Nazis surrendering to Dutch civilians
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
With U.S. Airborne Army in Holland –
German soldiers, no longer supermen but just strangers in a foreign country who want to get home, are giving themselves up to unarmed Dutch civilians and waiting for American paratroopers to come to take them to prisoner of war pens.
The prisoners, for the most part poor specimens of soldiers, are dribbling in in crowds of 10 to 20. Their standard answer to the question of age is – 18 years.
Dutch men, women and children are holding them prisoner for the Americans and the biggest job now is getting around to all the houses where there are three or four Nazis under guard by irate Dutch housewives.
The Dutch, too, were greeting the Americans with a welcome which some veterans who saw the liberation of Paris said was even more hysterical than the celebration by the French.