In our haste to leave Ohrdruf, some of us didn't see the infamous concnetration camp there, but others in the battalion did and they took pictures of the dead inmates. At one town several stops back, 2,000 workers were murdered just before our forces took it, yet all the townspeople denied knowledge of the atrocity; the burgomeister committed suicide when he was shown the bodies. Everywhere people deny ever having been Nazis, but practically every house looks like a branch of Goebbels' propaganda bureau.
The concentration camp was a satellite camp for Buchenwald. It was the first to be iberated by the american and British armies. On 12 April Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton visited the camp. Eisenhower turned pale and silent, Bradley was overwhelmed by the smell of death, and tough old George Patton vomited. Then Ike ordered every unit nearby that was not in the front lines to tour the camp. He also cabled London and Washington, urging that delegation of officials and newsmen see for themselves the liberated camps, the horror of which exceeded any previous reports.
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