MAY 6 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

MAY 6

1945

1st Polish Armoured Brigade entered Germany in the area of Emsland and seized the Nazi Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven. It was here where Polish General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the German fortress naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions.  The war had ended, and Maczek's Division, joined by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, undertook occupation duties until it was disbanded in 1947; it, together with the many Polish displaced persons in the Western occupied territories, formed a Polish enclave at Haren in Germany, which was for a while known as "Maczków", in honor of the Polish General. After the war, the majority of Polish soldiers opted not to return to Poland, which fell under Soviet occupation, preferring instead to remain in exile. (read about Maczek March 31)


German submarine U-853 was sunk by American warships, one of the last two German subs to be destroyed in US territorial waters.  The German sub was waiting in ambush off Point Judith, Rhode Island and torpedoed the SS Black Point, blowing off the stern. Within 15 minutes Black Point sank. Twelve were dead, and 34 crew rescued. The US Navy organized a "hunter-killer" group that included four American warships: Ericsson (DD-440), Amick (DE-168), Atherton (DE-169), and Moberly (PF-63). The U-853 attempted to hide by lying still but was still discovered by American sonor. Numerous depth charges and hedge hogs were dropped from Atherton and Moberly, successfully destroying the enemy sub.  It was one of the last U-boats sunk during WW2, along with U-851.


German submarine U-881 was sunk by American warships. U-881 was assigned on her first patrol to operate in US coastal waters with wolf pack Seewolf. The American destroyer escort Farquhar launched depth charges and sunk the sub in American waters. The sub position was recorded at these coordinates:  43°18′N 47°44′W  All crew on board were killed.


Hermann Göring's surrender: On May 6, Reichsmarshall and Hitler's second-in-command, Hermann Göring, surrendered to General Carl Spaatz, who was the commander of the operational United States Air Forces in Europe, along with his wife and daughter at the Germany-Austria border. He was by this time the most powerful Nazi official still alive.


German forces in Breslau surrendered: At 18:00 on May 6, General Hermann Niehoff, the commandant of Breslau, a 'fortress' city surrounded and besieged for months, surrendered to the Soviets.