April 29, 1945

Over the past several days, I've been in touch with a number of children and grandchildren of veterans. Only in this case, the veterans didn't serve with the 101st Cavalry. They served with the Polish Army. Their paths crossed with the 101st Cavalry on April 29, 1945. Several years ago, I posted a story about one of these men, Seweryn Majcherkiewicz, which was written by his sons, Stan and Przemo Majcherkiewicz.

I realize now that I haven't given much detail about this event, other than B Troop, 116th Squadron of the 101st Cavalry, liberated OFLAG-VIIA, where Majcherkiewicz and many others were held captive.

Over the next few blogs, I hope to write more about OFLAG-VIIA and the men who were imprisoned there. I received a number of comments--mostly questions--on both that initial blog post and on photos I have posted in my photo gallery. I have received answers to some of those questions, and hope to put together a few more posts, but first, I need to outline what happened on Sunday, April 29, 1945.

The sound of gunfire awakened the prisoners at OFLAG-VIIA in Murnau, Germany, that morning. As they left their quarters, they saw an American plane circling overhead and the sound of gunfire from the north continued. By afternoon--16:55 according to records of the 12th Armored Division--the Americans had reached the camp, and a small group of cars driven by Nazi SS drove toward the Americans. Right outside the gate of the camp, a firefight began and two of the SS were killed (Colonel Teichmann and Captain Widmann).

Two American tanks began pursuing the SS cars, which were fleeing back to Murnau. Another tank entered the camp through the main gate. The first Americans through the gate were Polish: Corporal Richard Pawlowski of Chicago and a soldier originally from Kalisz, Poland.

B Troop, 116th Squadron, liberates OFLAG-VIIA.
Photo taken by 2nd Lt. Edward Newell, U.S. Army Signal Corps