Surrendering German Troops in Czechoslovakia April 8-9, 1945 and Germany in Color

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http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/detail.php?file_num=3306 Czechoslovakia

MLS, German prisoners/displaced persons surrendering. Closer shot of prisoners passing camera. MS, tanks/jeeps moving down road. German prisoners stand beside road, start marching. CU, destroyed German weapons. Pan up to column of trucks of surrendering Germans. MS, German civilians standing around. CU sign: "Limit of Advance-All US Troops." CU, German general near tank. German prisoners on trucks pass by, GI directs route of surrender. MS trucks with dead German prisoners pass through crowd. MS trucks of Allied liberated prisoners go through crowd. Pan from sign to civilian masses on road. German generals in staff car, GI disarms them. CU, truck of German prisoners pass through crowd of Czechs. Crowd disperses. German armorer surrenders. CU, truck of German prisoners/displaced persons. MP directing German surrendering troops. Armed German troops. VCU, armored US Colonel talking to German soldier. Truck of Germans. MS, two German officers talk to Colonel. CU, Nazi prisoners. American tanks direct surrender traffic. CU, GI taps message on wireless. Men watching the surrender. Trucks of Germans. German women soldiers. Surrendered Germans and girl walking up road. Cars passing by. German vehicles.
One-legged German soldier walking in FG. Vehicles halt, surrendering troops on board, CU of three very young German boys, CU, German officer and girl. MCU, truckloads of German surrendering troops riding past camera, officer in FG gives Nazi salute. CU, truck filled with women. CU, German officer talking with Americans. VCU, German officer. VCU American officer talking to Germans. Truckloads of German troops. Nazi officer drinks from bottle, large group of Germans around him. MS, German civilians and German soldiers walking up road. MS, surrendered troops. CU, German officer talking to American officer. Long line of German surrender troops, marching down the road, CUs feet, faces of troops as they pass the camera. CU, Nazis on motorcycles.

http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/detail.php?file_num=4689 Germany

Two German boys and an old man push a cart laden with belongings past the camera. A family with cart pulled by a cow moves down a road. German soldiers, one of whom is barefoot, walk down the road. American soldiers resting. Red flags hang from windows in the town of Carlsbad. According to the NARA story card, the flags indicated the town's surrender to the Russians, who had not yet arrived. Low aerial shots of surrendered German troops and equipment. 01:19:19 Newly released British POW's smoke cigarettes and smile at the camera. A truckload of liberated French drives down the street. More red flags in windows; Soviet soldiers, including a woman, share cigars, talk, and laugh with Americans. German vehicles drive around a corner. 01:21:15 German officers surrender to American soldiers. 01:22:03 German officers turn arms over to Americans. Germans POW's ride a horse-drawn cart. Close-up shots of a German general. He speaks to and then salutes an American soldier. More shots of horse-drawn carts, cars, and bicycles carrying Germans, including officers. A long line of vehicles waits to surrender. 01:25:42 A good shot of a pile of surrendered arms, helmets, other equipment, and a Nazi flag. An officer walks up to the pile and discards three helmets. Two women talk to GIs who are unloading piles of arms from a truck. Close-up of an SS medal on a German's lapel. A large group of American Air Force personnel walk past the camera on an airfield. More shots of American soldiers and captured Nazi officers. 01:27:31 A Nazi officer salutes an American officer. In a garden setting, German Luftwaffe Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel and an aide talk to an American Air Force intelligence officer. The men get up (Rudel uses crutches) and walk into a house. 01:29:13 High ranking Nazis climb into a C-47 plane for evacuation to England. The Nazis are not named in the NARA story card and are only seen from the back.

Hans-Ulrich Rudel was a highly decorated fighter pilot who had to have a leg amputated near the end of the war. He deliberately flew into the American zone to evade capture by the Soviets. After the war he lived in Argentina and returned to Germany in the 1950's. He continued to espouse Nazi ideology and wrote a pro-Hitler memoir, as well as a book condemning those members of the German army who had not supported Hitler.
 
Interesting, lots of kids in the ranks, I noticed the marching prisoners are still in step, likely learned from years of forced marches. I saw a Scammel in German colours, also some of their half-track trucks using the Carden-Loyd suspension. Also the crew of the Greyhound had a morse key strapped to his leg and was tapping out a message while looking elsewhere.
 
What a colossal schmozzle that must have been. Just feeding all those people would have been a nightmare. Rudel should have been thrown out of an airplane.
 
http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/detail.php?file_num=3306 Czechoslovakia

MLS, German prisoners/displaced persons surrendering. Closer shot of prisoners passing camera. MS, tanks/jeeps moving down road. German prisoners stand beside road, start marching. CU, destroyed German weapons. Pan up to column of trucks of surrendering Germans. MS, German civilians standing around. CU sign: "Limit of Advance-All US Troops." CU, German general near tank. German prisoners on trucks pass by, GI directs route of surrender. MS trucks with dead German prisoners pass through crowd. MS trucks of Allied liberated prisoners go through crowd. Pan from sign to civilian masses on road. German generals in staff car, GI disarms them. CU, truck of German prisoners pass through crowd of Czechs. Crowd disperses. German armorer surrenders. CU, truck of German prisoners/displaced persons. MP directing German surrendering troops. Armed German troops. VCU, armored US Colonel talking to German soldier. Truck of Germans. MS, two German officers talk to Colonel. CU, Nazi prisoners. American tanks direct surrender traffic. CU, GI taps message on wireless. Men watching the surrender. Trucks of Germans. German women soldiers. Surrendered Germans and girl walking up road. Cars passing by. German vehicles.
One-legged German soldier walking in FG. Vehicles halt, surrendering troops on board, CU of three very young German boys, CU, German officer and girl. MCU, truckloads of German surrendering troops riding past camera, officer in FG gives Nazi salute. CU, truck filled with women. CU, German officer talking with Americans. VCU, German officer. VCU American officer talking to Germans. Truckloads of German troops. Nazi officer drinks from bottle, large group of Germans around him. MS, German civilians and German soldiers walking up road. MS, surrendered troops. CU, German officer talking to American officer. Long line of German surrender troops, marching down the road, CUs feet, faces of troops as they pass the camera. CU, Nazis on motorcycles.

Look at the 17 minute mark on this video. Even in defeat, the Whermacht is marching in their uniforms, footfalls timed with drill parade precision. Impressive to see defeated troops still have that level of discipline.
 
Look at the 17 minute mark on this video. Even in defeat, the Whermacht is marching in their uniforms, footfalls timed with drill parade precision. Impressive to see defeated troops still have that level of discipline.

Maybe because they knew they were surrendering to the US and not the Russians.
Some of that Stalingrad/Barbarossa video from the World at War series shows the other side of how grim it must have been to be in Russian captivity, which was no better than German captivity.
 
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