FREE WORLD THANKFUL: JOYFUL CELEBRATIONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 135, 9 May 1945, Page 5

FREE WORLD THANKFUL: JOYFUL CELEBRATIONS

RATIFYING SURRENDER

BROADCASTS TO EMPIRE

COMING RETRIBUTION FOR JAPAN

-v ' • , /( (N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright.) (Rec. 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 8. "Advance Britannia! Long live the cause of freedom! God save the King!" With these phrases fervently uttered, Mr Churchill concluded his broadcast announcing the end of the war in Europe. The keynote of the King's broadcast was one of thanksgiving for the end of the grim and bitter ordeal. "Yesterday morning at 2.41 o'clock at General Eisenhower's headquarters, General Jodl, a representative of the German High Command and an aide of Grand-Admiral Doenitz, the designated head of the German State, signed the act of unconditional surrender of the German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command," said Mr Churchill. "General Bedell-Smith, Chief-of-Staff to General Eisenhower, and General Sevez signed the document on behalf of the Supreme Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force and General Suslapatov signed on behalf of the Russian Command. "Today this agreement will be ratified and confirmed in Berlin, where AirChief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, Deputy-Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, and General de Lattre de Tassigny, commander of the French First Armv, will sign on behalf of General Eisenhower and Marshal Zhukov will sign on behalf of the Soviet High Command. The German representative will be Field-Marshal Keitel. "Hostilities will end at one minute after midnight on May 8, but in the interests of saving lives the cease-fire began yesterday to be sounded along the front, and our Channel Islands are also to l?e freed today. "German troops are still in places resisting the Eussian troops, but should they continue to do so after midnight they will, of course, deprive themselves of the'protection of the laws of war and will be attacked from all quarters by Allied troops. "It is not surprising that on such long fronts and in the existing disorder of the enemy the commands of the German High Command should not in every case be obeyed immediately. This does not, in our opinion and with the best military advice at our disposal, constitute any reason for withholding from the nation 'the facts communicated to us from General Eisenhower of the unconditional surrender already signed at Rheims. Nor should it prevent us from celebratrng today and tomorrow as Victory-in-Europe Days: "Today we shall think mostly of ourselves; tomorrow we shall pay particular tribute to our Russian comrades whose prowess in the field has been one of the grand contributions to the general victory. *y, "The German war is therefore at an end I .' "After years of intense preparation, Germany hurled herself on Poland at the beginning of September, 1939, and, in pursuance of our guarantee to Poland and in agreement with the French Republic, Britain and the British Empire declared war against this foul aggression. ' 'After gallant France had been struck down we from this island and from our united Empire maintained the struggle single-handed for a whole year until we were ioinecl by the military might of Russia and later by the overwhelming power and resources of America. Finally almost the whole world was combined against the evil-doers who are now prostrate before us. Our gratitude to our splendid allies goes forth from all our hearts in this island and throughout the British Empire. "We may allow ourselves a .brief-period of rejoicing, but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts ahead. Japan, with all her treachery and crreed remains unsubdued. The injury she inflicted on Britain, the United States and other countries and her detestable cruelties call for justice and retribution, to. which we must now devote all our strength."