Surrender of Caserta (4-29-45)

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INSTRUMENT OF LOCAL SURRENDER OF GERMAN AND OTHER FORCES UNDER THE COMMAND OR CONTROL OF THE GERMAN COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF SOUTHWEST

  1. The German Commander-in-Chief Southwest hereby surrenders unconditionally all the forces under his command or control on land, at sea and in the air and places himself and these forces unconditionally at the disposal of the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre of Operations.

  2. All armed forces under the command or control of the German Commander-in-Chief Southwest will cease all hostilities on land, at sea and in the air at 1200 hours (Greenwich mean time) on 2 May 1945. The German Commander-in-Chief Southwest undertakes to arrange accordingly.

  3. The German Commander-in-Chief Southwest undertakes to carry out the orders set out in Appendices A, B and C and any further orders of the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. Disobedience of such orders or failure to comply with them will be dealt with in accordance with the accepted laws and usages of war.

  4. This instrument will enter into force immediately on signature and the orders in Appendices A, B and C will become effective on the date and at the time specified in paragraph 2 above.

  5. This instrument and accompanying orders are drawn up in the English and German languages. The English version is the authentic text. If any doubt as to meaning or interpretation arises, the decision of the Supreme Allied Commander is final.

  6. This instrument is independent of, without prejudice to, and shall be superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by or on behalf of the United Nations and applicable to GERMANY and the German armed forces as a whole.

VICTOR VAN SCHWEINTZ,
Lieutenant Colonel in the General Staff of Army Group C,
for Colonel General VON VIETINGHOFF-SCHEEL,
Commander-in-Chief Southwest and Commander-in-Chief of Army Group C.

EUGEN WENNER,
SS-Sturmbannführer and Major in the Waffen-SS,
for SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS WOLFF,
Supreme Commander of SS and Police and plenipotentiary General of the German Wehrmacht in Italy.

W. D. MORGAN,
Lieutenant General, Chief of Staff,
for Field Marshal The Honourable Sir Harold R. L. G. ALEXANDER,
Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations

Signed at CASERTA, Italy.
29th April 1945
1400 Hours

APPENDIX A

ORDERS FOR GERMAN LAND FORCES

  1. The term “German Land Forces” wherever used in these orders shall be deemed to include all German and Italian Republican military or pare military forces or organizations, under the command or control of the German Commander-in-Chief Southwest, who is hereafter referred to as “the German Authority.”

  2. The Term “Supreme Allied Commander” will be deemed to include all subordinate Allied Commanders.

  3. The German Authority will send to HQ 15 Army Group, as soon as possible after the signing of the instrument of surrender, senior representatives with full executive powers to carry out the following orders and such further orders as the Commanding General, 15 Army Group, may issue for compliance by the German Land Forces.

‘Stay-out’ order

  1. All formations, units and sub-units of the German Land Forces, wherever they may be, will remain in their present positions and in their existing formations pending further orders from the Supreme Allied Commander. Only such local movement is permitted as is essential for the transmission of orders, the supply of food, water, forage and petrol and the treatment of sick and wounded. (See also paragraph 7.)

  2. In particular, all large-scale road and rail movement between ITALY and any point outside ITALY is absolutely prohibited. Any movement east of the ISONZO River will be liable to air attack without warning.

Disarmament of German Land Forces

  1. All German Land Forces will be completely disarmed. They will hand over their arms, ammunition, equipment and all war-like stores at places and times and in a manner to be further ordered by the Commanding General, 15 Army Group, or any of his subordinate Commanders.

Maintenance of German Land Forces

  1. The German Authority will, pending further orders from the Supreme Allied Commander, maintain its own forces from its own resources. Purchase or requisition from local sources is forbidden.

Status of surrendered personnel

  1. All personnel of the German Armed Forces shall be subject to such conditions and directions as may be prescribed by the Supreme Allied Commander. At the Supreme Allied Commander’s discretion, some or all of such personnel may be declared to be prisoners of war.

Prohibition of destruction and damage

  1. The German Authority will prevent the removal, destruction of or damage to, and will safeguard in good condition at the disposal of the Supreme Allied Commander:

    a. All arms, ammunition, explosives and war-like stores, equipment, vehicles, material of all kinds, fuel and oil stocks, and any items of supply used by or for members of the German land forces.

    b. All military installations and establishments, including permanent and temporary land fortifications, fortresses and fortified areas together with all plans and drawings of the same.

    c. All transportation and communications facilities and equipment, including all ports and port facilities and equipment, roads, railways, waterways, bridges, tunnels and telecommunications systems.

    d. All civil and industrial factories, installations and plant workshops, laboratories, experimental stations, stores, equipment, supplies, raw materials and finished products, buildings and civil property.

    e. All cryptographic methods and equipment, cyphers, codes and callsign systems, whether military, diplomatic or civilian.

    f. All military, pare military and civil documents, records and archives.

Provision of information and facilities

  1. The German Authority will forthwith furnish to the Supreme Allied Commander:

    a. Complete information regarding the German Land Forces and in particular such details as the Supreme Allied Commander may require concerning the numbers, locations, dispositions, stores and equipment of the German Land Forces wherever located.

    b. Complete information concerning mines, minefields and other obstacles to movement and the safety lanes in connection therewith.

    c. Such military, pare military and civil documents, records and archives as the Supreme Allied Commander may require.

  2. The German Authority will:

    a. Maintain in operation all public utility and essential civilian services.

    b. Clearly mark and maintain safety lanes through all minefields and other obstacles to movement.

    c. Remove or render safe all demolition charges and all booby-traps.

    d. Make available for the Supreme Allied Commander such military personnel with the necessary equipment, as: he may require, for the clearance of mines, minefields and other obstacles to movement; and such labour as he may require for any purpose.

Disposal of prisoners of war and of persons in custody

  1. The German Authority will release in accordance with the instructions of the Supreme Allied Commander all prisoners of war (naval, military or air) at present in their power and will furnish forthwith complete lists of these persons with the places of their detention. Pending release of such prisoners of war, the German Authority will continue to protect them in their persons and property, and accord them such treatment and facilities as are prescribed under the Geneva Convention.

  2. The provisions of paragraph 12 preceding will be applied by the German Authority equally to all other persons who are confined, interned or otherwise under restraint for political reasons or as the result of any action, law or regulation originating from discrimination on grounds of nationality, race, colour, creed or political belief. Such persons as are not entitled to treatment in accordance with the Geneva Convention will be afforded comparable rights and amenities in accordance with their rank or official position.

  3. Without prejudice to any other provisions in these orders, the German Authority will hand over to the Supreme Allied Commander the control of all places of detention.

Radio and telecommunications

  1. The use of military and civil radio and land line communication systems is permitted with the provisos that:

    a. All messages and signals will be made in clear.

    b. All forms of scrambling and secrecy equipment will be disconnected and safeguarded intact.

Maintenance of discipline

  1. The German Authority will remain responsible for the maintenance of discipline throughout the German Land Forces as defined in paragraph 1 above.*

Treatment of Allied liaison officers and Italian Government Forces in German-occupied Italy

  1. Italian Government Forces in Northern Italy comprise all partisan formations and organisations owing allegiance to the CLNAI, which is the recognised delegate in German-occupied Italy of the Italian Government. Immediate control of these groups is exercised through Allied and Co-belligerent officers operating in conjunction with these forces in the field. Such officers are being instructed immediately to get in touch with local German commanders.

  2. The German Commander-in-Chief Southwest and all German subordinate commanders will receive and afford all facilities to these Allied or Co-belligerent officers together with representatives of the CLNAI for the purpose of establishing and maintaining pending arrival of Allied forces, liaison with the following objects:

    a. The general maintenance of law and order.

    b. The maintenance of all essential civilian services.

    c. The provision of communications and transport which may be necessary for the adequate distribution of supplies and the continuance of local administration.

  3. For the execution of the above functions all Allied Liaison officers will be considered as the representatives of the Supreme Allied Commander. They will be afforded complete freedom of communication by any means.

*Until such time as this responsibility is taken over by Allied troops, e.g., until German troops become prisoners of war, German commissioned officers and military police (Felder gendarmerie and Geheim feld polizei) will retain their hand weapons.

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APPENDIX B

ORDER FOR GERMAN AND GERMAN-CONTROLLED NAVAL FORCES AND MERCHANT SHIPPING

  1. a. The term “German Naval Forces” wherever used in these orders will be deemed to include all German and Italian Republican naval or pare naval forces or organizations under the command or control of the German Naval Commander South or the German Commander-in-Chief Southwest.

    b. The term “German Authority” wherever used in these orders will mean the German Naval Commander South and the German Commander-in-Chief Southwest, both severally and jointly.

  2. The term “Supreme Allied Commander” will be deemed to include all his subordinate commanders.

  3. The German Authority will cause:

    a. All such surface warships, auxiliaries and merchant vessels as are under his command or control, at sea at the time and date of surrender, wherever they may be, to return to their normal port or base. Armaments of these ships are to be trained fore and aft.

    b. All ocean-going U-boats at sea to surface and fly a black flag or black pendant by day and to remain undarkened by night and show navigation lights. All ocean-going U-boats at sea to be ordered to proceed to Gibraltar, reporting on 500 Kilocycles to the nearest Allied Wireless Station their estimated time of arrival at Europa point. Small enemy submarines at sea in the Adriatic or Ligurian Seas are to be ordered to return to Pola or Genoa respectively.

    c. All such warships, including submarines of all types, auxiliaries, and merchant vessels as are under his command or control, which are in harbour, to remain there.

    d. All ships and vessels of the United Nations, whether or not title has been transferred as the result of prize court or other proceedings, which are at the disposal of or under German control at the time of surrender, to proceed at the dates and to the ports or bases specified by the Supreme Allied Commander’s representatives.

  4. The German Authority will at once cause all such warships, surface or submarine, auxiliaries, merchant ships and other craft in harbour, as are under his command or control, to comply with the following orders:

    a. No ship, vessel or craft of any description including harbour craft, whether afloat, under repair or construction, built or building, is to be damaged or scuttled, nor is any damage to be done to its hull, machinery or equipment.

    b. Ammunition is to be retained on board until further orders.

    c. Armaments are to be rendered inoperative by removal of essential portions of the firing mechanisms, but such mechanisms, and the armament in general are not to be damaged or destroyed. Fire control equipment is to be maintained on board fully efficient. All weapons are to be trained fore and aft.

    d. All small arms are to be landed, and safeguarded.

    e. Ships are to remain undarkened by night.

    f. Colours are to be struck and not rehoisted.

    g. With the exception of minesweepers and harbour tugs and vessels, all warships, surface and submarine, and auxiliaries, are to be reduced to 20~ of their complement of officers and men, except such ships or craft as are required to remain in operation to comply with the instructions in paragraph 7h (1). The officers and men removed are to be placed in shore barracks where they are to remain under naval discipline. The crews of merchant vessels are to remain on board their ships.

    h. Minesweepers are to be subjected to the degree of disarmament prescribed in sub pare c above, but are to be prepared immediately for minesweeping service under the orders of the Supreme Allied Commander’s representatives, and are to be complete with fuel.

    i. Wireless transmitting apparatus is to be rendered inoperative by removal of essential parts, but no wireless apparatus is to be damaged or destroyed.

    j. All callsign, code and cypher systems, including books, documents, files and cryptographic machinery, are to be removed from ships and placed under guard ashore. International code and callsigns are to be retained on board.

  5. The German Authority will cause all such warships, surface or submarine, auxiliaries, merchant ships and other craft at sea as are under his command or control to be instructed to comply with the orders in paragraph 4 above immediately on return to harbour.

  6. The German Authority will immediately ensure that German naval aircraft under his command or control:

    a. Do not leave the ground or base or ship until further orders are received from the Supreme Allied Commander’s representatives.

    b. Already in the air, land or alight forthwith.

  7. The German Authority will immediately take action to ensure compliance with the following orders:

    a. No demolitions are to be carried out to harbour or port facilities of whatever nature; to naval establishments ashore; to scientific or experimental centres or laboratories; to telecommunication and radar stations; to power and water installations; to stores and industrial equipment; to documents records and archives of naval interest; which are to be preserved and kept free from damage or destruction pending receipt of further orders from the Supreme Allied Commander’s representatives. All necessary steps are to be taken, and orders issued, to prohibit any act of sabotage, scuttling or contamination of fuels.

    b. All boom defences at all ports and harbours are to be opened and kept open at all times. Where possible, they are to be removed.

    c. All controlled minefields at all ports and harbours are to be disconnected and rendered ineffective.

    d. All demolition charges in all ports and harbour works are to be removed or rendered ineffective, and their presence indicated by appropriate signs.

    e. The existing wartime system of navigational lighting is to be maintained except that all dimmed lights are to be shown at full brilliancy, and lights shown only by special arrangement are to be exhibited continuously. Navigational lights which have been extinguished are to be exhibited as soon as possible with their former characteristics if possible.

    f. All pilotage services are to continue to operate and all pilots are to be held at their normal stations ready for service and equipped with charts.

    g. All small arms, explosives, and war-like stores, in naval barracks and shore establishments, are to be placed in magazines, under guard.

    h. (1) German naval and other personnel concerned in the operation of ports and administrative services in ports are to remain at their stations and to continue to carry out their routine duties.

    (2) German and German controlled naval personnel employed on seaward defence are to comply with the instructions given by the Supreme A1lied Commander.

    (3) A general order is to be given to all German and German controlled naval and pare naval personnel that they are to carry out all orders and instructions given them by the Supreme Allied Commander. All personnel are to be unarmed at all times.

    i. A certificate that the action required under subparagraphs c, d, and e above has been carried out, is to be rendered by the German Authority to the Supreme Allied Commander’s representatives.

  8. a. Sufficient information is required immediately to enable rapid entry to be made into the ports of Venice and Chioggia. This information is to be delivered by the German Authority to the Allied Naval Authorities at the date and time at which the surrender becomes effective and by means which will be decided at the meeting held prior to the signing of the Instrument of Surrender.

    b. For each of the above ports the following details are therefore required:

    (1) Limits, types and laid depths of all minefields in the approaches, and the positions, types and laid depths of all mines in the harbours themselves.

    (2) Positions of obstructions dangerous to navigation inside the harbours and in their approaches.

    (3) The safe routes, if any, leading into these harbours. If no safe routes exist to the harbours themselves, then details of the routes to the nearest suitable beach in each case are required.

  9. The German Authority is forthwith to furnish the Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief with certain information in respect of the undermentioned two special areas and subsequently of the whole of the Mediterranean and the Straits of Gibraltar. This information is to be delivered to the Allied Naval Authorities by means which will be decided at the meeting held prior to the signing of the Instrument of Surrender. The two special areas concerned are:

    Ligurian Sea – Area bounded on the west by meridian of 8°E. South by parallel of 43°30’ N. East and north by the coast of Italy.

    Adriatic Sea – Area bounded on the north, east-and west by the coast of Italy, Istria and Jugoslavia. On the south by parallel of 44°N.

    The information concerned is:

    a. Positions of all minefields, both moored and ground mines, independent and controlled, laid by the Italians or Germans, by all types of minelaying craft including aircraft.

    Details of each mine of group of mines laid is to include:
    (1) Type of mine.
    (2) Number of mines laid.
    (3) Spaces between mines.
    (4) Depth setting.
    (5) Date laid.
    (6) Number and type of anti-sweeping devices laid.
    (7) Types of anti-sweeping devices, if any, including chain moorings, fitted to the mines themselves.
    (8) If snag lines have been fitted to mines.
    (9) Polarity, delay, and number of actuations set on all ground mines.
    (10) Details of the mines themselves, including drawings and photographs of all types of mines and minefittings.

    b. Details of convoy routes, searched channels and approach channels.

    c. Details of,
    (1) Navigational lights which have been destroyed.
    (2) Navigational lights which are in operation, giving details of operation, and by whom controlled.
    (3) Navigational lights which can be put into operation at short notice and their characteristics.

    d. Details of buoys, indicating:
    (1) Buoys remaining in place. If light buoys whether light is working and its characteristics.
    (2) Additional buoys laid, with reason for laying and details including lights, if any.
    (3) Buoys removed.

    e. Details of booms and obstructions, including wrecks dangerous to navigation.

    f. Details of all radio and radar navigational aids including all shore radar stations which could be used for this purpose.

    g. A complete and up-to-date set of charts corrected to the latest information available, and showing all minefields, convoy routes, searched channels, approach channels, buoys, lights, navigational aids, booms, wrecks, obstructions and radar stations.

    h. A complete and up-to-date set of navigational publications corrected to the latest information available.

  10. Pilots equipped as in paragraph 7f, and in addition, provided with the information required by paragraph 85, are to be stationed at suitable rendezvous, at the time and date at which surrender becomes effective, in readiness to meet and lead-in Allied warships to the ports of Trieste, Venice, and Pola. These rendezvous are to be communicated to the Allied Naval Authorities by means which will be decided at the meeting held prior to the signing of the Instrument of Surrender.

  11. The German Authority is to send to the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, at Caserta, forthwith upon the surrender becoming effective, a Senior German Naval Officer from his staff. This officer is to be granted full executive powers by the German Authority to act on his behalf in conformity with any orders and instructions given him by the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, or his representatives.

    The route and method by which this officer is to present himself at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, will be notified to the German Authority at the meeting held prior to the signing of the Instrument of Surrender.

  12. The German Authority is to furnish forthwith, exact information with regard to the disposition of German and German controlled naval formations and units under his command. Such information is to include the following:

    a. Present locations of all Naval Staffs and Headquarters.

    b. Full details of organisation of German Naval Command in the Mediterranean.

    c. Disposition, state of readiness, and crew lists of all warships, auxiliaries and merchant shipping.

    d. Details of defense plans, including plans and drawings of all naval fortifications, installations and establishments.

    e. Detailed lists of fuel stocks including furnace, diesel, petrol and coal.

  13. The German Authority will cause all Naval Shore Wireless Stations under his command to comply with the following orders:

    a. All wireless transmitting apparatus is to be rendered inoperative by removal of essential parts, but no wireless apparatus or shore station equipment is to be damaged or destroyed.

    b. All callsign, code and cypher systems, including books, documents, files and cryptographic machinery, are to be safely stored and guarded.

  14. Detailed directions as to how and where the information required by the foregoing paragraphs 8, 9, and 10 is to be delivered to the Allied Naval Authorities will be notified separately to the German Authority.

  15. The German Authority will, pending further orders from the Supreme Allied Commander, maintain his own forces from his own resources.

APPENDIX C

ORDERS FOR THE GERMAN AND GERMAN-CONTROLLED AIR FORCES

  1. The German Commander-in-Chief Southwest, hereinafter referred to as the “German Authority,” is hereby held responsible for the execution of the following orders.

  2. The German Authority will forthwith cause all aircraft of any kind or nationality whether military, naval, or civil, under the control of the German Authority, or operating in or over the area he controls, to alight at once and remain on the ground, on the water, or aboard ship pending further instructions from the Supreme Allied Commander. The term aircraft includes gliders and balloons.

  3. All German or German-controlled aircraft in the air will be treated as hostile.

  4. The German Authority will prevent sabotage or destruction of any equipment or installations, and will maintain all airfields in readiness for instant use by the Allied Air Forces.

  5. All aircraft will be cleared off runways and parked in recognised dispersal areas.

  6. All aircraft will be disarmed and all wireless equipment rendered inoperative without damage. The guns, bombs, pyrotechnics, ammunition and wireless equipment will be stored under guard in the appropriate storehouses or hangars.

  7. All aircraft will be immobilized by removing the elevators, disconnecting the fuel and oil supply (to each engine, in the case of twin or multiengined aircraft) and draining all fuel and oil tanks into suitable containers.

  8. All aircraft together with the removed elevators, fuel and oil, spare parts, hangars, storehouses, airfield administrative and living accommodation, general airfield equipment, including lighting installations will be safeguarded intact.

  9. The German Authority will send forthwith upon the surrender becoming effective, to the Headquarters of the Air Commander in Chief, MAAF, at Caserta, a Senior German Air Force officer from his staff. This officer will be granted full executive powers by the German Authority to act on his behalf in conformity with any orders and instructions given him by the Air Commander in Chief, MAAF, or his representatives.

    The route and method by which this officer is to present himself at the Headquarters of the Air Commander in Chief, MAAF, is to be notified to the German Authority at the meeting held prior to the signing of the Instrument of Surrender.

  10. The German Authority will forthwith furnish to the Supreme Allied Commander complete information regarding German and German-controlled Air Forces and in particular such details as the Supreme Allied Commander may require concerning the numbers, units, locations, dispositions, stores and equipment of the German and German controlled Air Forces wherever located.

  11. Balloons
    All balloons will be hauled down, deflated, packed and safeguarded intact. Fuel pumps and carburetors will be removed from all winch motors and safeguarded.

  12. Explosives
    Information concerning all booby-traps, mines and other explosive devices on and in the vicinity of the airfields will be furnished immediately on demand to the responsible local Allied authorities. All explosives, including bombs, will be rendered safe by the removal of fuzes and detonators.

  13. All self-destroying devices, whether in aircraft, signals equipment or in any Luftwaffe equipment or installation will be removed.

  14. Personnel
    All personnel of the Luftwaffe and associated air forces will be disarmed and will remain in their camps or at assigned sites until directed otherwise by the representatives of the local Allied Commander. The orders or instructions of any representative of the local Allied Commander will be obeyed.

  15. Motor transport
    All transport tracked or wheeled will be collected together and maintained in good condition in recognised MT parking areas under guard.

  16. Fuel and oil
    Fuel and oil supplies and installations of all types will be safeguarded and handed over to the local Allied Authorities without contamination.

  17. Anti-aircraft
    All anti-aircraft guns, heavy and light, under control of the Luftwaffe will be rendered inoperative by the removal of an essential part of the firing mechanism. The whole equipment will be safeguarded intact.

  18. All parts removed from AA under paragraph 17 above, will be properly prepared for storage, labelled with the number of the appropriate gun, segregated from guns, and safeguarded intact.

    Any spare parts for AA guns held at Luftwaffe units will be segregated from guns and safeguarded intact.

  19. Fire control equipment
    Instruments, directors and computers including radar and all fire control equipment will be concentrated and stored intact.

  20. Searchlights
    All carbon rods will be removed from the projectors. The fuel pumps will be removed from the generators. The carbon and fuel pumps together with all carbon and fuel pump spares will be stored and safeguarded intact.

  21. Small arms
    All small arms will be collected and safeguarded intact.

  22. Gas bombs and equipment
    Normal precautions will be taken against leakage of gas from any gas bombs.

    All gas equipment and decontamination material will be preserved and handed over to the Allied representatives on demand.

    Gas spray containers will be collected and guarded, and where such containers are filled with gas, the normal precautions will be taken against leakage.

  23. Flying bombs
    All stocks of flying bombs will be immobilized by the removal of fuses, detonators, and fuel pumps. The items so removed will be segregated from flying bombs, concentrated and safeguarded intact, and all flying bombs and their equipment, spares and launching sites and facilities will be safeguarded intact.

  24. Rocket-propelled weapons
    All weapons and projectiles propelled by rockets or similar devices will be immobilized by the removal and segregation of essential parts of the mechanism. The parts so removed will be segregated from such weapons and projectiles, concentrated, and guarded, and the weapons and projectiles, their equipment, spares, launching sites and facilities will be safeguarded intact.

  25. Signals equipment

    a. In addition to the requirements of paragraph 6 above, all communications equipment used for code, voice, teletype or other electrical transmission will be rendered inoperative without damage and safeguarded.

    b. All ground and airborne electronic transmitters and receivers of whatever nature or design, whether used for air warning, tracking, identification or flying control will be rendered inoperative without damage and safeguarded.

  26. Call and code signs
    All call and code signs systems used by Germany and/or her Allies in operating Luftwaffe telecommunication systems will be withdrawn from use, and all documents and/or associated coding devices will be stored and safeguarded intact.

  27. Code and cyphers
    All code and cyphers systems, including books, documents and cypher machinery, employed by the Luftwaffe will be withdrawn from use, stored and safeguarded intact.

  28. Secrecy equipment
    All forms of scrambling and secrecy equipment in use on any Luftwaffe telecommunication system will be disconnected and safeguarded intact.

  29. All other Luftwaffe equipment, including that in experimental stations and laboratories, military or civilian, photographic equipment, furniture, will be preserved intact and maintained in good condition. Special care will be taken to ensure the preservation of all documents, including technical manuals, files, plans, maps, card indices, identity documents.

  30. Maintenance of Luftwaffe
    The German Authority will, pending further orders from the Supreme Allied Commander, maintain its own forces from its own resources.

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The Pittsburgh Press (May 2, 1945)

Nazis quit in Italy

Almost million troops affected by surrender – West Austria included
By Herbert G. King, United Press staff writer

ROYAL PALACE AT CASERTA, Near Naples, Italy – The German Armies of Northern Italy and Western Austria formally surrendered unconditionally to the Allies today, effective at 8 a.m. ET.

The surrender affects between 600,000 and 900,000 men commanded by Col. Gen. Heinrich von Vietinghoff and Gen. Karl Wolff, chief of police and security for Northern Italy and Western Austria.

Lt. Gen. W. D. Morgan of the British Army, who negotiated on behalf of Field Marshal Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, supreme commander in the Mediterranean Theater, said the terms “in effect are complete and unconditional surrender.”

The documents were signed in the Royal Palace here on Sunday by Gen. Morgan and two German officers, one of whom represented von Vietinghoff and the other Wolff.

The surrender will permit the Allies to make an unhindered advance to within 10 miles of Adolf Hitler’s former country home at Berchtesgaden. It also uncovers the flank of Col. Gen. von Lehr, commanding enemy troops in the Trieste area.

The surrender documents were signed in the presence of a group of Allied officers which included Russians. Secret negotiations for the surrender have been going on for several days.

The terms are the immediate immobilization and disarmament of enemy ground, sea and air forces.

Near Brenner Pass

The surrender imposes upon the German commander-in-chief the obligation to carry out any further orders issued by Marshal Alexander.

Von Vietinghoff’s command includes all of Northern Italy to the Isonzo River and the Austrian provinces of Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzburg and parts of Carinthia and Styria.

As the surrender was announced, the positions of the Allied troops in Italy were as follows:

The U.S. Fifth Army north of Lake Garda was within 35 miles of the Austrian border and 83 miles of the Brenner Pass. Farther east, the Fifth Army captured Feltre, 52 miles from the Austrian border. To the southeast, the British Eighth Army captured Udine, 38 miles west of Yugoslavia.

Near French frontier

Fifth Army units on the west were within 35 miles of the French frontier.

Yugoslav Marshal Tito, meanwhile, announced that his forces had captured the Italian port of Trieste. Tito’s forces made a juncture with British troops west of Trieste.

Two thousand troops of the Fascist Italian Ligurian Army’s Lombardy Corps surrendered in response to the capitulation order issued by Marshal Rodolfo Graziani.

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Truman: ‘Part of general triumph’

WASHINGTON (UP) – President Truman declared today that the unconditional surrender of German forces in Italy was “but a part of the general triumph we are expectantly awaiting on the whole continent of Europe.”

At the same time, he called upon Japan as well as Germany to “understand the meaning of these events.”

Mr. Truman said “only folly and chaos can now delay the general capitulation of the everywhere defeated German armies.”

And the Japanese, too, he added, “must recognize the meaning of the increasing, swifter-moving power now ready for the capitulation or the destruction of the so-recently arrogant enemies of mankind.”

First announcement

The President’s was the first announcement in this country or abroad of the German surrender in Italy.

Acting Secretary of State Joseph C. Grew said the German surrender in Italy would greatly reduce “the Possibility of prolonged resistance” in Southern Germany and Austria.

The President immediately sent Messages to Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander and Gen. Mark Clark, congratulating them for the “complete defeat of the Germans in Italy.”

Thanks generals

In breaking the news of the complete victory over German forces in Italy, the President said “the Allied armies in Italy have won the unconditional surrender of German forces on the first European soil to which, from the west, we carried our arms and our determination.”

In his messages to Marshal Alexander and Gen. Clark, he congratulated them on their persistent, difficult campaign. He said no praise was adequate to tell of “the heroic achievements and magnificent courage of every individual” under their command “during this long and trying campaign.”

The President told this country that the Allied and American officers who led the victorious forces in Italy “deserve our praise for the victory – we have the right to be proud of the success of our armies.”

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Neues Österreich (May 3, 1945)

Der Krieg in Italien ist zu Ende

Rom, 2. Mai – Die deutsche Front in Italien ist bis auf geringen Widerstand am südlichen Ausgang des Brennerpasses zusammengebrochen.

Im Ostteil der italienischen Front haben sich die alliierten Truppen mit jugoslawischen Streitkräften bei Monfalcone vereinigt, den Isonzo überschritten und Udine befreit. Triest wurde von Truppen Marschall Titos erobert.

In Italien wurden bisher mehr als 160.000 deutsche Kriegsgefangene gemacht. Marschall Graziani unterzeichnete gestern die bedingungslose Übergabe seiner Truppen in der Provinz Ligurien und gab ihnen den Befehl, die Waffen niederzulegen.

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The Pittsburgh Press (May 5, 1945)

Italians warned to cease attacks

Friday, May 4, 1945

ROME, Italy (UP) – Italian patriots in Northern Italy had a sharp warning today from Gen. Mark W. Clark to stop interfering with the German surrender by attacks on enemy troops.

Gen. Clark’s order, broadcast by the Milan radio, told the patriots flatly they would undo whatever good they had done if their reprisals against Germans continued.

It was the second such warning the American commander had given the guerrilla forces.

The German officers who met with Clark yesterday to ask for instructions on surrendering their army make a big point of the guerrilla attacks, Gen. von Senger und Etterlin said Italian forces were still harassing the Germans in isolated mountain regions of the north.

The Nazi delegates were allowed to wear their sidearms as protection against Partisan attacks.

In a communiqué issued today, the Italian resistance movement claimed its members had taken over 35,000 prisoners in the victory offensive in the north.