Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-05-03
Two Nazi Emissaries
Surrender MiI|ionM Men
lin 10-Minute Session
By HERBERT G. KING,

/ 1,OOU,0OO German soldiers were sur
rendered to the Allies in 10-minute
ceremony here Sunday.
The surrender, which was nego-
tiated by two German officers rep
resenting their commanders, Col.
Gen. Heinrich Won Vietinghoff-
Scheel and Gen. Karl Wolff, affects
the two German armies in the whole
of Northern Italy and Western
Austria
On the Allied side the negotia-
tons were carried out by British
1t. Gen. w. D. Morgan. chief of staff
at Allied headquarters who repre-
sented Field Marshal Sir Harold
Alexander, Allied commander in
chief in the Mediterranean. AL
though he was in the building. Mar
shall Alexander did not meet the
Germans.
Representing the American press.
l witnessed the surrender which took
place at 1915 am. EWT, Sunday,
after several days of secret nego-
tiations while racing American and
British tanks and sky armadas were
blasting the heart out of the Ger
mans north of the Pc River.
First Conditions Unacceptable.
The Germans had already init
mated their willingness to come to
some sort of agreement more than
month ago, but the conditions
were not acceptable to the Allies.
who went ahead and launched their
offensive to beat the Nazis to their
knees and oblige them to accept
our terms.
The secret negotiations had been
/. lengthy because of the difficulty of
transporting the two German repre-
sentatives back and forth between
Caserta and their Northern Italian
headquarters by special plane.
1t took the Germans only II min
utes to publicly admit defeat Sun
day in room on the second floor
of this 18th century Italian Rem
Nuisance palace. On the plain
walls, painfully white in the glare
of q battery of eight movie lights,
hung two staff maps c. Northern
Italy, where the death blow had
peen dealt.
The room, which had been used
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.
Americans and Russians.
/ A door opened at the south end
I of the room and the British, Amer
lean and Russian officers who were
to witness the signatures filed in
quickly, followed by Gen. Morgan,
who was to sign for Marshal AL
exander.
There were the Americans. Brig.
Gen. w. c. Mcmahon, assistant
chief of staff of the 18th Army
Group. representing Gen. Mark w
Clark; Rear Admiral S. S. Lewis,
chief of staff of United States naval
forces In the Mediterranean; Maj
Gen, c. c. Chauncey, chief of staff
Of the MAAF: Maj Gen. Daniel
Noce, assistant chief of staff of
plans and operations; Maj Gen.
L. L. Lemnitzer, deputy chief of
staff at AFHQ, and Brig Gen.
Arthur j. McChrystal, chief of the
/ information, news and censorship
section of AFHQ.
/ The Russians were Maj. Gen.
A. P. Kislenko, Soviet representa-
tive to the Allied Commission in
Italy and his aide, 1t. NJ Vraevsky.
/ For the British there were Rear
| Admiral H. A. Packer, chief of staff
to Admiral 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 MAAF: Mai. Gen. T. S
Alrey, assistant chief of staff of
intelligence at AFHQ; 1t, Gen. Sir
Brian Robertson, chief administra-
tive officer at AFHQ; 1t. Col. w. A.
Cunningham, military assistant to
Alexander, and Col. j. E. Bastion,
junior secretary to Marshal Alex
ander.
Nazis in Civilian Clothes.
At 1908 E. w. T. the door at the
north end of the room opened and
in strobe the athletic looking 6-foot
typical Junker representing Won
Vietinghoff and his short, stocky
companion. Both were in civilian
clothes-sports jackets, flannel trou-
sers and brown shoes.
They evidently were surprised by
the lights and the cameramen, and
Of oft to-
patient gesture to motion the cam
eramen away as they advanced to
get close-ups: but the gesture died
halfway as he remembered his role
no longer was to command but to
accept.
With eyes red from lack of sleep
and his jaw muscles twitching, the
calmer comrade waiting for Gen.
Morgan, a white haired, red-faced
Welshman, to open the proceedings.
In calm, clipped voice, Gen.
Morgan said: Il understand you are
prepared and empowered to sign the
terms of surrender agreement. Is
that correct?"
|
His companion waited for the trans
lator to tell him what Gen. Morgan
had said and then answered ia
wohl" (Yes, indeed.
Nazi Qualities Acceptance.
Gen. Morgan then said: Il have
been empowered to sign this agree
ment on behalf of the supreme COM
mander, the terms to take effect by
II noon, May 2, Greenwich mean
time g a m. E.W.TD. 1 now ask you
to sign, and shall sign after you"
At this point the Prussian, pos
sibly in a move to cover" himself,
interjected in German:
May repeat before signing the
point I made during the negotia-
tons, namely, that I personally am
going somewhat beyond my powers,
but I assume that my commander
in chief, Won Vietinghoff, will &C
cept-but I cannot be entirely re-
sponsible."