The Hohenzollern Bridge over the Rhine River near
Cologne, demolished by retreating
German forces in April 1945

April 11
Western Front, Germany
The US Ninth Army arrives at the Elbe River near Magdeburg. An increasing number of German towns are surrendering without a fight, while Hitler's armies fighting in western Germany are disintegrating.

April 12
Politics, United States
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral haemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia. Vice President Harry S. Truman takes over the position of president, and one of his first decisions is to cancel a plan to launch old, pilotless aircraft packed with explosives against industrial targets in Germany following Prime Minister Winston Churchill's concern that it may provoke retaliation against London.

April 13
Eastern Front, Austria
The Red Army liberates Vienna.

April 14
Politics, Allies
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Armies in the West, informs the Combined Chiefs-of-Staff that the Allied thrust against Berlin takes second place to the securing of the northern (Norway and Denmark) and southern (south Germany and Austria) Allied flanks. The British chiefs-of-staff are dissatisfied, but acknowledge Eisenhower's reasoning, and approve his plans on the 18th.

Italy, Argenta Gap
The offensive by the US Fifth Army in northern Italy begins. Preceded by a bombardment by 500 ground-attack aircraft, the US 1st Armored, US 10th Mountain, and Brazilian 1st Divisions attack between Vergato and Montese, and make good progress.

April 16
Eastern Front, Germany
The Soviet offensive to capture Berlin commences. The Soviet plan has three parts: a breakthrough on the Oder and Neisse Rivers; the fragmentation and isolation of German units in and around Berlin; and the annihilation of said units, capture of the city, and an advance to the Elbe River.

The Red Army forces involved are the 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts, the Long Range Force, the Dniepr Flotilla, and two Polish armies - a total of 2.5 million men, 41,600 guns and mortars, 6250 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 7500 combat aircraft. German forces consist of the Third Panzer and Ninth Armies of Army Group Vistula; the Fourth Panzer and Seventeenth Armies of Army Group Center; a host of Volkssturm ('home guard'), security and police detachments in Berlin itself; and a reserve of eight divisions - a total of one million men, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1500 tanks or assault guns, and 3300 combat aircraft.

Italy, Argenta Gap
The 78th and 56th Divisions of the British Eighth Army overcome the Fossa Marina, a canal running northeast from Argenta into Lake Comacchio, with a combination of land and amphibious assaults. The German line has been fractured, and the Allies are through the Argenta Gap.

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