The Surrender of Albert Kesselring

The day after his official surrender, German Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (center, Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Süd) poses with American Major-General Maxwell D. Taylor (right, Commander of 101st Airborne Division) and Brigadier-General Gerald J. Higgins (left, Assistant Commander 101st Airborne Division) at Berchtesgaden, Germany, May 10, 1945. Kesselring surrendered to an American major at Saalfelden, near Salzburg, in Austria on 9 May 1945. He was taken to see Major General Taylor, who treated him courteously, allowing him to keep his weapons and field marshal's baton, and to visit the Eastern Front headquarters of Heeresgruppe Mitte and Süd at Zeltweg and Graz unescorted! Taylor then arranged for Kesselring and his staff to move into a hotel at Berchtesgaden. Photographs of Taylor and Kesselring drinking tea together created a stir in the United States. Kesselring then met with Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers, commander of the Sixth United States Army Group, and gave interviews to Allied newspaper reporters.

Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (Oberbefehlshaber West) walks with Major-General Maxwell D. Taylor (Commanding General of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division). They were photographed at Berchtesgaden, Germany, the day after Kesselring's 9 May 1945 surrender.



Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (left), the last Commander in Chief of the German Western Front, went into American captivity on 9 May 1945. This picture shows Kesselring with General Jacob L. Devers (right, Commanding General of the 6th U.S. Army Group) in the "Große Empfangshalle" (Large Entry Hall) of "Berchtesgadener Hof" in Berchtesgaden, 10 May 1945. With him is his Chief of Staff, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, while the Heer officer facing the camera is Generalmajor Franz Haas (Chef des Generalstabes des Bevollmächtigten Generals der Deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien).

Source :
https://www.alexautographs.com/auction-lot/albert-kesselring_E58455698E
https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en/sammlung-megele/kesselring-after-his-capture-in-berchtesgaden/photograph/asset/5169608
https://www.thirdreichruins.com/bgadenerhof.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A9giR4dcBU
http://ww2colorfarbe.blogspot.com/2015/02/albert-kesselring-and-maxwell-taylor-at.html