German surrender at Rheims (5-7-45)

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Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (May 7, 1945)

TOP SECRET

SHAEF FORWARD

STAFF MESSAGE CONTROL

OUTGOING MESSAGE

TOP SECRET
URGENT

TO:
AGWAR FOR COMBINED CHIEFS OF STAFF,
AMSSO FOR BRITISH CHIEFS OF STAFF

FROM:
SHAEF FORWARD, SIGNED EISENHOWER

REF NO: FWD-20798
TOO: 070325B

SCAF 355

The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945.

EISENHOWER

ORIGINATOR:
SUPREME COMMANDER

AUTHENTICATION:
J B MOORE, Lt Colonel

INFORMATION:
TO ALL GENERAL AND SPECIAL STAFF DIVISIONS

FS OUT 3674
7 MAY 1945
0324B
JOB/jg
REF NO: [FND - 20798]
TOO: 070325B
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Then war is pretty much over.

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In Europe (those Soviets are mighty suspicious though).

The Japs are still fighting on in the East.

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Also why only in English? Why not in german? After all, it is the Germans who are surrendering.

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Address by German Minister von Krosigk
May 7, 1945

schwerin.vkrosigk

Deutsche Männer und Frauen!

Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht hat heute auf Geheiß des Großadmirals Dönitz die bedingungslose Kapitulation aller Truppen erklärt. Als leitender Minister der Reichsregierung, die der Großadmiral zur Abwicklung der Kriegsaufgaben bestellt hat, wende ich mich in diesem tragischen Augenblick unserer Geschichte an das deutsche Volk.

Nach einem fast sechsjährigen heldenmütigen Kampf von unvergleichlicher Härte ist die Kraft Deutschlands der überwältigenden Macht unserer Gegner erlegen. Die Fortsetzung des Krieges hätte nur sinnloses Blutvergießen und unnütze Zerstörung bedeutet. Eine Regierung, die Verantwortungsgefühl vor der Zukunft unseres Volkes besitzt, musste aus dem Zusammenbruch aller physischen und materiellen Kräfte die Folgerung ziehen und den Gegner um Einstellung der Feindseligkeiten ersuchen.

Es war das vornehmste Ziel des Großadmirals und der ihn unterstützenden Regierung, nach den furchtbaren Opfern, die der Krieg gefordert hat, in seiner letzten Phase das Leben möglichst vieler deutschen Menschen zu erhalten. Dass der Krieg nicht sofort und nicht gleichzeitig im Westen und Osten beendet wurde, erklärt sich allein aus diesem Ziel. Wir verneigen uns in dieser schwersten Stunde des deutschen Volkes und seines Reiches in Ehrfurcht vor den Toten dieses Krieges, deren Opfer unsere höchste Verpflichtung ist. Unsere Anteilnahme und Sorge gilt vor allem den Versehrten, den Hinterbliebenen und allen, denen dieser Kampf Wunden geschlagen hat. Niemand darf sich über die Schwere der Bedingungen hinwegtäuschen, die unsere Gegner dem deutschen Volk auferlegen werden. Es gilt, ihnen ohne jede Phrase klar und nüchtern entgegenzusehen. Niemand kann im Zweifel darüber sein, dass die kommende Zeit für jeden von uns hart sein und auf allen Lebensgebieten Opfer von uns fordern wird. Wir müssen sie auf uns nehmen und loyal zu den Verpflichtungen stehen, die wir übernommen haben. Wir dürfen aber auch nicht verzweifeln und uns einer stummen Resignation hingeben. Wir müssen uns den Weg durch das Dunkel der Zukunft durch drei Sterne erleuchten und führen lassen, die stets das Unterpfand echten deutschen Wesens waren: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit.

Aus dem Zusammenbruch der Vergangenheit wollen wir uns eines bewahren und retten: die Einigkeit, den Gedanken der Volksgemeinschaft, die in den Jahren des Krieges in der Frontkameradschaft draußen, in der gegenseitigen Hilfsbereitschaft in allen Nöten daheim ihren schönsten Ausdruck gefunden hat. Wir werden diese Kameradschaft und Hilfsbereitschaft in den kommenden Nöten des Hungers und der Armut ebenso brauchen wie in den Zeiten der Schlachten und der Bombenangriffe. Nur wenn wir uns diese Einigkeit erhalten und nicht wieder in streitende Klassen und Gruppen auseinanderfallen, können wir die künftige harte Zeit überstehen.

Wir müssen das Recht zur Grundlage unseres Volkslebens machen. In unserem Volk soll Gerechtigkeit das oberste Gesetz und die höchste Richtschnur sein. Wir müssen das Recht als die Grundlage der Beziehungen zwischen den Völkern aus innerer Überzeugung anerkennen und achten. Die Achtung vor geschlossenen Verträgen soll uns ebenso heilig sein wie das Gefühl der Zusammengehörigkeit unseres Volkes zur europäischen Völkerfamilie, als deren Glied wir alle menschlichen, moralischen und materiellen Kräfte aufbieten wollen, um die furchtbaren Wunden zu heilen, die der Krieg geschlagen hat.

Dann können wir hoffen, dass die Atmosphäre des Hasses, die heute Deutschland in der Welt umgibt, einem Geist der Versöhnung in den Völkern weicht, ohne den eine Gesundung der Welt gar nicht möglich ist, und dass uns die Freiheit wieder winkt, ohne die kein Volk ein erträgliches und würdiges Dasein führen kann.

Wir wollen die Zukunft unseres Volkes in der Besinnung auf die innersten und besten Kräfte des deutschen Wesens sehen, die der Welt unvergängliche Werke und Werte gegeben haben. Wir werden mit dem Stolz auf den Heldenkampf unseres Volkes den Willen verbinden, als Glied der christlich abendländischen Kultur in redlicher Friedensarbeit einen Beitrag zu liefern, der den besten Traditionen unseres Volkes entspricht.

Möge Gott uns im Unglück nicht verlassen und unser schweres Werk segnen!

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Statement by President Truman on Timing of Announcement of German Surrender
May 7, 1945

harry.s.truman.jpg

I have agreed with the London and Moscow governments that I will make no announcement with reference to surrender of the enemy forces in Europe or elsewhere until a simultaneous statement can be made by the three governments. Until then, there is nothing I can or will say to you.

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U.S. State Department (May 7, 1945)

740.00119 EW/5-745

Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State

Washington, May 7, 1945 — 1:45 p.m.

Admiral Leahy telephoned me and said that the situation on the announcement of V-E Day was terribly confused and he wanted me to know the background of the latest information. He stated that we have an agreement with Stalin and Churchill to make the announcement at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning but Churchill today raised the devil because he said he had to make the announcement right away and wanted to make it at noon today. Admiral Leahy said the President declined to do it then and said that he had arranged with Stalin and Churchill to announce it at 9 o’clock and he could not violate his agreement without the assent of Stalin. Admiral Leahy said they had been trying to get in touch with Stalin but so far have had nothing from him except the vague thought that he doesn’t know the terms and can’t make an announcement as yet. Admiral Leahy said he had heard later through BBC that Churchill was going to make the announcement at 3 o’clock. He said that he also had heard that de Gaulle is going to announce it at 2 o’clock. He stated that nobody has any control over de Gaulle and that this action was typical of him. I agreed with Admiral Leahy and remarked that de Gaulle was acting just like a naughty boy. Admiral Leahy said he spoke to the President about 20 minutes ago and thought it was definite for 9 o’clock tomorrow morning. He said that the only way the thing would be stopped would be for Stalin to ask us not to announce it yet. Admiral Leahy also said that he had been in touch with Eisenhower who said he had made no announcement and has kept it as secret as it could be kept. He said he would not make any announcement until it was released here. I said I understood it had leaked through AP. Admiral Leahy said the Germans are talking freely in plain language about it so everyone knows it. I said at any rate the only people who would be displeased about the whole thing would be the newspapermen.

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Marshal Stalin to President Truman

Moscow, May 7, 1945
[Translation]

I am in receipt of your message of May 7, about announcing Germany’s surrender. The Supreme Command of the Red Army is not sure that the order of the German High Command on unconditional surrender will be executed by the German armies on the Eastern Front. We fear, therefore, that if the Government of the USSR announces today the surrender of Germany we may find ourselves in an awkward position and mislead the Soviet public. It should be borne in mind that the German resistance on the Eastern Front is not slackening but, judging by the intercepted radio messages, a considerable grouping of German troops have explicitly declared their intention to continue the resistance and to disobey Dönitz’s surrender order.

For this reason the Command of the Soviet troops would like to wait until the German surrender takes effect and to postpone the Government’s announcement of the surrender till May 9, 7 p.m. Moscow time.

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740.00119 EW/5-745: Telegram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union to the Secretary of State

Moscow, May 7, 1945 — 2 p.m.
[Received 3:15 p.m.]

1487.

I wish to invite attention to my several telegrams pointing out the markedly casual and inconspicuous treatment which the Soviet press has given to the surrenders of German forces in Italy and in the Western Theater and the general crumbling of German resistance there. News of these events has been made available to the Soviet public only in minor back page items in the daily press, has been accompanied by no editorial comment of any sort and has not been singled out in any way for the attention of the readers.

It is not possible to be sure of the motives dictating this extreme reserve in releasing news of victories which one might have thought would be highly gratifying to both the Soviet Government and public. The most likely explanation, in my opinion, is that the Soviet leaders, while not daring to withhold the news entirely are not happy over the fact that the big local surrenders have been exclusively to our forces and not to theirs; that they do not wish it to be suggested that the forces of the Western nations are less feared and hated than the Soviet forces among the peoples of central Europe and that they choose not to draw the attention of their public to the full extent of German disintegration until they are able to announce complete surrender and cessation of resistance on all fronts, including their own, and to attribute this primarily to the heroic efforts of the Red Army.

Sent Department as 1487, repeated to Paris for Reber and Murphy as 101.

KENNAN

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The Pittsburgh Press (May 7, 1945)

V-E Day tomorrow, British announce

Last-minute hitch delays proclamation – AP barred in Europe
By Phil Ault, United Press staff writer

LONDON, England – The British Ministry of Information tonight said that tomorrow “will be treated as Victory in Europe Day.”

In Washington, President Truman said that he was withholding any announcement in reference to the surrender of enemy forces in Europe until he could complete arrangements for simultaneous statements in Washington, London and Moscow.

A German broadcast today reported the surrender of all remaining German forces in Europe. The Flensburg radio said it was making the announcement by authority of Adm. Karl Doenitz and the German High Command.

The British Ministry of Information statement said that “tomorrow, Tuesday, will be treated as Victory in Europe Day, and will be regarded as a holiday.” Prime Minister Churchill will broadcast at 3 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) tomorrow and King George at 9 p.m. (3 p.m. ET tomorrow).

EDITOR’S NOTE: A flat announcement of an unconditional German surrender was carried by the Associated Press, but not by the United Press or International News Service (Hearst). It was not carried by important foreign news services.

Allied Supreme Headquarters in Paris announced that the filing facilities of the Associated Press had been suspended throughout the European Theater of Operations.

Earlier an announcement was made that the AP’s filing privileges at SHAEF had been suspended.

AP headquarters in New York said they had no immediate statement to make.

Radio broadcasts from London shortly after noon today said that Prime Minister Churchill and President Truman were ready to announce officially the end of the war in Europe, but that Marshal Stalin “has still not agreed.”

The broadcast said that telephone conversations between the Big Three had been held this morning. The broadcast was made by Edward R. Murrow of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

The reports of German surrender started today with a German broadcast that all remaining Nazi forces have surrendered.

A speaker identified as German Foreign Minister Count Ludwig Schwerin von Krosigk announced over the Flensburg radio at 2:09 p.m. (8:09 a.m. ET) that the high command of the German Armed Forces had surrendered unconditionally all “fighting German troops” today.

The order for surrender was given by Doenitz, the broadcast said. It came on the 2,074th day of the European War.

Though the surrender order was not confirmed immediately, it presumably covered the almost one million German troops still holding out in Norway, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Yugoslavia, the French coast and the Channel Islands.

Only an hour earlier, the BBC, in its Danish service, broadcast a report that the Norwegian garrison had capitulated. Speedy confirmation of the surrender of the other German forces was expected.

Schwerin von Krosigk’s announcement was carried over the German station at Flensburg on the German-Danish border. Though behind the Allied lines, Flensburg was declared an open city by the Germans earlier this week and apparently has not been occupied by Allied forces.

A transcript of von Krosigk’s remarks was recorded by BBC and rushed to 10 Downing St., where the British Cabinet was in session under Prime Minister Churchill.

The greater proportion of German forces was already in Allied hands following piecemeal surrenders along the Western Front. The German armies in Northern Italy surrendered last Wednesday, those in Denmark, Holland and Northwest Germany on Saturday and those in Western Austria Sunday.

Details of the surrender of the German garrison in Norway were lacking, but Stockholm dispatches said Hans Thomsen, German Ambassador to Sweden, was believed to have delivered the documents of capitulation to Allied legations in the Swedish capital this morning.

Thomsen was said to have journeyed across the Swedish-Norwegian border to Lillehammer last night to confer with Gen. Franz Boehme, German commander in Norway, and Reich Commissar Josef Terboven.

Arrangements for the surrender presumably were completed at the Lillehammer conference. Included in the capitulation presumably were between 200 and 300 German submarines and a number of surface warships that had sought refuge from Allied bombs in Norwegian fjords.

The surrender was believed to have been made jointly to the United States, Britain and Russia. BBC said Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery rejected a German offer to surrender to the Western Allies alone and informed the enemy that any offer must be to Russia as well.

Vidkun Quisling, premier of the Norwegian puppet government, and other high Nazi leaders also held lengthy conferences at the Royal Castle at Oslo over the weekend, Stockholm said.

There were some reports that the Germans were seeking to arrange to surrender en masse to neutral Sweden for internment. German soldiers have been surrendering in large groups to Sweden for a number of months.

Informed Czechoslovak sources in London said it was “entirely possible” that tank vanguards of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s U.S. Third Army already were in Prague this afternoon.

The Czechs said they had reliable information that Gen. Patton’s forces were only 12½ miles from Prague at 6 a.m. However, they added that German troops on the west bank of the Vltava River bisecting the capital, were between the Americans and Czech patriots in the eastern portion of the city.

The eastern or newer part of Prague was said to be held firmly by the patriots. Thus, the Germans out on the west bank faced imminent entrapment between the patriots and the Third Army.

Official American accounts of the Third Army’s progress ran far behind those from patriot sources.

A dispatch from the Third Army front said three columns were converging on Prague. One was 50 miles southwest of the capital after capturing Pilsen, home of the giant Skoda arms works.

Another, from the 4th Armored Division, advanced 25 miles to Brez, 48 miles southwest of Prague and 24 miles southeast of Pilsen, and a third, also from the 4th Armored Division, entered Boschowitz, 52 miles southwest of Prague and 41 miles southeast of Pilsen.

All three columns were meeting little or no resistance.

German broadcasts admitted that the Russians had burst through the Nazi lines 130 miles east of Prague.

The U.S. Fifth Army joined in the final assault on the southeastern redoubt with an invasion of Austria through the Alpine passes east of Brenner from Northern Italy, roughly 100 miles from the Third Army’s southern flank.

The Red Army virtually completed the conquest of Germany’s Baltic coast with the clearing of Ruegen Island, a mile off the Mecklenburg shore and 35 miles southeast of Denmark.

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TRUMAN SILENT ON SURRENDER
White House awaits action by other Allies

Has nothing to say now on surrender

WASHINGTON (UP) – President Truman said today that he was withholding any announcement in reference to the surrender of enemy forces in Europe until arrangements could be completed for a simultaneous statement here, in London and in Moscow.

He said:

I have agreed with the London and Moscow governments that I will make no announcement with reference to the surrender of the enemy forces in Europe or elsewhere until a simultaneous statement can be made by the three governments.

Until then, there is nothing I can or will say to you.

The President’s statement was directed to the crowd of press and radio reporters that besieged the White House for news.

White House Press Secretary Jonathan Daniels, who released Mr. Truman’s statement, would not comment on the announcement by the British Ministry of Information that tomorrow would be treated as V-E Day in Britain with Prime Minister Churchill speaking to the British public at 9 a.m. ET tomorrow.

The White House earlier had repeated its announcement of more than a week ago that Mr. Truman would make a broadcast to the American public on V-E Day. It refused, however, to say when the broadcast would be made. In view of the arrangement for simultaneous announcements, and Mr. Churchill’s decision to speak tomorrow, it seemed likely that Mr. Truman would also make his proclamation tomorrow.

‘Nothing definite’ now

Democratic Leader John W. McCormack (D-Massachusetts) told the House today that “nothing definite can be said now” concerning the surrender situation in Europe, “although it is hoped some official proclamation might be made some time this afternoon.”

In a statement to the House, Speaker Sam Rayburn said that although he had been in communication with the White House, he “knows nothing more than any other member of the House.”

Without waiting for an announcement, several members took the floor to discuss the situation.

Rep. Frances Bolton (R-Ohio) said she was distressed to learn that New York was celebrating the end of the European war without regard for the “broken homes.”

“What is wrong with us as a nation?” she asked.

She said Times Square was filled with “paper and people” all of whom were rejoicing. except the few hiding personal grief.

Rep. Francis Case (R-South Dakota) reminded the House that today was the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania in the last war and said history had taken a “full turn” since that disaster.

Rep. Clare Hoffman (R-Michigan) said 40 or 50 million Americans wanted to know now how many Pacific islands would have to be recovered for the British and the Dutch after American security was assured.

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Victory-happy crowds throng streets of London

LONDON, England (UP) – Victory-happy crowds thronged central London streets today in anticipation of an announcement from Prime Minister Churchill that the war in Europe was over.

More than 200 persons crowded into Downing Street – which is barely quarter of a block long – watching the stream of political and military celebrities going in and out of No. 10, the Prime Minister’s residence.

Mr. Churchill was expected to make the announcement from the cabinet room in No. 10. Later he might address the crowds in Whitehall from the balcony of the Ministry of Health Building, where microphones were set up.

Street salesmen did a rushing business selling flags to crowds in Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall.

In the middle of Whitehall, the Cenotaph memorial to the dead of World War I was covered with flags. A big horseshoe wreath of red and white flowers leaning against the monument bore the inscription, “Gratitude from Denmark.”

But as a reminder of what lies ahead, a sign painter was at work in front of the Ministry of Labor painting in huge yellow letters on a black background, “War Against Japan.”

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U.S. State Department (May 7, 1945)

740.0011 EW/5-745: Telegram

The Ambassador in France to the Secretary of State

Paris, May 7, 1945 — 10 p.m.
[Received May 7 — 6:33 p.m.]
2447.

From Murphy for Matthews.

General Eisenhower has informed Combined Chiefs of Staff that the mission entrusted to his Allied Command has now been completed. [Murphy.]

CAFFERY

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Neues Österreich (May 8, 1945)

Der Krieg ist zu Ende!

Endgültiger Sieg der Vereinten Nationen

London, 7. Mai – Das Oberkommando der deutschen Wehrmacht erklärte heute die bedingungslose Kapitulation aller deutschen Streitkräfte.

Die Kapitulation wurde zuerst vom deutschen Außenminister Graf Schwerin von Krosigk bekanntgegeben. Er erklärte im Rundfunk:

Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht hat heute auf Geheiß von Großadmiral Dönitz die bedingungslose Kapitulation aller kämpfenden Truppen erklärt. Die, deutsche Kapitulation erfolgte in aller Form in General Eisenhowers Hauptquartier in Reims um 2,41 Uhr nachts. Für Deutschland wurde die Kapitulationsurkunde von Generaloberst Jodl unterzeichnet, für General Eisenhower unterzeichnete sein Stabschef Wedell Smith, für die Sowjetunion General Suslaparow, für Frankreich General Seves. General Eisenhower war bei der Unterzeichnung nicht zugegen.

Unmittelbar nach der Unterzeichnung empfing General Eisenhower, Generaloberst Jodl und Admiral von Friedeburg. Eisenhower fragte die deutschen Bevollmächtigten, ob sie die Bestimmungen das Deutschland auferlegten Kapitulation vollauf begriffen hätten und ob die Bestimmungen würden durchgeführt werden. Die deutschen Bevollmächtigten bejahten, sie seien sich über die. Bestimmungen völlig im Klaren. Sie würden durchgeführt werden.

Erklärung Jodls

Nach der Unterzeichnung erklärte Generaloberst Jodl, er müsse eingestehen, dass Deutschland nach sechsjährigem Kampf der überwältigenden Übermacht der Gegner unterlegen sei. Eine Fortsetzung des Kampfes hätte nur unnützes Blutvergießen und Zerstörung bedeutet. Eine Regierung, die Verantwortungsgefühl für die Zukunft des Volkes besitze, müsse daraus die Folgerung ziehen und um Einstellung der Feindseligkeiten ersuchen.

Generaloberst Jodl erklärte ferner, er sei sich klar darüber, daß durch diese Unterschrift das deutsche Volk und die deutsche Wehrmacht den Siegern auf Gedeih und Verderb in die Hand gegeben seien.

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Weiterkämpfende Truppen außerhalb des Kriegsrechtes

London, 7. Mai – In London führte Churchill heute den Vorsitz bei einer Vollsitzung des britischen Kabinetts.

Die deutsche Kapitulation erstreckt sich auf alle deutschen Streitkräfte im Feld und auch auf die gegen Russland kämpfenden Truppen.

Ein von den Deutschen noch besetzter Prager Sender bestritt heute, dass sich die Kapitulation auch auf die gegen Russland kämpfenden Truppen beziehe und erklärte, der Kampf gegen Rußland würde weitergehen.

Von alliierter Seite wurde daraufhin erklärt, dass die deutschen Truppen, die nach der Kapitulation weiterkämpfen, nach völkerrechtlichen Bestimmungen als illegale Freischärler gelten und außerhalb des Kriegsrechtes stehen.

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Dönitz proklamiert Ende des U-Boot-Krieges

London, 7. Mai – Dönitz hat heute über den Sender Flensburg das Ende des U-Boot-Krieges proklamiert. Er gab den Befehl, alle Feindseligkeiten einzustellen und Heimatkurs zu nehmen, Er erklärte dazu: „Durch die gewaltige Überlegenheit des Gegners sind wir auf engstem Raum zusammengedrängt worden, Eine Fortsetzung des Kampfes von den uns verbliebenen Stützpunkten aus ist unmöglich.”

Dönitz gab ferner an alle Hafen- und Schiffsbesatzungen im norddeutschen Raum den Befehl, von jeder Kampfhandlung Abstand zu nehmen und Selbstversenkungen von Schiffen, sowie Zerstörung von Maschinen und Einrichtungen zu unterlassen. Die Mannschaften haben an Bord zu bleiben, Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe, die von der Kapitulation gegenüber Feldmarschall Montgomery betroffen werden, sollen vorläufig in dänischen Häfen bleiben. Von dieser Verfügung wird unter anderem der Kreuzer Prinz Eugen und der Kreuzer Nürnberg betroffen.

Abmarsch aus Dänemark

London, 7. Mai – Aus Dänemark marschieren tausende deutsche Soldaten über die Grenze nach Deutschland, wo sie von den Truppen Feldmarschall Montgomerys entwaffnet werden sollen.

Der Chef der britischen Militärkommission in Kopenhagen gab bekannt:

Die Deutschen marschieren unter ihren eigenen Vorgesetzten und behalten ihre Waffen. Ihre Entwaffnung in Dänemark würde den Einsatz der britischen Truppen zu sehr in Anspruch, nehmen, da 200.000 bis 300.000 Deutsche entwaffnet werden müssten.

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Leitartikel: Bedingungslose Kapitulation

Gestern hat Deutschland bedingungslos kapituliert. Der Krieg ist zu Ende. Das Recht hat gesiegt. Es wird wieder Friede sein auf Erden.

Sehnsüchtig haben die Völker auf diesen Tag gewartet, der kommen mußte, mit derselben Notwendigkeit, mit der die Sonne die Nacht verscheucht. Die Niederlage Deutschlands war geschichtlich vorausbestimmt, denn der Raubzug des Rassenhasses, des Größenwahns gegen die freiheitsliebenden Völker mußte schließlich den vereinigten Widerstand der Welt hervorrufen. Diese unabwendbare Niederlage war seit dem Winter 1941/42, seit der ersten Katastrophe der Hitlerarmee vor den Toren von Moskau und vor allem seit der Schicksalswende von Stalingrad für jeden denkenden Menschen offenkundig. Eine deutsche Staats- und Armeeführung mit einem Funken Verantwortungsgefühl hätte damals die Konsequenzen gezogen und sie zum Frieden um jeden Preis bereit erklärt. An der Spitze Deutschlands aber standen keine Volksführer und keine Staatsmänner, sondern verbrecherische Abenteurer, herz- und hirnlose Banditen, deren Gewerbe nur die Zerstörung, deren Ziel nur das Chaos war. Und die deutsche Nation hatte sich mit Leib und Seele dieser verschworenen Räuberbande ausgeliefert und fand in sich nicht die sittliche Kraft, den Rückweg. zu Vernunft und Wahrheit anzutreten. So wurde denn ein wahnwitziger, aussichtsloser, krimineller Krieg fortgesetzt, ein Krieg der Lüge, der Sturheit, der Selbstverblendung und Selbstzerfleischung gegen die große Freiheitsfront der Völker, denen der Sieg gebührt und denen er darum gehört.

Es gibt keinerlei Entschuldigung, nicht den leisesten Milderungsgrund für die deutsche Raserei, die den Krieg begonnen hat und die ihn weiterschleppte, sechs Jahre lang, über Trümmerhaufen und Leichenberge, über den Schutt und die Asche von Städten, die der deutsche Führer und der deutsche Soldat mutwillig dem Untergang preisgaben, über das qualvolle Sterben und namenlose Elend von ungezählten Millionen, die kaltblütig aufgeopfert wurden im Namen einer frechen Räuberbande, einer unmenschlichen Räubermoral. Es liegt kein Hauch von Größe, von Heroismus über diesem hundertfach verdienten Zusammenbruch, sondern nur der Grabeshauch eines jammervollen Gehorsams und der Leichendunst einer ungeheuerlichen Verantwortungslosigkeit. Die Menschheit verflucht die deutschen Kriegsverbrecher nicht nur darum, weil sie gewissenlos den Krieg entfesselten, sondern weit mehr noch darum, weil sie ihn bis zum schreckensvollen Ende hinauszogen, bis zum Tag eines nie dagewesenen militärischen, politischen und moralischen Zusammenbruchs, einer wahrhaft schauerlichen Katastrophe. Wir Österreicher haben allen Grund, aus tiefsten Herzenstiefen in diesen Fluch der Menschheit einzustimmen, denn unser Land und Volk mußte die letzte Verzögerung der unvermeidlichen bedingungslosen Kapitulation mit allen Schrecken des Krieges, mit den Ruinen von Wien, mit der weitgehenden Zerstörung unserer Industrie und Landwirtschaft bezahlen. Um ein paar Wochen später zu kapitulieren, haben die deutschen Kriegsverbrecher unser Osterreich zum Kriegsschauplatz, unser Wien zu einer Stadt der Trauer und Trümmer gemacht. Niemals werden wir das vergessen.

Der Krieg ist zu Ende. Doch immer noch gibt es eingefleischte Nazischufte, die das Mordhandwerk auf eigene Faust fortzusetzen gedenken. Die Reichsregierung hat kapituliert, aber der Sender Prag, einer der letzten deutschen Sender, die noch in der Hand der Banditen sind, hat zu weiterem Widerstand aufgefordert. Die SS-Mordbuben sollen wissen: Wer jetzt noch mit der Waffe in der Hand den Armeen der freien Völker entgegentritt, wird nicht als Soldat, sondern als Wegelagerer behandelt. Und ebenso fordert das Volk, dass jeder Lump, der jetzt noch aktiv als Nazi tätig ist und den Aufbau Österreichs stört, mit dem Tode bestraft wird. Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Hitlerpartei ist die notwendige Folge der bedingungslosen Kapitulation Hitlerdeutschlands. Wir wollen endlich, endlich den Frieden – und wehe jedem, der sich vermisst, weiterhin einen Privatkrieg gegen Volk, Recht und Ordnung zu führen!

Es ist ein teuer erkaufter, schwer erkämpfter Friede, dessen ersten Morgenhauch wir endlich verspüren. Wir werden ihn schützen, entschlossen, einmütig und mit brennender Leidenschaft.

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The Pittsburgh Press (May 8, 1945)

Disgraceful, unethical, war reporters charge –
AP’s story of surrender called ‘double cross,’ violation of oath

PARIS, France (UP) – All correspondents at Supreme Allied Headquarters, except those on the staff of the Associated Press, today signed a letter to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, accusing Edward Kennedy of the AP of violating a pledge of honor by filing an unauthorized dispatch on the German surrender at Reims.

They asked that the ban on the AP filing privileges from the European theater of operations be imposed.

The pledge of honor was accepted without dissent by 16 newspapermen, including Mr. Kennedy, who were flown from Paris to Reims to cover the surrender.

The letter called Mr. Kennedy’s action in sending out a dispatch in violation of this pledge “the most disgraceful, deliberate and unethical double-cross in the history of journalism.”

The letter was signed by some of the most distinguished correspondents assigned to the war, including men representing The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, the John Knight newspapers, including The Chicago Daily News, Time and Life Magazines, representatives of radio networks, Reuters, the United Press and the International News Service.

Gen. Eisenhower rejected the correspondents’ petition on the grounds only the War Department in Washington could discipline an entire American organization. The ban against Mr. Kennedy filing remains in effect.

Mr. Kennedy admitted he had violated his pledge not to file a dispatch on the Reims surrender until authorized to do so by SHAEF. He said he had violated it because he believed Brig. Gen. Frank Allen, SHAEF press relations officer, had no right to bind correspondents to such a pledge.

Mr. Kennedy, however, made no protest against taking the pledge when Gen. Allen called the correspondents around him in the plane on the way to Reims and told them:

Gentlemen, we are going on a mission to cover the signing of the peace. This group has been chosen to represent the press of the world.

This story is off the record until the respective heads of the Allied governments announce the fact to the world. I, therefore, pledge each and every one of you on your honor not to communicate the results of this conference or the fact of its existence until it is released by SHAEF.

Fifty-three correspondents signed the letter to Gen. Eisenhower.

SHAEF appointed a committee of three officers to investigate the method Mr. Kennedy used in filing his Reims dispatch in violation of his pledge. The committee has not reported.

The AP in New York said Mr. Kennedy telephoned his dispatch from France to London where it was put on the trans-Atlantic cable to New York.

The rule of the London censorship is that dispatches of foreign origin, travelling through London, merely can be stamped “in transit” and do not need to be submitted to the London censorship.

The assumption of the rule is that such dispatches have been censored at the source of origin.

**Such an evasion was available to all the correspondents who went to Reims, except that they had given their word that they would comply with regulations which called for their copy to be submitted to the censor at Allied Headquarters in Paris.

Today’s action by the SHAEF correspondents is unparalleled. Never before have so many correspondents signed such a denunciation of a fellow reporter as the one sent to Gen. Eisenhower today.

Discussing the imposition of the ban on the AP’s filing facilities throughout the European Theater yesterday, Gen. Allen said:

The ban was imposed for the purposes of investigation and not as a punishment. Therefore, its lifting cannot be regarded as exoneration.

The text of the SHAEF correspondents’ letter to Gen. Eisenhower:

We the undersigned SHAEF accredited correspondents have learned with utter astonishment of the decision to lift the ban on Associated Press in connection with the unauthorized publication of official news of the unconditional surrender of Germany.

It is our firm conviction that this action is most outrageously unfair treatment of those news agencies and newspapers whose correspondents have respected the confidence placed in them by SHAEF; and who as a result of so doing have suffered the most disgraceful, deliberate and unethical double-cross in the history of journalism.

‘Position incomprehensible’

Any position that the Associated Press as an organization was not guilty of any infraction of SHAEF regulations is in our opinion incomprehensible. The organization in question published the story and made no effort whatever to retract it when it became evident that its publication was a flagrant violation of SHAEF security regulations imposed on all other correspondents concerned.

Furthermore, the Paris Bureau of Associated Press distributed the story to all French newspapers. This involved activities of more than one representative of that agency.

It is an accepted fact that any organization is responsible for its personnel, especially in the case of men assigned as war correspondents to theater of military operations and even more especially in the case of men selected as bureau chiefs. (Edward Kennedy, Paris Associated Press Bureau chief.)

Pledge quoted

Each accredited SHAEF correspondent who participated in the mission in question was pledged on his honor to secrecy by Brig. Gen. Frank Allen. Gen. Allen made to correspondents involved a statement to the following effect:

“This story is off the record until the respective heads of the Allied governments announce the fact to the world. I therefore pledge each and every one of you on your honor not to communicate the results of this conference or the fact of its existence until it is released by SHAEF.”

Associated Press cannot escape responsibility for the fact that a man selected as its representative at SHAEF and who was among those present when Gen. Allen imposed his secrecy pledge deliberately circumvented SHAEF censorship in order to file his story for immediate publication in complete defiance of the pledge.

Story unauthorized

Much less can Associated Press escape responsibility for continuing to publish the story when it was evident that it was unauthorized.

To permit Associated Press to carry at the time of its authorized release any official news out of ETO concerning the surrender of Germany is in our opinion most unjust. to those correspondents who have kept faith with you.

If this decision is allowed to stand it will in our opinion completely undermine any sense of responsibility on the part of correspondents to abide by or respect in the future SHAEF rules or regulations.

Evidence of incompetence

That an Associated Press correspondent was able to telephone an unauthorized story of this to London is in itself glaring evidence of incompetence on the part of that branch of Allied military which is responsible for security in Paris.

That Associated Press should be permitted to continue to benefit from its defiance of a solemn pledge of secrecy imposed on news of such importance to the world is incredible.

Although the original action against the AP suspended all its filing privileges throughout the European Theater, this order was later amended to apply only to Mr. Kennedy.

*Commenting yesterday on the suspension of all AP filing facilities in the European Theater, Paul Mickelson, general news editor of the AP in New York, said: “The suspension is like being thrown out of Wahoo, Nebraska, after the whole thing is over.”

The United Press man assigned to the Reims trip was Boyd D. Lewis, European news manager, who filed dispatch No. 1 with the SHAEF censor when he returned to SHAEF. That dispatch was released for publication at 9 a.m. ET today.

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Lewis: Nazi pleads for generosity for Germans

Appeal follows surrender signing
By Boyd D. Lewis, United Press staff writer

Here is an eyewitness account of Sunday’s surrender at Reims by one of the seven American news and radio reporters who saw it take place. This story was filed at 8 a.m. Monday (2 a.m. ET) with censorship at Supreme Allied Headquarters in Paris for transmission as soon as the official embargo was lifted.

REIMS, France (May 7, delayed) – Representatives of our Allied powers and vanquished Germany scrawled their names on a sheet of foolscap in a map-lined 30-by-30-foot room at 2:41 a.m. CET today (8:41 p.m. Sunday ET) and ended World War II in Europe.

I witnessed this historic scene.

In a ceremony exactly 20 minutes long, Col. Gen. Gustav Jodl, chief of staff of Adm. Doenitz’s government and long-time close friend of Adolf Hitler, surrendered all German armed forces on land, sea and in the ar.

Effective tonight

The surrender is effective one minute after midnight Wednesday, British Double Summer Time (6:01
p.m. ET).

A high officer said almost all firing had ceased on the remaining fronts.

The actual signing took five minutes. There are four copies of the surrender document, and in addition the naval disarmament order, which was signed by Adm. Sir Harold Burroughs, Allied naval chief.

Immediately after signing the last document with a bold “Jodl,” the Nazi arose, bowed and in a broken voice pleaded for generosity “for the German people, the German armed forces,” who he said “both have achieved and suffered more perhaps than any other people in the world.”

Eisenhower smiles

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, smiling, confident and restrained, sat with his deputy, Britain’s Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, beside him. In a three-minute statement later for newsreels, Gen. Eisenhower hailed the German surrender as the conclusion of the plan reached by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at Casablanca in 1942 – unconditional surrender.

“We have defeated Germany on land, sea and in the air,” Gen. Eisenhower said. He added that the peace was fittingly signed in France, a country which suffered so much at the hands of Germany and whose liberation started on D-Day, just 11 months ago yesterday (Sunday). Gen. Eisenhower did not attend the actual signing. That was carried out by generals of America, Russia, England and France on his behalf.

After signing the last sheet, Jodl arose and Gen. Adm. Hans Georg Friedeburg and Jodl’s aide. Maj. Wilhelm Oxinius, jumped up with him.

Speaks in German

Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, who signed for Anglo-American forces as SHEAF chief of staff, asked Jodl to meet him at 10 a.m. Monday to arrange for German liaison officers to carry out the surrender and disarmament orders,

‘Suffered more’

Jodl stood with eyes half shut, leaning slightly forward, and said in English. “I want to say a few words.” Then he spoke rapidly in German in a voice which seemed on the point or cracking once or twice:

General, with this signature the German people and the German armed forces are for the better or worse delivered into the victors’ hands.

In this war which has lasted more than five years, both have achieved more and suffered more perhaps than any other people in the world.

I express hope the victor will treat them with generosity.

Ten minutes later he was presented before the supreme commander. Gen Eisenhower stood very grim at his desk in his cubbyhole office and asked if Jodl understood the terms he would carry out.

Jodl muttered “yes.”

The Germans’ heels clicked and they strode out, Jodl tripping on a camera floodlight cable.

60 see surrender

The war was ended at a black-topped table 20 by six feet, bathed in floodlights which heated the tiny “war room” almost insufferably.

Some 60 spectators, including 16 correspondents, gathered shortly before 2 a.m.

The presiding general, Smith, entered the room at 2:29.

At 2:39, the three Germans entered.

Jodl clicked his heels to Smith. There was no saluting. The three Germans sat down, facing these Allied officers:

Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick E. Morgan (deputy chief of staff), Gen. Francois Sevez (representing the French Chief of Staff, Gen. Alphonse-Pierre Juin), Adm. Sir Harold M. Burroughs (Allied naval chief), Gen. Smith (presiding), Gen. Susloparov, Gen. Carl Spaatz (commanding the U.S. Strategic Air Force), Air Marshal Sir J. M. Robb (chief of the air staff of SHAEF), Maj. Gen. H. R. Bull (assistant chief of staff, G-3, SHAEF), and Col. Zenkovitch (aide to Gen. Susloparov).

Embraces Ike

Gen. Susloparov smiled frequently during the ceremony. Afterward, in Gen. Eisenhower’s office, he and Ike laughed and embraced and congratulated one another.

Gen. Smith signed for the British and Americans, passing the surrender from the Frenchman on his right to the Russian on his left. Jodl was the last to sign.

The scene of the surrender was a classroom of Reims’ Ecole Professionelle, co-educational technical school. The Germans had used it as supreme headquarters during their occupation and Gen. Eisenhower made it his SHAEF forward post since moving from Versailles several months ago.

Started Wednesday

Negotiations began last Wednesday evening when Friedeburg, who succeeded Doenitz as commander-in-chief of the German Navy when Doenitz became Fuehrer, surrendered the northern armies, exclusive of Norway, to Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery.

Friedeburg and the other German representatives were brought to Reims Saturday.

Friedeburg, who complained he had had little sleep during the past 10 days and who had slept most of the way in the plane and limousine, asked for a chance to wash up.

The Admiral hummed softly while washing up but his aide, Col. Fritz Poleck, appeared nervous.

Meet at 5:20

The first meeting took place at 5:20 o’clock Saturday.

Present, in addition to Gen. Eisenhower were Maj. K. W. D. Strong (G-2 Supreme Headquarters), Gen. Spaatz, Adm. Burroughs, Maj. Gen. H. R. Bull (assistant chief of staff), Marshal Robb, Capt. Harry C. Butcher (naval aide to Gen. Eisenhower), Col, R. G. S. Philmore (who drafted the surrender terms), and Maj. Ruth M. Briggs of the WAC (secretary chief of staff).

That meeting lasted 20 minutes – long enough to reveal that Friedeburg did not have authority to lay surrender on the line.

Gen. Smith demanded his credentials to commit Doenitz. Friedeburg was willing, but he did not have the proper credentials.

Gen. Smith therefore gave the Admiral the written terms.

Tries to compromise

Friedeburg tried to compromise; he complained many German soldiers might be killed by the Russians unless allowed to surrender directly to the Allies in the west.

Gen. Smith gave the suggestion no consideration. He declared the Allies were not prepared to discuss anything but simultaneous surrender to the Allies of the east and west.

Friedeburg asked about the German civilian population which he said might suffer hardships. Gen. Smith replied that the German people were enemies of the Allies until surrender; after that, he said, we would be guided by the dictates of humanity.

Friedeburg and an aide then took the terms to an office and mulled them over while washing down sandwiches with whisky. Washington, Moscow and London were given code dispatches by Gen. Eisenhower on the progress of the negotiations.

Guarded by MPs

Three teams of MPs guarded them. They included Frederick Stone of Pittsburgh.

Prime Minister Churchill telephoned several times for information during the evening and Gen. Smith conferred with Gen. Eisenhower.

Saturday night, Friedeburg sent a message to Doenitz via the British Second Army.

Friedeburg said he had two proposals from SHAEF, first, that he be empowered to surrender all theaters, and alternately Doenitz send his chief of staff and commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air forces with the necessary authority.

The Germans then were escorted to their billet.

The big day

Sunday morning dawned full of portent – just 11 months to the day after Normandy D-Day. Gen. Eisenhower had told the correspondents recently his original plans in England envisaged possibly reaching the German border by the end of the 12th month after D-Day.

The day passed in eager waiting for Doenitz to reply.

At precisely 5:08 p.m. Sunday, the reply arrived at Reims airport im an Allied military plane in the person of Gen. Gustav Jodl – the man with the credentials – the man with power to lay surrender on the line. He was accompanied by Maj. Oxinius.

The party of correspondents representing the news agencies and networks of the world arrived 10 minutes after Jodl. They waited in the main hall of the map-lined conference room.

Details told

Details of what had gone on were given the news representatives by two public relations department officers who had been the official reporters at the first negotiations.

“This will be your first uncensored story – when the surrender is completed censorship goes off,” Brig. Gen. Frank Allen Jr. of Cleveland, director of SHAEF press relations, said.

The correspondents enjoyed a laugh at the expense of British Col. George Warren and Lt. Col. Richard Merrick of Chicago, chief SHAEF censors who were present – without blue pencils.

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Reims has a fantastic museum on the German surrender AND has tons of WW1 and great history sites!

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