All Resistance In Austrian Redoubt Ends in Surrender

Northern Advocate, 7 May 1945, Page 3

All Resistance In Austrian Redoubt Ends in Surrender

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, May 6. In the south all resistance in the Austrian redoubt ended yesterday with the surrender of three Ger- . man armies to the American 7th and French Ist Armies. This new mass surrender involves up to 400,000 men and leaves only one German army still fighting. This is the army opposing General Patton. General J. L. Devers, commanding i the 6th Army Group, reported to I General Eisenhower yesterday after--1 noon that General Schultz, comman- | der of the German Southern Front, had surrendered, the surrender to be effective at noon today. A correspondent at .Supreme Headquarters says this is being broadcast over all radios in order that hostilities shall cease immediately. The German army group (Group G) which surrendered consists of two armies—the Ist and 19th. The surrender zone reaches from Kirchberg, three miles south-west of Linz, to the Swiss border. Signed Near Munich /The German 7th Army, which was formerly part .of this army group, and which, contrary to earlier reports, is not included in the surrender arrangements, covers the front from Lipz to Leipzig and still opposes the drive by General Patton into Czechoslovakia. r " An Associated Press correspondent says the surrender of the Germans in .the south was signed in a mausoleum .near Munich. General Devers personally conducted the negotiations. The capitulation involves some of the Germans opposite General Patton's front, but does not necessarily affect those lined up against the Russians east of Linz and in the centre of Czechoslovakia. :In a statement yesterday General Eisenhower said: “Today saw a steady continuation in German demoralisation and disintegration. Enemy confusion is so great that Lieutenant-Gen-eral Foertsch, commander of the German Ist Army, who was present at the

negotiations for the surrender of Army .Group G, could not give an accurate ‘estimate of* the strength of the group. He believes it numbers 200,000 to .400,000. These Germans have food for some days, but the local population of nearly 2,500,000 faces starvation conditions.” A correspondent reports the formation of an executive committee of the Austrian Resistance Movement from the Tyrol, which has been broadcasting Allied instructions to the people of Western Austria from a radio station believed to be at Innsbruck.

The committee, which is composed of Innsbruck officials, university professors and political personalities, has issued a call for surrender of all arms. Arms may only be carried by forces installed by the Austria Resistance Movement to maintain peace and order and recognised as such by the United States authorities, said the broadcast. The Austrian i'adio, has, meanwhile, resumed its broadcasts from Vienna and has announced that Dr. Karl Renner’s Austrian Provisional Government, which has not so fay been recognised by Britain an<3 the United States, assumed office last Sunday. Enter Linz General Patton’s troops and armour have entered Linz, in'Austria, reports Reuter’s correspondent at Supreme Headquarters. The 3rd Army is exerting pressure against the Czech frontier over a 100-mile stretch, with pressure heaviest in the Linz sector. Powerful forces of General Patton’s 3rd Army tanks and infantry launched a new offensive into Czechoslovakia along a 110-mile front yesterday, says Reuter’s correspondent. They are proceeding in a north-easterly direction against little opposition. The patriot-controlled Prague radio announced that American tanks have occupied Pilsen and are now pushing on toward Prague. This report is not confirmed from any other source. 'The crack German 11th Panzer Division, which broke through in the Ardenenes - last December, surrendered to American infantry with only 17 of its original 250 tanks left. The procession of defeat was headed by one huge Panther tank, with the replicas of eight Shermans painted on its 88 mm. gun barrel. A column of 10,000 men trooped behind, carrying white flags. All were apparently in good spirits,