Surrendering of XIII.ϟϟ-Armeekorps in the Austrian Village of Schwendt

XIII.SS-Armeekorps pre-surrender in Austrian Schwendt

U.S. General Maxwell D. Taylor and SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon

Elements of the 101st Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. 6th Army Group were halted by an Waffen-SS officer on the main highway a little south of Marquartstein on May 8 1945. He bore a flag of truce but insisted that the SS was not under the command of Heeresgruppe G that had recently surrendered to the 6th Army Group and was therefore not bound by the terms of surrender. He said that the Commander of the XIII.SS-Armeekorps wished to negotiate for the capitulation of his forces. The American officer that snapped these great shots in the Austrian village of Schwendt wrote that they found a few hundred heavily armoured Waffen-SS men from different units under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon in Schwendt. Simon refused to surrender to them and requested an American General be present for surrender. They called it in and were told that General Maxwell D. Taylor from the 101st Airborne Division would be there the next day. Simon ordered a complete hotel in the small town to be cleared of resting Waffen-SS troops and the American GIs were to stay there over night guarded and protected by SS officers. Simon's XIII.SS-Armeekorps comprising of remnants of the 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen, 38.SS-Grenadier-Division Nibelungen, Wehrmacht's elite 2.Gebirgs-Division and other units surrendered to American General Maxwell D. Taylor on May 9 1945. After the war, Simon was sentenced to death by a British court for his part in reprisals against civilians and partisans in Italian Monte Sole in October 1944. At the time he was commanding the 16.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Reichsführer SS comprised of Hungarian and Romanian so-called Volksdeutsche. One possible reason for the division's involvement in war crimes has been identified in the fact that much of its leadership originally came from the SS-Totenkopfverbände. Simon's sentence was later changed to life imprisonment. He was pardoned in 1954 and released from prison. Credit: Wehrmacht-Awards and Report of Operations US 7th Army. Top image: photo taken from inside the hotel in Schwendt showing an SS-Obersturmführer standing guard outside of the building. Bottom image: General Maxwell D. Taylor and SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon complete the surrender of remaining SS troops in Schwendt area on May 9 1945. The SS officer standing on Taylor's right side is Simon's Chief of Staff SS-Obersturmbannführer Ekkehard Albert. Credit: this collection of photos comes from Ian Spring's outstanding collection of World War II colour slides called Pixpast. FU.