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WWII On This Day: April 21

What happened on April 21 during World War II? This date brings together 5 events from 1940, 1941, 1944 and 1945, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
German mountain troops landing in Norway, April 1940.
Photo: Bagn Bygdesamling – Valdres Folkemuseum, Norway · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Operation Weserübung

Norwegian and British forces fight through the central valleys

Norwegian and British units fought delaying actions through the Gudbrandsdal as German troops pushed north from Oslo toward Dombås and Trondheim. Battles at Tretten, Kvam, Kjørem and Otta followed the same geography of road, railway, river and steep valley sides. German air attack repeatedly disrupted movement and local supply. The defenders gained time for withdrawal while German forces continued closing the distance between Oslo and Trondheim. The central Allied plan increasingly became an extraction problem as the two expeditionary forces lost room to manoeuvre.

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1941
A reconnaissance detachment of the German 5th Panzer Division entering Athens on 27 April 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1979-123-32 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
German Invasion of Greece, April 1941

Operation Demon becomes the main Commonwealth task

By 21 April the British command was organising the removal of the expeditionary force from mainland Greece. The decision had grown out of the earlier withdrawal toward Thermopylae and the recognition that the Greek field armies could no longer form a connected front with W Force. The problem was now logistical as much as tactical. Units had to reach embarkation areas while retaining enough artillery, transport and infantry to hold the approaches through Thermopylae and Brallos. Ships had to be concentrated without offering the Luftwaffe a daylight target large enough…

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1944
Wrecked rolling stock in the severely damaged marshalling yard at Juvisy-sur-Orge after Allied air attacks in 1944.
Bridge B (Fg Off), Royal Air Force official photographer / Imperial War Museums, CL 4170 · Public domain · Source
The Transportation Plan

Typhoons show bridges can be put out of use

RAF Typhoons attacked several French and Belgian bridges in an experimental operation. The crossings were rendered unusable even when they were not completely destroyed. The result strengthened the case for attacking river crossings as the invasion approached.

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1945
Men of the 95th Division, US Ninth Army, patrolling Soest after its capture, 7 April 1945.
Men of the 95th Division patrolling Soest, 7 April 1945 · US Army Signal Corps SC 336817 · NARA · Public domain · Source
The Ruhr Pocket

Model kills himself

After dispersing his staff, Model went into a forest north of Düsseldorf with his aide and shot himself. This event falls outside the eighteen-day reduction and is retained only as a dated postscript to the command story.

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T-34-85 tanks of the 56th Guards Tank Brigade on the approaches to Berlin in April 1945.
T-34-85 tanks of the 56th Guards Tank Brigade on the approaches to Berlin in April 1945. Georgy Ugrinovich / TASS · Public domain (Russia) Source
The Battle of Berlin

Soviet troops reach the city

On 21 April Soviet formations reached Berlin's outer defence belt and entered eastern and north-eastern districts. 2nd Guards Tank Army approached from the north while 3rd Shock, 5th Shock and 8th Guards Army formations pressed in from the east and south-east. The city boundary did not become a continuous front at one instant. Some districts still lacked organised defenders while others contained field troops, Waffen-SS, flak positions and hastily constructed barricades. At the same time Third Guards Tank Army was already behind Ninth Army near Königs Wusterhausen. The battle for…

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