Air Operations, Carolines

13 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• 30 10th Air Force P-47s and 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack troops near the central Burma battle areas.

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack Shanghai.
• 10 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 4 14th Air Force P-47s attack bridges near Kaifeng, Taiku, and Wuchang.
• More than 80 fighter-bombers support Chinese Army ground offensives in southern and eastern China.
• 25 V Bomber Command B-25s dispatched against shipping in the Canton River abort in the face of bad weather.

• 2 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the port at Hongay.
• 47 90th and 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack port facilities and an alcohol plant at Saigon.

Air Operations, East Indies

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Miri airfield on Borneo.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack Tarakan Island.
• Fleet Air Wing 10 PVs attack various targets on Borneo.
• A 347th Fighter Group P-38 downs a D4Y 'Judy' dive bomber near the Kuching airfield on Borneo at 1300 hours.

Air Operations, Europe

• Bomber Command Lancasters now start flying to Brussels, and later to other airfields, to collect British prisoners of war recently liberated from their camps. 469 flights are made by aircraft of Nos. 1, 5, 6 and 8 Groups before the war ends and approximately 75,000 men are brought back to England by the fastest possible means, unlike the end of the First World War when some British ex-prisoners were still not home by Christmas, although the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. There are no accidents during that part of Operation EXODUS which is carried out before the war ends.

• 31 Mosquitos are sent to Husum, 28 each to Eggebek and Grossenbrode and 12 to Neumünster, all airfields in Schleswig-Holstein, and 12 Mosquitos to Kiel, and there are 4 Mosquito Intruders on patrols.
• There are no losses.

• 9th and 1st Tactical Air Force fighter pilots down 22 Luftwaffe aircraft over Austria and Germany between 0700 and 1945 hours.

• 125 9th Air Division A-26s attack the Plattling Airdrome.

• 15th Air Force B-24s, diverted by bad weather from their intended targets in northern Italy, are able to attack marshalling yards at four locations in southern Austria.

• In the final air-to-air engagement of World War II undertaken by 15th Air Force fighter pilots, 3 332nd Fighter Group P-51 pilots down 4 Bf-109s about 1205 hours.

• Although nearly 320 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s abort due to bad weather on their way to targets in northern Italy, at lease one formation of B-24s is able to attack a motor-transport depot at Tarvisio.

Air Operations, Formosa

• Weathered out of their primary target, V Bomber Command B-24s attack several small towns.
• 18 38th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack a sugar refinery at Heito.
• V Fighter Command P-38s attack targets of opportunity.
• A 49th Fighter Group P-38 downs an H8K 'Emily' flying boat over Formosa at 1250 hours.
• During the night 38th Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the Tansui seaplane base.

Air Operations, Japan

195 XXI Bomber Command B-29s attack airfields at 10 locations on Kyushu and Shikoku. 41 B-29s attack various targets of opportunity.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing F4Us attack targets across Cebu.
• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers support US 6th Army ground forces on Luzon.
• 1st Marine Aircraft Wing PBJs, SBDs, and F4Us support the US X Corps on Mindanao.
• US 8th Army ground troops capture the Dumaguete airfield on Negros.
• On Luzon, US 6th Army ground forces capture Baguio following precision ground-support strikes against two commanding hills by V Fighter Command fighter-bombers.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support the US 10th Army on Okinawa.
• Task Unit 52.1.3 TBMs and F6Fs attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.

Burma

In the British IV Corps sector, the 17th Indian Div reaches Dai-ku, on the road to Rangoon.

Eastern Front

The armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front break through the German defenses west of the Oder and capture Stettin.

In Berlin, savage house-to-house fighting continues. Units of the 1st Belorussian Front advance northeast of the capital, while other units continue the liquidation of the Guben-Frankfurt Group.

The 1st Ukraine Front, also engaged in Berlin, captures Torgau and Strehla, on the west bank of the Elbe. In Breslau there is still very severe fighting, and the Russians make progress in the western part of the city. In Czechoslovakia the 2nd Ukraine Front takes Brno and the 4th Ukraine Front puts pressure on Moravska-Ostrava.

In East Prussia, the 3rd Belorussian Front begins the liquidation of the German forces that have taken refuge in the tongue of land running west from Pillau.

The Moabitt and Neukölln districts of Berlin fall to the Red Army, as does Tempelhof airfield. Stettin is captured by the 65th Army, and the 13th Army continues to inflict heavy casualties on the German 12th Army.[MORE]

France, Politics

Marshal Pètain is arrested when he crosses into France from Switzerland. He will be tried and condemned to death for treason and collaboration. De Gaulle will commute the sentence to life imprisonment.

Germany, Command

Göring is dismissed for proposing a separate peace 'deal' with the Western Powers. Gen Robert R. von Greim is appointed the last C-in-C of the Luftwaffe.

Italy

The IV and II Corps of the US 5th Army reach and cross the Adige in the area of Verona and Legnano. 5th Army units are now heading north from Verona toward the Brenner Pass and west toward Milan. The XIII Corps, British 8th Army, also crosses the Aidage west of Badia and is moving northeast toward Venice and Trieste.

Italian partisans seize control of Genoa and fighting breaks out around Milan.

Pacific

• The US destroyer Hutchins (DD-476) is damaged by a depth charge in the Okinawa area.
• The British submarines Solent and Sleuth sink the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper WA-3 in the Java Sea west of Kalambau Island.
• Mines sink the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Mejima Maru off Futaoi Light and the merchant cargo ship Sanko Maru (847t) in Chochiku Channel.

Philippines

On Luzon in the US I Corps sector the 129th Inf of the 37th Div takes Mount Mirador, near Baguio.

On Mindanao the 24th Div advances slowly on Digos.

On Negros a regimental combat group from the Americal Div lands on the southeast coast of East Negros, meeting with no resistance, and occupies the town of Dumaguete and the near-by airfield. Some units advance inland as far as San Antonio and the Ocoy River, where the Japanese offer the first resistance.

Western Front

The XXX Corps, British 2nd Army, completes the capture of Bremen, while the XII Corps is deployed along the west bank of the Elbe opposite Hamburg. Units of the XII Corps, US 3rd Army, penetrate into Austria in the vicinity of Lackenhausen. The XX(?) Corps crosses the Danube southwest of Regensburg and the XX(?) Corps in the neighborhood of Ingolstadt, after taking the city. Farther south, the US 7th Army, having crossed the Danube at several points and established strong bridgeheads on the south bank, pushes on with the XXI Corps in the direction of Augsburg and with the III Corps toward Memming. The French 1st Army, reaching the frontier area between Basel and Lake Constance, completes the encirclement of the Black Forest.

Images from April 26, 1945

Advancing in Bremen

Anti-aircraft Guns in Action in Bremen

German Prisoners Are Marched into Captivity

Helping To Clean a Half-track

Signing the Visitors' Book of Birkenhead

Soviet Equivalent of a Tommy Gun

Fighting in Berlin?

Canadian Artillery on the Ems River