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.
RAMC Lt. 1945 Mentioned in dispatches. The first British medical officer to enter Belsen.
Won the Militray Medal in First World War on active service.
Medically trained at St Barts, qualifying in 1925.
Killed in a car accident January 22, 1956, Cooksbridge near Lewes. He was 53.
WCIT. War Crimes Unit.
Arrived 20th May. Produced initial report 22nd June.
14 page document summarised investigators key findings and made recommendations for the cases against key concentration camp personnel.
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Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Gent, Marie Lillian
Queen Alexandra\'s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS)
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In 1945 he became the Daily Express's "War Correspondent Cartoonist" with the 2nd Army.
At one point during World War II he was assigned as War Correspondent to the Coldstream Guards unit which liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Giles interviewed the camp commandant, Josef Kramer.
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Apparently, my grandfather trained in the REME but transferred to the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, fought on Gold Beach, Normandy, then the Battle of Falaise Gap, through to the Battle of the Bulge, then Operation Plunder in the Rhine and then Belsen.
Submitted by: Gemma Taylor
Gillies, Coll Royal Engineers
My Dad Coll Gillies Royal Engineers was one of the first into Belsen he never talked much about it he was 22 at the time.
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Miss Muriel Gofton, Cala Sona Enterprise, Netherton. Miss Gofton, who was one of the first women to enter Belsen after the liberation and has done a remarkable work amongst refugees.
24 April 1959 - Wishaw Press - Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Goldberg, Sol
First Canadian Army. Mobile shower and laundry unit.
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Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Goldfinger. B. Rabbi
Rabbi Goldfinger. French Army.
Part of an open-air service at the festival of Shavuot on 18 or 19 May with Hardman
Gonin, Mervin Willett - Lieutenant Colonel (11 Field Ambulance)
Lieutenant Colonel
11 Field Ambulance
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Gooch, Colin
1909-1999
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Goodere, Alf
5th Infantry Regiment
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Gordon-Walker, Patrick Chrestien. (BBC)
BBC Radio reporter.
BOOK: The Lid Lifts: Patrick Gordon Walker, 1945 1st; Radio reporter Walker writes of his 2 trips to Germany to record victory; he arrived at Belsen 5 days after it was liberated, interviewing men of the Ox and Bucks who took the camp; camp inmates and a female guard;
Later MP
(3 June 1924 – 26 March 2013)
Educated at Winchester College, Gow was commissioned into the Scots Guards during World War II. He was one of the first British officers into Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945.
He became Commanding Officer of 2nd Bn Scots Guards in 1964 and Commander of 4th Guards Brigade in 1967 before becoming a Brigadier on the General Staff of Headquarters British Army of the Rhine in 1971.
Name: GRANT, ALBERT ERNEST
Rank: Gunner
Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
Unit Text: 370 Bty., 113 (2/5th Bn. The Durham Light Infantry) Lt. A.A. Regt.
Age: 21
Date of Death: 03/07/1944
Service No: 11429818
Additional information: Son of James and Mary Ann Grant; husband of Edith Ellen Grant, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Grave/Memorial Reference: V. G. 6.
Cemetery: ST. MANVIEU WAR CEMETERY, CHEUX
John Willoughby Gray
Reported first recce on April 15th, 1945 with Hughes.
Phantom patrol officer with 11th Armoured Division
"Phantom"
John Gray - Phantom
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Gray, Martin (Soundman)
Soundman No.1 camp on 23rd & 24th April, along with cameraman Paul Wyand
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Gray, William F (Sgt)
B Sqr, 23rd Hussars
April 15th (War Diary)
At 08.00 hours. 23rd Hussar Group moved through Winsen, turning north, "B" Squadron leading. Some Bazooka and machine gun opposition was met north of Winsen in 4758, but this rapidly cleared and the enemy dispersed by setting fire to the wood. North of Walle, 4862 there were notices in English declaring the Belsen area to be typhus infected and to be a Neutral Zone. This was observed without incident and we passed the camp at great speed, little knowing what horrors it concealed. At about 14.00 hours "A" Squadron Group which had moved via 5186, passed through "B" Squadron Group which had established itself in Bergen, 5070 without incident. 1/100,000 Sheet M4.
"Two or three days later we were halted and informed that there was a 24 hour truce and we had to remain where we were. I later learned that a camp full of Jewish prisoners was nearby. This was the notorious camp called Belsen. We were actually the first tank to reach the white ribbon that stretched across the road. Somehow I thought this was a ruse and it allowed many high ranking officers to escape. On passing through the village I often wondered how the villagers could deny knowledge of its presence. I could see and smell the emaciated prisoners clinging to the wire fence as we passed through."
Wiltshires. though the actual day in april the wiltshires arrived is not clear. that said he was de-mobbed at hohne barracks in november 1945. he must have been there in the early days of liberation as when we went to belsen in 1982 he recalled the layout of the camp clearly, the head of the camp, kramer, being led out under close guard and the local population of belsen town being forced to visit the camp - they did so in their sunday best clothes! they were forced to see at first hand what belsen was and still denied any knowledge. he also described the torching of the wooden huts by 5th wilts owing to typhus.
he had a walking stick carved there by a german nco for a packet of cigarettes - it details all the main 4th batt. wiltshires battles and ends "belsen horror camp 1945. it is now in the wardrobe museum in the belsen display; one of two carved at that time.
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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…
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.
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
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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.
