By: HISTORY.com Editors

1945

Hitler calls for last stand on the Eastern front

Published: November 16, 2009Last Updated: May 27, 2025

On April 16, 1945, Adolf Hitler proclaims from his underground bunker that deliverance was at hand from encroaching Russian troops—and that his beloved capital city of Berlin would remain German. A “mighty artillery is meeting the enemy,” proclaims Der Fuhrer. "This time the Bolsheviks will experience Asia's old fate. That is, he must and will bleed to death in front of the capital of the German Reich."

In his April 16 order, Hitler tried to shame his troops into holding the line against the Allies. "Whosoever does not do his duty at this moment is a traitor to our nation. The regiment or division that leaves its position acts so disgracefully that it will have to be ashamed before the women and children who are withstanding the bombing terror in our towns."

Two weeks later, on April 30, Hitler would commit suicide in his bunker, rather than face responsibility for his monstrous war crimes. On May 7, Germany officially surrendered unconditionally.

Timeline

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1881

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1889

Hollywood legend Charlie Chaplin born

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1917

Lenin returns to Russia from exile

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1929

Cleveland becomes first MLB team to play with numbers on back of jerseys

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1943

Hallucinogenic effects of LSD discovered

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1946

Arthur Chevrolet dies by suicide

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1947

Fertilizer explosion kills more than 500 in Texas

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1947

Bernard Baruch popularizes the term “Cold War”

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1963

Martin Luther King Jr. writes “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

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1972

Apollo 16 departs for moon

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2007

Virginia Tech shooting leaves 32 dead

32 people died after being gunned down on the campus of Virginia Tech by Seung-Hui Cho, a student at the college.

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2018

Kendrick Lamar becomes the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize

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