American soldiers at the Buchenwald gatehouse, April 1945. The Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated on April 11, 1945 by four soldiers in the 6th Armored Division of the US 3rd Army, commanded by Gen George S. Patton. Just before the Americans arrived, the camp had already been taken over by the Communist prisoners who had killed some of the guards and forced the rest to flee into the nearby woods.
