Surrender of Hamburg

My father was a Royal Engineer and had landed just after D Day (having been ill prior to D day and whose place on D Day had been taken by a fellow officer who tragically was killed on the first day). On arrival in theatre, he had joined his unit and they then moved across France, Belgium and Holland, mostly building bridges but also helping to clear minefields and booby traps. He had been part of the force trying to relieve Arnhem but had been forced to turn back when it proved impossible to get through with the ammunition lorry he had been asked to try to deliver to the troops there.
As the war was ending my father, was by then in the north of Germany, in the Hamburg area where he had been busy defusing booby-traps and scuttling devices, to make safe the harbours of Keil and Hamburg.
Hamburg had effectively surrendered and the day came for the formal surrender of the city. My father was with his driver in a small armoured car and decided to have a look around the city. He drove along quiet roads and was then startled to be met by German army motor-cyclists. He realised that they thought that he was the official ‘surrender’ party and not knowing what else to do he went along with their escort. They arrived at the steps of the City Hall and he got out and was taken up the steps to receive the surrender from the senior German officers. There was a lot of debate about who this Captain was, realised that there must be some mistake. My father decided to leave whilst the going was good and so he got back to his armoured car. When they got back to the road they had entered by, it was manned by a British road block (that had not been in place when they entered) who demanded to know where they had come from. Father made some excuse and left. The incident was fully reported in a Belgian newspaper, as he told to story to Belgian friends soon after and we still have the newspaper cuttings with the ‘big story’ of the English officer taking the surrender. I believe that there was also some report of this in a UK newspaper but do not know which one.
(NB The Belgian connection came about after my father had been allocated a billet with a family in Brussels. They were a very wealthy family and because my father very closely resembled our king, they thought they had been specially chosen to host the king incognito!! After some days of wondering why they were treating him so deferentially, my father discovered what they thought and after a good laugh they became life time friends).

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