Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (May 5, 1945)
FROM
(A) SHAEF MAIN
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
051100B May
TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR
(2) NAVY DEPARTMENT
TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(3) TAC HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) MAIN 12 ARMY GP
(5) AIR STAFF MAIN
(6) ANCXF
(7) EXFOR MAIN
(8) EXFOR REAR
(9) DEFENSOR, OTTAWA
(10) CANADIAN C/S, OTTAWA
(11) WAR OFFICE
(12) ADMIRALTY
(13) AIR MINISTRY
(14) UNITED KINGDOM BASE
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM ZONE
(18) SHAEF REAR
(19) SHAEF MAIN
(20) HQ SIXTH ARMY GP
(21) WOIA FOR OWI WASHINGTON FOR RELEASE TO COMBINED US AND CANADIAN PRESS AND RADIO AT 0900 HOURS GMT
(22) AFHQ, ROME FOR PWB
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 392
UNCLASSIFIED: All German armed forces in northwest Germany, Holland and Denmark, including the garrisons on Helgoland and the Frisian Islands, have surrendered unconditionally to Allied forces. Hostilities ceased at 0800 hours British Double Summer Time, today.
Enemy shipping off Wangerooge and Flensburg, in Kiel ford and Eckernfoerde Bay and south of the Aero Island, was attacked yesterday by fighter-bombers and rocket-firing fighters. Attacks were made on large- and medium-sized surface vessels as well as on smaller craft and barges, and also on submarines. Seven ships were sunk and more than 70 damaged.
Airfields at Leck, Husum and Grossenbrode were hit by fighter-bombers which also attacked motor transport in the Schleswig Holstein area north of Bremen.
In the Stendal area, the remnants of two German armies, the Ninth and Twelfth, surrendered to our units.
North of Regen, our forces reached Zelena Lhota in Czechoslovakia. Other elements advanced to a point 22 miles northeast of Regen and ten miles inside the Czechoslovakian border.
Farther south, our units crossed the Czechoslovakian border and reached a point 25 miles northeast of Passau.
In Austria, we are along the west bank of the Muehl River in the area 20 miles northwest of Linz.
North of Linz, our armor cleared Zwettl, Reichenau and Gramastetten and reached Altenberg, three miles northeast of Linz.
Our infantry elements crossed the Inn River at a point eight miles south of Passau and cleared Waizenkirchen, 22 miles to the southeast.
Other infantry units advanced rapidly to clear Sulzbach, 18 miles southwest of Linz.
West of Linz we cleared Ried and Aichkirchen.
Fourteen miles northeast of Salzburg, our units made rapid advances to clear Strasswalchen.
Salzburg surrendered to our mechanized cavalry forces. We captured Berchtesgaden.
To the southwest in Austria, our forces took Innsbruck, and drove through the Brenner Pass to link up at Vipiteno, Italy, with Fifth Army units pushing northward. Other forces fanning out from Innsbruck advanced 18 miles northeast along the Inn River.
Following our juncture in Italy, practically all organized resistance collapsed along a 70-mile front extending from 30 miles east of Austria’s western border with Germany to 15 miles east of Innsbruck.
We took 48,100 prisoners between Salzburg and the Iller River and 1,500 from the Iller River to the Lichtenstein. Prisoners included 14 generals.
Allied forces in the west captured 412,493 prisoners 3 May.
Airfields, railyards and rail and motor transport in southwestern Czechoslovakia and northern Austria, and motor transport between Salzburg and Innsbruck were attacked by fighter-bombers.
In the attacks on airfields a number of aircraft were destroyed on the ground and others were damaged. One enemy aircraft was shot down. Five of our fighter-bombers are missing.
Heavy bombers dropped over 400 long tons of food for the Dutch population in enemy-occupied Holland.
COORDINATED WITH: G-2, G-3 to C/S
THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SENT IN CLEAR BY ANY MEANS
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Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others
ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section
NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA4655
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
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