The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-05-03

by Marshal Alexander as his map
room for many months, was fur
nished with only one long table and
two chairs. Two worn carpets were
on the pink and white marble floor.
A door opened at the south end
OF the room and the British, Amer
lean and Russian officers who were
to witness the signatures filed in
quickly, followed by Morgan, who
was to sign for Alexander.
There were the Americans, Brig.
Gen. W. C. Mcmahon, assistant
chief Of staff of the 18th Army
Group, representing Gen. Mark w.
Clark; Rear Adm. S. S. Lewis.
chief of staff of U. S. Naval forces
in the Mediterranean; Maj. Gen. c.
C. Chauncey, chief Of staff of the
M. A. A. F.; Maj. Gen. Daniel
Noce, assistant chief of staff of
plans and operations; Maj. Gen. L.
L. Lemnitzer, deputy chief of staff
at A. F. H. G., and Brig. Gen.
Arthur j. McChrystal, chief of the
information, news and censorship
section Of A. F. H. 9.
The Russians were Maj. Gen. A.
P. Kislenko, Soviet representative
to the Allied commission in Italy,
and his aide, 1t. NJ Varevsky.
For the British there were Rear
Adm. H. A. Packer, chief OF staff
to Adm. Sir Andrew Cunningham,
commander in chief Of Allied Med
iterranean Naval forces; Air Vice
Marshal G. B. A. Baker, chief of
staff to the deputy air commander
of the M. A. A. F.; Maj. Gen. T.
S. Airey, assistant chief of staff of
intelligence at A. F. H. O.; 1t.
Gen. Sir Brian Robertson, chief ad-
ministrative officer at A. F. H. O.;
1t. Col. w. A. Cunningham, mill
tary assistant to Alexander, and
Col. j. E. Bastion, junior secre-
tary to Alexander.
By. accident, the two Russians
were standing under map of Wen
ma which their. countrymen captur-
ed April 10. Kislenko, in a grey
green tunic, and royal blue trou-
sers with broad scarlet stripe,
stood with folded arms and an i'm
passive face. Their uniforms and
long rows of medals made the only
splash of color in the deathly white
ROOM,
: At 1908 E.W.T the door at the
north end of the room opened and
in strobe the athletic-looking six
foot typical junker representing
Won Vietinghoff and his short
stocky companion. Both were in
civilian clothes -. sports jackets,
flannel trousers and brown shoes.
They evidently were surprised
by the lights and the cameramen,
and one. of them attempted with
an impatient gesture to motion
the cameramen away as they ad'
vanced to get close-ups; but the
gesture died halfway as he remem-
bered his role no longer was to
command, but to accept.
With eyes red from lack of sleep
and his jaw muscles twitching, the
pale, tall Prussian stood with his
c1amer conrade waiting for Gen
Morgan, a white-haired, red-faced
Welshman, to open the proceedings.
In a calm, clipped voice Morgan
said: II understand you are pre-
pared and empowered to sign the
terms of surrender agreement.
Is that correct?'
The tall German said ia. p"
Yes). His companion waited for
the translator to tell him what
Morgan had said and then answer
ed "Jawohl" Eyes indeed.
Morgan then said: Il have been
empowered to- sign this agreement
on behalf of the supreme cornman-
der, the terms to take effect by
IL noon, May 2, Greenwich mean
time 6 am. EWT). now ask you
to sign, and I shall sign after you.
At this point the Prussian, pos
sibly in move to "cover" him.
self, interjected if German;
MAY 1 repeat before signing the
point l made during the negotia-
lions, namely, that I personally am
going somewhat beyond my pow
ers, but I assume that my COM
mander in chief, Won Vietinghoff,
will accept-but I~'cannot be en-
tirely responsible.
After this had been translated,
Morgan, replied: 1T is understood,
Is 1t, not, that these terms, if &C
cepted, enter into force at II noon
May 2? Is this correct?"
In 1923, when the sarcophagus
of the ancient Egyptian king Tu-
= q WI