“The Mauthausen Concentration Camp was liberated by the First Platoon of Troop D, 41st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized of the 11th Armored Division (Kosiek, 1). On May 5, 1945, the First Platoon was out on patrol when a motorcycle and a white touring car with a red cross on the hood drove up. The Germans in the vehicle said that the Mauthausen Concentration Camp was down the road and the Germans guarding the camp wanted to surrender. When the First Platoon got to the camp, the prisoners started cheering. They were so happy to see Americans. The First Platoon calmed the crowd, and the German guards came and surrendered to the Americans. The American soldiers told the Germans to give up their weapons, but the Germans said that if they did that, then the prisoners might not listen to them. The Germans were more afraid of the prisoners hurting them than they were of the Americans. There was a riot that started in the kitchen, and Sergeant Kosiek cleared up the situation by firing a few rounds from his pistol into the kitchen ceiling. He got the prisoners to go back to their quarters. The 23 men of the First Platoon returned to their base camp with 1,800 German soldiers that had surrendered.”[SOURCE]

With that being said, it’s time to wrap up the Mauthausen photo series. It has been quite an experience not only visiting the memorial camp, but selecting and editing the photos for this series as well. Thank you for visiting!