Nuremberg marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Nuremberg on Sunday, April 20. It was a pivotal urban-combat conflict in the final weeks of World War II. The battle, which took place from April 16 to April 20, 1945, resulted in the capture of the city by American forces after an intense battle with German defenders. The US Seventh Army capture of Nuremberg culminated with the raising of the American flag at the Zeppelinfeld, the Nazi rally stadium.
City officials, historians, and local residents gathered at sites across the once-Medieval imperial city of Nuremberg to commemorate the anniversary, including the Nuremberg Castle and the Old Town area, much of which was heavily damaged during the fighting and preceding Allied bombing campaigns.
The battle was part of the US Seventh Army’s advance into southern Germany. Lieutenant General Alexander M. “Sandy” Patch led the Seventh Army through its campaigns in southern Germany, including the capture of Nuremberg, until his death in November 1945. Patch was born in Fort Huachuca, Arizona on Nov. 23, 1889, and this account recognizes him as one of the most under appreciated generals of US military history.
Nuremberg was the heart of national Socialism under Hitler’s regime, serving as the site of six massive Nazi rallies between 1933 and 1938, and was the location of the Reichsparteitag (Reich Party Congress) grounds. The capture of the city by the US 45th Infantry Division was both a strategic and psychological blow to Nazi Germany in the closing days of the war.
April 20, which was also Adolf Hitler’s birthday, was the day American forces finally took control of the city, after fighting five days in what was block by block urban warfare, with snipers around every corner.
“The Germans used every trick in the book to hold the city,” says the history of the 3rd Infantry Division published by the US Army in 1947. Aside from small arms fire, US fighters even encountered German corpses rigged with booby traps.
The fall of Nuremberg was quickly followed by the capture of Munich and, in early May, Germany’s unconditional surrender.
Today’s commemorative events in Germany included a wreath-laying ceremony, a historical exhibition at the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds, and moments of silence to honor both military personnel and civilians who lost their lives.
Read more about the battle of Nuremberg at this History.net link.
Throughout the spring of 1945, American forces continued to push the German Army eastward. It was only a matter of time before they contacted the Russian army on the banks of the Elbe River near the town of Torgau in Germany on April 25, 1945.
Elbe Day is the day Soviet and Allied troops met at the Elbe River, marking an important step toward the end of World War II in Europe. This contact, between the Soviets advancing from the east and the Americans advancing from the west, meant that the two powers had effectively cut Germany in two. The Russian Embassy in the United States commemorates this day every year in the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, inviting many guests for this historic event of war cooperation between two great nations.