Image: 'Video: Adolf Hitler: The Last Days of the Dictator | Documentary' (Apr. 20, 1945, at 13:54; note: last known moving pictures of Hitler were captured on Mar. 20, 1945)

(Friday, April 20, 1945, approximately 3:00 p.m. Central European Summer Time; during the Battle of Berlin on the Eastern Front during World War II) — As the Red Army’s tanks pressed into the outskirts of Berlin and a mournful air raid siren echoed through the battered city at dawn, Germany’s Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler marked his 56th birthday today in the gloom of his underground Führerbunker, facing the collapse of his regime and the encirclement of the capital. Continue reading Hitler briefly emerges from Berlin bunker on his 56th birthday 80 years ago this hour (Apr 20 1945) →

Video: 'The World at War: Nemesis: Germany - February-May 1945 (21 of 26)' (Apr. 18, 1945, at 21:31)

(Wednesday, April 18, 1945; on the Western Front of World War II) — The Ruhr Pocket, a battle of encirclement that took place in late March and early April 1945 in the Ruhr Area of Germany, essentially ended today, marking the end of major organized resistance on Nazi Germany’s Western Front as 325,000 troops were taken prisoner.

Video: 'Ernie Pyle: The Untold Story of America's Beloved War Correspondent & Journalist | You Asked For It'

(Wednesday, April 18, 1945, 10:15 a.m. Japan Standard Time; during the Battle of Okinawa, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II) — Famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed instantly today by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.

Video: '3D-animation of the sinking of the norse ship Goya during WW2'

(Monday, April 16, 1945, 11:52 p.m. Central European Summer Time; during World War II) — A Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea torpedoed and sank the MV Goya, a Norwegian motor freighter which Germany was using to transport civilian refugees and wounded soldiers. Continue reading Thousands of German refugees, wounded soldiers killed when Soviets sink MV Goya 80 years ago this hour (Apr 16 1945) →

Video: 'The Great War episode 8 War Without End' (Apr. 16, 1945, at 45:32)

(Monday, April 16, 1945, during World War II) — Six days before she died, Käthe Kollwitz, 77-year-old German printmaker and sculpto whose work offered an eloquent and often searing account of the human condition, and the tragedy of war, in the first half of the 20th century, composed her final letter today, writing “the accompanies me to the end.”

Video: 'The World at War Episode 21 - Nemesis - Germany (February - May 1945)' (Apr. 16, 1945, at 16:04)

(Monday, April 16, 1945, 4:00 a.m. Central Euroopean Summer Time; during the Battle of Berlin on the Eastern Front during World War II) — The final chapter in the destruction of Hitler’s Third Reich began today when the Soviets unleashed the brutal power of 20 armies, 6,300 tanks and 8,500 aircraft with the objective of crushing German resistance and capturing Berlin. Continue reading Soviet forces launch Battle of Berlin against Nazi Germany 80 years ago this hour (Apr 16 1945) →

Video: 'Lost in the Fog of War: Battle of Ie Shima 1945'

(Monday, April 16, 1945, first waves of assault troops landed at 7:58 a.m. Japan Standard Time; during the Battle of Okinawa, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II) — The 77th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army assaulted Ie Island (Ie Shima), a small island off the western end of the Motobu Peninsula of Okinawa. Continue reading U.S. forces invade Japanese island of Ie Shima 80 years ago this hour (Apr 16 1945) →