Seventh Army's 45th (Thunderbird) and 42nd (Rainbow) Infantry Divisions, participated in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp on 29 April 1945.

While anecdotal reports indicate varied 20th AD troops took part in the unfolding process of discovery and liberation of the camp, ultimately it was the above attachment of elements of the 27th Tank Battalion to those of the 42nd Infantry Division on which the 20th Armored would be jointly recognized by the US Army Center for Military History (CMH) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) as an official Liberating unit.

Meanwhile, in support of units of the 45th Infantry Division (primarily belonging to the 180th and 157th Infantry Regiments), elements of the 20th Armored Division's Combat Command B (including certain forces of the 20th Tank Battalion, 65th Armored Infantry Battalion, and 413th Armored Field Artillery Battalion), operating together as Task Force 20, were awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for their collective action in the Central European (Southern Germany) Campaign.

Continuing the attack on 29–30 April against an enemy entrenched in elaborately prepared dugouts and behind the thick walls of the SS Training Center and an Anti-tank School which were defended by small arms, machine guns, hundreds of panzerfausts and twelve 88 mm guns, our troops killed 700 SS Troops, who fought stubbornly and fanatically.

[10] In pursuit of retreating German troops and prevention of a feared German National Redoubt in the Austrian Alps, elements of the 20th Armored (primarily of Combat Command A) crossed the Inn River at Wasserburg on 3 May, entered Traunstein on 4 May, and had entered Salzburg when it received word that hostilities would cease in Europe.

Following V-E Day, the Division performed Occupation duties, returning to the U.S. in August 1945, slated for participation in the then-planned invasion of Japan.

Officially, the Division is erroneously credited with only eight days in combat (overlooking the previously described Rhine action)[11] Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz, rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant (and Light Machine Gun Squad Leader) while a member of the Division's 8th Armored Infantry Battalion.