Over the last week we have been driving past this grand country house with it's unique garden ornament.
Yes it is a real grand piano left out in the weather!!!!The museum in Reims we are going to is called the "Musée de la Rendition" and is the actual room where the German's signed their surrender to the Allies to end WW II in Europe.
This Museum is typical French; No signs, no promotion. If you did not know the museum was there we would have walked right past.
On the 29th August 1944 when the Allied forces liberated Riems General Eisenhower the Allied Supreme Commander in Europe moved his headquarters to a red brick school building beside the main railway station.
From here he directed the last months of the war. One of the rooms in the building was the Map Room. Here plastered on the walls were huge maps of Europe onto which the movement of troops and supplies could be recorded. Also on the walls were daily tally sheets for all manner of war related activities.
It was at the long table in the map room at 2.41am on the 7th May 1945 that the German military leaders signed their unconditional surrender to the Allies. Apart from removing the ashtrays and the carpet the room is the same as it was on that day.
Unbelievable as it sounds to us, Gen. Eisenhower did not participate in accepting the surrender, that was left to his Chief of Staff. Why? Because the Germans had no officer of Eisenhower's rank present (they like Hitler were all dead or disappeared), so Eisenhower for protocol reasons, did not participate.Directly after the signing the Chief of Staff brought the pens used to sign the documents for a photo opportunity with Gen. Eisenhower. Later Eisenhower recorded a victory broadcast in the Map Room.
Also unbelievably, up until the night before the surrender the Germans were still trying to negotiate a partial surrender to allow them to keep fighting the Russians on the eastern front.After the signing the German General Jodl made a short speech to ask that the German forces and nation be treated kindly by the Allies.
Although the Germans surrendered on the 7th May it is the 8th May the day it was announced that VE Day is celebrated in Europe because of the unbelievable amount of paperwork, red-tape and behind the scenes skull- duggery that went on between the US, UK, French and Russians on one side and the Germans on the other. All the politicians, all tying to get the best outcome for themselves and their interests.The map on the wall shows that while the war in Europe was won there was still a war going on in the Pacific. The war was over for the Germans and their mates, but not for the Allies.
After the war the school went back to being a school as it is today and the map room was locked up for nearly 40 years. It was not until the 40th anniversary of the end of WWII in 1985 that it was opened to the public again in the form of a museum. Such a significant place almost lost by French casualness.On the way home we commented that the sky looked dark and hazy, just like it does at home before a storm. Sure enough we were only home about an hour and down it came, hail and all. A good old Queensland thunder storm.
