May 1

At 2230 local time a newsreader announced that reports from the Fuhrer's headquarters said Hitler had "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany".

It said he had appointed Grand Admiral Doenitz as his successor.

There followed an announcement by Admiral Doenitz in which he called on the German people to mourn their Fuhrer who, he said, died the death of a hero in the capital of the Reich.

Reports from Washington say US officials are suspicious of the announcement and are certainly not celebrating as yet.

The news and the rumours now started to mount up - Hitler is dead, Mussolini has been hanged...

People's War memories

They fear the timing of Doenitz's appointment may mean that Hitler is not dead but trying to escape or go underground.

In London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill would not make a statement to the Commons about the war situation in Europe except to say it was "definitely more satisfactory than it was this time five years ago".

Admiral Doenitz, famous for his U-boat victories in the first three years of the war, vowed to continue the battle against the Soviets and their western Allies.

"The British and the Americans do not fight for the interests of their own people but for the spreading of Bolshevism," he said.

As new head of state and supreme commander of the Wehrmacht - the German armed forces - he demanded discipline and obedience and urged German soldiers, "Do your duty. The life of our people is at stake."

There is now speculation in the British press as to whether the weakened German forces will follow Doenitz or Heinrich Himmler, head of the home army, the Volkssturm, the SS and the Gestapo.

He has made peace overtures to the Allies in recent days in meetings with Count Folke Bernadotte, a nephew of the King of Sweden, but so far these have come to nothing.

The
British planes have carried out raids on two airstrips near Port Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands which are currently occupied by Argentinian forces.

The attack was designed to deny the Argentines the means of landing supplies on the islands or attacking the British fleet patrolling the 200-mile exclusion zone.

Admiral Sandy Woodward, the British Task Force commander, said the mission was a success. "We didn't want this fight but we've shown our colours and this is our day," he said.

A Vulcan bomber with a back-up plane launched the attack before dawn from its base on Ascension Island, 3,000 miles from the Falklands.

The bombing was carried out at a height of 10,000 feet under cover of darkness - out of range of Argentine anti-aircraft missiles that can only be used against visible targets.

The plane dropped 21 bombs altogether and was followed by a force of Harrier jump-jets sent from aircraft carriers patrolling off shore.

These took pictures of the damage done by the Vulcan and bombed the grass airstrip at Goose Green 55 miles west of Port Stanley.

Retaliation

The Harriers also dropped 1,000lb bombs and 30mm Aden canon shells to destroy fuel and ammunition dumps.

They then scattered cluster bombs over the rubble of the airstrips to prevent any attempts to repair the damage.

The Argentine force retaliated with anti-aircraft guns, Tiger Cat missiles and sent out its Mirage and Canberra bombers.

The Argentines said the raids failed to destroy the runways and claimed a British pilot died and two Harriers were destroyed.

But the Ministry of Defence said none of its aircraft were shot down. It said only one Harrier was slightly damaged sustaining a hole in its tailfin that has now been repaired. 

Vocabulary:  

overture: an act, an offer, or a proposal that indicates readiness to undertake a course of action or open a relationship(建议)

ammunition dump: 临时军火供应站