• bergen belsen concentration camp

    Pipers – Liberating Belsen?

    We are grateful to Bruce Hitchings MBE BEM, Kirknewton, Scotland and to Bob Shlaer of Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the following story. Last November, Bob read an obituary that appeared in American newspaper, The Week. The deceased was Branko Lustig (87) who, as a 10-year-old Croatian Jew, had been imprisoned at Auschwitz. The obituary describes how one day the youngster was ordered to stand in the front row at a hanging.  6,297 total views

  • bergen belsen concentration camp

    Report on Belsen Camp by Lt. Col. Taylor

    REPORT ON BELSEN CAMP by Lt-Col. R.I.G. TAYLOR, DSO, MC.   Appendix ‘A’ attached is a short account of the condition of the camp as known before the entry on 15 April. Appendix ‘B’ is a copy of the agreement concluded between representatives of the Allied and German Armies on 12 April 1945.   PART I. On 13 April I received written instructions from B.G.S., 8 Corps that I was to assume control of the area as given in the agreement, that I was to command all enemy troops remaining in the area, and “in principle British troops were to be employed to give authority of enemy forces vis a…

  • Hugh O Hara – 11th Armoured Brigade

    This is the horrifying image of young soldier Hugh O’Hara helping to bury thousands of death camp victims after liberating notorious Bergen-Belsen. Hugh, who served with the 11th Armoured Brigade, sits at the wheel of a bulldozer, a white hanky at his face, looking out over dozens of dead bodies.  7,648 total views

  • George Leonard (63rd ATR)

    Even before it had been officially liberated by the 11th Armoured Division on April 15, 1945, George Leonard was there behind enemy lines with a tiny force of just 200 soldiers under a flag of truce.  6,497 total views

  • Albert Drew – Tank Regt.

    My Dad’s older half Brother, Uncle Albert. (Top right in the picture above the swastika flag) was at the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.  6,675 total views

  • Liberation of Bergen Belsen

    The Numbers

    113th LAA Regiment RA (Durham Light Infantry) arrived at Belsen on the 18th April. The Panzer Barracks at Hohne, a short distance from the Belsen camp, was converted into a hospital and a transit camp. The DLI Regimental Journal for October 1946 reported the battalion recorded the following personel (live).  7,408 total views