Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian, academic, and author, most noted for his books on World War II and his biographies of U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a longtime professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many bestselling volumes of American popular history.
The Führerbunker was an air raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex constructed in two phases in 1936 and 1944. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters (Führerhauptquartiere) used by Adolf Hitler during World War II.
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
The final battles of the European theatre of World War II continued after the definitive surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies, signed by Field marshal Wilhelm Keitel on 8 May 1945 in Karlshorst, Berlin. After German leader Adolf Hitler's suicide and handing over of power to grand admiral Karl Dönitz on the last day of April 1945, Soviet troops conquered Berlin and accepted surrender of the Dönitz-led government. The last battles were fought on the Eastern Front which ended in the total surrender of all of Nazi Germany’s remaining armed forces such as in the Courland Pocket in western Latvia from Army Group Courland in the Baltics surrendering on 10 May 1945 and in Czechoslovakia during the Prague offensive on 11 May 1945.
Cornelius Ryan was an Irish-American journalist and author known mainly for writing popular military history. He was especially known for his histories of World War II events: The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Day (1959), The Last Battle (1966), and A Bridge Too Far (1974).
Walther Wenck was a German officer and industrialist. He was the youngest General of the branch in the German Army and a staff officer during World War II. At the end of the war, he commanded the German Twelfth Army that took part in the Battle of Berlin. Wenck left the military after surrendering to the Allies. He was asked to become Inspector General of the Bundeswehr as West Germany was re-arming in 1957, but declined to take the post when conditions he set were not met, such as the Inspector General being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, not just an administrative leader.
Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky was a Soviet general, military theorist, Marshal of the Soviet Union, and a commander of Red Army forces during World War II. As Georgy Zhukov's chief of staff, Sokolovsky helped plan and execute the Battle of Berlin. He also served as head of the Soviet Forces in East Germany and the Soviet Chief of the General Staff.
Felix Martin Julius Steiner was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he served in the Waffen-SS, the combat branch of the SS, and commanded several SS divisions and corps. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Together with Paul Hausser, he contributed significantly to the development and transformation of the Waffen-SS into a combat force made up of volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and un-occupied lands.
Matvey Isaakovich Blanter was a Soviet composer, and one of the most prominent composers of popular songs and film music in the Soviet Union. Among many other works, he wrote the famous "Katyusha" (1938), performed to this day internationally. He was active as a composer until 1975, producing more than two thousand songs.
Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling was a German general during the Second World War. He was the last commander of the Berlin Defence Area during the Battle of Berlin, led the defence of the city against Soviet forces and finally surrendered just before the end of World War II in Europe.
The 1st Belorussian Front, known without a numeral as the Belorussian Front between October 1943 and February 1944, was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. Alongside the 1st Ukrainian Front, it was the largest and most powerful among all Soviet fronts, as their main effort was to capture Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany.
The 2nd Army was a field army of the German Army during World War II.
Gotthard Fedor August Heinrici was a German general during World War II. Heinrici is considered to have been the premier defensive expert of the Wehrmacht. His final command was Army Group Vistula, formed from the remnants of Army Group A and Army Group Center to defend Berlin from the Soviet armies advancing from the Vistula River.
The Race to Berlin was a competition between Soviet Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev to be the first to enter Berlin during the final months of World War II in Europe.
Yakov Timofeyevich Cherevichenko was a Soviet military leader and colonel general.
This is a timeline of the events that stretched over the period of late World War II, its conclusion, legal aftermath, with the inclusion of the Cold War, from January 1945 to December 1991.
The following events occurred in May 1945:
The Alpine Fortress or Alpine Redoubt was the World War II German national redoubt planned by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in November and December 1943. Plans envisaged Germany's government and armed forces retreating to an area from "southern Bavaria across western Austria to northern Italy". The scheme was never fully endorsed by Hitler, and no serious attempt was made to put it into operation, although the concept served as an effective tool of propaganda and military deception carried out by the Germans in the final stages of the war. After surrendering to the Americans, the Wehrmacht General Kurt Dittmar told them that the redoubt never existed.
The 4th Guards Tank Army was an operational military unit within the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War and in the post–war period.
The 101st Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in December 1944, based on the 1st formation of the 14th Rifle Division, and served briefly in that role during the final campaigns in northern Germany during the Great Patriotic War.
