With the German lines broken and their troops battered, Mossner said the Allies had Hitler's forces running for the last few months of the war. While the M18 crew did encounter entrenched enemy forces intent on holding out until the bitter end, Mossner overwhelmingly ran into people scrambling to surrender or those simply looking for a meal. 

While traveling in Germany, Mossner and his crew came across a number of German soldiers escorting prisoners or laborers deeper into the relative safety of Germany. After liberating the captives, Mossner remembered looking over the crowds of refugees, many of whom had gone weeks between meals. 

"To see that, how people treated one another..." Mossner trailed off before snapping back into the story. "We gave them as many K-rations as possible, but we still saw people cutting up horses and eating raw meat out of hunger."

Traveling at the front of an armored group delving deeper into German territory under orders from Gen. Patton, Mossner remembered feeling exposed, particularly after his tank ran out of gas and was forced to stop. Amid densely packed forests potentially filled with enemy soldiers, the men prepared for the worst.Instead, legions of German soldiers emerged from the woods with their hands held high in surrender. Clustering around the immobile tank, Mossner remembers telling the Germans to head down the road and surrender to the rest of the American forces. For Mossner, this was the moment he knew the war was over, even if he'd have to wait a few weeks for the formal announcement.

While liberating villages and accepting the surrender of Axis forces, the men within the M18 came across an abandoned wine cellar. Upon investigating, Mossner and his crew discovered 60,000 liters of wine. Not wanting the supply of vintage grapes to go to waste, the men collected as much as they could before hitting the road once again.