KZ GUSEN MEMORIAL COMMITTEE
within ARBEITSKREIS FUER HEIMAT-, DENKMAL- UND GESCHICHTSPFLEGE (AHDG)
and Local-International Platform ST. GEORGEN/GUSEN, Austria
KZ Mauthausen-GUSEN Info-Pages
Local-International Commemoration
May 5-7, 2000
Report of Lee W. Hens,
Liberator of KZ Gusen I, II & III
and KZ Mauthausen Central Camp,
as given at the Commemoration in Gusen
Our arrival into Austria.
We crossed the border to Austria at WEGSCHEID on May 1st,
and traveled on our way southeast and arrived in WALDING on May 4th.
Secured the area, and stayed overnight.
On May 5th, the Company runner woke us at 4:00 hours, asked that Staff
Sgt. Hens, Bergh and Sellers report to Company C.O. Lt. Henry B. Kieling.
He briefed us on the patrol we were to take for that day.
Our objective was LINZ. We were to check all roads, bridges, and enemy
forces in the area, for Task Force Wingard was on the way to liberate the
city.
The morning was wet and cold, and very dark when we left Walding at 4:30 a.m.
Dark enough that we had to use blackout conditions in our early travel.
As daybreak came, it got better, so our speed was increased. Occasionally
stops had to be made, but very few. We did not stop at any villages and
went through only those in our route of travel. This was the most dangerous
part of our mission that day.
As we came to the bridge at LINZ, I knew that we had a problem. It was
too quiet and there was no activity around the bridge. After checking, it
was found the bridge was mined.
Reporting this back to the Lt. in charge
of Communications, we waited for a reply. It was short in coming; the
Engineers will clear the bridge. My reply; we will move on to clear the
area. The answer was in the affirmative. We proceeded southeast through
the area of STEYREGG, LUFTENBERG and arrived in ST. GEORGEN around 8:30
hours. We pulled over and halted our three halftracks. I had the first
halftrack, Staff Sgt. Bergh in the second halftrack, and Staff Sgt. Sellers
in the last. We halted at about 100 yard intervals. Sgt. Sellers'
halftrack was parked right in front of a tunnel.
We no more than stopped, when a car drove up behind Sellers' halftrack,
and a civilian got out and started talking with his men. Later it was
found out to be Louis Haefliger, the man that brought Sgt. Kosiek and Saunders to
ST. GEORGEN.
Meantime, someone had taken a photo of Sgt. Sellers' men
visiting with Mr. Haefliger.
Sgt. Kosiek's men stopped the blowing of a tunnel. When he left,
Haefliger went in his car with them to MAUTHAUSEN. We stayed in ST.
GEORGEN for another 30 minutes. As we prepared to leave, the civilians were very
upset with the guards still there, so we decided to leave Sgt. Sellers'
machine gun squad in ST. GEORGEN. Sgt. Bergh and my squad went to
MAUTHAUSEN. We arrived there around 10:00 hours, and Sgt. Kosiek and
Saunders had entered the Lager and were dealing with the prisoners.
They were the first ones there and liberated MAUTHAUSEN.
We left most of our men with our halftracks, and Bergh and I each took 2
men and went through the compound. We returned back to our vehicles around
noon and left MAUTHASUEN at 12:30 hours. We returned to ST. GEORGEN, and
Sgt. Sellers joined us as the last vehicle in our column. We returned to
LINZ at 15:00 hours.
In the meantime, Task Force Wingard had entered the city at 1:00 hours,
and were in the process of liberating it. Our Company B of the 55th
Battalion was with the Task Force. We were relieved of our assignment and
left LINZ at 16:00 hours. Meantime, our Battalion had moved to REICHENAU
and that was the base we returned to.
Late in the afternoon Task Force Wingard was relieved by the 65th
Infantry Division.
Lee W. Hens
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