The history of the 11th Armored Division began in 1942 in Louisiana. In October 1944, the division’s soldiers arrived in Britain, and moved to the front in France in December of the same year. The division took part in fighting during the German offensive in the Ardennes. Then, as the leading unit, it took part in the attack on the German defense line, the so-called Siegfried Line. The Americans’ battle route led south – after crossing the Rhine at Oppenheim, the division fought in Bavaria, then entered Austria.
May 5, 1945. Albert Kosiek, as commander of a combat team, was given the task of securing the bridges over the St. Georgen, over which the American armored columns were to pass. As he recalled:
We passed through the town of Lungitz, but as we rounded a bend in the road, my sergeant from the reconnaissance section spotted some Germans on a hill. I immediately gave the order to withdraw to the town (…). A German soldier appeared walking toward me. This soldier was in possession of more weapons than he had hair on his head. He explained to us in English, that on the hill was a branch of the concentration camp, where Poles and Russians were imprisoned (…) the next obstacle in the way was a roadblock (…) We checked for bomb-pits (…) suddenly from afar we heard a muffled sound of an engine, which aroused the vigilance of my soldiers. Through binoculars we saw a motorcycle and a white off-road car with the sign of the red cross on the hood (…) Out of the car came two SS captains, the driver and a man in civilian clothes. The civilian was a delegate of the International Red Cross.
This delegate was the Zurich bank clerk Louis Haefliger. He made a risky attempt to speed up accidents by bringing the Americans to the camp. The meeting with the Swiss was troublesome in that the liberation of the camp contradicted the orders he had previously received, i.e. to secure the bridges necessary for the crossing of American troops. In the event, Albert Kosiek contacted the command of the 11th Division with a request for permission to enter the camp, which he obtained.
Kosiek’s unit entered St. Georgen, where they found a bridge – the goal of the original mission. At some distance from it, the soldiers spotted a concentration camp, but mistook the Gusen camp for the one in Mauthasuen at the time. Albert Kosiek recalls the moment of liberation somewhat differently from the accounts of liberated prisoners. Their recollections include the arrival of Americans on tanks and direct contact between the prisoners and the liberators. Albert Kosiek, meanwhile, reported:
As we approached the camp, we noticed some SS captain who saluted me in American, which I also did. (…) he explained to us that he was the commandant of the Gusen camp. Along with him was an old Volkssturm grump who spoke fluent English. With his help, I explained to the SS captain that we were taking over the camp.
Thus the Gusen camp was liberated, and the remaining crew was taken prisoner. Meanwhile, Sergeant Kosiek set off with a Swiss guide to the Mauthausen camp:
We soon arrived at Mauthausen. The camp was located on the highest hill in the area, surrounded on one side by the Danube River (…). The camp was surrounded by huge cement [granite] walls with large field guns facing us. The first entrance to the camp was on the forest side (…) this part of the camp was fenced off with a barbed wire fence connected to electricity (…) Behind the fence were hundreds of people who went straight crazy with joy when they saw us. It was a sight I will never forget. Some prisoners were covered only with blankets, others were completely naked, I had never seen men and women in such a state of physical exhaustion.
Sergeant Kosiek left the service at the end of 1945 and returned to the United States. He worked as an inspector at Western Electric in Chicago and later opened his own barber store and store. He died in 1980.
