The Geniuses Strategy Behind the Most Boring Room in History
Hours before dawn on the morning of 7 May 1945, a cluster of correspondents and press and newsreel
photographers waited at one end of the G-3 war room at SHAEF forward headquarters in Reims.
Eisenhower could have chosen a grand ceremonial hall. He chose the G-3 war room of a converted schoolhouse.
Maps still covered the walls. Flood lights were hastily arranged. At the table nobody moved except Smith,
who waved the Germans to seats on the unoccupied side of the table where they sat facing a large wall map showing the Allied forces'
latest dispositions. Germany's military commanders signed their unconditional
surrender while staring at a map showing exactly how completely they had been defeated.
The choice of room was Eisenhower's. He wanted no ceremony. He wanted paperwork.
He got paperwork. In a schoolroom. With maps on the walls. The greatest military victory in American history was processed like an administrative task.
photographers waited at one end of the G-3 war room at SHAEF forward headquarters in Reims.
Eisenhower could have chosen a grand ceremonial hall. He chose the G-3 war room of a converted schoolhouse.
Maps still covered the walls. Flood lights were hastily arranged. At the table nobody moved except Smith,
who waved the Germans to seats on the unoccupied side of the table where they sat facing a large wall map showing the Allied forces'
latest dispositions. Germany's military commanders signed their unconditional
surrender while staring at a map showing exactly how completely they had been defeated.
The choice of room was Eisenhower's. He wanted no ceremony. He wanted paperwork.
He got paperwork. In a schoolroom. With maps on the walls. The greatest military victory in American history was processed like an administrative task.
