Surrender of General Botho Elster
The surrender of Major General Botho Elster and more than 19,000 German soldiers to the United States Army during World War II took place on 17 September 1944 at Beaugency, France.
Elster and his soldiers were attempting to escape from France which was rapidly being freed from occupation by Nazi Germany by Allied military forces.
After the Normandy Invasion of France, General George Patton and U.S. Third Army's rapid advance in August 1944 had the Loire River as its southern boundary.
To protect the Third Army's flank, the 83rd Infantry Division commanded by Major General Robert C. Macon was ordered to deploy along the north bank of the Loire for 300 kilometers (190 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean to a point east of the city of Orleans.
[1][2] In southwestern France the German commander at Mont-de-Marsan Major General Botho Elster had brutally suppressed the French Resistance by the "most ruthless and harshest means."
His force was a motley group of soldiers, sailors, policemen, customs officials and others, many of them transported in horse-drawn wagons or riding bicycles or walking.
The aggressive and effective French Resistance forces in Indre Department consisted of about 6,000 fighters in several different organizations loosely affiliated to the Charles Martel Brigade, and supplied with arms by SOE agent Pearl Witherington.
A French army of 30,000 men, called the "Schneider Column" moved into place on 7 September blocking Elster from continuing eastwards.
[5] Lieutenant Samuel Wallace Magill was the 24 year old commander of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of the 329th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army.
Magill's regiment was sparsely scattered along the north bank of the Loire River between the cities of Blois and Orleans to guard the flank of the U.S. Army.
In Issoudun Magill and his colleagues met with General Elster who outlined the terms for his surrender, which included a show of force by at least two battalions of the American army to justify his capitulation.
Major Arthur H. Clutton of the Jedburghs signed the agreement on behalf of the British and for French Resistance leader Raymond Chomel, who had arranged the ceremony.
[10][11] Elster persuaded Macon that the Germans were in danger of being attacked by the French Resistance if they surrendered their weapons and Macon agreed that the Germans could maintain their arms while marching 120 kilometers (75 miles) through territory controlled by the Resistance to Beaugency for a formal surrender on the north side of the Loire River in American-controlled territory.
Sam Magill was belatedly invited to stand among the colonels and generals, causing some consternation that a mere lieutenant was "gate-crashing."
[22] The equipment surrendered included 400 trucks, 1,000 wagons, 2,000 horses, and 4,000 automatic weapons, plus armored cars, artillery and small arms.
[24] Sam Magill was deemed "irreplaceable" as the leader of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon and he ended World War II as a lieutenant.
