Three million Germans held by Yanks, British
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8,031 Axis planes blasted this year
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V-E Day to end dimout order
WASHINGTON (UP) – The nationwide dimout will be lifted immediately after President Truman formally declares that the war in Europe is over.
The dimout, which has darkened the country’s shop windows, outdoor advertising and theater marquees since February 1, was ordered to save coal.
J. A. Krug, War Production Board chairman, warned, however, that it may be necessary to reissue the dimout order next fall if coal stacks have not been raised to a satisfactory level.
Civilians crawling from cellars of Berlin
Reds disband Nazi Party and subsidiaries – population warned on hostile activity
By Roman Karmen
The following dispatch from Berlin was written exclusively for the United Press by Roman Karmen, noted Russian war reporter.
BERLIN, Germany (UP) – The barricades of Berlin are being torn down today.
Quiet reigns in the city. The people themselves are demolishing the barricades which are present literally at every step. At many intersections they are dug-in tanks and guns that are silent forever.
Berliners, reassured that the war is over, are crawling from cellars and moving their belongings back from the basements to upper floors.
Streets obliterated
Law and order prevail. Only now that the whole city is occupied have I been able to traverse it from one end to another to see the terrific scale of the devastation caused by bombings. Entire streets are obliterated.
Berliners told me that the civilians suffered enormous casualties. In many cases hundreds of inhabitants were killed by the bomb.
Col. Gen. Berzarin, military commandant and chief of the Soviet garrison, has ordered the population to stay pout to preserve order. The Nazi Party and all subsidiary organizations have been disbanded and their activity outlawed.
Ordered to register
Within 72 hours of the publication of the order, all members of the German Army, the SS and the Storm Troops remaining in Berlin must register. Executives of all enterprises of the party, the Gestapo, the police, security battalions, prisons, and all other state organizations must personally appear at regional commandants’ offices.
All public utilities, electricity, waterworks, sewage, municipal transport, hospital good stores and bakeries have been ordered to resume service. The personnel of those organizations are required to remain at their jobs.
Until further notice, the previous rationing system remains in force. Owners and managers of banks are forbidden temporarily to engage in any operations. Their strongboxes and sales are to be sealed and immediate reports submitted to commandants. All employees of banks are forbidden to remove any valuables.
Told to yield arms
The population has been ordered to surrender to the commandant all arms, ammunition, explosives, motorcars, motorcycles and radio equipment. All printing shops are sealed.
The population has been warned it is fully responsible for any hostile activity against the Red Army or Allied troops, and culprits will be court-martialed.
Soviet troops can billet only in places selected by the commandant. Red Army personnel are forbidden to remove civilian property or search private citizens without orders of the commandant.
‘WHEN DO OUR LEAVES START?’ BRITISH VICTORS ASK
Germans sign surrender in tent on moor
‘This is good moment,’ Montgomery says
By Richard D. McMillan, United Press staff writer
MARSHAL MONTGOMERY’S HQ – “The war is all over, boys” was the jubilant Tommy’s reaction as news spread through the British ranks of the surrender of a million Germans in Holland, Denmark, and Northern Germany.
“When do our V-Day leaves for old Blighty start?” the troops wanted to know.
They said they knew surrender was in air “after seeing all those masses of Germans passing into our lines and surrendering on all sides. We knew it was the collapse of the Wehrmacht. They couldn’t fight on. Now it’s a walkover.”
‘The moment’
This indeed was “the moment,” as Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery called it when he signed the surrender agreement with the Germans here on Lueneburg Heath at 6:30 last night.
The formal ceremony was in a tent on the moorland here, a tent atop which a British flag flew in the cold breeze blowing in from the North Sea.
But the first act was in Monty’s trailer. The chief German delegate, Adm. von Friedeburg (commander-in-chief of the German Navy), stepped into the trailer to tell the Marshal they had decided to accept the terms. He wore a gray, oilskin coat over his naval uniform and he was white-faced and walked stiffly.
First came Thursday
The Germans had first come here Thursday to ask the terms. Before the signing, Marshal Montgomery outlined them to us – complete and unconditional surrender of all the German land, sea and air forces facing the British. That meant the Germans in Holland, Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark and the Frisian Islands, including Heligoland.
That was what the Germans had come to accept. While Marshal Montgomery and von Friedeburg talked inside four other German delegates waited under the huge camouflage net overlapping the trailer. They were heavy-jowled monocled Gen. Kinsel, chief of staff to Field Marshal Ernst Busch (commander of the northern armies), Rear Adm. Wagner, one of von Friedeburg’s staff officers, and a Maj. Friede, an intelligence officer on von Friedeburg’s staff.
A Col. Polek represented Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, second only to Fuehrer Doenitz in the command of German forces.
Walk to tent
After a few minutes, von Friedeburg came out of the trailer and walked to the nearby tent. A few moments later, Marshal Montgomery followed, walking at a leisurely pace.
“This is a good moment,” he said as he passed us.
Marshal Montgomery was smiling as he entered the tent, sat down, and motioned the Germans to be seated. He stood there nonchalantly, with his hands in the pockets of his battledress jacket, while the Germans signed.
When they finished, he said: “That completes the formal surrender. There are various details to be discussed and that will be a closed session.”
Lasts two minutes
Thereupon the correspondents withdrew. The signing was finished at 6.30 p.m. and the whole ceremony lasted only two minutes.
Earlier, Marshal Montgomery revealed that he had told the German delegates if they did not accept the British Second Army was ready to carry on the fight with the greatest effort.
During their first talk, Marshal Montgomery showed von Friedeberg his operations map which revealed the full extent of the German collapse. The admiral wept when he saw it.