62nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion, V Corps, 1st U.S. Army

John J. Garvey in his oral history, erroneously reports that the 62nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion liberated the Kaufering IV subcamp at Hurlach of the Dachau system.

At the time of the liberation of Kaufering IV, the 62nd AFAB was 428kilometers/266 miles north of Kaufering IV at Bad Birba. Kaufering IV was liberated on April 27 to 30, 1945. The officially recognized co-liberating divisions are the 12th Armored, 101st Airborne, and 63rd Infantry. Also present at liberation was the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion.

Misidentifications such as the one made by John J. Garvey are frequent and are done without ill-intention.

John J. Garvey deserves the benefit of the doubt and that he is reporting a camp encounter but has misidentified the camp.
On April 23, 1945, the 62nd was at Bad Birba 242 kilometers/150 miles north of Flossenburg concentration camp when it was liberated by the 358th and 359th Infantry Regiments, 90th Infantry Division.

On April 29, 1945 the 62nd shifted to Weiden, Germany. 19 kilometers/12 miles from the
Flossenburg concentration camp. That gave the soldiers of the 62nd to tour to Flossenburg concentration camp and become soldier-witnesses of the Holocaust as instructed by General Eisenhower. Unofficial documentation includes at least one photo.
John J. Garvey misidentification may be based on such a tour.

No definition of liberator existed in 1945. Soldiers such as John J. Garvey and other 62nd soldiers who toured Flossenberg within a week of liberation and possibly before the end of the war in Europe may have legitimately self-identified as a Flossenberg liberator.

John J. Garvey's error in his oral history is another reminder that all oral histories are raw material and need to corroborated with official documents and histories.
<< Myths, Fabrications, Errors, Inaccuracies, and Omissions In the History of the Liberation of Dachau and Dachau Subcamp

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All items not in the public domain c 2026
The 45th Infantry Division in World War II: An Unofficial Guide to Resources

Administrators: Leonard H. Cizewski & Judy Erwin Branham

Constructed: February 15, 2025
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February 24, 2026


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