As it turned out, the march proceeded without violence and the formal surrender of nearly 20,000 Germans to the Americans took place on September 16, 1944. The French resistance forces were furious that they had been excluded from the negotiations and the surrender. To add insult to injury, French civilians "who had next to nothing" looked on as the Americans distributed rations and luxuries to the German soldiers and the Germans destroyed their arms and equipment, much of it stolen from French civilians. American flags were torn down and outraged letters were published in local and national newspapers.Ford, p. 39Vomécourt, Kindle, location 4964
