German surrender at Lueneburg Heath (5-4-45)

Report by Chester Wilmot (BBC):

BBC European Service interval signal ID:

lueneburg

Broadcast audio (BBC):

Instrument of Surrender of All German armed forces in HOLLAND, in northwest Germany including all islands, and in DENMARK

  1. The German Command agrees to the surrender of all German armed forces in HOLLAND, in northwest GERMANY including the FRISIAN ISLANDS and HELIGOLAND and all other islands. In SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN and in DENMARK, to the C-in-C. 21 Army Group.

    This is to include all naval ships in the areas.

    These forces to lay down their arms and to surrender unconditionally.

  2. All hostilities on land, on sea, or in the air by German forces in the above areas to cease at 0800 hrs. British Double Summer Time on Saturday 5 May 1945.

  3. The German command to carry out at once, and without argument or comment, all further orders that will be issued by the Allied Powers on any subject.

  4. Disobedience of orders, or failure to comply with them, will be regarded as a breach of these surrender terms and will be dealt with by the Allied Powers in accordance with the accepted laws and usages of war.

  5. This instrument of surrender is independent of, without prejudice to, and will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by or on behalf of the Allied Powers and applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole.

  6. This instrument of surrender is written in English and in German.

    The English version is the authentic text.

  7. The decision of the Allied Powers will be final if any doubt or dispute arises as to the meaning or interpretation of the surrender terms.

B. L. MONTGOMERY
Field Marshal

V. FRIEDEBURG
KINZEL
G. WAGNER
POLECK
FREIDEL

4 May 1945
1830 hrs

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The Pittsburgh Press (May 4, 1945)

Germans surrender on northern fronts

Capitulation tomorrow includes Holland, Denmark and Reich

LONDON, England (UP) – The German armies of Northwestern Germany, Denmark and Holland have surrendered unconditionally to British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery.

The surrender leaves major Nazi resistance isolated in the two doomed pockets of Norway and Czechoslovakia.

The surrender is effective at 8 a.m. British Time tomorrow (2 a.m. ET).

The Nazi capitulation was announced at the close of a dramatic conference between Marshal Montgomery and a high-ranking but unnamed representative of Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz, the new German Fuehrer.

Marshal Montgomery informed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters in Paris that the surrender would also apply to the pocketed German divisions in Heligoland and on the Frisian Islands off the Dutch Coast.

More than 250,000 German troops, representing the last effective German fighting force on the European continent outside Norway and Czechoslovakia, were involved in the mass surrender. Well over 500,000 Nazis laid down their arms on the British front in the last two days.

There were still many minor pockets of resistance on the continent, including areas around a few French ports.

A brief announcement of the northern capitulation, issued at Gen. Eisenhower’s headquarters, emphasized that this was a “battlefield surrender” to Montgomery’s 21st Army Group and not to the Allied governments.

The announcement said:

Field Marshal Montgomery has reported to the Supreme Allied Commander that all enemy forces in Holland, Northwest Germany and Denmark, including Heligoland and the Frisian Islands, have surrendered to the 21st Army Group effective at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning, Double British Summer Time.

This is a battlefield surrender involving the forces now facing the 21st Army Group on the northern and the western flanks.

Serious resistance to the British forces had begun melting away before the announcement of the surrender. United Press war writer Richard D. McMillan reported that German troops were throwing away their weapons by the hundreds of thousands, refusing flatly to fight, and their staff officers, wandering freely through the Allied ranks, admitted it was all over.

The Czechoslovak pocket in the south was rapidly being enveloped and neutralized by U.S. and Russian forces converging on the Austrian city of Linz.

The Nazis said the ceasefire order had sounded in Holland and that British troops were sweeping unopposed through Denmark.

Swedish reports told of spreading mutiny in the German Army barracks at Copenhagen, and the Nazis’ own radio at Wilhelmshaven said the “last hour of the war” had arrived.

Mr. McMillan reported that the entire German High Command had assembled opposite the British forces in the north.

Stockholm said that Doenitz, self-styled Nazi Fuehrer, and his patched-up government were in Denmark – probably somewhere in South Jutland.

The German-controlled Wilhelmshaven radio called on the people for unity “in the last hour of the war.” It said that “to spare further bloodshed and destruction, the high command has taken appropriate measures which can only be carried out in accordance with responsible authorities.” Further orders were on an hour-to-hour basis, it added.

Stockholm and Paris reports told without official confirmation of a dramatic meeting of Marshal Montgomery with Doenitz and other Nazi leaders. Paris said the so-called “peace conference” was at Aabenraa Castle just over the Danish frontier.

The Swedes said Col. Gen. Georg Lindemann, German commander in Denmark, and possibly Dr. Werner Best, German governor in Denmark; Josef Terboven, Reich Commissar in Norway, and Adm. Fritz Boehm, German commander in Norway, attended the reported conference.

Allied transports with food for civilians were going through the German “lines” under some sort of an agreement, the Oslo radio said, and Stockholm reported flatly from Copenhagen that the Germans “no longer control the Danish border.”

A Stockholm dispatch reported the organization of a new Danish cabinet under Premier Wilhelm Buhl.

Malmo reports relayed through Stockholm aid German troops mutinied at Copenhagen barracks yesterday, but the uprising was suppressed. They added that 400 German sailors mutinied in Aabenraa Harbor yesterday and all were jailed.

An Exchange Telegraph dispatch Zurich said Count Ludwig Schwerin von Krosigk, the new German foreign minister, had ousted Dr. Karl Frank, Nazi extremist as governor of Bohemia-Moravia in a move to please the Allies.

The Doenitz government yesterday declared Prague, capital of Bohemia and pre-war Czechoslovakia, a hospital city, an indication that the protectorate may soon capitulate.

CBS report of German ceasefire, 6:30 p.m. EWT:

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
/s/

Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others

ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section

NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA4655

AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/

The Pittsburgh Press (May 5, 1945)

Danish Nazis resist despite surrender

Patriots battling 1,000 policemen
By the United Press

Danish Nazi police, defying the German surrender of Denmark, fought Danish patriots and German Army troops in Copenhagen today.

An estimated 1,000 of the police barricaded themselves in buildings and streets for a last desperate burst of violence even as Denmark was celebrating liberation from the German yoke.

A Stockholm dispatch said German warships shelled the Oesterbro quarter of Copenhagen for 25 minutes beginning at 10 a.m. – well past the surrender hour – and 10 persons were killed and several wounded.

Appeals for protection

The dispatch said shooting was still going on in several sections of the premises of Dr. Werner Best, Nazi envoy to Denmark, after he appealed for protection.

Radio Kalundborg reported that Danish police forces had captured the German Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen.

Another Kalundborg report said King Christian had broadcast asking “everyone to remain united in order to build up a new free and secure Denmark.”

Parliament to meet

Exchange Telegraph reported from Copenhagen that the Danish Parliament would be convoked as soon as possible. The dispatch said a new penal law would reinstate the death penalty for the first time in 50 years to deal with collaborationists.

The British radio reported Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had recognized Lt. Gen. Edward Gortz as commander-in-chief of the resistance movement in Denmark.

The Danish Freedom Council warned the population to leave the work of arresting collaborationists to members of the resistance movement. It told those “who fear the anger of the population” to give themselves up for their own safety.

Premier broadcasts

The new premier, Vilhelm Buhl, in another broadcast called for “calm and worthy behavior toward German troops and refugees.”

The Danish patriots were fighting side by side with their sworn enemies of 24 hours ago, German Army troops, to subdue the Danish Nazi police.

Twenty-five persons were killed or wounded in the first few hours. Fires broke out in a number of places, especially in the harbor area, as result of the fighting.

Traitors listed

The Nazi police, known as Hipomen, disregarded Germany’s unconditional surrender of Denmark. Perhaps because they faced later execution as war criminals, they decided to sell their lives as dearly as possible.

A Stockholm dispatch said 3,500 fully-armed and trained Danish military police were expected to leave from Sweden for Denmark momentarily, taking with them a list of 7,000 Danish collaborationists wanted for trial.

The fighting, scattered throughout Copenhagen, marred joyful celebrations of Denmark’s liberation. Nazi bullets killed several civilians among the tens of thousands marching through the capital’s streets, singing and cheering.

Halt Jap envoy

Crowds halted an auto in which the Jap minister to Copenhagen was attempting to escape from the city. When patriots discovered he was hiding a machine-pistol in the car, they forced him to leave the vehicle and walk home.

Copenhagen’s five-year blackout ended spontaneously. Big warehouses, office buildings, newspapers and private buildings switched on floodlights and unfurled flags in their glare despite a century-old tradition that the banner should not be flown at night.

Go to castle

Thousands of persons converged on the Royal Castle. They carried flags and flowers and sang the national anthem and Allied war songs.

Despite the clamor of the crowd, Christian failed to appear on the balcony. An aide appeared in his place and explained that the King was “too deeply moved to appear personally.”

“He thanks you for your splendid enthusiasm and asks everyone to go home peacefully,” the aide said.

‘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.

Neues Österreich (May 6, 1945)

Kapitulation in Holland und DĂ€nemark

London, 5. Mai – Die deutschen Armeen in Nordwestdeutschland, Holland, DĂ€nemark, auf den Friesischen Inseln und Helgoland haben kapituliert. Die bedingungslose Kapitulation ist heute um 8 Uhr frĂŒh in Kraft getreten. Nach fĂŒnfjĂ€hriger deutscher Besetzung sind Holland und DĂ€nemark nun wieder frei. Insgesamt eine Million deutscher Soldaten hat sich gestern Nachmittag Feldmarschall Montgomery ergeben.

Das Hauptquartier Feldmarschall Montgomerys gibt dazu bekannt:

Alle deutschen Heeresgruppen in Nordwestdeutschland, Holland, DĂ€nemark, auf den Friesischen Inseln und Helgoland haben den Kampf eingestellt. Auch alle deutschen Flotteneinheiten in diesen Gebieten sind in die Kapitulation eingeschlossen.

Eine Stunde nach Bekanntgabe der Kapitulation gab Feldmarschall Montgomery Pressevertretern eine ErklĂ€rung ab, wie es zu dieser Kapitulation gekommen ist. Am Mittwoch ersuchte General Blumentritt, deutscher Befehlshaber der Heeresgruppen zwischen Ostsee und Weser, durch einen Kurier um eine Unterredung. Am Donnerstag erschien er jedoch nicht persönlich, sondern ließ mitteilen, dass bei ĂŒbergeordneten deutschen Kommandostellen sich etwas vorbereite, An seiner Stelle erschienen vier deutsche Offiziere, und zwar der General von Friedeburg, General Kienzl, Konteradmiral Wagner und Major Frieber. Sie teilten mit, sie wĂ€ren von Generalfeldmarschall Busch gesandt, um wegen der Kapitulation von drei deutschen Heeresgruppen in Mecklenburg zu verhandeln.

Feldmarschall Montgomery entgegnete, er könne eine solche Kapitulation nicht annehmen, eine solche mĂŒsse an Russland gerichtet sein, da diese Armeen mit Russland im Kampf stĂŒnden. Montgomery fragte dann die deutschen Offiziere, ob sie bereit wĂ€ren, mit den deutschen StreitkrĂ€ften an Montgomerys West- und Nordflanke zu kapitulieren. Dies lehnten die deutschen Abgesandten ab, betonten aber, dass ihnen die deutsche Zivilbevölkerung sehr am Herzen lĂ€ge und schlugen dann langwierige RĂŒckzugsoperationen vor. Feldmarschall Montgomery fĂŒhrte die Deutschen vor sein Kartenmaterial und machte ihnen die Hoffnungslosigkeit der deutschen Armeen klar. Die deutschen Offiziere waren wie vor den Kopf geschlagen.

Nun stellte Feldmarschall Montgomery folgendes Ultimatum: Alle deutschen StreitkrĂ€fte in Nordwestdeutschland, Holland, DĂ€nemark, auf den Friesischen Inseln und Helgoland mĂŒssen bedingungslos kapitulieren. Dann sagte er ganz kurz: „Wenn Ihnen das nicht passt, geht der Krieg weiter, mir kann das nur recht sein.“

Donnerstag, nachmittags 4 Uhr, kehrte von Friedeburg mit einem zweiten Offizier in das deutsche Hauptquartier mit dem Ultimatum zurĂŒck. Am Freitag ĂŒberbrachten sie dann die bedingungslose Kapitulation.

Jubel in Holland

London, 5. Mai – Holland feiert heute unter jubelnder Teilnahme der Bevölkerung den ersten Tag der Freiheit nach fĂŒnf Jahren deutscher Besetzung. Prinzessin Juliane ist in Begleitung von Prinz Bernhard in SĂŒdholland eingetroffen, um sich nach den Haag und Amsterdam zu begeben.

Der hollÀndische MinisterprÀsident erklÀrte:

Unser Volk ist frei, jetzt kann es darangehen, seine Wunden zu heilen und seine Aufgaben in der Heimat und im pazifischen Raum zu erfĂŒllen.

Die Alliierten bereiten eine großzĂŒgige Lebensmittelhilfsaktion fĂŒr das hollĂ€ndische Volk vor. Es besteht die Absicht, tĂ€glich 2.500 Tonnen Lebensmittel nach Westholland einzufĂŒhren. Heute frĂŒh wurden von Kampfflugzeugen der Royal Air Force 200 Tonnen Lebensmittel ĂŒber Leyden, Gouda, Rotterdam und den Haag abgeworfen.

Proklamation Eisenhowers

London, 5. Mai – Zur Kapitulation der deutschen StreitkrĂ€fte in Nordwestdeutschland, Holland und DĂ€nemark erließ General Eisenhower eine Proklamation, in der es heißt:

Die deutschen StreitkrĂ€fte an der Westfront sind aufgelöst, Alle weiteren deutschen Verluste an dieser Front werden nur darauf zurĂŒckzufĂŒhren sein, dass das Feuer nicht gleich eingestellt wird. Alles Zaudern geht auf das Konto der eigenen Dummheit der deutschen Soldaten oder der Dummheit der deutschen Reichsregierung. Es bleibt nur eines: Kapitulation.

How is the paper still running as it was the party’s paper? Isn’t the party dead (Well
 major figures)?

New paper made by Austrian Kommunists, Socialists and Konservatives. (KPÖ, SPÖ and ÖVP).

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At this point, all the Nazi papers stopped publication long ago.

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Huh? Since when? And what newspaper have I been reading?

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In German:

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The last Austrian Nazi paper I could find was dated May 2, 1945.

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More recent papers are called Austrian Neonazi papers


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