Adolf Hitler melakukan bunuh diri pada 30 April, meninggalkan penggantinya Laksamana AgungKarl Dönitz yang tidak dapat berbuat banyak, akhirnya Jerman Nazi menyerah dan menandatangani dokumen-dokumen yang diperlukan pada tanggal 8 Mei 1945 yang langsung berlaku efektif hari itu juga.[4]
↑Fifth Army History • Race to the Alps, Chapter VI: Conclusion Diarsipkan 2018-10-01 di Wayback Machine. "On 3 May the 85th and 88th [Infantry] Divisions sent task forces north over ice and snow 3 feet deep to seal the Austrian frontier and to gain contact with the American Seventh Army, driving southward from Germany. The 339th Infantry [85th Division] reached Austrian soil east of Dobbiaco at 0415, 4 May; the Reconnaissance Troop, 349th Infantry 88th Division, met troops from [103rd Infantry Division] VI Corps of Seventh Army at 1051 at Vipiteno, 9 miles south of Brenner."
↑Wallace, Linnel, Lt. Col., Commanding Officer, Summary History of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion - WW II, 1990, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA