams are rushed to the threatened region.

• 20 V Bomber Command B-24s attack shipping in Saigon harbor.

Air Operations, East Indies

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Labuan airfield and the Sepinggang airfield on Borneo.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack Tarakan.
• Fleet Air Wing 10 PVs attack various targets on Borneo.

Air Operations, Europe

• 100 Lancasters of No. 3 Group bomb the fuel storage depot at Regensburg accurately. This is the last raid in the current campaign against German oil targets which had been waged since June 1944. Much of Bomber Command's effort during this period, sometimes at considerable loss, had been devoted to these oil operations, which had helped not only the Allied ground forces on the Western Front, but also those fighting in Italy and on the Eastern Front.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

• 76 Mosquitos make 6 separate attacks on Berlin. This is the last RAF raid of the war on Berlin as the Russians are about to enter the city. Mosquito XVI ML929, of No. 109 Squadron, claims the last bombs, 4 500-pounders, at 02.14 British Time. The crew are Flying Officer A. C. Austin, pilot, and Flying Officer P. Moorhead, navigator. All aircraft return safely.

• 36 Mosquitos are sent to Schleissheim airfield, and there are 2 Mosquito patrols and 3 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

• 54 2nd Air Division B-24s attack rail targets at Klatovy.
• A 354th Fighter Group's 353rd Fighter Squadron P-51 pilot downs 2 Bf-109s near Kladno at 1820 hours.

• 755 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack rail targets in the Berlin area.
• 1 B-17 is lost.

• Aircraft from the 9th Air Division's 394th and 397th Medium Bomb Groups undertake what will turn out to be their units' last effective missions of the war.
• 1 medium bomber is lost.
• A P-51 pilot of the 355th Fighter Group's 357th Fighter Squadron downs 2 Bf-109s over a Luftwaffe airfield at 1200 hours.
• A P-47 pilot of the 366th Fighter Group's 390th Fighter Squadron downs 1 FW-190 near Potsdam during the afternoon.

• 12th Air Force B-25s attack four bridges on the Brenner Pass line, two bridges spanning the Reno River, and a German Army headquarters.

• XXII TAC P-47s support the US 5th Army's drive down from the Apennine mountains to the Po River valley.
• During the night, XXII TAC A-20s and A-26s attack crossing points in the Po River valley.

• In attacks aimed at slowing German Army withdrawals from Italy and resupply efforts from Austria, 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s mount more than 700 effective sorties against numerous rail bridges, viaducts, road and rail fills, and marshalling yards on both sides of the Austro-Italian frontier.
• 115 15th Air Force P-38 dive-bombers attack rail lines and marshalling yards throughout Austria.

Air Operations, Formosa

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfield at Tainan.
• V Fighter Command P-51s attack the Koshun airfield.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF aircraft attack numerous targets throughout the Philippines.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing SBDs and F4Us sweep highways and roads on Mindanao.
• 36 1st Marine Aircraft Wing SBDs based at Mindanao's Moret Field attack Japanese Navy infantry positions of Jolo Island’s Mount Daho with bombs, but the Japanese hold firm in the face of a renewed US 8th Army ground offensive.
• The 13th Air Force’s 25th Liaison Squadron, in L-5s, makes its combat debut lifting supplies to Filipino guerrillas on Mindanao.
• In a coordinated two-prong attack supported by FEAF fighter-bombers, US 8th Army ground troops force the main Japanese Army force on Cebu to disperse and withdraw from positions overlooking Cebu City and the Lahug airfield there.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support the US 10th Army on Okinawa and Ie Shima.
• Task Force 57 aircraft attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands before retiring to Leyte to replenish.
• Between 2100 and 2300 hours, Japanese aircraft fly over Okinawa's Yontan Field, but only one drops any bombs. 1 US Marine Corps pilot and 3 anti-aircraft gunners are wounded.

Battle of the Atlantic

U-636 is sunk by the British frigates Drury and Bazely of Escort Group 4.

U-636

Burma

Japanese in the Mount Popa area are trapped by unit from the British 2nd Div and the Indian 268th Bde.

Eastern Front

Battles rage from the Sudeten Mountains to the Gulf of Stettin. In the area between Stettin and Schwedt Konstantin Rokossovsky's forces win a wide salient across the Oder, with its point on the Randow River. Farther south, Zhukov's troops press on north and south of Spremberg; the Russian 33rd Army inflicts heavy losses on the German 9th Army. South of Cottbus the 1st Ukraine Front breaks through the front of the 4th Panzer Army and advances across the Spree toward Berlin takin Calau. The Germans launch desperate counterattacks north and south of Frankfurt-on-the-Oder. Northwest of Frankfurt there is also furious fighting in the Sternebeck and Prötzel areas. In Czechoslovakia the Russians exert incessant pressure on the industrial district of Moravska-Ostrava (Ostrava) and on Brno.

The artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front is shelling Berlin's eastern suburbs. Juterbog, the main Wehrmacht armaments depot, is captured by the 4th Guards Tank Army. The 4th Panzer Army is being broken apart at Cottbus by the 5th Guards Army. The 2nd Belorussian Front (2nd Shock, 49th, 65th and 70th Armies) joins the offensive, its objective being to reach the Baltic and sever the Western Allied drive into Denmark. The defending 3rd Panzer Army is hit by artillery and aerial bombs but still defends stoutly. To date the Red Army has lost 2,800 tanks in the Berlin offensive.[MORE]

Germany, Home Front

Hitler celebrates his 56th Birthday in the bunker at the Reichs Chancellery in Berlin.

Italy

The US 5th Army comes down from the Apennines on to the Lombardy plain; the IV Corps reaches Casalecchio, in the neighborhood of Bologna, and the II Corps takes the region between Casalecchio and Gesso.

In the British 8th Army sector, the X Corps reches the Idice River, and the Polish II Corps and British XIII Corps establish bridgeheads over it. Gen Heinrich von Vietinghoff, Commander of the German Army Group C, order the German forces, the 10th and 14th Armies, to withdraw on to the line of the Po. But his decision is too late, for the Allied armored divisions are already hurling themselves on the German troops all along the line.

Okinawa

There is still savage fighting in front of the Shuri line, especially on the Kakazu Ridge, where the Japanese take heavy toll of the American tanks. The American units manage to make good progress in this sector, but have to withdraw during the night in the face of furious Japanese counterattacks.

The 6th Marine Div completes the mopping up of the Motobu peninsula.

Fighting continues on Ie Shima, where the 77th Div succeeds in surrounding the 'Pinnacle' in the Mount Iegusugu area, while in the south of the island it seizes a height that the Japanese are defending tenaciously, known to the Americans as 'Bloody Ridge'.

Off Okinawa the battleship Colorado (BB-45) is badly damaged by an accidental explosion, and the destroyer Ammen (DD-527) by a Japanese horizontal bomber.

Pacific

Mines laid by USAAF B-29s sink the Japanese cargo vessels Yamamitsu Maru (876t) off Nojima and Sanko Maru (847t) in the same area.

Philippines

On Luzon units of the 37th Division, US I Corps, take the heights northwest of the crossing of the Irisan River. In the XI Corps sector the 145th Infantry, with sustained artillery support, keep up the pressure on Mount Pacawagan. The XIV Corps continues its attacks on Mount Mataasna Bundoc and Mount Macolod, most of which has already been captured.

Bohol Island is cleared of all Japanese.

In the 8th Army area the Americal Division conducts a pursuit of defeated Japanese forces into the northern mountains of Cebu Island. Supported by Filipino guerrillas, the American infantrymen succeed in isolating over 8,500 enemy troops. The Americans have lost over 400 kiled and 1,700 wounded in the fight for Cebu, not including another 8,000 casualties as a result of disease. The Japanese have lost nearly 6,000 men. Cebu City with its excellent harbor is intended to become a staging base for three infantry divisions preparing for the invasion of Japan.

Western Front

In the US 1st Army sector, the VII Corps prepares to attack the city of Dessau, at the confluence of the Mulde and Elbe Rivers. The XX Corps, US 3rd Army, attacks toward the Danube in the area of Regensburg.

Nuremberg falls to the co-ordinated attack of 3 divisions, the 42nd, 3rd and 45th of the XV Corp, US 7th Army. The 'Stars and Stripes' is raised over the rostrum of Nuremburg Stadium, the scene of Nazi Party rallies.

Stuttgart is attacked by the French II Corps, French 1st Army, together with the VI Corps of the American 7th Army. The French I Corps move on toward the Danube in the direction of Sigmaringen.

Images from April 20, 1945

Loading Napalm Bombs

Workers Receiving Food

Wrecked German Aircraft

Recovery Vehicles Prepare To Tow a Sherman

Guarding the Autobahn

Watching for Enemy Movement

3rd Infantry Division in Nuremberg

Oil Tank Explosion at Deggendorf Harbor