Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-05-08
TRUMAN PR0CL AIMS We DAY:
CALLS FOR JAP SURRENDER
Complexion
Tells How Nazis.
Refused 10 Fight
Lost Struw in Fall
Of Germany Barred
At Rheims Ceremony

The following dispatch from
Rheims supplements yesterdays
by Edt0drd Kennedy Which gnpe
the first account of the German
surrender. 1t is believed it is
based on Mr.. Kennedy's original
dispatch, OF Which only about 300
aDords 10ere received before COM
ntunicatiortS tDere broken. A
Rheims dispatch today said II
correspondents, including Mr..
Kennedy, Dere present at the
surrender ceremony.
BY the Associated Press.
RHEIMS, France, May Z de-
layed by Censor. THE last straw
in German resistance came when
commanders could not get Ger
man soldiers to fight, it was dis
closed by the German delegates
who came to Gen. Eisenhower
advance headquarters at Rheims
early today to sign the instru-
ment of surrender.
The negotiations on the Allied
side were headed by 1t. Gen. WAL
ter Beden Smith, Gen. Eisenhower's
chief of staff, and on the German
side by Gen. Gustav Jodl, chief Of
staff to the German Army.
The supreme commander himself
did not see the German delegates
until the surrender ceremony was
completed.
German Speaks Softly.
After he had signed the four In
struments of surrender and after
the military Representatives of the
four powers had signed them, Jodl
asked for permission to speak.
He was told he might.
He held himself stif1y erect, con-
forming to the traditions of Prus-
sian military correctness. His voice
was low and soft, and he said:
With this signature, the German
people and armed forces are, for
better or worse, delivered into the
victors' hands.
In this war which has lasted more
than five years, both have achieved
and suffered more than perhaps any
other people in the world. In this
hour, I can only express the hope
that the victor will treat generously
with them"
His face was expressionless and
so were the faces of the American,
British. Russian and French gen.
erals who represented the Allies.
All had seen German murder
camps and all knew the furious
cruelty of German occupying forces.
Taken to Meet Eisenhower.
Jodl finished speaking and sat
down. The sound of his voice was
quickly absorbed by the beaverboard
covering the rooms walls.
A moment passed in dead silence
and then the German representa-
tives were taken down the hall to
meet Gen. Eisenhower.
Eisenhower and his deputy, Air
Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder.
were waiting. They stood behind
Eisenhower's small desk.
Jodl entered first, followed by
Gen. Admiral Hans Georg Friede-
burg and then by Col. Pollock, sup
ply expert.
Pollock glanced once at the Allied
officers and then studied the floor.
Friedeburg looked out the windows.
Only Jodl, his bald head cleaning
beneath naked electric light bulbs,
looked the American and British
commanders in the face.
Again there was a moment Of
heavy silence.
Eisenhower Cold and Stern.
Then Eisenhower spoke. He was
brief and terse as always.
His voice was cold and stern. His
steel blue eyes were hard.
In few clipped sentences he
made it plain that Germany was a
defeated nation and that hence
forth orders to the German people
Continued on Page AS, Column y