World War II Day by Day

Reims, France · May 7, 1945

Five days after the suicide of Adolf Hitler on April 30, 1945, Adm. Hans-Georg von Friede­burg, an emis­sary from Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, arrived in Reims, France, head­quarters of Gen. Dwight D. Eisen­hower, Supreme Com­mander Allied Exped­i­tionary Force. Friede­burg was tasked with opening sur­render nego­ti­a­tions on behalf of Doenitz, head of the rump Nazi state centered on Flens­burg, North­ern Ger­many. Friede­burg began, Eisen­hower remarked later, “playing for time” so that the Ger­man armed forces could move as many men as pos­sible behind Anglo-Amer­i­can lines and away from Soviet lines in east­ern Europe. Friede­burg was brought up short when Eisen­hower’s repre­sen­ta­tive, Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, made it plain that the Allies would only accept uncon­di­tional sur­render on all fronts. Doenitz com­plied with the demand, em­powering Col. Gen. Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Opera­tions Staff of the Armed Forces High Com­mand (Ober­kom­mando der Wehr­macht, or OKW), to sign for­mal papers of sur­render in Reims on this date in 1945. After affixing his signa­ture, 54-year-old Jodl addressed his audi­ence, saying: “At this hour, we [he meant the Ger­man nation and Ger­man Armed Forces] can only hope that the vic­tors will be gene­rous.” Eisen­hower coolly responded that “the Ger­man Supreme Com­mander will appear for the sur­render to the Rus­sians at the time and the place that the Rus­sian High Com­mand will designate.” Following the signing cere­mony Eisen­hower in­formed the Allied War Office in Lon­don: “The mis­sion of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7, 1945.” The next day in Berlin, May 8, 1945, Field Marshal Wil­helm Kei­tel, head of the entire OKW, along with repre­sen­ta­tives of the Ger­man Navy and Air Force, signed a second uncon­di­tional sur­render docu­ment in Berlin-Karls­horst. Pre­sent were Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov, signing on behalf of the Supreme Com­mand of the Red Army; Bri­tish Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder, signing as Gen. Eisen­hower’s repre­sen­ta­tive; and French Gen. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, who signed as a witness. When Kei­tel saw the French dele­ga­tion, he ex­claimed, “What? The French too?” The war in Europe was over. The Ger­man Reich Adolf Hitler had said would endure a thou­sand years lasted a pitiful and extremely painful dozen.

The German Instrument of Surrender, May 7, 1945

Left: At 2:41 a.m. on Monday, May 7, 1945, Col. Gen. Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command, along with two other Ger­man offi­cers, gathered in the map room of the head­quarters (formerly a school) of Gen. Dwight D. Eisen­hower, Supreme Allied Com­mander in Europe. The three Ger­man offi­cers (backs to the camera) were flanked on three sides of the large table by U.S., British, French, and Soviet officers, who watched Jodl sign the Ger­man Instru­ment of Sur­render, which ended World War II in Europe.

Right: Jodl, Chief of Staff in Reich Presi­dent Adm. Karl Doenitz’s govern­ment (suc­cessor regime to Hitler’s), signs the docu­ment of uncon­di­tional sur­render. On Jodl’s left is Adm. Hans-Georg von Friede­burg, Commander in Chief of the Ger­man Navy, and on the right is Jodl’s aide and trans­lator, Maj. Wil­helm Oxenius. Friede­burg, who was in Berlin the next day to sign the second Ger­man Instru­ment of Sur­ren­der at Soviet military head­quarters, com­mitted sui­cide on May 23, 1945, when a Brit­ish team arrived at Doe­nitz’s head­quarters in Flens­burg, North­ern Ger­many, and arrested mem­bers of his Nazi govern­ment. Jodl was tried by the Inter­national Mili­tary Tri­bu­nal at Nurem­berg, sentenced to death, and hanged as a war crimi­nal on October 16, 1946.

Above: Jodl signed the “Act of Military Surrender,” the first of two sur­ren­der docu­ments signed by the Ger­man mili­tary. At the same time Jodl signed Eisen­hower’s copy of the sur­render docu­ment, he signed three more, one each for Great Brit­ain, the Soviet Union, and France. Over Jodl’s signa­ture are the words, “On behalf of the German High Com­mand,” not (and this became signi­fi­cant later) on behalf of Reich Pre­si­dent Karl Doe­nitz and his civil­ian govern­ment. Under Jodl’s signa­ture in capital letters are the words, “IN THE PRESENCE OF.” Then appeared the signa­tures of Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, Eisen­hower’s chief of staff, who signed on behalf of the Supreme Com­mander, Allied Exped­i­tion­ary Force; Ivan Souslo­parov, who signed on behalf of the Soviet High Com­mand; and François Sevez, a Major General in the French Army, who signed as witness.

Contemporary Newsreel Account of Repeat German Surrender Ceremony the Next Day in Berlin, May 8, 1945