title: Germany surrenders, 1945
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World War, 1939-1945-Peace-Sources. 2. World War, 1939-1945—Germany—Sources. 3. Germany—History—1933-1945—Sources. I. United States. National Archives and Records Administration. II. World War II surrender documents. Germany surrenders, 1945. III. Series. An Introduction World War II, the deadliest war in history, began in Europe with the German invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939. For almost 6 years it raged across the Western World, taking the lives of 11 million soldiers and an equal number of civilians. Finally, by the spring of 1945, the major Allies—the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France—had brought to exhaustion the will and fighting capacity of the German war machine. Slowly but completely, the Nazi-led Third Reich collapsed, not in a single surrender at one time and place but in a series of piecemeal surrenders culminating on V-E (victory in Europe) Day, May 8, 1945. The unplanned surrender had posed a touchy problem for the Big Three chiefs of state: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin. They agreed unanimously not only that surrender should be unconditional, but also that it should take place simultaneously on all fronts. Behind this second resolve was the Russian suspicion that Germany would succeed in making a separate peace with Great Britain and the United States and the western Allies’ memory of Nazi-Soviet collaboration from August 1939 to June 1941. Even with seeming agreement among the Allies, the road to unconditional surrender proved to be as bumpy as it was long. The major sign posts along the road were the following: July 25, 1943. The first break in the war. An alliance comes when Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian premier and is replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. September, 1943. Badoglio surrenders Italy on the eve of the Allied landing at Salerno, but Nazi troops install Mussolini as puppet head of German-occupied Italy, September 12. February 1945. At Yalta, U.S.S.R., the Big Three chiefs of government issue a joint statement: “It is our intlexible purpose to destroy German militarism and nazism and to ensure that German will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world.... It is not our purpose to destroy the people of Germany, but only when nazism and militarism have been extirpated will there be hope for a decent life for the Germans and a place for them in the comity of nations.” April 23, 1945. U.S. troops cross the Po River and resistance on the Italian front collapses. April 25, 1945. U.S. and Soviet troops meet at Torgau in the heart of Germany. April 29, 1945. All German forces on the Italian front surrender, to be effective May 2. April 30, 1945. The suicide of Adolph Hitler gives German leadership to Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz. May 4, 1945. On Lueneberg Heath, German troops in Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern Germany surrender. May 7, 1945. In Reims, the unconditional surrender of all German military forces is signed, to become effective at 11:01 p.m. the following day. May 8, 1945. V-E Day. At Soviet insistence, formal instruments of unconditional surrender are signed in Berlin. May 23, 1945. The principal members of the German government are arrested for alleged war crimes. June 5, 1945. The Declaration on Germany is issued. By this The four Allied nations (now including France) assume complete political control of Germany. The Surrender in the Southwest Americans view bomb damage to the Reichstag buildings in Berlin. (239-RC-16-17, National Archives) The Allied drive across the Po River in northern Italy led to the first installment of Germany’s piecemeal surrender. There were many delays and false starts. The German negotiators had to hide their efforts from Hitler—and often from each other. Finally, representatives for both sides reached an agreement on terms and convened at Caserta, Italy, to sign the surrender document. At the simple ceremony on April 29, 1945, a member of Col. Gen. Heinrich von Vietinghoff-Scheel’s staff yielded up all the armed services in the German Southwest Command. A second German signature was that of SS Gen. Karl Wolff, whose organization had assumed a major role in the Nazi occupation of northern Italy after the Badoglio surrender in 1943. The acceptance was signed on behalf of Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander, Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean Theater. Even though this was to be only a local surrender, the Allied commanders were enjoined to secure Soviet assent lest Stalin feel justified in his earlier accusation that Truman and Churchill were scheming at a separate peace. Although Stalin finally gave his approval and Soviet Maj. Gen. Alexi Kislenko attended the signing, the circumstances of the surrender in Italy magnified the always-present Russian suspicions. This was a factor in the later Soviet insistence on a second surrender at Berin, superseding the Reims surrender. The Surrender in the Northwest Like so many other events in military history, the signing of the Instrument of Surrender of All German Armed Forces in Holland, in Northwest Germany Including All Islands, and in Denmark took place on May 4, 1945, in a tent, on this occasion at the headquarters of British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery on Lueneberg Heath in the German state of lower Saxony. While regarded as a tactical surrender of forces in the field only, the Lueneberg Heath document, in article 5, states this surrender to be “superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by or on behalf of the Allied Powers,” thus anticipating the unconditional surrender of the German nation at a later date. The signers for Germany were, in order of seniority, Gen. Adm. Hans Georg von Friedburg, chief German negotiator and commander in chief of the German Navy; Lt. Gen. Eberhard Kinzel, chief of staff to Field Marshal Ernst Busch, commander in chief of the German armies in the Northwest; Rear Adm. Gerhard Wagner, director of the German Military Cabinet; and staff officers Col. Fritz Poleck and Maj. Hans Jochsen Frieda. Field Marshal Montgomery, commander of the British-Canadian 21st Army Group, signed the document with the authorization and as the representative of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Montgomery also made a handwritten addition to the first article to include naval ships in this surrender.) Elderly woman views damage as an advance. (208-YE-137, National Archives) Preparing for a General Surrender On May 6, Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz, who had become head of the Third Reich on Hitler’s death, authorized Col. Gen. Alfred Jodi to conclude a general German surrender with General Eisenhower. The text of this order reads “I authorize Colonel General Jodi, Chief of the Operations’ Staff in the High Command of the Armed Forces, to conclude an armistice agreement with the headquarters of General Eisenhower.” The new German approach met the demands of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), for a total, unconditional surrender of all German forces on both the western and eastern fronts. Doenitz and other German leaders had hoped until the last minute to make a separate peace with the British and American armies while continuing to resist the Soviet advance in the East or at least making some arrangement whereby German troops could avoid surrending to Soviet armies. These alternatives, clearly contrary to the spint and letter of accords reached at summit conferences between the Big Three heads of government, were rejected out of hand by General Eisenhower, at whose insistence the first instruments of unconditional surrender were signed the following morning in Re U.S. soldier takes refuge in a doorway during a hunt for German snipers in Colombo, March 1945. (208-AA-34P-2, National Archives) The surrender of all German forces The unconditional surrender of the German Third Reich was signed in the early morning hours of Monday, May 7, 1945; the time on the documents is noted as 0241 hours, or 2:41 a.m. The scene was the war room at SHAEF, located in the Professional and Technical School at Reims, a historic city in Northeastern France that had been almost completely leveled by the Germans during the war. Across the conference table, representatives of the four Allied Powers—France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States—faced the three German officers delegated by President Doenitz: Col. Gen. Alfred Jodi, who alone had been authorized to sign the surrender document; Gen. Adm. Hans Georg von Friedeburg, a chief negotiator here as on Fuenebeig Heath; and Maj. Friedrich Wilhelm Oxenius, an aide to Jodi. Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, SHAEF chief of staff, led the Allied delegation as the representative of General Eisenhower, who had refused to meet with the Germans until the surrender had been accomplished. Other American officers present were Maj. Gen. Harold R. Bull and Gen. Carl Spaatz. British observers were Adm. Sir Harold Burrough, Ft. Gen. Sir Fred Morgan (SHAEF deputy chief of staff), and Air Marshal J. M. Robb. Maj. Gen. Ivan Sousloparov, head of the Soviet mission to France, represented the Soviet High Command; he was accompanied by Ft. Ivan Chermiaev and Senior Ft. Col. Ivan Zenkovitch as interpreters. Representing the French chief of staff (Gen. Alphonse Pierre Juin) was Maj. Gen. Francois Sevez. The surrender document signed at Reims at 0241 hours on May 7, 1945, was not the official document that had been authorized in July 1944 by Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin. The July 1944 instrument had been produced through the arduous labors of the European Advisory Commission (EAC), which was set up in 1943 to work out the details of the unconditional German surrender and to propose specific solutions to the political and economic problems that were anticipated in postwar Germany. The 45th Division in Nürnberg’s Luitpole Arena after the capture of the city on April 20, 1945. (208-AA-33TT-7, National Archives) Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin meet at the Livadia Palace at Yalta in February 1945. (FDR Library) Although the EAC surrender document had been sent to General Eisenhower, two intervening developments deterred SHAEF officials from using it at Reims. First, France had been added as a signatory, causing the 1944 draft to be regarded by SHAEF as preliminary only. Second, the Big Three, meeting at Yalta in February 1945, had decided to add the word “dismemberment” to the calls for disarmament and demobilization already included in their guidons for Germany’s future, expressing thereby a determination to prevent further German militarism by partitioning the country into separate political units. The EAC drew up a new surrender document incorporating these changes. ShAEF officials concluded, however, that political and other considerations Should be settled at a high civilian level after the cessation of hostilities. Accordingly, they drew up their own military document, one directed only at ending the fighting and halting further bloodshed. Article 4 of the Act of Military Surrender, however, like Article 5 of the Fueneberg Heath Instrument of Surrender, looks ahead to additional accords. Inserted at the urgent behest of John Winant, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain and representative to EAC, it ensured that the purely military surrender of May 7 and 8 would be supplemented later by a general political surrender that contained the EAC provisions. The more than 44 hours between the signing of the Act of Military Surrender and the cease-fire to take place at 2301 hours, or 11:01 p.m., on May 8 represented a concession to the Germans by SHEF, one that unintentionally allowed more German troops to be moved westward for surrender to American or British and Commonwealth forces rather than to those of the Soviet Union. Signers of the surrender document were Col. Gen. Alfred Jodi, on behalf of the German High Command; Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, representing General Eisenhower; Maj. Gen. Ivan Sousloparov, fulfilling the Big Three agreement that a Soviet representative would take part in any ceremony of total surrender; and Maj. Gen. Francois Sevez, signing as a witness for France. Relaying the Surrender Orders A second document signed at Reims contains orders from General Smith about procedures for disseminating detailed surrender instructions to German army and air force units on the western front. The specific orders were to come from the Allied unit commanders to their German counterparts. The Surrender of German Naval Forces The longest by far of the Reims documents contains a series of instructions for the surrender of all German naval forces, both surface and undersea. It was signed by Adm. Sir Harold Burrough on behalf of General Eisenhower. Both this document and the one previously mentioned (relating to army and air forces) emphasize the concern of SHAEF officials at Reims with bringing military activities to a halt and leaving the broader and more general provisions of surrender to a later time. Agreement for Formal Ratification A agreement to meet at a later date—to be specified by General Eisenhower in his capacity as Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force—for a formal ratification of the unconditional surrender was also signed by Colonel General Jodi at the Reims ceremony. Major General Sousloparov had been sent to Reims by the Soviet High Command to take part in the negotiations, but he was not empowered to sign any agreement. As a consequence, a critical phrase in the document is “with permanent powers,” powers not delegated to Sousloparov. Thus a meeting was scheduled the following day in Berlin in response to Soviet concern that the Reims ceremony had given the impression of being the separate German surrender to the American and British forces that Doenitz had sought. Third U.S. Army troops cross to the east bank of the Rhine, March 23, 1945. (208-AA-37T-6, National Archives) Authorization to Execute Ratification After the capture of Munich on April 29, 1945, two Gis chat with liberated British prisoners at the entrance to the beer hall where Hitler and his henchmen started their aborted “putsch” in 1923. (208-AA-33TT-2, National Archives) With a letter, Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz, now also the German president, authorized the signing of the formal unconditional surrender of Germany. Following the specifications of the final Reims document signed by General Jodi, Doenitz appointed three men to represent the German nation in the ceremony at Berlin on May 8: General Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel; General Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg, a participant at both the Lueneberg Heath and Reims ceremonies; and Col. Gen. Hans Juergen Stumpf. The letter reads: “I authorize General Field Marshal Keitel as chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces and simultaneously as Commander in Chief of the Army, General Admiral von Friedburg as Commander in Chief of the Navy, Colonel General Stumpf as representative of the Commander in Chief of the Air Force to ratify the unconditional capitulation of the German fighting forces to the Commander in Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces and the Soviet High Command.” The Instrument of Surrender to reassure the Soviet Union that the western Allies had no intention of concluding a separate peace with Germany, General Eisenhower requested that the Soviet representative in his theater, Major General Souslopov, be authorized to participate in the Reims negotiations. But after the signing of the Reims accord, Soviet chief of staff General Alexander Antonov notified that German troops continued to fight against Soviet forces, while scarcely resisting in the West. Thus the Reims surrender continued to resemble a separate truce on the western front, thereby belying Allied unity. The Soviet command wanted the Act of Military Surrender, with certain additions and alterations, to be signed at Berlin. To the Soviets, the documents signed at Berlin on May 8, 1945, represented the official, legal surrender of the Third Reich. The U.S., British, and French governments regarded it as a symbol of Allied unity, east and west, and as merely the more formal of the two ceremonies ending the war. Unlike the Reims documents, which were authoritative only in their English text, the surrender documents signed at Berlin. Berlin on May 8, 1945, were written and signed separately in the English, Russian, and German languages. General Dwight D. Eisenhower had originally planned to attend the ceremony at Berlin in his capacity as Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force. But because the Soviet plenary representative was to be Marshal Georgi Zhukov, a group commander well below him in rank, Eisenhower selected SHAEF deputy supreme commander, British Air Marshal Sir Arthur. Tedder, Protocol specified that Tedder sign as Eisenhower’s representative and Zhukov on behalf of the Red Army. General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and General Carl Spaatz signed as witnesses. Signing for Germany were Keitel, Von Friedeburg, and Stumpf, as designated by Doenitz. The Berlin document had few significant changes from the one signed a day earlier at Reims. The phrase “Supreme High Command of the Red Army” was substituted for “Soviet High Command”; article 2 was altered to require that Germany “disarm completely”; and the demand that ships and military equipment not be damaged was made more detailed. A Red Army soldier lifts a Nazi flag out of the debris in Berlin. (242-GAV-178a, National Archives) President Truman's V-E Day Proclamation A part of the V-E Day celebration, President Harry Truman issued a proclamation designating the following Sunday, May 13, as a day of prayer and thanksgiving. In this proclamation, the President notes the “final and unconditional surrender” of Germany. Many but warns that victory must still be won “in the East” (Japan). Only then will the world be “cleansed of the evil.” This victory would come in a little over 3 months with the surrender of the Japanese government, August 14 (U.S. time). Surveying bomb damage to Frankfurt, Germany. (RG 243, Ilia (970)6, National Archives) A means of bringing about an orderly transition of power in Germany, the Allies allowed the government of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz to remain in power for 16 days. On May 23, 1945, however, the principal members of the government were taken into custody for trial as war criminals. On June 5, the Allied commander in chief issued the Declaration on Germany, which represented the official assumption of political control of the nation by the four occupying powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. This instrument was to replace the broader political surrender that had been anticipated in the Reims and Berlin surrender documents. Of the Germans who were involved in the surrender ceremonies in Reims and Berlin, Doenitz received a 100-year prison sentence and Keitel and Jodi were hanged after trial at Nurenburg; Von Friedeburg committed suicide before his trial. For Further Beading: Ambrose, Stephen E. The Supreme Commander: The War Years of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. Donitz, Karl. Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days. Translated by R. H. Stevens, Cleveland, OH: World, 1959. Eisenhower, David. Eisenhower at War, 1943-1945. New York: Random House, 1986. Eisenhower, Dwight D. Crusade in Europe. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1948. Kecskemeti, Paul. Strategic Surrender: The Politics of Victory and Defeat. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1958. Murphy, Robert D. Diplomat Among Warriors. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964. Steinert, Maris G. Twenty-three Days: The Final Collapse of Nazi Germany. Translated by Richard Barry. New York: Walker, 1969. Zhukov, Georgii K. The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov. Translated by Theodore Shabad. New York: Delacorte, 1971. A A The Facsimiles DBTWtfaiT & LOCAL WWTOCM Of r %AMO om.ji roacsa incut th?: x*a«a*d oh or THE T3DUII CCIf AHOKK-lK-CHIF.r V/fffW^.T 1. Th* Omn Coai an<>»r-ln-Chl* f H<jut haa*t harab/ aurrandara unoondltl onal 1/ a li IDs tart— «id«r tils ooa aa an d or control on land, at aaa and In th# air and plaoa* h La## Lf and th### farooa unconditionally at th* llapoaal of th# Supra*# all Lad Ccaaaandar, Uadltarranaan Th*atr# of Ov*r*Hot*#. 2 . All amad forcaa undar tha sanand or oontroi of th* 5*man Cr—ardar-ln-Cnlaf SooUwaat *111 eaaaa all hoatilltlaa on land, at aaa and in th* air at 1200 hour* (Oraanwiah naan tlaa) on 2 May 1945. Tha Oarautn Cowundar-ln-Chiaf South- vaat mdartako* to arranga accordingly. 3. Tha Saraan C<*m*r»dar-Ln-Chla l Soutnaaat vndrrtaJiaa to oarry oat th* ordor* oat out in Appandioaa A, B and C and any fur- thar ordar* of th* Suproaa All lad Comandar, Uadltarranaan ThaOtra of Oparatlona. Diachadl arc • of auch ordar# or fallura to 0 M(ly wlUt that *111 b* daolt with In acoordano* *lth tha aaoaptad Laa* and uaa^aa of aar. 4. Thla inatrvaaant *111 antar Into fore# lmadlataly on a 1 (nature, and tha ordar* In Appandlca# A, B and C *111 bacena affaetlva an th* data and at In* tLa# #i*olfl*d In parajrraih J above, 5. Thla Inst noaan t and acempanylnr ordar* ara <lra*n up Ln th* *n*llah and 'Jaruan lanfuac**. Tha Kn^llah vara Lon la tha authentic tart. If any doubt aa to m aanlnf or lntorpratatlen arlaa#, tha daclalon of th* !>upr«>«# All lad ~ca*uani#r la final. “Secret” instrument of local surrender—Italy This Ln* t r .anor.t 1* LnrloponUont of, «d thout pr• Judioo i«, u*l *ial 1 bo auporoodod by «iy gonor%1 Lnotrvaont of iiijT«n't*r Lapoood by or art boholf of tr» tfevltod Notiono and a* li-ablo to dO^-A-XT and tho ^omr 4 mod forooo 40 4 •hoi•. 71wTQR A2, 3Ct-(*.I»(ITZ, Lioutonont Colonol Ln tho ConoraJ 3toff of imy Croup C, for Colonol Control TCH TXETD^GHCfT-SCKnQ., C—tni1«r-Ln-Chl*f South> «o«t and Cancvondor-Ln- Cniof of krmj Croup C. W. D. WOWUJi, Llouiooont Conorol, Chiof of Staff, for ttold iarohol Tho Honourable Sir Harold H.L.C. AUUAXM*, Su pr —4 Allied Comter of tho Mediterranean Theatre of Opemtlooe iW < i 1 ( f f , . / / •XKk>' t3.’KO*, 3S-S t urtabannf uhre r and Uajor ln tno delfen-vCS, for '•S-Cborgrupjonfuhror and Cenorai of tho daffan- CS UTiLrT, Suproeo 'cxsnondor of S3 and Pollc« and j\lan.1 potontiary Cenorai of tho Co noon ^hr- iA*cht Ir. Italy. '•l<no l at Italy. . 9tr. V oc ours C053987 Instrument of Surreraier of All German armed, forces in KOIJUD, in -- northwest Germany including all islands , and in DENMARK. 1. The German Command agrees to the surrender of all German armed forces in HOLLAND, in northwest GERkaNT including the FRISIAN ISLANDS and HELIGOLAND and all other islands, in SCHLESWIG- HOLSTEIN, and in DENMARK, to the C.-in-C. 21 Army Group, t’o vacIuJU aJLi <xA skcLf i“k« 1-*. These foroes to lay down their anus'and to surrender unconditionally. 2. All hostilities on land, on sea, or in the air by Genaan forces in the above areas to oease at QSOO hrs. British Double Suuraer Time on Saturday 5 May 194-5. The German command to carry out at once, and without argument or comment, all further orders that will be issued by the Allied Powers on any subject. Disobedience of orders, or failure to comply with them, will be regarded as a breach of these surrender terms and will be dealt with by the Allied Powers in accordance with the accepted laws and usages of war. This instrument of surrender is independent of, without prejudice to, and will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by or on behalf of the Allied Powers and applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole. This instrument of surrender is written in English and in German. The English version is the authentic text. The decision of the Allied Powers will be final if any doubt or dispute arises as to the meaning or interpretation of the surrender terms. Instrument of surrender—Holland Doenitz’s authorization to Jodi Only this text in English is authoritative We, the undersigned, acting by authority of the German High Command, hereby surrender unconditionally to the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command all forces on land, sea, and in the air who are at this date under German control. The German High Command will at once issue orders to all German military, naval and air authorities and to all forces under German control to cease active operations at 2:30 a.m. and to remain in the positions occupied at that time. No ship, vessel, or aircraft is to be scuttled, or any damage done to their hull, machinery or equipment. The German High Command will at once issue to the appropriate commanders, and ensure the carrying out of any further orders issued by the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force and by the Soviet High Command. This act of military surrender is without prejudice to, and will 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. Instrument of surrender—Reims SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE ORDERS by the supreme commander. A LIVED EXPEDITIOUSLY FORCE HEARING TO ARMY AND AIR FORCES UNDER GERMAN ORDERS by the supreme commander. A LIVED EXPEDITIOUSLY FORCE HEARING TO ARMY AND AIR FORCES UNDER GERMAN ORDERS by the supreme commander. A LIVED EXPEDITIOUSLY FORCE HEARING TO ARMY AND AIR FORCES UNDER GERMAN ORDERS by the supreme commander. A LIVED EXPEDITIOUSLY FORCE HEARING TO ARMY AND AIR FORCES UNDER GERMAN ORDERS by the supreme commander. A LIVED EXPEDITIOUSLY FORCE HEARING TO ARMY AND AIR FORCES UNDER GERMAN ORDERS by the supreme commander. Control 1. Local commanders of Army and Air Forces under German control on the Western Front, in Norway and in the CHARNEL ISLANDS will hold themselves in readiness to receive detailed orders for the surrender of their forces from the Supreme Commander's subordinate commanders opposite their front. In the case of NORWAY, the Supreme Commander's representatives will be the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Scottish Command and Air Officer Commanding Group RAF. In the case of the CHANNEL ISLANDS, the Supreme Commander's representatives will be the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command and Air Officer Commanding 10 Group RAF. For the Supreme Commander, AZF. Dated May, 1945. Orders related to surrender of German Army and Air forces SECTION I GENERAL ORDERS OF THE SUPREME CORNELIUS, A UJKD EXCEPTIONAL FORCE TO THE GERMAN HIGH COMMAND RELATING TO NAVAL FORCES PART II GENERAL Definition of Naval Forces 1st For the purpose of these orders, all formations, units, and personnel of the German Navy together with the Marine Kusten Polizei shall be referred to as the German Naval Forces. 2nd Members of the Marine Kusten Polizei will immediately be placed under the command of the appropriate German Naval Commanders who will be responsible for their disarmament and discipline, as well as for their maintenance and supply where applicable, to the same extent and degree as for units of the German Navy. German Naval Representatives and information required immediately The German High Command will despatch within 48 hours after the surrender becomes effective, a responsible Flag Officer to the Allied Naval Commander, Expeditionary Force at his Headquarters. This Flag Officer will furnish the Allied Naval Commander, Expeditionary Force, with: a. Corrected copies of charts showing all mines in Western European waters, including the Balfour as far as DUBE (inclusive) which have been laid by German and German-controlled vessels or aircraft, positions of all wrecks, booms and other underwater obstructions in this area, details of the German convoy routes and searched channels and of all buoys, lights and other navigational aids in this area. The appropriate navigational publications are also required. - 1 - Orders related to surrender of German naval forces C05S094 A KfoaCUHS 'A* SURFACE OF GERMANY *U' BOAT P lddT To a 11 *U' Boats at sea: Garry out the following instructions forthwith which have been given by the Allied Representatives in Surface immediately and remain surfaced. (*) Report immediately in P/L your position in latitude and longitude and number of your 'U' Boat to nearest British, US, Canadian or Soviet coast W/T station on 500 kc/s (600 metres) and to call sign GZZ 10 on one of the following high frequencies: 16815 ” 12685 or 5970 kc/s. (*) Ply a large black or blue flag by day. Burn navigation lights by night. Burn navigation lights by night. Jettison all ammunition, remove breechblocks from guns and render torpedoes safe by removing pistols. All mines are to be rendered safe. Make all signals in P/L. Follow strictly the instructions for proceeding to Allied ports from your present area given immediately following message. Observe strictly the orders of Allied Representatives to refrain from scuttling or in any way damaging your high commands. U-boat Annex GIVEN BY CERTAIN GERMAN EMISSARIES In 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.  VON FRIEDERBURG ALOS OBER- AIS VERTRETER DES QUIRREFERES DER LUFTWAFFE ZUR RATIFIZIERUNG DER BEDINGUNG KAPITULATION DER DEUTSCHEN STREITER EXPLOIT IONS STREITER UND DEM SOXET-UffER- KOMKANDO. Authorization to execute ratification (in German) C056100 ACT OF MILITARY SURRENDER 1. We, the undersigned, acting by authority of the German High Command, hereby surrender unconditionally to the Supreme Command, Allied Expeditionary Force and simultaneously to the Supreme High Command of the Red Army all forces on land, at sea, and in the air who are at this date under German control. 2. The German High Command will at once issue orders to all German military, naval and air authorities and to all forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European time on 8th May 1945, to remain in the positions occupied at that time and to disarm completely, handing over their weapons and equipment to the local allied cannaders or officers designated by Representatives of the Allied Supreme Command. No ship, vessel, or aircraft is to be scuttled, or any damage done to their hull, machinery or equipment, and also to machines of all kinds, armament, apparatus, and all the technical means of prosecution of war in general. Instrument of surrender—Berlin (English) C05G101 The German High Command will at once issue to the appropriate commanders, and ensure the carrying out of any further orders issued by the Supreme Command, Allied Expeditionary Force and by the Supreme High Command of the Red Army. This act of military surrender is without prejudice to, and will 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. In the event of the German High Command or any of the forces under their control failing to act in accordance with this Act of Surrender, the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force and the Supreme High Command of the Red Army will take such punitive or other action as they deem appropriate. AKT O XiliHOI KAH«iX.Jul... 1. Ml,ai£BtinoAnMcaBuiiKJ ch, AortoTbya ot aweHa I’opLaHOKoro 3apxobHoro [ o:..aH 40 baHim,oorjiamauUOfl de3orouopo*iHyi> Kami TyjLaUMD bcex Haiiiix boop^xeHHLX OiiJi Ha cyme,Ha uope a h b03iJ^xe,a Tatse Boax cwji, naxoAfliu^xca b HacTOflmae apoMH noA HeMOUKMU KOMaHAObaHiieM, - BopxoaaoMy lAabHOKOMaHAo- BaHHK) KpacaOM ApMHW H OAHOBpeMbHHO JypXOB riDMy KotiaiwoBa- HHS C0D3HUX  bCBM G'A JIB M, HaXOAH^lMOH new repMancKUM KowaHAOsaHne m, npaRpaTATb boeaHLe abaot- BWfl b A3-01 ^ac no UoHTpajibao-Sbpona.<CROMy bpewaa a 8 Man 1943 roAa, ocTaTbca Ha caowx Macrax,rA*> ohm aaxoA^Toa B 8TC BpeMfl,H nOJIHOOTbD pa uopy IATbQfl,nepaAaB BCo AX opyjwe Id BOuHHOe AMy^OTBO MaOTHUd 00D3HLM KOMajwyiD^iu HilH O^HAepaM,BLAOJlbHHLH npe 40 TabHT 6 JliIWll C0K3LUX.japXOB- Hbx KouaHAObaa: ii, aa pajpyiua-rb a ae npaqaaaTb aaRaKax nobpeaA>HHa napo.X)AaJd,oyAau a cauojiaTaM,ax A^HraraxaM, Kopaj'oaM a odopyAOBaHHD,a Taiose uamaaai.i,boopyKeaiiK), annapaiaM a bccu Boodle BOcHao-TexaireaCKHM op«AOTbaM boa®hah bo£1hl. Instrument of surrender—Berlin (Russian) CCC56104 2.- 3. REVOLUTION 3epxoBHoe Kom aHAoBaHwe HeMeAJieHHO bu- Aojimt oootbot oTByroupix KouaamipoB h odecnamiT BunoJiHaHMe BO OX flEUIbHOflmidX npHK a3 0B,M3AaHHKX 3op XQBHbM i JIB bhoro Man - AOBaHMBM KpaCHOa ApMMM H BepXOBHhlM KOMaHhOM C0D3HUX 8KOnOAHE(HOHHbK OMJI. 4. 8tot aicr ho dy^OT BBjiflTboa npenHTBMo m k 3aMeaa ero ap^tmm re Ha pa jib hum ^OKy mohtom o Kanaiy JUmMM,3aRJiBweH- HblM 0(3 'aAMHOHHUMa Hai^iHMH MjM OT MX MM6HH,npMMOHMMUM K repMaHMM M rOpMOHOKMM BOOpy XO HHUM QMJiaM B LjejIOM. 5. B ojiyqae, ecna HOMauRoe BepxoBHoa KoMaHAOaaHMa 14JIM KaKHO- jim do BoopyxeHHue omjiu,HaxoAai4MeoH noA aro KOMaHAOBaHMeM, Ha dyAyT AO Motb obht b b cootbototbmm c 8 TMM 6 LKTOM 0 R allMTy JLHIJMJ 4, BopXOBHOO KOMaHAOBaHd KpaCHOil ApMHH,a TaRsa Bapxoffloa KoMaHAOaaHMa Cod3Hux OKoneAMAMoH- hux omji, npaunpHmy t TaRHe RapaTejibHuo Mapu, mjim APyma AOKOTBMH, ROTOpua OHM OO^TyT HaodxOAMMbiMH. 6. 0TOT aRT OOCTaBJIaH Ha  für und im Namen des Oberkommandos der Deutschen Wehrmacht, erklären hiermit die bedingungslose Kapitulation aller am gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt unter deutschem Befehl stehenden Oder von Deutschland beherrschten Streitkraefte auf dem Lande, auf der See und in der Luft gleichzeitig gegenüber dem Oberkommando der Eoten Armee. 2. Das Oberkommando der Deutschen Wehrmacht wird unverzüglich allen Beherrschen der deutschen Land-See- und Luftstreitkraeefte und alle von Deutschland beherrschten Streitkraeften den Befehl geben, die Kampfhardungen um 23. Uhr Mitteleuropaeischer Zeit am 8. Mai einzustellen und in den Stellungen zu verbleiben, die sie an diesem Zeitpunkt unkündigt inne—haben und sich vollstaendig zu entwaffnen, indem sie Waffen und Geraete an die oertlichen Alliierten Befehlshaber beziehungsweise an die von den Alliierten Vertretern zu bestimmenden Offiziere abliefer. Kein Schiff, Boot Oder Flugzeug irgendeiner Art darf versenkt werden, noch duerfen Schiffruempfe, maschinelle Einrichtungen, Ausruestungsgegenstände, Maschinen irgendwelcher Art, Waffen, Apparaturen, technische Gegenstände, die Kriegszwecken im Allgemeinen dienlich sein koennen, beschädigt werden. 3. Das Oberkommando der Deutschen Wehrmacht wird unverzüglich den zuständigen Befehlshaber alle von dem Obersten  the evil forces which for five years and longer have imprisoned the bodies and broken the lives of millions upon millions of free—born men. They have violated their churches, destroyed their homes, corrupted their children, and murdered their loved ones. Our armies of Liberation have restored freedom to these suffering peoples, whose spirit and will the oppressors could never enslave. Much remains to be done. The victory won in the West must now be won in the East. The whole world must be cleansed of the evil from which half the world has been freed. United, the peace-loving nations have demonstrated in the West that their arms are stronger by far than the might of dictators or the tyranny of military cliques that once called us soft and weak. The power of our peoples to defend themselves against all enemies will be proved in the Pacific war as it has been proved in Europe. For the triumph of spirit and of arms which we have won, and for its promise to peoples everywhere who join us in the love of freedom, it is fitting that we, as a nation, give thanks to Almighty God, who has strengthened us and given us the victory. NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby appoint Sunday, May 13, 1945, to be a day of prayer. I call upon the people of the United States, whatever their faith, to unite in offering joyful thanks to God for the victory we have won and to pray that He will support us to the end of our present struggle and guide us into the conflict. The way of peace. '' I also call upon my countrymen to dedicate this day of prayer %• memory of those who have given their lives to make possible our \wiUv JN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the sell ol tte United States of America to be affixed. •t the City of Washington this eighth day of Hay in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-five and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-ninth. 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