The Wilmington morning star., 1945-05-03
GERMANS SWEPT
OUT OF ITALY
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- = = 49, =
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Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexan-
der, Allied commander in chief in
the Mediterranean, tomorrow
Field Marshal Alexander in an
order of the day to Allied troops
said that to-day you stand as vic
tors of the Italian campaign. You
have wen a victory which has enc
e d in the complete and utter route
of all land, sea and air forces to
Mediterranean"
The following terms were i'm
posed:
l. Unconditional surrender by
Gen. Won Vietinghoff's command
of all land, sea andai r forces to
Field Marshal Alexander.
2. Cessation of all hostilities on
land, sea and in the air by enc
my forces at IL noon g a. M, east
ern war time).
3. Immediate immobilization and
disarmament Of enemy forces.
4. Obligation on the part Of the
German commander in chief to
carry out any further orders issued
by Field Marshal Alexander.
5. Disobedience Of the orders or
failure to comply with them will
be dealt with in accordance with
the accepted laws and usages of
war.
The instrument of surrender
stipulates that it is independent of,
without prejudice to, and will be
superseded by any general instru-
ment of surrender imposed by or
on behalf of the United Nations
and applicable to Germany and
the German armed forces as a
whole, the Allied announcement
stated.
The surrender documents were
signed in duplicate in English and
German in the immense royal pal
ace at Casterta by two German
representatives and 1t. Gen. w. D.
Morgan, chief of staff at Allied
headquarters.
The current offensive then was
launched, beating the nazis to their
knees and obliging them to accept
the Allied terms.
The surrender documents were
signed in a Is by 10 foot room on
the second floor of the eighteenth
century Italian renaissance palace.
On the plain walls were hung two
staff maps, one of northern Italy
and the other of Russian-held vi
emma.
Marshal Alexander, who had
used the room for many months
as his map room, was in the
palace at the time but did not
meet the German elnissaries.
Allied headquarters said tonight
that every efforts was being made
to get word of German surrender
to all Allied and enemy troops.
Radio stations of Italy blared the
news in many languages.
Stars and Stripes rushed early
editions off the presses and start
ed them nortnWard to the Fifth
Army.
Just how many Nazi soldiers
Won Vietinghoff might bring down
from the Alps with him was a
subject on which no official would
hazard guess.
II Prior to the announcement of
the surrender Allied headquarters
had reported that the spring Of
fensive already had bagged more
than 100000 German prisoners.
/ In a message to the troops after
the announcement of the surrend-
er, Gen. Mark w. Clark declar-
ed:
Yours has been a long, hard
fight-tne longest in the war of
any Allied troops fighting on the
continent of Europe. You men of
the Fifth and Eighth Armies
have brought that fight to sue
cessful conclusion by your brilliant
offensive operations which shat
tered the German forces oppos-
ing you. Their surrender was the
inevitable course left open to
them. They had nothing more to
fight with in Italy,.
You have demonstrated some
thing new and remarkable in tine
annals of organized warfare. You
have shown that huge fighting
force, composed of units from
many countries with diverse
languages and customs inspired
as you always have been with
devotion to the cause of freedom
can become an effective, harmoni-
Gus fighting team
The war is not over. The Ger
man military machine has been
completely crushed by the SPLEEN
did campaigns waged by you and
colleagues of the Western
Russian fronts. There re-
the all important task of
ng a similar defeat on our