to the fact that Germany de facto lost its own government to become a region occupied by the foreigners at the time (Empire of Japan, a remaining Axis belligerent, having already denounced the German decision about the surrender and unilaterally seized entire German property in Japan). Berlin Declaration (5 June 1945) Nevertheless, as the surrender instrument of 8 May 1945 had been signed only by German military representatives, the full civil provisions for the unconditional surrender of Germany remained without explicit formal basis. Consequently, the EAC text for Unconditional Surrender of Germany, redrafted as a declaration and with an extended explanatory preamble, was adopted unilaterally by the now four Allied Powers as the Declaration regarding the defeat of Germany. This spelled out the Allied position that as a result of its complete defeat Germany had no government or central authority (the Allies did not recognize the rump Nazi Flensburg Government) and that the vacated civil authority in Germany had consequently been assumed solely by the four Allied Representative Powers (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and French Republic) on behalf of the Allied Governments overall, an authority subsequently constituted into the Allied Control Council (ACC). Stalin had, however, already backtracked on his previous support for the principle of German dismemberment, publicly renouncing any such policy in his victory proclamation to the Soviet people of 8 May 1945. Consequently, there was no "dismemberment clause" in the Berlin declaration text. See also Timeline of the surrender of Axis forces at the end of World War II Armistice of Cassibile Debellatio End of World War II in Europe Japanese Instrument of Surrender Morgenthau Plan Nuremberg trials Paris Peace Treaties, 1947; formally established peace between the World War II Allies and the nations of Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Finland Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany Notes References Bibliography Chaney, Otto Preston. Zhukov. University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, . Pinkus, Oscar . The war aims and strategies of Adolf Hitler, McFarland, 2005, Ziemke, Earl F. "The U.S. Army in the occupation of Germany 1944–1946" Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1990, Further reading Hansen, Reimar. Germany's Unconditional Surrender article in History Today 5 May 1995. Kiley, Charles. Details of the Surrender Negotiations: This Is How Germany Gave Up, Stars and Stripes (a contemporary, 1945, US military newspaper