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• Finland reported all German troops were now out of its boundaries, which was 10 days later than the Soviet demand. ww2dbase [TH]
• US Third Army crossed the Danube River in southern Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• British bombers attacked Berchtesgaden, Germany. The US 8th Air Force conducted its last heavy bomber raid on Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | TH]
• USS Cod sank Japanese minesweeper W-41. ww2dbase [Cod | CPC]
• Benito Mussolini fled to Como, Italy. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | CPC]
• US Army Colonel George Lynch addressed German civilians at Gardelegen, Saxony, Germany regarding the massacre of 1,016 political and military prisoners that took place nearby on 13 Apr 1945. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USAAF B-24 bombers attacked Japanese shipping at Saigon, Indochina, sinking one transport. ww2dbase [Saigon, Cochinchine | CPC]

• When units of Soviet 1st Byelorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts met near Kietzen, completing the encirclement of Berlin, Germany. German III.SS-Panzer Korps attempted to break this newly formed encirclement in failure. About 70 kilometers to the south, American and Soviet troops met at Torgau. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | Berlin | TH]
• Robert von Greim arrived at Gatow, Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | Berlin | CPC]
• 1st Lieutenant William B. Hoelscher, flying a flak-damaged P-51D fighter, pursued and claimed to have shot down the Me 262 jet fighter flown by Leutnant Sepp Huber at 0800 hours; the victory would not be credited. Unable to fly his damaged fighter home, Hoelscher crash landed in occupied Czechoslovakia and was assisted by locals until he made contact with personnel of US 14th Armored Division at Pilsen on 7 May 1945. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Adolf Galland announced to the pilots of German Jagdverband 44 at München (Munich), Germany that the war was effectively lost, and he would only accept volunteers to continue fighting from now on. All of his men stepped forward as volunteers. ww2dbase [Adolf Galland | München, München-Oberbayern | CPC]

• US 34th Infantry Division occupied Parma, Italy, which had recently been liberated by Italian partisan fighters. ww2dbase [Battles of Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro | Parma, Emilia-Romagna | CPC]
• British V Corps crossed the Po River in northern Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | CPC]
• Many Italian motor torpedo boats were destroyed to prevent Allied capture. ww2dbase [CPC]

• At 0900 hours, officers of Japanese Submarine Squadron 1 (Nobukiyo Nambu, Toshio Kusaka, Tsuruzo Shimizu, and Katsuo Ohashi) and 631st Naval Air Group (Lieutenant Commander Masayoshi Fukunaga, Atsugi Asamura, and Kazuo Takahashi) met to discuss plans for an attack on the Panama Canal. They were joined by officers from the Naval General Staff from Tokyo, Japan (Commander Shojiro Iura and Commander Yasuo Fujimori). ww2dbase [Nobukiyo Nambu | CPC]

• USS Spot shelled Japanese facilities on Soheugsan island, Korea in the Yellow Sea, destroying or damaging a radio station, oil storage facilities, and barracks. ww2dbase [Spot | Soheugsan-do | CPC]

• Shalva Loladze was killed in combat on Texel, the Netherlands. ww2dbase [Shalva Loladze | Texel, Noord-Holland | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Shaw departed San Pedro Bay, Leyte bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Shaw | San Pedro Bay, Leyte | DS]

• Graf Zeppelin was scuttled with demolition charges at Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland) at 1800 hours to prevent Soviet capture. ww2dbase [Graf Zeppelin | Szczecin | CPC]

• Allied convoy JW-66 arrived at the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Murmansk | CPC]

• Representatives from 46 nations met in San Francisco, California, United States for the United Nations Conference on International Organization. ww2dbase [San Francisco, California | CPC]
• USS Kimberly arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Kimberly | Vallejo, California | CPC]
• USS R-14 departed Key West, Florida, United States. ww2dbase [R-14 | Key West, Florida | CPC]
• HRH Prince Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and his party came aboard the tanker Tamalpais and sat for lunch during a tour of the Marinship yard. ww2dbase [Marinship Shipbuilding | Tamalpais | Sausalito, California | DS]

25 Apr 1945 Interactive Map