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The final battles of theEuropean theatre of World War IIcontinued after the definitivesurrenderofNazi Germanyto theAllies,signed by Field MarshalWilhelm Keitelon 8 May 1945 (VE Day) inKarlshorst,Berlin.After German leaderAdolf Hitler'ssuicideand handing over of power to Grand AdmiralKarl Dönitzon the last day of April 1945,Soviettroopsconquered Berlinand accepted surrender of theDönitz-led government.The last battles were fought on theEastern Frontwhich ended in the total surrender of all ofNazi Germany’s remainingarmed forcessuch as in theCourland Pocketin westernLatviafromArmy Group Courlandin theBalticssurrendering on 10 May 1945 and inCzechoslovakiaduring thePrague offensiveon 11 May 1945.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/German_Instrument_of_Surrender_%28May_8%2C_1945%29_-_page_3.jpg/220px-German_Instrument_of_Surrender_%28May_8%2C_1945%29_-_page_3.jpg)
Final events before the end of the war in Europe
editAllied forces begin to take large numbers of Axis prisoners:The total number of prisoners taken on the Western Front in April 1945 by the Western Allies was 1,500,000.[1]April also witnessed the capture of at least 120,000 German troops by the Western Allies in the last campaign of the war in Italy.[2]In the three to four months up to the end of April, over 800,000 German soldiers surrendered on the Eastern Front.[2]In early April, the firstAllied-governedRheinwiesenlagercamps were established in western Germany to hold hundreds of thousands of captured or surrenderedAxis Forcespersonnel.Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force(SHAEF) reclassified all prisoners asDisarmed Enemy Forces,notPOWs(prisoners of war). Thelegal fictioncircumvented provisions under theGeneva Convention of 1929on the treatment of former combatants.[3]By October, thousands had died in the camps from starvation, exposure and disease.[4]
Liberation of Nazi concentration camps and refugees:Allied forces began to discover the scale ofthe Holocaust,confirming the findings ofPilecki's 1943 Report.The advance into Germany uncovered numerousNazi concentration campsand forced labour facilities. Up to 60,000 prisoners were atBergen-Belsenwhen it was liberated on 15 April 1945, by the British11th Armoured Division.[5]Four days later troops from the American42nd Infantry DivisionfoundDachau.[6]Allied troops forced the remaining SS guards to gather up the corpses and place them in mass graves.[7]Due to the prisoners' poor physical condition, thousands continued to die after liberation.[8]Captured SS guards were subsequently tried at Alliedwar crimetribunals where many were sentenced to death.[9]Some Nazi guards and personnel werekilled outrightupon the discovery of their crimes. However, up to 10,000 Nazi war criminals eventually fled Europe usingratlines.
German forces withdraw from Finland:On 25 April 1945, the last German troops withdrew from Finnish Lapland and made their way into occupied Norway. On 27 April 1945, theRaising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairnphotograph was taken.[10]
Mussolini is executed:On 25 April 1945,Italian partisansliberatedMilanandTurin.On 27 April 1945, as Allied forces closed in onMilan,Italian dictatorBenito Mussoliniwas captured by Italian partisans. It is disputed whether he was trying to flee from Italy to Switzerland (through theSplügen Pass), and was travelling with a German anti-aircraft battalion. On 28 April,Mussolini was executedinGiulino(a civil parish ofMezzegra); the other fascists captured with him were taken toDongoand executed there. The bodies were then taken to Milan and hung up on the Piazzale Loreto of the city. On 29 April,Rodolfo Grazianisurrendered all Fascist Italian armed forces at Caserta. This includedArmy Group Liguria.Graziani was the Minister of Defence for Mussolini'sItalian Social Republic.
Hitler dies by suicide:On 30 April 1945, as theBattle of Nurembergand theBattle of Hamburgended with American and British occupation, theBattle in Berlinwas still raging. With the Soviets surrounding Berlin and his escape route cut off by the Americans, German dictatorAdolf Hitler,realizing that all was lost and not wishing to suffer Mussolini's fate,died by suicidein hisFührerbunkeralong with his long-term partnerEva Braun,whom he had married less than 40 hours earlier.[11]Inhis will,Hitler dismissedReichsmarschallHermann Göring,his second-in-command, andInterior ministerHeinrich Himmlerafter each of them separately tried to seize control of the crumbling remains ofNazi Germany.Hitler appointed his successors as follows;GroßadmiralKarl Dönitzas the newReichspräsident( "President of Germany" ) andJoseph Goebbelsas the newReichskanzler(Chancellor of Germany). However, Goebbels died by suicide the next day, leaving Dönitz as the sole leader of Germany.
German forces in Italy surrender:On 29 April, the day before Hitler died, Oberstleutnant Schweinitz and Sturmbannführer Wenner, plenipotentiaries for GeneraloberstHeinrich von Vietinghoffand SS ObergruppenführerKarl Wolff,signed a surrender document atCaserta[12]after prolonged unauthorised secret negotiations with theWestern Allies,which were viewed with great suspicion by the Soviet Union as trying to reach aseparate peace.In the document, the Germans agreed to a ceasefire and surrender of all the forces under the command of Vietinghoff on 2 May at 2 pm. Accordingly, after some bitter wrangling between Wolff andAlbert Kesselringin the early hours of 2 May, nearly 1,000,000 men in Italy and Austria surrendered unconditionally to British Field Marshal SirHarold Alexanderon 2 May at 2 pm.[13]
German forces in Berlin surrender:TheBattle of Berlinended on 2 May. On that date,General der ArtillerieHelmuth Weidling,the commander of the Berlin Defense Area, unconditionally surrendered the city to GeneralVasily Chuikovof theRed Army.[14]On the same day the officers commanding the two armies ofArmy Group Vistulanorth of Berlin, (GeneralKurt von Tippelskirch,commander of theGerman 21st Armyand GeneralHasso von Manteuffel,commander ofThird Panzer Army), surrendered to the Western Allies.[15]2 May is also believed to have been the day when Hitler's deputyMartin Bormanndied, from the account ofArtur Axmannwho saw Bormann's corpse in Berlin near theLehrter Bahnhofrailway station after encountering a Soviet Red Army patrol.[16]Lehrter Bahnhof is close to where the remains of Bormann, confirmed as his by a DNA test in 1998,[17]were unearthed on 7 December 1972.
German forces in North West Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands surrender:On 4 May 1945, the BritishField MarshalBernard Montgomerytook the unconditional militarysurrender at LüneburgfromGeneraladmiralHans-Georg von Friedeburg,and GeneralEberhard Kinzel,of all German forces "in Holland [sic], in northwest Germany including the Frisian Islands and Heligoland and all other islands, in Schleswig-Holstein, and in Denmark… includ[ing] all naval ships in these areas",[18][19]at theTimelobergonLüneburg Heath;an area between the cities ofHamburg,HanoverandBremen.The number of German land, sea and air forces involved in this surrender amounted to 1,000,000 men.[20] On 5 May,GroßadmiralDönitz ordered allU-boatsto cease offensive operations and return to their bases. At 16:00 on 5 May, GermanOberbefehlshaber Niederlandesupreme commanderGeneraloberstJohannes Blaskowitzsurrendered toI Canadian CorpscommanderLieutenant-GeneralCharles Foulkesin the Dutch town ofWageningen,in the presence ofPrince Bernhard of the Netherlands(acting as commander-in-chief of the Dutch Interior Forces).[21][22]
German forces in Bavaria surrender:At 14:30 on 5 May 1945, GeneralHermann Foertschsurrendered all forces between theBohemianmountains and theUpper Inn riverto the American GeneralJacob L. Devers,commander of theAmerican 6th Army Group.
Central Europe:On 5 May 1945, the Czech resistance started thePrague uprising.The following day, the Soviets launched thePrague offensive.InDresden,GauleiterMartin Mutschmannlet it be known that a large-scale German offensive on the Eastern Front was about to be launched. Within two days, Mutschmann abandoned the city but was captured by Soviet troops while trying to escape.[23]
Hermann Göring's surrender:On 6 May,Reichsmarshalland Hitler's second-in-commandHermann Göringsurrendered to GeneralCarl Spaatz,who was the commander of the operationalUnited States Air Forces in Europe,along with his wife and daughter at theGermany-Austriaborder.
German forces in Breslau surrender:At 18:00 on 6 May, GeneralHermann Niehoff,the commandant ofBreslau,a 'fortress' city surrounded and besieged for months, surrendered to the Soviets.[22]
Jodl and Keitel surrender all German armed forces unconditionally:Thirty minutes after the fall of "Festung Breslau"(Fortress Breslau), GeneralAlfred Jodlarrived inReimsand, following Dönitz's instructions, offered to surrender all forces fighting the Western Allies. This was exactly the same negotiating position that von Friedeburg had initially made to Montgomery, and like Montgomery, theSupreme Allied Commander,GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower,threatened to break off all negotiations unless the Germans agreed to a complete unconditional surrender to all the Allies on all fronts.[24]Eisenhower explicitly told Jodl that he would order western lines closed to German soldiers, thus forcing them to surrender to the Soviets.[24]Jodl sent a signal to Dönitz, who was inFlensburg,informing him of Eisenhower's declaration. Shortly after midnight, Dönitz, accepting the inevitable, sent a signal to Jodl authorizing the complete and total surrender of all German forces.[22][24]
Channel Islanders were informed about the German surrender after:At 10:00 on 8 May, theChannel Islanderswere informed by the German authorities that the war was over. British prime ministerWinston Churchillmade a radio broadcast at 15:00 during which he announced: "Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, but in the interests of saving lives the 'Cease fire' began yesterday to be sounded all along the front, and our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today."[25][26]
At 02:41 on the morning of 7 May, at SHAEF headquarters in Reims, France, the chief-of-staff of theGerman Armed Forces High Command,General Alfred Jodl, signed an unconditionalsurrender document for all German forcesto the Allies. GeneralFranz Böhmeannounced the unconditional surrender of German troops in Norway on 7 May. It included the phrase "All forces under German control to cease active operations at 23:01 hoursCentral European Timeon May 8, 1945. "[18][26]The next day, Field MarshalWilhelm Keiteland other German OKW representatives travelled to Berlin, and shortly before midnight signed another document of unconditional surrender, again surrendering to all the Allied forces, this time in the presence of MarshalGeorgy Zhukovand representatives ofSHAEF.[27]The signing ceremony took place in a former German Army Engineering School in the Berlin district ofKarlshorst;it now houses theGerman-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst.
Aftermath of the war
editVE-Day:Following news of the German surrender, spontaneous celebrations erupted all over the world on 7 May, including in Western Europe and the United States. As the Germans officially set the end of operations for 2301Central European Timeon 8 May, that day is celebrated across Europe asV-E Day.Most of the former Soviet Union celebratesVictory Dayon 9 May, as the end of operations occurred after midnightMoscow Time.
- On 8 May,MuslimsinFrench Algeriacelebrating the end of the war became the targets ofviolence and massacresbycolonialauthorities andpied-noirsettler militias, which would continue until 26 June 1945.[28][29][30]While largely overlooked inmetropolitan France,the impact on the Algerian Muslim population was traumatic,[31]becoming a precursor to theAlgerian Warnine years later.[32]
German units cease fire:Although the military commanders of most German forces obeyed the order to surrender issued by theOberkommando der Wehrmacht(OKW)—the German Armed Forces High Command—not all commanders did so. The largest contingent wasArmy Group Centreunder the command ofGeneralfeldmarschallFerdinand Schörner,who had been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Army on 30 April in Hitler's last will and testament. On 8 May, Schörner deserted his command and flew to Austria; the Soviet Army sent overwhelming force against Army Group Centre in thePrague offensive,forcing many of the German units in there to capitulate by 11 May. The other units of the Army Group which did not surrender on 8 May were forced to surrender.
- On, 9 May, theSecond Army,under the command of Generalvon Saucken,on theHeiligenbeilandDanzigbeachheads, on theHel Peninsulain theVistuladelta surrendered; as did the forces on the Greek islands; and the garrisons of most of the lastAtlantic pocketsin France, inDunkirkandLa Rochelle(after theAllied siege).
- The Atlantic Pocket ofLorientsurrendered on 10 May.
- The Atlantic Pocket ofSaint-Nazairesurrendered on 11 May.
- TheBattle of Slivice,the last battle in occupied Czechoslovakia, occurred on 12 May.
- On 13 May, the Red Army halted all offensives in Europe. Isolated pockets of resistance in Czechoslovakia were mopped up by this date.
- The garrison onMinquiers,one of the Channel Islandsoccupied by the Germans,surrendered on 23 May, one week after the garrison onAlderney,and two weeks after the garrisons onGuernseyandJerseyhad surrendered (on 9 May) and those onSark(on 10 May).
- A military engagement took place in Yugoslavia (today's Slovenia), on 14 and 15 May, known as theBattle of Poljana.
- The fighting during theGeorgian uprising on Texelin the Netherlands lasted until 20 May.
- The last battle in Europe, theBattle of Odžakbetween theYugoslav Armyand theCroatian Armed Forces,concluded on 25 May. The remaining Croatian soldiers escaped to the forest.
- German forces onAmelandandSchiermonnikoog,2 Dutch islands in theWadden Sea,surrendered on 3 and 11 June respectively. The latter was the last German force in the Netherlands to surrender.[33][34]
- A small group of German soldiers, deployed onSvalbardinOperation Haudegento establish and man a weather station there, lost radio contact in May 1945; they surrendered to some Norwegian seal hunters on 6 September, four days afterJapan formally surrendered.
Debellation:At the time the Allied powers assumed that adebellationhad occurred (the end of a war caused by the complete destruction of a hostile state), and their actions during the immediate post war period were based on that legal premise (however, the German government's legal position during and following thereunification of Germanyis that the state remained in existence although moribund in the immediate post war period).[35][36][a]
Dönitz government ordered dissolved by Eisenhower:Karl Dönitz continued to act as if he were the German head of state, but hisFlensburg Government(so called because it was based at Flensburg in northern Germany and controlled only a small area around the town), was not recognized by the Allies. On 12 May an Allied liaison team arrived in Flensburg and took quarters aboard the passenger shipPatria.The liaison officers and the Supreme Allied Headquarters soon realized that they had no need to act through the Flensburg government and that its members should be arrested. On 23 May, acting on SHAEF's orders and with the approval of the Soviets, American Major General Rooks summoned Dönitz aboard thePatriaand communicated to him that he and all the members of his Government were under arrest and that their government was dissolved. The Allies had a problem because they realized that although the German armed forces had surrendered unconditionally, SHAEF had failed to use the document created by the "European Advisory Commission"(EAC) and so there had been no formal surrender by the civilian German government. This was considered a very important issue, because just as the civilian, but not military, surrender in 1918 had been used by Hitler to create the"stab in the back"argument, the Allies did not want to give any future hostile German regime a legal argument to resurrect an old quarrel.
On 20 September 1945, theAllied Control Councilpassed itsControl Council Law No. 1 - Repealing of Nazi Laws,which repealed numerous pieces of legislation enacted by the national-socialist regime, putting ade jureend to theGovernment of Nazi Germany.Incidentally, this law should have theoretically reestablished theWeimar Constitution;however, this constitution stayed irrelevant on the grounds of the powers of the Allied Control Council acting as occupying forces. On 10 October 1945, Control Council Law No. 2 was also passed, formally abolishing all national socialist organisations.[37]
TheDeclaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany and the Assumption of Supreme Authority by Allied Powerswas signed by the four Allies on 5 June. It included the following:
The Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, hereby assume supreme authority with respect to Germany, including all the powers possessed by the German Government, the High Command and any state, municipal, or local government or authority. The assumption, for the purposes stated above, of the said authority and powers does not effect[38]the annexation of Germany [i.e., the document does not authorize the Allies toannexGermany].[39]
ThePotsdam Agreementwas signed on 1 August 1945. In connection with this, the leaders of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union planned the new postwar German government, resettled war territory boundaries,de factoannexed a quarter of pre-war Germany situated east of theOder–Neisse line,and mandated and organized theexpulsion of the millions of Germanswho remained in the annexed territories and elsewhere in the east. They also ordered Germandemilitarization,denazification,industrial disarmamentand settlements ofwar reparations.But, as France (at American insistence) had not been invited to the Potsdam Conference, so the French representatives on the Allied Control Council subsequently refused to recognise any obligation to implement the Potsdam Agreement; with the consequence that much of the programme envisaged at Potsdam, for the establishment of a German government and state adequate for accepting a peace settlement, remained a dead letter.
Operation Keelhaulbegan the Allies' forced repatriation of displaced persons, families, anti-communists,White Russians,formerSoviet Armed ForcesPOWs,foreign slave workers, soldier volunteers andCossacks,and Nazi collaborators to theSoviet Union.Between 14 August 1946 and 9 May 1947, up to five million people were forcibly handed over to the Soviets.[40]On return, most deportees faced imprisonment or execution; on some occasions theNKVDbegan killing people before Allied troops had departed from the rendezvous points.[41]
TheAllied Control Councilwas created to effect the Allies' assumed supreme authority over Germany, specifically to implement their assumed joint authority over Germany. On 30 August, the Control Council constituted itself and issued its first proclamation, which informed the German people of the council's existence and asserted that the commands and directives issued by the Commanders-in-Chief in their respective zones were not affected by the establishment of the council.
Cessation of formal hostilities and peace treaties
editCessation of hostilities between the United States and Germanywas proclaimed on 13 December 1946 by US PresidentTruman.[42]
TheParis Peace Conferenceended on 10 February 1947 with the signing ofpeace treatiesby the wartime Allies with the former European Axis powers (Italy,Romania,HungaryandBulgaria) and their co-belligerent allyFinland.
TheFederal Republic of Germany,which had been founded on 23 May 1949 (when its Basic Law was promulgated), had its first government formed on 20 September 1949 while theGerman Democratic Republicwas formed on 7 October.
End of state of war with Germanywas declared by many former Western Allies from 1950.[43]In thePetersberg Agreementof 22 November 1949, it was noted that the West German government wanted an end to the state of war, but the request could not be granted. The US state of war with Germany was being maintained for legal reasons, and though it was softened somewhat it was not suspended since "the US wants to retain a legal basis for keeping a US force in Western Germany".[44] At a meeting for the foreign ministers of France, the UK, and the US in New York from 12 September – 19 December 1950, it was stated that among other measures to strengthenWest Germany's position in theCold Warthat the western allies would "end by legislation the state of war with Germany".[45]In 1951, many former Western Allies did end their state of war with Germany: Australia (9 July), Canada, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands (26 July), South Africa, the United Kingdom (9 July), and the United States (19 October).[46][47][48][49][50][51]The state of war between Germany and the Soviet Union was ended in early 1955.[52]
"The full authority of a sovereign state"was granted to the Federal Republic of Germany on 5 May 1955 under the terms of theBonn–Paris conventions. The treaty ended the military occupation of West German territory, but the three occupying powers retained some special rights, e.g. vis-à-visWest Berlin.
TheTreaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germanywas signed following the 1990German reunification,whereby the Four Powers renounced all rights they formerly held in the newly single country, including Berlin. The treaty came into force on 15 March 1991. Under the terms of the Treaty, the Allies were allowed to keep troops in Berlin until the end of 1994 (articles 4 and 5). In accordance with the Treaty, occupying troops were withdrawn by that deadline.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^Although the Allied powers considered this adebellatio(The human rights dimensions of population,UNHCR web site, p. 2 § 138) other authorities have argued that the vestiges of the German state continued to exist even though the Allied Control Council governed the territory; and that eventually a fully sovereign German government resumed over a state that never ceased to exist (Junker, Detlef (2004), Junker, Detlef; Gassert, Philipp; Mausbach, Wilfried; et al. (eds.),The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1990: A Handbook,vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, co-published withGerman Historical Institute,Washington D.C., p.104,ISBN0-521-79112-X.)
References
editCitations
edit- ^The Daily Telegraph Story of the War, (January 1st to October 7th 1945)page 153
- ^abThe Times,1 May 1945, page 4
- ^Biddiscombe, Alexander Perry, (1998).Werwolf!: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946.University of Toronto Press. p. 253.ISBN0-8020-0862-3
- ^Davidson, Eugene (1999).The Death and Life of Germany.University of Missouri Press. pp.84–85.ISBN0-8262-1249-2.
- ^"The 11th Armoured Division (Great Britain)",United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
- ^"Station 11: Crematorium – Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site".Kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de.Retrieved20 September2013.
- ^Wiesel, Elie (2002).After the Darkness: Reflections on the Holocaust.New York, NY: Schocken Books. p. 41.
- ^Knoch, Habbo (2010).Bergen-Belsen: Wehrmacht POW Camp 1940–1945, Concentration Camp 1943–1945, Displaced Persons Camp 1945–1950. Catalogue of the permanent exhibition.Wallstein. p. 103.ISBN978-3-8353-0794-0.
- ^Greene, Joshua (2003).Justice At Dachau: The Trials Of An American Prosecutor.New York: Broadway. p.400.ISBN0-7679-0879-1.
- ^Kulju, Mika (2017). "Chpt. 4".Käsivarren sota – lasten ristiretki 1944–1945[The war in the Arm – children's crusade 1944–1945] (e-book) (in Finnish). Gummerus.ISBN978-951-24-0770-5.
- ^Beevor 2002,p. 342.
- ^Ernest F. Fisher Jr:United States Army in WWII, The Mediterranean - Cassino to the Alps.Page 524.
- ^Daily Telegraph Story of the War fifth volume page 153
- ^Dollinger, Hans.The Decline and the Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan,Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047. p. 239
- ^Ziemke 1969,p. 128.
- ^Beevor 2002,p.[page needed].
- ^Karacs, Imre (4 May 1998)."DNA test closes book on mystery of Martin Bormann".Independent.London.Retrieved28 April2010.
- ^ab"The German Surrender Documents – WWII".Archived fromthe originalon 17 May 2008.Retrieved11 February2005.
- ^"Monty Speech & German Surrender 1945".British Pathé.Retrieved23 December2013.
- ^The Times,5 May 1945, page 4
- ^"World War II Timeline:western Europe: 1945".Archived fromthe originalon 22 September 2006.
- ^abcRon GoldsteinField Marshal Keitel's surrenderBBCadditional comment byPeter – WW2 Site Helper
- ^[Page 228, "The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan",Hans Dollinger ,Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047]
- ^abcZiemke 1969,p. 130.
- ^"The Churchill Centre: The End of the War in Europe".Archived fromthe originalon 19 June 2006.
- ^abDuring the summers of World War II, Britain was onBritish Double Summer Timewhich meant that the country was ahead of CET time by one hour. This means that the surrender time in the UK was "effective from 0001 hours on May 9".RAF Site Diary 7/8 MayArchived18 January 2012 at theWayback Machine
- ^Ziemke 1990,p. 258 last paragraph.
- ^Morgan, Ted(31 January 2006).My Battle of Algiers.HarperCollins. p.17.ISBN978-0-06-085224-5.
- ^Horne, Alistair(1977).A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962.New York: The Viking Press. p. 26.
- ^Peyroulou, Jean-Pierre (2009). "6. La mise en place d'un ordre subversif, le 9 mai 1945".Guelma, 1945: une subversion française dans l'Algérie coloniale.Paris: Éditions La Découverte.ISBN9782707154644.OCLC436981240.
- ^Porch, Douglas (1991).The French Foreign Legion.Macmillan. p. 569.ISBN978-0-333-58500-9.
- ^Edgar O'Ballance, pages 39 and 195 "The Algerian Insurrection 1954–62", Faber and Faber London 1867
- ^"Bevrijding – Ameland tijdens WO II".16 September 2016. Archived fromthe originalon 16 September 2016.Retrieved9 December2023.
- ^"De bevrijding van Schier kwam pas weken later".omropfryslan.nl(in Dutch). 9 June 2020.Retrieved9 December2023.
- ^United Nations War Crimes Commission (1997),Law reports of trials of war criminals: United Nations War Crimes Commission,Wm. S. Hein, p.13,ISBN1-57588-403-8
- ^Yearbook of the International Law Commission(PDF).Volume II (Part Two). 1995. p. 54.ISBN92-1-133483-7.ISSN0082-8289.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 21 October 2013.
- ^Control Council."Law No. 1 – Repealing of Nazi Laws / Law No. 2 – Providing for the Termination and Liquidation of the Nazi Organizations"(PDF).
- ^Spelling as in the original:effect,notaffect.
- ^Documents on Germany: 1944-1959.Washington, D. C.: United States Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. 1959. p. 13.Retrieved1 January2022.
- ^Nikolai Tolstoy(1977).The Secret Betrayal.Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 360.ISBN0-684-15635-0.
- ^Murray-Brown, Jeremy (October 1992)."A footnote to Yalta".Boston University.
- ^Werner v. United States (188 F.2d 266)Archived14 May 2010 at theWayback Machine,United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit, 4 April 1951. Website ofPublic.Resource.OrgArchived28 May 2010 at theWayback Machine
- ^Although Belgium ended it on June 15, 1949
- ^"A Step Forward".Time.28 November 1949.
- ^Staff.Full text of "Britannica Book Of The Year 1951"Open-Access Text Archive.Retrieved 11 August 2008
- ^ "War's End".Time.16 July 1951.
- ^Elihu Lauterpacht, C. J. Greenwood.International Law Reports.Volume 52, Cambridge University Press, 1979ISBN0-521-46397-1.p. 505
- ^"Second World War (WWII)".The Canadian Encyclopedia.Retrieved8 October2019.
- ^1951 in HistoryBrainyMedia.Retrieved 11 August 2008
- ^H. Lauterpacht (editor),International law reports Volume 23.Cambridge University PressISBN0-949009-37-7.p. 773
- ^US Code—Title 50 Appendix—War and National DefenseArchived6 July 2008 at theWayback Machine,U.S. Government Printing OfficeArchived29 April 2009 at theWayback Machine.
- ^"Spreading Hesitation".Time.7 February 1955.
Sources
edit- Beevor, Antony(2002),Berlin: The Downfall 1945,Viking-Penguin Books
- Plenipotentiaries (5 June 1945),"Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany and the Assumption of Supreme Authority with respect to Germany by the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the provisional government of the French Republic (facsimile)"(PDF),Germany No. i (1945): Unconditional Surrender of Germany Declaration and other Documents issued by the Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic,pp. 1–6 (3–7 PDF), archived fromthe original(PDF)on 29 April 2013,retrieved24 December2013
- Ziemke, Earl F.(1969),Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich,London: Macdomald & Co, p. 128
- Ziemke, Earl F. (1990), "Chapter XV: The Victory Sealed: Surrender at Reims",The U.S. Army in the occupation of Germany 1944–1946,Center of Military History, United States Army,Washington, D. C., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-619027
Further reading
edit- Deutsche Welle special coverage of the end of World War II—features a global perspective.
- On this Day 7 May 1945: Germany signs unconditional surrender
- Account of German surrender,BBC
- Charles Kiley (Stars and StripesStaff Writer).Details of the Surrender NegotiationsThis Is How Germany Gave Up
- London '45 Victory Parade, photos and the exclusion of the Polish ally
- Multimedia map of the war(1024x768 & Macromedia Flash Plugin 7.x)
External links
edit- The short filmA Defeated People (1946)is available for free viewing and download at theInternet Archive.
- Civil Affairs In Germany (1945)is available for free viewing and download at theInternet Archive