Bittrich wrote:
The problem is that by 1945 the Anglo American allies were in Germany As far as I know there were no combat operations in France after September 1944.
The combat ended in France in May 45 when Germany surrendered. From September 44 till the end, there were not anymore major combats as the Allies were in Germany, but several ports of the French coasts were still occupied by entrenched German troops:
- Dunkerque (Admiral Frisius), surrendered on May 9, 45.
- Lorient (General Fahrmbacher), surrendered on May 8, 45.
- Saint Nazaire (General Junck) , surrendered on May 7, 45.
- La Rochelle (Vice-admiral Schirlitz) surrendered on May 9, 45.
- Le Verdon/Royan/Oleron, blocking the liberated port of Bordeaux, surrendered between 13 and 30 April, 45, after a costly assault of French troops (General Larminat).
By leaving those troops behind while retreating, the Germans created a huge logisitic problem to the Allies. All the French ports were not accessible, except Le Havre and Cherbourg, both completely destroyed, and till the liberation of Antwerp, all the supplies for the advancing troops were going through the overloaded Normandy artificial ports, creating some irregularities in the deliveries.
If I remember well, Patton, furious of being stopped by lack of supplies, said something like "My men can move and eat grass, but my tanks can't move without benzine".
As far as I know, there were no Waffen SS units in those pockets, only Heer and Kriegsmarine. So, if a Waffen SS died in the French territory in 1945, either he was killed while clearing the mine fieldS as a POW or he was executed.