International Autograph Auctions Ltd.
Lot 289
WORLD WAR II: An historically important original Cipher Message, one page, 4to, n.p., (Headquarters, British Main Second Army), n.d. (May 1945). The purple ink telex document, marked TOPSEC (Top Secret) and signed in facsimile by an unidentified Major General, Acting Chief of Staff, was sent to Main 8 Corps and states, in part, 'members of the so called German Government of Admiral DONITZ and of OKW at FLENSBURG will now be arrested by you as quickly as possible after consultation with head of SHAEF Control Party OKW…nominations of personnel to be arrested will be made by SHAEF Control Party OKW (.) total numbers of personnel for disposal are estimated to amount approximately to 470 off[ice]rs and 2400 OR (.) all arrested personnel should be held in a separate camp until such time as orders for their final disposal are issued by this HQ….certain special personnel nominated by SHAEF Control Party OKW estimated to number NOT more than 30 will be conducted to Main HQ Second Army for fwd transmission to ASHCAN….OKW personnel will not be arrested as yet(.)….archives at FLENSBERG will be seized and secured by you with a view to SHAEF intelligence exploitation(.) they will be disposed of as directed by the SHAEF Control Party(.)….treat as very urgent and report on progress of arrests as plans develop'. With various instructions at the base noting that the message is a priority and most immediate and is not to be signalled. A couple of pencil annotations appear at the head and the foot of the page. Two file holes to the left edge and with some light overall creasing, about VGAn historically important Top Secret Cipher Message issued at the end of World War II announcing the arrest of Dönitz and the end of the Flensberg Government.Karl Dönitz (1891-1980) German Admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Dönitz succeeded Adolf Hitler as the Reichspräsident of the 'Flensberg Government' (2nd May - 23rd May 1945).OKW - the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ('Supreme Command of the Armed Forces') was part of the command structure of the Wehrmacht (armed forces) of Germany during World War II. Created in 1938, the OKW had nominal oversight over the German Army, the Kriegsmarine (German navy) and the Luftwaffe (German air force).SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) - the headquarters of American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. Eisenhower ordered General Rooks, G-3 of SHAEF, to establish the SHAEF Control Party at Flensburg. Its purpose was to impose the will of the Supreme Commander on OKW in the areas of Germany occupied by the Western Allies. General Rooks issued the orders, supervised their transmission through German command channels, and compiled information about the German command system through the collection and safeguarding of all OKW documents at FIensburg.Camp ASHCAN - the Central Continental Prisoner of War Enclosure No. 32, code-named Ashcan, an Allied prisoner-of-war camp in the Palace Hotel of Mondorf-les-Bains in Luxembourg during World War II. Operating from May to August 1945, it served as a processing station and interrogation centre for the 86 most prominent surviving Nazi leaders prior to their trial in Nuremberg, including Hermann Göring and Karl Dönitz.On the morning of 23 May 1945, General Rooks summoned Dönitz, Jodl, and von Friedeburg to the liner Patria. Here they were greeted by a large crowd of press reporters, alerted by speculation of a Control Party action and SHAEF correspondents leaving from Paris. On entering the ships' conference room, they found General Rooks who informed them that they had been summoned on instructions from General Eisenhower, who in agreement with the Soviet High Command, had decided the Acting German Government and OKW should be arrested. This officially ended the 'Flensburg Government'. Now as prisoners of war, and under guard, they were told to pack and were escorted to an awaiting aircraft. When asked by Rooks if he had any statement to make, Dönitz replied 'Any word would be superfluous'. Meanwhile, members of the government, unaware of the proceedings on the Patria, had gathered for their daily conference. Fully armed British soldiers burst into the room shouting 'Hands Up'. All the Germans were then strip searched for concealed weapons and documents. The arrests were intended to make the headlines, with over sixty reporters invited to record the scenes. In the New York Times of the 24th May, Drew Middleton wrote 'The Third Reich died today'. The American Diplomat Robert Murphy summed it up as thus, 'After the arrest of Grand Admiral Dönitz and his associates, not even a remnant remained of any German government. The conquerors of the Nazis were in complete control and the administration of Germany was their responsibility.' That struggle was about to begin.
