April 17
Pacific, Philippines
Elements of the US X Corps land on Mindanao.

April 18
Western Front, Germany
All German resistance in the Ruhr industrial area ceases; 370,000 prisoners fall into Allied hands.

Western Front, Holland
The Canadian I Corps, encountering sporadic resistance, has reached Harderwijk, thus isolating German forces in the west of the country.

A US truck races past the corpse of a German soldier
during the Allied drive to liberate Holland

Soviet troops close in on "Fortress Berlin." German
resistance alternated between the fanatical and token

April 20
Western Front, Germany
Nuremberg, the shrine of National Socialism in southern Germany, falls to the US Third Army after a five-day battle. The city had been defended by two German divisions, Luftwaffe and Volkssturm battalions, and ringed by anti-aircraft guns, and the German commander had vowed to Hitler that he and his men would fight to the bitter end.

Eastern Front, Germany
Marshal Georgi Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front has smashed German resistance on the Oder River and is advancing toward Berlin. The Soviet troops have had to overcome three defensive belts, each consisting of two or three layers of troops.

April 22
Eastern Front, Germany
The Soviet high command has ordered Marshals Georgi Zhukov and Ivan Konev to complete the encirclement of German forces in the forests southeast of Berlin by April 24 to prevent them breaking through to the city to increase the strength of its garrison. This move will also close the Red Army ring to the west of Berlin to prevent the escape of enemy units from the capital of the Third Reich. Adolf Hitler, spurning a chance to flee to Bavaria, decides to stay in the city and supervise its defense.

Italy, Argenta Gap
The South African 6th Armored and British 6th Armored Divisions meet at Finale, north of the Reno River. The Germans are in headlong retreat from the Argenta Gap toward the Po River, leaving most of their guns, tanks, and transport behind.

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