Americans Liberate Allied soldiers Imprisoned By Nazis In France - Newly liberated Russian soldiers waiting for soup, mado by their own cooks from U.S. supplies. When the Third U.S. Army, commanded by Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr., liberated Saarguemines, France, December 12, 1944, they found a German prisoner-of-war camp where Russian, Serbian, Polish and Italian soldiers were incarcerated, Conditions were appalling. Men were quartered in rooms of seven by eight feet. Few had stoves in them. Three tier bunks were used. Each prisoner had only one no sanitary facilitations whatever. May 1, 1945. (Photo by U.S. Signal Corps Photo).