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Mission Accomplished

Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower (right) smiles as he holds the two pens used by German representatives to sign the unconditional surrender document ending World War II in Europe in the early morning of May 7, 1945. His chief of staff, Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith, looks on, left in the picture. A jubilant staff surrounds both of the men.

There was no exchange of salutes. German Generals, Jodl, Friedeburg and Oxenius stood at attention before Eisenhower as he sternly asked them:
"Do you understand the terms of this unconditional surrender and are you ready to comply with them?"

General Jodl-*, in the center of the German trio, clicked his heels and bowed his head in the affirmative after Strong interpreted the Supreme Commander's question.

The Germans left the General at 02:57, after a two minute audience.

General Suslaparov led the Russian officers into the Supreme Commander's office and firmly grasped Eisenhower's hand. The Supreme Commander beamed and said, "This is a great moment for all of us."

General Suslaparov spoke and when his words were interpreted Eisenhower replied: "You said it."

While the surrender of German Armed Forces was accepted by the Allies in May of 1945, fighting would continue in the European theatre of war for the next two years in the form of guerrilla and German partisan activity, known today as an "insurgency", but know at the time was "Werewolves". US Military Deaths from accidents and from partisan activity from 1945 until 1949 are estimated to be roughly 4,000 deaths, excluding the period of time known as the 'Berlin blockade', which would increase the number to 6,000. Civilian deaths in the same period resulting from starvation, harsh imprisonment, civil reprisal and the displacement of large numbers of people as refugees were numbered in the tens of thousands. General starvation for the civilian populace remained a serious issue to be solved until the early 1950's.

U.S. Army uses tanks to supress a riot at a Yugoslavian DP(Displaced Persons- 'Refugee') camp

By agreement of the Allies, at the end of the military phase of the war, Germany was partitioned and would retain elements of this partitioning until 1989. West Germany was formed out of the partitions controlled by France, Great Britain and the United States, East Germany out of the Russian partition. A wall, with barbwire, machine guns,minefields and the reality of many civilian deaths and divided families, would split the country in two and would exist from 1960 until 1989. While West Germany and East Germany eventually became sovereign nations, they would both live under large scale military occupation by the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 until 1989.

To this day, a military presence by the United States can still be found on German territory-**.

While Americans have maintained a standing army and air force in the almost 60 year occupation of Germany, Germany and Europe have enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity unequaled since any time before the advent of the Roman Empire.

During the late 1970's, Germany enjoyed a brief period where manufacturing productivity was greater than that of the United States. Several prominent economists predicted that Germany and her one time Allies in Japan would soon return to manufacturing superiority over the western world, leaving the United States behind in the dust.

While Americans and Germans still have differences in politics and values, no one of any side of the political scale believes that war will come to Europe from any other European or American government, ever again. While the price was high in both lives and treasure and the task took a great long time to accomplish, the mission of ending 'war in Europe' has been accomplished. There is hardly any miltary force in even the largest of the European countries, there is certainly no 'martial will' in the armed forces that still exist there, or any public support or desire for war anywhere in the european continent.

But it was not always so. The history of Europe of the past 1000 years is a wall to wall history of the horrors of war. Roughly ever 20 years until the end of World War II, Continental Europe suffered from a major war or plague.

Now, it is among the most peaceful places on the planet, rivalling only the United States, Mexico and Canada for large populations at real peace with one another.

Years after the end of the war, American G.I.'s were often asked why they fought so hard in the Second World War and the answer was almost always the same:

"So my kids don't have to come over here and do this again"

Americans of that war and that generation, knew the high cost that comes from an incomplete victory and a policy of isolation because they had learned the lesson of 1919. The American nation was shocked at the cost of the First World War and chose to enter a period of isolation afterwards but the result was not peace, but the rise of Hitler and the Japanese Empire. The cost of the 'peace movement' that formed at the end of the First World War could be measured in real terms of the 52 million people world wide who died in the second period of conflict.

It was a conflict that could've been avoided. The conflict of the Second World War and its horrid cost in lives is what inspired a generation to do what it could to ensure that the lives spent in that conflict would not be wasted by the nation being forced in the next generation of American soldiers being sent to the soil of Europe to fight yet another war.

It should always be remembered in veiwing history, that what has happened is not a guarantee of how things would turn out without any uncertainty. History is a series of plans, accidents and miracles that have occured in just the right order to the make the reality that we now read about in 'full view' with a clear head in the safety of our homes, but at the time that history is in the process of being made, the future is always uncertain, but people living it at the time made the choices they made, based on what they knew about the past and more importantly what they learned from the lessons of the past.

In 1946, there were two plans for the future of Europe. One was the Morgenthau Plan, the other is the one we all know about, the Marshall Plan.

The potential value of a single child. A German family in post-war eating a meal of mostly potatoes.

Here's what you need to know about 'The Morgenthau Plan':

- Germany was to be partitioned into two independent states.
- Germany's main centers of mining and industry, including the Saar area, the Ruhr area and Upper Silesia were to be Internationalized or annexed by neighboring nations.
- All heavy industry was to be dismantled or otherwise destroyed.

Sound familar? It should. This isnt far removed from the plan that the Allies forced onto Germany at the end of World War I.

Yet, knowing this President Roosevelt supported the plan. In fact, many of the worlds influentual people believed it to be the way go. Germany was to be no more. Germans would pay a price for the crimes of war. This is exactly what was tried in 1919, and that idea was, as evidenced by the very existence of Second World War, a disaster.

The actions of a few contrarian individuals, heroes in my mind, would see to it that 'The Morgenthau Plan' would not be the one enacted by the allies, but instead the Marshall Plan would form the core of American support for the rebuilding and reformation of Europe for the next 60 years.

History recognizes the Marshall Plan as one one the greatest acts in foreign policy of any nation,but its implementation was far from certain. Its implementation, while a tool for peace, required the use of military force and resolve to execute.

History recognizes many other opportunities over the 60 years of its involvement for Americans to decide to leave Europe behind and to not look back.

Berlin, May 1945. The war is over, but life goes on...

In 1948, The Blockade of Berlin by the Soviet Union nearly brought starvation to the civilian population of Berlin and brought the return of War to the world. The world today knows the event as the "Berlin Airlift", where American and British airmen risked their lives flying plane loads of food into the people living in the City of Berlin.

We could have left it all behind right there. If we had, what would have happened to us?

U.S. Army Tanks on alert while the Berlin Wall is being built in 1961.

In 1961, The Soviet Union and their client state in East Germany created a wall that divided the two countries, again taking the world to the brink of nuclear war. Units of the U.S Army based in Berlin defended Berlin against the Soviets with the potential use of tactial nuclear weapons. The Soviets backed down.

We could have left it all behind right there. If we had, what would have happened to us?

In 1976, the Soviet Union deployed Short Range Tactical Missiles(SS-20's) into Eastern Europe. The United States did not budge, but chose to deploy its own missiles, the Pershing II Missile to counter the threats.

Would the wall have come down as it did, peacefully in 1989? or would the wall come down in the treads of tanks deployed in a much bloodier and longer war? Would the cause of peace have been better served if our military had not remained so vigilant in defense against the real threats to peace?

Those who profess to be a part of the "peace movement" need to understand that the emotion of "wanting peace" alone is almost never enough to actually gain the peace they so desire. On occasion, you have to demonstrate that you are willing to fight to be able to maintain the peace that you have. A large number of military people for over 60 years dedicated their lives to the cause of maintaining peace in Europe. Lives were lost, large amounts treasure were expened, and it took three generations to fully accomplish the mission of peace in Europe, but the true price of peace is never cheap or easy or fast. The cost of failure to remain vigilent fills the graveyards of battlefield after battlefield all across the world.

Our mission in Europe is now truly 'mission accomplished', but our mission is the Middle East is just getting started. Let us all hope that we are able to learn the lessons given to us in the years 1919 and 1946 and apply them to what we need to do now in 2007. If we return to the policy of 1919, we will find our grandchildren in a war of untold horror on a world wide scale that will make the Second World War look small and insignificant by comparison. Unlike the Second World War, we here at home will be on the front lines of the next war. but if we can remember the lessons of diligence, patience and faith given to us by the experiences of the year 1946, the war, a war that need not happen, can be avoided.

The best way to fight a war is to ensure it never needs to be fought in the first place. History shows us that this can be accomplished only by showing resolve towards maintaining the peace, if need be, by preparing to fight for it.

Those who want to ensure only the very conditions that will surely lead to a larger and more deadly war, are not interested in peace and should not be given that honor in the debate of the direction of our future.

Because it must be remembered that the future, is always in motion.

German Children in Berlin after the lifting ofthe blockade.
These children now have had a lifetime of peace and a future of peace, freedom and wealth after a committment of 60 years by the United States.

Do these children deserve any less?

Iraqi Children and Marine. Globe, Anchor, Eagle and smiles.

Notes:

*- Interestingly enough, The German Air Force has maintained a squadron in New Mexico since the 1960's

**-General Jodl would later be tried and hanged as part of the Nuremburg War Crimes Trails. In 1953 a Munich court re-assessed the Nuremberg legal procedures and concluded Jodl was neither guilty of crimes of war punishable by death under international law, nor of other crimes which would have made him a criminal or abuser of military power. He was completely exonerated, though the Allied powers refused to comment further on the Jodl hanging and Nuremberg trial. History it seems, never lays down in a straight line..

Posted @ May 01, 2007 01:22 PM | Current Affairs

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