SURRENDERS IN RUHR

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24546, 20 April 1945, Page 5

SURRENDERS IN RUHR

German Divisions And Generals GREAT NUMBERS MOVED WEST (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Hec. 10.30 p m.) LONDON, Aprill9. “A great array of crack divisions and their generals, and the entire staff of a German array group are crossing the Rhine, heading west, as prisoners of the American Ist Afmy,” says Walter Farr, a special correspondent in the Ruhr pocket. “Some are marching, some are skimming along packed into our lorries, end softie are driving their own vehicles. They have 'been allowed to do so because it has been impossible to organise the complete disarming of these great chunks of the Wehrmacht. ' ' . , "Sullen captured generals tried to find exouses for the German armys supreme fiasco, one of .them ascribing it to too much American material. Finally he admitted: ‘Your soldiers are Rt “A whole unit of German W.AA.C.’s was captured, and the uniformed frauleins sobbed, screamed, wrung their hands, and wailed, ‘lt is terrible to see our great army give up.’ _ “The commanding officer of one German .division admitted that his men had destroyed their own vehicles and surrendered without a fight, pretending that their vehicles had been destroyed, by the enemy. “Some of the German generals had. Quarrelled among themsClves. Some were not on speaking terms. A row usually starts over an accusation oi surrendering or getting captured. "Just before the surrender of the last big force in the Ruhr pocket, fanatical S.S. men sent two tanks into no-man’s-land, trained the guns on their lines, anci told the officers, ‘lf you order surrender we will mien fire on you, even though you are Germans.’ The Americans wiped out the two tanks and the surrender went on Pe “Some y enemy units were caught Issuing discharge papers to soldiers with uie idea that they could quickly get civilian clothes and avoid going to a prison camp."