Documents of German Surrender, 7 May 1945
The unconditional surrender of the German Third Reich was signed in the early morning hours of Monday, 7 May 1945 at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) at Reims in northeastern France. Representatives of the four Allied Powers were there: France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, SHAEF chief of staff, led the Allied delegation as the representative of General Eisenhower, who had refused to meet with the Germans until the surrender had been accomplished. Other American officers present were Maj. Gen. Harold R. Bull and Gen. Carl Spaatz. Three Germany officers had been delegated by German President Karl Doenitz: Gen. Alfred Jodl, who had alone been authorized to sign the surrender document, Maj. Wilhelm Oxenius, an aide to Jodl, and Adm. Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, one of the German chief negotiators. After Jodl signed this document, he signed three other surrender documents, one each for Great Britain, Russia, and France. Another surrender was arranged in Berlin by the Soviets who wanted their own peace agreement. This document has two pages, one shown above. The second page has additional text and the signatures of the parties.
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