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: 15th April, 2025. 80th Anniversary.
Thank you to everyone
for submitting 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.
liberator@belsen.co.uk

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
Showing 10 most recent names in this directory
Taylor, Reg
404 Company. Royal Army Service Corp.
Submitted by: Paul Taylor

Silver, Francis John
I am told that my father Captain Francis John Silver entered Belsen at the same time as David Dimbleby.
He would never speak about it as it evoked the memory of the stench that lay over the camp.

He was in the Royal Engineers , but may have been seconded to another unit for that particular operation.

He demobbed in 1949 with the honorary title of Major.

I would love to find out more but sadly, he died in 1967 and I was only 9.
Submitted by: Wendy Silver

Hilliard, James
Lance Bombardier - Vehicle Mechanic in 63rd Anti-Tank RA Regiment
Submitted by: Ruth Hilliard

Snow, William Leonard
Sargent
Submitted by: Stephen William Braine

Astbury, Albert
rasc
Submitted by: Mrs Linda Hughes

Cordner, Thomas William
My grandfather Thomas ‘Tommy’ Cordner was a Corporal and I was told of his role in assisting with the liberation of Belsen. Details are scant and his service background doesn’t help as he was in the RAF but deployed in ground troops as a medic from what I am told, landing in Normandy D-day+1.
Submitted by: Robbie

Kingsley, Edward
Pioneer corps
Submitted by: Caroline Pressman-nee Kingsley

Grimes, Thomas (No. 3 Commando)
I’ve just come across your wonderful tribute to the liberators. My father, Thomas Grimes, was a dispatch rider in no. 3 Commando. He never talked much about the serious side of the war and NEVER mentioned till much later in his life that he had been involved in “clearing out Belsen at the end of the war”. I could not bring myself to question him due to their horrors of it all. That human beings were capable of such depravity leaves me speechless. Thanks for your work on this website. ED. Thank you. If you have any more details or a photo, please email us.
Submitted by: Margo Fraser

Shaw, William Geoffrey
RHQ 3RTR BLA Trooper WG Shaw was in the third tank to liberate Belsen Email sent, 9th May.
Submitted by: Geoff and Diane Pierce

Phillips, Stanley Richard
Private. My father told me he was driving either the first or second truck that entered Belsen. More
Submitted by: Andy Phillips


Submit a name

Latest Entries
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
Gideon Taylor, President of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), today (November 10, 2021) announced the Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
In 1945, while still a medical student, David volunteered for service in Europe at Belsen concentration camp. Upon his return Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
Toronto man recognizes himself in Bergen-Belsen photo. Yehuda Danzig burst into tears as he read The Times of Israel this Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
Known as Madge, she was born in December 1918 to parents Lionel and Bessie Bunting of Churchill Road Chipping Norton. Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
Norman Joseph Gallagher, son of James Gallagher and Marion McPhee, was born in Coatbridge, Scotland in the Archdiocese of Glasgow Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
Edgar Ainsworth was born in 1905. As the Art Editor for Picture Post magazine, Ainsworth visited Bergen-Belsen three times in Read more
Belsen Concentration Camp Visited 22 Apr 45, 6 days after its capture by Second Army. I was accompanied on my Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
Of lasting influence on my aunt Joyce Parkinson, who has died aged 94, was the time she spent in Germany Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
'The last great heave of war,' according to Churchill, took place with the crossing of the Rhine on 24th March Read more
Liberation of Bergen Belsen
63rd Anti Tank Regiment (QOOH) Queens Own Oxfordshire Yeomanry. Arthur Tyler, second left, with other men of the 63rd Anti-Tank Read more

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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.
Read here about The Heroes of Belsen.

*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

***

UPDATE: 2025. Apologies for the ridiculous amount of Google adverts within the site. We are looking into changing this, to a more appropriate level. That said, the adverts do generate income to keep this site going.

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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