Evening star., 1945-01-17
Unconditional Surrender

If the Allied leaders propose to
stand behind winston Churchills
insistence that there can be no end
to this war short of unconditional
surrender, it is important to know
the precise meaning of that phrase.
Mr.. Churchill is not of the opinion
that the demand for unconditional
surrender is prolonging the war.
But in any event, he says, the war
will be prolonged until uncondi-
tional surrender has been obtained.
In other words, as the British Prime
Minister puts it, there is valid rea-
son for insisting on unconditional
surrender, even though that may in
volve a longer war and greater loss
of life on the part of the men who
must fight the war. But II that Is
the case, If Mr.. Churchill's position
is final, the fighting men and their
families certainly have a right to
know what the Allied leaders mean
when they speak of unconditional
surrender.
Mr.. Churchill implied that the
choice lay exclusively between in
sistence on unconditional surrender
and an attempt by the Allies to
make peace by negotiation. That,
however, is not the case. II the
Germans were to surrender uncon-
ditionally they would have to lay
down their arms and agree, without
equivocation, to accept whatever
terms the victors might impose. In
theory, at least, an authorized rep
resentative of the German Army,
desiring to give up the fight, would
not be permitted to see and consider
surrender terms The enemy would
be required to surrender first, and
then accept any terms which might
be imposed. .
Few wars in modern times have
ended that way. France, with her
armies captured, her capital occu-
pied and her king a prisoner, sur
rendered Internationally to the
Prussians in 1871. But in most, If
not all, of the other consequential
wars of the past century, the sur
render OF the defeated belligerent
has been to some extent conditional.
In 1918, for instance, the Germans
first asked for peace terms on the
basis Of President Wilson's fourteen
points. The Germans were excluded
from the peace negotiations at Paris,
and, after the Allies had arranged
terms, the enemy was invited to send
delegates to receive the treaty as
drafted. The Germans were not
allowed to discuss the terms in per-
son, but they objected lengthily and
strenuously in writing, with the
result that the terms were modified
in some particulars.
1t has been said that the present
war is traceable in part to the failure
in 1918 to insist literally on ,uncon-
ditional surrender. But that is q
very dubious assumption. There is
reason to believe, however, that the
German people, with their armies
still fighting far from Berlin, were
not suficiently impressed with the
fact that they actually were beaten
in 1913 That mistake should not,
and probably will not, be repeated
this time. Our legitimate objective,
as the President more recently has
expressed it, is to prosecute the war
to complete victory-a victory 50
decisive that no German in the
future can ever doubt the fact of
defeat. II that can be done short
of literal unconditional surrender,
as is quite likely, the chances are
that neither Mr.. Churchill, on second
thought, nor any other Allied leader
would want to prolong the war
merely for the sake of an inspira-