Download Hitler`s Last Days and VE Day

Hitler’s Last Days and V-E Day
Hitler chose to stay in Berlin during the last months of the war. Most of his time was spent in a specially
constructed bomb shelter twenty meters underground, near the
center of the city. As the Soviets advanced closer to Berlin, many
of Hitler's supporters fled to Southern Germany. Hitler would not
listen to the pleas of his supporters to escape with them.
Instead, he and a group of close friends, including his long time
companion, Eva Braun, stayed in the bunker. As the Soviets
closed in, Hitler was making arrangements for his suicide. Before
doing so, he married Eva Braun in a brief ceremony. On 30 April
1945, Hitler and his new wife retired to their private quarters in
the bunker. He gave his wife a poison capsule and kept one for
himself. Once his wife was dead, Hitler swallowed the capsule
then quickly shot himself in the head. He did this as insurance
that he would not be captured. Hitler had a great fear that he
would be taken alive and displayed like an animal in a circus.
Under orders, his SS bodyguards took the bodies out of the bunker and burned them. The next day, the
Red Army captured the bunker and people who had not committed suicide. Before he died, Hitler named
Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz as his successor. Doenitz quickly signed an unconditional surrender with
the Allies, and 8 May 1945 became V-E (Victory in Europe) day.
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Eyewitness Account
The Last Will of Adolf Hitler
As I did not consider that I could take responsibility, during the years of struggle, of contracting a
marriage, I have now decided, before the closing of my earthly career, to take as my wife that girl who,
after many years of faithful friendship, entered, of her own free will, the practically besieged town in
order to share her destiny with me. At her own desire she goes as my wife with me into death. It will
compensate us for what we both lost through my work in the service of my people.
What I possess belongs - in so far as it has any value - to the Party. Should this no longer exist, to the
State; should the State also be destroyed, no further decision of mine is necessary.
My paintings, in the collections which I have bought in the course of years, have never been collected
for private purposes, but only for the extension of a gallery in my home town of Linz on Donau.
It is my most sincere wish that this bequest may be duly executed.
I nominate as my Executor my most faithful Party comrade,
Martin Bormann
He is given full legal authority to make all decisions.
He is permitted to take out everything that has a sentimental value or is necessary for the maintenance
of a modest simple life, for my brothers and sisters, also above all for the mother of my wife and my
faithful co-workers who are well known to him, principally my old Secretaries Frau Winter etc. who
have for many years aided me by their work.
I myself and my wife - in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation - choose death. It is
our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work
in the course of a twelve years' service to my people.
Given in Berlin, 29th April 1945, 4:00 A.M.
[Signed] A. Hitler
[Witnesses]
Dr. Joseph Goebbels
Martin Bormann
Colonel Nicholaus von Below
Japan Surrenders
The The Japanese did not know that the Americans
had used their last bomb during the second attack.
The Imperial Council met on the night of 9 August to
discuss the changing situation. A vote was held to
decide on the question of continuing or stopping the
war, but it ended in a three to three tie. In a rare move
by Emperor Hirohito, he cast the deciding vote to end
the war. Japan offered to surrender to the Americans
provided they could keep Emperor Hirohito as head of the nation.
The Allies had always stated that the surrender of Germany and Japan would be unconditional. In other
words, Germany and Japan could not ask for any deals from
the victorious Allies. The Japanese demand to keep the
Emperor, therefore, caused a major problem for Truman.
Should he continue to fight and invade Japan or give in on
this Japanese demand? The Emperor was not directly
responsible for the start or operation of the war. Truman
decided to allow the Emperor to stay, but any new
government had to be elected, all under the watchful eyes of
an American military governor. Many in the Japanese
government did not wish to accept the offer. A military coup
was attempted to take over the government and continue the
war. The attempt, however, failed and the Emperor
surrendered Japan to the Americans.
The End – VJ Day
On On 14 August 1945, the Japanese government accepted defeat. The day was proclaimed Victory
Japan (VJ) Day, but the signing of the official document was not to occur until 2 September 1945. The
signing of the surrender took place aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. One government official
and one military leader represented the Japanese side, and representatives of nine Allied nations were
present to accept the surrender.
The War was Over, or Was It?
For years after the end of the war, Japanese soldiers were discovered on small islands throughout the
Pacific. One soldier was discovered on the island of Guam in 1972, twenty-six years after the war was
officially over. He was celebrated as a hero for never surrendering. His first words upon arriving in
Tokyo were "It is with much embarrassment that I return" The discovery led to the search for other men
still in the jungle. Another soldier was discovered in 1974 on an island in the Philippines. He did not
believe the war was over and refused to surrender. Members of his family had to be flown in to convince
him to come out of the jungle.