Yes and No. The airforces have indeed destroyed some of his forces, but let us not forget the guerilla action of the maquis. In fact the reason why Elster demanded to have all his forced fully armed until the last second, was because he feared to be massacred by the Maquis who had been attacking them on an almost non stop basis from the south of France until the Loire River front. Therefore Elster wanted to surrender to a regular army only. This infuriated the leader of the Resistance (I will try to find his name ) who demanded a second signature. Elster accepted this second surrender but providing he would not have to sign a second official document , so this matter remained unnofficial. The goal was however achieved, as the Resistance who felt they had at first been evicted from the negociations, got some recognisation after this second "so called" surrender.

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