German civilians bury victims under US Army supervision, On 11 April, advance parties of the US 3rd Armored Division entered Nordhausen with little opposition. evident almost immediately that our few medics could not evacuate hundreds of A few men were able to walk on their immediately following the war. (5), August of 1943 saw the arrival of first prisoners at camp Mittelbau Dora. We saw, at under the casing were neatly piled about seventy-five bodies, a sight I could (and related cases)," United States Army Investigation and Trial Records of War Criminals, National Archives and Records Service. Click here for order form: (Accessed Oct. 22, 2009). news that we were needed to evacuate patients from a concentration camp in one There was also a Gestapo-run Sonderlager ("special camp"), and other forced labor camps nearby, but these were not part of the Mittelbau-Dora complex. In the 19 years since this program was inaugurated, the Museum and the Center of Military History have recognized 35 U.S. Army divisions for their heroism, gallantry, and help in liberating prisoners tunnels approximately fifty feet in width and height, connected laterally by After Daybreak: The Liberation of Belsen, 1945. heap of ashes each day. In October 1944, the SS made Dora-Mittelbau an independent concentration camp with more than 30 subcamps of its own. The 4th Brigade, 104th Division is an infantry brigade of the United States Army. [23], In 1967, the division was reorganized. The strongly Nazified town of Nordhausen fell before Explore a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the Holocaust. While under American command on 16 November 1944, the division went on another offensive in support of Operation Queen, taking Stolberg and pushing on against heavy resistance. We saw those on a bank who had been cut down by machine guns emaciated frames. Heinrich Schmidt and an SS guard were tried in 1947 in the Dora Trial at Dachau for abuses at Boelcke-Kaserne, but they were acquitted for lack of evidence. The History of the 104th Infantry DivisionBy Leo Hoegh & Howard J. Doyle, Sixty-eight years after the original publication of this history, the National Timberwolf Pups Association [5][7] The camp commander was SS-Obersturmfhrer Heinrich Josten[de; pl; sv], who had previously worked at Auschwitz, and the deputy commander was SS-Hauptscharfhrer Josef Kestel[ja; de; pl; sv], previously a functionary at the Dora camp. Workers were This page last updated: 26 October 20141999 National Timberwolf AssociationSite originally developed by Peter Branton Nordhausen did not have the huge inmate of Auschwitz. a sadder but wiser man. accompanied by a horrible dead-rot stench. their war experiences had instilled. US Airman inspecting V-1 factory at Camp Mittelbau-Dora. The 104th Division was then assigned the mission of conducting One Station Unit Training, Basic Combat Training, Advanced Individual Training, and Combat Support training. Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky also served with the 104th during WW2. In the June-July Time dulls At 1000 hours, the 684 officers and 1,435 enlisted men, then in the division, marched to the central parade grounds, and stood at attention before the speakers platform - - As the first notes of a bugle sounded the Division Commander's party reached the . The 104th Infantry Division during World War II here, not in America or Russia." Under the supervision of the US First Army, German civilians from Nordhausen carry victims of the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp to mass graves. never erase from memories. hundred German litter bearers were gathered up and rushed to the Stanley Dunn," National Timberwolf Association, www.104infdiv.org (accessed Oct. 22, 2009). [2] Populated mostly with officers through the Reserve Officers Training Corps from colleges and universities in its allotted states, the division remained basically an officer cadre with few enlisted men, and would not see significant duty until World War II.[8]. Dark Ages to walk into one of these cellar-cells and seek out the living; like made. The soldiers reacted in shock and disbelief to the evidence of Nazi atrocities. United States Army Investigation and Trial Records of War Criminals, National Archives and Records Service. ", "Everything that is now in space had its origins He lay dust-covered, where he had nearly An article written by Kenneth T. Downs entitled "Nothing Stopped the Timberwolves" was featured in The Saturday Evening machine was crumbling, but counter attacks and stubborn pockets of resistance, This camp was created by the SS for prisoners too weak or too ill to work in the tunnels of Dora on the fabrication of the German V1 and V2 rockets. [17], The prisoners in the worst critical condition were taken to the 51st Field Hospital. [10][11] On 15 October 1943, Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr. took command of the division. For other concentration camps near, Location of Boelcke-Kaserne within Germany, Boelcke-Kaserne concentration camp (Thuringia), SS files list 1,662 deaths between 8 January and 2 April 1945, but this is believed to be incomplete, and does not include those who died in the bombing or around the time of liberation. penetration deep into the heart of central Germany. bodies. bodies. It was like stepping into the Activated in 1942, the 104th Infantry Division landed in France in September 1944, a few months after the Allied invasion of western Europe on D-Day (June 6, 1944). about twenty-five men or half-men. [16][c] Some had been dead before the air raid;[5] others were burned to death or died after the air raid from neglect. The camp was liberated on April 11, 1945, by the soldiers in the Sixth Armored. PDF 104TH INFANTRY DAY - Minnesota It was in. They were still alive. bearers and medical technicians as well as any other men available from duties At the end of the fighting on 7 May 1945 (V-E Day), this division was in central Germany opposite the troops of its allies from the Soviet Army. When my great-uncle liberated a Nazi concentration camp with. This page last updated: 6 October, 20101999 National Timberwolf AssociationQuestions? We got almost nothing to eat, a piece of bread, perhaps two or three potatoes. An hour-by-hour account of the liberation of concentration camp Dachau, based on numerous interviews with former prisoners and the American soldiers who liberated them. met our eyes. horrors of war, but nothing could prepare them for what they would encounter upon liberating the concentration camps Hitler had created with the goal of exterminating those "unworthy of life". History of Mittelbau Dora | Concentration camp It was originally a subcamp of Buchenwald. of the Timberwolves will endure. In one corner was a pile of arms and legs. [14] A coordinated attack over the Mark River at Standdaarbuiten on 2 November established a bridgehead and the rest of the division crossed the river. of the male citizens of the town were ordered to the camp, where under guard, of them appeared to have been starved to such an extent that they were mere Americans of similar background, on the eye witnessed horror stories of an even more sanguine genocide in Turkey three decades earlier. Sobered and drained each of us eventually left the area, in the period they were coming down by the hundreds on London and killed more than Hitler's once mighty war Was this also the fate of the grandparents, uncles, and aunts I had never known?' experience of the dead and dying prisoners they encountered at the Camp, an experience which was one of the most profound of their entire military careers during World War II. a quick survey, this was to be as big a medical job as we had been called upon Recognition as a Liberating Unit the Americans fought into Nordhausen. [30] The 7th Brigade, 104th Division activated at Vancouver, Washington. [5][b] The SS evacuated from the barracks after the raid, leaving the dead and leaving dying prisoners to fend for themselves. [16] Some American newspapers drew an explicit connection between the atrocities at Nordhausen and the rocket production nearby. While the U.S. 7th Armored Division was assigned static duty holding the right flank of the gains made during the failed Market Garden operation, the 104th Infantry Division was to participate in the First Canadian Army's taking of the Scheldt. [32] In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure suggestions included the closure of the Vancouver Barracks, and the 104th Division was subsequently relocated to Fort Lewis, Washington. Comments? The Timberwolf division made contact with the advancing Soviet armed forces at the end of the month. 'monsieur' very softly, and at my feet, lying as if dead, was a cadaverous man; survivors, and bury the dead. Factory occupied large tunnels underneath a mountain near Nordhausen in the Harz Mountains in central Germany. Their rapidity responsible for the operation of Mittelbau Dora Camp. They dug mass graves on a prominent hill near the camp and carried the corpses However, they did possess deadly strong points and endeavored to make the Timberwolves' progress as time-consuming and costly as possible, making heavy use of mines, booby traps, and roadblocks. 104th Infantry Division (United States) | Military Wiki | Fandom It must be noted that although Mittelbau Dora has been listed as a non-Jewish camp; the fanatical inhuman Nazi machine. [29] The 6th Brigade, 104th Division was activated at Aurora, Colorado. TO ORDER CONTACT THE WEBMASTER patients, set up improvised hospital wards, and feed many mouths without help. human filth. They are Willy F. James Jr., for scouting German positions while being pinned down by machine gun fire,[39] and Cecil H. Bolton, who led a company of men on the attack despite wounds from a mortar shell. gruesome sights at Nordhausen upon the men of the 104th: "For days and weeks, even months afterwards, the Vengeance, was the pilotless radio-controlled aircraft carrying a [8] In 2005, the current Distinctive Unit Insignia was designed under the direction of Major General Terrill K. (TK) Moffett. they worked several days carrying litter cases and collecting corpses by hand. [20] After a period of mopping up and consolidation, it participated in the trap of enemy troops in the Ruhr pocket. During its three-month existence, about 6,000 prisoners passed through the camp and almost 3,000 died there under "indescribable" conditions. The 104th received its new distinctive unit insignia in 2006. The 5,000 victims here, dead and alive, were When US forces liberated Dora-Mittelbau in April 1945, only a few prisoners were still in the camp. Men lay as they starved, discolored, and lying in indescribable air-armor and night attack on 11 April. The division first arrived on the scene, reporting back to headquarters that it had uncovered a large concentration camp near the town of Nordhausen. Caggiano, Robert . The National Timberwolf Pups Association The war-hardened soldiers of the 104th had seen the worst in humanity. death had overtaken them, but some were stacked like cordwood under stairways. Monuments - 104th Infantry Division Home Page [18] The division took temporary command of assets from the 69th Infantry Division in early May. the long to be remembered and heart gripping story from first-hand accounts: "In Nordhausen the Division The 104th Infantry Division was first constituted on 24 June 1921 as the 104th Division, before being organized and activated in October of that year in Salt Lake City, Utah. A new subcamp of Buchenwald Concentration Camp was thus founded: the Arbeitslager Dora (Dora labour camp), as it was officially designated by the SS. (8) Richard Murphy, "Survivors of V2 Nazi Slave Camp Mark Liberation," Reuters, April 10, 1995, under "The Nizkor Project," http://nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/camps/buchenwald/press/reuters.040395 (Oct. 24, 2009). attention and salute us as tears slowly trickled down his cheeks. Our S-2, Captain Johnson, brought the the impact of events. On 11 April 1945 the Division was involved in the liberation of a large German concentration camp at Nordhausen. 4th Brigade, 104th Division (United States) - Wikipedia We went downstairs into a filth indescribable, The Timberwolves were then assigned to Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery's Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group under the British I Corps, within the First Canadian Army, along with the U.S. 7th Armored Division, in order to clear out the Scheldt Estuary and open the port of Antwerp. of Frenchmen had established a small colony in the large cellar of another of maneuver and bold night attacks and teamwork were outstanding and held casualties down to 1445 killed, 4801 wounded, 111 missing in action, for a total of 6357.(14). The 91st Infantry Division (famously nicknamed as the "Wild West Division" with a "Fir Tree" as its Division insignia to symbolize its traditional home of the Far West) is an infantry division of the United States Army that fought in World War I and World War II. There were many bodies strewn about. might be saved. I asked myself, 'Is this what is meant by genocide? Search the Holocaust Encyclopedia. [15] By 7 November, the fighting in the Netherlands cost the Timberwolves 1,426 casualties, including 313 killed and 103 missing. than a half-century later, the memories of Nordhausen remain fixed in the minds from the dead. EuroTour - 104th Infantry Division - National Timberwolf Pups Association Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics, Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically, Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust, Explore the ID Cards to learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust. [19], Josten and Kestel were tried at the Auschwitz Trial in Krakw and the Buchenwald Trial at Dachau respectively; both were convicted and executed for crimes committed at other camps. This terror weapon of little military The 104th repulsed heavy attacks near Medebach and captured Paderborn on 1 April 1945. [6] As a unit of the Organized Reserves, the division's subordinate units were spread among the states of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Upon return, it continued the process of demobilization until 20 December of that year, when it was inactivated. Each Timberwolf can read between the lines - 104infdiv.org the near skeletonized to the newly dead. SS guards barely entered the camp, instead allowing the prisoners to die from neglect. Lucherberg was held against enemy counterattacks on 3 December, and all strongholds west of the Roer River were captured by the 23rd. Hundreds No workers had ever been Some female forced laborers deliberately had children in hopes of being sent home; other children were incidentally conceived from careless or violent sexual relationships in the forced labor camps. he would honor me by the traditional kiss on either cheek. It also served as a reminder of what they were truly fighting for. Stories . work on longer, after which they were starved off or killed 8 September, 1944.). flesh and bones into the cement floor. It is primarily responsible for Combat Service Support training for soldiers entering the Ordnance Corps and other related fields. On April 11, 1945, the 104th Infantry Division entered the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp complex [also known as Nordhausen] in Germany's Thuringia region. [4][7], On 2 April, 3,000 prisoners were transported to the Mittelbau main camp and to Ellrich, a subcamp of Mittelbau. building, and would I please bring aid to them. They died like flies.(9). of gathering at the national reunions, the final Timberwolf reunion was held in September, 2010 and the difficult decision to end the National Timberwolf Association was The 104th Infantry Division participated in major WWII campaigns and is recognized for liberating the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in 1945. and combat-wise medics, and we thought there was nothing left in the books we This meeting helped hasten the liberation of the city of Halle and spare it from further destruction. risk their lives in order to protect the world from tyranny. [19] During the Battle of the Bulge, the 104th actively defended its sector near Duren and Merken (in German only) from 15 December 1944 to 22 February 1945. They were either sent by train or forced on death marches to Bergen-Belsen. The liberation of Camp Mittelbau Dora provided the [26] Meanwhile, the 3rd Brigade, 104th Division,[27] as well as the 4th Brigade, 104th Division both activated at Fort Lawton, Washington. This is the story of the One Parisian business told Only later I thought of what I had seen. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 experience never to be forgotten by those who passed through it. Yet in a short period of two days I and many others of the This changed after the . Email the Webmaster. This comes as no surprise. We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. After defending the west bank of the Rhine River, the division crossed the river at Honnef on 22 March 1945, and attacked to the east of the Remagen bridgehead. Nordhausen Concentration Camp (Germany) - JewishGen knives and bullets for the males, desert death marches, hunger and rape for the [8] After the arrival of 3,500 emaciated and ill prisoners from Gross-Rosen in mid-February, the SS decided to use the barracks compound to house prisoners who were no longer able to work,[7] since Dora had no gas chamber and transports to Bergen-Belsen could not be arranged. [24], Two additional provisional brigades were created under the 104th Division in 1999; the 8th Brigade, 104th Division was created at Fort Lewis as a unit for training Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets, and the 4690th US Army Reserve Forces School at Fort Shafter, Hawaii was redesignated as the 4690th Brigade, 104th Division, for service as a multifunctional training unit. In 1936, a Luftwaffe barracks complex, named after the World War I flying ace Oswald Boelcke, was constructed in the suburbs of the city of Nordhausen, Thuringia. The Saturday Evening Post (August 17, 1946): 20-43. The very few walking skeletons able to stand wandered about dazedly in "United States of America v. Kurt Andrae et al. Massacre was the word here, knives and bullets for the males, desert death marches, These bodies showed many signs of beating, starvation At Buchenwald, whose main camp contained over 110,000 prisoners by February 1945, many prisoners were forced to work in a factory onsite. Would that it was possible to take the doubters by the hand, back A million or more Armenian lives destroyed at the whim of There were others, in dark cellar rooms, lying in disease and filth, Used as an overflow camp for sick and dying inmates from January 1945, numbers rose from a few hundred to over 6000, and the conditions saw up to 100 inmates die every day. Its crematory, though small, was able to convert 100 of yesterday's men to a Main telephone: 202.488.0400 Today, it is known as the 104th Training Division (Leader Training) and based at Fort Lewis, Washington, as a training unit of the United States Army Reserve. [15] They found hundreds of dying prisoners lying amongst more than a thousand corpses, including many children and babies. serve as a silent witness to the evil committed at Camp Mittelbau Dora. Aprril 27, 1945 - June 11, 1958, http://www.archives.gov/research/captured-german-records/microfilm/m1079.pdf. Battle-hardened men of the 104th wept too. Aftermath of the RAF bombing raid of 3 and 4 April 1945 that destroyed the Boelcke-Kaserne (Boelcke Barracks) located in the south-east of the town of Nordhausen and killed around 1,300 inmates. (10) The aftermath of these atrocities were what the Timberwolves were to encounter on April 11, 1945. The barracks was a subcamp of the Mittelbau-Dora Nazi concentration camp. [4][7], Beginning in late January, many Jewish prisoners in poor physical condition arrived at the Mittelbau-Dora complex from Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen. More than 3,000 prisoners were forced into an area of only 1,800 square metres (19,000sqft). In addition, two soldiers from this division were awarded the Medal of Honor for their service in combat. had fallen, gangrened and naked. Mr. Downs certainly gives us a glowing account of the Timberwolves' bravery and military prowess, but nowhere in the article does he describe the 104th Division's role in liberating camp Mittelbau Dora, or the horrific With the Allies firmly on the north side of the Mark River, German resistance collapsed. Russian soldiers had told of a possible Nazi labor camp nearby, but I often wonder if he made it back to life, and if he had ever been there were no living beings; only the distorted dead. Malnutrition and disease were rampant, and corpses lay unburied. From where I was standing I could see a hidden tunnel coming out of the side of a mountain. webmaster@104infdiv.org, Please The "Timberwolf" division advanced into Belgium by the end of the following month. 104th Infantry Division (United States) - WikiMili.com "Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp." Company is most fitting: The emotional impact was heavy on all who were witness to these incidents but considerably more so on this writer. was huddled up against a dead comrade, as if to keep warm, having no concept through the town to the graves.". Prisoners at Dora-Mittelbau had been forced to construct massive tunnels and work in underground factories producing V-2 rockets for the German military. Post on August 17, 1946. generally speaking, there was no special hatred of the enemy. Reuters, April 10, 1995. The 104th Infantry Division formally activated with ceremonies at Camp Adair, Oregon. When I answered, he brightened and related that a group French survivor Jean Mialet is quoted as stating "This is what hell must be like" when speaking of Mittelbau Dora. No one else was tried for crimes committed at the subcamp. [2], In October 2007, the division was renamed the 104th Training Division (Leader Training). In black forbidding nights and The From 1943 until 1945, 60,000 prisoners had toiled There are those who now maintain Hitler's holocaust never and torture. allowed to leave the camp and when they became too weak to work, they were . Approximately 60,000 prisoners from 21 nations (mostly Russians, Poles, and French) passed through Mittelbau Dora. From that point, it began training at Camp Hyder, California as a division in preparation for deployment to Europe. The 104th Infantry Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988. in the camp had been worked, beaten and forced at top speed until they could The Nizkor Project, http://nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/camps/buchenwald/press/reuters.040395 (Oct. 24, 2009). of the pile; they had been struggling for five or six days to get out but the SS guards hid in air-raid shelters but did not allow the prisoners to seek cover. sanguine genocide in Turkey three decades earlier. The sanitation was totally inhumane.
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