May 7, 1945 - News of the unconditional surrender of Germany and the quick rebuttal that no, it really wasn't the official surrender of Germany.
May 7, 2012

Germans-Surrender-Signing.jpg
Despite proof to the contrary, it wasn't really an "official surrender".


News on this May 7th in 1945 was confusing at best. In what began at 9:45 EWT (Eastern War Time) on Monday May 7th as flashed bulletins that Germany had unconditionally surrendered sent a wave of excitement throughout Europe and the U.S., was reversed less than an hour later with reports from Allied Headquarters that no "Official" surrender announcement had been made. And there would be no more news regarding the surrender until further notice (which turned out to be the next day).

The culprit, it was later learned, was someone at Associated Press who had witnessed the surrender signing, got the scoop on the rest of the world and, as you would say if it happened today, the whole thing went viral.

This broadcast, part of those first few hours of May 7th 1945, starts at 11:00 am in New York. Roughly twenty minutes in comes (during a Jimmy Fidler's Hollywood Program) a bulletin cautioning people getting ready to celebrate that it wasn't quite a done-deal yet and the brakes were quickly put on declaring it VE Day.

Listening back to this broadcast, it's clear something was potentially amiss, as there was no word from The White House regarding the surrender and there was a wait for confirmation from Supreme Allied Headquarters which, as it came to pass, hadn't come yet.

But everyone was still excited, and this half-hour glimpse into that May 7th from 1945, via WOR in New York, gives some indication.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon