The goal was to surrender the city of Düsseldorf to the advancing Americans without any fighting, thereby preventing further destruction.
By early March American troops – part of the 83rd Infantry Division – had occupied the neighbouring city of Neuss and the left bank of the Rhine in Düsseldorf.
Gauleiter of NSDAP and Reich Defense Commissioner Friedrich Karl Florian had ordered a scorched earth policy.
All utilities and transportation were to be blown up including the Rhine bridge crossings, and the population of Düsseldorf was to be evacuated.
Among them were Aloys Odenthal [de], an architect, and Theodor Winkens a baker and pastry chef, but who had been a clerk at police headquarters, and the lawyer Karl Müller.
The Deputy Commissioner Goetsch and Lieutenant Colonel Juergens prepared a pass authorizing Wiedenhofen as negotiator for the city of Düsseldorf.
A short time later, the plan was betrayed, and Korreng was freed by a raiding party consisting of NSDAP Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian and Wehrmacht soldiers during the late afternoon.
On the afternoon of 16 April, August Wiedenhofen and Aloys Odenthal reached the American lines near Mettmann, and were able, after long negotiations, to surrender the city without further combat.
However during the previous night, Jürgens, Andresen, Kleppe, Knab and Weill were convicted in state court for treason and sentenced to death.
On 17 April 2011, the Weg der Befreiung [de] ("Path of Liberation") was inaugurated by Mayor Dirk Elbers, consisting of six pillars, which are installed at points marking the journey taken by Odenthal and Wiedenhofen from the city police headquarters to reach US forces near Mettman.
The commemoration of Franz Jürgens has since drawn controversy due to his involvement in war crimes.
As the head of the police in Darmstadt, Jürgens, a member of the Nazi Party since 1933, was complicit in the mass deportations of 500 German Jews to extermination camps.