The 36th was driving deeper into the narrow Alpine valleys of Austria and Southern Germany. Soon the battered, straggling groups of Germans falling back before them would have no place to go but the snowy crags of lofty mountain ranges. 06 May 1945.
All units halt in place.
Do not fire unless fired upon. Excited doughboys, unable to control repressed enthusiasm and relief, fired M-1's into the air. That night German emissaries contacted both the 141st and 142nd Infantry commanders. Arrangements for the carrying out of the surrender terms, prolonged over another two days, were complicated by the dispersion of German troops and lack of communications resulting from their hasty retreat. Many stray fanatical SS groups roved the hills out of touch with any command.