That was in case the surrender wasn't accepted.
***Isn’t strange that some Germans still carry weapons when surrendering
That was in case the surrender wasn’t accepted. ***
My dad was with Patton’s third Army. He said that in the last few weeks of the war, armed Germans were moving West, away from the mad Russians, as fast as they could and were trying to get the GIs to accept their rifles. They were told to take them on to the rear areas and surrender them there.
My dad was only disarming the officers of their handguns. He said one pistol could be traded for one pack of cigarettes.