The First Woman To Know World War 2 Was Over

06-05-2005, 10:13 PM

ARMY secretary Susan Hibbert kept one of the biggest secrets of the war... the fact it was over.

In 1945, aged just 20, she was given the job of typing out the Germans' surrender terms at Allied HQ in Reims, France.

It made her the first Englishwoman to know that peace had come at last.

Susan, now 80, spent two days working on the document. She typed the English language papers, while other secretaries worked on the French, Russian and German versions.

She said yesterday: "We reckoned we went about 60 hours without sleep - although we probably accidentally nodded off. It was wonderful but by the end of it I just wanted to get the thing over with.

"It involved a lot of concentration. There wasn't much talk in the office because the job was too important."

The document had to be rewritten over 50 times.

Susan, who now lives in Abbotts Anne, near Andover, Hants, said: "Junior officers kept coming in with new details. A lot of the changes were minor but it meant rewriting a whole page.

"The main surrender sheet wasn't a problem, it was the appendices that needed to be changed a lot.

"They stated where the German boats, planes, tanks and troops should go to surrender."

After the document was completed, Susan was allowed to watch the victorious Allied and defeated German generals sign it. She added: "The mood was quite sombre, people were pleased but there were no big celebrations.

"I had to Telex the message back to the War Office in London that the war was over.

"It was a very short message after so many years of fighting but it was an honour to send. I could just imagine the reaction it would have had at the other end."

Susan later worked in Berlin with the Control Commission, helping to run Germany.

It was there she met her husband Basil, an RAF fighter pilot. They married in Germany and settled in London.

Susan worked in the House of Commons as a secretary to her MP father Sir Lionel Heald.

Now a widow, she has been invited back to Reims for a special ceremony to mark VE Day.

She will be presented with a medal by the town's mayor and attend a cocktail party with France's Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Susan said: "It's a great honour but I'm very surprised by all the fuss. I think I'm lucky that I had the job to do."

angie999 · 07-05-2005, 11:49 AM

It just strikes me how easy it is for us in the computer age in comparison to edit our work.

I was reminded of how, 25 years ago, I would really concentrate to ensure the output of my manual typewriter was accurate and free of typos so as to ensure it would not need to be redone.

Owen · 08-05-2006, 11:57 AM

Bumped up.
Worth reading again.

Gotthard Heinrici · 08-05-2006, 12:54 PM

Thats a really interesting post and worthy to be bumped up Owen. Good post Lee!

spidge · 08-05-2006, 01:43 PM

We talk flippantly sometimes relating stories so wonderful that its a story they can tell their grandchildren.

This one would take a power of beating.

Marina · 08-05-2006, 04:41 PM

I don't know if I'd have been able to type at all for excitement and relief. A similar story is in 'Downfall' when Traudl Junge typed up Hitler's Last testament.
Marina

07-05-2005, 11:49 AM	#2 (permalink)
angie999 Very Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: near Bristol, UK Posts: 1,559	It just strikes me how easy it is for us in the computer age in comparison to edit our work. I was reminded of how, 25 years ago, I would really concentrate to ensure the output of my manual typewriter was accurate and free of typos so as to ensure it would not need to be redone. __________________ Angie "History is lived forward but it is written in retrospect. We know the end before we consider the beginning and we can never wholly recapture what it was like to know the beginning only." C V Wedgewood

08-05-2006, 12:54 PM	#4 (permalink)
Gotthard Heinrici Ostfront is where its at! Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 3,699	Thats a really interesting post and worthy to be bumped up Owen. Good post Lee! __________________ *"The Eastern front is like a house of cards. If the front is broken through at one point all the rest will collapse."* - General Heinz Guderian "With amazement and disappointment, we discovered in late October and early November that the beaten Russians seemed quite unaware that as a military force they had almost ceased to exist." - General Blumentritt "In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen me fight so hard." Lieutenant General Wilhelm Bittrich - Commander of II SS Panzer Korps - (Commenting on the British Paratroopers at Arnhem) - September 1944 "Had Clark given more heed to Juin's views...the savage battles of Cassino would probably never have been fought and the venerable house of St Benedict would have been unscathed" Rudolf Böhmler - 1st Fallschirmjäger Division - 1944 (After the bombing of Monte Cassino)

08-05-2006, 01:43 PM	#5 (permalink)
spidge Legendary Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 8,063	We talk flippantly sometimes relating stories so wonderful that its a story they can tell their grandchildren. This one would take a power of beating. __________________ Spidge, ------------------------------------------------------- My Avatar is the memorial to the 22 Commonwealth Coastwatchers at the Temakin Cemetery on Betio (Tarawa Atoll) who were beheaded by the Japanese on 15th October 1942. http://www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat...mem_beito.html "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." (Winston Churchill made this prophetic pronouncement in a House of Commons speech in 1938, just after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement with Hitler. Chamberlain returned from Germany with the signed agreement in hand, proclaiming that "peace in our time" had been achieved. Churchill attacked Chamberlain's "politics of appeasement" in this and many other speeches.) What did the Australians do in ww2 and other conflicts? Check out this site: http://www.diggerhistory.info/00-pag...ster-index.htm

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06-05-2005, 10:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
Wise1 Guest Posts: n/a	ARMY secretary Susan Hibbert kept one of the biggest secrets of the war... the fact it was over. In 1945, aged just 20, she was given the job of typing out the Germans' surrender terms at Allied HQ in Reims, France. It made her the first Englishwoman to know that peace had come at last. Susan, now 80, spent two days working on the document. She typed the English language papers, while other secretaries worked on the French, Russian and German versions. She said yesterday: "We reckoned we went about 60 hours without sleep - although we probably accidentally nodded off. It was wonderful but by the end of it I just wanted to get the thing over with. "It involved a lot of concentration. There wasn't much talk in the office because the job was too important." The document had to be rewritten over 50 times. Susan, who now lives in Abbotts Anne, near Andover, Hants, said: "Junior officers kept coming in with new details. A lot of the changes were minor but it meant rewriting a whole page. "The main surrender sheet wasn't a problem, it was the appendices that needed to be changed a lot. "They stated where the German boats, planes, tanks and troops should go to surrender." After the document was completed, Susan was allowed to watch the victorious Allied and defeated German generals sign it. She added: "The mood was quite sombre, people were pleased but there were no big celebrations. "I had to Telex the message back to the War Office in London that the war was over. "It was a very short message after so many years of fighting but it was an honour to send. I could just imagine the reaction it would have had at the other end." Susan later worked in Berlin with the Control Commission, helping to run Germany. It was there she met her husband Basil, an RAF fighter pilot. They married in Germany and settled in London. Susan worked in the House of Commons as a secretary to her MP father Sir Lionel Heald. Now a widow, she has been invited back to Reims for a special ceremony to mark VE Day. She will be presented with a medal by the town's mayor and attend a cocktail party with France's Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Susan said: "It's a great honour but I'm very surprised by all the fuss. I think I'm lucky that I had the job to do."

08-05-2006, 11:57 AM	#3 (permalink)
Owen Top Moose Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Under the stairs Posts: 9,057	Bumped up. Worth reading again.

08-05-2006, 04:41 PM	#6 (permalink)
Marina Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 207	I don't know if I'd have been able to type at all for excitement and relief. A similar story is in 'Downfall' when Traudl Junge typed up Hitler's Last testament. Marina

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