Prompt Cast
The Last Germans to Surrender in World War II
TLDR In the spring of 1945, as the Allies closed in on Berlin, German forces surrendered to various Allied leaders, marking the end of the war in Europe. However, a stranded meteorology team on the island of Svalbard was forgotten by Germany and finally rescued by a Norwegian seal hunting ship, making them the last Germans to surrender.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The last Germans to surrender in World War II were slow to receive the word of capitulation.
01:43
In the spring of 1945, as the Allies closed in on Berlin, Hitler's top generals began surrendering individually, Mussolini was killed by a mob in Italy, and Hitler killed himself on April 30th.
03:03
In the spring of 1945, German forces surrendered to various Allied leaders, marking the end of the war in Europe, except for those involved in Operation Haudigan.
04:25
Operation Haudigan was a German Navy project to set up weather stations in the far north, specifically in the Svalsbard archipelago, to provide information for the German military during World War II.
05:44
The team in Svalsbard, forgotten by Germany, decided to contact the Allies in order to get off the island.
07:00
The stranded meteorology team on the island in Svalbard was finally rescued by a Norwegian seal hunting ship, and the last Germans surrendered to the Norwegian captain, Dr. Dingy handed his pistol over to the captain, and they were taken back to Tromsø as prisoners of war.
08:19
The formal peace treaty between the Allies and Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria was set in 1947, but the end of the declaration of war between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany didn't occur until 1950, and the final legal removal of the state of war with Germany didn't occur until 1955.
