At 02:41 in a Reims schoolhouse, Nazi Germany signed the paperwork that confirmed what Allied armies had already carved into Europe: the Third Reich was finished.
The first Instrument of Surrender was signed in Reims at 02:41 Central European Time on 7 May 1945. General Alfred Jodl signed on behalf of Nazi Germany, with Walter Bedell Smith signing on behalf of ...
General Jodl said in German: “With this signature the German people and German armed forces are for better or worse delivered into the victor’s hands.” Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, chief of staff to ...