Page 501 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

501
ActA
“Hour Zero” as Combined Operation
The Allied Planning for the surrender of Germany

Philipp FRAUnD

n May 7, 1945 Germany, represented by German General Alfred Jodl, signed the
O unconditional surrender of Germany in the headquarters of General Dwight D.
Eisenhower in the French city of Reims. Germany’s unconditional surrender symbol-
ized the utter defeat of the German Wehrmacht and with it the unconditional capitula-
tion of the whole Nazi system and state, thus paving the way for a postwar and a post
Nazi-regime in Germany. A single, underexposed black and white picture that would
become iconic for the surrender of Germany symbolized not only the surrender of Ger-
many, but also the fact that Germany was completely defeated and exhausted. Its dark
and depressing atmosphere symbolizes not only the military defeat but also the collapse
of the whole Nazi-system and of the Nazi-state. By printing this image in the Allied as
well in the few (or again) published German newspapers, the Allies ensured that the
German population realized that the war was over. Although the presence of Allied units
deployed all over Germany had been acknowledged and mostly welcomed by the Ger-
man population, the publication of this picture was necessary in order to make it clear
to the Germans that the Wehrmacht had surrendered. This photograph would become,
in addition to the ruin and rubble that characterized German towns, the most visible
sign for the German population that something new was to be- gin. This transformation
of power was later on described as “Hour Zero”.
Despite the fact that an Allied commission had been negotiating the terms of the sur-
render and the wording of the surrender document for almost one and a half year, the
signing ceremony was a relatively improvised event. Today, the history of this European
1
Advisory Commission (EAC) is almost forgotten. This process of negotiating the terms

1 Although the EAC documents are accessible through the Foreign Relations of the United States series
(FRUS) published by the Historical Office of the State Department, very few scholars have worked with
these documents, even though they allow a very deep insight into the process of negotiations within EAC.
Furthermore they enable historians not only to reconstruct the history of the EAC, they also reveal the aims
and plans each Allied nation had regarding the surrender of Germany and the first days after that event. As
examples may serve Eschenburg, Theodor. “Deutschland in der Politik der Alliierten.” In Kalter Krieg und
Deutsche Frage: Deutschland im Widerstreit der Mächte; 1945 - 1952. Edited by Josef Foschepoth, 35–49.
Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts London 16. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1985; King, Frank. “Negotiations and Dismemberment of Germany.” Journal of Contemporary History 16,
no. 3 (1981): 585–595; Kowalski, Hans-Günther. “Die “European Advisory Commission” als Instrument
alliierter Deutschlandplanung 1943 - 1945.” Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte 19, no. 3 (1971): 261–293;
Mosely, Philip E. “Dismemberment of Germany: The Allied Negotiations from Yalta to Potsdam.” Foreign
Affairs 28, no. 3 (1950): 487–498; Mosely, Philip E. “The Occupation of Germany: New Light on How the
Zones Were Drawn.” Foreign Affairs 28, no. 4 (1950): 580–604. Mosely was, as assistant to Ambassador
Winant, part of the American Delegation to the EAC – insofar both of his articles are a kind of eye-witness
account.