Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Last Germans to Surrender (Encore)

Episode Date: July 24, 2021

Wars can start with a bang but end with a whimper. Often an attack or an invasion will begin a war, but even one when one side surrenders, it can take days, weeks, or months for word of the capitulation to get out to everyone. While the European theater of World War II officially ended on May 8, 1945, the word didn’t reach everyone right away. Learn more about the last Germans to surrender on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. Wars can start with a bang, but end with a whimper. Often, an attack or invasion will begin a war, but even when one side surrenders, it can take days, weeks, or months for the word of capitulation to get out to everyone. While the European Theater of World War II officially ended on May 8, 1945, the word didn't reach everyone right away. Learn more about the last Germans to surrender on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream. If you're interested in the history of the Second World War, then Curiosity Stream has plenty of shows to peak your interest. They have World War II programs about codebreaking, technology, battles, and the leaders of World War II.

Prices start as low as $299 per month or $1999 per year, one of the cheapest streaming services online. If you love to learn, then start your subscription by visiting everything-everywhere.com slash curiosity stream, or by clicking on the link in the show notes. Communications have always been a problem in warfare. In ancient times, just sending commands from one side of a battlefield to another was extremely difficult. Flags and horns would often be used to send commands because there was no other way to send communications over that distance in that amount of time. Even with the advent of radio in World War II, battlefields were spread out over much larger distances, and communication could still be difficult. With that being said, let me summarize the timeline of what happened at the end of World War II in Europe in the spring of,

of 1945 as the Allies were closing in. Hitler and his cronies were in his bunker in Berlin, and the Russians began inching closer. Many of his top generals, who saw the writing on the wall, began surrendering individually, and Hitler accused them of being traitors as the wall started caving in. On April 25th, Mussolini was killed by a mob in Italy. On April 29th, all of the German forces in Italy surrendered. Hitler kills himself on April 30th. After that, things began to fall apart very quickly. Technically, the leadership of the Third Reich fell to Admiral Carl Donnitz, not that there was really anything to rule over. On May 2nd, the German forces in Berlin surrender to the Soviets. On May 4th, German troops in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Northern

Germany, surrender to Field Marshal Montgomery. On May 5th, Germans in Bavaria surrender to American General Jacob Divers. On May 6th, Herman Goring surrenders to General Carl Spots, head of the American Air Forces in Europe. On May 7th, that shape, the Supreme headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Reims, France, Chief of Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, General Alfred Yodel, signed the document of unconditional surrender of all German forces. The same day, General Franz Bohm announced the surrender of all German forces in Norway with the phrase, quote, all forces under German control to cease active operations at 23.01-hour

Central European time on May 8, 1945, unquote. On May 8th, Field Marshal Wilhelm, Kytle surrendered in person to Soviet field marshal Zuccov in Berlin. Pretty much all German forces ceased activity, the war in Europe was over, and VE. Day was celebrated around the world, and random people started kissing each other in Times Square. Except, not everyone in the German army was able to surrender. Not the men who were part of Operation Houtigan. Now you're probably wondering what was Operation Houtigan.

I've done several episodes on other operations from World War II, and I'll probably do more in the future. Most of these operations were military operations with the intent of invasion or espionage. Houdigan roughly translates into old veteran soldier in German. With a name like that, you'd think that this was probably some sort of commando operation. Actually, it was an operation to set up weather stations. The men involved in the operation were mostly scientists. As Germany expanded their empire via conquest, they got some tiny bits that really didn't stand out on a map of Europe. In particular, when they conquered Norway, they also took control of the far northern

Islands of the Svalzbard Archipelago. Operation Houtigan was a project by the German Navy to set up weather stations in the far north to provide information for the German military. In late 1943, 60 men began training for a secret project. They didn't know what their mission was, but they knew it would probably be something in the Arctic. They underwent training and skiing, repelling, cold weather survival. Non-scientific personnel were taught how to work the weather in scientific equipment. They were even taught how to pull teeth and perform other emergency medical

procedures while they were in isolation. In December 1944, ten men boarded a U-boat in the city of Tromstone Norway and traveled to the remote Svalzbard archipelago. When they arrived, they had to quickly unload everything from the U-boat and set up operations in the middle of winter. They had enough food and supplies to last them for two years. The head of the project was Dr. Wilhelm Dengi. He and his team began radioing weather reports back to German High Command five times a day every single day. As 1945 continued, the Tiemanns-Falsvard heard reports on the radio, and the reports weren't good. By April, they were instructed to prepare a landing strip so an airplane could come and pick them up.

They created what they could for a landing strip, but no airplanes ever came. On May 8th, they heard the news on the radio of the surrender of Germany from their commander in Tromso, Norway. They were told to destroy all secret documents and wait for instructions. They did as they were told, but no instructions ever came. There was complete radio silence. The problem was a team of meteorologists above the Arctic Circle wasn't what anybody was thinking about back in Germany. They had been totally forgotten. The men on Svalzwarge were worried.

They didn't know what was happening in Europe. They didn't know what happened to their families. Eventually, Dr. Dengi made the decision to try and contact the Allies. He figured that a bunch of weathermen on an island in the Arctic Ocean wouldn't be considered war criminals, so it was their best chance of getting off the island. However, they never got a reply. It wasn't until late August that the men on the island finally got in contact with someone in Norway. The Norwegians promised that they would send a boat to come and pick them up.

Finally, on September 4th, a seal hunting ship sent by the Norwegian Navy arrived to rescue the stranded meteorology team. Dr. Dengue insisted on a formal surrender to the Norwegian captain Albertson. He handed his pistol over to the captain saying, quote, I don't know how to handle this either. The Norwegian captain responded by saying, can I keep this then? And that was the very awkward way in which the last Germans surrendered in World War II.

The men were taken back to Tromsau where they were kept as prisoners of war for three months. Dr. Dengi went on to become a geography teacher and passed away in 1976. The men in the island tried to have annual reunions, but they were split between East and West Germany and the Cold War made it impossible. Their base is preserved today as a Norwegian historical site.

Oddly enough, while these were the last Germans to surrender, it wasn't technically the end to World War II. VE Day celebrates the surrender of Germany. While the Allies occupied Germany for several years, the Declaration of War was still in effect. A formal cessation of hostilities wasn't declared between the United States and Germany until December 10, 1946. The Paris Peace Conference of February 10, 1947,

finally set a formal peace treaty between the Allies and Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Basically, everyone except Germany. The end of the Declaration of War between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany didn't occur until 1950. The final, final legal removal of a state of war that existed from World War II didn't occur until 1955, when the Soviet Union ended their state of war with Germany, which by that time had been split into two different countries. The last survivor of Operation Houtigan, and hence the last German to surrender in World War II, passed away in 2015. at the age of 92.

Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James McAlla. The associate producer is Thor Thompson. Today's five-star review comes from Apple Podcasts. Listener Mickey Jelly writes, Interesting and thought-provoking. My ADHD brain loves the short, informative style of this podcast. I can listen while I work out or get ready for my day. I learn something new without having to invest a lot of time.

As a working mom, I often struggle to find ways to connect with my kids. The variety of topics is giving. me something interesting to talk about with my kids on a daily basis. My only 2021 resolution is to listen every day. Thanks, Gary. Well, thank you very much, Mickey. What you're doing is exactly what I had hoped to see people do with the podcast. Remember, if you leave a five-star review, you too can have your review read on the show.