After Patton orders the vault door blown, 7,000+ bags of gold bars are revealed. Eisenhower was moved by the experience of his visit &amp; wrote,&quot;Crammed into suitcases &amp; trunks was a great amount of gold &amp; silver plate and ornament obviously looted from private dwellings throughout Europe. All the articles had been flattened by hammer blows, obviously to save storage space, &amp; then merely thrown into the receptacle, apparently pending an opportunity to melt them down into gold or silver .&quot;