Eisenhower, Dwight D. | "The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945."

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

Signature ("Dwight D Eisenhower") as Supreme Allied Commander, on copy no. 298 of his cable announcing the end of the War in Europe

Mimeographed document, one page (252 x 188 mm, sight) on yellow SHAEF letterhead red-printed "Outgoing Message" and "The Making of an Exact Copy of the Message is Forbidden," SHAEF Forward [the École Professionelle et Technique de Garçons, Reims], 7 May 1945, being copy no. 298 of Eisenhower's "urgent" cable FWD-20798 of this date to the Combined Chiefs of Staff and British Chiefs of Staff; tiny loss to upper right corner. Matted, framed, and glazed; housed in a brown morocco folding-case gilt, red morocco spine label.

Ike announces the end of the War in Europe. General Eisenhower did not attend the ceremony at which German General Alfred Jodl surrendered "unconditionally to the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command all forces on land, sea, and in the air who are at this date under German control"; but after the Act of Military Surrender had been signed (by Jodl, United States General Walter Bedell Smith, and Soviet General Ivan Susloparov), Eisenhower briefly met with Jodl to make sure that the German Commander understood all of the terms of the document and to warn that he would be held accountable if the terms were violated.

After Jodl was dismissed, General Smith suggested that it was necessary for a message acknowledging the surrender to be sent to the Combined Chiefs of Staff. Smith later wrote that most of the SHAEF officers tried to draft an appropriate announcement: "I tried one myself, and like all my associates, groped for resounding phrases as fitting accolades to the Great Crusade and indicative of our dedication to the great task just completed" (Eisenhower's Six Great Decisions, p. 229). Eisenhower rejected all of the grandiloquent proposals of his staff and dictated himself the official announcement printed here, brilliant in both its simplicity and clarity: "The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945."

Eisenhower signed a very few copies of this historic document as souvenirs for their recipients; some of these copies bear the designation "Top Secret."

PROVENANCE

Mrs. Philip D. Sang (Sotheby's 27 March 1985, lot 161)

REFERENCE

Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, War Years, ed. Chandler, 4:2499