Defeat
Allied forces established a bridgehead on the Rhine in March 1945, the Battle of Berlin began on 16 April. A planned last defense from the Alpenfestung ("Alpine Fortress") never happened. Hitler's demolitions on Reich Territory order was largely ignored. He shot himself and ordered his assistant to burn his body, he also appointed Karl Dönitz as his successor. Berlin surrendered on the night of May 2–3, the German Instrument of Surrender was signed on May 7. The members of the provisional government were arrested on May 23 and subsequently found guilty of war crimes at Nuremberg.
Read more about this topic: Military History Of Germany During World War II
Famous quotes containing the word defeat:
“Love your enemies. I saw this admonition now as simple, sensible advice. I knew I could face an angry, murderous mob without even the beginning of fear if I could love them. Like a flame, love consumes fear, and thus make true defeat impossible.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 2, ch. 2 (1962)
“Unkindness may do much,
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The rule for every man is, not to depend on the education which other men have prepared for him,—not even to consent to it; but to strive to see things as they are, and to be himself as he is. Defeat lies in self-surrender.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)