After receiving Li Junhao's report, Roosevelt and the Joint Chiefs of Staff attached great importance to it. While they began to study the world situation after the European War, they notified General Marshall in Europe and asked him to prepare for the end of the European War.
Marshall was a little in disbelief after receiving the report, but after thinking of Panson's miraculous performance before, he finally chose to believe it and immediately asked his staff to start formulating a plan to end the battle and surrender.
The staff couldn't believe it, but then they heard that this was the judgment of the magical land and sea commander, Admiral Panson. No one dared to say it was impossible, so they could only get busy immediately...
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On April 21, on Ryukyu Island, the 7th Division of the US Army occupied the northern half of the island and Ie Island. The battle to seize the island was considered half a success! The southern part of the island, which was the focus of the Japanese defense, was densely covered with hills and natural caves. Coupled with various complex tunnel fortifications, the U.S. military's progress was extremely difficult. The heavy casualty figures made the two commanders afraid to read the frontline reports, but the battle continued. When it comes to this, you have to grit your teeth and persevere!
Admiral Spruance, commander of the 5th Fleet, and Lieutenant General Buckner, commander of the 10th Army, were both mentally prepared to be removed from their posts at the end of the battle.
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On April 25, Li Junhao's troops occupied basically all the towns on the western coast of the island, annihilating more than 200,000 Japanese and puppet troops, and suppressed a large number of traitors; on the east coast, troops from the 213th Division, the Fourth Army and the Special Operations Brigade They are jointly attacking the last key city of Hualien, and it is expected that the battle will be over in two days at most.
Victory in the Battle of Bay Island is in sight.
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On this day, on the European battlefield, a reconnaissance team of the 69th Division of the US 1st Army met with troops of the Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front in the Torgau area on the Elbe River, 120 kilometers south of Berlin.
The Elbe River junction cut the German army into north and south sections, and the east and west fronts of the anti-fascist Germany were connected.
On the 26th, the Soviet army entered Berlin and started street fighting with the German army...
At 1 a.m. on the 29th, Hitler announced his wedding to Eva Braun, who had been waiting for him for twelve years.
After the wedding, Hitler dictated his will and designated Field Marshal Dönitz as his successor...
At 3:30 pm on the 30th, Hitler and Eva both committed suicide by taking poison in the dormitory of the bunker. Moreover, after taking the poison, he raised the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.
Then, Goebbels and others carried the bodies of Hitler and Eva to a crater in the garden of the Chancellery, poured gasoline on them, and cremated them.
Late at night on the 30th, the German army requested a temporary ceasefire via radio and requested negotiations with the Soviet army...
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On April 30, Li Junhao's troops basically cleared Bay Island and liberated this large island that had been occupied since 1895. The Battle of Bay Island ended successfully.
In this battle, 6 divisions and 10 brigades of the Japanese 10th Front Army guarding the island were completely wiped out. 169,000 Japanese Army troops under Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi, 57,000 Navy troops under Kaohsiung Garrison, and 125,000 Taiwanese puppet troops were wiped out.
The U.S. Navy, Army, Airborne Forces, and the 121st Army paid the price of 6,500 casualties and 25,000 injuries, but from any aspect, it was a brilliant victory!
——
On the European battlefield, on May 2, General Weidling, commander of the Berlin city defense, went to the forward command post of Chuikov, commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army, and signed an armistice agreement. All the remaining Berlin defenders, about 150,000 people, surrendered.
At this point, the last decisive battle of the Soviet-German war - the Battle of Berlin ended.
In this battle, the Soviet army annihilated a total of 800,000 German troops, captured more than 380,000 people, captured more than 1,500 tanks and self-propelled artillery, and captured 4,500 aircraft; the Soviet army also paid the price of 300,000 casualties.
During this period, an episode occurred. The remaining troops of the 9th Army of the German Army that originally defended the Oder River suddenly counterattacked westward. After getting rid of the Soviet Army, they surrendered to the American Army on the Elbe River - because they knew that after surrendering to the Soviet Army, A tragic fate awaits them.
It has to be said that after the Soviet army invaded Germany, they crazily killed, raped, raped, kidnapped, and plundered while advancing, turning into a beast army in the name of revenge!
Elsewhere in Europe, German forces in Italy surrendered on May 2, and northern and southern Germany surrendered to the Allies on the 4th and 5th respectively.
On the 7th, representatives of German Navy Marshal Dönitz signed a comprehensive surrender agreement at the Allied European Theater Headquarters in Reims, France. On the 8th, the Allied forces began to celebrate their victory in the European War.
The Soviet Union disagreed with this and insisted on formally signing the agreement in Berlin.
On May 9, entrusted by Dönitz, representatives of the German High Command, Marshal Keitel, Admiral Stuumpfer, and Admiral Frederburg, presented to the Soviet Union and other countries in the canteen hall of the Berlin Military Engineering Academy. The Allies formally signed an unconditional surrender.
The last German army in Europe that persisted in fighting in Czechoslovakia did not announce its surrender until the 13th. Only then did the European War completely end!
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The great victory in the Battle of Bay Island and the victory in the European battlefield deeply stimulated the two commanders of the Ryukyu Campaign. Spruance asked the army to strengthen the offensive. The furious Lieutenant General Buckner landed on the island on May 10. Unfortunately, when he arrived at the front for observation, a Japanese artillery shell hit the rock next to him. The sharp rock fragments pierced his chest, and he stopped breathing a few minutes later.
Spruance was stunned when he received the news. An army lieutenant general was killed on the front line. This was the highest-ranking general killed by the US military in the entire war. On the one hand, he urgently appointed Major General Albert Brown, commander of the 7th Division, to the front line. The acting commander, on the one hand, urgently reported the situation to the Pacific Fleet Headquarters and Washington... At this time, his head was getting big!
After receiving the report from the 5th Fleet, the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Nimitz, frowned. The person killed was an army general, but he was performing a campaign mission in the Pacific Theater. This was both unexpected and troublesome. If nothing else, the frontline If the commander is killed in action, the formal appointment of a new commander still requires the approval of the Army Staff, and he can only report it.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff received reports from the Ryukyu Front and the Pacific Fleet. It was also very unexpected and could only hold an emergency meeting to discuss. Marshall and Panson are currently on the front line, and only Leahy, Stark and Arnold are participating in the meeting.
The three of them discussed it and all felt that under the current circumstances, the most convenient move would be to let Admiral Pan Sen, who was in the Far East, take over the command of the Ryukyu Islands Campaign. The Bay Island Campaign that he planned and commanded had ended successfully, so he had time to do this. !
In addition, the three of them all felt that now that the European War was basically over, the remaining affairs were mainly matters in the Far East. After the current Ryukyu Islands Campaign was over, the Japanese problem would be completely solved. This required a unified commander, and they decided to go together. Discuss this matter with President Roosevelt...
(End of chapter)
