 With 56th and 78th Division now clear of the northern end of the Argenta gap, British 6th Armoured Division, from Eighth Army reserve, was released through the left wing of the advancing 78th Division to swing left to race north west along the line of the river Reno to Bondeno and link up with the U.S. Fifth Army units advancing north from west of Bologna and to complete the encirclement of the German armies defending Bologna.Effective Allied bombing of the crossings of the Po and shortage of fuel left much of the German Army Group's strength and almost all its heavy equipment and armament stranded south of the river, so sealing its fate.On 29 April an instrument of surrender was signed by German emissaries at Allied Army HQ and hostilities formally ceased on 2 May.