Dachau concentration camp on to KZ Dachau. During April 1945 as U.S. troops drove deeper into Bavaria, the commander of KZ Dachau suggested to Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler that the camp be turned over to the Allies. Himmler, in signed correspondence, prohibited such a move, adding that "No prisoners shall be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy alive." On 24 April 1945, just days before the U.S. troops arrived at the camp, the commandant and a strong guard forced between 6,000 and 7,000 surviving inmates — on a death march from Dachau south to Eurasburg, then eastwards towards the Tegernsee.
Dachau concentration camp reporters, as a result, Linden's detachment generated international headlines by accepting the surrender of the camp. More than 30,000 Jews and political prisoners were freed, and since 1945 adherents of the 42nd and 45th Division versions of events have argued over which unit was the first to liberate Dachau. The first Dachau subcamp discovered by advancing Allied forces was Kaufering Lager IV at Landsberg am Lech by the 12th Armored Division on 27 April 1945. Subcamps liberated by the 12th Armored Division included: Hurlach, Erpting, Kaufering, Schrobenhausen, Schwabing, Langerringen, Türkheim, Lauingen, Schwabach, Germering. During the liberation of the sub-camps surrounding