Isaac Askin, (‘Uncle Ike to my family’), was one of the hidden liberators of Dachau. He was a member of ‘Headquarters Battery” 131^st AAA Gun Battalion which was the Mobile Anti-Aircraft Unit in World War II.

131^st AAA Gun Battalion-mobile anti-aircraft unit Isaac Askin (August 28, 1924-August 28, 2014)

Like most returning WWII veterans, my Uncle Ike never spoke of his war experiences. Not wanting this history to be lost forever, I nudged him for a year to tell my twins boys about his experiences during the war, for their B’nai Mitzvah project.

He finally acquiesced, first by writing a letter of his experiences, then agreeing to be filmed.

Ike’s wartime duties included serving as a decoder, and as such, only he and his commanding officer had access to privileged information. Ike kept detailed documentation of his wartime experiences. Included in this documentation is the historically significant but unknown fact that his unit served as liberators of one of the Dachau concentration camps.

After his death in 2014, I created a rough documentary about Uncle Ike’s war time experiences. In his own words, here are some of Ike’s stories. There are many more:

September 17, 1944: Liege, Belgium

Ike attended Rosh Hashana High Holy Day service where he met three young Jewish French girls who told him a story about a Righteous Gentile:

“Before the service they told me a story about a priest in Liege. The priest ordered farmers to give safety to these girls. After services, I went to the church and met the priest. I said to him, “if you weren’t sent to a concentration camp you could have been killed for harboring Jews. Why did you do it?” And I’ll never forget the answer; “Son, it doesn’t make any difference what religion you are, in the eyes of the one above, we are all God’s children”. I said, “Father, you may never know, but if ever I have an opportunity to return this good deed, I will do it.”

October 14, 1944: Luxembourg Castle

Ike was on guard duty at the main gate for a secret meeting with US & Allied Generals-included were: Eisenhower, Bradley, Hodges, Patton, Simpson and others… Ike confronts General Patton. This chance meeting greatly influenced future events with Ike’s unit, including the liberation of one of the Dachau concentration camps.

“Orders from General Bradley. No one goes through the entrance without official notification. I stopped a jeep, he says “solider move away.” I said, “No one gets through until they are identified.” “I’ll tell you for the last time, step aside!” I said “sir, whoever you are, I don’t want to kill you, turn your head to the left and look up in the tree. He’s got my tommy gun and he’ll open up and your head will be taken clear off your shoulders.” Finally, someone said it was General Patton, let him through. If there was a hole in the ground, I would have gladly crawled into it. The jeep moved forward, then stopped… he got out of the jeep and said, “what’s your name son?” I was afraid to give him my name…

April 29, 1945: Hidden Liberators of Dachau, Germany

Ike’s first face-to-face encounter with a Dachau concentration camp survivor:

“We arrived at 2:00 pm and there was a guard tower but there was no guard. To make sure the ground was not mined, we sprayed it with 50 mm machine gun fire.

Considering all the noise we must have made, with no response, we felt it was safe to enter. Being in the first jeep with my CO, we proceeded slowly-about 50 feet when I saw a man walking toward us.

I noticed a Star of David on his clothing. I got out of the jeep and walked as fast as I could to greet this man. My dog tags were clearly visible and attached to them was my mezuzah, which I always wore.

The only thing I could think of saying was “Shalom”. He threw his arms around me, and tears of joy ran down his face…

Ike’s unit was only there for 47 hours! It was all POLITICAL! General Patch (7^th Army) was supposed to be there, not Ike’s unit which was attached to Patton’s 3^rd Army. General Patton sent an urgent coded message to Ike’s unit, to leave at 1PM the next day and destroy all evidence they were there. The story of the true, liberators of Dachau has remained untold … till now.

Please help me in my mission to have the 131^st WWII Mobile Anti-Aircraft Unit officially acknowledged as Liberators! These brave men and their decedents of this unit deserve acknowledgment for their service!

Help the Hidden Liberators of Dachau be recognized for their part in the liberation!

Transcript of Ike Askin’s handwritten letter of the liberation of one of the concentration Camps in Dachau.

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The following are the events from 4/29 to 5/1/1945 and what happened prior to 1/29/45 as I recall them.

Being the message control chief for Headquarters Battery, I was privy to some classified information from army headquarters to our C.O.  All messages were sent in code, and it was my job to decode these messages and give them to my C.O.

If a reply was needed, I would send it back in code and give it to the communications Sargent to be sent either to 1^st Army, 3^rd Army, 9^th Army or to General Bradley.  Whatever command we were under at any time.

On the evening of April 20, 1945, I received a message telling my C.O. to be prepared to leave the next day for a designated spot some 40 miles north of Munich, it was the furthest point in this area under the control of the 3^rd Army.

We were on the Rhine and had to travel all day to reach this spot.  Earlier that evening, we arrived at Ingolstadt … and was met by a special messenger from General Patton with a portfolio containing maps and a message from my C.O.

My C.O. asked me to place the map on the table and tell him where we were going while he read his instructions.  He turned to me and asked the destination.  I guess I pronounced the name wrong because the messenger corrected me and said it is pronounced Dachau.

My C.O. came to the table to look over the map and said this road was not on any of my maps of this area.  He was told that aerial photos taken a few days ago revealed this hidden road and that it would be the element of surprise that was in our favor.

It was not good for tanks, but it would be good enough for our heavy equipment.  But that we would have to travel in single file 40 miles, avoid enemy territory and with radio silence and above all, avoid enemy contact.

Time was important.  Also, that we would be taking with us a number of trucks filled with food, blankets, equipment and candy.  None of this for our use on the trip.  When we arrived at our destination, we will know what to do with the candy.

We were to fill our gas tanks and our pockets with candy and be ready to roll at 7AM on 4/29.  The next day, one other thing the men were not to be told the destination and why his general staff was to be informed.

The men were to be told, if they arrived at this spot before the 7^th Army, that within a few days they would be sleeping on fine linen and fed 2 hot meals a day by pretty German women.

For dirty GI’s who had been sleeping on the ground or in tents on blankets, the thought of sleeping on linens and 2 hot meals by pretty women was all they had to hear.  God help anything or anyone who got in our way.  We could not wait to go.

On the morning of the 29^th at 7AM we were moving as fast as we could.  It was about 2PM when we arrived at our destination.  Before us stood 2 fences with a guard tower but no guards.

The road from Ingolstadt had a fork in it.  One led to Augsburg and the other to Munich via Dachau. It is not important that there might not be any record or documents to prove that others than the 7^th Army were in Dachau.

Not knowing if the fence was electrified, a group of us were sent to blow a hole at the base of the fence.  We brought up our big gun and hammered the fence until we opened up a hole big enough for our equipment to get past.

To make sure the ground was not mined, we sprayed it with 50 caliber machine gun fire and then took on the 2^nd fence in the same manner.  Considering all the noise we must have made with no response, we felt it was safe to enter.

We then sent a number of jeeps alongside of each other just in case.  We were taking no chances.  We proceeded slowly about 50 feet when I saw a man walking towards us.

Being in the first jeep with my C.O., I noticed on this man was a Star of David on his clothes.  I got out of the jeep and walked as fast as I could to greet this man.  My dog tags were clearly visible and attached to them was my mezuzah which I always wore.

And not knowing what nationality the man was the only thing I could think of saying was “Shalom”.  He through his arms around me and tears of joy poured down his face.  I did not understand what he said, but I know he was happy.

My C.O. only a few feet away thought I was being attacked by this man; came over with gun in his hand.  I turned around and told me C.O. I was okay, I told this man I was Jewish.

How close this poor soul came to having his life ended after all he must have been through.  As we proceeded into the camp, many more came out of the barracks to greet us.  They all looked pale and thin, some wore torn clothes, some in torn shoes, we called them “The Walking Dead”.

We had 3 priorities. First, to secure the area which we did.  2^nd, to check each barracks to see if we could be of any help; and 3^rd, those people had to be fed.  We sent a number of men, 70 to guard our equipment, another group to the mess hall to get it ready for the evening meal.

We refused to let the survivors to work in the kitchen. We had no idea what germs they carried.  We were fortunate because among us were men who could speak in French, German, Russian, Polish and a number of other languages.

It made it a lot easier to communicate with them and we got a lot more done and a shorter period of time.  We radioed 3^rd Army that we had arrived.

We now knew what the candy we carried was for.  To these poor souls, it was like a wonderful gift.  We handed out thousands of pieces of candy.

By 8AM we were ready to feed 1,700 or 1,800 of them and us.  I guess those were about 1,000 of them and 700 of us.  From 3PM to 8PM, everyone regardless of rank either peeled potatoes, or other vegetables, rolled flour and preparing coffee.

We had one thing in mind, feed the people. We used only the food we brought with us; we refused to use anything we found.  We unloaded the trucks and things went well.

To make the soup better, we added can of after can of spam.  When we were done, we had prepared a decent meal with fresh bread, hearty soup, some kind of spread for the bread and coffee.  And no one complained.

It was a hot meal; our mess Sargent did wonders with what he had to work with.  While eating, some of our men on guard escorted some men from the 42^nd or 45^th and we fed them too.  They were surprised to see us and shocked by that and more so by the fact that we had prepared a hot meal.

They thanked us and sent back the message that we were there at work.  The 7^th Army was here as well.  They could not believe what we did in just 6 hours we were there.

They told us that we were very lucky and considered this place a paradise compared to what they saw and reported the conditions in the next camp, and that they were here since early this morning.  We sent a message to 3^rd Army “sorry to let you know that the 7^th Army has been here since this morning.”

We now took turns on 2- or 4-hour shifts.  There was still a lot to do between now and 7AM tomorrow.  The men of the 7^th Army decided to stay with us and wanted to help in any way. They figured if we could prepare a hot meal this evening, then for sure they would enjoy a hot meal in the morning.

It was surely better than our K rations. By 7AM on the 30^th of April low and behold the mess Sargent had dropped a hot breakfast of ½ orange, powered eggs & potatoes, fresh bread with a spread and hot coffee.  Our visitors did not want to leave but were ordered to return to their compound.  I think everyone was more than satisfied and there were no complaints.

It was about 10AM and all hell broke out.  Some of the survivors wanted to take out their revenge on the people in the town next to the camp.  A fight broke out and in order to stop the fighting, first among themselves and then with us, we had no choice but to fire a volley of shots into the air.

We recently got orders and told them to go back to their barracks and clean up the place.  2 wrongs don’t make a right and we could not let them leave the camp.  We sent a crew to each barrack to maintain order and to listen to their stories.  Each told about their experiences.

Once under control, my immediate supervisor, Capt. Haynes (Intelligence Officer) asked me if I would like to ride into the next compound and see how things were going there.  Being off duty, I got into the jeep, and we went to the net compound.

We had not gotten 25 feet in when we saw dead bodies lying on the ground.  It was 2 days and the 7^th Army had not had time to bury those dead.  They must have their hands full.  We went a little further and it got worse by the minute.  Yes, how lucky we were, we should not complain.

We decided we had seen enough and went back to our compound in accord to the barracks in our area. There were about 20 or so barracks – each one held between 80 to 100 men.  In the middle, I believe there was a stove that did not through much heat.

On either side of the barracks were bunk beds – 3 high with not much space in between – it was cramped.  The lavatory, if this is what you call it, would have been condemned by any board of health.  As I recall, there was a corner building used as a factory.

It hit me that they were making jackets for bullets and from what I heard, they worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.  It’s no wonder they went nuts when they suddenly had free time.

They did not know what to do with free time. The stories they told us were hard to believe, but there were the dead bodies in the next compound, it had to be true.  That was proof enough.

Late that evening, I received a message from 3^rd Army.  Be ready to leave tomorrow after 12 noon and turn over camp to 7^th Army.  Destination Berchtesgaden.

Yes, we did not come in 1^st or 2^nd but General Patton kept his word, we were going to be sleeping on fine linen, served 2 hot meals a day by pretty women and best of all to a rest area.

Before we left, a convoy arrived with all that we had requested including a medical team.  We were glad to leave, I don’t think the survivors wanted us to leave.

We were lucky our stay could have been much worse.  Before we left, I received a message from Patton. “All I can expect from my men is that they try their best, more than that I have no right to expect.”

In closing, the boys now have all the information that I can remember.  They can use it any way they want.  I am sure they will get a more detailed story from the survivors.

This is a view from an outsider whose opinions and observations may not coincide with what they may have expected to hear but that’s all I can tell them, and they have it in writing so they can refer to it if they so need to do.

In the jungle, animals kill for survival, what is our excuse.  We are supposed to be the more intelligent of the species here on earth.  I guess we haven’t really got very far from our ancient ancestors but that is just my opinion.

My views are based on personal knowledge and what I have learned from members of the 42^nd and 45^th Infantry Division who actually liberated Dachau.

In the short time there and with the things that had to be done, there was not much time for visiting.  Not that I cared to visit other areas.  It was enough to know it was a hell hole.

What is more important is the satisfaction of knowing that some 1,000 men not only were liberated, but fed and tended to as best as possible and were in slightly better condition when the 700 men left then when they arrived.

Please help me in my mission to have the 131^st WWII Mobile Anti-Aircraft Unit officially acknowledged as Liberators! These brave men and their decedents of this unit deserve acknowledgment for their service!