Capitulation of German Army Group South - July ‘97 World War II Feature

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Capitulation of German Army Group South

A lone U.S. cavalry platoon secured the surrender of the largest
organized German military force still in the field on May 7, 1945.

By Major Dominic J. Caraccilo

As Adolf Hitler’s Thousand-Year Reich crumbled in the viseof the Allied armies advancing from both east and west, itwas apparent that the spring of 1945 would see the last of the war in Europe. Or would it?

Rumors of an alpine redoubt–a mountainous natural fortress in Southern Germany where well-armed Nazis would continue the fight indefinitely–circulated among Allied troops. Although they had been squeezed into an ever tightening sliver of the Fatherland, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were still under arms, and the possibility of an alpine redoubt was very real.

The U.S. 71st Infantry Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Willard G. Wyman, was moving eastward through Germany and Austria. Just two days before Germany’s unconditional surrender, the 71st was focused on making contact with elements of the Soviet Red Army that were steadily advancing northwest from the Austrian capital of Vienna.

On May 6, 1945, the 71st Division’s cavalry reconnaissance troop was ordered on yet another mission in search of the Soviets. They failed to find a single Soviet soldier. But what they did find was the headquarters of German Army Group South, the largest organized field command remaining in the Wehrmacht, along with a staff of senior German officers ready and willing to discuss a surrender of the entire force. Army Group South consisted of four field armies, each numbering approximately 200,000 men.

The Soviets remained elusive, but the handful of American cavalry troopers eased the minds of Allied commanders by securing the surrender of Army Group South, whose combat veterans might have made the rumored alpine redoubt a grim reality.

In previous briefings, the cavalry reconnaissance commanders had received additional routine missions, such as area and route reconnaissance or flank protection measures. The May 6 briefing was different; the cavalry troop’s sole mission that day was to find the Soviets. Moreover, the cavalry soldiers were surprised to learn that they would be alone. Division elements would not be following as they had done in the past. The cavalry troop was to go forward on its own while the division remained in its current location at the Enns River, which was the proposed demarcation line between American and Soviet forces.

Only the 71st Division’s reconnaissance elements would be allowed to cross the Enns, and only to locate and conduct linkup operations with the Soviets. Furthermore, the reconnaissance troop would have to accomplish this mission with only the gasoline they already had in their vehicles. The combat elements of the 71st Division had maintained a frenetic pace as they advanced to the Enns, and they had outrun their logistical support by 200 miles.

Captain Bernard C. Johnson organized the forces of the 71st Reconnaissance Troop into two elements. The first element was composed of the 2nd and 3rd platoons, under the command of 1st Lt. Delno Burns. The second element consisted of the 1st Platoon, commanded by 1st Lt. Edward W. Samuell, Jr. The 1st Platoon, less one armored car and two jeeps, embarked on the mission with only two-thirds its assigned combat strength.

Burns’ forces crossed the Enns River just north of the town of Steyr, Austria, while the 1st Platoon crossed just south of the town. Shortly after the crossing, the 1st Platoon encountered German troops, armed but not hostile, moving west toward the American lines. Samuell shouted to them that the war was over. The German soldiers politely inquired as to where they should go. The platoon directed the new prisoners to move toward Steyr.

Moving east through the small town of Klein Raming, the now-recombined 71st Reconnaissance Troop moved down a small valley toward Neustift. There the roads were clogged with German troops heading west to Steyr under the protective umbrella of the SS (Schutzstaffel, or Protection Detachment, which was given the task of maintaining order in the area during that period). Near Neustift, the American force encountered a group of approximately 400 German soldiers, who were lined up along the road. All of Burns’ vehicles passed by the Germans without incident.

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