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. With his escape route to Germany cut off by Allied armies, surrounded by French Resistance fighters, and attacked by Allied air forces, Elster negotiated a surrender to the United States Army. Members of the French Resistance criticized the surrender as it did not give credit to the Resistance for its contribution to Elster's surrender.

Prelude

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. While the Allied armies were advancing through northern France, the U.S. Army invaded southern France near Marseille in Operation Dragoon and advanced northward rapidly. By early September nearly all of France was under the control of the Allied forces.

In southwestern France, Major General Botho Elster, the German commander at Mont-de-Marsan, had brutally suppressed the French Resistance by the "most ruthless and harshest means." On 23 August, it was clear that Elster would soon be surrounded by the Allies in southwestern France, and the first elements of his 20,000 men left Mont-de-Marsan to attempt to march across France and escape to Germany. 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.