Why did it happen? Why did the French capitulate to the Germans, while the Russians fought to death? Why did European countries capitulate and the USSR stood

Firsov A.

On May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison under the command of Helmut Weidling surrendered to the Red Army.

The surrender of Germany was a foregone conclusion.

On May 4, 1945, between the successor of the Fuehrer, the new Reich President, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, and General Montgomery, a document was signed on the military surrender to the allies of northwestern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands and the related armistice.

But this document cannot be called the unconditional surrender of all Germany. It was the surrender of only certain territories.

The first complete and unconditional surrender of Germany was signed on the territory of the Allies at their headquarters on the night of May 6-7 at 2:41 am in the city of Reims. This act of unconditional surrender of Germany and a complete ceasefire within 24 hours was adopted by the commander of the Allied forces in the west, General Eisenhower. It was signed by representatives of all allied forces.

Here is how Viktor Kostin writes about this surrender:

“On May 6, 1945, the German General Jodl, representing the government of Admiral Doenitz, who became the head of Germany after Hitler's suicide, arrived at the headquarters of the American command in Reims.

Jodl, on behalf of Doenitz, proposed that the capitulation of Germany be signed on May 10 by the commanders of the branches of the armed forces, that is, the army, air force and navy.

The delay of several days was due to the fact that, according to him, it took time to find out the location of the units of the German armed forces and bring to their attention the fact of surrender.

In fact, over these few days, the Germans intended to withdraw a large grouping of their troops from Czechoslovakia, where they were at that time, and transfer them to the West in order to surrender not to the Soviet army, but to the Americans.

The commander of the allied forces in the West, General Eisenhower, guessed and rejected this proposal, giving Jodl half an hour to think. He said that in case of refusal, the full power of American and British forces would be unleashed on the German troops.

Jodl was forced to make concessions, and on May 7 at 2:40 am CET, Jodl, General Beddel Smith from the allied side and General Susloparov, the Soviet representative to the allied command, accepted the surrender of Germany, which took effect from 23 hours 1 minute May 8. This date is celebrated in Western countries.

By the time President Truman and British Prime Minister Churchill announced Germany's surrender to Stalin, he had already scolded Susloparov for rushing to sign the act. "

The act of unconditional surrender of Germany from the German side, together with Colonel General Alfred Jodl, was signed by Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg.

Signed on May 7, 1945, the document was called: "The act of unconditional surrender of all land, sea and air armed forces, which are currently under German control."

All that remained until the complete cessation of hostilities and the Second World War was the day allotted to the surrendering side to bring the Act of unconditional surrender to every soldier.

Stalin was not satisfied with the fact that:

The signing of the unconditional surrender took place on the territory occupied by the allies,

The act was signed primarily by the leadership of the Allies, which to some extent belittled the role of the USSR and Stalin himself in the victory over Nazi Germany,

The act of unconditional surrender was signed not by Stalin or Zhukov, but only by Major General of the artillery Ivan Alekseevich Susloparov.

Citing the fact that the shooting in some places had not yet stopped, Stalin ordered Zhukov to arrange a second ("final") signing of the unconditional surrender, immediately after the complete ceasefire on May 8, preferably in Berlin and with Zhukov's participation.

Since there was no suitable (not destroyed) building in Berlin, the signing was arranged in the Karlhorst suburb of Berlin immediately after the ceasefire by German troops. Eisenhower declined the invitation to participate in the re-signing of the surrender, but informed Jodl that the German commander-in-chief of the armed forces had to appear for a second procedure at the time and place that would be indicated by the Soviet command for signing a new act with the Soviet command.

Georgy Zhukov came from the Russian troops to sign the second surrender, and from the British troops Eisenhower sent his deputy, Air Chief Marshal A. Tedder. On behalf of the United States, the commander of the strategic air force, General K. Spaats, attended and signed the surrender as a witness; on behalf of the French armed forces, the commander-in-chief of the army, General J. de Lattre de Tassigny, signed the surrender as a witness.

Jodl did not go to re-sign the act, but sent his deputies - the former chief of staff of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW), Field Marshal V. Keitel, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet G. Friedeburg and Colonel General of Aviation G. Stumpf.

The re-signing of the surrender caused a smile from all the signers, with the exception of representatives of the Russian side.

Seeing that representatives of France were also participating in the re-signing of the surrender, Keitel chuckled: “How! Have we also lost the war to France? " “Yes, Mr. Field Marshal, and France too,” the Russian side replied.

The repeated surrender, now from three branches of the army, was signed from Germany by three representatives of the three branches of the armed forces sent by Jodl - Keitel, Friedeburg and Stumpf.

Germany's second unconditional surrender was signed on May 8, 1945. The date for signing the surrender is May 8th.

But the celebration of the Victory Day on May 8 also did not suit Stalin. This was the day of the entry into force of the surrender on May 7th. And it was clear that this surrender was only a continuation and duplication of the earlier one, which declared May 8 to be the day of a complete ceasefire.

In order to completely get away from the first unconditional surrender and to emphasize the second unconditional surrender as much as possible, Stalin decided to declare May 9 as Victory Day. The following were used as arguments:

A) The actual signing of the act by Keitel, Friedeburg and Stumpf took place on May 8 at 22 hours 43 minutes German (Western European) time, but in Moscow it was already 0 hours 43 minutes on May 9.

B) The entire procedure for signing the act of unconditional surrender ended on May 8 at 22 hours 50 minutes German time. But in Moscow it was already 0 hours 50 minutes on May 9.

D) The declaration of victory in Russia and the festive fireworks in honor of the victory over Germany took place in Russia on May 9, 1945.

Since Stalin's times in Russia, the date of signing of the act of unconditional surrender is considered to be May 9, 1945, Berlin is usually called the place of signing of the act of unconditional surrender, and only Wilhelm Keitel as the signatory from the German side.

As a result of such Stalinist actions, Russians still celebrate May 9 as Victory Day and are surprised when Europeans celebrate the same Victory Day on May 8 or 7.

The name of General Ivan Alekseevich Susloparov was deleted from Soviet history textbooks, and the fact of his signing the act of unconditional surrender of Germany is still hushed up in Russia in every possible way.

Third unconditional surrender of Germany

On June 5, 1945, the four winning countries declared the unconditional state-political surrender of Germany. It has been formalized as a declaration by the European Consultative Commission.

The document is titled: "Declaration of the defeat of Germany and the assumption of supreme power over Germany by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Provisional Government of the French Republic."

The doc says:

"The German armed forces on land, on water and in the air are completely defeated and surrendered unconditionally, and Germany, which is responsible for the war, is no longer able to resist the will of the victorious powers. As a result, the unconditional surrender of Germany was achieved, and Germany obeys all the demands that will be presented to her now or in the future.".

In accordance with the document, the four victorious powers undertake the implementation of " supreme power in Germany, including all powers of the German government, the High Command of the Wehrmacht and governments, administrations or authorities of the states, cities and magistrates. The exercise of power and the listed powers does not entail the annexation of Germany".

This unconditional surrender was signed by the representatives of the four countries without the participation of the representatives of Germany.

Stalin introduced a similar confusion into Russian textbooks with the dates of the beginning and end of World War II. If the whole world considers September 1, 1939 as the date of the beginning of World War II, since Stalin's time Russia continues to "modestly" count the beginning of the war from July 22, 1941, "forgetting" about the successful capture of Poland and the Baltic states. and part of Ukraine in 1939, and about the failure in a similar attempt to seize Finland (1939-1940).

A similar confusion exists with the day the Second World War ended. If Russia celebrates May 9 as the day of the victory of the allied forces over the German coalition and, in fact, as the day of the end of World War II, then the whole world marks the end of World War II on September 2.

On this day in 1945, the "Act of Japan's Unconditional Surrender" was signed aboard the American flagship battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

On the part of Japan, the act was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan M. Shigemitsu and the Chief of the General Staff, General Y. Umezu. On the part of the allies, the act was signed by General of the US Army D. MacArthur, Soviet Lieutenant General K. Derevyanko, Admiral of the British Fleet B. Fraser.

About the lecturer

Shubin Alexander Vladlenovich - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Head of the Center for the History of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Lecture plan

1. The failure of the Moscow talks and the Soviet-German pact.
2. The beginning of the Second World War and the participation of the USSR in the division of the Polish state.
3. Soviet-Finnish war.
4. Accession of the Baltic countries and Moldova to the USSR.
5. The growth of Soviet-German contradictions.
6. Soviet strategic planning and the Barbarossa plan.
7. What did Stalin and the Soviet command not take into account?

annotation

The lecture is devoted to the foreign policy and military-strategic planning of the USSR in 1939-1941. When the policy of "collective security" failed, the USSR went for rapprochement with Germany, which led to the conclusion of the Non-Aggression Pact and the division of spheres of influence between the USSR and Germany.

In the context of the outbreak of World War II, the Soviet leadership, seeking to strengthen the western borders of the USSR, took advantage of the situation to expand the territory of the USSR. It included the Western parts of Ukraine and Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. The attempt to occupy Finland was unsuccessful and led to a bloody Soviet-Finnish war. After the defeat of France and the establishment of German domination in Western Europe, the contradictions between Germany and the USSR began to intensify, these states in deep secrecy were preparing for a military clash.

The Soviet leadership, preparing for a clash with Germany, underestimated the adventurism of Hitler and his generals and misjudged the plans for the start of the war by Germany. This was the main reason for the defeats of the Red Army in the initial period of the war.

Questions on the topic of the lecture

1. For whom was the campaign of the Red Army in the fall of 1939 liberating, and for whom was it not? Why?
2. Why do you think Great Britain and France declared war on Germany in response to the attack on Poland, but did not declare war on the USSR in response to the introduction of troops into the eastern part of the Polish state?
3. What were the reasons for the Soviet-Finnish war?
4. Could the Baltic countries provide military resistance to the USSR like Finland?
5. Why do you think Stalin did not hold important government posts in the USSR until 1941?
6. Why did the Soviet leadership, understanding the danger of a clash with Germany, agree to the elimination of the states separating the USSR and Germany, which brought the Nazi army closer to the borders of the Soviet Union?
7. Why were the directions of the attacks of the German troops in June 1941 unexpected for the Soviet command?

Literature

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. M., 1999.
M. Silent surrender. M., 2012.
M. Soviet-Polish wars. Military-political confrontation 1918-1939 M., 2001.
M. Stalin's missed chance. The Soviet Union and the Struggle for Europe: 1939-1941 M., 2000.
Naumov A.O. Diplomatic Struggle in Europe on the Eve of World War II. M., 2007.
V.A. Nevezhin Syndrome of offensive war Soviet propaganda on the eve of the "Sacred battles", 1939¬-1941. M., 1997.
Churchill W. The Second World War. M., 1991.
A. V. Shubin The world is on the edge of the abyss. From global depression to world war. M., 2004.

But few people know that the war did not end there.

The USSR signed the decree "On the cessation of the state of war between the Soviet Union and Germany" only 10 years after the surrender of Nazi Germany, on January 25, 1955. What happened 58 years ago and why was this date bypassed in the history books? We talked about this with Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuri Zhukov.

"STALIN INSPIRED ON A UNITED GERMANY"

Quite right!

Don't be confused, this is Victory Day. In fact, with the surrender of Germany on May 8, the war ended with the use of weapons, when people are killed without asking permission from lawyers. And in January 55, the legal and diplomatic state of war ended.

- But why did you have to wait almost 10 years for the signing of the peace treaty?

This is a historical and diplomatic incident. But first things first ... While the war was going on, at the Tehran, Yalta and even Potsdam conferences, an agreement was reached between the three great powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - on the fate of Germany. And for a very long time, it was difficult to discuss the question of how this country will continue to exist - as a single state or separately. Stalin insisted on the preservation of a single German state, demilitarized and neutral.

- Why did he need it?

He remembered what happened after Versailles. The French occupied the Rhine zone, and in 1923 they occupied the Ruhr, the Poles seized Mountain Silesia, part of West Prussia ... This led to revanchism, the desire to restore what was lost and, as a result, to the emergence of fascism. And Stalin, unlike the French and the British, remembered this too well. However, Churchill and Roosevelt insisted on the partition of Germany all the time. Then the French, who capitulated altogether in 1940, collaborated with the Germans, including sending their soldiers to the Eastern Front. France wanted to sever the Rhine zone from Germany, creating a "security buffer" for itself. Plus, they also dreamed of the Saar region - a powerful coal basin - either to annex this zone to France, or to create an independent state there.

"THE AMERICANS BELIEVED A SLEEPING POLITICS"

- And what was the reason for the British to cut Germany?

Great Britain became very weak during the war and lived off the help of the United States. She understood that the most powerful country on the continent after the war was only the USSR, and that was scary. But in London they got used to the system of European equilibrium, so that there were two sides, so that no one would prevail, and they, the British, would habitually be the “supreme judges”. And in these conditions, in 1946, they insisted on the dismemberment of Germany in order to create at least two states on the territory of their zone. The British wanted to gain a foothold in this zone as powerfully as possible.

- And the Americans?

The Americans pursued an even more cunning policy. They decided to become the "fathers of democracy" for Germany. Already in 46, in their occupied zone, they held local elections and monetary reform, a Western brand appeared, which later became a Deutschmark. In addition, in July 1948, three of our former allies went to their zones to create a parliamentary council. Finally, in 1949, a constitution was adopted there, elections to the Bundestag were held. And the FRG government was formed, headed by Konrad Adenauer. The USSR had no choice but to create the GDR in its zone. Nevertheless, Moscow continued to hope for a united Germany. And we did our best for this. And in May 1953 we even managed to come to an agreement!

"FRG PRESIDENT PROVIDED A PUTCH IN THE SOVIET ZONE "

- So why didn't the world see a united Germany then?

And then what happened was what Konrad Adenauer described in his memoirs, which we also published. He was mortally afraid of unification. Because I realized that then his party, the Christian Democratic Union, which had power only in the Rhine zone, would lose its majority. Frightened by political competition. And he provoked the same rebellion on July 13, 1953 in Berlin, which is presented today by the mythologizers of history as "a popular expression of the will against the Soviet occupation."

- Maybe there really was a riot "from below"?

Read his memoirs! He explicitly admits that the "rebellion" was completely organized and managed by him! And then everything is known: we had to introduce tanks against the so-called strikers, there were dead ... Adenauer calculated everything: he took advantage of the suppression of this putsch to discredit the USSR and convinced London and Washington not to agree to a unification agreement.

In January 1955, it became finally clear to us that it would not be possible to reach an agreement. Then we took this amazing move: to declare the end of the state of war with Germany (without specifying which one), to recognize the GDR as a sovereign state and to allow the East Germans to create their own army. In January the same decree appeared, and in February we recognized the FRG as well.

"WE DIDN'T START SECTION OF THE COUNTRY!"

- That is, it was not we who split Germany?

The normal chronology shows what the first "meows" were said in the West. Of course, if Roosevelt had not died in April 1945, if Attlee had not become British prime minister instead of Churchill, perhaps everything would have gone differently. Because this great three - Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt - they would agree. And instead of them came weaklings, each of whom bent his own. Our desire to quickly dismantle and take away the enterprises to the USSR instead of what we lost was assessed by the Americans as a robbery. At that time, they themselves were hunting for patents and intellectuals - German engineers, rocket scientists.

But we erected the Berlin Wall ... And Gorbachev repented that we had separated brothers and sisters for decades ...

Sorry, but the facts show who started this section! The Berlin Wall was built by the same idiots who built the wall between Mexico and the United States, Egypt and Israel. If we are being accused, then we need them to match.

"CAPTURED FOR Nothing"

Some amateur historians believe that we deliberately stayed in a state of war for so long so as not to release the German prisoners of war who were restoring the destroyed ...

This is not entirely true. The decree was not signed for so long not because of them, as I already said. Prisoners are a side effect. Although, thanks to this circumstance, many of them remained in the Union, restoring the economy.

- But why was this date bypassed in history textbooks? Even in the Soviet ...

Because it happened in 1955, already during the Khrushchev period - the beginning of the mythologization of our past - there was no time for that. After all, Khrushchev himself walked under the sword of Damocles of accusations of mass repression. Documents have long been published, how the first secretaries asked for the right to shoot "enemies of the people" without trial and how much to shoot, they also indicated. So in the second place of this "rating" is the first secretary of the Moscow city and regional committees of the party, comrade Nikita Khrushchev. In 1937, he found 20 thousand kulaks in the Moscow region. Where did they come from there in such numbers, after all, dispossession of kulaks ended long ago? .. When he was sent to Kiev in 1938, in the very first telegram from there he asked for permission to sign the execution of 20 thousand people. And having seized power, he completely shifted the blame to Stalin, trying to whitewash his name in history ...

REFERENCE "KP"

Russia has no peace treaty only with Japan

Today, Japan remains the only country that does not have a peace treaty with Russia. It's all about territorial claims: after the war with Japan, the USSR took possession of the Kuril Islands, which were previously part of the Russian Empire. In 1956, the Moscow Declaration was signed, according to which we pledged to return the Shikotan Island and the Habomai group of islands to the Japanese, after which a peace treaty was to be signed. However, the Japanese demanded that the USSR, in addition to them, return also Kunashir and Iturup, to which the Soviet side did not agree. Disputes are still ongoing.

BY THE WAY

Churchill prepared to attack the USSR in 1945

In 1998, the plans for Operation Unthinkable, developed by the British government under the personal leadership of Winston Churchill, were declassified. According to the documents, Great Britain planned on July 1, 1945, to suddenly attack Red Army units in the Dresden area. For this purpose, 47 Anglo-American divisions were on alert. The piquancy of this story is given by the fact that it was planned to use 10 German divisions in the attack on the USSR. The operation was not implemented only because the new US President Harry Truman refused to participate in it.