Insignia of the 4th Armored Division. The commanding general of the 4th Armored Division refused to sanction an official nickname ...

The 4th Armored Division during World War II

In 1985, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the US Army Center of Military History began a program to honor US Army divisions that took part in the Allied liberation of Nazi camps. The US Army Center of Military History defines a liberating division as one whose official records show its presence at a camp within 48 hours of the first soldier’s arrival. The 4th Armored Division is among the 36 US divisions that have been recognized to date.

Key Facts

  • 1

    US, British, Soviet, and Canadian troops encountered concentration camps and other sites of Nazi crimes as they advanced across Europe in 1944 and 1945.

  • 2

    The Allied soldiers liberated sick and starving camp prisoners from Nazi tyranny. They also provided them with food, clothing, and medical aid.

  • 3

    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the US Army Center of Military History have recognized 36 US divisions for their role in the liberation of Nazi camps.

4th Armored Division Campaigns during World War II

The 4th Armored Division landed at Utah Beach on July 13, 1944, a month after the D-Day invasion (June 6, 1944) of the French Normandy coast. Within weeks, the "Breakthrough" division was sweeping across France. During the Battle of the Bulge, the unit provided badly needed support to the encircled US forces in Bastogne, Belgium. In late March 1945, the 4th crossed the Rhine River into central Germany and, by war's end, had reached the Czech border.

The 4th Armored Division and the Liberation of Ohrdruf

On April 4, 1945, the "Breakthrough" division overran Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp and the first Nazi camp liberated by US troops. Created in November 1944 near the town of Gotha, Ohrdruf supplied forced labor in the form of concentration camp prisoners for railway construction leading to a proposed communications center, which was never completed because of the rapid US advance. In late March 1945, the camp had a prisoner population of some 11,700, but in early April almost all the prisoners were evacuated on death marches to Buchenwald. The SS guards killed many of the remaining prisoners who were too ill to walk to the railway cars.

American soldiers of the Fourth Armored Division survey the dead at Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

US soldiers of the 4th Armored Division survey the dead at Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Germany, April 1945.

Credits:
  • US Holocaust Memorial Museum

The 4th Armored Division's discovery of the Ohrdruf camp opened the eyes of many US soldiers to the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Recognition as a Liberating Unit

The 4th Armored Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1985.

4th Armored Casualty Figures

Casualty figures for the 4th Armored Division, European theater of operations:

  • Total battle casualties: 6,212
  • Total deaths in battle: 1,366

4th Armored Division Nickname

The commanding general of the 4th Armored Division refused to sanction an official nickname for the 4th, believing that the division's accomplishments on the battlefield made one unnecessary. "Breakthrough" was occasionally used, apparently to highlight the division's prominent role in the breakout from the Normandy beachhead and liberation of France in 1944.

Insignia of the 4th Armored Division. The commanding general of the 4th Armored Division refused to sanction an official nickname ...

Insignia of the 4th Armored Division. The commanding general of the 4th Armored Division refused to sanction an official nickname for the 4th, believing that the division's accomplishments on the battlefield made one unnecessary. "Breakthrough" was occasionally used, apparently to highlight the division's prominent role in the breakout from the Normandy beachhead and liberation of France in 1944.

Credits:
  • US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections

Critical Thinking Questions

  • What challenges did Allied forces face when they encountered the camps and sites of other atrocities?

  • What challenges faced survivors of the Holocaust upon liberation?

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Glossary