After Hitler: The Last Ten Days of World War II in Europe (54 page)

Chapter 7: The Dispossessed

For general background, particularly valuable are Shephard,
Long Road Home
and Hitchcock,
Bitter Road to Freedom.
The key source I have used for Sandbostel, Major McLaren’s memoir ‘Sandbostel horror camp, Germany 1945’, is in the Archive of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, GB/1538/S56; see also IWM/11147. McLaren arrived at Sandbostel on 6 May 1945. Also useful was Barnard,
Two Weeks in May
1945.
Lieutenant General Horrock’s impression of the camp and the response of German civilians from nearby villages is from his
A Full Life.
Elfie Walther’s diary extracts are found in Jordan (ed.),
Conditions of Surrender.
On Bergen-Belsen see Shephard,
After Daybreak
and Hargrave,
Bergen-Belsen
1945.
Captain Robert Barer’s letter to his wife is from Jordan (ed.),
Conditions of Surrender.
On the experiences of the US Army, I have found Ast,
American Soldiers Enter Concentration Camps
particularly helpful. The reaction of Soviet soldiers to Majdanek and Auschwitz is sourced from Jones,
Total War.
Paul Winterton’s rebuff, and the background to it, is cited with acknowledgement to the BBC’s
What Aunty Did in the War.
Dimbleby’s broadcast on Belsen is at
www.bbc.co.uk/archives/holocaust
. The reaction of the British public to films of the camps is taken from the Mass Observation Archive. For the liberation of Gunskirchen I have used ‘The 71st Infantry at Gunskirchen Lager’,
www.remember.org/mooney/gunskirchen
. Reactions to the reburial of bodies from Wöbbelin are found in Mrozek, 82
nd Airborne Division.
Extracts from Harold Porter’s ‘Letter to his parents describing Dachau concentration camp’ and Alan Walker’s ‘Letter to Sheffield from Germany, May 1945’ are reproduced with permission from
www.fold3.com
and
www.chrishobbs.com/belsen1945
. Seibert’s report on Mauthausen and reaction to Flossenbürg is from Ast,
American Soldiers.
Lubertus Shapelhouman’s testimony is drawn from Jaime O’Neill, ‘The way to Mauthausen’,
Sacramento News and Review
(2 August 2007). Vasily Bezugly’s account of the liberation of Stalag Luft 1 is sourced from
www.merkki.com/russians
. Finlayson’s ‘From Edinburgh to UNRRA’ is used with thanks to the BBC’s ‘People’s War’ and acknowledgement to Janet Finlayson. Kathryn Hulme’s impressions of Wildflecken are from her
The Wild Place.
Marta Korwin’s comments are from Hitchcock,
Liberation.
For Bob Prouse, see Rollings,
Prisoner of War.
On the Dutch famine, Eric Heijink’s website is valuable:
www.operationmanna.secondworldwar.nl
. Also see Onderwater,
Operation Manna/Chowhound.
For Denis Thompson and Operation Manna, I owe the information to the RAF Cosford Oral History Project. The initial discussions on the Dutch famine are from TNA, CAB 195/3, part 1. Tom Stafford’s account is from ‘The mass surrender of German troops to the 367th Infantry Regiment on May 6 1945’, available at
www.87thinfantrydivision.com
. Jerry Tax’s remarkable description is from his ‘And afterwards’, at
www.remember.org/mooney/gunskirchen
. I am grateful to John Mooney of the US 71st Division website for permission to quote at length from this piece.

Chapter 8: Rheims

Diplomatic material on the Rheims signing is primarily from the British Online Archive, Papers Related to the Allied High Command 1943–45 (Eisenhower Correspondence, Records of the Supreme Allied Command). George Bailey’s reminiscences of Susloparov are from
The Reporter
(20 May 1965). On the hurried drafting of the text, see Counsell,
Counsell’s Opinion.
For Richard Wilberforce’s perception of the flaws in the surrender treaty drawn up at Rheims, see IWM/12931. The narrative, derived from Butcher,
My Three Years with Eisenhower
and Summersby,
Eisenhower Was My Boss
, alongside Eisenhower’s own
Crusade in Europe
, is most recently supplemented by Crosswell,
Bedell Smith.
Bernard’s comments are from IWM/18001. For the Russian response, particularly revealing is Sergei Shtemenko,
Memoirs.
On Ed Kennedy, see Cochran (ed.),
Ed Kennedy’s War.
The alternative view is put in Boyd Lewis,
Not Always a Spectator.
For Charles Kiley’s view I am indebted to his son, David Kiley, ‘My father and Edward Kennedy’:
www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07
. The reactions of Cooke and Walker are from Longmate,
When We Won the War.
Von Krosigk’s broadcast to the German people is found in Lüdde-Neurath,
Unconditional Surrender.
The course of the surrender negotiations in Breslau is drawn from Gleiss,
Breslauer Apokalypse
and Hargreaves,
Breslau
1945.
For Churchill’s continued concern about Denmark, see CCA, CHAR/20/217/110 and Buckley,
Monty’s Men.
Reaction in San Francisco to the news of the Soviet arrest of sixteen Poles is taken from Gilbert,
Day the War Ended.
Charles Havlat’s death at Volary is recounted at
www.737thtankbattalion.org/Volary/Havlat
. On the clash at Tangermünde, see Gellermann,
Die Armee Wenck
and Gilbert,
Day the War Ended.
Macleod’s comments are from his
A Job at the BBC.
A full transcript of the crucial phone call between Leahy and Churchill is provided in Records of the Supreme Command; see also Leahy,
I Was There.
The letters of Lady Ashburnham and Ronald Horton are from the East Sussex Record Office, AMS 6375/1/13 and AMS 6732/1/25. West Lothian miner William Paton’s diary entry is from the National Records of Scotland, NRAS 4107/6. Montague Burton’s letter is from Ian Whitehead, ‘Victory! VE Day celebrations on the British Home Front’,
Everyone’s War
, 11 (2005), as are the reactions of the ATS clerk to the continuing delay. Brigadier Stack’s recollections of the capture of Göring are at
www.kwanah.com/36division/ps0277
. For Rokossovsky’s meeting with Montgomery, see Batov,
Campaigns and Battles
and Margry, ‘British–Soviet link-up’. The subsequent report of the 2nd Belorussian Front, noting Montgomery’s wish to vist Stalingrad, is from
Russian Archives: Great Patriotic War
(vol. XV). For the situation on the ground in Wismar, Roy Porter’s recollections have kindly been shared with me by Russell Porter. Antonin Sticha has generously provided me with an overview of the events in the Czech capital on 7 May. Further references are from the Prague City Archives and Jakl,
May
1945
in the Czech Lands.
Additional material on the Vlasov forces is from Diczbalis,
Russian Patriot
and Tomas Jakl’s article ‘Armour of the First Division of the ROA’ at
www.konr.webz.cz/ROA
. Harak Bohumil’s account is taken from
www.pametnaroda.cz/story/harak-bohumil
.

Chapter 9: Karlshorst

For general background, see Gilbert,
Day the War Ended
, Miller,
VE Day: The People’s Story
and Longmate,
When We Won the War.
Karl-Ludwig Hoch’s account of the Russian entry into Dresden is from Clayton and Russell (eds.),
Dresden: A City Reborn.
Diczbalis’s account is from his
A Russian Patriot.
Jaroslav Oliverius’s experiences in Prague are sourced from
www.pametnaroda.cz/story/oliverius-jaroslav
. I owe my interviews with veterans Straka and Svacina to Antonin Sticha. See also
www.pametnaroda.cz/story/svacina-jan
. For additional material, I am grateful to Richard Gaskell for his thorough study ‘The Czech token force’ on his website
www.webring.com/people/fc/czechandslovakthings
. See also, for Straka, the interview on
www.memoryofnations.eu/index.php/witness
. The surrender treaty between General Toussaint and the Czech rebels is in the Prague City Archives.The draft text of the German capitulation – to be signed at Karlshorst – was presented to Keitel on his arrival at Berlin Tempelhof. The changes to the text of the original Rheims treaty were underscored in red, along with the passage newly added by the Russians. In the margin, in blue, was written ‘new!’: Bundesarchiv, RW 44-1/37. For the proceedings at Karlshorst, Zhukov,
Memoirs
, and Keitel,
Memoirs
have been helpful, alongside the impressions of Kiley, ‘This is how Germany Gave Up!’
Stars and Stripes
(10 May 1945)
,
and Summersby,
Eisenhower Was My Boss.
Serov’s interrogation of Keitel is from
Russian Archives: Great Patriotic War
(vol. XV). Brokensha’s experience of 8 May is drawn from Vercoe,
Survival at Stalg Luft IVB
and
www.pegasusarchives.org
. For Schörner’s ‘last stand’, see Kaltenegger,
Schörner
(for the rehetoric) and Lelyushenko,
Notes of a Commander
(for the reality). Mollie Panter-Downes’s description is from
www.eyewitness tohistory.com/londonveday
. Harold Nicolson’s account is from
Diaries:
1907–1964.
John Lehmann’s comments are found in Miller,
VE Day.
Elaine Leighton’s recollections are from IWM/16175. Paton’s diary entry is from National Records of Scotland, NRAS 4107/6. Mary Blythe’s letter about the VE-Day celebrations in London is in the Surrey History Centre Archives, Z/439/3. Irene Bain’s recollections of her street party are found in Ian Whitehead, ‘Victory!’ Other reactions are from the Mass Observation Archive. The final operations of the 51st Highland Division are at
www.51hd.co.uk/accounts/final_op
; those of their opponents – the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division – at
www.ww2talk.com/forum/487168-post23
. John F. Kennedy’s report is from Gilbert,
Day the War Ended.
Picard’s recollections are from Kempowski,
Das Echolot.
Reactions in Italy are from Gilbert,
Day the War Ended.
Friedrich Kaufmann’s account, ‘Mein letzter einsatz in Kurland’, is from
www.kurland-kessel.de
. William Preston’s letter is from Andrew Carroll, ‘An Infantryman recalls VE Day’, at
www.historynet.com
. For Brady and Jolley, see J. L. Granatstein, ‘The end of darkness’,
Legion Magazine
(1 May 2005). Tom Renouf’s experiences are taken from
www.51hd.co.uk/accounts
. Lee Dickman’s are found at
www.wartimememories.co.uk
.

Chapter 10: Moscow

Lazarus Brontman’s recollections of 9 May are taken from his
Diaries
1932–1947.
The diary entry of Wilfried Orts is from
www.kurland-kessel.de
. For the Russian view of the Courland surrender, see Isachenko,
Somewhere in Courland.
Nikolai Inozemtsev’s account is from his
Frontline Diary.
Red Army soldier Pavel Elkinson’s description of the end of the fighting in Hungary is from the Blavatnik Archive, New York. Kessler on the liberation of Theresienstadt is found in Kempowski,
Das Echolot.
The testimonies of Reingold and Helfgort are from Gilbert,
Day the War Ended.
On the continuing Prague offensive: Nemchinsky,
Warning – Mines!
and Zaitsev,
Memoirs.
Joachim Halfpap’s account of the surrender at Deutsch-Brod (also known by its Czech name of Nemecky-Brod) is from Kempowski,
Das Echolot
with additional information supplied by Richard Hargreaves. German troop strength at the time of the surrender is sourced from
www.forum.axishistory.com
. Gustav Lambard’s recollections are from
For the Homeland.
On Bornholm, Bent Jensen, ‘Soviet occupation of a new type: the long liberation of the Danish island of Bornholm’,
Scandinavian Journal of History
, 25 (2000) is supplemented by the recollections of Pröbstle (Kempowski,
Das Echolot
) and the combat report of the Soviet 18th Rifle Division: Russian Ministry of Defence Archives, Podolsk. The key SHAEF documents are printed in Hornemann (ed.),
Bornholm Mellem Ost Og West.
Orme Sargent’s message to Churchill is from TNA, FO 954/23B. Hans Schäufler remembered General von Saucken instructing his troops on 7 May that ‘military operations would continue’, with the justification that ‘it was imperative that no German soldier fell into Russian hands’: Schäufler,
Panzer Warfare.
For Von Saucken’s garrisoning of Bornholm after the Rheims surrender, see ‘Bornholm May 1945’ on
www.forum.axishistory.com
. The award to him of the Diamonds and Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross on the early morning of 9 May, with handwritten note praising his evacuation of soldiers and civilians and urging him to continue this for as long as feasible, is Catalogue Entry 0273 at
www.liveauctioneers.com/item/445848
. The diary extract of Frank Lockwood is reproduced with acknowledgement to the Acocks Green Historical Society, Birmingham; Derrick with thanks to the BBC’s ‘People’s War’ and acknowledgement to Mary Derrick. For the liberation of the Channel Islands I have drawn from Bunting,
Model Occupation
; Nowlan,
Von Aufsess Occupation Diary
; Evans,
War Diaries of Violet Carey
and Bihet,
Child’s War.
I am grateful to Molly Bihet for discussing her recollections of 9 May with me. Clementine Churchill’s contemporary journal, ‘My visit to Russia’, is in IWM/16175. Additional material is from Soames,
Speaking for Themselves.
Frank Roberts’s 8 May assessment that ‘her presence here is making a valuable contribution towards future relations between the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union’ is from CCA, CHAR20/204B/121. The 5 May exchange of telgrams between Winston Churchill and Clementine is found in CCA, CHAR20/204B/103–5. For Stalin’s reaction to VE-Day, the contrasting responses are from Svetlana Alliluyeva,
Twenty Letters to a Friend
and Nikita Khrushchev,
Memoirs.
The Soviet leader’s message to the British people is from Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy.
Alexander Werth’s comments are from his
Russia at War.
The quotations from
The Times
and
Manchester Guardian
are found in Longmate,
When We Won the War.
For Bob Dunbar’s experiences of 9 May in Moscow, see IWM/17386. Hewlett Johnson’s description is from his
Searching for Light.
Robert Tucker’s memories are at
www.gwu.edu/nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews
. Accounts of Alexander Ustinov and Nikolai Kryuchkov are from the RIA Novosti Archive (for which I owe thanks to Ralph Gibson). Grigory Klimov’s remarkable description is from
The Terror Machine.