Signal Corps and the Holocaust 

The role of combat units in the
liberation of concentration camps and death march rescues is
recorded in many WWII
histories and portrayed in
popular culture.
The Signal Corps was also
involved. Among the more better known are:
- The Signal Corps photographers and
filmmakers who on April 12, 1945 who
accompanied Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton as they
toured the Ohrdruf, subcamp of the Buchenwald system. That
includes the Signal Section of Headquarters, Supreme
Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF)
- Technician Fourth Grade/4
Arland B. Musser, 163rd Signal Photographic Company, Seventh
Army and Special Motion Picture Coverage Unit of the Signal
Corps who documented April 29, 1945 to document the liberation
of Dachau.
- Signal Corps camera teams
and photographers who recorded the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials including the
3264th Signal Service Company (Photographic), 12th Army
Group.
Almost unknown,
overlooked, forgotten and lost to history are other contributions
by Signal Corps soldiers.
The Liberation of Camps
and Subcamps
Communications Support
for Division Signal Companies
The U.S. Army Center of
Military History and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum lists
28 infantry, armored, and air borne divisions as liberators of
40 camps and subcamps.
Divisions had about 16
units with about 14,000 soldiers. Only a few soldiers from a few
combat units entered the camp.
Every division had a
Signal Company. Those Signal Company were within a few miles of
the camp providing lateral communications among the division's
units while combat units entered the camp.
For example, on April
29, 1945, while elements of "I" and "L" Companies of the
3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
supported by elements of the 191st Tank Battalion entered
Dachau, the
45th Signal Company was moving from Schrobenhausen about 39 miles by road
north of Dachau to Haimhausen, about 8 miles by road northeast
of Dachau.
The Signal Company of
the other 27 divisions were performed similar duties during the
liberation of camps and subcamps.
Witnessing, Documenting, and
Caring for the Dead
33rd Signal Construction Battalion: Ohrdruf, mid-April 1945
35th Signal Construction
Battalion: Touring Buchenwald on or after May
1, 1945, pages 96 to 106
215th Signal Company: April 14, 1945: Burial of the dead from the
Nordhausen sub-camp of the Dora-Mittelbau Concentration Camp.
3253rd Signal Service Company (Radio
Intelligence): Photos of Dachau: From sometimes between April 30 and
May 2, 1945
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All material
not in the public domain 2023 -2024 Leonard
H. Cizewski
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Posted:
Last Reviewed:
Update, Corrective and
Revision History:
November 29, 2023
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Last Major Update: June 15, 2023