![]() ![]() Infantrymen isolated in coastal fortifications near the port city of Danzig manned their guns for a full day before giving up to the Red Army on May 9. It took an extra 24 hours for thousands of German troops trapped behind the lines in Soviet-occupied Poland to lay down their weapons. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) VE Plus One Consider these last Nazi holdouts: Fighting in East Prussian “Heiligenbeil Pocket” began in early 1945 and didn’t fully end until a day after the German surrender. ![]() Yet in a number of locations, small pockets German troops refused to give up and in some cases fought on for days, even weeks, before finally calling it quits. As expected, the vast majority of war weary Axis personnel in Europe obeyed the orders. ![]() Under the terms of the document, all of the Third Reich’s remaining land, sea and air forces were to cease hostilities on or before 11:01 p.m. on when Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, commander of what was left of the once mighty Wehrmacht, marched into Supreme Allied Headquarters in Reims, France and signed the “ German Instrument of Surrender” officially ending the war in Europe. (Image source: WikiCommons) “Small pockets German troops refused to give up and in some cases fought on for days, even weeks, before finally calling it quits.” Not all soldiers and sailors got the message. Although, the German armed forces officially surrendered en masse in May of 1945. Wehrmacht troops give themselves up to the Canadian army, August, 1944. ![]()
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