The defense of Kassel did not materially impede the Allied advance, and, one month after the battle ended, Germany was forced to capitulate.

This advance brought General Patton's troops to the Rhine River, which they crossed at Oppenheim, near Mainz, on March 22, 1945.

Moving east from its bridgehead across the Rhine, the Third Army's XII Corps fought through scattered German opposition and reached Frankfurt on March 26.

[4] Deployed on a military training ground south of the city was a battery of 88 mm anti-aircraft guns manned by Reichsarbeitdienst (RAD) members, a paramilitary labor service of the Nazi Party.

Besides the tanks and AA-guns, the Germans had several hundred men of the 15th Armored Infantry Replacement and Training Battalion[5] with which to defend the city.

3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northeast of Fritzlar, the Tigers fought a meeting engagement with an armored spearhead of the U.S. Third Army, resulting in damage or destruction to six U.S. tank destroyers.

[8] On April 1, leading elements of Major General Horace L. McBride's[9] U.S. 80th Infantry Division approached Kassel from the south, but were forced to halt by fire from the RAD anti-aircraft battery positioned on the Dönche training ground (51°17′21″N 09°25′56″E / 51.28917°N 9.43222°E / 51.28917; 9.43222), a relatively flat area that allowed the 88mm guns to engage in long range fire.

Having reorganized, 80th Division troops, with the support of M16 half-tracks that mounted four heavy machine guns, closed on the German Kaserne from which the attack the previous day had originated.

Faced with the collapse of his defenses, Erxleben dispatched a captain early on April 4 to discuss surrender terms with the Americans.