Air Operations, Carolines

• Following the sighting of an H8K 'Emily' flying boat in Truk Lagoon on April 27, 12 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Truk in the morning.
• 12 B-24s attack Truk in the afternoon.
• 20 318th Fighter Group P-47s strafe airfields and small vessels in the Truk Atoll.
• 2 VMF-121 F4Us down a C6N 'Myrt' reconnaissance plande over the Ulithi Atoll at 1120 hours.

Air Operations, CBI

• 22 10th Air Force P-47s attack troops, artillery positions, motor vehicles, pack elephants, and other targets behind the Japanese Army battle lines in central Burma.
• 8 459th Fighter Squadron P-38s attack a Japanese cavalry regiment near Namhok.
• 6 P-38s attack a bivouac.

• 1 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24 attacks a freighter in the South China Sea.
• 10 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the airfield at Paoching, rail yards at Shaho, and bridges near Kaifeng and Showyang.
• Nearly 80 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack troops, defensive positions, and transportation targets in the Fantung area and across southern and eastern China.

• 15 V Bomber Command B-25s attack shipping in the Saigon port area. 4 merchant ships are claimed as sunk, but 3 B-25s are lost and 5 are damaged by heavy ground fire.

Air Operations, East Indies

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack Kuching and 3 airfields on Celebes.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 10 18th Fighter Group P-38s attack Tarakan Island and the Sarawak area.
• Fleet Air Wing 10 PVs attack various targets on Borneo.

Air Operations, Formosa

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack Toshein and several secondary targets.
• 18 B-25s attack an alcohol plant and the town area at Koshun.

Air Operations, Japan

• 119 XXI Bomber Command B-29s attack the Izumi airfield on Honshu, and the Kanoya, Kokubu and Miyakonojo airfields on Kyushu.
• 4 B-29s attack other targets.
• 5 B-29s are lost.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack targets and support US 6th Army ground forces throughout Luzon.
• 1st Marine Aircraft Wing PBJs, SBDs, and F4Us support the US X Corps on Mindanao.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

• US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support the US 10th Army on Okinawa.
• Task Unit 52.1.3 and Task Unit 52.1.1 TBMs and F6Fs attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands.
• An estimated 165 Japanese aircraft, including 59 kamikazes, based on Kyushu mount an effort against Allied ships in the Okinawa area. Most of the kamikazes expend themselves in 10 separate and fruitless afternoon attacks, but 1 US destroyer is badly damaged by a kamikaze, another is damaged by a bomb dropped by a D3A 'Val' dive bomber, and a third destroyer and an infantry landing craft sustain minor damage from kamikaze hits.
• VF-84 F4Us down a Ki-67 'Peggy' bomber and a Ki-61 'Tony' bomber over Kikai Shima between 0500 and 0515 hours.
• US Navy carrier-based F6Fs, F4Us, and FMs down 13 Ki-27 'Nate' fighters, 4 Ki-84 'Frank' fighters, 1 Ki-44 'Tojo' fighter, 3 A6M Zeros, and 9 D3A 'Val; dive bombers over the Ryukyus between 1600 and 1830 hours.
• US Marine Corps F4Us down 22 D3A 'Val' dive bombers, 1 Ki-36 'Ida' fighter, 1 B5N 'Kate' torpedo bomber, 18 A6M Zeros, and 8 Ki-21 'Sally' bombers between Kyushu and Okinawa in continuous engagements between 1600 and 1905 hours.
• During the night Japanese aircraft drop 18 bombs on Okinawa's Kadena Field and intermittantly strafe the Kadena and Yontan airfields between midnight and 0400 hours.

Burma

The British XV Corps completes the recapture of the Arakan area, occupying Taungup. In the British XXXIII Corps sector the 20th Indian Division captures Allanmyo on the way to Prome.

Eastern Front

In Berlin, Zhukov's forces advance to the Spree River in the Moabit district, while Konev's, coming from the south, reach the Unter den Lindin and the Tiergarten. Between these 2 armies are the Reichstag and the Chancellery Bunker, where Hitler lives in an imaginary world, refusing to face reality. Gen Gotthard Heinrici, commander of the Vistula Army Group, or what is left of it, is dismissed for not having followed the 'scorched earth' policy in front of the Russians. He is replaced by the Luftwaffe general Kurt Student; in the interim command is taken over by Gen Kurt von Tippelskirch. The 2nd Belorussian Front advances into Pomerania, west of Prenzlau.

In the south, the Russians occupy Ingolstadt and Regensburg. Meanwhile, the 1st Ukraine Front attacks the salient taken by the German 17th Army in the course of counterattacks north of Bautzen.

Soviet troops are not just 1 mile from Hitler's bunker below the Chancellery. By evening the Soviets are across the Potsdammer Bridge and are fighting in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.[MORE]

Germany, Home Front

200 pro-Allied German troops stage an attempted coup in Munich under Maj Braun and seize the radio station. They then try to seize Gauleiter Paul Geisler, but his SS bodyguard stamp out the uprising.

Italy

The American 92nd Div, 5th Army, reaches Alessandria. Brescia and Bergamo are also taken by 5th Army uinits. The 1st Arm Div, US IV Corps, reaches Lake Como near the Swiss border, while Vicenza is liberated by the II Corps.

Units of the XIII and V Corps, British 8th Army, advance toward Padua and Venice.

As the Allied forces press closer to the area, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara(Claretta) Petacci, went first to Milan where fruitless discussions take place on a surrender, then for the Swiss border. Mussolini, his mistress and other Fascist leaders are caught by partisans near Lake Como as they attempt to escape to Switzerland. They are executed by the Communist Partisan leader 'Col Valerio' (Walter Audisio) at Giulino Di Mezzenegra, near Dongo, on Lake Como, and their bodies are mutilated and hung up by the heels in the main square at Milan.

Occupied Holland

The first meeting between Allied and German representatives take splace in western Holland. The Reichscommissar for the Netherlands, Artur von Seyss-Inquart, has offered the Allies the freedom to import food and coal into German-occupied western Holland to alleviate the plight of the civilian population if they will halt their forces to the east. This leads to a cessation of hostilities and saves the country from the ravages of further fighting.

Okinawa

The American destroyers Wadsworth (DD-516), Daly (DD-519), Twiggs (DD-591) and Bennion (DD-662), the high-speed minesweeper Butler (DMS-29) and the hospital ship Comfort (AH-6) are seriously damaged by Japanese suicide bombers off Okinawa. The destroyer Lang (DD-399) is damaged in a collision.

In the south of the island severe fighting continues along the Shuri line, notably on the Maeda Escarpment, in the area of the Kochi Ridge and in the village of Kuhaze.

Pacific

The Japanese lose three ships off Honshu, Japan: the submarine chaser No. 17 sunk by the US submarine Springer (SS-414); the repair ship Hatsushima sunk by the US submarine Sennet (SS-408); and the transport No. 146 sunk by the US submarine Trepang (SS-412).

Philippines

On Luzon in the US I Corps sector, the 37th and 33rd Divs advance north of Baguio. In the XIV Corps sector all organized resistance of the Japanese in the Bicol peninsula ceases.

On Mindanao, units of the 24th Inf Div take Digos, cutting the island in two. The 19th Inf attack toward Davao. On Negros Japanese resistance is virtually at an end.

Western Front

The VIII Corps, British 2nd Army, and the XVIII Airborne Corps, US 1st Army, preparte to cross the Elbe in the Lünenburg and Bleckede sectors.

Farther south, units of the XIX Corps, US 9th Army, occupy Zerbst, on the east bank of the Elbe.

Units of the XV and XXI Corps, US 7th Army, approach Munich. The US 7th Army takes Augsburg in its advance south toward Austria.

Images from April 28, 1945

Pictures taken on April 28, 1945 to document the Holocaust survivors arriving to Malmö, Sweden from many different countries

Holocaust Survivors Arriving in Malmö, Sweden

British Eighth Army traffic crossing the first pontoon Bailey bridge, constructed by the Royal Engineers, over the River Po. In the foreground men of the Royal Artillery are constructing a searchlight to facilitate night time use of the bridge, 28 April 1945

Pontoon Bailey Bridge Over the River Po

Kolonel Abram M. Temnik , commander of 1st Guards Tank Brigade / 8th GMK / 1st GPA April 1945 Berlin . Temnik was on 28 April 1945 near the Potsdamer Platz by a mortar attack seriously injured and died a day later. Temnik was buried in Tiergarten

Kolonel Abram M. Temnik

Heilbronn in a panorama, April 1945. It was one of the three or four most devastated cities in all Europe

Heilbronn in a Panorama

Soviet soldier carrying his Degtyaryov DP-28 light machine gun during the final days of the Battle of Berlin. Berlin, Germany. April 1945

Soviet Soldier with His Light Machine Gun

German 148th Infantry Division’s surrender to Brazilian soldiers on April 28, 1945 near the city of Fornovo. By that time it was commanded by General Otto Fretter-Pico and had some 9,000 soldiers. Despite strong manpower and the fact that it had more than 100 mortars and cannons, the division was very low on ammunition and supplies.

German 148th Infantry Division’s Surrender to Brazilians

Werner Wolff, member of the Italian partisan group that was responsible for shooting Benito Mussolini, April 28, 1945

Werner Wolff, Member of an Italian Partisan Group

A Soviet soldier runs past a burning building in Berlin.

A Soviet Soldier Runs Past a Burning Building in Berlin