Evening star., 1944-10-21
33 Americans Freed.

N~SSeS AAiS liiCil dtld OlllCGTS were
ali well groomed, with shining black
boots.
33 Americans Freed.
With them was an American lieu
tenant and 80 enlisted men who had
been held captive by the Germans
for the past week.
The German commander was
taken to the command post of 1t
Col. John Corley, Brooklyn, in one
OF Aachens wrecked buildings.
There an American brigadier gen.
eral waited to receive the command
er, who was told he must surrender
Internationally.
Reluctantly the officer wrote out
the surrender of his troops and end
ed the document by saying "Aachen
is in American hands and there
lore everything belongs to the Amer
leans that was German"
But when the silver haired Ameri-
can general had the surrender trans
lated he was not satisfied because il
did not say unconditional.
The German officer, a professional
soldier for % years, asked for FIVE
minutes to think it over. He said his
reluctance was caused by the fact
that if he signed unconditional sur
render terms he was afraid for his
family in Germany.
Silence in Room.
There was silence in the little
room as the German pondered with
the American watching him intent
ly. In the room with the general
and Col. Corley were Capt Edward
Crawford, Somersworth, N. H., anu
1t. John Reynolds, Winston Salem,
N. C.
Finally the German colonel
turned, picked up the pen and hur-
riedly wrote another document. This
time he said:
"Aachen-the defending German
garrison ran out of food and am
munition. I am forced to give up
my command and surrender Aachen
Internationally with all it's stores
to the commanding oficer of the
victorious Americans"
The translation was made by Pfc.
Slgurds M. Ekis, Washington, D. c.,
interpreter
The surrender was signed at noon.
Then the colonel asked and was
granted permission to speak to his
troops outside the building,
Climbs Onto Jeep.
There were eight staff officers with
him, all as immaculate as their COM
mander. One of them had been a
student at Heidelberg and there
were the scars of duelling foils on
his face.
The commander climbed onto the
hood of jeep. His men came to at
tention and in voice heavy with
emotion he said to them:
Dear German soldiers: l am
speaking to you at a painful mo-
ment. ! was forced to surrender
because We ran out of ammunition,
food and water.
i saw that further fighting was
useless. I was acting against orders.
was supposed to fight to the last
man. At this time have to remind
you that you are still German SOL
diers. Please behave as such.
Il also wish you the best of health
in your future travels and fast
return to the fatherland after hos
tilities have ended. Return to Ger
many to help rebuild our country.
Il was refused by the Americans
the authority to give the Sieg He'll
and He'll Hitler. But we can still
do it in our minds"
Salutes and Steps Down.
Then he saluted smartly and STEP
ped down. He was taken under
guard to the prisoner cage in the
rear.
Other strong points, unaware their
commanding officer had put up the
white flag, fought on.
A party was sent by Capt. Bolts
with a lieutenant under a flag of
truce to arrange the capitulation of
the others.
Another 200 surrendered en- masse
when it was explained that their
commander had decided to quit
lighting and that they were no
longer bound to continue the futile
struggle.
And then the others came out of
their hiding places in small groups
until 800 were trudging through
Aachen'S battered streets.
After the surrender was COM
pleted high-ranking officer came
to the American command post and
congratulated the commander of
the operation, along with Col. Corley
and 1t. Col. Derril Daniel, Geneva,
N. Y.
He grinned and said, We'll, this
war is over, isn't it?"
Woodworking gas generators are
being used to power munition plants
d.