The book Liberators (netflix show) tells a little bit about the liberation of Dachau. The 45th under command of Lt Col Felix Sparks entered the compound from the rear after coming across train boxcars full of corpses. A German officer approached with a white flag in order to surrender the camp. He was shot on the spot. Other German soldiers were lined up against a wall and shot with a machine gun. The shooting was stopped by Col Sparks when he saw what was happening. He ordered that aid be rendered to those that were wounded. He was in 5he preliminary stages of being court martialed when his case was sent up the chain of command and it reached General Patton’s desk. Patton threw the report in the trash, knowing what these men had seen on their March across Germany.

Now for the rest of the story. The boxcar full of corpses had been strafed by our air corps. The camp guards had left the camp previously, leaving the camp to SS troops that were on leave from the Eastern front. They hadn’t partaken in any of the Dachau atrocities. The SS officer had been given orders to surrender the camp, so he dressed in his dress uniform when he stepped out to surrender. But war is hell and our boys of the 45th took out revenge for the boys in their ranks that had been injured or killed in the previous 500+ days of combat. The Germans that were walking wounded were given to the camp prisoners to be cared for. They were then beat to death with shovels, bricks, and boards.

As the 45th was seizing the camp from the back to the front, a Jeep pulled up to the front gate carrying General Linden of the 42nd division. The remaining concentration camp officer surrendered to him. They surrendered to one Jeep of the 42nd. The hatred for what the boys from Oklahoma did to those Germans was reflected in the plaque at the front gate that for 75 years stated that the camp was liberated by the 42nd. Only a couple of years ago the plaque was changed to include the 455h.