Draft of the historic WWII surrender agreement is on sale for $3.5million

KimmyPoo · 11/12/2019 5:13 AM EST

Click For Photo: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/11/11/17/20872694-0-image-a-15_1573492804923.jpg

The draft of the historic surrender agreement which ended the Second World War in Europe and belonged to President Eisenhower is on sale for $3.5million, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The agreement, signed on May 7, 1945, in Reims, France, brought to an end six years of fighting in Europe which had cost the lives of an estimated 60million people.

Hours - Morning - Members - Nazi - Command

In the early hours of the morning, members of the Nazi high command, General Jodl and Admiral von Friedeburg, were driven to a little red schoolhouse in Reims, 90 miles north of Paris, which served as the headquarters of Dwight D. Eisenhower, then the Supreme Allied Commander.

In a cramped classroom lined with maps, Nazi officials were presented with the document by the representatives of Great Britain, the United States, France and Russia, and ordered to sign.

Germans - Terms - Surrender

The Germans had wrongly presumed that they would be allowed to discuss the terms of their surrender.

'They were met by Eisenhower's chief of staff who told them politely but firmly: 'There are no terms, you will surrender unconditionally – period,' historian Norman Polmar told the History Channel.

Eisenhower - Anything - Surrender - Germans - Allied

Eisenhower had earlier warned that anything short of an unconditional surrender by the Germans meant that he would close Allied lines to surrendering Nazi soldiers and resume the bombardment of German-held locations.

When the Germans realized that they had no choice, Jodl, designated representative of Karl Donitz, the admiral who had taken over as leader of Nazi Germany following Adolf Hitler's suicide, signed the papers at 2.41am.

Eisenhower - Nazi - Officials - Surrender - Document

Eisenhower had refused to meet with the Nazi officials until the surrender document was signed.

Polmar said: 'After the signing, Eisenhower did meet with them. There were no handshakes.

''Do - Terms - Surrender - ''Yes

'Eisenhower asked them bluntly: ''Do you understand the terms of this surrender?'' Once they said: ''Yes, we do,'' he turned around and left.

'It had been a cruel, horrible and terrible war;...

(Excerpt) Read more at: Mail Online

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