Factory occupied large tunnels underneath a mountain near Nordhausen in the Harz Mountains in central Germany. 104th Infantry Division - Order of Battle of the United States Army Otherwise, please send us your comments, stories, or any other information you wish to share.Please do not send anything obscene or offensive. There are those who now maintain that Hitler's holocaust 5,000 corpses among the 6,000 inmates in various stages of decay. [10] On 1 April, there were 5,700 prisoners in the camp; the death rate approached one hundred per day. fellow infantrymen teamed up with the 3rd Armored Division beating back the Nazis and gaining a 375 mile penetration deep into the heart of Germany. It was originally a subcamp of Buchenwald. through the town to the graves.". (3) Camp Mittelbau Dora was established 5,000 people and injured 35,000 more. We saw those on a bank who had been cut down by machine guns [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. TO ORDER CONTACT THE WEBMASTER More than a thousand prisoners were killed during the bombing of Nordhausen by the Royal Air Force on 34 April 1945. similar background, on the eye witnessed horror stories of an even more 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. [16][c] Some had been dead before the air raid;[5] others were burned to death or died after the air raid from neglect. for Jewish victims who were on the bottom of the insane Nazi scale of values. Zevenbergen was captured and the Meuse was reached on 5 November. [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. was huddled up against a dead comrade, as if to keep warm, having no concept would be the weapon that would gain him the upper hand in the war. survivor Jean Mialet. factory. At the airport to greet us were Esther Eenhuisen, from the Netherlands, and Vincent De Saedeleer and Ben De Staercke from Belgium. never occurred. been crushed by falling walls - yet he displayed remarkable discipline and Galione described the night he ventured off alone, walking for miles on a hunch, to his daughter and the following is an excerpt from her book, "The Journey of Private Galione: How America Became a Superpower": I walked and walked all night. [26] Meanwhile, the 3rd Brigade, 104th Division,[27] as well as the 4th Brigade, 104th Division both activated at Fort Lawton, Washington. A member of the 104th Infantry Division - known as the Timberwolves - Jack and his In addition, actor James G. Snitzer was a member of the 104th and died in combat in 1945. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 Yet in a short period of two days I and many others of the 104th Inf Div - RootsWeb 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. Breaking out of the Remagen Bridgehead on 25 March, 1945, the 104th Infantry Division, as part of the U.S. VII Corps, was teamed with the 3rd Armored Division for a rapid advance of an eventual 375-mile penetration deep into the heart of central Germany. that the friend had been dead two or three days and unable to move his own The boot kept digging in when I saw air-armor and night attack on 11 April. On March 1, 2013 the formal organization of the National Timberwolf Association ended and although the formal structure no longer exist, the legacy and traditions The division insignia is a gray Timberwolf's head on a balsam green disc. outright. and combat-wise medics, and we thought there was nothing left in the books we - showing him the first kind act in years. ", Mittelbau Dora Survivors Commemorate Liberation - Reuters Press The 104th repulsed heavy attacks near Medebach and captured Paderborn on 1 April 1945. Company is most fitting: The emotional impact was heavy on all who were witness to these incidents but considerably more so on this writer. Timberwolves with a glimpse into a manmade hell the likes of which few could have dreamed of. terrible evidence of atrocity. The US Army immediately had the prisoners transported out of the camp so that they could be treated by physicians. Colonel Taggart called into action, early 12 April, the litter PDF 104TH INFANTRY DAY - Minnesota he had been in camp only three months. General Allen planned to employ all three of his regiments at the same time, shoulder to shoulder. (and related cases)," United States Army Investigation and Trial Records of War Criminals, National Archives and Records Service. According to some accounts, soldiers of the 104th Infantry Division killed German civilians in Nordhausen who denied knowledge of the atrocities, believing that they were partially responsible. been brought up, as have virtually all first and second generation Americans of high-explosive bomb, put into operation a week after D-Day. Some of these, lying in double-decked wooden with our own wounded. Washington, DC 20024-2126 This meeting helped hasten the liberation of the city of Halle and spare it from further destruction. Washington, DC 20024-2126 known?'. I heard detestable living conditions. Hitler had hoped that the V2s - the "V" standing for "Vergeltung", meaning "Retaliation" in German - After World War II, this division was reorganized primarily as a training division for Reserve forces. [18][12][4] American soldiers photographed and filmed the conditions at the camp, which were widely distributed in international media. [18] It took temporary command of the 60th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Infantry Division. 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. Downs, Kenneth T. "Nothing Stopped the Timberwolves." (1) National Timberwolf Association, "Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp," 104th Infantry Division, http://www.104infdiv.org/concamp.htm (accessed Oct. 10, 2009). The trial convicted fifteen Dora SS guards and Kapos (one was executed). US authorities also ordered the local townspeople to bury the dead. September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far by John C. McManus pp. Within days, most of the remaining prisoners were sent to Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany. abandoned to die and their bodies burned at the crematorium within the grounds. They would uphold the traditions and ideals for which they fought and preserve the memory of their fallen comrades. Only later I thought of what I had seen. Staring at the human debris on The "Timberwolf" division discovered 3,000 corpses lying around the camp and some 750 emaciated, starving, and ill prisoners who had been left behind when the SS evacuated the inmates on death marches. [2] After training at Camp Adair, the division participation in the Oregon Maneuver combat exercise in the fall of 1943. The division trained in the northwestern United States during the next two years, earning its name "Timberwolf Division" from its time in the area. The 104th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. There were lash marks on many of their scantily covered backs - definite proof The 104th received its new distinctive unit insignia in 2006. east. It became A million or more Armenian lives destroyed at the whim of "This is what hell must be like" conventional means of military transport for the relentless push to the Initially The division reports back to headquarters that it has uncovered a large concentration camp near the town of Nordhausen. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 We arrived in Amsterdam, Thursday, May 2nd, at Schiphol Airport ready to complete our journey following the footsteps of the 104th Timberwolf Infantry Division as they fought through Europe during WWII in 1944 and 1945. accompanied by a horrible dead-rot stench. The trial also addressed the question of liability of Nordhausen scientists, who were then attention and salute us as tears slowly trickled down his cheeks. It was like something was telling me to keep following the trains; and somehow it gave me the strength to keep going. Sergeant Ragene Farris of the 329th Medical In the stress of one of the great, decisive battles in world history, many of these acts failed of proper recognition. It was in. At the outbreak of World War II, the 104th Infantry Division began preparing to participate in the war in Europe. 4th Brigade, 104th Division (United States) - Wikipedia History of Mittelbau Dora | Concentration camp send e-mail comments or queries to the Webmaster: Rosenbach was one of the fortunate few to survive Camp Mittelbau Dora. Malnutrition and disease were rampant, and corpses lay unburied. 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". The 104th began combat operations on 25 and 26 October and began to attack the Germans, who offered varying levels of resistance. From the 104th Training Division (LT) Commander He lay dust-covered, where he had nearly From where I was standing I could see a hidden tunnel coming out of the side of a mountain. skeletons wrapped in skin. penetration deep into the heart of central Germany. 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). Despite their efforts, many survivors died shortly after liberation. news that we were needed to evacuate patients from a concentration camp in one The concentration camp prisoners were separated from the forced laborers by an electrified fence topped with barbed wire, and transported to work via a purpose-built railway spur. many regarded this information as rumor. bodies. Jules Helfner's handwritten note on reverse of photo from Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. On the afternoon of 3 April and again the next day, the Royal Air Force bombed Nordhausen; the sick barracks was nearly destroyed. The division was instead centered on three infantry regiments; the 413th,[9] the 414th,[9] and 415th Infantry Regiments. The corpses The figure of 3,000 does not include the 2,250 sick and dying prisoners who were sent on an "annihilation transport" to. He told me that many of the 3,000 dead [30] The 7th Brigade, 104th Division activated at Vancouver, Washington. This comes as no surprise. All medical personnel that could be "secret weapon" of Hitler, launched from Holland, first hit London on occurred. Division saw and lived a story we shall never forget. National Timberwolf Association, www.104infdiv.org (accessed Oct. 22, 2009). is pleased to announce that a 2014 edition of TIMBERWOLF TRACKS is now available. The strongly Nazified town of Nordhausen fell before Forty percent of the prisoners were Polish, of whom most were thought to be Jews. knives and bullets for the males, desert death marches, hunger and rape for the V-bomb factory was discovered. Shephard, Ben. [3][4], On 8 January 1945, the SS-Totenkopfverbnde, which ran the concentration camp system, took over two two-storey garages of the Luftwaffe barracks to use as housing for 6,000 prisoners who were forced to work in the V-2 rocket production in nearby underground factories. The 104th Infantry Division discovered approximately 3,000 corpses . Rosenbach was sent to Auschwitz, then Buchenwald, and at age fifteen he found himself toiling at Mittelbau Dora. The Germans had been using the underground factory to build V2 rockets. 104thInfantry Division. The width of their front was approximately 8,000 yards. [20], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}512930.1N 104831.0E / 51.491694N 10.808611E / 51.491694; 10.808611, "Nordhausen concentration camp" redirects here. [17] The 3rd Armored Division continued eastward and was replaced on the morning of 12 April by the 104th Infantry Division. It also served as a reminder of what they were truly fighting for. 'Concentration Camp.'. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW A-Z: Articles | Holocaust Encyclopedia of Frenchmen had established a small colony in the large cellar of another In almost all bunkers and buildings the living were found lying among the dead. [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. Was this also the fate of the grandparents, uncles and aunts I had never 104th Infantry Division (United States) - WikiMili.com [17] On 30 October, after five days of continuous operations the division had pushed about 15 miles to within sight of the Mark River and had liberated Zundert, gained control of the Breda-Roosendaal Road, and overrun the Vaart Canal defenses. By the end of World War II, many soldiers had witnessed the Caggiano, Robert . [14] The division received 9 Distinguished Unit Citations and three campaign streamers during 200 days of combat. [7] In 1924 it received its shoulder sleeve insignia. There in beds of crude wood I saw [14], The division was reactivated on 1 December 1946 in the organized reserves in Portland, Oregon. Post on August 17, 1946. had fallen, gangrened and naked. women and children. The 10th Armored Division during World War II. 406420, Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II, Final Report (Statistical and Accounting Branch Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953), "The Institute of Heraldry: 104th Division", "Archives West: Robert Rust photograph collection, 19301950", "U.S. Army Reserve > Commands > Functional > 108th TNG CMD", "Obituary: Leo Hoegh, 92, Civil Defense Chief for Eisenhower", "Medal of Honor Recipients World War II (AF)", "Medal of Honor Recipients World War II (GL)", United States Army Center of Military History, 104th Infantry Division Command Personnel, Timberwolves: The Story of the 104th Infantry Division. Although there were toilets, they did not work for lack of water, and many prisoners were unable to move. The camp was liberated on April 11, 1945, by the soldiers in the Sixth Armored. In October 1944, the SS made Dora-Mittelbau an independent concentration camp with more than 30 subcamps of its own. 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). [8] The division was reorganized specifically as a training division in 1959. Among the men of the 104th Infantry Division was a medic from Brooklyn, New York. . Its men were to write sagas of sacrifice, devotion and heroism. never erase from memories. immediately following the war. We appreciate your comments about this site. The hours were passing. In the eight days from July 18 to July 25, 1918, the 104th Infantry was to pass through a crucible of fire and steel. In the weeks and months that followed, further inmate transports arrived from Buchenwald almost daily. 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. here in production of V-1 and V-2 bombs*. 3rd Armored history - permanently engraved in the hearts and memories of Malnutrition and disease were rampant, and corpses lay unburied. reported to be a few living 'beings', and with quick medical attention some Several people who served with the 104th Infantry Division later went on to achieve notability for various reasons. (3) 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). about twenty-five men or half-men. Deployed during World War II, the division saw almost 200 . continued to contend with sporadic counter-attacks from the resisting German army. Its crematory, though small, was able to convert 100 of yesterday's men to a The 104th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. 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. through the years, and point out the tragedy of this minor concentration camp! This monument was erected and dedicated on 16 April 2002 in Halle, Germany on the 57th Anniversary of the day that Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen, Commanding General, 104th Infantry Division (US Army), met German Count Felix von Luckner. EuroTour - 104th Infantry Division - National Timberwolf Pups Association View the list of all donors. In December, the 104th was forced into defensive positions by German counterattacks, but in March 1945, the division entered the Rhineland and captured the city of Cologne. The US 104th Infantry and 3rd Armored Division liberated Dora-Mittelbau on April 11, 1945, but found only a few prisoners. 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. predominantly Polish slave workers, with some French, conscripted to turn out bearers and medical technicians as well as any other men available from duties trial commenced on August 7, 1947 at the Dachau internment camp against those laid out in neat rows were an estimated thousand decaying corpses ranging from Washington, DC 20024-2126 machine was crumbling, but counter attacks and stubborn pockets of resistance, My legs just Boelcke-Kaserne concentration camp (transl. [12] He had previously commanded the 1st Infantry Division, "The Big Red One", in North Africa and Sicily and would command the 104th during most of its time in combat. villages like Holzhausen, Niederingelbach, Dalwigsthal, Strasseberbach & TTY: 202.488.0406, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, The Holocaust and World War II: Key Dates, Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center. became a name to be stamped forever in the annuals of Timberwolf and What were some similarities between racism in Nazi Germany and in the United States, 1920s-1940s? Maintained by Sandra Eberhard, National Timberwolf Pups Association member. When I answered, he brightened and related that a group Aprril 27, 1945 - June 11, 1958, http://www.archives.gov/research/captured-german-records/microfilm/m1079.pdf. Dark Ages to walk into one of these cellar-cells and seek out the living; like Sobered and drained each of us eventually left the area, in the words of a poet Prisoners from Buchenwald were sent to the area in 1943 to begin construction of a large industrial complex. "United States of America v. Kurt Andrae et al. [14] Leur and Etten fell as the division advanced to the Mark River, arriving there by 31 October. In a caravan of trucks we rushed into a job which proved It was two miles in length, with two large With the Allies firmly on the north side of the Mark River, German resistance collapsed. I followed the trains all the way down, for miles, and found a train car filled with dead Men lay as they starved, discolored, and lying in indescribable camp. liberation of the camp: I am still amazed today that anyone survived. [14] It landed in France on 7 September 1944. period they were coming down by the hundreds on London and killed more than Approximately 60,000 prisoners from 21 nations (mostly Russians, Poles, and French) passed through Mittelbau Dora. (12) Robert Caggiano, "Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp ? Reports indicated that approximately one hundred bodies were cremated per day, (10) The aftermath of these atrocities were what the Timberwolves were to encounter on April 11, 1945. if anyone spoke French. The US Army immediately had the prisoners transported out of the camp so that they could be treated by physicians. (16) National Timberwolf Association, "Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp," 104th Infantry Division, http://www.104infdiv.org/concamp.htm (accessed Oct. 10, 2009). 104th Infantry Division (United States) | Military Wiki | Fandom of the history of the 104th Infantry Division & to sign our Guestbook. Moisture seemed to grip everything and everyone. of the Timberwolves will endure. Today, it is known as the 104th Division (Leader Training) and based at Fort Lewis, Washington, as a training unit of the United States Army Reserve. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW The majority of Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp prisoners were dispersed before liberation. The (1) By April of 1945 the Timberwolves were nearing the town of Nordhausen. under the casing were neatly piled about seventy-five bodies, a sight I could and experiences, formed the National Timberwolf Association on October 19, 1945. men too weak to move dead comrades from their side. [19], The division returned to the United States on 3 July 1945. It was located inside a former Luftwaffe barracks complex in Nordhausen, Thuringia, Germany, adjacent to several pre-existing forced labor camps. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 from the dead. The 104th Timberwolf Infantry Division has held a reunion for the past 69 years, and will meet again this year at a celebration . when the 104th arrived. hundred German litter bearers were gathered up and rushed to the Private John Galione, a member of the Timberwolves, is credited with finding the labor camp known as Mittelbau Dora, and the secret tunnels which led to the factory used to build the world's first ballistic missiles. Montgomery and the Canadian commanders sent their congratulations, and General Allen disseminated copies of their letters to his regiments and wrote a personal letter of thanks to everyone in the division, concluding with his favorite motto, "Nothing in Hell must stop the Timberwolves!" Germans would go through the trouble of building an entrance hidden inside a mountain. On the grounds heap of ashes each day. It began taking on the responsibility of holding training programs for new soldiers of the US Army Reserve. Father Edward Doyle's Testimony Explosions set off during construction of the tunnels claimed many lives. work on longer, after which they were starved off or killed Troops found only a few survivors among the 3000 corpses who were cared for in a field hospital. 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. Every so often, the floor would be hosed down in order to clean out the excrement. effective, the world's first medium-range ballistic missile. [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. I asked myself, 'Is this what is meant by genocide? Staring at the human debris on the ground awaiting burial (at Mittelbau) was a captain from France's famous Saint Cyr Military Academy and had received emaciated frames. 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 . This was the only combat duty that the 104th Infantry Division has served during its history. remainder died mainly from disease and starvation. continued with Easter Sunday and April Fool's Day practically unnoticed. "Survivors of V2 Nazi Slave Camp Mark Liberation." Buchenwald concentration camp; and The 104th Timberwolf Division received two Medals of Honor, 24 Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal, 786 Silver Star Medals, six Legion of Merits, . 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. There were lots of accidents, people buried alive under rocks and rubble. Time dulls the impact of events. The 10th Armored Division participated in major WWII campaigns and is recognized for liberating a subcamp of . SS doctor Heinrich Schmidt was largely responsible for the inhuman conditions. We went to the stairs and [13], The 104th Infantry Division sailed for the Western Front on 27 August 1944. I often wonder if he made it back to life, and if he had ever been After fierce fighting in the Ruhr pocket, it advanced into central Germany and took the Prussian university town of Halle on April 19. kept walking. . 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. After several decades, the division then expanded its role to conducting entry-level training for soldiers of all branches of the Army in the northwestern United States. View the list of all donors. Boelcke Barracks; also Nordhausen) was a subcamp of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp complex where prisoners were left to die after they became unable to work. The order was, "You will work." [18] During this time, some of the division's assets fell under command of the 1st Infantry Division and the 3rd Armored Division. as a top secret satellite camp of Buchenwald in 1943 after British bombers destroyed the main missile research base at Peenemuende on the Baltic Coast. Angela Fiederman, a staff member at the Mittelbau Dora memorial site stated: Until the spring of 1944 the prisoners lived underground. Nordhausen Concentration Camp (Germany) - JewishGen The soldiers reacted in shock and disbelief to the evidence of Nazi atrocities. Thousands were killed during death marches under horrendous conditions. National Timberwolf Association. A million or more Armenian lives destroyed at the whim of those who ruled the old Turkish Ottoman Empire. Last edited on 28 November 2022, at 20:14, Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp complex, "Creating a Memory for the German Rocket Program for the Cold War", Color footage of corpses found after liberation, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boelcke-Kaserne_concentration_camp&oldid=1124413574, This page was last edited on 28 November 2022, at 20:14. spared in the Division were rushed to the scene to give medical aid. [16] The American soldiers were outraged; one wrote, "No written word can properly convey the atmosphere of such a charnel house, the unbearable stench of decomposing bodies, the sight of live human beings lying cheek by jowl with the ten-day dead"[15] A 15 April report describes the camp as "the most horrifying example of Nazi terrorism imaginable".
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