On May 8, 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karshorst, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany and its armed forces was signed.

The act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed twice. On behalf of Dönitz, Hitler's successor after his supposed death, Jodl invited the Allies to accept Germany's surrender and organize the signing of the corresponding act on May 10. Eisenhower refused to even discuss the delay and gave Jodl half an hour to decide on the immediate signing of the act, threatening that otherwise the Allies would continue to launch massive attacks on German troops. The German representatives had no choice, and after agreement with Dönitz, Jodl agreed to sign the act.

On the part of the command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, the act was to be witnessed by General Beddel Smith. Eisenhower offered to witness the act from the Soviet side to Major General I.A. Susloparov, a former representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters at the Allied command. Susloparov, as soon as he learned about the preparation of the act for signing, reported this to Moscow and handed over the text of the prepared document, requesting instructions on the procedure.

By the time the signing of the act of surrender began (preliminarily scheduled for 2 hours 30 minutes), there was no response from Moscow. The situation was such that the act might not have had the signature of the Soviet representative at all, so Susloparov ensured that a note was included in it about the possibility, at the request of one of the allied states, of a new signing of the act if there were objective reasons for this. Only after this did he agree to put his signature on the act, although he understood that he was extremely at risk.

The act of surrender of Germany was signed on May 7 at 2 hours 40 minutes Central European time. The act stipulated that unconditional surrender would take effect from 11 p.m. on May 8. After this, a belated ban on Susloparov from participating in the signing of the act came from Moscow. The Soviet side insisted on signing the act in Berlin with a significant increase in the level of persons who would sign the act and bear witness to it with their signatures. Stalin instructed Marshal Zhukov to organize a new signing of the act.

Fortunately, a note that was included at the request of Susloparov in the signed document allowed this to be done. Sometimes the second signing of an act is called the ratification of what was signed the day before. There are legal grounds for this, since on May 7 G.K. Zhukov received official instructions from Moscow: “The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command authorizes you to ratify the protocol on the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces.”

Stalin got involved in resolving the issue of signing the act again, but at a higher level, turning to Churchill and Truman: “The agreement signed in Reims cannot be canceled, but it cannot be recognized either. Surrender must be carried out as the most important historical act and accepted not on the territory of the victors, but where the fascist aggression came from, in Berlin, and not unilaterally, but necessarily by the high command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition.”

As a result, the United States and England agreed to re-sign the act, and the document signed in Reims to be considered the “Preliminary Protocol on the Surrender of Germany.” At the same time, Churchill and Truman refused to postpone the announcement of the signing of the act for a day, as Stalin requested, citing that there were still heavy battles on the Soviet-German front, and it was necessary to wait until the surrender came into force, that is, until 23:00 on May 8 . In England and the United States, the signing of the act and the surrender of Germany to the Western allies was officially announced on May 8; Churchill and Truman did this personally, addressing the people on the radio. In the USSR, the text of their appeals was published in newspapers, but for obvious reasons only on May 10.

It is curious that Churchill, knowing that the end of the war would be declared in the USSR after the signing of a new act, said in his radio address: “Today we will probably think mainly about ourselves. Tomorrow we will give special praise to our Russian comrades, whose valor on the battlefield was one of the great contributions to the overall victory."

Opening the ceremony, Marshal Zhukov addressed the audience, declaring: “We, the representatives of the Supreme High Command of the Soviet Armed Forces and the High Command of the Allied Forces... are authorized by the governments of the anti-Hitler coalition to accept the unconditional surrender of Germany from the German military command.” After this, representatives of the German command entered the hall, presenting a document of authority signed by Dönitz.

The signing of the act ended at 22:43 Central European time. In Moscow it was already May 9 (0 hours 43 minutes). On the German side, the act was signed by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces, Field Marshal General Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel, the Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff, Air Force Colonel General Hans Jürgen Stumpf, and General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, who became the Commander-in-Chief of the German Fleet after the appointment of Dönitz as Reich President of Germany. The unconditional surrender was accepted by Marshal Zhukov (from the Soviet side) and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, Marshal Tedder (English: Arthur William Tedder) (Great Britain).

General Carl Spaatz (USA) and General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (France) put their signatures as witnesses. By agreement between the governments of the USSR, USA and Great Britain, an agreement was reached to consider the procedure in Reims preliminary. However, in Western historiography, the signing of the surrender of the German armed forces is usually associated with the procedure in Reims, and the signing of the act of surrender in Berlin is called its “ratification.”

Soon, the solemn voice of Yuri Levitan sounded from radios across the country: “On May 8, 1945, in Berlin, representatives of the German High Command signed an act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces. The Great Patriotic War, waged by the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders, has been victoriously completed.

Germany is completely destroyed. Comrades, Red Army soldiers, Red Navy men, sergeants, foremen, army and navy officers, generals, admirals and marshals, I congratulate you on the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War. Eternal glory to the heroes who died in battles for the freedom and independence of our Motherland!”

By order of I. Stalin, a grandiose salute of a thousand guns was given on this day in Moscow. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in commemoration of the victorious completion of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders and the historical victories of the Red Army, May 9 was declared Victory Day.

On May 8, 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst at 22:43 Central European time (May 9 at 0:43 Moscow time), the final Act of unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and its armed forces was signed. But historically, the Berlin act of surrender was not the first.

When Soviet troops surrounded Berlin, the military leadership of the Third Reich was faced with the question of preserving the remnants of Germany. This was possible only by avoiding unconditional surrender. Then it was decided to capitulate only to the Anglo-American troops, but to continue military operations against the Red Army.

The Germans sent representatives to the Allies to formally confirm the surrender. On the night of May 7, in the French city of Reims, the act of surrender of Germany was concluded, according to which, from 11 p.m. on May 8, hostilities ceased on all fronts. The protocol stipulated that it was not a comprehensive agreement on the surrender of Germany and its armed forces.

However, the Soviet Union put forward a demand for unconditional surrender as the only condition for ending the war. Stalin considered the signing of the act in Reims only a preliminary protocol and was dissatisfied that the act of Germany’s surrender was signed in France, and not in the capital of the aggressor state. Moreover, the fighting on the Soviet-German front was still ongoing.

At the insistence of the leadership of the USSR, representatives of the Allies reconvened in Berlin and, together with the Soviet side, signed another Act of Surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945. The parties agreed that the first act will be called preliminary, and the second - final.

The final Act of unconditional surrender of Germany and its armed forces was signed on behalf of the German Wehrmacht by Field Marshal W. Keitel, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Admiral Von Friedeburg, and Colonel General of Aviation G. Stumpf. The USSR was represented by the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union G. Zhukov, and the allies were represented by the British Air Chief Marshal A. Tedder. U.S. Army General Spaatz and French Army Commander-in-Chief General Tassigny were present as witnesses.

The ceremonial signing of the act took place under the chairmanship of Marshal Zhukov, and the signing ceremony itself took place in the building of the military engineering school, where a special hall was prepared, decorated with the state flags of the USSR, USA, England and France. At the main table were representatives of the Allied powers. The Soviet generals whose troops took Berlin, as well as journalists from many countries, were present in the hall.

After the unconditional surrender of Germany, the Wehrmacht government was dissolved, and German troops on the Soviet-German front began to lay down their arms. In total, from May 9 to May 17, the Red Army captured about 1.5 million enemy soldiers and officers and 101 generals based on the act of surrender. Thus ended the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people.

In the USSR, the surrender of Germany was announced on the night of May 9, 1945, and by order of I. Stalin, a grandiose salute of a thousand guns was given in Moscow on that day. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in commemoration of the victorious completion of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders and the historical victories of the Red Army, May 9 was declared Victory Day.

Reims. The city where French monarchs were crowned. Gothic famous cathedral. And the famous drink of the Champagne region. In the middle of the 20th century, Reims was chosen to draw a line under a terrible world tragedy. On May 7, 1945, at 2:41 a.m., the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed here. From the USSR it was signed by General Ivan Susloparov, from the Anglo-American allies by General Walter Bedell Smith and General Francois Sevez from France. From Germany - Admiral Friedeburg and General Jodl.

It is a well-known fact that Joseph Stalin was outraged by this move by the Allies. Here is what Georgy Zhukov writes about this in his memoirs:

“On May 7, J.V. Stalin called me in Berlin and said: “Today in the city of Reims the Germans signed an act of unconditional surrender. “The Soviet people, not the allies, bore the main burden of the war on their shoulders, so the surrender must be signed before the Supreme Command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, and not just before the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces.”

Stalin writes to US President Harry Truman:

“I have received your message of May 7 regarding the announcement of the surrender of Germany. The Supreme Command of the Red Army is not confident that the order of the German command on unconditional surrender will be carried out by German troops on the eastern front. Therefore, we fear that, if the government of the USSR announces surrender today Germany, we will find ourselves in an awkward position and mislead the public opinion of the Soviet Union. It must be borne in mind that the resistance of the German troops on the eastern front is not weakening, and, judging by radio interceptions, a significant group of German troops directly declares their intention to continue resistance and not submit order... for surrender."

The persistence of the Soviet Union will be crowned with success: the unconditional surrender of Germany will be accepted in Berlin by the Supreme Command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. This document marked the complete military defeat of Hitler's army. But this will only be on May 8th. And on the evening of May 6 in Reims, in the red college building where General Eisenhower's headquarters was located, events unfolded at rapid speed. General Semyon Shtemenko describes the events of these hours in his memoirs “The General Staff during the War Years”:

“On the evening of May 6, D. Eisenhower’s adjutant flew to the head of the Soviet military mission, General Susloparov. He conveyed the commander-in-chief’s invitation to urgently come to his headquarters. D. Eisenhower received I. A. Susloparov at his residence. Smiling, he said that Hitler’s General Jodl had arrived with a proposal to capitulate to the Anglo-American troops and fight against the USSR. “What do you, Mr. General, say to this?” asked D. Eisenhower. I. A. Susloparov also smiled. This means that the end of the war against Germany was approaching, although it was winding enemy in order to confuse the allies. Susloparov also knew that the German general (Admiral General) Friedeburg had been sitting on the headquarters of the commander-in-chief for several days, who, however, was unable to persuade D. Eisenhower to a separate agreement. The head of the Soviet military mission answered the head Anglo-American command that there are obligations jointly accepted by the members of the anti-Hitler coalition regarding the unconditional surrender of the enemy on all fronts, including, of course, on the eastern."