The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World—A Fast-Paced Chronicle of Truman’s Tumultuous First Days Amidst World War II

by A.J. Baime

“Any person guilty of maltreating or allowing any Allied prisoners of war, internees or deported citizens to be maltreated, whether in battle zone, on lines of communication, in a camp, hospital, prison or elsewhere, will be ruthlessly pursued and brought to punishment.” Eisenhower reported that German soldiers and commanders had begun surrendering en masse to the Americans and British to be taken prisoner, because they feared torture and execution if they were taken prisoner by the Russians. “All resistance collapsed,” Eisenhower recorded. “Swarms of Germans . . . began giving themselves up to the Anglo-American armies. American troops standing on the Elbe daily received these prisoners by the thousands.”