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How did the German armed forces surrender at Reims in May 1945?

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Wehrmacht German soldiers fighting in the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa, 1941.

The surrender of the German armed forces at Reims, France, took place on May 7, 1945. This act of unconditional surrender was signed by General Alfred Jodl, who served as the chief of operations for the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command).12

The document was signed at the headquarters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the presence of delegations from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France. This formal capitulation followed an earlier, localized surrender of German forces in northwestern Europe, which had been signed at Bernard Law Montgomery’s headquarters on Lüneburg Heath on May 4. The surrender signed at Reims officially brought the war in Europe to a conclusion at midnight on May 8, 1945.32