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. to do. was officially formed by the descendants of the Timberwolves, and is dedicated to continuing the traditions set forth by their fathers and maintaining the legacy of the 104th Infantry Timberwolf Division. morning of 11 April dawned with yet another strangely named town to be reckoned
We went downstairs into a filth indescribable,
[7] In 1924 it received its shoulder sleeve insignia. 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. The
Its men were to write sagas of sacrifice, devotion and heroism. The 5,000 victims here, dead and alive, were
Men such as Jack Biolchini felt as though they could not, and should not speak of the atrocities. http://www.104infdiv.org/concamp.htm (accessed Oct. 10, 2009). [14] It landed in France on 7 September 1944. knives and bullets for the males, desert death marches, hunger and rape for the
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. I asked myself, 'Is this what is meant by genocide? seventy-five but was only forty-five. In the weeks and months that followed, further inmate transports arrived from Buchenwald almost daily. "United States of America v. Kurt Andrae et al. The Germans had been using the underground factory to build V2 rockets. [18] The division took temporary command of assets from the 69th Infantry Division in early May. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 Jules Helfner's handwritten note on reverse of photo from Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. 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. Downs, Kenneth T. "Nothing Stopped the Timberwolves." 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. That's how I knew I had found something "big" that the Nazis were trying to keep secret. period they were coming down by the hundreds on London and killed more than
We saw, at
The 104th Division was then assigned the mission of conducting One Station Unit Training, Basic Combat Training, Advanced Individual Training, and Combat Support training. continued to contend with sporadic counter-attacks from the resisting German army. conventional means of military transport for the relentless push to the
Angela Fiederman, a staff member at the Mittelbau Dora memorial site stated: Until the spring of 1944 the prisoners lived underground. Yet in a short period of two days I and many others of the
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. been crushed by falling walls - yet he displayed remarkable discipline and
[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. This page last updated: 26 October 20141999 National Timberwolf AssociationSite originally developed by Peter Branton
there were no living beings; only the distorted dead. TThe unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor is what prompted most young American men to enlist. 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. According to Rosenbach, who worked drilling holes in the walls in which the In addition to burying the dead, the Allied forces attempted to help and comfort the survivors with food, clothing, and medical assistance. news that we were needed to evacuate patients from a concentration camp in one
Their striped coats and prison numbers hung to their frames as a
Story. I learned that he
During its three-month existence, about 6,000 prisoners passed through the camp and almost 3,000 died there under "indescribable" conditions. Hitler's once mighty war
It began taking on the responsibility of holding training programs for new soldiers of the US Army Reserve. (16) National Timberwolf Association, "Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp," 104th Infantry Division, http://www.104infdiv.org/concamp.htm (accessed Oct. 10, 2009). acquitted.(13). [29] The 6th Brigade, 104th Division was activated at Aurora, Colorado. [18] The sector to the Mulde River was cleared by 21 April, and after vigorous patrolling, contacted the Red Army at Pretzsch on 26 April. The timberwolf, native to the Pacific Northwest, was chosen as representative of the area where the division was formed in 1942. Nordhausen, home of the Mittelbau-Dora
Shephard, Ben. Lying among the multitudes of dead were
Would that it was possible to take the doubters by the hand, back
. Among the men of the 104th Infantry Division was a medic from Brooklyn, New York. Zevenbergen was captured and the Meuse was reached on 5 November. Up until the camp liberation, The "Timberwolf" division advanced into Belgium by the end of the following month. had fallen, gangrened and naked. In one bomb crater lay about twenty
majority of prisoners were French (mainly members of the French Resistance). [11] The barracks was located near railyards and factories, which were considered military targets;[5] Boelcke-Kaserne had not been marked with a Red Cross symbol. In November, the unit was already approaching the German city of Aachen. Hitler had hoped that the V2s - the "V" standing for "Vergeltung", meaning "Retaliation" in German - V-bomb factory was discovered. My Grandmother's cousin, Jack Biolchini bore witness to the aftermath of the atrocities committed by the Nazi's at Camp Mittelbau Dora. No one else was tried for crimes committed at the subcamp. scene. [18] On 5 March, after heavy fighting, it entered Kln. noticed; I would say she was about seventeen years old. A member of the 104th Infantry Division - known as the Timberwolves - Jack and his [14], Boelcke-Kaserne housed the largest percentage of Jews in the Mittelbau-Dora complex, except for one labor subcamp for Jewish women. Concentration Camp, was first viewed as just another spot on the map, but
The 193 mile segment from the Rhine to the Paderborn had taken only nine days with captured Wehrmacht vehicles and even barnyard carts View the list of all donors. Too weak to
[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]. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 The other main national groups were Russians, Frenchmen, and Hungarian Jews. [14] That same day, General Allen received orders from the U.S. First Army, releasing it from Canadian control. [19], The division returned to the United States on 3 July 1945. death had overtaken them, but some were stacked like cordwood under stairways. [8] The division was reorganized specifically as a training division in 1959. [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. From where I was standing I could see a hidden tunnel coming out of the side of a mountain. Upon return, it continued the process of demobilization until 20 December of that year, when it was inactivated. Thousands were killed during death marches under horrendous conditions. reaching for the hands of their liberators as they shed their tears. [15][18] By 14:30 on 13 April, all survivors had been removed from the camp. [16] Some American newspapers drew an explicit connection between the atrocities at Nordhausen and the rocket production nearby. [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. about twenty-five men or half-men. 104th Infantry Division . and the humidity was ninety percent. Photo courtesy of NARA. 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. Dora. Boelcke-Kaserne concentration camp (transl. "Survivors of V2 Nazi Slave Camp Mark Liberation." [14] Leur and Etten fell as the division advanced to the Mark River, arriving there by 31 October. factory. The 104th Timberwolf Infantry Division has held a reunion for the past 69 years, and will meet again this year at a celebration . The Americans were given responsibility for taking 22 miles of wet, low country from the Belgian border to the Meuse (Maas). 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. This site is dedicated to all those who served on the Home Front as well as those who fought and those who never came home, who lie mute beneath rank upon rank of white marble markers and other unmarked places forever known but to their God. We were battle-tired
9th Infantry Division . (10) The aftermath of these atrocities were what the Timberwolves were to encounter on April 11, 1945. Russian soldiers had told of a possible Nazi labor camp nearby, but Battalion,104th Infantry Division, was there and explained the impact of the
[10][11] On 15 October 1943, Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr. took command of the division. 104th Division may refer to: 104th Division (1st Formation) (People's Republic of China), 1948-1951 104th Division (2nd Formation) (People's Republic of China), 1951-1955 104th Jger Division (Wehrmacht), a unit of the German Army 104th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) 104th Infantry Division "Mantova", a unit of the Italian Army The Timberwolves remained focused on their main objective: Eliminate enemy opposition and ensure Hitler's downfall. 104th Division (Institutional Training), HQ (to include: Headquarters (less detachment), 1st Brigade, 104th Division, 1st Battalion, 414th Regiment, 2d Battalion, 414th Regiment, 1st Battalion, 415th Regiment, 2d Battalion, 415th Regiment, 3d Battalion, 415th Regiment, 1043d Training Detachment, Headquarters, 3d Brigade, 104th Division, 1st Battalion, 104th Regiment, 2d Battalion, 104th Regiment, 3d Battalion, 104th Regiment, 4th Battalion, 104th Regiment, 5th Battalion, 104th Regiment, 1041st Training Detachment, U.S. Army Regional Training Site, Sacramento, Headquarters 4th Brigade, 104th Division, 6th Battalion, 104th Regiment, 7th Battalion, 104th Regiment, 8th Battalion, 104th Regiment, Detachment, 9th Battalion, 104th Regiment, Headquarters, 6th Brigade, 104th Division, 10 Battalion, 104th Regiment, 11th Battalion, 104th Regiment, Headquarters, 7th Brigade, 104th Division, 1st Battalion, 413th Regiment, 2d Battalion, 413th Regiment, 3d Battalion, 413th Regiment, Detachment, Headquarters, 8th Brigade, 104th Division, 3d Battalion, 414th Regiment, 104th Army Band. As the 104th advanced into Thuringia, the unit overran Nordhausen and the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp on April 11, 1945. Explore a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the Holocaust. 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. 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 . They never failed to attain an objective on schedule. The US 104th Infantry and 3rd Armored Division liberated Dora-Mittelbau on April 11, 1945, but found only a few prisoners. This long-dreaded
[12][13], Housing conditions were particularly bad, because there were no bunks; prisoners had to sleep in a thin layer of straw. were scattered throughout the buildings and grounds of the large camp and all
They were either sent by train or forced on death marches to Bergen-Belsen. 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 . Breaking out of the Remagen Bridgehead on 25 March,
(3) Camp Mittelbau Dora was established It was briefly inactivated from 2008 until 2010 when it was . But few realized the evil acts that Hitler and his Nazi regime were committing against humanity. The 104th Infantry Division formally activated with ceremonies at Camp Adair, Oregon. United States Army Investigation and Trial Records of War Criminals, National Archives and Records Service. swollen, bulging feet; they had no shoes and they were unbelievably dirty. laid out in neat rows were an estimated thousand decaying corpses ranging from
work possible at the labor camps; and "die of natural causes" while producing the V2 missiles which would win the war for Germany. kept walking. German civilians bury victims under US Army supervision, On 11 April, advance parties of the US 3rd Armored Division entered Nordhausen with little opposition. After fierce fighting in the Ruhr pocket, it advanced into central Germany and took the Prussian university town of Halle on April 19. Dying on the second floor were, upon later count,
machine was crumbling, but counter attacks and stubborn pockets of resistance,
But when I started to turn around, something empowering came over me. 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. gray days, often sullen with the slow, cold drizzle of rain, the thrust
The 104th Infantry Division formally activated with ceremonies at Camp Adair, Oregon. 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. Requesting help from the 104th Infantry Division, the 3rd immediately begins transporting some 250 ill and starving prisoners to nearby hospital facilities. A few men were able to walk on their
[2], As of 2017 the following units are subordinated to the 104th Training Division (Leader Training):[33]. SS guards barely entered the camp, instead allowing the prisoners to die from neglect. captured Wehrmacht vehicles and even barnyard carts supplementing more
[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. This website was
No workers had ever been
(11) The U.S. Army rushed medical personnel, food, and equipment to the At Buchenwald, whose main camp contained over 110,000 prisoners by February 1945, many prisoners were forced to work in a factory onsite. (12) Robert Caggiano, "Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp ? [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. http://www.archives.gov/research/captured-german-records/microfilm/m1079.pdf. last token of those who enslaved and killed them. Since the first printing of TIMBERWOLF TRACKS in 1946 there have been subsequent editions printed
The barracks was a subcamp of the Mittelbau-Dora Nazi concentration camp. Nordhausen was liberated by the 104th US Infantry Division on April 12th, 1945. The Dora-Mittelbau Concentration Camp, comprised of Jews, Poles, Soviets, Romani, political prisoners, and others, suffered under extremely cruel and inhumane conditions. We found out the full meaning of the words
. accompanied by a horrible dead-rot stench. gruesome sights at Nordhausen upon the men of the 104th: "For days and weeks, even months afterwards, the
8th, 71st, 89th, 99th, and 104th Infantry Divisions, along with the 82nd Airborne Division. One survivor, Franz Rosenbach was arrested in Austria because he was a gypsy and therefore deemed "racially inferior" by Hitler's Nazi Regime. high-explosive bomb, put into operation a week after D-Day. "Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp - Stanley Dunn." (2), Private Galione had indeed found something "big". (4) The V2 was developed by Wernher von Braun, who after World War II went Workers were
He had gone as far as possible to escape the fury of war when
[15] The division then organized and assembled at Manche, France before heading into combat.[16]. Massacre was the word here,
generally speaking, there was no special hatred of the enemy. experience never to be forgotten by those who passed through it. His last step had taken him to the edge
continued with Easter Sunday and April Fool's Day practically unnoticed. Their corpses were found by the US Army units that liberated the camp on 11 April. 107 prisoners from Buchenwald began work on the tunnels with the intent of expanding the existing storage depot into a secret underground missile They dug mass graves on a prominent hill near the camp and carried the corpses
Hitler's once mighty war machine was beginning to fail, but the 104th women and children. Division saw and lived a story we shall never forget. There were lots of accidents, people buried alive under rocks and rubble. The overall outlook changed to one of personal hatred and loathing of anyone wearing the German uniform.(12). It was two miles in length, with two large
In one corner was a pile of arms and legs. The Journey of Private Galione: How America Became a Super Power. This meeting helped hasten the liberation of the city of Halle and spare it from further destruction. Washington, DC 20024-2126 [20] After a period of mopping up and consolidation, it participated in the trap of enemy troops in the Ruhr pocket. The 104th repulsed heavy attacks near Medebach and captured Paderborn on 1 April 1945. The 104th Infantry Division discovered approximately 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. created to accurately portray and preserve the World War II history of the 104th Infantry
He looked to be
east. 5,000 people and injured 35,000 more. ambulances. As a result of the actions of the 104th and their Allied counterparts, the Scheldt Estuary was cleared. As an American of Armenian ancestry I had been brought up, as have virtually all first and second generation [5] Additional prisoners arrived in June 1944 for forced labor with Junkers and in the Mittelwerk tunnel system, mostly for the production of V-1 and V-2 rockets. their war experiences had instilled. The division was ordered into active military service on 15 September 1942 under the command of Major General Gilbert R. Cook, and was reorganized as the 104th Infantry Division at Camp Adair, Oregon. There were no toilets and there was no water. The width of their front was approximately 8,000 yards. Prisoners from Buchenwald were sent to the area in 1943 to begin construction of a large industrial complex. Was this also the fate of the grandparents, uncles and aunts I had never
In the June-July
Company is most fitting: The emotional impact was heavy on all who were witness to these incidents but considerably more so on this writer. This terror weapon of little military
known?'. "(8) Many prisoners perished due to the It was located inside a former Luftwaffe barracks complex in Nordhausen, Thuringia, Germany, adjacent to several pre-existing forced labor camps. 5,000 corpses among the 6,000 inmates in various stages of decay. and combat-wise medics, and we thought there was nothing left in the books we
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. 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. Malnutrition and disease were rampant, and corpses lay unburied. On 11 April 1945 the Division was involved in the liberation of a large German concentration camp at Nordhausen. Murphy, Richard. Reports indicated that approximately one hundred bodies were cremated per day,
[17], The prisoners in the worst critical condition were taken to the 51st Field Hospital. 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. Email the Webmaster. [18] Eschweiler fell on 21 November and the enemy was cleared from the area west of the Inde River, including Inden by 2 December 1944. The SS was in charge of the
Initially But you know, when you are young, you can take an awful lot. With a new addendum, the 2014 edition brings to close the NTA and the
they worked several days carrying litter cases and collecting corpses by hand. 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!" weight of the other bodies piled on them had been too much for their starved,
His dozen or so photos from Mittelbau-Dora show rows of emaciated corpses in brutal clarity (inexplicably,. These men were dedicated to continuing the spirit of fellowship and teamwork from which
My legs were tired, weak, and the wound in my leg was raw. detestable living conditions. [23] In 1961, the division was relocated to Vancouver Barracks, Washington. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 The 104th Infantry Division participated in major WWII campaigns and is recognized for liberating the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in 1945. 104th Infantry and their discovery of the Mittelbau Dora labor camp; the camp in which prisoners were forced to work on a top secret weapon: the world's first ballistic missile.
These men were dedicated to continuing the spirit of fellowship and teamwork from which their war experiences had instilled. French survivor Jean Mialet is quoted as stating "This is what hell must be like" when speaking of Mittelbau Dora. [5] Assigned to the division were the 207th and 208th Infantry Brigades, containing the 413th, 414th, 415th, and 416th Infantry Regiments. One girl in particular I
Washington, DC 20024-2126 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. [1] The division was assigned to III Corps of the Ninth United States Army, part of the Twelfth United States Army Group. December 1, 2009. and there were about thirty corpses piled on the ground awaiting such treatment
[8] 1st Brigade took on basic combat training, while 3rd Brigade undertook combat support training, 4th Brigade conducted combat service support training.
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