‘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.