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On 6 May, 1945, Task Force Smythe was formed north of Kirchdorf to clear the 80th Division zone west and north of the Enns River.  At 12:00 noon, 6 May, 1945, the town of Kirchdorf and troops in that vicinity surrendered to the Task Force.  It was learned that an unknown number of SS troops were holding Klaus and intended to fight at the entrance to the Steyr River Valley.  Prepared for stiff opposition, Task Force Smythe jumped off from Kirchdorf at 5:00 P.M., 6 May, 1945.

Ten minutes after the jump-off a representative of the Defense Commissioner requested representatives of U.S. forces to meet the August Eigruber, Gauleiter of Oberdonau, in Windischgarsten to discuss surrender.  The meeting took place as requested.  Eigruber desired to surrender his Gau to U.S. forces, and be allowed to withdraw to the East to fight the Russians.  This proposition was rejected.  Eigruber requested four hours to contact Army Group Headquarters for a decision, and stated that he would send his representative to Micheldorf by midnight with the answer.  The emissary arrived with a negative reply.

During the trip 35 miles behind German lines to Windischgarsten, our representatives observed some 10-15,000 enemy troops of all descriptions - horse-drawn artillery, tanks, mechanized equipment.  As a result of these observations and the negative reply to the unconditional surrender terms, our forces jumped off at 8:00 A.M., 7 May, 1945 from Kirchdorf, prepared to fight at Klaus.  Upon reaching this objective, our troops encountered a blown bridge which blocked, temporarily, further access to the Steyr River Valley.

At this point, a representative from General Major Soeth approached our lines, and stated that the General desired to unconditionally surrender his Corps of 20,000 troops to U.S. forces.  Corps Soeth had been formed two days previously, in the eastern sector of the National Redoubt.  Task Force Smythe accepted the surrender and continued their advance without opposition to Spital.

Also on 7 May, 1945, SS Brigade Keitel, under the command of SS Major Keitel [Author's note: This was the son of General Keitel, Hitler's right hand.], surrendered to our forces. Brigade Keitel, strength 3,000 was an element of the 6th SS Panzer Army.  Keitel's report that Sepp Dietrich still commanded the 6th SS Panzer Army was the first knowledge of the Allies that Dietrich still lived.  He had previously been reported dead by the Russians.