Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

[?]
LONDON, Mon— -It wfeirenerali# expected in Whitehall that the Allied Government!
would- know by t©morr-fc ^KMfaei* an ^acceptable offer of surrender would come ..from Gen- v
many, according to thewaily Telegraph's political correspondent. . . V^
Should such an offer b!Hn&&&aHiitle time might be necessary before any public statement
could be made.
It was expected that announcements in generally
agreed terms acceptable to the three major Allies
would be more readily considered if they came from
Himmler than if they emanated from any other
source.
He was considered the only person in a position to
ensure that German units with which the High
Command was still in touch would cease resistance.
The Daily Express man at Stockholm
says that despite the Allies' rejection of
Himmler's original plan, negotiations were
going- on in the week-end. Diplomats
thought last night that they promised the
possibility of results in a matter of days,
even hours.
Chairman Count Bernadotte of the Swe
dish Red Cross through whom Himmler's
offer of surrender to Britain and America,
but 'not Russia, was made, was reported to
have seen Himmler again in Denmark.
He was expected to arrive back in Swe
den today. ;? ' ? : .:
There was no doubt that he and the Swe
dish Government were making prodigious
efforts to bring off an early cessation of fire
in order to save further bloodshed and de
struction especially in Denmark and Nor
way. ' s ?'.'_?[
Himmler, Stockholm reports say, provided Ber
nadotte with a special plane to fly to Sweden and
back to Denmark.
Expectation, Confidence
The Times diplomatic correspondent said that there
was an expectation in official quarters that Himmler's
reply to the Allied rejection of his offer would not
be long delayed and confidence that when it arrived
it would be found that the offer had been extended to
include Russia. .
The confidence was based on the consideration that
Himmler would not have moved in the first place if he
had not seen the hopelessness of Germany's position.
The Press Association's diplomatic correspond
ent says that informed opinion in London re
garded Himmler's message as the opening gambit
of moves which would shortly end the war in
Europe.
Himmler appeared to have taken complete control.
As soon as he announced Germany's surrender Allied
terms would be presented to him for acceptance.
There would be no question of argument or negotia
tion.
Germany from that moment would come under
Allied military government.
The Times's Stockholm correspondent reported that
authoritative military opinion there was that when
knowledge of Himmler's move had spread among the
German military commanders, as it inevitably would,
the effect on their will for continued resistance would
be devastating.
At 4 a.m. today (10 a.m. Perth time), the British
United Press man with the Seventh Army on the
Western Front, reported that the whole Seventh Army
front had been warned to be ready for a. sudden cessa
tion of hostilities.
Here Himmler (left), now accepted as boss of the German Reich, shakes hands with Fuehrer Hitler variously reported as de posed, dying, dead. Help
Here Himmler (left), now accepted as boss
of the German Reich, shakes hands with
Fuehrer Hitler variously reported as de
posed, dying, dead.
$