Division.” And more than ever the tankers became convinced of the justness of their cause and the
depravity of the Nazis, as Allied prisoners were liberated and concentration camps freed. The feeling of
joy inspired by these emancipations was quickly replaced by anger at the sight of emaciated bodies and
the stories of suffering and cruelty.
By 14 April B Co. with 359, on the left and echeloned back to keep contact with the slower
moving Division in that sector, had swept through GEHREN, LANGE-WIESSEN and KONIGSEE, and
had reached the SAALE RIVER. A Co. with 358 had ridden roughshod through GROS
BREITENBACH, GRAFENTHAL and LOBENSTEIN to the SELBITZ RIVER, and now stood ready
to jump on the key town of HOF in conjunction with D Co. now working with 90th Recon. The
offensive of HOF was perfectly executed and the town fell in a short time and with it 1192 prisoners.
The 712th-90th team was now spearheading the 3rd Army drive and stood poised near the
CZECHOSLOVAKIAN BORDER waiting for orders to move across and cut Germany in two. For
several days they merely consolidated positions and shoved strong reconnaissance patrols forward.
These latter elements found that the BORDER reacted very sensitively, but on 18 April A Co. with 358
went across and thus became the first American unit to sever Germany across her waist.
The Division now pivoted right and headed south and southeast along the BORDER, with the
mission of preventing any Heine troops from massing in the REDOUBT AREA – the mountainous
region surrounding BERCHESTGADEN. A Co. with 358 on the sensitive left flank pounded southward
seizing SELB, SCHONWALD and ROTHENBACH on 20 April, and on 23 April pounced on the huge
death factory at FLOSSENBERG, finding some 1160 of the original 16,000 inmates. C Co. with 357
maintained the same lightning pace, running into some resistance from Heine half-tracks at HEBANZ
on 19 April and being delayed for a short while at POPPENREUTH on 20 April. On 24 April C Co.
tanks led the doughs and TDs in a brilliant stab to seize the bridge at BURGTRESWITZ before the
enemy could blow it. Surging around a corner the tanks were suddenly faced by 5 Panzerfaustmen and a
sharp, bloody engagement resulted, with the tanks taking the honors. Still intent on their mission the C
Co. tankers rushed on and seized the bridge. D Co. still working with 90th Recon. swept into
FUCHSMUL on 20 April to rescue some badly starved and brutalized GIs, and on 21 April took
TISCHENREUTH and with it 1000 Hungarians.
Although intelligence reported that there was an increasing amount of Heine armor in the
Division sector, nothing that even resembled organized resistance was evident as day after day the
tankers and doughs repeated the same tactics. The roads were now clogged with unescorted Heine
soldiers – mostly deserters, walking hospital cases, rear echelon and service troops. Occasionally they
formed Kampfgruppes to stem the tide, but these dissolved on contact. Mostly they were fleeing from
the onrushing Russians and found themselves sandwiched in between the two Allied Armies. At times a
fearless group would cause trouble as D Co. discovered at SCHAFERIE on 26 April when a patrolling
band of Hitler Youth bloodied their noses. And on this same day B Co. had to really exert itself to take
WALDMUNCHEN, while on 30 April A Co. ran into several well-manned SP guns near CAPARTICE.
But at the end of April the tankers knew that the end was not far away and that their 300 mile
sweep during that month had materially accelerated it. Eventually the intelligence reports added up to
show that the entire 11th Panzer Division was in this zone, and as May opened up B Co. jockeyed with
Mark Vs from this unit in and around VSERUBY. And then just as the Division prepared to go into
reserve on Corps order General Von Weitersheim of the 11th Panzer refused to surrender to any other
unit but insisted on having “the honor” of surrendering to the “elite 90th Div.” On 3 May he met Maj.
Gen’l. Earnest and unconditionally surrendered his entire outfit which consisted of close to 10,000 men
and over 2000 vehicles. B Co. and 359 were hard put marshaling these troops as they poured into the
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