Last Stand in Leipzig, 1945

Thanks for reminding us LTC Eric Udouj about the western allies offensives to the east in the spring of 1945 while the Soviet Armies drove from east to west to wreak as much destruction on German as possible while they raped, killed and pillages Germany in revenge for what the Germans did to their own nation.
"During the fierce battle for Leipzig, the 69th Infantry Division uncovered Leipzig-Thekla, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, on April 19, 1945. The camp had been established in September 1943 to supply labor for the German war effort. At its height, Leipzig-Thekla held approximately 1,400 prisoners.

On April 18, 1945, the SS guards had set fire to the barracks housing some 300 inmates and shot those who attempted to escape the flames. Upon arriving at the camp, the 69th immediately began providing for the 90 to 100 survivors. Days later, US Army Signal Corps photographers arrived at the site to document this atrocity. On April 28, 1945, a US Army Protestant chaplain reported that 325 male prisoners, who were too ill or weak to continue working for the German war effort, had been forced into oil-soaked barracks, which were then set aflame. Prisoners who attempted to escape the conflagration were shot by the guards or electrocuted on the electrified fences. According to the report, the swift advance of the 69th prevented the SS guards from committing a similar atrocity at a nearby camp housing some 250 women.

On April 24, the newly installed Allied military government in Leipzig ordered the local German mayor to provide 75 caskets for the dead prisoners, floral wreaths for each coffin, crews of workers to bury the inmates at the entrance of the town cemetery, and 100 prominent citizens from Leipzig, representing the “City Government, Clergy, Civic organizations, Chamber of Commerce, and Educational Institutions including the University of Leipzig to attend the funeral services” on April 27, 1945. That day, the US Army supervised the funeral, supplying Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant chaplains to perform the service. A guard of honor composed of survivors of the camp; 100 displaced persons bearing flags of the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the Soviet Union, Poland, and Czechoslovakia; Allied officers; and 1,000 German civilians attended the ceremony.

The 69th 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 1993."
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006167
Images: 1945-04-05 Advance_through_Germany_-_5-18_April_1945; 1945-04 army Street scene during the battle for Leipzig Germany; 1945-04 You are now entering Leipzig through the courtesy of the 69th Infantry Division; 1945-04-25 1130 Patrol-No-1-Kotzebue-Patrol-273 Inf Div.
Kotzebue Patrol No. 1 – 1130 hours on April 25, 1945 – The 273rd Infantry Regiment’s 1st Lt. Albert L Kotzebue’s Patrol is recognized as the first Allied soldiers to meet the Russians at Leckwitz, Germany at 1130 hour on April 25, 1945. His patrol consisted of a total of 36 men from Hq Co, Med Det, Cos E, G and H 273 Inf Rgt. How these men were selected was never recorded. There is no known photo of the entire patrol. Picture here from left to right are Lt. Kotzebue, Houston, Texas, Co G; Medic Cpl. Stephen A. Kowalski, Med Det, New York, NY; Pfc. Byron L. Shiver Sr., Co H, Lancaster, SC and Pfc. Edward P. Huff, Co H, Riverside, NJ. Lt. Kozebue was the first American officer to shake hands with a Soviet officer. It took place near Strehla, Germany.
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL LTC Stephen C. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Christopher Mueller Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SFC William Farrell SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt Robert Marx SSgt (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. SP5 Mark KuzinskiSGT Robert George SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric Escasio SPC Margaret Higgins

Thank you for a great history lesson.

thanks for the Links to the last days of the war in Europe...