More of our men died.

“More of our men died—so fast that you couldn’t keep track of their numbers,” wrote Tony Acevedo, an American soldier fighting in World War II. “We kept on marching.”

On this day in 1945, Tony and members of the US Army’s 275th Infantry Regiment were captured by the Germans and held prisoner for 15 weeks. Much of what we know about their experiences is due to a diary Tony secretly kept while in captivity. 

A Mexican American who had faced discrimination because of his heritage, Tony nonetheless enlisted at age 17 with his father’s permission after the US government called for volunteers. He became a medic. 

After only a few weeks in combat, Tony and the men of his company were forced to surrender to the Germans when they ran out of ammunition and food during the Battle of the Bulge.

They faced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their German captors. Tony was tortured and sexually assaulted. 

The soldiers were fed starvation rations and forced to work. In his diary, Tony recorded names and death dates as the men succumbed to pneumonia, heart conditions, and malnutrition despite his medical care. Some men who tried to escape were captured and shot dead. 

Tony wrote that he feared that “our bodies would [not] resist any more.”

He survived a prisoner of war camp and a forced labor subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, known as Berga an der Elster.

In April 1945, German guards realized that American and Soviet troops were closing in, and they evacuated the POWs from Berga. 

Tony and the other prisoners were sent on a forced march that lasted more than two weeks and claimed the lives of about 80 American soldiers.

Photo: USHMM, Gift of Anthony Acevedo

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