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• USS Cod had a fire in the aft torpedo room, but it was extinguished before causing serious damage; one sailor was lost, drowning after being washed overboard. ww2dbase [Cod | CPC]
• 20,000 German troops at Pillau, East Prussia, Germany (now Baltiysk, Russia) surrendered after two weeks of heavy fighting. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | CPC]
• The garrison at Bremen, Germany surrendered to British and Canadian forces. ww2dbase [TH]
• US Third Army captured Regensburg, Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• German 9.Armee was cut off in the Halbe pocket in eastern Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front captured Brno, Czechoslovakia. ww2dbase [TH]
• Soviet forces captured Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland). ww2dbase [TH]
• Japan attempted to negotiate with the Soviet Union to maintain friendly status. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Petain was arrested at the Swiss border. ww2dbase [Philippe Pétain | CPC]
• USS Macabi arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. ww2dbase [Macabi | CPC]
• The Ohka Model 43 variant design efforts completed. ww2dbase [MXY7 Ohka | CPC]

• Indian 17th Division reached Daiku, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Rangoon | Daiku | CPC]

• Patrol Boat No. 102, destroyer Asagao, escort vessel Sakito, escort vessel Yashiro, escort vessel Uku, escort vessel Type D No. 26, escort vessel Type C No. 41, minesweeper W-29, and submarine chaser No. 20 departed Sijiao Island, Zhoushan Archipelago, Zhejiang Province, China at 0800 hours to escort convoy SHIMO-03 consisted of Kashima Maru, Banshu Maru, Abukumagawa Maru, Shinton Maru, Taikyu Maru, and Nanryu Maru No. 9. ww2dbase [Stewart | Zhoushan, Zhejiang | CPC]

• At Adolf Hitler's bunker in Berlin, Germany, Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim was promoted to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall and was named by Hitler as Hermann Göring's replacement. ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | Berlin | TH, CPC]
• General Walther Wenck's German 12.Armee started to move in an attempt to relieve Berlin, Germany, but this attempt was repulsed by Soviet forces. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | Berlin | TH]
• Oberstleutnant Heinz Bär was appointed to command Luftwaffe jet fighter unit JV 44 in place of the wounded Adolf Galland. ww2dbase [AC]
• Hanna Reitsch attempted to convince Magda Goebbels at the Führerbunker in Berlin, Germany to let her take the Goebbels children to safety, but Goebbels refused to yield. In the evening, Adolf Hitler gave Reitsch a vial of poison before sending her on a mission out of Berlin, in case of her capture by the Soviets. ww2dbase [Hanna Reitsch | Berlin | CPC]
• Shortly after Adolf Galland (Jagdverband 44) attacked and shot down US B-26 bombers, his Me 262 jet fighter was shot down by Lieutenant James Finnegan's P-47D Thunderbolt fighter (US 50th Fighter Group). Galland crash landed safely at München-Riem Airfield in southern Germany, though sustaining wounds. ww2dbase [Adolf Galland | München, München-Oberbayern | AC, CPC]
• German pilot Eduard Schallmoser's Me 262 jet fighter was shot down by an American fighter. Amazingly, he parachuted into his mother's garden, who told him to clean up while she cooked him dinner. Schallmoser would return to base on the next day. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Captain Robert Clark, flying in a P-47 fighter, shot down a German Me 262 fighter of Jagdverband 44. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Captain Herbert Philo, flying a P-47 fighter, shot down a German Me 262 fighter. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Obergruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, Eva Braun's Brother-in-law, deserted his station in the Chancellery bunkers in Berlin, Germany but was found hiding at his home in the Charlottenburg district by SS-Obersturmbannführer Peter Högl and arrested. After interrogation by the Gestapo in which he reveals Heinrich Himmler's treachery he was taken out into the Chancellery gardens and shot. ww2dbase [Berlin | AC]
• Over 10,000 prisoners of the Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany began to be sent out of the camp. Most of them, just under 7,000 in number, were forced to march on foot southwards. The remainder were evacuate by vehicles or trains. At least 1,071 of those sent out on foot would not survive the evacuation. ww2dbase [Dachau Concentration Camp | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
• While beached on the shore of Heikendorfer Bucht near Kiel, Germany, Emden was decommissioned from service. ww2dbase [Emden | Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]
• U-4714 was launched by Germaniawerft in Kiel, Germany; it was the last submarine launched by the shipyard. ww2dbase [U-4714 | Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft | Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group 31 departed. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• US Fifth Army captured Verona, Italy while Italian partisans took over Genoa and started an uprising in Milan. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | TH]
• Brazilian scouts detected German troops near Collecchio, Italy; Brazilian infantry supported by US tanks attacked at 1930 hours. ww2dbase [Battles of Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro | Collechio, Emilia-Romagna | CPC]

• In Japan, 464 American B-29 bombers attacked the urban areas of Tokyo, Japan south of the Imperial Palace. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | Imperial Palace Complex | Tokyo | CPC]
• One US B-29 Superfortress bomber attacked Nagasaki, Japan at 1100 hours, having arrived undetected. The main targets were Dejima Wharf, Ohato Pier, and the rail station complex. About 30 people were killed or wounded aboard municipal ferries Tsuru Maru and Mizunoura Maru at Ohato Pier, while the bomb that fell near Platform No. 2 at the rail station killed about 90 people, wounded about 170 people, and severely damaged three passenger cars. The bomb that fell on Dejima Wharf failed to explode. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | Nagasaki | CPC]

• USS Franklin arrived at New York, New York, United States. ww2dbase [Franklin | New York | CPC]
• USS Whale completed her repairs and overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Whale | Vallejo, California | CPC]

• USS Tirante arrived at Midway, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Tirante | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]
• USS Hackleback arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Hackleback | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

26 Apr 1945 Interactive Map