WWII+Research+and+Symposium+JLID

__** ﻿﻿Uncondtional Surrender Prolonged World War II and Caused More Casualties **__

__**Facts:**__


 * 1)** On May 8, 1945, Germany, Japan, and Italy (The Axis Powers) all unconditionally surrendered to the Allied Powers to end World War II.
 * 2)** On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide at the Führerbunker, 8 days before the surrender ending World War II.
 * 3)** In the Battle of the Bulge, the German offense was crushed, and Hitler retreated to the Führerbunker, where he lived his final days
 * 4)** June 1944, D-Day began, allied troops landed on the coast of France, invading Western Europe. Knowing he was losing the war, Hitler began making irrational military decisions
 * 5)** Hitler's "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Question" was genocide of over 6 million Jews. Most concentration camps were made into death camps designed for mass murder
 * 6)** In 1945, Hitler gave his Final Political Testament, where he says he places blame for starvation and German suffering on Jews.
 * 7)** 2 days before he died, Hitler married his long-time mistress, Eva Braun. She also commited suicide along with Hitler
 * 8)** On April 28th, 1945, Benito Mussolini and his mistress were executed by firing squad. Their bodies were hung in a public square in Milan. They died 2 days before Hitler commited suicide. This was also 10 days before surrendering ended World War II
 * 9)** Germany surrendered to the United States and the Soviet Union together on May 7, 1945. It was signed at a little red schoolhouse in Rheims, France at 2:41 a.m.
 * 10)** Both Japan and Germany refused to surrender because they didn't want to give up al the land that they had gained from the time they had came to power to 1945, but eventually, both countries surrendered, that was a main reason the war was prolonged.

__**Primary Sources:**__



This is a picture of General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff in the German High Command, surrendering to the Allied Powers on May 7, 1945. The surrender came ten days after the death of Mussolini, and eight days after the suicide of Hitler. On May 9, 1945, the Soviet Union said that there should be a second ceramonial signing of the surrender. This request was granted, but instead of being signed in Rheims, France at a little red school house, it was signed in Soviet occupied Berlin. People often wonder why the surrender took so long. Hitler and Mussolini, the two main facists in World War II were dead, the countries just ran on empty for eight more days, causing more death of not only Jews, but soldiers fighting in the War also.

"We the undersigned, acting by authority of the German High Command, hereby surrender 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."

This was the first paragraph of Germany's unconditional surrender in May of 1945. This surrender was a breath of fresh air, but most asked,"What took so long?" Hitler and Mussolini were dead, but Germany did nott want to lose all the land they had gained fro, the start of the war. Same for Japan, which is why it took them so long to surrender. While Germany and Japan ran around fighting like a bike without a chain, people were dying. Millions and millions of people, dead.

"We, acting by command of an in behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, hereby accept the provisions set forth in the declaration issued by the heads of the Governments of the United States, China, and Great Britain on 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and subsequently adhered to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which four powers are hereafter referred to as the Allied Powers."

This is the first paragraph of Japan's surrender to end World War II. Japan had a, "Never give up," attitude, which is why it took them so long to surrender the war. Like previously stated, while Japan and Germany were runniong while dehydrated, men were still dying. Whether it be in Concentration/Death Camps, or soldiers fighting the battle against each other, if the war wasn't prolonged as much as it was, millions of peoples lives would have been saved. Instead, millions of people met early deaths.