Air Operations, CBI

• 1 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 attack Bakli Bay, Hainan.
• 5 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Loyang.
• 30 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack bridges, rail and road targets, barracks, and other targets across southern and eastern China.
• 14th Air Force C-47s open Operation ROOSTER, the movement by air of a Chinese Army infantry division to the threatened Chihchiang area. [See April 8, 1945.] This effort will prove decisive in halting the Japanese well short of their goal and in ultimately forcing the Japanese to abandon the offensive on May 11.

Air Operations, East Indies

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack coastal targets of opportunity on Celebes, and the Borneo airfields at Kudat, Manggar, Miri, and Sepinggang.
• Fleet Air Wing 10 PVs attack various targets on Borneo.
• XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack the Sandakan airfield on Borneo, Sandakan, Tarakan, and fuel stores near Lutong.

Air Operations, Europe

• 107 Mosquitos are sent to Kiel.
• 2 Mosquitos are lost.

• 16 Mosquitos are sent to Eggebek airfield near Flensburg, 20 Lancasters of No. 6 Group lay mines in the Kattegat, and there are 16 Mosquito patrols and 3 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Japan

• 217 XXI Bomber Command B-29s attack the following airfields: Izumi on Honshu, and Kanoya, Kokubu, Kushira, Nittagahara, Oita, and Usa all on Kyushu.
• 21 B-29s attack the city of Kagoshima and other targets of opportunity.

Air Operations, Philippines

• 5th and 13th air force bombers and fighter-bombers attack numerous targets on Cebu, Jolo, Luzon, and Negros.
• 1st Marine Aircraft Wing SBDs and F4Us sweep highways and roads ahead of the US X Corps advance on Mindanao.
• In preparation for a renewed US 8th Army ground assault against Japanese Navy infantry positions on Jolo Island’s Mount Daho, 70 1st Marine Aircraft Wing SBDs based at Mindanao's Moret Field attack the defensive zone with 15 tons of bombs.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy and Marne Corps aircraft support the US 10th Army on Okinawa and Ie Shima.
• Task Unit 52.1.3 TBMs and F6Fs attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.
• A VF-12 F6F downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber near Task Force 58 at 0103 hours.
• A VF-12 F6F downs a G4M 'Betty' bomber near Task Force 58 at 0140 hours.
• A VF-82 F6F downs a C6N 'Myrt' reconnaissance plane 40 miles from Task Force 58 at 1530 hours.
• A VF-84 F4U downs a Ki-67 'Peggy' bomber over Task Force 58 at midnight.

Burma

In the British XXXIII Corps sector, the 7th Indian Div surrounds Yenangyaung, where a strong Japanese rearguard gets ready to put up a determined resistance in order to cover the withdrawal of the main body of the Japanese forces in the sector toward Allanmyo. Yedashe is taken by 5th Indian Div, while in the rear the airfields around Pyinmana are being cleared to be put into Allied service. The 5th Indian Div advances rapidly to the south toward Toungoo, while the 17th is mopping up the Pyinmana area.

China

The Japanese continue their advance on Chihchiang, and are engaged by the Chinese in the Keosha-Tungkow area. The Chinese High Command orders the 22nd Div to be air-lifted to Chihchiang, and the 14th Div is sent there in trucks provided by the US 475th Inf Regt.

Diplomatic Relations

A 20-year mutual assistance treaty is concluded between the Soviets and the Lublin Polish Government. This a further indication that Stalin will not be scrupulous about his Yalta promises to arrange free elections and political processes in Eastern Europe.

Eastern Front

With a third of the enemy's prepared lines of resistance now broken, the 1st Belorussian Front advances rapidly north and south of Spremberg toward Berlin, where Russian armored advanced units, namely the 8th Guards Army under Gen Vasily Chuikov, have already reached the extreme eastern suburbs. Northwest of Görlitz, the 4th Panzer Army, already cut in two, puts up a strenuous resistance to the armies of the 1st Ukraine Front. In the north, between Stettin and Schwedt, the Vistula Army Group holds the 2nd Belorussian Front on the Randow River. In the south the Russian advance goes on northwest of Moravska-Ostrava (Ostrava), in Czechoslovakia, and south of St Pölten in Austria.

The noose tightens around Berlin: the Soviet 3rd Shock Army is fighting in the northeastern suburbs, the 5th Shock is entering the eastern suburbs, the 1st Polish and 61st Armies are fighting near Eberswalde, and the 2nd Guards Tank and 47th Armies are across the main autobahn north of the city. To the south the 3rd Guards Army captures Zossen, cutting off a force of 200,000 troops of the 9th and half of the 4th Panzer Army from Berlin. This formation is then attacked by the Soviet 28th, 33rd and 69th Armies.[MORE]

Italy

Units of the US 5th Army advance toward Bologna, which they enter a few hours after its capture by the Polish II Corps, British 8th Army. The Italian Legnano and Friuli Combat Groups also enter Bologna. Gen Mark Clark issues an Order of the Day: '[We] now stand inside the gateway to the Po Plain, poised to destroy the Germans who continue to enslave and exploit northern Italy.'

Okinawa

Fierce fighting still rages between the US XXIV Corps and the experienced Japanese forces defending the Shuri line, in the south of the island. On Ie Shima, the US 77th Div takes the 'Pinnacle' and defends Bloody Ridge against a last Japanese counterattack. After that, all organized Japanese resistance ceases, and mopping up begins. The savage battle for the capture of the island has lasted 6 days and cost the Americans the loss of about 1,000 men, killed, wounded and missing. The Japanese have lost 4,706 killed and 149 captured.

Philippines

On Luzon in the US I Corps sector, the 37th Div takes the Irisan River crossing and goes over the river on a pontoon bridge to advance toward Baguio. Units of the 25th Div finally succeed in capturing the town of Kapintalan, and units of the 27th Div take some heights in the Mount Myoko area. In the XIV Corps sector, the 11th Airborne Div completes the capture of Mount Macolod, wiping out the last pocket of Japanese resistance. Filipino guerrilla units are given the task of garrisoning the region.

Units of the US X Corps occupy Fort Pikit in Mindanao Island, the Japanese having evacuated it. Operations go ahead also on Negros and other small islands.

Western Front

The VII Corps of the US 1st Army begins the offensive against Dessau, sending in the 3rd Div after and intensive air bombardment.

(when?)Field Marshal Walther Model commits suicide.

The XV Corps, US 7th Army, advance toward Munich, while the XXI Corps heads for the Danube. The 100th Div, VI Corps, captures the bridges over the Rems River and draws near to Stuttgart.

The 5th Arm Div of the French II Corps, 1st Army, penetrates into Stuttgart from the south and quickly occupies the whole city.

Images from April 21, 1945

A crowd of Italians in a square in Bologna, Italy, 21 April 1945

Italians in a Square in Bologna

Major-Gen Keyes approaching Bologna, Italy; road sign with distances to Bologna, Bazzano and Vignola in background, 21 April 45

Major-Gen Keyes Approaching Bologna

US soldiers liberate Bologna, 21 April 1945

US soldiers liberate Bologna

C-47s of the 9th Troop Carrier Command await patients to be transferred from ambulances, 21 April 1945

C-47s Awaiting Patients

Russians in the outskirts of Berlin, 21 April 1945

Russians in the Outskirts of Berlin

British soldiers supervise the distribution of food to former inmates of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, April 21, 1945

Food Distribution to Former Inmates of Bergen-Belsen

In constant danger from falling walls, infantry from the 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Division move through smoke filled Crailsheim, Germany, April 21, 1945

Moving Throught Smoke Filled Crailsheim

The residents of Neunberg being ordered to exhume and properly bury the bodies from a nearby work camp by the US Third Army, 21 April 1945

Exhuming Bodies for Proper Burial