Maximilian von Edelsheim


Maximilian von Edelsheim was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. He received the Oak Leaves for his leadership of the 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 24th Panzer Division. Edelsheim was flown out of the Stalingrad Pocket before the city's fall in order to form a new 24th Panzer Division in France.
He negotiated the surrender of German forces to the Americans at the bridge at Tangermünde on the Elbe River on or about May 2, 1945. The German 12th Army, under General Walther Wenck had previously done a 180 degree turn away from the Western Allies, resulting from an order to relieve Berlin from the Soviet attack. Disobeying the order, Wenck fought due East, into the Spree Forest region, toward the town of Halbe and linked up with the remnants of the German 9th Army. They then reversed and went west, back to the Elbe. There, Edelsheim crossed the Elbe on a schwimmwagen and negotiated the surrender of all German forces on the West side of the Elbe to the Americans. He was taken prisoner by the Americans and released in 1947.

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