The act of unconditional surrender of Germany is a document that ended the Great Patriotic War. This Act stated that the war ended with the complete defeat of Nazi Germany. The fact that the Act was signed in Berlin, taken by Soviet troops, emphasized the decisive role of the USSR in the defeat of fascism.

In 1944-1945. The Great Patriotic War was transferred to the territory of Nazi Germany. Although in 1945 the prospect of the defeat of fascism became obvious, the question remained unclear which part of Germany would be under the control of the USSR, and which - by the Western Allies. The Nazis, considering themselves the bulwark of Western civilization against communism, did everything to stop the offensive of the Red Army. The German military and officials rightly believed that their fate would be somewhat easier if they were in the hands of the Western allies than Stalin. The Soviet leadership feared that, under the auspices of the United States and Great Britain, German nationalism might revive and again threaten the USSR.

Despite the fact that the Soviet troops had not yet completed the capture of the large fortress of Koenigsberg on the flank of their offensive, it was decided to advance on Berlin.

The Soviet troops were opposed by the Vistula Army Group under the command of Colonel General G. Heinrici and the Center Army Group under the command of Field Marshal F. Scherner - a total of about 1 million people, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,500 tanks and assault guns and 3300 combat aircraft. Another 8 divisions were in the reserve of the main command ground forces. The number of the garrison in Berlin itself exceeded 200 thousand people.

In order to encircle and capture Berlin, the Soviet command concentrated the troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian, 1st Ukrainian fronts and other forces - 162 rifle and cavalry divisions, 21 tank and mechanized corps, 4 air armies with a total strength of 2.5 million people, about 42 thousand guns and mortars, over 6250 tanks and self-propelled guns, 7500 combat aircraft.

The way to Berlin was covered by fortifications on the Seelow Heights. To avoid big losses it was necessary to take them suddenly, with one blow. The commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, G. Zhukov, concentrated a strong strike force against the heights, and in order to stun the defenders, powerful aviation searchlights were directed at them before the attack. On April 16, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts went on the offensive. On April 19, the Seelow Heights were taken. On April 24, troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts surrounded a 300,000-strong enemy grouping southeast of Berlin. Despite the fierce resistance of the enemy, Soviet troops under the command of Zhukov and the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front I. Konev surrounded Berlin on April 25 and advanced towards the Elbe towards the Allies. April 25 near the city of Torgau 5th guards army met with the 1st American army.

The assault on Berlin began. The Germans fought for every house. Berlin was turned into a system of powerful fortifications. It had already been largely reduced to ruins by the Allied bombings, but the ruins made it difficult for the Soviet troops to move forward. Step by step, Soviet troops captured the most important objects of the city, the most famous of which was the Reichstag. This height dominated the city center, where the Reich Chancellery was located, near which Hitler was hiding in a bunker. When the red banner was hoisted on it, it became clear that Berlin had fallen. On April 30, realizing that Nazism had failed, Hitler committed suicide. Power passed to Goebbels, but on May 1 he chose to follow Hitler. On May 2, the Nazis in Berlin capitulated.

A large German grouping continued to operate in the Czech Republic. As early as May 5, an uprising took place in Prague. But the Germans defeated the rebels. On May 9, units of the Red Army finished off German troops near Prague. With the surrender of German troops near Prague, hostilities in Europe actually ended.

The German command delayed the surrender, hoping that as many troops as possible would be able to leave the remnants of the eastern front and surrender to the western allies.

On May 2, the new Reich President of Germany, Grand Admiral K. Dönitz, held a meeting at which it was decided to stop resisting the Anglo-Americans and pursue a policy of private capitulations at the level of army groups, continuing the resistance of the Red Army. In Reims, where the headquarters of the commander of the Western Allies, D. Eisenhower, was located, Dennit's representatives tried to achieve a separate surrender in the West, but Eisenhower refused this.

On May 7, 1945, in Reims, the Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces in Europe, W. Smith, the representative of the USSR, Gen. I. Susloparov and General A. Jodl, authorized by the government of K. Dönitz, signed a protocol on the surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany on May 8. During the remaining hours, the German leadership hoped to evacuate as many troops and refugees as possible for surrender in the west.
Susloparov took part in the signing of the surrender in Reims, not yet knowing that Stalin was strongly opposed to it being accepted outside of Berlin, taken by the Soviet troops. But he insisted on the inclusion in the agreement of a clause that allowed the surrender in Reims to be replaced by a more general agreement (this clause was then repeated in the final version of the surrender - already in Berlin).

Stalin rejected the proposal of Truman and Churchill to announce the end of the war on May 8th. He believed that the Act should be solemnly signed in Berlin: “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 winners, but where the fascist aggression came from - in Berlin, and not unilaterally, but necessarily by the supreme command of all countries anti-Hitler coalition". The Allies agreed to hold a second signing ceremony in Berlin. Eisenhower indicated to Jodl that the German commanders-in-chief of the branches of the armed forces would be brought to carry out the final official procedure at a time and place to be specified by the Soviet and Allied commands. Eisenhower decided not to go to Berlin, so as not to belittle the significance of the surrender at Reims.

On the night of May 8-9, 1945, on the outskirts of Berlin, Karlshorst, in the building of a former canteen military engineering school(It was not easy to find a whole building in the destroyed Berlin) The act of unconditional surrender was signed by representatives of the German command Field Marshal W. Keitel, Admiral G. Friedeburg and Colonel General of Aviation G. Stumpf. From the USSR, the surrender was accepted by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A. Vyshinsky and the representative of the Soviet Supreme High Command, Marshal of the Soviet Union G. Zhukov. The command of the expeditionary forces in Europe was represented by Deputy Commander D. Eisenhower, Air Chief Marshal of Great Britain A. Tedder. The agreement was also signed by the Commander of the US Strategic Armed Forces, General K. Spaats and the Commander-in-Chief French army General J.-M. Delattre de Tassigny.

The text of the surrender signed at Karlshorst repeated the surrender at Reims (in order not to cause new disputes between the allies, it was repeated in full), but it was important that the German command in Berlin itself now surrendered. Representatives of the German High Command agreed to "the unconditional surrender of all our armed forces on land, at sea and in the air, as well as all forces currently under German command, to the High Command of the Red Army and at the same time to the High Command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces" from 23 -01:00 Central European Time on May 8, 1945. The ceremony ended at 0:43 on May 9, 1945. The Great Patriotic War and the Second World War completed in Europe.

ACT OF MILITARY SURRENDER.

1. We, the undersigned, acting on behalf of the German High Command, agree to the unconditional surrender of all our armed forces on land, sea and air, as well as all forces currently under German command, to the Supreme High Command of the Red Army and at the same time High Command Allied Expeditionary Force.

2. The German High Command will immediately issue orders to all German commanders of land, sea and air force and all forces under German command to cease hostilities at 23:01 hours Central European Time on May 8, 1945, to remain in their places where they are at that time, and completely disarm, handing over all their weapons and military equipment local Allied commanders or officers assigned to representatives of the Allied High Commands, not to destroy or cause any damage to steamships, ships and aircraft, their engines, hulls and equipment, as well as vehicles, weapons, apparatus and all military-technical means of warfare in general.

3. The German High Command will immediately assign appropriate commanders and ensure that all further orders issued by the Supreme High Command of the Red Army and the High Command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces are carried out.

4. This act shall not prevent its replacement by another general instrument of surrender, concluded by or on behalf of the United Nations, applicable to Germany and the German armed forces as a whole.

5. In the event that the German High Command or any armed forces under its command fail to act in accordance with this act of surrender, the High Command of the Red Army, as well as the High Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force, will take such punitive measures, or other action they deem necessary.

6. This act is drawn up in Russian, English and German. Only Russian and English texts are authentic.

On behalf of the German High Command:

Keitel, Friedenburg, Stumpf

In the presence:

They were also present at the signing as witnesses.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. M., 1999.

Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. M., 1990.

Konev I.S. Forty-fifth. M., 1970.

Chuikov V.I. End of the Third Reich. M., 1973.

Shtemenko S.M. General Staff during the war. M., 1985.

Vorobyov F.D., Parodkin I.V., Shimansky A.N. Last assault. M., 1975.

Why did the German command offer stronger resistance on the eastern front than on the western?

Who inherited the post of Reich President after Hitler's suicide?

Why was the signing of Germany's final surrender at Reims unacceptable?

Why does paragraph 4 of the Surrender Act signed in Berlin speak of the possibility of a new agreement? Has it been signed?

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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 on different languages. Only Russian and English version are authentic.

Preparation of the text of the Act of Surrender of Germany

The preparation of the text of the Act of Surrender was initiated 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 complete 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, which implied 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 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, an agreement was reached 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 necessary condition to agree on the Instrument of Surrender), it will retain some institution of civil authority capable of signing the document of surrender and carrying out its provisions. 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 general recommendations for local military formations, binding 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 both to 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, for the most part 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 in accordance with the instructions of 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 a red brick building technical college Reims, who 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 in the surrender negotiations Soviet Union. 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 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 be unique, one of a kind. historical event, which 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 the German troops who would continue to fight against the USSR after due date, "will lose the status of military personnel, which means that in case of surrender to 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 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 the status of Marshal Zhukov, on behalf of the Western Allies, the Act was to be signed by Deputy Eisenhower Air Chief Marshal Tedder. 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 General Staff Armed forces of Germany and the representative of the army.
• 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 for a temporary suppression of 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, Representative news agency The Associated Press in Paris violated the ban on May 7, causing the German surrender on May 8 to become top news in the Western media. 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. V last days 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 state property, liquidate all power functions of the armed forces and will require 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 in full, despite the fact that from the German side the Act of Surrender was signed only by the German military command. 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 liberated vacant positions at the head of civil power in Germany were to be occupied 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 idea of ​​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.

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."

To resolve the issue of a new signing of the act, but for more high level, Stalin joined in, turning to Churchill and Truman: “The treaty signed in Reims cannot be canceled, but it cannot be recognized. Surrender must be carried out 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. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in commemoration of the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War Soviet people against the Nazi invaders and the historic victories of the Red Army, May 9 was declared Victory Day.

Act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces(English: German Instrument of Surrender, fr. : Actes de capitulation de l'Allemagne Nazie, German : Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht) - a legal document that established a truce on the fronts of World War II directed against Germany, obliging the German military to cease resistance, surrender personnel and transfer the materiel of the armed forces to the enemy, which actually marked Germany's exit from the war. It was signed by representatives of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, the High Command of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.

The idea of ​​unconditional surrender and the preparation of the text of the act

The idea of ​​Germany's unconditional surrender was first announced by President Roosevelt on January 13, 1943 at the Casablanca conference and has since become the official position of the United Nations. The draft text of the surrender was developed by the European Consultative Commission from January 1944; the text (called the "Terms of Surrender of Germany") was agreed at the end of July and approved by the heads of the allied governments. This extensive document was sent, in particular, to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (S.H.A.E.F), where, however, it was perceived not as a mandatory instruction, but as a recommendation. Therefore, when on May 4-5, 1945, the question of Germany's surrender practically arose, the allied headquarters did not use the existing document (perhaps fearing that disputes over the political articles contained in it would complicate negotiations with the Germans), but developed their own short, purely military document which was eventually signed. The text was drafted by a group of American officers close to Allied Commander-in-Chief Dwight Eisenhower; the primary writer of the text was Colonel Filimor of the 3rd (Operational) Division of SHAEF. In order not to contradict the draft of the European Commission, at the suggestion of the British diplomat Ambassador Wynand, Article 4 was introduced into the text of the document, suggesting the possibility of replacing this act with “another general instrument of surrender concluded by or on behalf of the United Nations” (some Russian sources, however, they attribute the idea of ​​this article to the Soviet representative under the command of the Allies, Susloparov).

Partial surrenders

On the same day at the new head German government Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz held a meeting. Assessing the military situation as hopeless, the meeting participants decided to concentrate their main efforts on saving as many Germans as possible from the Red Army, avoiding hostilities in the West and continuing operations against the Anglo-Americans only to the extent that they would interfere with the attempts of the German troops to evade from the Red Army. Since, in view of the agreements between the USSR and the Western allies, it is difficult to achieve surrender only in the West, a policy of private surrenders at the level of army groups and below should be pursued. .

First act

The school building in Reims, where the surrender was signed.

Having signed the act of surrender of German troops in the north on May 4 in Lüneburg, Admiral Friedeburg went to Eisenhower's headquarters, located in Reims, in order, on behalf of Dönitz, to put before him the question of the surrender of German troops in Western front. Since, due to bad weather, he was forced to travel from Brussels to Reims by car, the German delegation arrived in Reims only by 17:00 on May 5. Meanwhile, Eisenhower told his chief of staff, Walter Bedell Smith, that there would be no bargaining with the Germans, and he did not intend to see the Germans until they signed the terms of surrender. The negotiations were entrusted to Generals W. B. Smith and Carl Strong (the latter participated in the negotiations for the surrender of Italy in 1943).

The signing of the surrender in Reims. Back: Hans Friedeburg, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Oxenius. Face: Sir F.E. Morgan, Francois Sevez, Harold Burrow, Harry S. Batchell, W.B. Smith, Conrad Strong, Ivan Chernyaev, Ivan Susloparov, Carl Spaats, John Robb, Ivan Zenkovich (side)

The negotiations took place in the premises of the operational department of the allied headquarters (this headquarters was located in a building that was called the "red school building", in fact - in the building of a technical college). In order to demonstrate to Friedeburg the futility of the German position, Smith ordered the walls to be hung with maps indicating the situation on the fronts, as well as maps indicating the strikes allegedly being prepared by the Allies. These maps made a great impression on Friedeburg. Friedeburg offered Smith the surrender of the remaining German forces on the Western Front; Smith replied that Eisenhower refused to continue negotiations unless the offer of surrender also applied to the Eastern Front; only a general surrender is possible, with the troops in the West and East must remain in their places. Friedeburg replied to this that he did not have the authority to sign a general surrender. Having studied the text of the act of surrender presented to him, Friedeburg telegraphed Doenitz, asking permission to sign a general surrender or send Keitel and the commanders of the air and naval forces for this.

Dönitz found the terms of surrender unacceptable and sent Jodl to Reims, who was known as a categorical opponent of surrender in the East. Jodl had to explain to Eisenhower why a general surrender was impossible. He arrived in Reims on the evening of 6 May. After an hour of discussion with him, Smith and Strong came to the conclusion that the Germans were simply playing for time in order to have time to transport as many troops and refugees to the West as possible, which they reported to Eisenhower. The latter told Smith to tell the Germans that “If they do not stop looking for excuses and stalling for time, I will immediately close the entire Allied front and stop the flow of refugees by force through the location of our troops. I will not tolerate any further delay.". Having received this answer, Jodl realized that his situation was hopeless, and requested from Dönitz the authority for a general surrender. Dönitz called Eisenhower's behavior "a real blackmail", however, also realizing the hopelessness of the situation, shortly after midnight on May 7 instructed Keitel to answer: "Grand Admiral Doenitz grants the full right to sign in accordance with the proposed conditions". The signing ceremony was scheduled for 2:30 am. The act of surrender was to come into force at 23:01 on May 8, i.e. almost two days after the signing - Dönitz hoped to take advantage of this time to move as many troops and refugees to the West as possible.

On May 6, representatives of the allied commands were summoned to SHAEF: members of the Soviet mission, General Susloparov and Colonel Zenkovich, as well as the Deputy Chief of the Supreme National Defense Staff of France, General Sevez (Chief of Staff, General Juyn, was in San Francisco at the founding conference of the UN). Eisenhower did his best to calm the suspicions of the Soviet representatives, who believed that the Anglo-American allies were ready to conspire with the Germans behind their backs. As for the role of Sevez, who signed the act as a witness, it turned out to be insignificant: the general, being a pure military man, did not try to defend the prestigious interests of France and, in particular, did not protest against the absence of the French flag in the room where the capitulation was signed. Eisenhower himself refused to participate in the signing ceremony for protocol reasons, since the German side was represented by the chief of staff, and not by the commander in chief - the ceremony was thus held at the level of chiefs of staff.

At 02:41 on May 7, in the premises of the SHAEF operations department, General Jodl signed the Instrument of Surrender.

Although a group of 17 journalists attended the surrender signing ceremony, the US and Britain agreed to delay the public announcement of the surrender so that the Soviet Union could prepare a second surrender ceremony in Berlin. An oath was taken from the reporters that they would report the surrender only 36 hours later - at exactly 3 pm on May 8, 1945. However, the German radio (from Flensburg) announced the signing of the surrender already on May 7, at 14:41. An hour later, this was reported by the Associated Press, whose reporter Edward Kennedy, after the German report, considered himself free from the promise to keep the event secret. However, Kennedy was fired from the agency, and the silence about surrender continued in the West for another day - only on the afternoon of May 8 was it officially announced. In the Soviet Union, there was an absolute ban on information about the surrender on 7 May.

Second act

The Soviet representative, General Susloparov, signed the act in Reims at his own peril and risk, since by the time appointed for signing, instructions from the Kremlin had not yet arrived. He decided to put his signature with the proviso that this act should not exclude the possibility of signing another act at the request of one of the allied countries. Shortly after signing the act, Susloparov received a telegram from Stalin with a categorical prohibition to sign the surrender.

Stalin was outraged by the signing of the surrender at Reims, in which the Western Allies played a leading role. He refused to recognize this act, demanding a new signing of it in Berlin taken by the Red Army and asking the Allies not to make official announcements of victory until the surrender took effect (that is, until May 9).

The latter demand was denied by both Churchill (who noted that parliament would demand information from him about the signing of the surrender) and Truman (who stated that Stalin's request came to him too late and it was no longer possible to cancel the announcement of victory). For his part, Stalin declared: “The treaty signed at Reims cannot be canceled, but it cannot be recognized either. 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. In response, the Allies agreed to hold a second signing ceremony in Berlin. Eisenhower informed Jodl that the German commanders-in-chief of the branches of the armed forces were to appear for the final official procedure at a time and place to be indicated by the Soviet and Allied commands.

Zhukov read out the act of surrender in Karlshorst. Next to Zhukov is Arthur Tedder.

Keitel signing the surrender at Karlshorst

The Soviet people learned about this from the message of the Sovinformburo on May 9, 1945 only at 10 pm Moscow time, from the lips of the legendary announcer Yuri Levitan.

Then, 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 called its "ratification".

Having accepted the surrender, the Soviet Union did not sign peace with Germany, that is, formally remained in a state of war. The decree on ending the state of war was adopted by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on January 25, 1955. However, the Great Patriotic War itself refers only to military operations against Germany until May 9, 1945.

Firsov A.

On May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison under the command of Helmut Weidling capitulated to the Red Army.

The surrender of Germany was a foregone conclusion.

On May 4, 1945, between the Fuhrer's successor, the new Reich President, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, and General Montgomery, a document was signed on the military surrender to the allies of northwestern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands and the related truce.

But this document cannot be called an unconditional surrender of the whole of Germany. It was the surrender of only certain territories.

The first complete and unconditional surrender of Germany was signed on the territory of the Allies at their headquarters on the night of May 6 to 7 at 2:41 am in the city of Reims. This act of unconditional surrender of Germany and a complete ceasefire within 24 hours was accepted by the commander of the allied forces in the west, General Eisenhower. It was signed by representatives of all allied forces.

Here is how Victor Kostin writes about this surrender:

On May 6, 1945, German General Jodl arrived at the headquarters of the American command in Reims, representing the government of Admiral Doenitz, who became the head of Germany after Hitler's suicide.

Jodl, on behalf of Dönitz, proposed that the surrender of Germany be signed on May 10 by the commanders of the branches of the armed forces, that is, the army, air force and navy.

The delay of several days was due to the fact that, according to him, it took time to find out the location of the units of the German armed forces and bring to their attention the fact of surrender.

In fact, during these few days, the Germans intended to withdraw a large grouping of their troops from Czechoslovakia, where they were at that time, and transfer them to the West in order not to surrender Soviet army, but to the Americans.

The commander of the allied forces in the West, General Eisenhower, figured out this proposal and rejected it, giving Jodl half an hour to think. He said that in the event of a refusal, the full power of American and British forces would be brought down on the German troops.

Jodl was forced to make concessions, and on May 7 at 2:40 a.m. CET, Jodl, General Beddel Smith from the allied side and General Susloparov - the Soviet representative to the allied command - accepted the surrender of Germany, which came into force from 23 hours 1 minute May 8 This date is celebrated in Western countries.

By the time President Truman and British Prime Minister Churchill announced Germany's surrender to Stalin, he had already scolded Susloparov for rushing to sign the act.”

The act of unconditional surrender of Germany from the German side, together with Colonel General Alfred Jodl, was signed by Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg.

The document signed on May 7, 1945 was called: "The act of unconditional surrender of all land, sea and air forces currently under German control."

All that remained before the complete cessation of hostilities and the Second World War was the day allotted to the capitulating side to bring the Act of Unconditional Surrender to every soldier.

Stalin was not satisfied with the fact that:

The signing of unconditional surrender took place on the territory occupied by the allies,

The act was signed primarily by the leadership of the allies, which to some extent belittled the role of the USSR and Stalin himself in the victory over Nazi Germany,

The act of unconditional surrender was signed not by Stalin or Zhukov, but only by Major General from the artillery Ivan Alekseevich Susloparov.

Referring to the fact that the shooting in some places had not yet stopped, Stalin ordered Zhukov to arrange a second ("final") signing of unconditional surrender, immediately after the complete ceasefire on May 8, preferably in Berlin and with the participation of Zhukov.

Since there was no suitable (not destroyed) building in Berlin, the signing was arranged on the outskirts of Berlin Karlhorst immediately after the ceasefire by the German troops. Eisenhower refused the invitation to participate in the re-signing of the surrender, but informed Jodl that the German commanders-in-chief of the armed forces were to appear for the re-procedure at the time and place indicated by the Soviet command for signing a new act with the Soviet command.

From the Russian troops, Georgy Zhukov came to sign the second surrender, from the British troops, Eisenhower sent his deputy, Air Chief Marshal A. Tedder. On behalf of the United States, the commander of the strategic air force, General K. Spaats, was present and signed the surrender as a witness; on behalf of the French armed forces, the commander-in-chief of the army, General J. de Lattre de Tassigny, signed the surrender as a witness.

Jodl did not go to re-sign the act, but sent his deputies - the former chief of staff of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW), Field Marshal V. Keitel, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet G. Friedeburg and Colonel General of Aviation G. Stumpf.

The re-signing of the capitulation caused a smile from all the signers, with the exception of representatives of the Russian side.

Seeing that representatives of France were also participating in the re-signing of the surrender, Keitel grinned: “How! We also lost the war to France? “Yes, Mr. Field Marshal, and France too,” they answered him from the Russian side.

The re-surrender, now from the three branches of the armed forces, was signed by Germany by three representatives of the three branches of the armed forces sent by Jodl - Keitel, Friedeburg and Stumpf.

The second unconditional surrender of Germany was signed on May 8, 1945. The date for signing the surrender is May 8th.

But the celebration of Victory Day on May 8 also did not suit Stalin. It was the day that the capitulation of May 7 took effect. And it was clear that this capitulation was only a continuation and duplication of the earlier one, which declared May 8 the day of a complete ceasefire.

In order to completely get away from the first unconditional surrender and to emphasize the second unconditional surrender as much as possible, Stalin decided to declare May 9th as Victory Day. The following were used as arguments:

A) The actual signing of the act by Keitel, Friedeburg and Stumpf took place on May 8 at 22:43 German (Western European) time, but in Moscow it was already 0:43 on May 9.

B) The whole procedure for signing the act of unconditional surrender ended on May 8th at 2250 hours German time. But in Moscow it was already 0 hours 50 minutes on May 9th.

D) The announcement of victory in Russia and the festive salute in honor of the victory over Germany took place in Russia on May 9, 1945.

Since Stalin's times in Russia, the date of signing the act of unconditional surrender is considered to be May 9, 1945, Berlin is usually called the place of signing the act of unconditional surrender, and only Wilhelm Keitel is the signatory from the German side.

As a result of such Stalinist actions, Russians still celebrate May 9th as Victory Day and are surprised when Europeans celebrate the same Victory Day on May 8th or 7th.

The name of General Ivan Alekseevich Susloparov was deleted from the Soviet history textbooks, and the fact that he signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany is still hushed up in every possible way in Russia.

Third unconditional surrender of Germany

On June 5, 1945, the unconditional state-political surrender of Germany was announced by the four victorious countries. It was issued as a declaration of the European Advisory Commission.

The document is called: "Declaration of the defeat of Germany and the assumption of supreme power over Germany by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Provisional Government of the French Republic."

The document says:

"The German armed forces on land, on water and in the air are completely defeated and unconditionally capitulated, and Germany, which is responsible for the war, is no longer able to resist the will of the victorious powers. As a result, the unconditional surrender of Germany has been achieved, and Germany is subject to all demands that will be made against her now or in the future.".

In accordance with the document, the four victorious powers undertake the implementation of " supreme authority in Germany, including all powers of the German government, the High Command of the Wehrmacht and the governments, administrations or authorities of the Länder, cities and magistrates. The exercise of power and the listed powers does not entail the annexation of Germany".

This unconditional surrender was signed by representatives of four countries without the participation of representatives of Germany.

A similar confusion was introduced by Stalin into Russian textbooks with the dates of the beginning and end of the Second World War. If the whole world considers September 1, 1939 to be the start date of the Second World War, then Russia since the time of Stalin continues to "modestly" count the beginning of the war from July 22, 1941, "forgetting" about the successful capture of Poland, the Baltic states and parts of Ukraine in 1939 and about the failure of a similar attempt to capture Finland (1939-1940).

Similar confusion exists with the day the Second World War ended. If Russia celebrates May 9th as the day of the victory of the allied forces over the German coalition and in fact as the day of the end of World War II, then the whole world celebrates the end of World War II on September 2nd.

On this day in 1945, Japan's Unconditional Surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

On behalf of Japan, the act was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, M. Shigemitsu, and the Chief of the General Staff, General Y. Umezu. On behalf of the allies, the act was signed by US Army General D. MacArthur, Soviet Lieutenant General K. Derevyanko, and Admiral of the British Fleet B. Fraser.