 American troops encircled the city on 21 June 1944.At the end of furious street fighting and bitter resistance from the Fort du Roule, "Generalleutnant" Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben, "Konteradmiral" Walter Hennecke and 37,000 German soldiers surrendered on 26 June to Major General Joseph Lawton Collins, Commanding General (CG) of the U.S. VII Corps.After a month of demining and repairs by American and French engineers, the port, completely razed by the Germans and the bombing, welcomed the first Liberty ships and became, until the victory of 1945, the busiest port in the world, with traffic double that of New York.