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.
RNZAF Squadron Leader 41545. Doug was seconded to the RAF in mid 1942. He subsequently become part of the Allied Forces thrust east into Germany after D Day. He is said to be the first New Zealander to enter Bergen Belsen. He took four photographs of what he saw there. His children grew up understanding what these photos were and what they meant to the free world.
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Submitted by: Elizabeth O’Brien
Pares, Andrew (Captain)
Adjutant of the 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, The Royal Artillery TA
Submitted by: 113th DLI Archive
Parker, Edgar Samuel
My late father was a transport driver with the rasc 19.s.t. Coy and according to his records was on regular runs to the POW camp in Baydon for a few years. On the 26 August 1944 his record is marked "embarked for BLA". He was in NWE until 1946. His release paper states he was released in Belgium and it is dated 31 January 1946. The unit number also has 19.S.T. (206) Coy against it. 59 COY GEN TPT RASC
Submitted by: Archive
Parker, Kenneth
Member of the new 2nd battalion royal Scots Fusiliers
Update from family: Kenneth Parker 6th battalion royal Scott’s fusiliers, a Bren gunner, was on the beaches of D-Day and took part in the liberation of Belsen.
Submitted by: Kayley Parker
Parker, Leslie (113 LAA)
55 Trg Regt RA (Searchlight) Enlistment Date: 29/07/1940
Submitted by: 113th DLI Archive/Belsen Archive
Parkinson, Bill
My grandfather, Bill Parkinson, was among the British soldiers who went into #BergenBelsen in 1945
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Submitted by: Archive
Parkinson, Joyce (FRS)
Initial Team 100 of the Friends Relief Service (Quaker)
One of the first civilian teams to enter the concentration camp at Belsen
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Submitted by: Hazel Arnold
PARRY, LESLIE JOHN (KIA) (113 LAA)
Name: PARRY, LESLIE JOHN
Rank: Gunner
Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
Unit Text: 368 Bty. 113 (2/5th Bn. The Durham Light Infantry) Lt. A.A. Regt.
Age: 34
Date of Death: 14/09/1944
Location: Joe's Bridge
Service No: 14290685
Additional information: Son of William George and Ellen Georgina Parry; husband of Winifred Catherine Parry, of Camberwell, London.
Grave/Memorial Reference: III. A. 19.
Cemetery: LEOPOLDSBURG WAR CEMETERY
Gnr Parry was good friend of Frank Moreham and he was killed crossing the bridge next to Frank. His widow Winifred refused to accept news of his death until visited by Frank on Leave who gave her a personal account. Joe's Bridge is the nickname given to Bridge No.9 on the Bocholt-Herentals Canal outside the town of Neerpelt, in the Belgian city of Lommel just south of the Belgian-Dutch border. The bridge was captured by British troops in September 1944, becoming the springboard for the ground offensive of Operation Market-Garden.
63rd Anti Tank Regiment (QOOH)
Queens Own Oxfordshire Yeomanry
Driver and mechanic
“there was 'very little chatter' among the British soldiers after Belsen's liberation”
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Payne, Ronald Leslie (113 LAA)
344/55 Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Regt RA Enlistment Date: 02/02/1939
Submitted by: 113th DLI Archive/Belsen Archive
Pearce Richard David
Pearce, Ruth
A Coventry nurse who helped to look after survivors at Belsen after their liberation by Allied forces. Mentioned in despatches.
My grandad I understand was one of the soldiers that buried the dead there. He caught a disease from doing this and was brought home where he passed away.
RIP James Perry.
11th Field Ambulance
Shot by Focke Wulf fighters at Belsen
Died.
"One or two were wounded. One who was wounded badly was my mate Frank Phillips. They took him off to 25km from where we were, and he died that day. He had been shot away. He was a D-Day veteran.”
FRANK CECIL PHILLIPS
Private
Service Number: 7405499
Royal Army Medical Corps
United Kingdom
Died 21 April 1945
23 years old
Additional Info Son of Sidney Harold and Millicent Phillips, of Bemerton, Wiltshire.
Personal Inscription IN PRECIOUS MEMORY OF OUR DEAR FRANK. HIS MEMORY OUR DEAREST TREASURE
More to follow
Submitted by: Belsen Archive
Phillips, Robert James Lt. Col. (RAMC)
MBE. Born 6th October 1907
RAMC. Rescued from Dunkirk.
Consultant psychiatrist to the British Second Army.
EMAIL/CONTACT PLEASE NOTE: Recently we found an important email hidden away as spam. It could have been lost. If you contact us and either do not get a personal reply or a mention/update on this website, please send your email again. Thank you.
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
***
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.
