GERMAN AIR RAID ON PRAGUE

Southland Times, Issue 25668, 10 May 1945, Page 5

GERMAN AIR RAID ON PRAGUE

DEFIANCE OF SURRENDER TERMS WARNING BROADCAST TO CZECHS (United Press Association —Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 8. More than 12 hours after the cease fire in Europe, comes the dramatic news that Prague is being subjected to a German air raid. Prague radio broadcast to the people of the city warning them to go to the air raid shelters. An earlier broadcast had described the arrival of Russian troops at the outskirts of the city. Colonel-General Gustav Jodi, on behalf of Doenitz, in a broadcast over Flensburg radio stated: “With effect from midnight on May 5 all the armed forces in all theatres must cease all hostilities. No destruction of ammunition and equipment is allowed and no ships must be sunk. Acts contrary to these instructions are an offence against the terms accepted by the High Command. All wireless messages must henceforth be in open language, without code.” The German radio tonight called to all U-boats as follows: “The U-boat warfare has been discontinued on the German side. All U-boats are to surface immediately and return to German reception centres.” The last straw for the German commanders was when they were unable to get the German soldiers to fight. This was disclosed by the German generals who signed the instrument of surrender -at General Eisenhower’s headquarters, says the correspondent of Reuter’s at Rheims in a delayed dispatch. General Eisenhower after the signing sternly asked the Germans if they understood the terms and were prepared to carry them out. They said they were. Colonel-General Jodi, the German Chief of Staff, then snapped to attention and said: “I want to say a word.” He spoke in English, but continued in German: “hr general with this signature, the German people and armed forces are, for better or worse, delivered into the victors’ hands. They have both achieved and suffered more than perhaps any other people. In this hour I can only express the hope that the victor will treat them with generosity.” There was no reply to his remarks and he left the room. It was a strange scene, adds the correspondent. It was almost drab and commonplace in view of the momentous nature of the occasion. Around the walls of General Eisenhower’s headquarters were maps on which the Germans could see the hopelessness of the military situation. In the centre of the room there was a plain uncovered, cracked table, painted grey. Tire setting was brightened only by the blazing lights used by the photographers.