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| The bearer of the surrender note was blindfolded and
taken to the Division Command Post, where the arrangements of the
"unconditional surrender" of the 11th Panzer Division were
completed. At four in the afternoon Lt. General Von Wietersheim arrived at
Vseruby to confirm the terms of the unconditional surrender. General Earnest
of the 90th accepted the capitulation, and one hour later the
long columns of the surrendered division poured in a seemingly endless
stream into the collecting points and enclosures. When the final count was
made, 9,050 Germans had been added to the prisoner total of the 90th,
700 trucks and a wealth of guns and material were now in American hands. In the meantime, inside Czechoslovakia, the citizens and underground forces of the capital city of Prague had sprung into open revolt against their German oppressors. Ill armed, the citizen rebels were helpless against the superior equipment and numbers of the German forces garrisoned in the vicinity. Fighting with their backs to the wall, the patriots of Prague seized the city radio station and issued a desperate call for help. On May 5th, in accordance with orders from Corps, the 90th Division embarked upon its final combat mission... the rescue of Prague. The mission was that of clearing a route through the Regen Pass in the Sudeten Mountains through which the rampaging 4th Armored could pass. The 90th would then follow the 4th Armored to Prague itself and wrest Czechoslovakia's capital from the last remnants of Germany's armed forces. Opposition was light as the attacking regiments moved forward toward their objectives. Only in one village, Zhuri, was opposition worthy of the name encountered. Here elements of the Division were ambushed by 100 Officer Candidates who inflicted 20 casualties on a single company. The Americans, enraged at their losses so late in the game, fought into the town. In hand-to-hand engagements they killed 24 of the enemy and captured the remainder. The following day the advance northward continued, halted only while the 4th Armored Division rolled through the lines en route to Prague. |
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