"Pvt. Wallace F. Burket, left, bazooka man with the 80th Infantry Division, U.S. Third Army, finds his brother, Sgt. Wm. C. Burket who was shot down over Africa two years and three months ago. Branau, Austria. 9 May, 1945. Company C, 318th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division. Photographer: Zinni."
The last Wehrmachtbericht was broadcast, which reported Germany's defeat. The address read:
FROM THE GRAND ADMIRAL'S HEADQUARTERS, May 9-The High Command of the Armed Forces announces:
In East Prussia - German divisions even yesterday gallantly defended to the very last the Vistula mouth and the western part of the Frisches Nehrung. The Seventh Division distinguished itself particularly in this fighting. To their Commander in Chief, General of Tank Troops von Saucken, were awarded diamonds to the Oak Leaves with swords to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in recognition of the exemplary gallantry of his soldiers.
As an advanced bulwark, our armies in Courland [Latvia], under the well-proved command of Colonel General Guenther, tied down superior Soviet rifle and armored formations through many months and acquired eternal glory in six great battles. They refused any premature surrender. Only the wounded, and later numerous children, were transported in full order by aircraft that still left for the west. Staffs and officers remained with their troops.
At midnight all fighting and all movements were suspended on the German side, under the conditions that had been signed.
The defenders of Breslau, who resisted Soviet attacks for more than two months, succumbed to enemy superiority in the last hour after a heroic struggle.
On the Southeast and East Fronts, from Fiume to Brno [Bruenn] to the Elbe near Dresden, all the higher military authorities have received the order to cease fire.
A Czech rising is taking place in the whole of Bohemia and Moravia and may threaten the execution of the capitulation conditions as well as communications in that area.
The High Command of the Armed-Forces so far has not received any reports regarding the situation of the army groups Loehr, Rendulic and Schoerner.
Far from home, the defenders of the Atlantic bases, our forces in Norway and garrisons of the Aegean Islands have maintained the military honor of the German soldier in obedience and discipline.
Since midnight all weapons have been silent on all fronts on orders of the Grand Admiral, and the armed forces have ceased the fighting, which has now become hopeless, thus ending a heroic struggle that lasted almost six years. This struggle brought us great victories. But also heavy defeats. In the end the German Wehrmacht succumbed with honor to enormous superiority.
Loyal to his oath, the German soldier's performance in a supreme effort for his people can never be forgotten. Up to the last moment the homeland had supported him with all its strength in an effort entailing the heaviest sacrifices. The unique performance of the front and homeland will find a final appraisal in the later, just judgment of history.
The enemy, too, will not deny his tribute of respect to the performance and sacrifices of German soldiers on land, at sea and in the air. Every soldier, therefore, may lay aside his weapon proud and erect and set to work in these gravest hours of our history with courage and confidence to safeguard the undying life of our people.
In this grave hour the Wehrmacht remembers its comrades who have died in battle. The dead impose upon us an obligation of unconditional loyalty, obedience and discipline toward the Fatherland, which is bleeding from countless wounds.
(There followed three minutes of silence).
The German radio has transmitted the last High Command communiqué of this war. We close our news bulletin with an official announcement as follows:
"It is officially announced that effective May 9, 1945, blackout regulations are lifted. Effective also from today the ban on listening to foreign stations has been lifted."
An often missed oddity of this period is that while Germany had surrendered, it's government was still functioning. The Flensburg Government still had a military command, in spite of the surrender, and in some areas it had troops under arms.
Indeed, in spite of the surrender, German forces of German Army Group Ostmark (Lohr) continued to resist in Croatia and to the north.
Stalin congratulated the Red Army. This is regarded by the Russians as VE Day.
Comrades! Men and women compatriots!
The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has acknowledged herself defeated and declared unconditional surrender.
On May 7 the preliminary protocol on surrender was signed in the city of Rheims. On May 8 representatives of the German High Command, in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied troops and the Supreme Command of the Soviet Troops, signed in Berlin the final act of surrender, the execution of which began at 24.00 hours on May 8.
Being aware of the wolfish habits of the German ringleaders, who regard treaties and agreements as empty scraps of paper, we have no reason to trust their words. However, this morning, in pursuance of the act of surrender, the German troops began to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops en masse. This is no longer an empty scrap of paper. This is actual surrender of Germany’s armed forces. True, one group of German troops in the area of Czechoslovakia is still evading surrender. But I trust that the Red Army will be able to bring it to its senses.
Now we can state with full justification that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of the great victory of our people over German imperialism has come.
The great sacrifices we made in the name of the freedom and independence of our Motherland, the incalculable privations and sufferings experienced by our people in the course of the war, the intense work in the rear and at the front, placed on the altar of the Motherland, have not been in vain, and have been crowned by complete victory over the enemy. The age-long struggle of the Slav peoples for their existence and their independence has ended in victory over the German invaders and German tyranny.
Henceforth the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace among peoples will fly over Europe.
Three years ago Hitler declared for all to hear that his aims included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the wresting from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands and other areas. He declared bluntly: “We will destroy Russia so that she will never be able to rise again.” This was three years ago. However, Hitler’s crazy ideas were not fated to come true—the progress of the war scattered them to the winds. In actual fact the direct opposite of the Hitlerites’ ravings has taken place. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is celebrating Victory, although it does not intend either to dismember or to destroy Germany.
Comrades! The Great Patriotic War has ended in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe is over. The period of peaceful development has begun.
I congratulate you upon victory, my dear men and women compatriots!
Glory to our heroic Red Army, which upheld the independence of our Motherland and won victory over the enemy!
Glory to our great people, the people victorious!
Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!
The Battle for Czech Radio in Prague ended in Czech victory.
General Alexander Löhr, Commander of German Army Group E near Topolšica, Slovenia, signed the capitulation of German occupation troops in that region.
British forces took the surrender of troops occupying Jersey and Guernsey.
The Stuffhof concentration camp was liberated. It had been the first to be established outside of Germany's borders and was the last one liberated.
Vidkun Quisling and other members of his regime in Norway surrendered to the Resistance (Milorg) and police at Møllergata 19 in Oslo.
The British began Operation Doomsday with the British 1st Airborne Division landing in Norway to act as a police and military force.
Walter Frank, 40, German Nazi historian, committed suicide.
The US 145th Infantry Regiment captured Mount Binicayan on Luzon.
Marines captured Height 60 on Okinawa.
The British 82nd West African Division occupied Sandoway, Burma.
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Labels: 1940s, 1945, Algeria, Germany, Harry S. Truman, Hermann Göring, Joseph Stalin, Massacre in Trhová Kamenice, The Sétif and Guelma massacre, Victory in Europe Day, War Crimes, Winston Churchill, World War Two
