World War II Diaries:The Complete War Report
1945 May
E69 May 27, 2018
In Germany, Hamburg radio announces Hitler's death: “fallen at his command in the Reich Chancery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz becomes the new head of state. In Germany, General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defense Area, surrenders the city and his troops to General Vasily Chuikov. In Czechoslovakia, the Czech resistance stages the Prague uprising. In the course of the day, two thousand barricades are built throughout the city, and the main bridges over the Vltava River are taken over by the insurgents. Field Marshal Ferdinand Scharner, Commander of Army Group Centre, orders the city garrisons to suppress the rebellion. The SS soldiers that are captured by the partisans are hung from lampposts and burned alive.