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IN THIS SEGMENT ...
  • Vengeance at Dachau
  • Transcript of US Army investigation

    • VIDEO CLIPS
  • Excerpts from 'The Liberation of KZ Dachau,'
    a documentary by
    James Kent Strong

    • RELATED LINKS
  • Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial site
  • Dachau gas chambers
  • Dachau reconstruction project home page
  • History and virtual tour of Dachau
  • Dachau today photo essay
  • Holocaust Survivors Site
  • Holocaust History Project
  • The US Holocaust Memorial Museum

    • THE SERIES TO DATE
    PART I: THE
    PERFECT SPY
    German bureaucrat Fritz Kolbe smuggled out information so good the Allies didn't trust it

    PART II: INSIDE
    THE EMPIRE
    How Americans behind Japanese lines helped change the fate of WWII

    PART III: CALLING JAPAN TO ACCOUNT
    Nation asked to detail, and pay for, its WWII crimes

    PART IV: THE HOLOCAUST
    Early Nazi documents warned of genocidal intentions

    PART V: VENGEANCE
    AT DACHAU
    US soldiers shocked by Holocaust executed captured Nazi troops after liberating death camp

    PART VI: THE RESISTANCE
    Declassified documents demystify World War II underground

    PART VII: CLOAKED BUSINESS
    How Allied companies covered their deals with Axis

    PART VIII: THE WAR OF WORDS
    While troops and arms do their part, propaganda also proves central to military doctrine

    This series is based on some of the more than 3 million files the CIA is declassifying as part of a global effort to unlock the last stash of secrets about World War II war crimes.

    Vengeance at Dachau

    Video clips from 'The Liberation of KZ Dachau'

    These video clips are from "The Liberation of KZ Dachau," a 1990 documentary by James Kent Strong on the capture of Dachau April 29, 1945, by troops of the American Seventh Army. They are used with permission. They can be viewed using RealPlayer. If you have a fast Internet connection, click on "Cable/T1"; if your connection is slower, click "Modem/AOL."

    'I'll be honest with you: I broke down. I started crying ...'
    Lt. William Walsh, on seeing piles of dead bodies outside Dachau
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'We checked the cars very hastily, all 39 of them, and each one was crammed with dead bodies ...'
    Lt. Col. Felix Sparks, describing how he gave the order to assault Dachau
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'You soon realize: They're all dead! What the hell is this? ...'
    Lt. William Walsh, describing his unit's arrival outside Dachau
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'I said: Christ, I'm in the gas chamber ...'
    Hank Mills, on taking a tour of the camp after it was liberated
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'Where the hell were you ... [to] take care of these people?'
    Lt. William Walsh, on finding a German wearing Red Cross shields and insignia
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'I seen an American shoot approximately 30 guys with a light machine gun ...'
    Hank Mills, witness to the execution of captured Germans
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'The people that we killed died a much easier death than the people they tortured and killed ...'
    Lt. Col. Felix Sparks
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'It was wrong what happened there. But you had to have been there to see what we saw ...'
    Pvt. John Lee
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL

    'I don't think there was any SS guys who was shot ... that wondered why he was killed ...'
    Lt. William Walsh
    * Cable/T1   * Modem/AOL
    Vengeance at Dachau    * Page 1

    This story ran on page A1 of The Boston Globe on 4/15/2001. © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.