American forces at Ohrdruf concentration camp
While on an inspection tour of the newly liberated Ohrdruf concentration camp April 12, 1945, General Dwight Eisenhower and a party of high ranking U.S. Army officers that included Generals Omar Bradley and George Patton viewed charred remains of prisoners that were burned upon a section of railroad track during the Nazi’s evacuation of the camp. Ohrdruf was a sub-camp of Buchenwald and was the first German concentration camp liberated by U.S. troops. Ohrdruf was liberated on April 4, 1945, by the 4th Armored Division, led by Brigadier General Joseph Cutrona, and the 89th Infantry Division. As the American troops advanced towards Ohrdruf, the SS began evacuating almost all prisoners on death marches to Buchenwald. The SS guards killed many of the remaining prisoners deemed too ill to walk to the railcars.