Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich was the German state from 1933 to 1945 under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. They transformed the country into a totalitarian dictatorship.
The term "Third Reich," meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire," signified Nazi Germany's claim to be the successor to the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and the German Empire (1871–1918).
The Nazis referred to their regime as the Thousand-Year Reich, though it ended after just 12 years. The final days of Nazi Germany were chaotic and marked by intense conflict as Allied forces converged on Berlin.
On April 30, 1945, as the Battle of Nuremberg and the Battle of Hamburg concluded with American and British occupation and with the Battle of Berlin raging above him, Adolf Hitler faced a dire situation.
The Soviets had surrounded Berlin, and the Americans had cut off his escape route. Realizing that defeat was inevitable and not wishing to meet the same fate as Mussolini, Hitler decided to take his own life.
He committed suicide in his Führerbunker alongside Eva Braun, his long-term partner, whom he had married just 40 hours earlier.
In his will, Hitler dismissed Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, who had attempted to seize control. He appointed Großadmiral Karl Dönitz as President of Germany and Joseph Goebbels as Chancellor.
However, Goebbels also died by suicide the next day, leaving Dönitz as the sole leader of Germany.
By early 1945, the war Germany had started was now consuming the country itself. Unlike in 1918, Germany fought relentlessly to the very end.
Even as defeat became certain, the Germans continued to resist, not surrendering even when Soviet soldiers reached the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
In March, Western Allied forces crossed the Rhine River, capturing countless German troops from Army Group B.
Meanwhile, the Red Army entered Austria, and both fronts quickly advanced towards Berlin. Allied strategic bombing campaigns devastated German cities, sometimes wiping out entire areas in a single night.
In the first few months of 1945, Germany mounted a vigorous defense but quickly lost territory, ran out of supplies, and exhausted all options.
In April, Allied forces broke through German defenses in Italy. On April 25, Soviet and American troops met at the River Elbe near Torgau, Germany, marking a significant milestone.
On April 30, as Russian troops entered Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Joseph Goebbels briefly took over leadership but also took his own life within 24 hours. Other Nazi leaders were either captured by the Allies or on the run as fugitives.
On April 29, 1945, German forces in Italy agreed to surrender. The surrender document, signed after secret negotiations, led to nearly 1,000,000 troops in Italy and Austria surrendering unconditionally on May 2, 1945.
The Battle of Berlin ended on May 2, 1945, when General Helmuth Weidling surrendered the city to the Soviet Army. On the same day, two other German generals surrendered to the Western Allies. Hitler's deputy, Martin Bormann, likely died on this day.
On May 4, 1945, German forces in northwest Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands surrendered to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, involving around 1,000,000 troops.
The following day, U-boats ceased operations, and General Johannes Blaskowitz surrendered in the Netherlands.
On May 5, 1945, General Hermann Foertsch surrendered forces in Bavaria to American General Jacob L. Devers. The Czech resistance began the Prague uprising, and the Soviets launched an offensive the next day, capturing Gauleiter Martin Mutschmann.
On May 6, 1945, Hermann Göring surrendered to U.S. General Carl Spaatz at the Germany-Austria border. General Hermann Niehoff surrendered Breslau to the Soviets after a prolonged siege.
On May 7, 1945, General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at SHAEF headquarters in Reims, France. The next day, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed another surrender document in Berlin, ending the war in Europe.
As Allied forces advanced into Germany in 1945, they began to uncover the horrifying scale of the Holocaust. They discovered numerous Nazi concentration camps and forced labor facilities.
On April 15, 1945, the British 11th Armoured Division liberated Bergen-Belsen, where they found up to 60,000 prisoners. Four days later, American troops from the 42nd Infantry Division liberated Dachau.
Allied soldiers made the remaining SS guards gather the corpses and bury them in mass graves. Despite the liberation, thousands of prisoners continued to die due to their poor physical condition.
Captured SS guards were tried at Allied war crime tribunals, with many sentenced to death. However, up to 10,000 Nazi war criminals escaped Europe through ratlines, evading justice.
On May 8, 1945, the Channel Islanders were informed that the war was over. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the end of hostilities in a radio broadcast.
The war had left Germany in ruins, leading to its occupation by Allied forces and its eventual division into East and West Germany. These events marked the end of the Third Reich and the conclusion of World War II in Europe.
In the distance, smoke rises from destroyed German equipment while American tanks move up in the foreground to support the infantry in the fighting.
The three leaders met to discuss the post-war reorganization of Europe and the future of Germany.
Across the Channel, Britain was under constant bombardment by thousands of V-1 and V-2 bombs launched from German-controlled areas. This photo, taken from a Fleet Street rooftop, shows a V-1 "buzzbomb" plunging toward central London.
The distinctive skyline of London’s law courts clearly identifies the scene. The bomb fell on a side road off Drury Lane, blasting several buildings, including the office of the Daily Herald.
The last enemy action on British soil was a V-1 attack that hit Datchworth in Hertfordshire on March 29, 1945.
With more members of the Volkssturm (Germany’s National Militia) being sent to the front lines, German authorities faced a growing shortage of military equipment and clothing.
In a desperate attempt to address this, street collection depots called Volksopfer, meaning "Sacrifice of the People," were set up across the country. These depots collected uniforms, boots, and equipment from German civilians.
In Berlin, on February 12, 1945, the Volksopfer bore signs saying, “The Fuhrer expects your sacrifice for Army and Home Guard. So that you’re proud your Home Guard man can show himself in uniform – empty your wardrobe and bring its contents to us.”
A team sets out to repair telephone lines on the main road in Kranenburg on February 22, 1945, amid four-foot-deep floods caused by the retreating Germans who had burst dikes. During these floods, British troops went deeper into Germany and had their supplies delivered by amphibious vehicles.
Around 3,600 aircraft dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the German city. The resulting firestorm destroyed 15 square miles of the city center and killed over 22,000 people.
On March 18, 1945, Pfc. Abraham Mirmelstein of Newport News, Virginia, held the Holy Scroll as Capt. Manuel M. Poliakoff and Cpl. Martin Willen, both from Baltimore, Maryland, conducted Jewish services in Schloss Rheydt, the former residence of Nazi propaganda minister Dr. Joseph Goebbels.
These were the first Jewish services held east of the Rur River and were offered in memory of the soldiers of the faith lost by the 29th Division, U.S. 9th Army.
The railroad station and the Hohenzollern Bridge, at right, are completely destroyed after three years of Allied air raids.
Nuremberg, known for hosting massive Nazi Party rallies from 1927 to 1938, was also the birthplace of the Nuremberg Laws, a set of harsh antisemitic regulations enacted by Nazi Germany.
The last rally, scheduled for 1939, was canceled due to the German invasion of Poland one day prior. Allied bombings from 1943 to 1945 destroyed more than 90% of the city center and killed over 6,000 residents.
Nuremberg later gained notoriety as the site of the Nuremberg Trials, military tribunals that prosecuted surviving Nazi leaders for war crimes, including “Crimes Against Humanity,” which encompassed the systematic murder of over 10 million people, including approximately 6 million Jews.
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