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The German Instrument of Surrender ended World War II in Europe. The definitive text was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin on 8 May 1945 by representatives of the three armed services of the ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW) and the Allied Expeditionary Force together with the Supreme High Command of the Red Army, with further French and US representatives signing as witnesses; an earlier signing ceremony having taken place in Reims on 7 May 1945. In the West, 8 May is known as Victory in Europe Day; whereas in post-Soviet states the Victory Day is celebrated on 9 May, since the definitive signing occurred after midnight Moscow time. There were three language versions of the surrender document. The Russian and English versions were the only authoritative ones. == Surrender texts == Preparations of the text of the instrument of surrender began by US, Soviet and British representatives at the European Advisory Commission (EAC) throughout 1944. By 3 January 1944, the Working Security Committee in the EAC proposed
The committee further suggested that the instrument of surrender be signed by representatives of the German High Command. The considerations behind this recommendation were to prevent the repetition of the stab-in-the-back legend, created in Germany following defeat in the First World War, since the act of surrender in November 1918 was signed by representatives of the German government and the militarist circles later claimed that the High Command was not responsible for that defeat. Not everyone agreed with the Working Security Committee's predictions regarding the war's end. Ambassador William Strang, British representative at the EAC, claimed as follows:
The surrender terms for Germany were first discussed at the first EAC meeting on 14 January 1944. A definitive text was agreed on 28 July 1944, and was then adopted by the three Allied Powers. The agreed text was in three parts. The first part consisted of a brief preamble "The German Government and German High Command, recognising and acknowledging the complete defeat of the German armed forces on land, at sea and in the air, hereby announce Germany's unconditional surrender". The instrument of surrender itself followed in fourteen articles. The second part, articles 1-5, related to the military surrender by the German High Command of all forces on land, at sea and in the air, to the surrender of their weapons, to their evacuation from any territory outside German boundaries on 31 December 1937, and to their liability to captivity as prisoners of war. The third part, articles 6 to 12, related to the surrender by the German Government to Allied Representatives of almost all its powers and authority, the release and repatriation of prisoners and forced labourers, the cessation of radio broadcasts, the provision of intelligence and information, the non-destruction of weapons and infrastructure, the yielding-up of Nazi leaders for war-crime trials, and the power of Allied Representatives to issue proclamations, orders, ordinances and instructions covering "additional political, administrative, economic, financial, military and other requirements arising from the complete defeat of Germany". The key article in the third part was article 12, providing that the German Government and German High command would comply fully with any proclamations, orders, ordinances and instructions of the accredited Allied Representatives; as this was understood by the Allies as allowing unlimited scope to impose arrangements for the restitution and reparation of war-damages. Articles 13 and 14 specified the date of surrender and the languages of the definitive texts.〔 The Yalta Conference in February 1945 led to a further development of the terms of surrender, as it was agreed that administration of post-war Germany would be split into four occupation zones for Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union respectively. In addition, but separately, it was agreed at Yalta that an additional clause 12a would be added to the July 1944 surrender text; that the Allied Representatives "will take such steps, including the complete disarmament, demilitarisation and dismemberment of Germany as they deem requisite for future peace and security". France, however, was not party to the Yalta agreement, which created a diplomatic problem as formal inclusion of the additional clause in the EAC text would inevitably create a French demand for equal representation in any dismemberment decisions. While this was unresolved, there were in effect two versions of the EAC text; with and without the 'dismemberment clause'.〔 Moreover, by the end of March 1945, the British government had come to doubt whether, once Germany had been completely overpowered (as was the precondition for the agreed text for surrender), there would be any German civil authority capable of signing the instrument of surrender, or of putting its provisions into effect. They therefore proposed that the EAC text should be redrafted as a unilateral declaration of German defeat by the Allied Powers, and of their assumption of supreme authority following the total dissolution of the former German state.〔 It was in this form that text agreed by European Advisory Commission was finally effected as the Declaration regarding the defeat of Germany In the meanwhile, the Combined Chiefs of Staff of the Western Allies had, in August 1944, agreed general guidelines for the terms of local military surrenders to be concluded with any capitulating German forces; capitulation had to be unconditional and restricted to the purely military aspects of a local surrender, no commitments were to be given to the enemy, and surrender was to be without prejudice to any subsequent general instrument of surrender which might replace any document of partial surrender and which would be jointly imposed on Germany by the three Great Powers. These guidelines formed the basis for the series of partial capitulations of German forces to the Western Allies in April and May 1945.〔 In the event of the German signings of Instruments of Surrender at Reims and Berlin, the EAC text was not used; but a simplified, military-only version, based largely on the wording of the partial surrender instrument of German forces in Italy signed at Caserta, was applied instead. The reasons for the change are disputed; but may reflect awareness of the reservations being expressed as to the capability of the German signatories to agree the provisions of the full text; or otherwise the continued uncertainty over communicating the 'dismemberment clause' to the French.〔 But that did mean that the text as signed at Reims had not been agreed in advance with the Soviet High Command. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「German Instrument of Surrender」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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