German Army surrenders to 3 American Soldiers

Hi

Sometime ago, I either read or saw an article on how three American soldiers bluffed a German Army division to surrender.

I am looking for the posting, have tried googling, but have not come up with the appropriate search criteria. Hope someone can help.

It was in 1945 and the three Americans were riding in a Jeep and warned to stay out of a certain area. True to form, the three drove into that area and were met by a large German force.

The Americans knew they were in trouble, so they bluffed the Germans. An American Officer approached the German General.

This is an approximation of the conversation.

American Officer: General, I am here to accept your surrender.

German General: Why should we surrender to you?

American Officer: General, you have two choices: (1) surrender to me now, or (2) surrender to the Russian Army tomorrow.

The German General handed the American Officer his pistol and all went to the American lines.

Can anyone help with this? Thanx in advance

 

Have not heard this. But, I don't doubt it. Many units would have surrendered to one American than an Army of Soviets.

 

Personal Account: The Mass Surrender of German Troops to the 347th Infantry Regiment

Here is a link to a personal account of a mass surrender of Germans prior to the official cessation of hostitilities. I'll see if I can find anything else.

 

I don't blame them, I would sooner surrender to the Americans over the Red Army!

 

Heck, even the Red Army would do that

 

I don't think the Red army would of offered a surrender policy to the Germans.
They would of just slaughted them before offering.

Alan 1971- Sometimes if i get stuck with ww2 Information, i sometimes go to yahoo internet and check for ww2 informaion. Most times i find something about ww2 that i never knew it happend during ww2. A little suggestion that's all. Cheers!

 

New to me. Thanks for the info.

 

The German General was probably quite relieved

 

This happened all the time. Large numbers of Germans even surrendered to civilians , children or old men. Whoever would take them to the Amercians instead of the Russians would be good enough. This also happened in France when soldiers were seeking to avoid being caught by the Maquis. One example: Two soldiers surrendered to my young neigbour (now 84, living in Beauvais in 1944). In fact they begged her to hide them in her cellar until the regular army arrived. She accepted and they were officially taken pow by the Americans in Sept 1944. She does not remember any units or names ,but she remembered one of the men had his feet so swollen up that he had to cut his boot with a knife to take it off.

 

So what were the Russians supposed to do with these, eat them?

 

Of course, Za! Don't you know there is no food in Siberia? Gives a whole new meaning to 'Soylent Green'