The Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp

Welcome this new archive relating and dedicated to the men and women service personnel and the part they played at the Liberation and subsequent Humanitarian Effort of the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945: The Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp.
UPDATE:
Thank you to everyone who submitted a name/details to coincide with the anniversary of the liberation of Bergen Belsen – we’ll go through all your submissions, moderate and add them on. If you have a photo or any more details please email us. Thank you.

We are now inviting any relatives of service personnel who may have been at the camp to get in touch. Any regiment, service, nationality, volunteer or any snippet of information – we would like to hear from you. We do not believe there are any records of the diverse group of men and women, many completely untrained, who were involved with the camp, after it’s liberation.

Those That Served

Latest | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z | Submit a name
There are currently 66 names in this directory beginning with the letter C.
Cadday, Earnest
Submitted by: Denise Waghorn
Cameron, Ross K (Chaplain) RCAF
Cameron, Ross K (Chaplain) RCAF. Royal Canadian Air Force
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cameron, Thomas Gordon
B. April 30th 1918. (Earlier) 11th Light Field Ambulance. Army Blood Transfusion Unit Work for 2 months at Belsen
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Campbell-Jackson, Peter Derek (Medical Student)
St Mary’s b. 6th Oct 1922 d. 12th Dec 1974
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Campbell, Duncan
The Belsen Gang More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Campbell, Hugh J (Lt)
Canadian. I have a photo of my father there. His platoon was the unit that found the place. He was a combat veteran but he once said to me of all the torments his mind kept reminding him of this was the most vivid. He never got over it. More
Submitted by: Rod Campbell
Carington-Smith, John
RAF. Wing Commander
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Carlton, G S (Capt.) (113 LAA)
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Carlton, G S Capt (113th LAA)
(113th LAA)
Submitted by: 113th DLI Archive
Carr (Unconfirmed) Reginald John SSgt.
Carr-Gomm, Richard
Major. Coldstream Guards More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Carr, Maurice E (AFS)
Born in Salem, Oct. 31, 1924, he was the son of Maurice E. and Gertrude (Crane) Carr. He was a graduate of St. John's Preparatory School. Mr Carr was an ambulance driver for the American Field Service with Britain's 8th army in Italy and in Germany with its 2nd army. He was in the first allied medical team to evacuate prisoners from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 during World War I
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Carr, Robert Christopher (REME)
REME More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cave, Ray (113 LAA)
A Lineman in the 370th battery, 113th DLI Service No. 14291548
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cayley M. H.
Chambers, Bernard
Soldier
Submitted by: Pauline Daniels
Chapman, Charles (Major) (58th LAA Regt RA)
58th LAA Regt RA My grandfather was Major Charles Chapman. He only spoke of his experience just before he died. He was 44 years old when he crossed over to France 58th LAA Regt RA were at Belsen April 16
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Chapman, Frank (Sapper)
“The young soldier on the dozer was Frank Chapman 21 years old. He had to do this terrible job I met him at the 50 years commemoration at Bergen Belsen in 1995.” - Hetty Verolme
Submitted by: Archive
Charters, Cyril John (RAOC 37 Kinema Section)
Letter dated 15th May, 1945 “The full story of Belsen has yet to be written, but when the day dawns of its publication this most brutal, inhuman and ghastly Hell on earth will be revealed to the whole world.......I do not believe in gloating and publishing the sins of another whether that be a man or a nation, but this is a crime of which the whole world should know....”
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Chaundy, C.A. Capt (AD Corps)
224th Parachute Field Ambulance, RAMC More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Chisholm, Alexander (Alec) 113th DLI
1915 - 1992
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Chitham John Sgt.
Citrine Ronald Eric
Clare, Mada (Nee Laight) QAIMNS Nurse
Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Clark, Ronald Douglas (113 LAA)
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Clarke, Leslie William (Medical Student St Barts)
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Clarkson Elizabeth J.
Clarkson, Bayard (AFS)
C Platoon 567 Coy AFS (American Field Service) Bayard D. Clarkson [CM 90, D Platoon, 485 Company (Coy)] also participated in the evacuation and cleanup of the camp. Clarkson carried many survivors in his arms and brought them to an area where they could be stripped of their uniforms, wrapped in blankets, and deloused by German nurses.
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Clements Paul Walter
Clifford, Robert
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Close, J (113 LAA)
113th DLI - Probably 369 Battery More
Submitted by: 113th DLI Archive
Clyne, E A (Sgt)
14 Amplifier Unit. Use of loud-speaker to restore order in the camp; organisation of inmates for first distribution of food in the camp; arrest of collaborators from among inmates of the camp; organisation of an interpreters pool from among inmates of the camp, the marshalling of the first 3,000 “healthy” women evacuated from the camp to the Panzer Training School (in cooperation with 250 Mil. Gov. Det.); allotting of evacuated people to new quarters, carried out by Sgt E. A. Clyne of 14 Amplifier Unit (in co-operation with 904 Mil. Gov. Det.) Marked on IWM photos as Clynne from Hampstead
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Coe, Ronald Albert
(No 1442868, 205/89th AA Regiment, No 7 section Mideast Forces. The issue is that he died in the 70's so not much info is left. He did however tell a story of being at Bergen-Belsen. He was an artist and was commissioned to document the camp along with alot of other officers from the British army etc. He told a story of meeting Kramer and painting his portrait for later exhibitions. The painting was lost after the war when my Nan and Pop took it to an exhibition and it was gone when they went to collect it. On the off chance anyone has ever heard of a painting of Kramer with the Signature at the bottom showing as CAP, I think I would believe in miracles, but is worth a try.
Submitted by: Adam Linton
Cohen
Ambulance Driver Jewish relief British Army
Submitted by: Jonathan Engel
Coigley, Michael Harold Farnham (Medical Student)
Medical Student. St Thomas
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Colclough, Freddie (32 CSS)
32 CSS Caught Typhus at Belsen and suffered very badly. Evacuated to England and died from the disease. Registered Deaths: x1 d. 1945, Birmingham (Born 1921) Frederick H x1 d. 1946 Wirral, Cheshire (Born 1902) Frederick C x1 d. 1946, Stoke on Trent (Born 1874 - so can probably discard this reference) Frederick NO records later than 1946.
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Coldridge Arthur Fusilier
Cole, Eugene
Quaker
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cole, Leslie
Official War Artist. More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Coles, Herbert Miles
Birth 25 NOV 1907 • Bristol. England. Death 20 FEB 1975 • 41 Dormer Road, Bristol. England
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Collis, William Robert Fitzgerald Dr.
Red Cross
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Conerney, Joseph (RAMC)
RAMC More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Congdon, William (AFS)
April 15 1912 - April 15, 1998
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cook, Arthur Thompson (Later Maj. Gen.) (Medical Student)
Medical Student. St Thomas
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cook, Frederick John (Trooper)
Tank Driver 23rd Hussars RAMC
Submitted by: Dorothy Ramser
Cooke, George
Recovery Group 1939-1946
Submitted by: Violet Cooke
Coombs, Peter
"The fact is that all these were once clean-living and sane and certainly not the type to do harm to the Nazis. They are Jews and are dying now at the rate of three hundred a day. They must die and nothing can save them - their end is inescapable, they are too far gone now to be brought back to life. I saw their corpses lying near their hovels, for they crawl or totter out into the sunlight to die. I watched them make their last feeble journeys, and even as I watched they died." Peter Coombs, British soldier, May 4, 1945 letter to his wife after liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
Submitted by: Archive
Copeland, Mary (Sister)
described how she was ‘now running a building with 180 patients who are being looked after by ten German orderlies, three German sisters and two German doctors, and I might add it is not an unpleasant position to be in, that of supervising doctors, and telling them what to do, quite apart from them being Germans’.
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Costigan, Patrick Gerald (Captain)
Medical Officer, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Arrived Belsen on 15th April. Stayed for 2 days.
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cotton, Miss
Miss Cotton was in the first British Red Cross Unit which worked in Belsen after the liberation. 22 September 1954 - Shields Daily News
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Court, Maurice
Possibly Courts, from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire Details to follow...
Submitted by: Kath Sansom
Courtenay, Mike (Royal Engineers)
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Crabtree, ?
113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Submitted by: 113th Durham Light Infantry RA
Cree, Malcolm Henry
Born Dundee 1910. Royal Horse Artillery One of the first British doctors to enter Beslen.
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Creelman, Lyle
Canadian Ms. Creelman was sent first to England and a year later to Germany as Chief Nurse of the British Occupied Zone. She was in charge of nursing at Bergen-Belsen after the British liberated the concentration camp. (REF. Direct quote)
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Crick, Lewis
113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Submitted by: 113th Durham Light Infantry RA
Crisp Thomas
Crosbie, John (Jack) Lt. 113th LAA
Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery 113th DLI, LAA More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Croston, A K Lt (113th LAA)
(113th LAA)
Submitted by: 113th DLI Archive
Crowley, Cornelius
I had an Uncle who was in the Paras and was one of the first Catholic chaplains who was part of the liberation of the camp. I have a photo of him in uniform. His name was Fr Cornelius Crowley,a Passionist priest. He never mentioned anything about his experiences and I only heard about him being in Belsen after his death. He was in Norway too and took part in a parachute jumps in Norway.... As a result of these ,he arranged for a German POW ' for a dog ,a German shepherd,be sent back to us in Ireland. So,we grew up with that dog,named Hasso. .
Submitted by: Lucy McCarthy
Cruse, Stanley
33rd Armoured Brigade RASC More
Submitted by: Philip Cruse
Cumberford, John Lauder
In 1939, John joined the Canadian Army as a private and went overseas for the duration of WWII. He landed on Juno Beach on D-Day, celebrated the liberation of Holland in Os and witnessed the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. He received a Commission with the British Army and finished the war as a Captain. John remained in the army and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1970, the commanding officer of CFB Cobourg. Passed away in March 2014 in his 96th year after a hard-fought battle against old age. John was predeceased in 2012 by his much loved wife of 67 years, Elizabeth,
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cummings, Daniel (Padre)
Belfast born, British Army chaplain. More
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cunningham, Redmond (Major)
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Cupples, Alex
Pipe Major of the 2nd Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders More (1923-2014)
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Curry, Kenneth
Submitted by: Belsen Archive


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Liberation of Bergen Belsen

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This site will progress and I’d encourage anyone with any info to get in touch. My granddad, Reg Price served with the 113th Durham Light Infantry*, as part of 369 Battery. As a signwriter, he produced this sign…

Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp
The Sign at the Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp

And this was kept in the family for years – so for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Belsen in 2020, subsequent VE Day and VJ Day, I thought it’s about time I’d try to find out more about Reg – his comrades (many of which are names, simply written on the back of photos), what they did together and for a way to remember them all, properly.

To coinicide with the anniversary, I was able to be filmed both on national and local BBC TV to tell Reg’s Story.
Whilst this was totally out of my comfort zone and I dreaded every moment – I decided I needed to do something to start this all off. BBC Midlands Today aired 7th May and a VE Day Antiques Roadshow Special aired Sunday 10th May.

Read here about The Heroes of Belsen.

The main photo, shown here was coloured for the 75th Anniversary and we’ll tell you all about it shortly – and what happened next!

*Just 113th Durham Light Infantry? No we are interested in all Service and Medical personnel who took part during the humanitarian effort at Belsen Concentration Camp. Their roles and names are largely forgotten, as many were too horrified to ever speak of what they had to do, so this archive seeks to form a tribute to ALL those that were there, to find out more and to remember them.
If you have a relative, or any info, on the relief effort at Belsen, we’d love you to please get in touch. Email us: liberator@belsen.co.uk – Thank you

***

The Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp

Any 113th Durham Light Infantry friends or family are encouraged to get in touch via 113th@belsen.co.uk

** In 1938 the old 5th Battalion DLI changed its role to Searchlights and then in 1940 to Anti-Aircraft. This 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment went to Normandy in June 1944 and joined the advance into Germany in early 1945.
Official designation – Brigade: 100 AA • Division: 30 Corps. • Unit: 113 LAA Regt. RA (DLI) TA.

The Liberation of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp
Names of British soldiers who liberated Belsen

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