Who was the first soldier to enter the camp when Dachau was liberated?
The first soldier to enter the entire Dachau complex, which included an SS garrison, an SS training center and the prison compound, was probably Pfc. John Degro, the lead scout of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division of the US 7th Army, who entered through the railroad gate into the SS section of the camp. Lt. William Cowling III of the 42nd Division of the US 7th Army claims to have been the first American soldier to enter the prison enclosure inside the Dachau complex.
