Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-05-09

Keitei Arrogant to Last.
Keitel, a tall, naughty and gray
haired figure, wearing the full dres.
uniform and red striped pants o.
German field marshal, maintained
his Prussian arrogance to the end
After his signature already hat
been appended to the document ant
while the Allied chiefs were signinj
keitel made a last-minute attemp
to play for time. He beckoned thu
Russian interpreter to him and be.
gan haranguing him, bitterly pro.
testing there was insufficient tim.
to notify the forces under his com.
mand of minor notifications in tn,
capitulation text and asking for an.
other "a hours grace before it be.
came effective.
Il insist you go to the colonel.
general mean Marshal Zhukov-
and tell him I must demand another
"a hours respite" he said.
The interpreter heistated and ap.
peared uncertain what to do anc
finally went and consulted mem.
bers of Marshal Zhukovs staff. A!
no reply was conveyed back tt
Ksitel it appeared that the Rus
si7Ns ignored the request.
Triumph for Zhukov.
For Marshal Zhukov the cere-
mony was the triumphant climax
to a bitter 1,000-mile battle from
the ruins of Stalingrad into the
heart of devastated Berlin.
Marshal Zhukov's headquarters
were established at Karlshorst be-
cause there is not a single building
in the devastation of Central Ber-
lin which could house even a COM
pany headquarters.
Keitel, too, had the final supreme
humiliation of being driven in a
Russian staff car to meet Zhukov
through the blasted shambles OF
Central Berlin, which witnessed the
greatest triumph of his and Hitler
armed forces bare three and a
half years ago.
Tedder, Spaatz and other mem
bers of the supreme Allied head
quarters delegation left Rheims yes
terday morning and touched down
on the airstrip at Stendal near the
Elbe at II am, where a rendezvous
had been made with a Russian
fighter escort and a plane bringing
Keitel and Won Friedeburg from
F1enSburg.
Stumpff, who once commanded
the German air force group in Nor
way and Finland and later had an
important western front command,
rode with Tedder from Rheims. A
party of eight American, British
and French newsmen and broad
casters flew with Tedder.
Keitel's Plane Late.
Keitef's plane was late for the
rendezvous, and it was not until
1920 pm. that all five planes took
off again. Almost Immediately they
were joined by an escort of six Rus
sian Yaks, which few circles around
the slow transports all the way into
Templehof Airport in Berlin.
AS the planes circled slowly over
Berlin preparing to land, the city
underneath looked like an incredible
Wellsian setting. Mile after mile
of gaunt, roof1eSS, Quilted shells of
houses stood silent and skeleton-like
There was no traffic in the streets
except Russian military vehicles.
Over the whole dead capital there
was thick smoke haze and columns
of smoke from buildings still burn
Ing could be seen curling lazily into
the still air over the city.
The supreme Allied headquarters
delegation was met at the airfield
by a guard of honor of a Soviet
guards regiment with flags of the
Soviet Union, United States and
Britain. Cameramen and newsreel-
men swarmed around the delegation.
The day was warm and sunny.
The band played the three national
anthems and a guard of honor in
Russian helmets and carrying long
bayonets fixed on their rifles gave
three hurrahs and staged a formal
parade.
Gift From Eisenhower.
The planes landed at pm. I'M
mediately after the ceremony the
Allied delegation and the newsmen
were whisked off in a cavalcade of
cars through Berlin's devastated
East End.
At 4:30 pm. Tedder, Spaatz and
their staff paid formal call on
Zhukov in his Office, a small, simply
furnished room, with red flag and
maps as the only decorations on the
wall.
In brief informal ceremony,
Tedder presented zhukov with a
silken SHAEF banner sent as a
personal gift by Gen. Eisenhower
and zhukov replied with a brief
speech of thanks.
Zhukov, medium sized and stocky,
with his hair close cropped and
thinning on top, wore a marshal's
full dress uniform and was a digni-
fled soldierly figure throughout. He
spoke only Russian and all the
conversation between him and the
supreme Allied headquarters per-
sonnet had to be interpreted.
Conferences Over Wording.
Keitel and the Germans, mean
while, had been escorted to a nearby
villa to await the capitulation docu-
ment. zhukov asked Tedder to stay
behind and confer alone with him
for few minutes. The two remained
closeted about a half hour while
Tedder gave Zhukov the draft of the
terms embodying GER
tain changes which the Russians
desired. At $50 pm. they came out
and zhukov asked Tedder to give
him until pm. to consider the
exact wording. ~
A long wait then began. At 8 pm.
zhukov and the supreme Allied
experts had not yet
agreed on the final text. At one
point Tedder was called away to
confer again personally with zhu-
kov. 1t was not until shortly before
midnight that the document was
finally completed, typed and pre-
sented to the Germans.
At midnight Zhukov notified the