While the leadership of the German Wehrmacht participated in NS-crimes and most officers and soldiers fulfilled their »duty« until capitulation on 8 May 1945, countless German and Austrian soldiers were sentenced by military courts for various resistance offenses – refusal of oath and conscription, desertion, refusal to obey an order, self-mutilation, demoralization of the troops and such. As late as in April and May 1945, thousands of death sentences were still executed. The most important military resistance group existed at the army command XVII in Vienna around Major Carl Szokoll. This group had already performed a spectacular action on 20 July 1944. In April 1945 Major Szokoll was able to establish contact with the Red Army through Sergeant 1st class Ferdinand Käs. However, the planned surrender of Vienna without a fight fell victim to treachery. Major Karl Biedermann, Captain Alfred Huth, and First Lieutenant Rudolf Raschke were hung on 8 April 1945 by an SS-court-martial.