Description
The first edition of The Secret Surrender, the story of Operation Sunrise, by CIA Director Allen Dulles, inscribed to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and senior negotiator during Operation Sunrise, Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer.
Octavo, viii, [2], 268pp. Red cloth, title stamped in gilt. Stated “first edition” on copyright page, with “H-Q” below. Solid text block. Faint dust along top edge of text block. Includes numerous photographic plates, some illustrations. Illustrated endpapers. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $5.95 on front flap, bright illustrations, a fine example. Estate sale of “Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer” label affixed to the front free endpaper.
Inscribed by the author on the half-title: “To Lem, with the sincere regards of the author and in appreciation of all the help rendered during the Sunrise operation. Allen W. Dulles / Washington D.C. / Sept 27, 1966.”
Operation Sunrise was a secret 1945 initiative to negotiate a localized end to fighting in northern Italy between German forces and the Western Allies, conducted without Soviet participation and separate from the main unconditional-surrender framework. The talks were led by Allen Dulles, who opened clandestine channels to SS General Karl Wolff, the senior German commander in Italy. The purpose was to secure the rapid surrender of Army Group C, and avoid a communist takeover of key cities by partisan forces. The negotiations, code-named Sunrise by the Americans (and Crossword by the British), culminated in a signed instrument of surrender on 29 April 1945, ahead of Germany’s overall capitulation.
U.S. Army officer General Lyman L. Lemnitzer participated as a senior Allied representative in the final meetings, playing a direct role in formalizing terms with Wolff at Caserta. The operation provoked Soviet outrage when details leaked, as Stalin viewed the separate negotiations as a breach of Allied unity, straining relations in the final weeks of the war.
General Lemnitzer went on to serve as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1960-1962), then Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1963-1969).
