George A. Taylor - End of The War

End of The War

Taylor was promoted to Brigadier General on 1 August 1944 and became the assistant commander of the 1st Division from Oct 1944 to July 1945.

During the final days of the War, U.S. 1st Infantry Division reach the area of western Bohemia, near the city of Karlovy Vary. German XII. Army Corps under command of general of artillery Herbert Osterkamp was located in this area and tried surrender to the Western Allies. Command of U.S. 1st Division accepted the German surrender and arranged a meeting in the nearby town Loket. As a representatives of the U.S. forces were present Brig. General Taylor, Col. Harrold and Maj. Wich. At the German side it was general Osterkamp and some other staff officers.

When general Taylor checked the surrender document, noted that the place of surrender was written city "Elbogen, Sudetenland". Taylor struck out the location "Elbogen, Sudetenland" and wrote "Loket, Czechoslovakia" instead. Simply changed back to its name before the Nazi invasion. This act brought him great respect in Czechoslovakia.