Everything about The German Instrument Of Surrender totally explained
The
German Instrument of Surrender was the
legal instrument by which the
High Command of the
German Armed Forces surrendered simultaneously to the Supreme Commander of the
Allied Expeditionary Force and to the
Soviet High command at the
end of World War II in Europe.
First Act
The first
Instrument of Surrender was signed at
Reims,
France, at 02:41 hours on
7 May 1945.
The
unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed by
Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, on behalf of the
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German language: High Command of armed forces) and as the representative for the new
Reich President,
Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.
This
Instrument of Surrender applied to all military forces on land, at sea, and in the air who were at that point of time under the control of the
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW). Although the military commanders of most German forces obeyed the order to surrender issued by the German Armed Forces High Command
not all commanders did so. The largest contingent not to do so were
Army Group Centre under the command of
Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner who had been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Army on
April 30 in
Hitler's last will and testament. On
May 8, Schörner deserted his command and flew to Austria and the Soviet Army sent an overwhelming force against
Army Group Centre in the
Prague Offensive forcing all German units in Army Group Centre to capitulate by
May 11 (Soviet troops entered Prague on
9 May). Pursuant to this
Instrument of Surrender, the German High Command issued orders to all forces under its command to cease active operations at exactly 23:01 hours
Central European Time of
May 8 1945. Thus, this
Instrument of Surrender legalized unconditional surrender of all armed forces under the German High Command, officially ending
combat in Europe.
The
Soviet Union's only representative in Rheims was General
Ivan Susloparov, the Military Liaison Mission Commander. General Susloparov's scope of authority wasn't entirely clear, and he'd no means of immediate contact with the
Kremlin, but nevertheless decided to risk signing for the Soviet side. However, he noted that it could be replaced with a new version in the future.
Stalin was indeed displeased by these events. He believed that the German surrender should have been accepted only by the envoy of the USSR Supreme command, and insisted the Rheims protocol be considered preliminary, with the main ceremony to be held in Berlin, where Marshal
Zhukov was at the time.
Second Act
The second Act of Military Surrender was signed, shortly before midnight, on
May 8 in the outskirts of
Berlin,
Germany. The signing ceremony took place in a villa in an eastern suburb of
Berlin called
Karlshorst, where the
German Russian Museum is located today.
(External Link
) The representatives of the USSR, the United Kingdom, France and the United States arrived shortly before midnight. After Zhukov opened the ceremony, the German command representatives headed by
Wilhelm Keitel were invited into the room, where they signed the final German Act of Unconditional Surrender entering into force at 23:01 Central European Time.
Representatives:
Soviet Union didn't allow the participation of
Poland as representative.
Postscript
Karl Dönitz continued to act as head of state, but his
Flensburg government (so-called because it was based at
Flensburg and controlled only a small area around the town) wasn't recognised by the Allied powers and was dissolved when its members were captured and arrested by
British forces on
May 23,
1945 at Flensburg. The Allies had a problem, because they realised that although the German armed forces had surrendered unconditionally, the civilian German government had in fact not, SHAEF having failed to use the document created by the "
European Advisory Commission" (EAC). This was considered a very important issue, because just as the civilian, but not military, surrender in 1918 had been used to create the "
stab in the back" myth that Hitler exploited, the Allies didn't want to give a future hostile German regime a legal argument to resurrect an old quarrel. Eventually they decided not to recognise Dönitz's Government and to sign a four-power document instead, creating the
Allied Control Council which included the following:
» The Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, hereby assume supreme authority with respect to Germany, including all the powers possessed by the German Government, the High Command and any state, municipal, or local government or authority. The assumption, for the purposes stated above, of the said authority and powers doesn't effect the annexation of Germany. [USDepartment of State, Treaties and Other International Acts Series, No. 1520.]
On
5 July 1945 the four-powers signed the document in Berlin and the
de facto became the
de jure. This imposition was in line with Article 4 of the Instrument of Surrender that had been included so that the EAC document, or something similar, could be imposed on the Germans after the military surrender. Article 4 stated that "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 July/August 1945 the Allied leaders planned the new postwar German government, changed
territory boundaries, ordered German
demilitarization (de-industrialisation),
denazification and settlements of
war reparations at the
Potsdam Conference.
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