As Adolf Hitler’s Thousand-Year Reich crumbled in the vise of the Allied armies advancing from both east and west, it was 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.

When the 1st Platoon went by, one of its armored cars skidded off the shoulder and became stuck in the soft soil next to the road. Burns ordered Samuell’s platoon to proceed to the town of Waidhofen. When the German soldiers–who had apparently never before seen Americans–saw that the platoon needed help, they pitched in to assist in getting the car back on the road. (The German soldiers might have thought that they had reached the safety of the American area of operations–they did not know that the American cavalrymen were operating in the Soviet zone.) Once the armored car was operational again, the 1st Platoon headed due east, moving north of and parallel to Burns.

Near Predmass, the platoon was halted by a Hungarian roadblock. At first, Samuell was somewhat alarmed. Previous encounters with the Hungarians near the Isar River had been hostile, and the Americans still had a great deal of ill feeling and distrust for the Hungarians. At the roadblock, Samuell was confronted by two Hungarian generals who wanted to surrender their divisions immediately and demanded safe conduct to the American lines. Samuell told the generals that he was only authorized to deal with their German superiors on the matter of surrender, but if they so desired, they could disarm themselves and proceed on the roads toward Steyr. There they could discuss their demands with Americans who had the authority to deal with them.

The Hungarians moved away, and the platoon continued eastward through Predmass and Aichen. East of Aichen, Samuell halted the 1st Platoon to assess the gasoline situation. The armored car drivers reported that if the platoon proceeded farther they would not have enough fuel to return to Steyr. Although the jeeps had more gasoline, they could not share gasoline with the armored cars.

While Samuell and Staff Sgt. Lawrence B. Rhatican, his second-in-command, were discussing this problem, a German motorcycle messenger came down the road at a rapid pace. Rhatican blocked the road, and the messenger stopped. As he had done several times before, Rhatican called upon Technician 5 Charles Staudinger, an armored-car gunner and assistant radio operator with the 1st Platoon who had been born in that area of Austria and was fluent in German, to interpret for the messenger. Staudinger asked the messenger in a friendly manner if he could find some gasoline for the platoon. The German replied that if Staudinger went with him he would find fuel in the next town, Waidhofen. Staudinger climbed on the back of the motorcycle and took off with the German messenger.

Shortly after Staudinger’s departure, some SS troops, led by a major and a sergeant major, came out of the surrounding woods. They showed no sign of hostility, and Samuell and the major spoke while the SS sergeant major interpreted. The SS major wanted to know if he could be of any assistance. Samuell asked for gasoline for the armored cars. The SS major agreed on the condition that the platoon would not tell American aircraft where the dump was located. Samuell assured him that the platoon would not divulge the location, and the major sent the sergeant major and some German troops to get the fuel. When the SS sergeant major returned, the Germans and Americans filled up the armored cars. When that was done, Samuell thanked the Germans and they went back into the woods.

Meanwhile, Staudinger and the German messenger arrived on the outskirts of Waidhofen. The German messenger told Staudinger to wait outside his boss’ office building. Within a few minutes, an SS major walked out of the office and approached Staudinger in an arrogant manner. He had the German messenger blindfold Staudinger and put him into a car. They drove a short distance and entered the courtyard of the picturesque Schloss (castle) Rothschild, overlooking the Ybbs River. Staudinger was taken into the castle, and his blindfold was removed. He was told to wait outside the door to an office, where he overheard what seemed to be a loud argument coming from within. At first he could not understand the heated discussion. But when the voices became louder, he heard someone suggest that he should be shot, and he became alarmed.

Staudinger abruptly burst through the office door, proceeded to the table, around which a number of high-ranking German officers were seated, and pounded forcefully on the table with his fist. To the astonishment of the German officers, the American soldier announced in German that he was indeed a U.S. soldier, that he was there to secure their surrender and that the officers were to issue orders for all troops under their command to lay down their arms immediately.

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