Then the Goebbels body is examined in detail by "Smersh" specialists:



The characteristic head shape and orthopedic shoes are proof enough for General Wadis!

In the afternoon the bodies of the Hitler couple are actually found and taken away!



For the translator Jelena Rshewskaja ...



... of "Smersh" this day has something threatening: she is given a wooden box in which the teeth and part of Hitler's skull are and is happy when she can hand in the macabre props to her office in the evening. (see also calendar sheet from April 30th!)



Wittenberge:


Meanwhile, troops from Marshal Rokossowskijs 2nd Belarusian Front (Army Group) occupy the city of Wittenberge on the Elbe...



... with the intention of withdrawing the 12th German Army of General Wenck and the remains of the 9th German Army across the river (and thus capitulation to make the Americans impossible!




Don Cossacks, who are the vanguard, water their horses in the Elbe ...:





Hamburg:


The British of the 7th Armored Division meanwhile, as agreed yesterday with Marshal Montgomery, move into Hamburg without a fight - here a Sherman tank at the Rödingsmarkt near the city hall ...



... and here the British in the city's main shopping street, Mönckebergstraße ...:





Northeast Germany (Mecklenburg):



The mass of German troops in Mecklenburg surrendered to the British-American armed forces on this day ...:







Flensburg:


The Dönitz government declares Flensburg and Kiel to be "open cities" to save human lives! Including their own!



Lübeck Bay (Northern Germany):


A massacre is happening in the Bay of Lübeck on this day!





RAF reconnaissance planes believe they have identified four passenger steamers in the bay that are transporting German troops - possibly to Scandinavia, where they could continue the fight.

RAF fighter-bomber are flying a massive attack on it!



The large passenger ship "Cap Arkona"...



... is hit many times, begins to burn and leaks ...:



But the steamer has no soldiers on board, but more than 10,000 prisoners who were "evacuated" by the SS from the Neuengamme concentration camp.

At least 6,900 prisoners - probably more! - perish when the "Cap Arkona" capsizes!





Those of the half-starved prisoners who can swim to the bank are shot by SS members.


**continued next post**

Innsbruck (Austria):


The Americans today occupy Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol ...:






(Whenever I see the photo above, I'm sorry for the poor guy who has to guard the beer garden so that his comrades don't "help" there ...!)



Norway:


The majority of the crew of the German submarine "U-977" ...



... under commanding lieutenant at sea Heinz Schaeffer ...



... has no desire to surrender to the impending capitulation and go into captivity!
16 crew members do not want to participate and get out before leaving. Today "U-977" sets sail and actually makes it to Argentina in 108 days!

The boat and crew are interned there in Mar del Plata ...

Friday, May 4, 1945


Berlin:


Pioneers of the Red Army made the Berlin city airport Tempelhof operational again surprisingly quickly:

The first Soviet transport aircrafts land there today. The first machine is ceremoniously received ...:






In the garden of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, the doggedly searching "Smersch" members believe they have found two other prominent bodies - this time buried!

When they then dig up the "corpses" expectantly, they only salvage the carcasses of two shepherds: Eva Hitler's "Wolf" and Adolf Hitler's "Blondie" ...





Flensburg, the "Reich Government":


The Wehrmacht's remaining high command at the Dönitz government issues an orderto all German units on the "Eastern Front":

German troops that are still fighting against Soviet units should, whenever possible, flee, go west and surrender to the Americans or the British!

This direction will go down in history as the "Save Who Can Order"




Peenemünde:



Peenemünde, the Nazi missile smithy on the baltic sea, is captured today by the Soviet troops under Major General Gleb Tabakow (center)...:



Unfortunately, the nest is empty, because the scientists who once worked there and most of the material were first evacuated to the Harz Mountains and then to Bavaria!

The leading rocket technicians have snapped up the Americans yestersay in Tyrol - so the Soviets have to make do with the "second set" and a few half-finished "V-2" ...:







Lüneburg:



On the Timelo-Hill near Lüneburg, General-Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg ...



... signed the partial surrender for the next day for all Wehrmacht troops on the North Sea to the Anglo-Americans in a specially constructed tent.

Evan a flagpole was also built specially.

If you look into the face of the German admiral (for example, the deep black circles under this eyes!), you can see that he is at the end of his psychic powers!

What von Friedeburg does not know today: He will become THE officer who will sign the most capitulations for the Germans - also towards Eisenhower and Shukow.

After that, he will commit suicide ...

We'll reading about it ...

The British field marshal Montgomery, who himself appeared for this purpose, is undoubtedly thinking of his role in the history books at the ceremony he ordered ...





Immediately after the signing, the last German troops in the designated area withdraw to the Emden-Brake-Bremerhaven-Glückstadt-Kieler Förde line by the orders of the Dönitz government...:





Travemünde:



The British meanwhile are taking Travemünde (north of Lübeck) on the Baltic Sea...



... while the Americans conquer Salzburg in Austria - but above all Berchtesgaden in the very southeast of Bavaria!





When the victory drunken GI's of the 101st Airborne Division reach Hitler's Berghof refuge on the Obersalzberg close to Berchtesgaden , they have to have a sobering experience:

French units had arrived before them and looted heavily!





The Americans find only little valuable "souvenirs" from the personal possession of the dead "Führer" ....

Nevertheless, the paras of the 101st and other GI's are enjoying themselves on Hitler's former terrace!

In the center of the next photo with the light trousers, we can see Major Richard "Dick" Winters, who became famous by the television series "Band of Brothers" ...:







Munich:



The German Army Group G ("Northern Alpine Fortress") with its commander, General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz ...



...surrenders today near Munich towards the Americans ...:





Brenner Pass:



And at the Brenner Pass, which marks the border between Italy and Austria, the tops of the American troops operating in Germany meet today with the vanguard of the US troops who have fought their way north through Italy since 1943 ...:

Saturday, May 5, 1945



Northeastern Germany:



The German troops still standing there clear up fleetingly because the "Save who can" order from yesterday the island of the large Baltic Sea island of Rügen ...



... and are evacuated over the Baltic Sea by the Kriegsmarine with everything that is somehow still buoyant...:



On the same day the Red Army moves up and occupies Rügen - and also the neighboring island of Usedom...:





Northwestern Germany:



After yesterday's partial surrender by Admiral von Friedeburg, at the Army Group H, commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Hans Busch, who had only been appointed on April 7 ...



... since today there is ceasefire ...:




Northern Germany:



Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock, who had been replaced since 1942 due to heavy disagreements with Hitler as army group commander and transferred to the "Führer Reserve" ...



... has decided to work in the new "government" of the "Reich Präsident" Dönitz.

While driving to Flensburg for a meeting with Dönitz, his car in Schleswig-Holstein is attacked by a British low-flying aircraft - von Bock is immediately dead...:



Field Marshal von Bock thus goes down in history: He is the only officer of this high rank in the German Wehrmacht who died during the Second World War through direct enemy action ...



The "open city" of Kiel is being handed over to British-Canadian units today without a fight - General Miles Dempsey, commander 0f the 2nd Canadian Corps is treating himself and his entourage to a sightseeing tour...



... whereby he does not miss the cruiser "Admiral Hipper, which was untacked only three days ago by the last bomber attack of the RAF to the German Reich....:





Czechia:



In Czechia, that the Germans hold still occupied, an initially local uprising by resistance groups in Prague...



... suddenly expanded to the whole of Bohemia and Moravia!












The fronts are absolutely confused!

For example, units of the Wlassow Army (ROA) stationed in the Czechia are fighting on the Czech side against the Germans with whom they were just allied ...:



The Americans are near themselves from the West, the Soviets from the East.

When the German troops fled to evacuate the Czechia due to the unsustainable situation and the "Save who can" order, the Russian "Wlassow" soldiers suddenly remember the former brotherhood in arms, rejoin the German side and flee together with them ...





Bohemia:



US troops under General George Patton occupy the cities of Karlsbad (today Karlovy Vary) ...



...and the famous beer city of Pilsen (Plzeň)...:



From there it is only 90 kilometers to Prague!


**continued next post**

Austria:



Also - special symbol! - it is taken surprisingly intact city of Linz by the GI's! It is the city from which Adolf Hitler comes, which is why she wore the official name "Führerstadt" during the Nazi regime ...





At the same time, US troops liberate the nearby Mauthausen concentration camp ...:







Central Germany:



Meanwhile, the 9th U.S. Army (General William Simpson) gives up its bridgehead east of the Elbe near Tangermünde and returns to the west bank.

The Yalta agreements stipulate that the east bank will later belong to the Soviet area of occupied Germany - and Simpson is not worth the life of a single GI!

This US Army maneuver will make it even harder for the 12th German Army (General Wenck) and the remnants of the 9th Army (General Busse) to rescue tzhemselves from the pursuing Red Army in American captivity...

US Captain John McMahon saves a child left behind by his parents ...:




Flensburg:



By decree, "Reich President" Dönitz forbids any further action by the "werewolf" guerrillas, all other submerges by German submarines, and the further destruction of weapons and equipment by German troops.

The submarineers ignore the decree!

In the last days of the war, a total of 215 boats were sunk by their crews at sea or in the port!





Tokyio:


In the Japanese capital, the German ambassador Heinrich Georg Stahmer ...



... is very unfriendly ordered to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

There, he has to listen to serious allegations by the Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru...:



Germany violated its contractual obligations to Japan through unilateral peace negotiations with the Anglo-Americans...

In the article above I dealt with the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz with one sentence and two photos - only one of many simultaneous events this day.

But it deserves its own chapter, because it hides an almost unbelievable story, that tells a lot about the courage of an individual and no less about the narrow-mindedness of supranational organizations ...:

Here it is:

The Story of Louis Häfliger


On April 28, 1945, the Swiss member of the "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC) Louis Häfliger ...



... comes with a transport of 19 vehicles in the Mauthausen concentration camp which is still controlled by the SS ...


Häflinger is actually a bank employee in Switzerland and had his employer take extra leave for this mission!

He is one of the almost a dozen foolhardy men who have accepted a secret offer from SS chief Heinrich Himmler:

In March 1945, in order to make "good weather" for his secret negotiations with the Western Allies (to save his own skin!), Himmler offered that ICRC delegates could go to the National Socialist concentration camps to accompany aid transports.

This promise, however, was conditional on the delegates concerned remaining in the camps until the end of the war.

Louis Häfliger is one of these volunteers!


The camp commander, SS-Standartenführer Franz Ziereis ...



... is initially totally negative, but after consulting the head of the Reich Security Main Office, Ernst Kaltenbrunner ...



... forced to place the ICRC delegate in the camp.

To have him under control, he assigns him an officer's room, which is actually inhabited by SS-Obersturmführer Guido Reimer ...



And as luck would have it, the SS man in the civilian profession is also a "bank official" (as was said at the time) - and Häfliger quickly manages to establish a good relationship with him.

The two of them don't really make friends, but Reimer tells the ICRC delegate a secret that neither the Red Cross nor the Western Allies know about yet:

Not far from the actual camp there are two top secret subcamps - Gusen I and II - at the villages of St. Georgen and Gusen ...



... in which prisoners manufacture jet fighters of the "Messerschmitt 262" type in two extensive underground tunnels with the code name "Bergkristall" (Rock Crystal) ...:





And on May 2, 1945, Häfliger learned that SS chief Himmler had personally ordered camp commander Ziereis, all of Mauthausen's prisoners - there were still around 50,000 to 60,000 people! - to force into these two tunnel systems and then to blow them up!

The tunnels still exist still today ...:







Häfliger spontaneously decides to prevent this mass murder!

And he even manages to move his roommate Reimer to help him!

On May 4, Häfliger, with the help of SS-Obersturmführer Reimer, "requisitioned" an SS Kübelwagen and painted it white with paint that Reimer had also organized.

The two have a large Red Cross flag sewn in a prisoner block!

In the early morning of May 5, 1945, Häfliger, Reimer and a local driver of the SS guards, who was hired by Reimer, left the camp for St. Georgen.

At the Mayor's Office, Häflinger, who of course speaks German as a Swiss citizen, asks where the US tank tips are. Reimer's SS uniform is legitimation enough!
The deputy mayor is well informed about the situation and Häfliger shows the direction.

They keep driving.

A little later they meet a US patrol near the town, 23 men with two half-track vehicles of the 41st Cavalry Squad ...



... led by Staff Sergeant Albert J. Kosiek ...:



The Swiss can persuade the American to liberate Mauthausen with his soldiers!

Kosiek immediately contacts his captain by radio - and sets his people in the direction of the concentration camp.
In the afternoon, the GI's, led by Häfliger in his white Kübelwagern, appear in front of the camp gate and take the concentration camp without a fight.

In the center of the two following pictures showing this, Staff Sergeant Kosieck is to be seen...:




SS-Obersturmführer Guido Reimer and the SS driver are already prisoners of war! Previously, at Häfliger's insistence, Reimer had given the order to defuse the already installed explosive charges in the tunnel systems.

Häflinger's act of silent heroism saves the lives of 50,000 to 60,000 concentration camp prisoners!

And now comes the dirty part of the story...:

Louis Häfliger is not rewarded or at least praised for his courageous actions by the International Committee of the Red Cross - but by ICRC President Carl Burckhardt ...



... fired immediately!

The reasoning is almost grotesque!

Burckhardt accuses Häfliger of violating the absolute principle of neutrality of the Red Cross and "becoming a party" by taking the side of the doomed prisoners!

But that's not all: when the bank where Häflinger is employed learns about his being kicked out at the ICRC, it fires him too!

Haefiger will no longer be able to work in his profession until 1958 - and not at all in Switzerland!


He has to emigrate to Austria, becomes an Austrian citizen and finds employment in Vienna with the "National Registrierkassen AG", where he works until his retirement in 1973.

He died in 1993 in Podbrezová, his wife's Slovakian hometown.

And what happened to the other participants?

SS camp commandant Franz Ziereis was shot to death on May 25, 1945 in Gusen.

SS chief Heinrich Himmler committed suicide on May 23, 1945 in Lüneburg, as we have learned

SS-Brigadführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner was hanged in Nuremberg on October 16, 1946.

Here we have all three in a photo that was taken when Himmler visited "Bergkristall": Ziereis stands in the middle, Kaltenbrunner can be seen on the right ...:



SS Obersturmführer Guido Reimer was sentenced to death on August 14, 1947, the verdict was later changed to life imprisonment. He had committed violence in several concentration camps. Reimer was released on December 16, 1952 from the Landsberg war criminal prison. About his later life nothing further is known.

US Staff Sergeant Albert J. Kosiek received an award for his deed in Mauthausen - of course - survived the war and died on October 19, 1982 in his hometown in Illinois.

ICRC chief Carl Burckhardt stayed in Ant until 1948, was awarded tens of times and in 1950 honorary citizen of the city Lübeck, since in the opinion of the responsible bodies it is essential due to the classification of the city as an "open city" had helped to save the historic old town of Lübeck. In 1957 the Carl-Jacob-Burckhardt-High school in Geneve was named after him.He died on March 3, 1974 in Switzerland.

Louis Häfliger was 1977 awarded with an order for his brave act at Mauthausen - not by Switzerland, but by the Austrian state ...:



In 1950 the Austrian Minister of Justice - unsuccessfully - proposed him for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1988 Austria and Israel did this together again - again unsuccessfully.

The Austrians named a street at Vienna after him ...:



And it lastet until 1990, the ICRC rehabilitated Louis Häfliger!

Sunday, Mai 6, 1945


Breslau (Eastern Germany):

After 80 days of siege by the Red Army, the "fortress" of Breslau (today Wroclaw) surrenders to the commander of the 6th Russian army, General Wladimir Glusdowskij!




The general (centre without Furashka cap) ...



... had previously made far-reaching concessions to the Germans, all of which will now not been kept ...:





Eastern Czechia:


After their commander, Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner fled by plane (and thereby stole the war chest!), The survivors of the "Army Group Middle" try to move west to capitulate against the Americans.

The Germans are being followed by the Red Army. They don't have to search for the German army, because their retreat streets look like this ...:



The Germans will not make it to the "saving" Americans! The Red Army will encircle the entire force east of Prague. There, at Bad Welchow (now Velichovky), the Soviets will capture them on May 9 ...



Prague:

They almost made it, because today General Patton's advance departments arrive at Prague today...:



Patton would have preferred to advance to Moscow (at least!), but the Allied Commander-in-Chief Eisenhower is now forbidding him to advance any further!
Because he also knows the agreements of Yalta, according to which the Czech Republic will belong to the Soviet sphere of influence after the war.

So the advance of the US Army at the gates of Prague is stopped ...


Copenhagen:

The British are carrying out the last major airborne operationof the war today in the Copenhagen area; it has been agreed with the Danish government.

The paras are said to guarantee peace and order and to help disarm German occupation forces. They are are welcomed as a liberators...:






Bavaria:

The German Army Group G (Bavaria / Alps) under General Friedrich Schulz...



...is ceasing all hostilities against the Allies today, after he capitulated today at Baldham near Munich towards the Americans...:







Reims:


The Chief of the Wehrmacht Führungsstab (Wehrmacht command staff), who is with the "Government" 0f "Reich President" Dönitz in Flensburg, Colonel General Alfred Jodl, is taken by a US Army DC-3 ...



... on behalf of "Reich President" Dönitz to the headquarters of the Allied Commander in Chief Eisenhower, a confiscated school, in Reims (France) ...:





He is accompanied by Admiral von Friedeburg, whom we have already met and who can barely keep up, and an adjutant...:



In his pocket, Jodl has a power of attorney signed by Dönitz, which authorizes him to negotiate unconditional surrender of the German armed forces on all fronts.

Significantly, the Germans do not inform the Soviets of this.

With this step the former "Reichsmarschall" Hermann Göring ...



... slowed down, who from Berchtesgaden tried to initiate surrender negotiations with Eisenhower.

Göring has no mandate for this - apart from his own ambition and persistent belief that he is still "important".

Towards evening, Jodl is left to Eisenhower in Reims and cleared ice cold by the US general! There is nothing to negotiate, explains Eisenhower.

He insisted that the unconditional surrender be signed the next day at the latest.



Madrid:

The Spanish chief fascist and generalissimo Francisco Franco ...



... who owes his power exclusively to the help of Mussolini and Hitler, correctly interprets the signs of the times:

At the suggestion of the Western Allies, Franco expropriated the entire property of the "Greater German Empire" in Spain and, moreover, the private property of all citizens of the German Empire who lived in the country and who were not legally resident in Spain.

Franco doesn't care that this measure also affects many Jews who fled France from German persecution!


Tokyo:

The Japanese government is saying again today:

Japan accuses the Dönitz government of breaking the anti-Comintern treaty and terminates all contracts with the German Reich.

The Japanese government wants to do better with the Soviet Union, with which it has not yet been at war.

It won't help them!

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union would declare war on the Japanese empire, which was already before the total defeat against the Western Allies, "five to 12" and during the "Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция" ("Manchurian Operational Strategic Offensive", Manchurian Operational Strategic ) make considerable loot - the Japanese puppet states "Manchukuo" (Manchuria) and Mengjiang, Korea, the Prefecture of Karafuto (South Sakhalin) and the Kuril Islands.

Monday, May 7, 1945


Reims:


Colonel General Alfred Jodl, the representative of "Reich President" Dönitz, has no choice:

At Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, he signs the document that the Germans unconditionally surrender on all fronts. The surrender should take effect at midnight on May 8th to 9th ...:





Although the document bears the date "May 7, 1945", it was actually signed after midnight, and therefore on May 8!

The German "Reich government" had deliberately not informed the Soviet Union in advance - and Eisenhower had also expressed very cryptically in a preliminary information for Stalin:

He only said that a "special event" was imminent.

As a result, Stalin had sent urgend a Soviet representative, Major General Iwan Susloparow to Reims.

He doesn't tell him exactly what he wants from him! He was only said, he should to be witness aat an "event".

When Jodl left the room with his companions after the signing of the charter, the British representative, General Smith, suggested that Susloparov also sign the certificate, at a place prepared for the signature of the representative of the Soviet high command.

Although he has no order for it, the Soviet general is surprised and flattered by his signature next to Smith's - see photo…:



Immediately afterwards the following picture was taken:

Susloparow is on the far left of General Smith, U.S. General Eisenhower holds the various fountain pens with which the various copies of the certificate were signed - and will give them to those present as a present.

The unfortunate General Susloparow is experiencing the last carefree moment of his career ...:



Stalin foams!

General Susloparow is immediately ordered back - his career has ended.

In parallel, the Soviet headquarters "Stawka" hastily publishes a statement that the documents signed in Reims "only formalized the German surrender", but Germany's "official surrender", however, would not take place until 8 May in Berlin.

The reason for the Soviet attitude:

Stalin emphatically wants a surrender ceremony in which the representatives of the Soviet Union play the main role!

Stalin also demands that representatives of ALL German armed forces (and not just the chief of the Wehrmacht command staff, Jodl) have to surrender.

So the act of surrender will be repeated on the evening of May 8, 1945 in the officers' mess at the Heerespionierschule (Army Pioneer School) in Berlin-Karlshorst Berlin Kahlhorst (now a museum).
We'll read about that tomorrow...



Norway:


For German troops in Norway, however, today is already "Ultimo": They are already surrendering and are starting to hand over their material to the Norwegians and the western allies ...:





Greece:



The same applies to the German troops under General Erich Wagner on the islands of Milos, Leros, Kos, Piskopi and Simi, which were still German-occupied in the Greek Aegean ...:







Kurland (Baltic):



The unfortunate "Heeresgruppe Kurland " also wants to surrender towards the Soviets today. However, they reject this request because the German side has refused to accept their commander, Colonel General Carl Hilpert ...



... to deliver the Red Army as a "war criminal".



Czechia:



The remnants of the German "Heeresfruppe" have detached themselves from the enemy and are leaving without their deserted commander, Feldmarschall Schörner, westwards towards the Elbe ...:





Only occasional retreat battles are carried out.

As I said, the soldiers will not be able to "save" themselves in US captivity. They face up to ten years in Soviet prison camps ...



Tangermünde (Elbe):



The 12th Army (General Wenck) and the remains of the 9th Army (General Busse) made it to the Elbe! They cross the river on a bridge near Tangermünde, which has been destroyed but is still difficult to pass and surrenders to the Americans ...:







(It is the same bridge on which the famous photo of US Captain John McMahon with the saved child was taken two days ago.)

Arrived on the west bank, the Germans are thoroughly "felted" by the GI's (this SS-Hauptsturmführer has just lost his watch) ...





... and gathered in...:



A huge junkyard remains on the eastern side of the Elbe ...



In the afternoon, the British and Americans return to the west bank wherever they have crossed the Elbe eastwards, to leave the eastern area to the Soviets.



Yugoslavia:



The German troops - unless they are encircled by the Tito guerrilla army - leave the territory of the later Yugoslavia!

Together with them, units of the fascist "Ustascha" state Croatia are fleeing, who fought with the Germans until the last minute.





The Croatians are still waiting for their fate - we will find out about it ...





**continued next post**

Northwest Germany, North Sea Coast:



The British round off the territory they have already held in northwest Germany and occupy Emden...









... Cuxhaven ...







...and Wilmshaven...:







In Wilhelmshaven there are also Polish troops from the "Anders Army" who first seize German barracks and raise their flags ...:





The British, on the other hand, are particularly more interested in the powerful German speedboats of the "S 100" class with armored bridges, which fell into their hands undamaged ...:

Tuesday, May 8, 1945



Berlin-Karlshorst:


The Western Allies meet Stalin's ultimate request for another act of surrender, in which all German armed forces surrender individually and which - above all - is under Soviet leadership and takes place in a place in Germany within the Soviet sphere of influence!

This is not only due to the Soviet dictator's insulted vanity!

Stalin wants the world - but above all his own people! - clarify the outstanding contribution of the USSR in defeating the Nazis.

So the act of surrender will be repeated on the evening of today in the officers' mess of the Heerespionierschule ( Army Spy School) in Berlin-Karlshorst Berlin Kahlhorst...:



The building still stands today and is a museum....:



The ceremony, chaired by Marshal Shukow, is protracted until just a few minutes after midnight, at exactly 12:16 a.m., on May 9, 1945, Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel as Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command, General Admiral von Friedeburg for the German Navy and Colonel General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as representatives of the Air Force to sign the surrender...:




British Air-Marshall Arthur Tedder signs for the Western Allies, Marshal Shukow for the Soviet High Command ...





French General de Lattre de Tassigny and US Army Air Force-General Spaatz sign as witnesses:


Here the original...:



It seems that for some reason Zhukov's signature is missing.

But look closely! Georgij Shukow was not familiar with the western signature modalities and scribbled his signature above and to the right of the signature line!

When the Germans have left the room there is a party - here Tedder, Shukow and Spaatz ...:



The surrender ceremony started on May 8th (this day is celebrated in the West as "Victory Day") and ended in the early morning of May 9th, which is why in the Soviet Union this May 9th is celebrated as "Den 'Pobjedi"!


Jossif Stalin...



... addresses the people of the Soviet Union with by radio - and skilfully outplayed conflict point 7 (Reims), 8 or 9 May ...:

"Comrades! Citizens!

The great day of victory over Germany has come. Forced to its knees by the Red Army and the troops of our allies, fascist Germany declared itself defeated and capitulated unconditionally.

On May 7, a preliminary protocol of surrender was signed in Reims. On May 8, representatives of the German High Command in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied Troops and the Supreme Command of the Soviet Troops signed the final document of surrender, the implementation of which began on May 8 at midnight.

Since we know the wolf nature of the German rulers, who see treaties and agreements as a mere scrap of paper, we have no reason to believe them at their word.
Since this morning, however, German troops have begun, in accordance with the instrument of surrender, to stretch their arms in masses and surrender to our troops. This is no longer just a scrap of paper.

That is the actual surrender of the German Wehrmacht. However, in the area of ​​Czechoslovakia a German army group is still trying to avoid surrender.

But I hope that the Red Army will be able to bring them to their senses.

Now we have full reason to declare that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of our people's great victory over German imperialism, has come.

The great sacrifices that we have made for the freedom and independence of our homeland, the immense privations and sufferings that our people had to endure during the war, the tense work carried out on the altar of the homeland in the hinterland and at the front are not in vain been crowned by full victory over the enemy.

The centuries-long struggle of the Slavic peoples for their existence and independence ended with the victory over the German occupiers and German tyranny.

From now on, the great banner of international freedom and peace will fly across Europe.

Three years ago Hitler announced to the world that the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, the tearing away of the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries and other Soviet regions were his tasks. He said bluntly, "We will destroy Russia so that it can never rise again."

That was three years ago.

However, Hitler's insane ideas should not come true - in the course of the war they were blown away like chaff. What really came out is the opposite of what the Hitlerites were talking about. Germany is hit on the head. The German troops surrender.

The Soviet Union celebrates victory, even if it is not preparing to dismember or destroy Germany.

Enjoyed! The Great Patriotic War ended with our full victory. The period of the war in Europe has ended. The period of peaceful development has begun.

I congratulate you on your victory, my dear fellow citizens!

Fame and glory to our heroic Red Army, which claimed the independence of our homeland and won the enemy!

Glory to our great people, the victorious people!

Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the enemy, who gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people! "





On this day at 8 p.m., the last Wehrmacht report of this war was read out on the German radio station Flensburg.



Here is the original text:

"The weapons have been silent on all fronts since midnight. At the command of the Grand Admiral, the Wehrmacht put an end to the hopeless battle.

This is the end of the almost six-year heroic struggle.

It has brought us great victories but also heavy defeats.

The German Wehrmacht is defeated in the end by a huge superior force. True to his oath, the German soldier has done the most unforgettable forever! His homeland has supported him with all his might, even under the most severe victims. This unique achievement of the front and home will find its final evaluation in a later just judgment of history. The enemy will not fail to respect the achievements of the German soldiers on land, water and in the air!

Every soldier can put his weapon out of his hand at this hour and proudly and confidently go to work in this most difficult hour of our history for the eternal life of our people.

The Wehrmacht commemorates its comrades who have remained in front of the enemy. "

Then a record is played with the recording of the national anthem.


The text already lays the foundation for a collective lie in post-war Germany: namely the legend of the "clean and honorable" fighting Wehrmacht - in contrast to the "bad" SS.

It will take until the 1990s to destroy this legend and document the many, many war crimes committed by the German Wehrmacht.

And I add: The German concentration camps, in which more than six million innocent people were murdered, only stood as long as the front held ...

-----------------------------------

Almost all books about the fall of the Nazi Empire end here.

Not this one!

The Nazi Empire has been defeated and surrendered, but still exists, at least on paper!
There is a Reich President, a government - and most Nazi leaders are still free. And the Nazi party also exits.

And it is not shot and murdered in Europe, not isolated but in a big way!

That's why this book here doesn't end today ...



**continued next post**

Brünn (Czechia):



And on this May 8, 1945 there are still German soldiers who are literally fighting to the last minute!

When the delegations arrived in Karlshorst, the German fighter pilot Erich "Bubi" Hartmann...



... shoots a Soviet "Jak-11" over Brünn (today Brno) in Chechia...



which is his 352nd kill, making him the most successful fighter pilot of all times (he will be one of the last to be released from Soviet captivity in 1955 ...)

This is the last shooting down of this war in Europe.




Berchtesgaden:



Hartmann's former boss, the Ex "Reichsmarschall" Hermann Göring, is arrested at the same hour by US captain Rolf Wartenberg in Berchtesgaden ...:



In addition to the fact that he is arrested at all, Goering is also angry about the fact that his gold-streaked uniform has been taken away from him and he is required to give up his weapon and take off his many medals himself:













Dresden:



The Red Army is by no means "stopping"! It makes prey!

Soviet troops occupied Olomouc (Czech Republic), Hirschberg Lauben and Waldenburg in Silesia.

And Dresden and its environs are also occupied - by Marshal Shukow's troops, who just fought in Berlin!





So-called "trophy collection brigades" of the Red Army immediately set to work to track down artifacts, to sift through them, to assess them, and to send what appeared to be worthy of transport to the Soviet Union as spoils of war.

Members of such a trophy collection brigade pose here in front of Pillnitz Castle (near Dresden, Saxony)...:



The next picture shows Lieutenant Leonid Rabinowitsch, who guards the collection of the Dresden Painting Gallery until they are transported ...:



The Dresdeners in their by Allied bombers in February 1945 almost completely destroyed city ...





... have meanwhile other worries ...



Flensburg:


The "High Command of the Wehrmacht", which still exists, forbids all members of the military to greet Allied soldiers with the so-called "German salute" (Hitler salute).



This "greeting" was introduced on Hitler's orders after the assassination attempt on July 20 as a special expression of loyalty to him.

From now on, the Allies are to be saluted with a "military salute"...:

Wednesday, May 9, 1945


Prague:


Red Army soldiers liberate the Czech capital Prague today ...:







The next picture shows Marshal Andrej Jerjomenko (in the front of the car), the commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front (army group) when he arrives at Prague's Hradschin ...:



All soldiers involved in "Operation Prague" are awarded with the medal "For the liberation of Prague" ...:



The Americans are withdrawing their tips from the city on instructions from "at the top", so that there are no "undesirable incidents"...



Hela Peninsula (Baltic Sea, near Danzig):



Exactly where the Second World War began on September 1, 1939, it also ends ...:

The defenders of the Hela peninsula ne Danzig (today Gdbnsk) on the Baltic Sea surrender to the Red Army.

The Germans, mostly naval pararsonal, march into captivity ...:






French Atlantic Coast and Channel Islands:



The "fortresses" of the French Atlantic coast that are still in German hands also stretch their arms today!

These are Gironde-Nord, Gironde Süd, Brest, Lorient, La Rochelle, Saint Nazaire, as well as the Channel Islands Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney.

La Rochelle and Saint Nazaire surrender to the 92nd U.S. Infantry Division ...







... and the other bases surrender to units of the French Liberation Army FFI ("Forces Francaises de l'Interieur") ...:






The Germans on the three Channel Islands capitulate towards the British aboard HMS "Bulldog", who occupy them today ...:









**continued next post**

Eastern Germany:



The Soviets are also taking an island: Rügen has been completely occupied by them since today!






The Red Army also liberates the Theresienstadt concentration camp ...:











In Theresienstadt, at least 33,000 people were murdered, and for another 144,000, this concentration camp was the transit station for the retransmission to extermination camps.

At least 80,000 of them were killed in these other camps!



Kitzbühl (Austria):



Hermann Göring, who was arrested yesterday, has since been brought to Kitzbühl (Austria) by the Americans. The fat and morpin-dependent ex-Reichsmarschall must have had a considerable jovial charm if he used this!

Anyway, he somehow got his guards to allow him to hold an international press conference today in Lieutenant General Alexander Patch's 7th Army Army headquarters!

For this, the Americans not only gave him back his gold-coated uniform and his medals, no, they even provided him with Major Paul Kubala (next to Göring) an interpreter ...:



Göring acts as the legitimate successor of Hitler and the actually all-powerful man in the German Reich - and his guards stand by as if they were not involved.

He evades or relativizes questions about the persecution of Jews and other war crimes. (At that time, the full extent of the Nazi murders was not yet known).

Göring is very satisfied with his appearance - so are the journalists. They are already looking forward to hearty headlines about this scoop!

But not for long!

Because as soon as Commander in Chief Eisenhower learns of the grotesque, he forbids any publication!

And - hardly tp believe today: All journalists stick to it ...!

One can only imagine what General Patch heard from his boss ...



Moscow, Paris, London Washington:



Meanwhile, the telephone cables and telegraph lines are glowing between Moscow, London, Paris and Washington: The planning for a new conference of the four victorious powers has begun today! According to the concept, they want to discuss and resolve "questions of general interest" there.

It will be the Potsdam conference ...

Thursdary, May 10, 1945


Kurland (Baltic):


The units of the unfortunate Heeresgruppe "Kurland" under General Carl Hilpert surrender to the Red Army today...:



Here the invitation to surrender of the comander of the "Leningrad Front" (Army Group) Marshal Leonid Goworow ....:



The Marshal (photo 2nd from left) ...



... makes a formal mistake in the process, which in Stalin's Soviet Union can certainly lead to warehousing or worse:

He sets (see the first sentence of the request!) the surrender of Reims, which Stalin does not recognize, as the official date, is promptly belated in Moscow - but gets away with a ruffle ...

On the next picture we see Marshal Goworow during the handover negotiations with the chief of staff of the Heeresgruppe "Kurland", General Friedrich Foertsch ...:



350,000 men of the 18th Army and parts of the 16th Army marching into prisonship...:





Their commander, Colonel General Carl Hilpert ...



... will not come home like many others. He will first brought to Siberia in a special camp fort generals and then - since he is already seriously ill - come to Moscow, where he will die.



Latvia, The Next 30 Years:



Some of the units fighting on the German side, such as the 19th Waffen SS Grenadier Division, consisting almost entirely of Latvians under Obersturmbannführer Voldemārs Veiss (photo on the far right) ...



... refuse to surrender, hit the woods and continue to fight as so-called "Forest Brothers" partisans.

Ultimately they have no choice if they want to save their lifes! As a result of the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, Latvia was a Soviet republic when the Germans attacked in 1941.

Latvians in German uniforms - especially with the hated SS! - would have been treated as deserters and traitors at capture, which in the best case scenario would have meant immediate execution or punitive camps "under more severe conditions" (up to a slow and painful death).

The struggle between the armed Soviet forces and the "Forest Brothers" will take much more than a decade and cost at least 50,000 lives!

The resistance was best organized in southern Lithuania (Dzūkija), where guerrilla groups were able to control larger areas of rural areas until 1949. In the cities, the forest brothers had neither influence nor significant support ...:







In the mid-1950s, the resistance will gradually fade, especially since - after Veiss had fallen - the new leader of the "Forest Brothers", Ants Kaljurand (translated "The Terrible Ant") was captured and shot by the Red Army ...:



Many of the remaining Forest Brothers also lay down their arms in 1953 when the authorities granted them an amnesty after Jossif Stalin's death!

Individual independent partisans will continue until the 1970s!

1978 the probably last "forest brother" August Sabbe (September 1, 1909–27 September 1978) was killed in an attempt by two KGB agents to arrest him ...:




The following picture shows Sabbe in the late 1940s, the second (left) in the early 1970s ...:






The history of this part of the Heeresgruppe "Kurland", whose relatives continued to fight the Red Army for over 30 years, is practically unknown in the West ...!



Reims, Washington:



Meanwhile, the Americans are in a hurry!

Today they announce the removal of 3,100,000 GIs from Europe to the Pacific war theater. For them, the war in Europe is over...:




But killing in Europe is far from over, as we will see ...

I'm surprised that ship doesn't capsize!

The blokes in Lithuania remind me of those Japanese nutters who still thought the war was on into the 1970s.

Friday, May 11, 1945


Czechia:


The soldiers of the leaderless German "Heeresgruppe Mitte" did not manage to fight their way west into American captivity!

Today they have to surrender north of Prague to the troops of the Red Army under General Ivan Chernyakovsky ...:










In Budweis (today České Budějovice) Soviet and US Soldiers meet again...:



Czechia is liberated.



Aegean:


Likewise, the last German units on the Greek Aegean Islands are stretching their arms ...:





France:


The "Atlantic Wall Fortress" Dunkirk surrenders to Belgian troops! It has lasted the longest of all "Westwall fortresses" ...:



To particularly humiliate them, the German commanders are not allowed to sit at the winners' table, but must sign the surrender certificate at a separate "cat table" ...:





Danmark:


A commando of Red Army troops lands on the - Danish! - Bornholm Island ...:







The commander of the German occupying forces on the island, General der Artillerie Rolf Wuthmann, who has many soldiers at his disposal, surrenders to the Soviet advance command - it is only 110 soldiers strong ...:



The Soviets will occupy Bornholm until April 5, 1946, until they withdraw.




Austria:



Units of the British 8th Army and associations of the Yugoslav Tito partisans march into the Austrian city of Klagenfurt ...:











Flensburg:



Today there are the first official contacts between the British and the "Government" Dönitz, or its "High Command of the Wehrmacht" in Flensburg ....:



The most important outcome of the conversation, today and in the next few days, will be the excavation by the Allies of all secret weapons depots that had been set up throughout Germany in the last days of the war for the guerrilla organization "Werwolf" on Hitler's orders.

And that wasn't exactly a little ...:





Norway:


Hitler's German Reich Commissioner for Norway, Joef Terboven, committed suicide in his headquarters at Oslo.





Terboven is thus anticipating his impending arrest and trial that would almost certainly have resulted in the death penalty ...

More drama unfolds. Thanks as always Martin.

Yes, thanks for the update Martin. Many thing I hadn’t heard of before.

Saturday, May 12, 1945


Austria:


The "Yugoslavian People's Liberation Army" ...



... how the partisan troops of Jozef Broz "Tito" (left) ...



... call themselves meanwhile, encircle at Carinthia the German Army Group E under Colonel General Alexander Löhr ...:




This last major German unit has not yet stretched its arms, since the "People's Liberation Army" has so far adhered to neither martial law nor the practice of war.

However, it is on the run!




The now encircled force consists of seven divisions with 150,000 German soldiers and two divisions of Russian Cossacks of the XV. Cossack Cavalry Corps under General von Pannwitz ...:



These Cossacks have every reason to fear thel surrender to the (communist-oriented) Tito partisans or even fall into the hands of the Red Army!







Even more reason to fear a handover to the Tito people are the encircled nine divisions with 220,000 soldiers of the Croatian-fascist "Ustascha" state ...:







The Croatian "Poglavnik" (leader) of Hitler's and Mussolini's mercy, the butcher Ante Pavelic (next picture shows him tohether with Mussolini 1941) , had initially also stayed with Army Group E and carried a large part of the state treasury with him...:



Pavelic, however, had a keen sense of danger (he survived several assassinations)! That is why he had already fled Austria to Rome (with the State Treasury).

As a "good Catholic", the Vaticane will discreetly help him later escape to Argentina on the so-called "Rat Route" ...




Crete:



The German troops on Crete are stretching their arms today towards the British...:









Flensburg:


The last German city to be occupied is Flensburg today by the British!





Around the former naval school in the Mürwick district of Flensburg, the British grant the "government" Dönitz and his "High Command of the Wehrmacht" a kind of embassy-like "neutral zone", which remains unoccupied...:







In London they are still not quite sure what to do with the "Reich Government" ...


**continued next post**