The War Illustrated, Volume 9, No. 207, Page 45, May 25, 1945.

With bated breath the civilised world awaited the final dissolution of the Third Reich, which Hitler had boasted was to endure 1,000 years. One by one, day by day, the ignoble figureheads in this tragedy of a nation passed from the limelight. To the inexorable demand of Unconditional Surrender the Realm of Germany drew violently to its close.

April 24, 1945 - The rot sets in. The Reich is crumbling. At his own request Himmler, chief of the S.S. and C.- in C. the Home Army meets Count Folke Bernadotte of the International Red Cross, at the Baltic port of Lubeck, and expresses the wish to meet General Eisenhower, to surrender the whole Western Front. He admits that Germany is finished, and that Hitler is so ill that he might already be dead-in any case cannot live more than two days. Gen. Schillenburg, Hitler’s confidential staff officer, declares the Fuhrer is suffering from brain haemorrhage but does not indicate his whereabouts.

Mr. Herschel Johnson, the American Minister to Sweden, and Sir Victor Mallet, the British Minister, are summoned by M. Gunther, the Swedish Foreign Minister, and informed of Himmler’s overtures.

April 25 - President Truman and Mr. Churchill discuss the offer and agree to notify Marshal Stalin that it is proposed to reject it and tell Himmler that the only acceptable one will be unconditional surrender to Britain, the U.S.A. and Russia. Meanwhile, the Russians complete the encirclement of Berlin.

April 26 - Marshal Stalin’s reply received by Mr. Grew, U.S. Acting Secretary of State, thanks President Truman for the information and agrees to the proposed message. The President telegraphs the reply to the American Legation in Stockholm: insisting on unconditional surrender to all three Governments on all fronts that the German forces should surrender to local commanders in the field, and where resistance continued the Allied Armies would press the attack. On this date, Russian and U.S. forces linked up on the Elbe.

April 27 - The U.S. Minister reports Count Bernadotte has left for Flensburg, on the German-Danish Frontier, to take the message to Himmler. At night it is reported from Stockholm that the Count has returned there but no reply has been received from Himmler-who is heard of no more in connection with these negotiations.

April 28 - In London a statement, drawn up by Mr. Churchill, comes from 10, Downing Street: "… At a time like this all kinds of proposals for German surrender from various parts of the German Reich are rife as these are in harmony with the enemy’s desperate situation. His Majesty’s Government have no information to give about any of them at this moment. But it must be emphasized that only unconditional surrender to the three major Powers will be entertained." Mussolini and members of the Fascist Cabinet are executed by Italian partisans at Lake Como.

April 29 - German Armies in N. Italy and W. Austria capitulate; hostilities to cease on May 2. Hitler is reported dead in a suicide pact with Goebbels.

April 30 - Russians capture ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin. Marshal Stalin, in an Order of the Day, says, "Seeking a way out of their hopeless plight, the Hitlerite adventurers resort to all kinds of tricks, down to flirting with the Allies in an effort to cause dissension in the Allied Camp. These fresh tricks are doomed to utter failure. They can only accelerate the disintegration of the German army."

May 1 - Count Bernadotte, expected in Stockholm today, had contact on April 29 (reports the London Times) with one of Himmler’s representatives. "It is generally believed that if Himmler gave the order to lay down arms he would be obeyed by what remains of the Wehrmacht and the party formations of which he is head."

Hitler’s death in Berlin is announced by Hamburg radio at 22.20hrs-"It is reported from the Fuhrer’s HQ that our Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, has fallen this afternoon at his command post in the Reich Chancellery, fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany."

Admiral Donitz goes to the microphone: "German men and women, soldiers of the Wehrmacht! Our Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, has fallen…The Fuhrer has appointed me as his successor. Fully conscious of the responsibility, I take over the leadership of the German people at this fateful hour. It is my task to save the and it is only to achieve this that the fight continues. As long as the British and Americans hamper us from reaching this end we shall fight and defend ourselves against them as well…" An Order of the Day by Admiral Donitz is then read: "The Fuhrer…died the death of a hero." Our 8th Army makes contact with Tito’s Yugoslavs west of Trieste.

May 2 - Gen. Eisenhower explodes the "death of a hero" fantasy. From the H.Q. of the Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force comes the refutation, "Admiral Donitz’s statement that Hitler met a hero’s death is in contradiction with the facts given by Himmler and Gen. Schillenburg…nothing which either Admiral Donitz or Himmler may say or do can change in any way the agreed operations of the Allied Armies."

"Berlin has fallen!" is announced from Moscow the remnants of the defeated garrison surrendering to the Red Army at 14.00hrs British double summer time, after a battle which has lasted little more than a fortnight.

In Italy, at the same hour, nearly 1,000,000 men, comprising all enemy land, sea and air forces commanded by Gen. Vietinghof-Scheel , cease fighting. This surrender of the whole of the German Armies in Italy and parts of Austria to Field-Marshal Alexander is the first made unconditionally in this war. The Baltic ports of Lubeck and Wismar fall to the British, Rostock and Warnemunde to the Russians.

May 3 - The enemy collapses in Northern Germany and is surrendering in thousands. Hamburg is being occupied by the British 2nd Army.

May 4 - Field Marshal Montgomery accepts surrender of German forces in Holland, North-West Germany and Denmark, including Heligoland and the Frisian Islands-"a battlefield surrender involving the forces now facing the 21st Army Group on their northern and western flanks." This is announced from Supreme H.Q. at 20.15hrs, six weeks from the British crossing of the Rhine. The German plenipotentiaries who have arrived at Montgomery’s camp at Luneburg Heath, south of Hamburg, to surrender include Admiral Von Friedeburg, C. in C. of the German Navy, who succeeded Admiral Donitz in that post when Donitz became the new Fuhrer, Gen. Dietel, and Rear Admiral Wagner.

May 5 - Demoralization and disintegration of the enemy on the west front continues: on the south flank the German 1st and 19th Armies surrender to Gen. Devers.

May 6 - Admiral Donitz, presumed to have fled to Norway, broadcast to all German ships, "Crews of all ships flying the flag of the German Merchant Navy or the State service flag are to abstain from any act of war in the ports and waters affected by the truce. They are forbidden either to scuttle the ships themselves or to render them unserviceable. The crews will remain on board ship."

May 7 - The war in Europe is over. After five years and eight months "complete and crushing victory" has, in the words of H.M. The King, crowned Britain’s unrelenting struggle against Nazi Germany. Germany has surrendered unconditionally to Great Britain, the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., at 02.41hrs in the tech college at Rheims, where Gen. Eisenhower has his H.Q. Gen. Bedell Smith, Gen. Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff, signed for the Supreme Allied Command; Gen. Ivan Susloparov for U.S.S.R.; Gen. Francois Sevez for France. Acting jointly on behalf of Admiral Donitz as head of the Reich, the German delegates were Adml. Hans George Von Friedburg, C .in C. the German Navy, and Col. Gen. Gustav Jodl, Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht. Signing for Germany, Jodl said, "With this signature the German people and armed forces are, for better or worse, delivered into the victors’ hands."

May 8 - This is V.E.Day, together with tomorrow a national holiday. Tremendous scenes of rejoicing in London begin in the afternoon with the Prime Minister’s announcement of the end of hostilities.

May 9 - Germans have signed capitulation in Berlin, Moscow radio announces shortly after 01.00hrs (B.D.S.T.) It states, "The German High Command will immediately issue orders to all forces on sea, land and air under the German High Command to cease military operations after 23.01hrs (Moscow time)." The announcement added that the capitulation was signed by Field Marshal Keitel, commanding all the German armed forces, Adml. Von Freideburg, and Gen. Stump, commanding the Luftwaffe, in the presence of Marshal Zhukov, commanding the Russian forces in the field, and Air Chief Marshal Tedder, Allied Deputy Supreme C. in C.

The Prime Minister's historic peace message

Extracts from the historic speech Mr. Churchill made to the world before the microphone, at 3 p.m. on May 8, 1945, and later repeated in the House of Commons:

Yesterday morning, at 2.41 a.m., at General Eisenhower's headquarters, General Jodl, the representative of the German High Command and of Grand-Admiral Dönitz, the designated head of the German State, signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force, and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command... Today, this agreement will be ratified and confirmed at Berlin...

Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight (Tuesday, May 8), 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...

We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing, but let us not forget for a moment the toils and efforts that lie ahead. Japan, with all her treachery and greed, remains unsubdued. The injury she has inflicted upon Great Britain, the United States and other countries, and her detestable cruelties, call for justice and retribution.

We must now devote all our strength and resources to the completion of our tasks both at home and abroad. Advance Britannia! Long live the cause of freedom! God save the King!