522nd Field Artillery Battalion Flag522nd Field Artillery BattalionField Artillery Guidon

LEFT: 522nd Flag Click for larger format

March 12 to May 18, 1945

Dates
Locations
Attachments/Assignments Supporting Notes including Subcamps Liberated and Death March Rescue
March

Seventh Army


12-15
Kleinblittersdorf,
Germany
XXI Corps


13-22

861st Field Artillery Battalion, 63rd Inf Div

15-16
Bliesransbach



16-21
Neumumlerhof (spelling?)



21
Homburg



22

Detached from the 63rd Division


22-24
Ripperterhof



24-26
Herrnsheim



26
Rhine River XVth Corps
Crosses the Rhine River with the 45th Infantry Division

Begins operating in the area of the 127 subcamps of the Dachau satellite system

The 522nd line of march was through an area of 34 subcamps.
26-30

156th Field Artillery Battalion, 44th Infantry Division

27-28
Lampertheim


27 Mar – Service Battery catches up
29-30
Heddesheim,
Detached from the 44th Infantry Division







30 March- April 9

4th Infantry Division

 
30 March - April 1
Dossenheim



April



1-3
Paimar (spelling?)
63rd Inf Div
3-6
Unter Wittighausen (spelling?)


5

Battery A attached to 116th Cavalry Squadron (a unit attached to the 4th Infantry Division)

Rest of the 522nd reverted to 4th  Division 
Artillery Control


6-7
Vichband (spelling?)
101st Cavalry Group (a unit attached to the 4th Infantry Division)

7-14
Bolzhausen 116th Cavalry Squadron
(a unit attached to the 4th Infantry Division)

8

4th Reconnaissance Troop
Forward Observers were sent out
9

Detached from 4th Infantry Division
14-15
Klein Harbach (spelling?)
42th Field Artillery. Battalion,,4th Infantry Division
15-16
Oberscheckenbach

 
16-18
Gattenhofen



18
Neusitz




18-19
Bockenfeld





19
Schafhof



12th Infantry Regiment Command Past set up headquarters at Schillingsfurst Castle










19-20





20

4th Infantry Division
Task Force Rodwell, commanded by,General James Rodwell  an Assistant Division Commander, 4th ID. set up at Schnelldorf.

Task Force Rodwell included the
12th Infantry Regiment.
20 -24



20-21
Steinbach



 
21

Attached to Rodwell Task Force12th Inf Reg, 4th Infantry Division

22
Passed near or directly over the abandoned Ellwagen Subcamp in Würtenberg

The Ellwagen subcamp of the Dachau system was opened in July 1941and shut down and abandoned in October 1942.

The 12th IR describes it encounter with the abandoned Ellwagen subcamp as a liberation.
22
Passed near or directly over the abandoned Heidenheim Subcamp

The Heidenheim Subcamp was created in October 1941 and dissolved in two stages in October and November 1942.
22-26



The 12th IR describes their encounter with the abandoned Aalen subcamp as a liberation.

The SS abandoned Aalen in February, 1945 and evacuated the in
mates.
22-26
Wasseralfingen



26




SS begins Kaufering subcamp inmates on death march.





1st & 3rd Bn of 12th Inf Div
12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division April 23 to May 3, 1945

Click on image for larger format
12th Infantry Regiment Map
Map by David Miles
24

Detached from the 4th Infantry Division

Task Force Rodwell rejoins the 12th Infantry Regiment
26
Weisingen

42nd Field Art Bn
Detached from Rodwell Task Force
27
Altenmünster

The Horgau
subcamp captured by the 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion, the 12th IR and 522nd FAB.


The Horgau subcamp had billets for approximately 550 slave laborers in the village of Horgau. The slave laborers worked in the nearby complex of 21 buildings constructing Nazi combat aircraft.

On April 4,the SS transferred the remaining 274 prisoners at the Horgau subcamp to the Pfersee subcamp prior to the arrival of American troops. Prior to the arrival of American troops a few of at the Pfersee subcamp, inmates were sent to the main Dachau camp while the rest were sent on a death march.

The Horgau subcamp inmates were rescued from the death at Klimmach.by units of the 12th Armored Division

Tadashi Tojo and Robert Sugai, Battery A, 522nd FAB were present.

At this time, we have no information if the any living inmates who had escaped or evaded the April 4 death march transport were still at Horgau at the time of his 522nd FAB and 12th IR liberated any inmates who evaded the SS evacuation
.

27-28
Romelsreld (spelling)



28
Anhausen (?) 4th Infantry Division
Haunstetten subcamp (Augsburg-Pfersee subcamps)

"On the 13th April 1944, the camp was destroyed by an air raid and never rebuilt. The surviving prisoners...were ...distributed to other sub-camps of the Messerschmitt AG. For example, about 600 survivors came to Gablingen and 398 to Leonberg."

12th Infantry Regiment, 4th ID captured the Haunstetten subcamp of the Dachau satellite system


At this time, we have no information if the any living inmates who had escaped or evaded the post April 13 distribution of inmates to other subcamps were at Haunstetten when the 12th IR captured it.

At the time of the capture of the Haunstetten subcamp, the 522nd reports that they were less than 6 kilometers/4.7 miles south of Haunstetten but not at the subcamp.Headquarters was 4 to 12 miles at Anhausen Bobingen and Bergheim.

Prior ot the arrival of the 12th IR, the SS evacuated the Augsburg-Pfersee subcamps on a death march. On April 26, units of the 12th Armored Division rescued them near Klimmach about 17.5 miles south.
28-29
Bobingen
12th Inf Reg

29
Wallenhausen
Scheuring
Geltendorf

Passed directly through the Kaufering IV subcamp at the Lechfeld Airfield near Hurlach



The Dachau subcamp at Kaufering IV was initially a slave labor camp for the Lager Lechfeld Nazi airfield.Later is was a camp for inmates incapable of transport.

The Kaufering IV subcamp was set afire when inmates from nearby subcamps were transported to the main Dachau camp in mid-April.

At this time, we have no information if any inmates who evaded the SS evacuation and klllings were present when the 522nd FAB passed through the Kaufering IV subcamp at the Lechfeld Airfield near Hurlach.

From the main Dachau concentration camp, Kaufering subcamp inmates were sent south on a death march were on May 2 at Waakirchen they were rescued by the 522nd with units of the 12th IR.
29



Main Dachau concentration camp with 32,000 inmates liberated by Units of the 45th and 42th Infantry Divisions and 20th Armored Division

The 522nd was operating 26 to 34 miles east of the main Dachau concentration camp. Three other divisions were operating between the 4th ID to which the 522nd was attached and the Dachau concentration camp.  As stated in Fire for Effect, no units of the 522nd took part in the liberation of the main concentration camp.
29-30
522nd displaced through Turkenfeld which included a subcamp


Turkenfeld had subcamp of the Dachau system. It was a constructed but never put into operation.

The 12th IR describes it encounter at Turkenfeld as a liberation.
30
Weßling
Starnberg
Mörlbach



May




1-2
Ascholding


Undated
The 522nd reports that it was 5 kilometers/3.1 north of the Wolfratshausen subcamp but does not report entering it.


The 12th IR reports liberating the Wolfratshausen subcamp.

At this time, we have no information if the any living inmates were at the were at the
the Wolfratshausen subcamp at the time the 12th IR reports liberating it.
2
Unterleiten


2
Bad Tolz Subcamp


The 522nd reports passing directly through the Bad Tolz subcamp. 50 inmates were reported at the subcamp. The Bad Tolz subcamp was on the grounds of the Junker School, an SS training facility.

The inmates are liberated but the unit that liberated them is not identified. That may not have been the 522nd as their assignment appears to have been Waakirchen and
Unterleiten.

The 141st IR, 36th ID was engaged in combat with SS units in and around Bad Tolz. The 141st IR reports the presence of inmates in the area.
2
On the road between Bad Tolz and Waakirchen: Death march rescue


The 522nd FAB with the 12th Infantry Regiment on the road between Bad Tolz and Waakirchen rescues from a death march an estimated 3000 inmates from the Kaufering subcamp of the Dachau system on a death march.

The death march started with 6000 inmates from the Kaufering subcamp on April 23 to the main Dachau concentration camp possibly by train. The death march left the main Dachau concentration camp on foot on April 26. Mortality on death marches was as high as 50%.
3

Detached from 4th Inf. Div




4-9
Schaftlach


5

101st Airborne Division
Assigned a security mission & sectors were assigned to the  batteries
7

Detached from the 101st Airborne Division

9-17
Steppach (spelling)



17
Mertingen



18
Donauworth




May 2 to October 31
Occupation of
Germany





Sources and Researchers

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All items not in the public domain c2021-2022
The 45th Infantry Division in World War II: An Unofficial Guide to Resources

Co-administrators: Leonard H. Cizewski & Judy Erwin Branham

Last Major Update:June 10, 2022
Correction or Minor Revision: May 13, 2021
Last Reviewed:
Posted: April 19, 2021



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Research: Govan Yee,.Isami Yoshihara, David Wayne Miles, and Leoanrd Cizewski researched information for this page.

Isami Yoshihara's brother served in the 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Infantry Regiment alongside the 45th ID in Italy where he was wounded.

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Many volunteer researchers at their own expense obtained many of these public domain items from sources such as the National Archives.