RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Three top Nazi field marshals -- Goering, Kesselring, and von Rundstedt -- surrendered to American generals in May, 1945. The Americans treated them like colleagues -- something they later regretted.

Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering, once considered Hitler's successor, surrendered on May 6th quietly by arrangement to Brig. Gen. Robert Stack, asistant commander of the 36th Infantry Division, Seventh Army on a country road near Radstadt, Austria. A Signal Corps photographer was on hand to record the event, including a cordial "grip-and-grin" handshake.

They then proceeded to the Division's headquarters. Goering was interviewed in private by the Division commander, Maj. Gen. John E. Dahlquist, who granted the one-time Nazi second-in-command permission to bathe and change his uniform. The two men then had a chicken lunch, after which Gen. Dahlquist provided Goering and his wife, Emmy, with a one-night stay in a castle.

Meanwhile, Nazi Feldmarshall Albert Kesselring surrendered on May 9th at Salzburg, Austria. Complete with entourage, Kesselring was whisked to Berchtesgaden, housed in a luxury hotel, and permitted to tour the Eastern Front Headquarters while wearing his full uniform with Marshal's baton, dagger, medals and weapon. He gave interviews to American and British media and posed, smiling, with Brig. Gen. Gerald Higgins of the 101st Airborne. On May 15th Kesselring lost his luxury digs and landed in a cell.

The Pentagon was not amused by the celebrity treatments. On May 13th General Eisenhower received a terse cablegram from General Marshall -- Subject: "Goering Friendliness." On May 14 Eisenhower sent a cable addressed to the commanding generals of the 12th Army Group, Third and Seventh Armies.

Eisenhower had issued strict prohibitions against "fraternization" with any Germans, military or civilian. The Judge Advocates usually tried such cases as violations of standing orders under the Articles of War, with punishments of up to six months in confinement and two-thirds loss of pay.

The Seventh Army's Inspector General investigated four fraternization cases involving 10 generals. A charge of having "engaged in social contact" with Goering was filed against Generals Stack and Dahlquist, plus Brig, Gen. Walter W. Hess. An investigation of Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, Brig. Gen. Gerald D. Higgins. and Brig. Gen. William N. Gilmore found they had "engaged in contact with" Kesselring but did not fraternize. You could have fooled me.

Feldmarshall Gerd von Rundstedt's surrender also was greeted warmly by Maj. Gen. Frank W. Milburn, Maj. Gen. F. A. Prickett, and Brig. Gen. W. H. Maris, who were found to have "engaged in friendly contact" in violation of the nonfraternization policy.

Three months later, a recommendation was made to take no further action in any of these cases because the nonfraternization policy was practially obsolete. The enlisted men, however, were not so lucky. For example, the 28th Infantry Division had 60 fraternization cases on its docket in mid-June, 1945, and was going to try each by court martial under the Articles of War.

Goering surrendered with an extra uniform - May 6, 1945


Kesselring surrendered with a grin in May 1945

CEAA

You know your history inside and outside - I learned a few things. Thank you for sharing.

James Shaw

The very smart but very evil Goering cheated the hangman's noose by killing himself with cyanide. He, Hitler and the rest of their ilk were immoral, in my opinion. Correction, amoral.

Makaipi Loc: Lexington, South Carolina

Please forgive a peculiar question , but that Gen. Robert Stack wasn't the actor who played Eliot Ness on TV during the '50's was it?

gdoro1 Loc: Florida

No it isn't the same Robert Stack. You can see the image of the General here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_hue1dWAHw

Hope that link works.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks for the story.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

If you think Goering's pants are baggy, you should see his underwear (there are pics of them).

Makaipi Loc: Lexington, South Carolina

Yessir, thanks, kinda threw me for a second there. Gotta get more coffee!😜

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Robert Stack, actor, was a gunnery instructor in the U.S. Navy.
--Bob

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

Very interesting pictures. Thanks! Cheers.

William J Renard

the Army should not get their pants in an uproar, we have been friendly with some of the worlds worst humans, Stalin Beria Cucescu even Putin

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

Today's enemies are tomorrow's friends and visa versa. :-) Cheers.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

You forgot to mention Bin Laden.
--Bob

SteveR Loc: Michigan

These, however, were the architects of the holocaust as well as an atrociously run war. We ended up using rocket scientists like Von Braun in the race against the Soviets out of pragmatism.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thank you for your interest and comments, CEAA. I was lucky enough to have personally experienced those times, not only because I was in Occupied Germany from Dec. 1945 to Oct. 1948, but also because I was aware of and interested in the events from 1934 to today. I'm able to correlate things I learned then and now, including interesting relationships that somehow didn't interest history book authors. Starting in 1934 I spent about four hours almost every Saturday morning in a local movie house, where the show always included a newsreel of current events, including Japan's invasion of China, the Spanish Civil War, the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, the Anschluss of Austria, the Sudeten takeover, the invasion of Czechslovakia, the Blitzkrieg of Poland together with Soviet Russia, and all the rest of WW II until I landed in Germany myself. Today I have the marvellous Internet to augment my 80+ books, enabling me to access photos and documents that were hidden for years. Life is good.