SURRENDER EVENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1945, Page 5

SURRENDER EVENTS

LIBERATION OF NORWAY

SCENES OF ENTHUSIASM

CHANNEL ISLANDS FREE AGAIN

(Rec. 12.5 P-'n.) WNDON , . May 10 .

All the German forces m Norway have capitulated. In the Oslo district the Germans are confined to barracks. In other districts they have to leave by midnight on Fnd£l A 8.8. C. broadcast warned the Germans in the name of General Eisenhower that they would be held responsible for any harm coming to Norwegians. ± “Norway, on Tuesday, accepted as its liberators, a single Dakota-load of British officers,” states the Daily Mail’s” Oslo correspondent. “An air commodore, two other R.A.F. officers, three Danes, four war correspondents, two photographers took otf from Copenhagen on a trip which started in pure' fantasy. For the first 20 miles over Norway, we saw no flags. It looked sinister but as we circled Oslo, we saw sunny streets brilliant with flags, thronged with people, while outside the Royal Palace, there was a forest of hands waving to us. “We came down beiore the airport buildings. Half frozen German airmen stood rooted. Some Norwegian workers raised a doubtful puzzled cheer then lapsed into silence. A flustered member of the Luftwaffe sent for a corporal, who summoned a sergeant, who went higher up until a colonel' appeared. He said he felt there had been a slight mistake. He had not expected the surrender to occur like this A general would be here in a minute. The general was a fussy little man smothered with medals. After successful effort to shake hands he said he would have to ask the High Command at Lillehammer what to do. The High Command replied by telephone, we could give our own orders. We ordered three staff cars and .started off for Oslo with the Nazis at the Wheel. a rue “The streets en route, were lull of German troops, whose jaws dropped as they saw us flash past. Norwegians mostly stood staring, then gradually the madness started. Huge crowds standing in the square listening to the B B.C. news in English gave a wild uncontrollable burst of cheering, and sweat began to roll down the cheeks of the Nazi drivers. “The cheering did not stop. Alter that it ran along streets ahead of us, like a forest fire. I have seen Tunis, Palermo, Paris, Brussels, and Copenhagen, but this first moment in Oslo beat the lot. The people were so happy. Some just stood and cried. We reached the Royal Palace and started down the broad main street. Then the

CROWD BECAME DELIRIOUS

Mounted police stood up in their stirrups and waved hats. Our German drivers were on the edge of panic. We came upon a cordon of German soldiers across an empty street, who beckoned us frantically. They had prepared this said sanctuarv for us and booked a whole hotel in advance. The crowd made us stand on the balcony and sing their national anthem. They stormed and fought a way into the hotel, kissed and mobbed us. and pinned Norwegian flags all over us. The quest for Quislings had not started. Even hatred for the Germans was monetarily forgotten. The German soldiers in the street began laughing too. The chief of police, the city Governor and other delegations came to see us. We learned the liberation had been completely bloodless, that Norway had a boring diet largely fish, but they can’t complain of starvation. They certainly looked healthy. Bottles of champagne were opened, then we had to report. We were cheered back to the airport. A German colonel came to see us oil. He told me he hoped he would not be sent to Siberia, otherwise he would never have capitulated. We took off again and flew over Oslo. Ten thousand faces again looked up from the main square. As we flew down the fiord, we met the liberation mission flying in from England in white fly-ing-boats.” Another message (Tom Oslo states that about 2000 Quislings were arrested there and in the district to midday. Norwegians had taken over the Oslo radio station and radio sets are being restored to the population.

HAPPY HOLLAND.

(Rec. 10.0 a.m.)

LONDON, May 10

To-day is a day of contrasts in Holland, says the Exchange Telegraph Agency correspondent. The Germans on the fifth anniversary of their invasion of the Netherlands are crowding the roads leading out of the country. They are marching in columns miles long, to areas where they will be disarmed? It is a sorry procession. The Germans, as they march out, are watching the emotional welcome given ] to the British and Canadians by the deliriously happy Dutch. There was a great victory rally at Utrecht last night, in front of the Wehrmacht Headquarters. The Germans looked down on thousands of Dutch people dancing to the music of a British band. Reuter’s correspondent says Port Rotterdam will need 50,000,000 sterling for repairs. The damage to port] structures alone is estimated at £lO,-1 000,000. Equipment, such as electric cranes, has been removed to' Germany.

CHANNEL ISLANDS JOY

“WAITED SO LONG.”

(Rec. noon.) LONDON, May 10. Scenes of almost indescribable joy were witnessed when 30 British artillerymen went ashore on Guernsey and took over the island from the garrison of 10,000 Germans. A Police Inspector and a sergeant formed an unofficial reception party at the dockside. They were both choking back tears when the tinv force formed up, fixed bayonets, and marched towards the dock gates. Behind the gates was a seething, cheering mob of men and women who overwhelmed the soldiers by hugging and kissing them, shouting, “They are the British. We have waited so long for you.” Every house had a Union Jack saved through five long years for this moment.

The joy of these people who had been eating rabbit skin and getting one and a-half pounds of potatoes weekly, and who had that morning breakfasted on stewed cabbage leaves, was almost heartbreaking, says a Press Association correspondent. “One man was smoking a cigarette for which he had paid 28/-. I offered him one, and in a frenzied grabbing of hands the whole packet disappeared. All the cats and dogs in the islands had been eaten. The islanders’ only consolation was that the German garrison was even worse off. Thev fold of seeing German soldiers eating earthworms and grass.

When the Union Jack was run up over the old Courthouse, one could hear a sob from the crowd. Then thev sang God Save the King. Ineradicable hatred of Germans has bitten deep into the souls of the Channel Islanders. The grey gauntness of hunger is in their eyes and faces. It is a familiar story in Europe, but these are our own people, whose only contact with England has been little

secret crystal wireless sets. In the cold, lightless island many trees have gone for fuel. Farmers almost wept as they described the gradual disappearance of their famous herds. The excitement intensified during the day, and the crowd almost overwhelmed an American war correspondents His was the first United States uniform they had seen. Amid all the tremendous scenes of jubilation, bewildered Germans, mostly oldish soldiers, walked or cycled about tasks still remaining to them. The Channel Islands were on the telephone to London, to-day, says the Evening Standard. Post Office engineers flown to Jersey soon after the announcement that the Channel Islands had been liberated, found littie damage to cables and established communications with the G.P.O. Ships with food and medical supplies quickly followed up the troops.

GERMAN BAD MANNERS

An appalling exhibition of bad manners and lack of dignity on the part of the defeated Germans preceded the liberation of the Channel Islands, according to a correspondent. Insteaci of a high ranking officer, the Germans sent an arrogant youth in his early twenties, in a dirty tattered minesweeper to meet the British destroyers, Bulldog and Beagle at the arranged rendezvous. The German youth came aboard the Bulldog, in a clumsy rubber dinghy, stripped to the waist. In response to a rifle salute and boatswain’s whistles, he gave an exaggerated Nazi salute. He was Captain Lieutenant Arnim Zimmerman, of the 46th German minesweeper flotilla. Facing him across the surrender table were Brigadier A E Snow, Chief British emissary, and Admiral Sturart, representing the British Navy, also representatives ot the Royal Air Force and several staff officers. The Nazi youth produced credentials empowering him •to receive the armistice terms on behalf of Vice Admiral Huffoneir. He was told that unconditional surrender were the only terms offered. Zimmerman told the British officers they must move their ships away from the Channel Island immediately, with the implied threat that they otherwise would be fired on by German 15-inch guns. Sternly, he was told to withdraw while instructions regarding the next rendezvous were prepared. An hour later when these were handed to him he cried hoch, saluted and scrambled back into the dinghy As he drew away, he saluted in the Nazi fashion several times. The destroyers withdrew to return six hours later, when searchlights revealed a German armed tiawlei from which came an eight-oared cutter, carrying the same Nazi officer, but with him was a resplendent figure in light blue army uniform, with large red lapels. He was Major-Gen-eral Heine of the German Army. Heine was immediately asked if he accepted unconditional surrender on behalf of his Commander-in-Chiel. He replied “Ja.” It was nearly two a.m. before the formalities were completed. So Heine was escorted to a cabin and told the documents would be signed at dawn. When he was summoned for signing he came hesitating, almost tottering. He signed his name to eight copies for the Allied powers, and other purposes, and was sternly told u You will immediately cause all German flags and ensigns now flying in the Channel Islands to b- hauled down.” He answered “Ja,” and returned to his craft.

SERIES OF CONGRATULATIONS

ADDRESS TO THE KING

RUGBY, May 10. The Prime Minister told the Commons, to-day, that on Tuesday next he will move a motion for an address to the King on the occasion of victory in Europe. The address will bc presented to His Majesty by the whole House. Mr Churchill added: We are ascertaining what His Majesty’s ple a_ sure is in respect of the actual date, but it may well be on Thursday.

KING'S MESSAGE TO LONDON

RUGBY, May 10. His Majesty the King, in reply to a telegram of congratulations Horn the Lord Mayor of London stated: “I rejoice with the City of London in overthrowing the enemy whose merciless attacks for so long burned and battered buildings so dear to us and to all Englishmen. Your citizens, steadfast in defence, may well be proud it was from their great poit that many men went forth to a y your charred walls and bring the Germans to the utter final destruction which we celebrate to-day. 1 ptay the future may bring renewed prosperity, greater than ever oelore, to our city and to all who dwell within its gates.”

ARMY COUNCIL’S TRIBUTE

RUGBY, May 10. A special Army order has. been issued to all ranks of .His Majesty s armies and to the civilian staffs, of. the War Department on the occasion of the German surrender. The order contains an expression ol the. appreciation of the Army Council, and praise for the work done by the Army. It also expresses sympathy with the kin of those who were killed or who died during the war.

CONGRATULATIONS TO R.A.F

(Rec. 12.50 p.m.) LONDON, May 10. The Air Ministry announces that Air Marshal Sir James Robb has been appointed Air Officer Com-manding-in-Chief, Fighter Command. succeeding Air Marshal Sir Roderick Hill, who is appointed a member of the Air Council for Training, succeeding the late Air Marshal Sir Peter Drummond. The Air Council, in a message to Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, expressed the warmest congratulations and thanks to men and women of Bomber Command for the superb contribution to the cause of the United Nations. “The matchless courage and determination with which Bomber Command attacks have been pressed home have been beyond all praise.” The Air Council’s message to Air Marshal Sir Roderick Hill, Air Officer Commandine-in-Chief, Fighter Command, said: “The whole world knows that if Fighter Command had not won the Battle of Britain our cause would have been irrevocably lost.”

The Council also sent a message to Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, Air Officer Commanding-m-Chief, Coastal Command, AJr Marshal the Hon. Sir Ralph Cochrane, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Transport Command, and Air Vice Marshal Reid, Air Officer Commanding Air Headquarters, West Africa. NOTABLE PRISONERS GOERING’S LOST MEDALS LONDON, May 10. Goering seemed in excellent health and high spirits. He was apparently unaware that after escaping one death sentence he is likely to face another

as a war criminal. He complained that he had lost more than half his decorations in .bombed Berchtesgaden, but the Grand Cross of the Knight’s Cross with diamonds and brilliants (the only one of its kind in Germany), and the order Pour le Merite hung from his neck, and a chain of Luftwaffe decorations dangled from his left breast.

Goering is short, but not gross, as cartoonists depict him. He posed for the photographers and asked them to hurry, because he wanted to eat. One photographer said, “And drink?” After lunch Goering was flown to 7th Army headquarters. Before the flight there was a discussion on whether the aeroplane was big enough to hold Goering. He asked how many the aeroplane was capable of carrying, and when he was told “two,” he replied, with his eyes gleaming, “I have plenty of biggei ones.”

KESSELRING INTERVIEWED

LONDON. May 10. “Allied air superiority defeated Germany,” said Marshal Kesselring when he met Press correspondents in a luxurious special train m Austria. “The reasons for defeat were, first, the Allied strategic bombing, second, the attacks by low-flying fighters, and third, the terror raids against the German civilian population.” , , . He was certain that Hitler had died rather than fall into the hands of the Russians alive. “Hitler would have welcomed an opportunity to make peace with Britain and America at any time,” he said. “The Fuehrer was a genius, in his operations sense and in his conceptions. I only regret that Hitler had to direct Germany’s military and economic life. He was overtaxed with the weight of the problems.” Kesselring singled out Marshal Montgomery, to whom he referred as “Monty,” Air Chief Marshal Tedder, and General Patton as commanders who had won his respect. He asserted that the German soldier was superior to the Russian. “We were not satisfied with some of the customs of the New Zealanders, but every people has its customs,” said Kesselring. He denied that Germany had ever intended to use gas. He said that he had put no faith in the V weapons.

LORD HAW HAW

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 10. Nev/ information reaching the Military Intelligence and Special Branch at Scotland Yard will enable the authorities to indict William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) under the Treachery Act, 1940, when caught, says the “Daily Telegraph.” If found guilty the penalty would be death. The authorities discovered that in addition to broadcasting throughout, the war from Germany, Joyce had been actively assisting the German Army, Navy and Air Force, acting as interpreter at military courts during the trials of British soldiers. The last news of Joyce was that he left Hamburg for Denmark by car 24 hours before the British entered. The Allies are keeping a special watch to prevent his escape to Eire.

HENLEIN'S DEFENCE

LONDON, May 10.

Konrad Henlein, the man who precipitated the Munich crisis in 1938 does not see why he should be regarded as a war criminal, says the Associated Press correspondent in Czechoslovakia. Henlien, who was a Gauleiter in Sudetenland, surrendered yesterday, wearing a new tailored suit and carefully polished shoes. “I have always been a man of high honour,” he commented. ‘‘lf left to myself, I could have got the Czechs to understand German rule and work with the Germans, but always there were orders from Berlin and the S.S. wanted to rule by force.” Henlien had a small bottle of tablets marked with the emblem of the skull and crossbones in his belt when arrested, and stated: They were lor consumption if I had been captured by Czech patriots.”

FRENCH ARRESTS

RUGBY, May 10

General Weygand and Jean Borotra, the French tennis champion, were arrested last night, says a Paris message. Owing to poor health Weygand, who is 78, was taken to the Mai de Grace Military Hospital. He is accused of being one of the principal authors of the French capitulation. as he was Commander-in-Chief of the French forces at that time.

REYNAUD’S ACCUSATION

(Rec. 12.15 p.m.) PARIS, May 10. The man most responsible for the fall of France is Petain, said the French ex-Premier, M. Reynaud. declaring his resignation in June. 1940, was the result of a Petain plot. Reynaud added: I will give evidence (at the trial of Petain), but I do not want to give details until then. I think the trial will be a good thing for France. Exposing Petain, we will clear up once and for all the Petain abscess in France.

MUSSOLINI’S WIDOW

(Rec. 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, May 10. It was announced at Allied Headquarters in Italy to-day that Mussolini’s widow, Donna Rachele, and two of their children, are being held near Florence.

The Associated Press correspondent says that information reached Headquarters that Archbishop Gorizia Carlo Margotti has been arrested by the Jugoslavs. No details of the charges are known. According to the Luxemburg radio the Serbian Quisling Premier, Nedich, and Bels Tuka, the former Slovak Premier, have been captured in Austria.

GERMAN HIGH COMMAND

NEW YORK, May 10

The correspondent of the “New York Times” in Paris stated: Very grave concern is felt by senior intelligence officers at General Eisenhower’s headquarters over the manner in which the German High Command have survived the ■Wehrmacht's defeat in retaining the German people’s admiration and respect, and in attaining their position as the only stable element in the otherwise disorganised nation. The onus of defeat rests on Hitler and on the Nazi Party as far as the average German is concerned, and the German Military priesthood is credited with fighting a brilliant patriotic war that was lost only because of the Nazi Party’s interference. Grand Admiral Docnitz and the German generals seized power from Himmler by -a coup. Whether in uniform or out of it, they remain the strongest group in Germany.

HITLER MYSTERY

(Rec. 11.15) LONDON. May 10. Four bodies, blackened and charred, that seem to answer to Hitler’s general appearance have been dragged, after a week’s search, from the ruins of the underground fort where he and last-ditch Nazi fanatics held out until the destruction of Berlin was complete, says Reuter’s Berlin correspondent. The bodies have been measured and photographs taken for examination by experts, but none have been identified as definitely Hitler’s. The Russians are beginning to believe that no body identifiable beyond a shadow of doubt as Hitler’s will ever be found. The flames which finally swept through the subterranean passages probably destroyed any definite evidence of how Hitler perished,

CRETE GARRISON. (Rec. 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, May 10. The German garrisons in Crete and Milos surrendered last night, says Reuter’s Athens correspondent; The Crete garrison was recently estimated at 10,000 Germans and 4000 Italians.

UNRRA. AND GERMANS.

(Rec. noon) WASHINGTON, May 10. The UNRRA Director-General, Mr. Lehman, has issued a statement that UNRRA is not authorised to assist Germans and that there were no plans to supply food to Germany. If and when UNRRA feeds Germany, it will do so only upon the decision of the majority of Council members.

RESISTANCE MOVEMENT.

EISENHOWER’S THANKS.

RUGBY, May 10. In a special order of the day General Eisenhower' thanks the resistance forces of France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Norway for “your discipline, your great courage and the inestimable service to the Allied cause, and the future of all freedomloving peoples. Constantly informed of your activity, I have watched your efforts with admiration. I know how hard your task has been. I know how many* of you have been imprisoned, tortured and murdered. Subsequently maimed, and in the midst of a savage ruthless enemy, you have fought on month after month, yeai’ after year, regardless of the disappointment you have suffered and the danger* you have undergone. For most of you your sole reward has been the knowledge you have by your efforts helped to rid your homeland of the hated enemy.”

U.S.A. ARMY TRANSFERS

WASHINGTON, May 9

The United States Army has announced that approximately 2,837,000 troops will be moved from Europe' within nine months, and 3,100,009' within one year, thus leaving an estimated occupation force of 400,000. The majority will come to the United States, and' they will either be redeployed to the Pacific, or discharged. Others will be sent direct from Europe to the Pacific.

ARGENTINA DEMONSTRATION

NEW YORK, May 9. “The Argentine police, as well as occupying the centre of the capital on Tuesday to break up United Nations victory parades, forced the removal of Soviet flags from buildings,” says the New York “Herald-Tribune” correspondent in Buenos Aires. “This was done, apparently, as a reprisal for Mr. Molotov’s opposition to the admittance of Argentina to UNCIO, and also for the Soviet’s evident reluctance to establish diplomatic relations with Argentina while the military regime is in power.” ■