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74 Years Ago Today; Victory in Europe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Instrument_of_Surrender
The first instrument of unconditional surrender signed at Reims on 7 May 1945.
The German Instrument of Surrender was the legal document which ended World War II in Europe. The definitive text was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin, on the night of 8 May 1945 by representatives of the three armed services of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and the Allied Expeditionary Force together with the Supreme High Command of the Red Army, with further French and US representatives signing as witnesses. The signing took place 9 May 1945 at 00:16 local time.
An earlier version of the text had been signed in a ceremony in Reims in the early hours of 7 May 1945. In most of Europe, 8 May is celebrated as Victory in Europe Day; in Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Israel Victory Day is celebrated on 9 May.
There were three language versions of the surrender document. The Russian and English versions were the only authoritative ones.
<snip>
Context
On 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler killed himself in the bunker of the Berlin Chancellery, having drawn up a testament in which Admiral Karl Dönitz succeeded him as Head of State, with the title of Reich President. But with the fall of Berlin two days later, and American and Soviet forces having linked up at Torgau on the Elbe, the area of Germany still under German military control had been split in two. Moreover, the rapidity of the final Allied advances of March 1945 – together with Hitler's insistent orders to stand and fight to the last – had left the bulk of surviving German forces in isolated pockets and occupied territories, mostly outside the boundaries of pre-Nazi Germany. Dönitz attempted to form a government at Flensburg on the Danish border, and was joined there on 2 May 1945 by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht under Wilhem Keitel, which had previously relocated, first to Krampnitz near Potsdam, and then to Rheinsberg, during the Battle of Berlin. But, although Dönitz sought to present his government as 'unpolitical', there was no repudiation of Nazism, the Nazi party was not banned, leading Nazis were not detained, and the symbols of Hitlerism remained in place. Both the Soviets and the Americans remained adamant in not recognising Dönitz or the Flensburg Government as capable of representing the German state.
At Hitler's death German armies remained in the Atlantic pockets of La Rochelle, St Nazaire, Lorient, Dunkirk and the Channel Islands; the Greek Islands of Crete, Rhodes and the Dodecanese; southern Norway; Denmark; western Holland; northern Croatia; northern Italy; Austria; Bohemia and Moravia; the Courland peninsula in Latvia; the Hela peninsula in Poland and in Germany towards Hamburg, facing British and Canadian forces; in Mecklenburg, Pomerania and the besieged city of Breslau, facing Soviet forces; and in southern Bavaria towards Berchtesgaden, facing American and French forces.
Surrender in Reims
General Alfred Jodl signing the capitulation papers of unconditional surrender in Reims.
Dönitz's representative, Admiral Friedeburg, informed him on 6 May that Eisenhower was now insisting on "immediate, simultaneous and unconditional surrender on all fronts." General Jodl was sent to Reims to attempt to persuade Eisenhower otherwise, but Eisenhower shortcircuited any discussion by announcing at 9.00 p.m. on the 6th that, in the absence of a complete capitulation, he would close British and American lines to surrendering German forces at midnight on 8 May and resume the bombing offensive against remaining German-held positions and towns. Jodl telegraphed this message to Dönitz; who responded, authorising him to sign the instrument of unconditional surrender; but subject to negotiating a 48-hour delay, ostensibly to enable the surrender order to be communicated to outlying German military units.
Consequently, the first Instrument of Surrender was signed at Reims at 02:41 Central European Time (CET) on 7 May 1945. The signing took place in a red brick schoolhouse, the Collège Moderne et Technique de Reims [fr], that served as the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). It was to take effect at 23:01 CET (one minute after midnight, British Double Summer Time) on 8 May, the 48 hour grace period having been back-dated to the start of final negotiations.
The unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed by Jodl, on behalf of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (English: "German High Command" ). Walter Bedell Smith signed on behalf of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and Ivan Susloparov on behalf of the Soviet High Command. French Major-General François Sevez signed as the official witness.
Eisenhower had proceeded throughout in consultation with General Antonov of the Soviet High Command; and at his request, General Susloparov had been seconded to the SHAEF Headquarters to represent the Soviet High Command in the surrender negotiations. The text of the act of surrender had been telegraphed to General Antonov in the early hours of 7 May, but no confirmation of Soviet approval had been received by the time of the surrender ceremony, nor was there confirmation that General Susloparov was empowered to sign as representing the Soviet High Command. Accordingly, Eisenhower agreed with Susloparov that a separate text should be signed by the German emissaries; undertaking that fully empowered representatives of each of the German armed services would attend a formal ratification of the act of surrender at a time and place designated by the Allied High Commands.
</snip>
The first instrument of unconditional surrender signed at Reims on 7 May 1945.
The German Instrument of Surrender was the legal document which ended World War II in Europe. The definitive text was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin, on the night of 8 May 1945 by representatives of the three armed services of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and the Allied Expeditionary Force together with the Supreme High Command of the Red Army, with further French and US representatives signing as witnesses. The signing took place 9 May 1945 at 00:16 local time.
An earlier version of the text had been signed in a ceremony in Reims in the early hours of 7 May 1945. In most of Europe, 8 May is celebrated as Victory in Europe Day; in Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Israel Victory Day is celebrated on 9 May.
There were three language versions of the surrender document. The Russian and English versions were the only authoritative ones.
<snip>
Context
On 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler killed himself in the bunker of the Berlin Chancellery, having drawn up a testament in which Admiral Karl Dönitz succeeded him as Head of State, with the title of Reich President. But with the fall of Berlin two days later, and American and Soviet forces having linked up at Torgau on the Elbe, the area of Germany still under German military control had been split in two. Moreover, the rapidity of the final Allied advances of March 1945 – together with Hitler's insistent orders to stand and fight to the last – had left the bulk of surviving German forces in isolated pockets and occupied territories, mostly outside the boundaries of pre-Nazi Germany. Dönitz attempted to form a government at Flensburg on the Danish border, and was joined there on 2 May 1945 by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht under Wilhem Keitel, which had previously relocated, first to Krampnitz near Potsdam, and then to Rheinsberg, during the Battle of Berlin. But, although Dönitz sought to present his government as 'unpolitical', there was no repudiation of Nazism, the Nazi party was not banned, leading Nazis were not detained, and the symbols of Hitlerism remained in place. Both the Soviets and the Americans remained adamant in not recognising Dönitz or the Flensburg Government as capable of representing the German state.
At Hitler's death German armies remained in the Atlantic pockets of La Rochelle, St Nazaire, Lorient, Dunkirk and the Channel Islands; the Greek Islands of Crete, Rhodes and the Dodecanese; southern Norway; Denmark; western Holland; northern Croatia; northern Italy; Austria; Bohemia and Moravia; the Courland peninsula in Latvia; the Hela peninsula in Poland and in Germany towards Hamburg, facing British and Canadian forces; in Mecklenburg, Pomerania and the besieged city of Breslau, facing Soviet forces; and in southern Bavaria towards Berchtesgaden, facing American and French forces.
Surrender in Reims
General Alfred Jodl signing the capitulation papers of unconditional surrender in Reims.
Dönitz's representative, Admiral Friedeburg, informed him on 6 May that Eisenhower was now insisting on "immediate, simultaneous and unconditional surrender on all fronts." General Jodl was sent to Reims to attempt to persuade Eisenhower otherwise, but Eisenhower shortcircuited any discussion by announcing at 9.00 p.m. on the 6th that, in the absence of a complete capitulation, he would close British and American lines to surrendering German forces at midnight on 8 May and resume the bombing offensive against remaining German-held positions and towns. Jodl telegraphed this message to Dönitz; who responded, authorising him to sign the instrument of unconditional surrender; but subject to negotiating a 48-hour delay, ostensibly to enable the surrender order to be communicated to outlying German military units.
Consequently, the first Instrument of Surrender was signed at Reims at 02:41 Central European Time (CET) on 7 May 1945. The signing took place in a red brick schoolhouse, the Collège Moderne et Technique de Reims [fr], that served as the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). It was to take effect at 23:01 CET (one minute after midnight, British Double Summer Time) on 8 May, the 48 hour grace period having been back-dated to the start of final negotiations.
The unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed by Jodl, on behalf of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (English: "German High Command" ). Walter Bedell Smith signed on behalf of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and Ivan Susloparov on behalf of the Soviet High Command. French Major-General François Sevez signed as the official witness.
Eisenhower had proceeded throughout in consultation with General Antonov of the Soviet High Command; and at his request, General Susloparov had been seconded to the SHAEF Headquarters to represent the Soviet High Command in the surrender negotiations. The text of the act of surrender had been telegraphed to General Antonov in the early hours of 7 May, but no confirmation of Soviet approval had been received by the time of the surrender ceremony, nor was there confirmation that General Susloparov was empowered to sign as representing the Soviet High Command. Accordingly, Eisenhower agreed with Susloparov that a separate text should be signed by the German emissaries; undertaking that fully empowered representatives of each of the German armed services would attend a formal ratification of the act of surrender at a time and place designated by the Allied High Commands.
UNDERTAKING GIVEN BY CERTAIN GERMAN EMISSARIES TO THE ALLIED HIGH COMMANDS
It is agreed by the German emissaries undersigned that the following German officers will arrive at a place and time designated by the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, and the Soviet High Command prepared, with plenary powers, to execute a formal ratification on behalf of the German High Command of this act of Unconditional Surrender of the German armed forces.
Chief of the High Command; Commander-in-Chief of the Army; Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Commander-in-Chief of the Air Forces.
SIGNED
JODL
Representing the German High Command. DATED 0241 7 May 1945 Rheims, France
</snip>
Happy V-E Day!!
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=12077773
...IMO it's rather inappropriate to rally with Nazis on V-E Day.
...IMO it's rather inappropriate to rally with Nazis on V-E Day.