• AFPU OAKES Lawrie belsen

    Sgt Bill Lawrie (AFPU)

    The first AFPU team to arrive on April 15 consisted of Sergeants Mike Lewis and Bill Lawrie (film), and Sergeant Harry Oakes and Lieutenant Martyn Wilson (stills). They continued coverage until 26 April 1945, when another team took over.  5,646 total views

  • 75th Anniversary Press – Ken Knight

    Ken Knight was one of the first men through the gates. He spoke movingly about the experience to the Dorset Echo in 2003. Here we re-publish the interview with Ken who passed away in 2007.  13,760 total views

  • The Heroes of Belsen

    The Heroes of Belsen “If you asked them to build a battleship overnight they’d produce it for you at breakfast!” Such are the expressions of praise made by Army authorities when referring to the magnificent work of relief done by officers and men of the 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA at Belsen Concentration Camp.  17,228 total views

  • Liberation of Bergen Belsen

    Sieg Maandag

    Sieg Maandag (1937-2013) was seven years old when he was photographed by George Rodger as he walked among the piles of bodies in the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.  4,448 total views

  • Amy Russell QAIMNS

    A.R.R.C. London Gazette 21 June 1918. ‘Miss Amy Russell, Sister, Q.A.I.M.N.S.(R.), Mil. Hospl., Dover.’ R.R.C. London Gazette 18 February 1943. ‘Miss Amy Russell, A.R.R.C. (209113), Sister, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (Leeds).’ M.I.D. London Gazette 8 November 1945 (North West Europe). Medal group contains family medals, details at bottom of page Recommendation for the R.R.C. reads: ‘This lady has been attached to the Regular Nursing Service as a Reserve for almost unbroken service since the last war. Quiet, competent, and energetic, she has rendered expert and valuable service by her devotion to duty throughout her time in the General Hospitals of the Middle East. For the past six months…

  • 75th Anniversary Press – James Heath

    Adrian Andrews, who lives in Bishop’s Stortford with wife Gunta and their two children, has written a book, A Pithead Polar Bear, about his grandfather’s Second Word War service, including the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.  12,089 total views