Overview
Around 1530 on 30 April 1945, in the spacious command bunker under his chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler, styled Führer (leader) of what he had touted as a thousand-year Greater Germany, died by his own hand˳ The dictator’s mistress and a number of close followers joined him in death˳ Above the bunker, the old men and boys of the German home guard and a few depleted regular military units still fought the Soviet Red Army in the ruins of Germany’s capital˳ Hitler’s so-called testament, a diatribe against all those he held responsible for Germany’s defeat, named Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz, the commander in chief of the German Kriegsmarine (navy) as his successor˳
The Third Reich’s internal situation in the late spring of 1945 was dire˳ Despite concerted German attempts at production decentralization and facility dispersal, Allied strategic bombing raids had destroyed most of the country’s industrial infrastructure as well as its major population centers˳ Refined fuel of any kind was at a premium, grounding most of what remained of the German air force und adversely impacting the mobility of the ground forces˳ Much of the civilian population was homeless, subsisted on inadequate rations, and could be only marginally accommodated by what remained of the relief services˳ The influx of refugees fleeing the advance of the Red Army in Germany’s eastern provinces strained this fragile net to the breaking point˳ In desperation, and clearly sensing that its end was near, the Nazi power structure appeared determined to lash out against as many perceived enemies as possible before its demise˳ Thousands of still-surviving concentration camp inmates were forced on death marches into the country’s interior or just murdered in place˳ Numerous political prisoners, many incarcerated since before the war, were executed˳ Military personnel suspected of malingering or desertion were summarily shot or hanged, as were many civilians who ventured to express dissent or “defeatist” sentiments and forcibly conscripted foreign laborers suspected of being saboteurs˳
After crossing the Rhine in late March, U˳S˳, British, and French forces had established large bridgeheads on the east bank of the river˳ By the beginning of May, the western Allies had surrounded and destroyed several German army groups in western and central Germany, and had linked up with Soviet troops at the Elbe River˳ Hundreds of thousands of German troops were now prisoners of war˳ Advancing to the south and southeast, Americans and British had pushed into Austria and Czechoslovakia˳ On 2 May, German forces in Italy and Austria surrendered to Allied forces advancing northward through Italy˳ Despite encountering fierce German resistance, the Red Army had fought its way through eastern Germany, and had surrounded and assaulted Berlin˳ The survivors of the city’s garrison surrendered on 2 May˳
Facing insurmountable odds, Doenitz’ sole focus as head of state was to ensure the maritime evacuation from the country’s Baltic provinces to western Germany of as many German troops and civilians as possible before the few ports remaining in German hands fell to the Soviets˳ On 5 May, a day after German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark, and northwestern Germany had surrendered to the British army, Doenitz made contact with the supreme Allied commander, General Dwight D˳ Eisenhower, in Rheims, France, in order to negotiate Germany’s surrender˳ Doenitz, from his headquarters in the northern German port city of Flensburg, attempted to draw out negotiations as long as possible in order to continue the German withdrawal in the east˳ However, Eisenhower did not tolerate German stalling and, early on 7 May, the German armed forces chief of operations, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, signed the instrument of unconditional surrender in Rheims (the ceremony was repeated, albeit with Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel as the German signatory, by the Soviets in Berlin late on 8 May)˳ The surrender, affecting all German forces, went into effect at 2301 on 8 May˳ World War II in Europe had ended˳
