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#1: Surrender of the 11th Panzer Division Author: west-front, Location: Australia

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:18 pm
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General Von Wietersheim negotiates the surrender of the 11 panzer "Ghost" division with US General Ernest of the 90 Infantry Division.

au.youtube.com:80/watc...re=related

#2: Re: Surrender of the 11th Panzer Division Author: Doug_Kibbey, Location: The Great Satan

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:58 am
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Very interesting. At least as interesting was this bit posted in the "comments" section:

The division was concenrated near the Czech border and the Soviets not far away. To enable the 11th Pz to make it quickly to US lines it was to move motorized. Plus the appointed division commander Gen von Buttlar-Brandenfels was ordered by the OKW to attack the Americans. To pull off the surrender Gen. V. Wietersheim who had secretly re-assumed command of the division and continued the illusion of an attack with von Buttlar-Brandenfels in pursuit.

I don't know anything about this incident, but it sounds like there's a heck of a story there.

#3: Re: Surrender of the 11th Panzer Division Author: west-front, Location: Australia

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:09 pm
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I found this which I thought adds something to the vision:

Accepting the surrender of the 11th Panzer Division was no easy task. The 11th Panzer surrendered over 9,000 soldiers, seven tanks, over a hundred half-tracks, fifteen self-propelled guns and over a thousand assorted vehicles. Because many of the German vehicles were out of fuel, Halsey provided the Germans with fuel so that they could drive into the American lines.

Lt.Col. Orwin C. Talbott's 3rd Battalion / 359th Infantry Regiment was one of two battalions tasked with processing the Germans. As the German columns came in, Talbott's men disarmed them and sent them westward into prisoner of war enclosures in the rear. Howitzers of Col. D. K. Reimers's 343rd Field Artillery Battalion were trained on the columns of German vehicles just in case the Germans had a change of heart and decided to resist.

Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division were later called in to assist the 90th Division's soldiers in handling the German prisoners. A couple of days later, the remaining portion of the 11th Panzer Division surrendered to the 26th Infantry Division in south-western Czechoslovakia.[14]

www.militaryhistoryonl...n1945.aspx

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