Aktion Wolkenbrand

   On the eve of the liberation of Dachau in April 1945, there were 67,665 registered prisoners, among them 22,100 Jews. In the days before the arrival of the American Seventh Army, on 29 April 1945, the Germans forced about 7,000 Jews from Dachau to march to the south of Germany. During this forced march, many of them were shot or died from hunger or exhaustion. The Allies later learned of the Schutzstaffel (SS) plan, Aktion Wolkenbrand, which was intended to poison or to destroy the camp, and to kill by aerial bombing (Aktion Wolke AI) the remaining inmates of Dachau.

   See also Death marches.