 On 4 May 1945 Field Marshal Montgomery accepted in his headquarters at the Lüneburg Heath the surrender of the German forces in North West Europe. The capitulation came into force at 8:00 am on 5 May 1945. With that Approx. 207.000 German soldiers capitulated in Denmark and were not considered as PoW's but as SEP's by the British authorities. Until 08 June 1945 approx. 195.000 men were transported to Schleswig Holstein in Germany. Until December 1945, 4.600 men had to service the German planes, equipment etc. They were called "Frozen Personnel". 13.500 men had to manage the transport of the sick prisoners. The main task of the prisoners in Denmark was the clearing of the mines. In total approx. 1,341 million mines and 45 million tons of ammunition was made harmless. With that 214 German prisoners lost their life and 377 got wounded. |
Denmark