ABSTRACT
We have seen that the US forces discovered Mauthausen (and its Nebenlager) in the course of their final mission - mopping up the remaining Nazi pockets and making contact with the Red Army - which drew from Simon Wiesenthal at a later date the bitter but totally accurate statement that neither the Americans nor the other Allies ever set out expressly to liberate a concentradon camp. As for the link-up, it took longer than expected. The OSS reported that the Soviet army north of the Danube had turned north-west towards Budweiss in Czechoslovakia, and in its own report for 6 May 1945, 'Thunderbolt' expressed its disappointment. In an attempt to make contact, the 41st Cavalry of Combat Command B advanced north-east to a depth of 30 kilometres inside the Soviet Zone of Occupation, its B Troop reaching Köngswiesen, where German resistance in mountainous wooded terrain blocked further advance. US aerial reconnaissance that afternoon made their first sighting of Soviet forces 25 kilo metres east of Amstetten. The division's Combat Command Reserve was now moved forward to Zwettl-Niederösterreich in what was described as a 'blocking mission', and a battalion was moved up that afternoon to reinforce it.
