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

Gyldenfeldt agreed to Samuell’s request to allow the American cavalry troopers from Aichen to come to the castle grounds. After returning to his men and bringing them up to date on the events in Waidhofen, Samuell directed them to the castle. In the process, Samuell met up with Burns near the Ybbs Bridge and briefed him on the recent developments, with the Germans. It was around
6:30 p.m. on May 6, 1945.

From the castle grounds, Samuell sent a detailed message to his division headquarters. He told his headquarters that he was at the headquarters of a corps-level unit or higher and requested that a field-grade officer with authority to arrange a surrender be dispatched to Waidhofen. Samuell received a quick reply stating that no officer would be sent to Waidhofen. Instead, Samuell was ordered to bring the German general to Steyr. The message also requested that Samuell identify the size and type of the German headquarters offering to surrender.

Samuell returned to Gyldenfeldt with division headquarters’ response. The message from headquarters had specified that the generals should be brought to Steyr immediately, and Samuell received it about 7 p.m.–daylight was waning. If Samuell and the generals did not leave right away, they would be traveling a large part of the way in the dark. Gyldenfeldt, after discussing the matter with Rendulic, agreed to the American instructions. A column was formed for the drive back to Steyr.

Both Gyldenfeldt and Samuell were concerned about the possibility that a German unit might fire on the platoon during the night. The German general sent out information to all units in the vicinity of Waidhofen stating that the American platoon would be operating between Waidhofen and Steyr and specifying that the Germans should not fire on the American troops.

Samuell was given a private room in the castle and served a gourmet meal–including caviar! The lieutenant soon became very uneasy with the arrangement, however, since it isolated him from his platoon. Shortly after his meal, he went into the courtyard, where the cavalrymen were already eating their chow. They had pulled out their individual ration heaters and warmed up their C rations. It had come as a real surprise to the Germans to see individual soldiers prepare their own meals in that way.

Right in the middle of dinner, a line of soldier-waiters came out of the castle, each carrying white napkins and plates of hot beef stew and potatoes from the German mess for the platoon members. The food was excellent. The Americans enjoyed it but were somewhat embarrassed because they saw that hungry German soldiers in the immediate area received no such treatment from their own senior officers.

During the course of the meal, Samuell was standing next to an armored car when he was tapped on the back. He turned and looked into the eyes of one of the most sinister-looking men he had ever seen. He was a giant anthropoid figure of a man, a lieutenant colonel in the Waffen SS. To Samuell’s surprise, the German politely commented upon the efficiency of the American soldier in being able to prepare his own meals, then turned around and left–to everyone’s relief, including the nearby Germans.

By this time, arrangements had been made to return to Steyr with the German generals, and word was sent to Samuell that the GermanAmerican column would leave at 10 p.m. It seemed to Samuell that this was awfully late to be traveling through territory where there might still be fighting. Between the time that the platoon had moved into the castle grounds and the time that the Germans had reached the decision to leave, many German troops had crossed the Ybbs, moving west. There were now many more Germans from the Eastern Front in between Waidhofen and Steyr. These retreating German forces probably did not know that the American platoon was in the German headquarters.

The Americans were also concerned because neither Samuell nor Rhatican had seen the German generals for more than two hours. The platoon also had lost am radio contact with the division headquarters. This was unheard of, since am radios had been, for the most part, very reliable. And nothing appeared to be wrong with the platoon’s sets. To make matters worse, the fm radios could not establish contact because line-of-sight contact could not be made due to the varied elevations in the Austrian terrain.