On May 8, 1945, at 22:43 CET (at 00:43, May 9, Moscow time), in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, in the building of the former canteen of the military engineering school, the Act of Germany's unconditional surrender was signed.

May 7, 1945. Personal and strictly secret message from Mr. Churchill to Marshal Stalin:
"I have just received your message and also read a letter from General Antonov to General Eisenhower proposing that the announcement of Germany's surrender be postponed until May 9, 1945. It will be impossible for me to postpone my application for 24 hours, as you did Moreover, the parliament will demand information about yesterday's signing in Reims and about the official ratification scheduled for today in Berlin ... "

On the morning of May 8, correspondents from all the major newspapers and magazines in the world and photojournalists began to arrive in Berlin to capture the historical moment of the legal registration of the complete defeat of Nazi Germany.

In the middle of the day, representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces arrived at the Tempelhof airfield. The Supreme Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force was represented by Eisenhower's Deputy Air Chief Marshal Arthur William Tedder, the US Armed Forces by the Commander of Strategic Air Forces, General Carl Spaatz, and the French Armed Forces by Army Commander-in-Chief General Jean-Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny. From the airfield, the Allies arrived in Karlhorst, where it was decided to accept unconditional surrender from the German command.

Under the protection of British officers, the former Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht Supreme High Command, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces, General Admiral of the Fleet G. von Friedeburg, and Colonel General of Aviation Hans Stumpf arrived at the same airfield from the city of Flensburg, guarded by British officers.

Here, in Karlshorst, in the eastern part of Berlin, in the two-story building of the former canteen of the German military engineering school, a hall was prepared where the signing ceremony was to take place. Soon, all representatives of the command of the allied forces arrived at the Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union G. Zhukov, to agree on procedural issues. Keitel and his companions at that time were in another building.

At precisely 24:00, Zhukov, Tedder, Spaatz and de Lattre de Tassigny entered the hall decorated with the national flags of the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France. The hall was attended by Soviet generals, whose troops participated in the legendary storming of Berlin, as well as Soviet and foreign journalists.

Generals Bogdanov and Berzarin

The signing ceremony was opened by Marshal Zhukov. He greeted the representatives of the allied armies in Berlin occupied by the Red Army at the historic moment of the surrender of the common enemy - Nazi Germany. “We, representatives of the Supreme Command of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces ... are authorized by the governments of the anti-Hitler coalition to accept the unconditional surrender of Germany from the German military command,” he solemnly said.

At the suggestion of the Soviet representative, Keitel handed over to the heads of the Allied delegations a document by which Doenitz authorized the German delegation to sign the act of surrender. The German delegation was then asked whether it had the Act of Unconditional Surrender in hand and whether it had studied it. The question was repeated in English by Marshal Tedder. After Keitel's affirmative answer from the German side, the act was signed by Field Marshal General, Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command Wilhelm Keitel, Luftwaffe representative Colonel General Stumpf and Kriegsmarine Admiral von Friedeburg.

Signed by Wilhelm Keitel:

Stumpf's signature:

Unconditional surrender was accepted by Marshal Zhukov (from the Soviet side) and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces Marshal Tedder (Great Britain).

General K. Spaats (USA) and General J. de Latre de Tassigny (France) put their signatures as witnesses.

At 0043 hours (Moscow time) on May 9 (at 2243 hours Central European time on May 8), 1945, the signing of the Act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was completed. The German delegation was asked to leave the hall. Keitel, Friedeburg, Stumpf bowed and left the hall.

Having accepted the surrender, the Soviet Union did not sign peace with Germany. The decree on ending the state of war was adopted by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on January 25, 1955.

On May 8, 1945, on the outskirts of Berlin, Karlshorst, at 22:43 CET (May 9 at 0:43 Moscow time), the final act of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and its armed forces was signed. But historically, the Berlin act of surrender was not the first.

When Soviet troops surrounded Berlin, the military leadership of the Third Reich faced the question of preserving the remnants of Germany. This was possible only by avoiding unconditional surrender. Then it was decided to capitulate only to the Anglo-American troops, but to continue hostilities against the Red Army.

The Germans sent representatives to the Allies to formally confirm the surrender. On the night of May 7, in the French city of Reims, an act of capitulation of Germany was signed, according to which, from 23 hours on May 8, hostilities ceased on all fronts. The protocol stipulated that it was not a comprehensive surrender treaty for Germany and its armed forces.

However, the Soviet Union put forward the demand for unconditional surrender as the only condition for ending the war. Stalin considered the signing of the act in Reims only a preliminary protocol and was unhappy that the act of surrender of Germany was signed in France, and not in the capital of the aggressor state. Moreover, the fighting on the Soviet-German front was still ongoing.

At the insistence of the leadership of the USSR, the representatives of the Allies reconvened already in Berlin and, together with the Soviet side, on May 8, 1945, signed another German Surrender Act. The parties agreed that the first act would be called preliminary, and the second - final.

The final Act of the unconditional surrender of Germany and its armed forces on behalf of the German Wehrmacht was signed by Field Marshal W. Keitel, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Admiral Von Friedeburg, Colonel General of Aviation G. Stumpf. The USSR was represented by the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union G. Zhukov, the allies were represented by the Chief Air Marshal of Great Britain A. Tedder. Present as witnesses were General of the US Army Spaatz and Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, General Tassigny.

The solemn signing of the act took place under the chairmanship of Marshal Zhukov, and the signing ceremony itself took place in the building of the military engineering school, where a special hall was prepared, decorated with the state flags of the USSR, the USA, England and France. At the main table were representatives of the allied powers. The hall was attended by Soviet generals, whose troops took Berlin, as well as journalists from many countries.

After the unconditional surrender of Germany, the Wehrmacht government was dissolved, and the German troops on the Soviet-German front began to lay down their arms. In total, in the period from May 9 to May 17, the Red Army took prisoner on the basis of an act of surrender about 1.5 million enemy soldiers and officers and 101 generals. Thus ended the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people.

In the USSR, the surrender of Germany was announced on the night of May 9, 1945, and on the orders of I. Stalin, a grandiose salute of a thousand guns was given in Moscow that day. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in commemoration of the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders and the historic victories of the Red Army, May 9 was declared Victory Day.

On May 8, 1945, on the outskirts of Berlin, Karshorst, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany and its Armed Forces was signed.

The act of Germany's unconditional surrender was signed twice. On behalf of Dönitz, Hitler's successor after his presumed death, Jodl suggested that the Allies accept Germany's surrender and arrange for the signing of the corresponding act on 10 May. Eisenhower refused to even discuss the postponement and gave Yodl half an hour to decide on the immediate signing of the act, threatening that otherwise the Allies would continue to deliver massive strikes against the German troops. The German representatives had no choice, and after agreement with Dönitz, Jodl agreed to sign the act.

On the part of the command of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, the act was to be witnessed by General Beddel Smith. Eisenhower proposed from the Soviet side to witness the act to Major General I.A. Susloparov, a former representative of the Headquarters of the Allied Command. Susloparov, as soon as he learned about the preparation of the act for signing, reported this to Moscow and handed over the text of the prepared document, requesting instructions on the procedure.

By the time the signing of the act of surrender began (it was tentatively scheduled for 2 hours and 30 minutes), no response was received from Moscow. The situation developed in such a way that the act could not have been signed by the Soviet representative at all, so Susloparov achieved the inclusion of a note in it about the possibility, at the request of one of the allied states, of a new signing of the act, if there were objective reasons for this. Only after that did he agree to put his signature under the act, although he understood that he was extremely risky.

Germany's surrender was signed on May 7 at 2:40 CET. The act provided that unconditional surrender comes into force from 23:00 on May 8. After that, a belated ban on Susloparov from participating in the signing of the act came from Moscow. The Soviet side insisted on signing the act in Berlin with a significant increase in the level of persons who would sign the act and testify to it with their signatures. Stalin instructed Marshal Zhukov to organize a new signing of the act.

Fortunately, the note, which was included at the request of Susloparov in the signed document, allowed this to be done. Sometimes the second signing of the act is called the ratification of what was signed the day before. There are legal grounds for this, since on May 7 G.K. Zhukov received an official order from Moscow: "The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command authorizes you to ratify the protocol on the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces."

Stalin joined in resolving the issue of signing the act again, but at a higher level, turning to Churchill and Truman: “The treaty signed in Reims cannot be canceled, but it cannot be recognized. Surrender must be committed as the most important historical act and accepted not on the territory of the victors, but where the fascist aggression came from, in Berlin, and not unilaterally, but necessarily by the supreme command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition.

As a result, the United States and England agreed to carry out a new signing of the act, and the document signed in Reims to be considered the "Preliminary Protocol on the Surrender of Germany." At the same time, Churchill and Truman refused to postpone the announcement of the signing of the act for a day, as Stalin asked, arguing that heavy fighting was still going on on the Soviet-German front, and we had to wait until the surrender came into force, that is, until 23:00 on May 8 . In England and the United States, the signing of the act and the surrender of Germany to the Western Allies was officially announced on May 8, Churchill and Truman did it personally, addressing the people by radio. In the USSR, the text of their appeals was published in newspapers, but for obvious reasons only on May 10th.

It is curious that Churchill, knowing that the end of the war would be announced in the USSR after the signing of a new act, said in his radio address: “Today we will probably think mainly about ourselves. Tomorrow we will give special praise to our Russian comrades, whose valor on the battlefield was one of the great contributions to the common victory.

Opening the ceremony, Marshal Zhukov addressed the audience, declaring: “We, representatives of the Supreme Command of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces ... are authorized by the governments of the anti-Hitler coalition to accept the unconditional surrender of Germany from the German military command.” After that, representatives of the German command entered the hall, presenting a document of authority signed by Dönitz.

The signing of the act ended at 22:43 CET. It was already May 9 in Moscow (0 hours 43 minutes). On the German side, the act was signed by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces of Germany, Field Marshal Wilhelm Bodevin Johann Gustav Keitel, the Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe, Colonel General of Aviation Hans Jurgen Stumpf, and General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, who became the Reich President of Germany after the appointment of Dönitz. Unconditional surrender was accepted by Marshal Zhukov (from the Soviet side) and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force Marshal Tedder (Eng. Arthur William Tedder) (Great Britain).

General Carl Spaatz (USA) and General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (France) put their signatures as witnesses. By agreement between the governments of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, an agreement was reached to consider the procedure in Reims preliminary. However, in Western historiography, the signing of the surrender of the German armed forces, as a rule, is associated with the procedure in Reims, and the signing of the act of surrender in Berlin is referred to as its "ratification"

Soon, the solemn voice of Yuri Levitan sounded from radios throughout the country: “On May 8, 1945, representatives of the German High Command signed an act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces in Berlin. The Great Patriotic War waged by the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders has ended victoriously.

Germany is completely destroyed. Comrades of the Red Army, Red Navy, sergeants, foremen, officers of the army and navy, generals, admirals and marshals, I congratulate you on the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War. Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the battles for the freedom and independence of our Motherland!”

By order of I. Stalin, a grandiose salute from a thousand guns was given that day in Moscow. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in commemoration of the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders and the historic victories of the Red Army, May 9 was declared Victory Day.

Photos from open sources

In 1945, on May 8, in Karshorst (a suburb of Berlin) at 22.43 Central European time, the final Act of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and its armed forces was signed. It is no coincidence that this act is called final, since it was not the first.

From the moment the Soviet troops closed the ring around Berlin, the German military leadership faced the historical question of preserving Germany as such. For obvious reasons, the German generals wanted to capitulate to the Anglo-American troops, continuing the war with the USSR.

To sign the surrender to the Allies, the German command sent a special group and on the night of May 7 in the city of Reims (France) a preliminary act of Germany's surrender was signed. This document stipulated the possibility of continuing the war against the Soviet army.

However, the absolute condition of the Soviet Union remained the demand for the unconditional surrender of Germany as a fundamental condition for the complete cessation of hostilities. The Soviet leadership considered the signing of the act in Reims only an intermediate document, and was also convinced that the act of surrender of Germany should be signed in the capital of the aggressor country.

At the insistence of the Soviet leadership, the generals and personally Stalin, the representatives of the allies gathered again in Berlin and on May 8, 1945 signed another act of surrender of Germany together with the main winner - the USSR. That is why the German Unconditional Surrender Act is called final.

The solemn signing ceremony of the act was organized in the building of the Berlin Military Engineering School and was chaired by Marshal Zhukov. Under the final Act of unconditional surrender of Germany and its armed forces are the signatures of Field Marshal W. Keitel, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy Admiral von Friedeburg, Colonel General of Aviation G. Stumpf. On the part of the Allies, the Act was signed by G.K. Zhukov and British Marshal A. Tedder.

After the signing of the Act, the German government was dissolved, and the defeated German troops completely laid down their arms. Between May 9 and 17, Soviet troops captured about 1.5 million German soldiers and officers, as well as 101 generals. The Great Patriotic War ended with the complete victory of the Soviet army and its people.

In the USSR, the signing of the final Act of Germany's unconditional surrender was announced when it was already May 9, 1945 in Moscow. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in commemoration of the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders, May 9 was declared Victory Day.

German Surrender Act

Who signed the German Surrender Act?

Germany's act of surrender ended World War II in Europe. The final text was signed in Karlshorst (Berlin area) on the night of May 8, 1945 by representatives of the three types of troops of the High Command of the German Armed Forces on the one hand and the Allied Expeditionary Forces, together with the Supreme Commander of the Red Army, on the other. Representatives of France and the United States signed the document as witnesses. An earlier version of the text was signed during a ceremony in Reims in the early hours of May 7, 1945. In the West, May 8 is known as Victory Day in Europe, and in the post-Soviet states, Victory Day is celebrated on May 9, since the final signing took place after midnight Moscow time.

There were three versions of the document of surrender in different languages. Only Russian and English versions are authentic.

Preparation of the text of the Act of Surrender of Germany

The preparation of the text of the Act of Surrender was started by the representatives of the three allied powers: the USA, the USSR and the United Kingdom - in the European Consultative Commission (EAC) during 1944. By January 3, 1944, the EAC Security Committee proposed that Germany's defeat be recorded in a single document of unconditional surrender. In addition, the Committee proposed that the Instrument of Surrender be signed by representatives of the German High Command. The reason for this recommendation was the desire to prevent the situation with the "legend of a stab in the back", created in Germany after the defeat in the First World War. Since the Instrument of Surrender in November 1918 was signed only by representatives of the German civilian government, military leaders subsequently argued that the high command of the German army did not bear any responsibility for this document.

Not everyone agreed with the Committee's predictions regarding the end of the war. Ambassador William Strang, British Representative to the EAC, argued the following:

At the present time it is impossible to foresee under what circumstances hostilities with Germany might finally be stopped. Therefore, we cannot say which regimen of the procedure will be the most suitable. Would a full and detailed truce be considered optimal, for example, or would a shorter truce granting basic powers be preferred, or perhaps not a general truce but a succession of local capitulations by enemy commanders.

The terms of Germany's surrender were first brought up for discussion at the first meeting of the EAC on January 14, 1944. The final text was agreed on July 28, 1944. After it was accepted by the three allied powers.

The agreed text consisted of three parts. The first part contained a brief preamble: "The Government and High Command of Germany, accepting and recognizing the total defeat of the German armed forces on land, sea and air, hereby announce the unconditional surrender of Germany."

The Act of Surrender itself consisted of fourteen articles. The second part (Articles 1 to 5) concerned the military surrender on behalf of the high command of all forces on land, sea and air, the surrender of weapons and the evacuation of the military from all territories outside the German borders at the time of December 31, 1937, as well as the procedure for surrender in captivity. The third part (Articles 6 to 12) was related to the transfer by the German government of almost all of its powers and authority to Allied representatives, the release and repatriation of prisoners and forced laborers, the cessation of radio broadcasting, the provision of intelligence and other information, the non-destruction of weapons and infrastructure, the responsibility of Nazi leaders for war crimes, as well as with the right granted to Allied representatives to issue proclamations, orders, directives and instructions covering "additional political, administrative, economic, financial, military and other demands arising from the total defeat of Germany". The key article in the third part was Article 12, implying that the German government and the German command would fully obey any orders, orders and instructions from accredited Allied representatives. In the understanding of the Allies, this gave unlimited possibilities for imposing measures to ensure restitution and compensation for war losses. Articles 13 and 14 determined the date of surrender and the languages ​​in which the final text was recorded.

The Yalta Conference in February 1945 led to the further development of the terms of surrender. It was decided that post-war Germany would be divided into four occupation zones for administration: British, French, United States and Soviet respectively. In addition, separately at Yalta, it was agreed that in July 1944 an additional clause 12a would be added, providing that the representatives of the Allies "may take measures that they consider necessary to ensure future peace and security, including complete disarmament, demilitarization and dismemberment Germany". France, however, did not participate in the Yalta Agreement, which created a diplomatic problem, since the formal inclusion of an additional clause in the text of the EAC would inevitably require France to be equally represented in any dismemberment decisions. Until this issue was resolved, there were actually two versions of the text of the EAC: one that included a clause on dismemberment, and the second without it. In addition, by the end of March 1945, the British government began to doubt that when Germany was completely defeated (which was a necessary condition for negotiating the Surrender Act), there would be any institution of civil authority capable of signing the instrument of surrender and carrying out his position. Therefore, it has been proposed that the EAC text be recast as a unilateral declaration by the Allied Powers of victory over Germany, assuming Allied sovereignty over the former German state. It was in this form that the text agreed to by the EAC was finally enshrined as the Declaration of Defeat for Germany.

At the same time, the Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed in August 1944 on general recommendations for local military formations to be followed upon surrender. Surrender was to be unconditional and concerned only military aspects, no agreements were to be made with the enemy. Moreover, the partial surrender was not to be in conflict with any subsequent instrument of surrender which might subsequently be concluded by the three Allied Powers in respect of Germany. These principles formed the basis of a series of partial surrenders of German troops to the Western Allies in April and May 1945.

The text compiled by the EAC was not used when the Germans signed the acts of surrender in Reims and Berlin. Instead, a simplified version was used, relating only to military operations, based on the wording of documents on the partial surrender of German troops in Italy, signed in Caserta. The reasons for this substitution are still a matter of dispute. It could be due to both the doubt that the German signatories would agree to the provisions of the full text, and the ongoing uncertainty associated with the discussion of the provisions for the dismemberment of the country. But this meant that the text signed in Reims was not agreed in advance with the Soviet command.

Surrender of German troops

On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the bunker of the Berlin Chancellery, having previously made a will, according to which Admiral Karl Dönitz was appointed Hitler's successor as head of state and received the title of President of the Reich. But with the fall of Berlin two days later, when American and Soviet forces united at Torgau on the Elbe, the German territory hitherto under German military control was divided in two. In addition, the speed of the Allied advance in March 1945 - along with Hitler's insistent orders to fight to the last - resulted in the surviving German military remaining in isolated pockets in the occupied territories, mostly outside of pre-Nazi Germany. Dönitz tried to form a government near the Danish border at Flensburg. There, on May 2, 1945, he was joined by the Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht, Wilhelm Keitel, who had previously moved to Krampnitz (near Potsdam) during the Battle of Berlin, and then to Rheinsberg.

By the time of Hitler's death, the German armed forces remained in the following territories:

the Atlantic pockets of La Rochelle, St. Nazaire, Lorient, Dunkirk and the Channel Islands; the Greek islands of Crete, Rhodes and Dodecanese; southern Norway, Denmark, western Holland, northern Croatia and Italy; Austria; Bohemia and Moravia; the Courland peninsula in Latvia and Hel in Poland; and also in German territory: to the northwest, towards Hamburg, next to the British and Canadian forces; in Mecklenburg, Pomerania and the besieged city of Breslau, next to the Soviet troops; in southern Bavaria towards Berchtesgaden, next to the American and French forces.

How Nazi Germany Surrendered

German troops in Italy and Western Austria

German military leaders in Italy were in secret negotiations for a partial surrender. The agreements were signed at Caserta on 29 April 1945 and were to come into force on 2 May. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander-in-chief of Army Group South, initially refused to surrender, but once Hitler's death was confirmed, he agreed to it.

German troops in northwestern Germany, Holland and Denmark

On May 4, 1945, German troops, acting on instructions from the Dönitz government, in the face of the British and Canadian 21st Army Group, signed the act of surrender at Lüneburg. The act came into force on May 5.

German troops in Bavaria and southern Germany

On May 5, 1945, all German forces in Bavaria and Southwest Germany signed an act of surrender to the Americans at Haar near Munich. The act came into force on May 6.

Reasons for surrender in Caserta were formed within the German military command. But from May 2, 1945, the Dönitz government took control of the process, pursuing a deliberate policy of successive partial capitulations in the west. This was done in order to buy time and redeploy as many military formations as possible in a western direction in order to save them from Soviet or Yugoslav captivity and allow them to surrender to the British and Americans. In addition, Dönitz hoped to continue to evacuate soldiers and civilians by sea from the Hel Peninsula and its adjacent Baltic coastal areas. Dönitz and Keitel were strongly opposed to any orders for surrender to the Soviets. This was due both to unrelenting anti-Bolshevism and the fact that they could not be sure of providing legal protection for prisoners of war.

After a series of partial capitulations, the following army groups remained at the front (except those that were closed on the islands and in fortress ports): the Ostmark Army Group, which opposed Soviet troops in eastern Austria and Western Bohemia; Army Group E, which faced Yugoslav forces in Croatia; the remnants of the Vistula Army Group, which opposed the Soviet troops in Mecklenburg; and Army Group Center, which opposed Soviet forces in eastern Bohemia and Moravia. From 5 May Army Group Center was also involved in the brutal suppression of the Prague uprising. The occupying German army, consisting of about 400,000 well-equipped soldiers, remained in Norway under the command of General Franz Böhme. In the early morning of May 6, the general in Sweden was contacted by a German minister to determine whether the occupying army should go for a partial surrender, requesting the role of mediator from neutral Sweden, but the general was unwilling to carry out any order other than a general surrender order from the German High Command. In the West, on almost all fronts, it was possible to stop hostilities between the Western Allies and German troops. At the same time, in its radio orders, the Dönitz government continued to oppose the German surrender to Soviet troops in Courland, Bohemia and Mecklenburg. trying, moreover, to cancel the ongoing surrender negotiations in Berlin and Breslau. German troops in the east were ordered to retake the path to the west. Realizing that if this continued, the Soviet command would suspect the Western Allies of wanting to conclude a separate peace (however, this was exactly what Dönitz intended), Eisenhower decided that the Allies would no longer agree on any partial surrenders, and instructed the Dönitz government to send their representatives to the headquarters -the apartment of the High Command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Reims, in order to agree on the terms of the general surrender of all German troops simultaneously to all the Allied Powers.

Act of unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany

Dönitz's spokesman, Admiral Friedeburg, informed him on May 6 that Eisenhower now insisted on "immediate, simultaneous and unconditional surrender on all fronts." General Jodl was sent to Reims to try to convince Eisenhower, but he did not go to any discussions and at 9.00 pm on May 6 announced that if complete surrender was not carried out, he would close the British and American front and resume the bombardment of held German positions and cities. Jodl telegraphed this message to Dönitz. He responded by allowing Jodl to sign the act of unconditional surrender, subject to negotiations on a 48-hour delay in the entry into force of the act, apparently in order to have time to bring the surrender order to the attention of German military units on the outskirts.

Consequently, the first Instrument of Surrender was signed at Reims on 7 May 1945 at 02:41 CET. The signing took place in the red brick building of the Technical College of Reims, which served as the headquarters of the Supreme Command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. It was to come into force on 8 May at 23:01 CET (one minute after midnight BST), 48 hours after the start of final negotiations.

The document on the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces by the Supreme High Command was signed by Jodl. On behalf of the Supreme High Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force, the document was signed by Walter Bedel Smith, and on behalf of the Soviet command, Ivan Susloparov. Major General Francois Sevez signed the act as an official witness.

Eisenhower continued negotiations with General Headquarters of the USSR Supreme High Command Alexei Antonov. By order of Antonov, General Susloparov was seconded to the headquarters of the High Command of the Expeditionary Forces to represent the Soviet Union in the surrender negotiations. The text of the Act of Surrender was telegraphed to General Antonov in the early hours of May 7, but by the time of the surrender ceremony, the Soviet Union had not agreed on the text of the Act and did not officially authorize General Susloparov to sign the Act as a representative of the Soviet command. Therefore, Eisenhower agreed with Susloparov that the German emissaries should sign a separate document stating that authorized representatives of each of the German armed forces would be present at the official ratification of the act of surrender at a time and place to be appointed by the Allied High Command.

Commitments made by German emissaries to the Allied High Command

The German emissaries signed an agreement that the following German officers would arrive on site at a time appointed by the Supreme Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force and the Soviet Command, ready and authorized to sign on behalf of the German Command the formal ratification of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of the German Armed Forces.

Supreme Commander; Commander-in-Chief of the Army; Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force.

Signed:

Approximately six hours after the signing of the Act in Reims, a response was received from the Soviet command that the Act of Surrender could not be adopted, firstly, because its text differed from the agreed EAC, and secondly, because Susloparov did not have the authority to sign it. These objections were, however, only pretexts: the main requirement of the Soviet command was that the adoption of the Act of Surrender should become a unique, one-of-a-kind historical event that would fully reflect the main contribution to the final victory made by the Soviet people. The Soviet Union argued that the signing should not take place in the liberated territory that had suffered from German aggression, but in the seat of the government that spread the aggressive ideology: in Berlin. In addition, the Soviet Union noted that although the terms of surrender fixed at Reims required the German armed forces to cease all hostilities and remain in their current positions, they did not contain an explicit requirement to lay down their arms and surrender. "What must happen here is the surrender of the German troops and their surrender." Eisenhower immediately agreed, acknowledging that the Reims Surrender Act should be regarded as "a brief document of unconditional military surrender." He undertook to take part in the "more formal signing" of the text, with the necessary amendments made to it, which was to take place in Berlin on May 8 with the participation of correctly accredited representatives of the German high command and under the chairmanship of Marshal Zhukov. In addition, Eisenhower clarified his position by stating that German troops who continue to fight against the USSR after the deadline "will lose their status as military personnel, which means that, in the event of being captured by the Americans or the British, they will be immediately transferred to Soviet captivity."

The consequences of the signing of the Reims Act were limited to consolidating the current ceasefire between the German and Allied forces. In the east, however, the fighting continued unabated, especially as the German forces at the time intensified their air and ground attacks on the rebels in Prague. At the same time, the naval evacuation of German troops through the Baltic continued. Dönitz issued new orders to continue resisting the Soviet forces, taking advantage of the 48-hour pause before the surrender took effect to redouble his efforts to rescue German military units from Soviet captivity. It soon became clear that he had sanctioned the signing of the general surrender at Reims, without any good faith intentions towards the signed one, and that, consequently, neither the Soviet command nor the German troops would accept the Reims surrender as a reason for a real cessation of hostilities towards each other. General Schörner, commander of Army Group Center, broadcast a message to his troops on May 8, 1945, condemning the "false rumors" that the German high command had capitulated to the Soviet and allied commands: "The struggle in the West is over. But there can be no question of capitulation to the Bolsheviks."

Eisenhower further secured the personal presence of the commanders-in-chief of each of the three branches of the German armed forces. They flew from Flensburg to Berlin early on May 8th, where they waited until 10:00 p.m. for the arrival of the allied delegation, after which they were presented with the amended text of the Instrument of Surrender. The final version of the Act of Military Surrender was dated May 8, as it was supposed to be signed before midnight at the headquarters of the Soviet military administration in Karlshorst, a district of Berlin (now the territory of the German-Russian Museum "Berlin-Karlshorst"). Since Eisenhower's status as Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe formally surpassed that of Marshal Zhukov, Eisenhower's Deputy Air Chief Marshal Tedder was to sign the Act on behalf of the Western Allies. The amendments proposed by the Soviet Union to the Reims text were easily accepted by the Western Allies, but the identification and appointment of Allied signatories proved more problematic. The French troops acted under the control of the High Command of the Allied Forces, but General de Gaulle demanded that General de Tassigny sign the document on behalf of the French High Command. But in this case, the absence of an American signature on the document would be politically unacceptable. And the Soviet Union wanted to see no more than three allies among the signatories of the final Act of Surrender, one of which was supposed to be Zhukov. After repeated revisions, each requiring reprinting and translation, it was finally agreed that the French and Americans would sign the document as witnesses. Due to revisions, the final versions were not ready for signing even after midnight, and the actual signing dragged on until almost 1 am on 9 May CET. The date was then changed to 8 May to bring the document into line with the Reims agreement as well as the public announcements of surrender already made by Western leaders.

The final Act of Military Surrender differed from the one signed at Reims mainly in regard to the requirement that, along with the German High Command, three German signatories representing the full extent of the three branches of the armed forces be present. Otherwise, the amended text of the Act provided, according to the expanded Article 2, the disarmament of the German troops and the surrender of weapons to the Allied commanders in the field. This section was intended to ensure not only the cessation of hostilities by the German armed forces against regular Allied troops, but also the disarmament of the troops, their disbandment and surrender. Field Marshal Keitel initially ignored the changes in the text and suggested that the German troops be granted an additional grace period of 12 hours before they were subjected to punitive measures for non-compliance with Article 5. In reality, he had to be content with Zhukov's verbal promise.

• We, the undersigned, acting on behalf of the German High Command, hereby consent to the unconditional surrender of all our armed forces on land, sea and air, as well as all forces now under German command, to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and at the same time Soviet High Command.

• The German High Command will immediately issue orders to all German commanders of the land, sea and air forces and all forces under German command to cease hostilities at 23 hours and one minute CET on May 8, 1945, to remain in the positions occupied by that time and disarm completely by handing over all weapons and equipment to Allied commanders in the field or to officers appointed by representatives of the High Command of the Allied Forces. No ship, vessel or aircraft shall be destroyed and no damage shall be caused to its hull, engines or equipment.

• The German High Command will immediately assign appropriate commanders and ensure that all further orders issued by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and the Soviet High Command are carried out.

• This act of military surrender shall not preclude its replacement by another general instrument of surrender, drawn up by or on behalf of the United Nations, applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole.

• In the event that the German High Command or any armed forces under its command fail to act in accordance with this Instrument of Surrender, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, as well as the Soviet High Command, will take such punitive measures or other actions as they deem necessary.

• This act is drawn up in English, Russian and German. Only the English and Russian versions are authentic.

Signed:

• From the side of the Soviet Union: Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov on behalf of the Supreme High Command of the Red Army.
• From the British side: Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur William Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force.
• For the United States as a witness: General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the US Strategic Air Force.
• From the French side as a witness: General Jean de Latre de Tassigny, commander of the French First Army.
• From the German side:
• Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the General Staff of the German Armed Forces and Army Representative.
• Admiral General Friedeburg, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.
• Colonel General Stumpf, representative of the air force.

The signing of the Instrument of Surrender in Berlin, for the most part, worked as expected: the bulk of the troops, including German military units in Courland and outposts in the Atlantic, surrendered on May 9 during an unofficial 12-hour grace period. Surrender to the Soviets in Bohemia and Moravia took longer, as some German troops in Bohemia continued to try to break through to the American front. Nevertheless, the general surrender took place, and units that sought to break through to the west were forced to surrender to the Soviets. The exception was Army Group E in Croatia, which for several days tried to force Marshal Tito to flee from the partisans. Many soldiers from these units managed to surrender to General Alexander in Italy. They included a significant number of Chetniks who fought in the collaborationist forces, who were subsequently returned to Yugoslavia and quickly executed without trial.

Why is Victory Day celebrated on May 9th?

The signing ceremony in Reims was attended by a significant number of reporters who were bound by an obligation not to disclose information about the surrender for 36 hours. Once it became clear that a second document would be required for the Instrument of Surrender to come into force, Eisenhower agreed to the need to temporarily conceal this information. It was assumed that all Allied Powers would be able to celebrate victory in Europe together on May 9, 1945. However, Edward Kennedy, spokesman for the Associated Press in Paris, violated the ban on May 7, causing the German surrender to become headline news in the Western media on May 8. As it became politically impossible to stick to the original schedule, it was decided that the Western Allies would celebrate Victory in Europe Day on May 8, but that Western leaders would not make a formal declaration of Victory until the evening (when the Berlin signing ceremony was to take place). The Soviet government made no announcement of the signing of the Reims Surrender Act (because it did not recognize it) and, adhering to the original dates, celebrated May 9, 1945, Victory Day.

Declaration of the Defeat of Germany

Although the German military, which signed the Act of Surrender in May 1945, acted on the instructions of Admiral Dönitz, none of the allied governments recognized that the current Flensburg government exercised competent civilian power. Therefore, the Allies insisted that the signatories from the German side should explicitly represent only the German military command. On May 23, 1945, the Flensburg government was dissolved and its members arrested.

End of Nazi Germany

During 1944 and 1945, countries that had previously been neutral towards Germany, as well as supporting it, joined the Allies and declared war on Germany. German embassies in these countries were closed, in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, their property and archives were transferred to the custody of the so-called protecting powers (usually Switzerland or Sweden), similar actions were taken against the embassies of the former allied countries in Berlin. The US State Department prepared for the diplomatic post-war implications based on the assumption that Germany's unconditional surrender would be declared in accordance with a document agreed to by the EAC. In the last days of April 1945, the US State Department notified the Protecting Powers and other remaining neutral countries (for example, Ireland) that after the impending surrender of Germany, the German state would be divided among four allied countries, which would immediately recall all German diplomatic personnel, take control of the state property, liquidate all power functions of the armed forces and demand the transfer of all archives and records to one or another embassy of the Western Allies. On May 8, 1945, these measures were put into effect in full, despite the fact that only the German military command signed the Act of Surrender on the German side. The Western Allies presumed that the functioning of the German state had already ceased, and therefore the surrender of the German armed forces marked the end of Nazi Germany. Since the protecting powers fully complied with the requirements of the allied states, on May 8, 1945, the German state ceased to exist as a diplomatic entity (imperial Japan, the only one of the Axis countries remaining at war, by that time had already condemned the surrender of Germany and seized the German embassy in Tokyo).

Berlin Declaration 1945

However, since the Instrument of Surrender of 8 May 1945 was only signed by German military representatives, the civil provisions for Germany's unconditional surrender remained without a clear formal basis. Subsequently, the EAC document on the unconditional surrender of Germany, reworked into a declaration with an extended explanatory preamble, was unilaterally adopted by the four Allied Powers as the Declaration of the Defeat of Germany of June 5, 1945. This explained the position of the Allies, who believed that, as a result of their complete defeat, Germany did not have its own government or central authority, and also that the vacant positions at the head of the civilian government in Germany should have been filled exclusively by representatives of the Allied powers (USA, USSR, United Kingdom and the French Republic) on behalf of the allied governments as a whole. Stalin, however, withdrew his support for the dismemberment of Germany, publicly rejecting the policy of dismemberment in his Victory over Germany speech addressed to the Soviet people on May 8, 1945. As a result, the article on the dismemberment of Germany was not included in the Berlin text of the declaration.